Alice Porter

31/8/08

I'll get round to doing another one eventually! ;P

Hello! Yes, it’s time again for some more Reviews just befor I start off at college (EEP O_O)! As per usual, I will be reviewing things that I have discovered or found interesting since my last review, or doing reviews on request. If you would like me to evaluate or discuss something for you, then I would be more than happy, whatever that thing is!

I must say, I was very surprised by the amount of positive feedback last month! It was more than I had expected, and I was thrilled to talk to people about the subjects I covered. I was especially pleased when some people also chose to discover for themselves my review subjects! If you would like to read my previous issues, please feel free to visit my blogs to find it in the history, and don’t hesitate to give me any feedback 

This month, I will be reviewing: Alternative Magazine, Tokio Hotel (Band), and, as requested, “Mamma Mia!” (The movie), AND www.Spluch.com. Enjoy! And do get back to me with your feedback; I enjoy it ^_^

Alternative Magazine:

I found this the other day in town, whilst I was browsing through the magazine section in WH Smith; I always find those types of magazine sections, where there are HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of magazines, on a million shelves, under a zillion categories, all over the place, and often too far away to reach, daunting. Where do you start? I suppose it’s good if you’re looking to discover new magazines (But they could label the categories!). In that instance, I was looking for new magazines, and as well as finding the movie review (See where I get my inspiration from?), I also spied Alternative Magazine. This magazine seems to be a new production, since it is only in its 11th edition, and there are numerous typing errors to be soon, most annoying to me, a grammar Nazi, and made worse by the lack of commas (Which I love! As you can tell ¬_¬)

The magazine is aimed at a target audience of people who would consider themselves ALTERNATIVE – which seems to mean most people around the Goth, punk, rocker or generally outcast area (Which must include me), so, as you can expect, the issue I picked up had features on body art (piercings and tattoos), underground clubs, festivals, Japanese horror and cinema, events, artists and, most essentially, alternative music. This is, by far, the best bit. I never thought I would find a magazine that covered and showed a genuine interest in so many of the bands and musicians which I dearly love, but are so-very-not mainstream, and despite having massive followings, are little heard of and little covered. So it was a joy to find this, a place to revel in all my industrial-european-techno-dance-hardcore-bodycore-new-age-goth-metal, or whatever the heck the music genres are supposed to be! Incredible musicians are included, such as Combichrist, Novus UK, Front 242 and many more. But not only that, they include all areas-that is, all areas that can extend to Goth or metal-of this dark and glorious music. They have big bands such as HIM, Within Temptation and Blessed By a Broken Heart, whilst covering small, upcoming bands and demos as well. So, if you’re into metal and ALTERNATIVE, as the mag will frequently remind you, then this is well worth a shot.

Furthermore, the mag is well worth the sum of £3.50, for it comes with a free CD of 18 tracks! While I’m often sceptical of the quality of free CD’s music from magazines, I found some genuine music and bands that I will definitely look into: Front 242, Amberian Dawn, The Shanklin Freak show (Try “Lizard man!”), Babylonia, As Winter Burns White and The Kick. The magazine has some great pictures and provides a good deal of inspiration to those wanna-be ALTERNATIVE people-Whether you’re Steam punk, Cyber-Goth, Neon/candy rave child, punk rocker or death/black/heavy metal all the way! The issue I bought had a main feature on the ever beguiling Emilie Autumn, and is worth trying for only £3.50. That said, if you shun the wonderful world that is ALTERNATIVE (I promise I’ll stop shouting now), then stay WELL away; It’s good if you’re into the scene, but, chances are, you’re not. Nevertheless, it gains my vote! I’ll be looking forward to some more future issues…

BE ALTERNATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Music: Tokio Hotel.

Wow, where do I start with this one? I first heard the name Tokioo Hotel on the internet, from a London+Tokio Hotel remix, which was very good. A while after, on a school trip to France, I found their stuff EVERYWHERE: But not in an encouraging way. Because, you see, they were on the cover of teen mags, in Claire’s shops promotions, posters, little band stuff on sale (I admit-I bought a patch! It’s on my bag now >_<) etc. Why is this so bad? Because they look about 14 (Despite being 18-still quite young for a popular band) and they appeal to young, teenage girls. I mean about 12-15 year olds, and they are publicised and promoted in such a way as to appear fake, made up, and advertised and controlled by adults to get as much profit as possible. It’s hard to like a band you see everywhere, and who you know have an almost exclusively under-aged audience, who are unlikely to know real music when they hear it.

