Zombie Girl FTW!

It's stories like these that inspire you and cut you down at the same time. Here we have 13 year old Emily Hagins who started working on her feature length zombie film PATHOGEN when she was ten years old and finished the final draft as a 12 year old girl. For anyone out there who's ever worked on even a short film, there is an enormous amount of work that goes into making movies, i can't even fathom attempting a full length feature and i'm 22 post graduate with a focus in film, but there in lies the beauty i suppose huh? Above is the trailer for her film. Below is the Documentary filmed during her the production of the film which spans the course of roughly two years. The documentary is called Zombie Girl and is really quite amazing to watch if your any sort of film fan whatsoever. The documentary really shows a beautiful depiction of things you just don't see every day. I mean you see this young, shy preteen, dealing with homework, getting along with her mom, being silly and really showing a gross lack of comprehension when it comes to the very medium of film seen in one instance as she says something akin to "books are to be thought about. Movies you just watch for fun". All the while, you see these traits juxtaposed to her maturity in dealing with the film. You see her dedication, her spirit, her unbridled imagination and goals. Seriously, this girl is 12 and talking about camera shots used in a Kubrick film!? WTF?! I mean how often do we as "grown ups" think, "Hey I want to do this" and then come up with 2380235 reasons that will stop us from doing it, so your lazy ass doesn't even start it. Whether this girl looks at that opposition and takes it on anyway, or is just too inexperience to realize those limitations, she barrels ahead and just fucking does it. It's truly inspiration to someone in my (and i'm sure many others out there) who want to do something with our creativity, but just don't. One other thing that def needs to be pointed out in this documentary is how her mother should be given an award or something. I mean watch this documentary. This mother works full time then does almost every job but directing and writing, and it seems like she helps her daughter with that on occasion. She does make up, sfx, shopping for supplies, drives them to all locations, some editing, sound, i mean she's super mom. I'm pretty sure the two of them live alone as well as the dad lives in a dif house so crazy kudos to the mom in this pic. I applaude her for giving her daught 110%. I'm more than sure it'll all pay off for her in the end even if it wasn't just for fun anyways. So without further ado, the documentary is being hosted on HULU for the next few days or so so click below and watch it. It's really amazing watching mostly Emily but some of the other kids to, hit on the surface of things we can look even deeper into. As previously stated, the juxtaposition between the ignorant innocence of a child and her accomplishment and knowledge at this point in life is really quite a beautiful thing and the documentary captures it exquisitely.

Transformers 2

Firstly, I'd like to express my utter adoration for the IMAX cinema in the Jordan's Furniture in Reading. The seats are all tempurpedic and contain a device called "Buttkickers" which, contrary to their interesting title, are quite enjoyable. The seats maximize your comfort level as they form to your body and vibrate with the volume and bass of the film your immersed within as the sky sized screen before you stretches to the very brim of your peripheral vision! Truly, this is the only way to experience any visually stunning film! Now, this may all seem like a digression, but it really allows me to hint at the best, and really, only redeeming aspect of this film. Transformers first movie did a great job following a relatively simple plot and setting a particular tone throughout the film. While some choices the directors and writers made were questionable at best, because of how great the visuals were and the novelty of seeing many of our childhood imaginations being displayed in such a beautiful way, we clamored for more! Transformers 2 trips over these same hurdles, making a mess of itself that drags out for the eternity that is it's 2.5 hour runtime. The movie has a difficult time finding an even balance between a mature tone and a child's that ends up filling the movie with some bad humor delivered mostly by some really bad characters. If you were one of the millions who watched Star Wars: Phantom Menace and wanted to strangle Jar Jar Binks with a firm fist, prepare to clasp both hands tight. Two twin autobot transformers in this known as Skids and Mudflaps are two of the most offensive, moronic and annoying characters in my life and honestly, there was no justification for them. The two are supposed to represent an inner city gang-banger persona with their gold teeth, rowdy and crude behavior, high voices and inability to read. All their humor was clearly meant for the kids to enjoy, yet their lines were filled with vulgarities that clearly most parents wouldn't even want their kids hearing never mind repeating. The characters were beyond obnoxious and yet they took up valuable screen time that the other, more interested autobots could have used since most of them were primarily absent. The plot to this movie really made no sense. They tried to make it interesting and take it back to humanities ancestors and the autobots, mixed with puzzles and riddles and side switching but it really didn't mesh well and the plot literally became nonsensical about halfway through. At this point all you can rely on are the beautiful action scenes but honestly i ask you, how long can you watch robots fight? I'm usually all for a long epic movie if a story takes this long to be told, Transformers 2 had no business being over and hour and forty minutes. Many of the elements introduced in this film just seemed like they were cut directly out of other movies. You could just about see Gremlins and Terminator in this damn film and not in a cool "homage" way either sadly. Ok. You, young reader, may believe me to be a bit harsh but i really had high hopes for this film and it pissed in my eye so i had to lead off into what really rubbed me the wrong way. I had a few more complaints but those were the major things. Lets get on to what was actually good. The acting was decent for most of it. I actually am a Shia Labeouf and the scene where he's telling his Dad to let him go really landed with me hard. Sam's new roommate/ movie comic relief was decent. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese's characters were cool as per usual and well acted, even if they did give Tyrese some of THE WORST one liners I've heard since the '90s. Couldn't they give Tyrese real lines instead of CLASSIC tolken black guy stuff? Honestly, it was absurd. Visuals were outstanding. The fight scenes were ruthless and one thing i really like about this story, is how bad the good guys are. Like typically, when good guys are winning a fight, they're just knocking the villains around, and maybe knock them out and put them out of commission for the authorities or whomever to take care of them. Not the Autobots. These dudes are murdering the decepticons! Honestly, if you watch the film looking at the transformers as people, this film would be a hard R rating. Bots getting ripped in half, spines removed. It's intense! Also, more of Megan Fox is always a good thing. So that was a big plus. Now despite its many faults, I was able to thrust myself into Bay-land (Michael Bays realm of explosions and crass "humor") atleast for a while. As i said, if the film had been an hour and forty minutes, i think i'd have liked it a little better. I was entertained for most it. If your just an avid movie goer and/or love your blockbuster hollywood action films, i'm more than sure you'll love this film. As bit of a film critic, i found the film a bit annoying in many parts and more or less a complete mess, yet fun for the most part. Regardless, if your reading this, there's a very good chance you've either already seen the film or plan to anyways, so go for it. Just go see it in IMAX so you can appreciate its best quality. I give the film a c-. Alright, a C.