Nevertheless, my interest was held. I had heard and understood that they are a German band (Hence their success in France, and why barely anybody has heard of them here), singing originally in German but, now, due to their success, in English. They are formed of very young members, included two very differently styled twin brothers. You can see in the band that each member has been styled specifically, so people can say “Oh, he’s the one with dreadlocks/the skater hat, or “He’s the fat one, on drums” But you haven’t seen anything till you’ve looked at the (rather many) pictures of the lead singer; You’ll never forget this androgynous star once you’ve seen him! He’s sold as the sexy lead singer for the girl fans, and his dress styles, and most importantly, his HAIR, are styled in such a way as to give him that asexual, glam rock appeal. Seriously.

But I digress. The best way to look at a band, is not to look at them at all: Focus on the music, instead! A while after I saw the album I wanted, ‘Schrei-So laut Du kannst’, about a year after, in fact, I managed to buy that-And Placebo, which is strangely popular in France as well-with my family in Boulogne; weirdly, the same place school visited on a day trip. I was scepicall, but I like what I had heard of their music before, and wanted to listen to it, since it is nigh-on impossible to find their music in England-Or on ITunes, for that matter. Being a bit of a German obsessive (Rammstein. Enough Said.), I chose the German-language album, because I thought it would be a more authentic “Original”. I was very pleasantly surprised-Despite the lead singers’ not being broken yet, the music and quality was very solid, and it had real structure to it, and sort of pop-rock mix that works well and proves why they’re so popular. There are sort of younger, German Linkin Park if you will. The album has structure, as I said-It is German, after all-and tends to go through repeated cycles of an energetic and strong song, to a quieter, perhaps more emo, song. Those ones are easily forgettable, but it’s the more teenage-sounding songs that really suit them; ‘Freunde Bleiben’, for example.

Overall, despite the bands annoying image, they are exciting and new, though some of their songs sound familiar. If you like bands such as Linkin Park, Paramore, and less emo-y or popular bands, and if you like your rock leaning towards a more light-hearted side, then this is a good band to help you explore your tastes.The album ‘Schrei’ has a good deal of material on it, and sets the scene for the group. I would give ‘Schrei’ a 7 out of 10, and I may venture to buy some of their other material-I wonder if the lead singers voice is broken by now.

Seriously. That guy has more hair than me. Is it possible?

Finally, just to prove my point about their youth appeal; In this cartoon, the father is asking: "Hungry? Is it his teeth?" The mother replies: "No, he wants to see Tokio Hotel!"

Film: Mamma Mia!

Right. Well, I have to say, I don’t really think of much when I think of this film. There is very little to it apart from Abba songs and romantic confusion, but it is rather funny. My dear friend Louise took me to see it (She’s awesome! Go add her as ‘Magikk star’ in my friends list ^_^) and the cinema was filled with mostly middle-aged women and their husband, so really, middle-aged couples. (Asides from a couple of teenage girls and the gay guys next to us!)If you watch it without being critical of the whole staged and unrealistic, romantic feel to it, then you will enjoy it. I rarely am a fan of romance/love-based movies, so I was already at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the plot is original and intruiging, and the songs are all great ones that you almost forgot you knew or didn’t realise it was Abba. The acting is quite good, but again, it does have a staged feel to it which detracts from the acting, as you have to over-emote the songs to get the pop-feel to it.

Nevertheless, the best bit by far is the humour, provided chiefly by the three main actresses, Meryl Streep as the main, mother of the girl who is to have her wedding day, and has invited three me from her mothers past, one of whom could be her father, hence ensuing chaos, emotion and reminiscing on a non-serious side- and her two friends, Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, who are both extremely funny and excellently defined characters in their own right.

Although I would rather not see it again unless it was on TV, and I think £6 was a little too much to see it , generally it’s worth seeing if you are interested, but it works best if you abandon all pretense of realism and just indulge in some wonderful pop-songs, love and humour of this smash-hit musical. And if you really love it, you can always go see it live on stage-then you can really dance!

Dancing Queen!

Right; here is 1 short, sharp review to finish this issue off!

Website: www.Spluch.com

I found this, bizarrely enough, whilst looking for Davison GCSE results day pictures on Google: Be warned, though-It is VERY distracting! It is basically a website with all the most random news stories, videos and events listed with often a brief explanation. It is weird, moving, funny and engrossing at the same time, as there are so many, and such a variety of, stories posted by various members of the public. It is a clean-looking site which is pretty suitable for all, and a good way to waste some time. Look out for the Worthing and south-coast based story! Enjoy.

You need this site in your life! Pet Hyenas. Enough said!

That finishes my review for today. Thank you for reading it, have a nice day! ;p