hottest new act to hit the right wing!

Spec Boogie

Approaximately 3 years ago, I made a purchase from the online streetwear store www.DigitalGravel.com and included was a 12 song demo by rapper Spec Boogie called "Brass Knuckle Rap Hustle". It was pretty impressive and i like to keep tabs on him because he's shown some great talent. I just found these else where and i had to post them because they were just that cool. Enjoy! P.S. If you dig him, add him on my space or at least check out his other work. www.Myspace.com/SpecBoogie Spec Boogie - Summer Movie Season - Enter the Dragon from spec boogie on Vimeo. Spec Boogie - Summer Movie Season - Requiem for a Dream from spec boogie on Vimeo. Spec Boogie - Summer Movie Season - Edward Scissorhands from spec boogie on Vimeo. ALSO check these freestyles. Fresh to death fo' sho!

He's mos definite, not "think so"...

With a name like Mos Def, its hard NOT to come up with lame ways of positive approval for his work, so as to not break the stride of this ingenious selection of this eclectic artist's nom de plum: is this new album the the mos def quality we all know to expect . . . . It certainly is! I bet you thought i'd say... never mind. "Let's move on!" Firstly, the album nearly starts with a quote from Malcolm X proclaiming his willingness to join anyone, regardless of skin color, to better the situation of the currently problematic world with which we live. Clearly mos has something to say on here. Topics range from foreign affairs, to Afrocentrism, even over to falling in love and any where in between. The album is a patchwork of musical influences, scratch that, styles, as the stark difference in instruments from track to track vividly take the listener on an odyssey around the world, all the while nodding our heads to mos' natural, debonair flowetry. The album really only has two or three relatively "hip-hop" beats for any uninitiated Mos Def fan's. For anyone who came along for the New Danger ride (which is personally, one of my favorite albums of all time) and got their way through Tru3 Magic (hmmm...) you should know that you never really know what to expect when getting into it. This album is no different. It's full of Mos' jazzy timing, soulful scatting, charming attempts at singing and of course, intricate lyrical linguistics. Super Magic show's Mos back in action as he flips Marry Poppins on her ass as he exercises for the feat at hand. Auditorium, being one of the first publicly dropped singles off the album, features an old time favorite, Slick Rick, transitions from mos' modern attentive lyrical whirlwind into Slick's leisurely stroll through his flow marvelously. Quiet Dog was initially my favorite track on the record. It's definitely a banger that any hip hop head will get to nodding to. Alas, while Mos' rhymefest on this track was most filling, most the credit lies on the beat here. Pistola is really where i got the soul of this record. I'm not typically one for love songs but the playful wordplay and breakdown of terms brings a sense of humanity that really warms the listener up to the track and the album. I will say, this album isn't for the easy listener out there. If your a first time mos listener, you may be jumping into the deep end without your floaties. For any repeat offenders, this is a big triumph for mos and his long time fans. It's immensely refreshing and fulfilling to see Def come off his acting spiel and land such a unique and impressive piece of art. I didn't love it off the bat but i couldn't quite bring myself to turn it off either. by the third or forth spin, i was hooked. Overall, i'd give it a B+