I finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire over the Christmas weekend. I thought it started out pretty slowly, but once it picked the story flew by very quickly. I am surprised by how much I liked Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, I think he pulled it off very well. However, this really shouldn’t be a surprise, of the movies I’ve seen him in, I thought he acted very well.
It has been about five years since I read the book, but I don’t recall Snape being such a non-presence in this story. I’m not too worried, this changes in the later books. Film wise, this really started to set-up the strong relationship between Harry and Dumbledore and I think this was what worked best in the film. The special effects were very good, too. A lot of the fantastical monsters and creatures looked pretty real.
All told, I thought this was better than the second movie, but the third is still my favorite.
And now, for the music Rob found the most annoying, cringe-inducing, and overplayed this past year:
Green Day – American Idiot
I know, technically, this was a 2004 release, but I just couldn’t escape songs from this album this year. I just don’t understand why this is so heavily and widely praised. I get they are making a political statement on this punk-rock concept album, but as musicians, shouldn’t the music be listenable? Wake Me Up When September Ends has to be one of the most cringe-inducing songs I’ve heard this year. Well, except for maybe the atrocious Boulevard of Broken Dreams with its awful lulling bounce that makes me want to pound my head with a hammer. Anything I’ve heard from this album does nothing more than annoy me, and gets the automatic turn of the dial on the radio.
Nickelback
Why this band sells albums is beyond me. Their singer, Chad Kroeger, has about the worst voice in all of rock music, it is nasally and whiny and makes me want to stick a fork in my ear. To call their song Photograph music is an insult to anybody who ever picked up an instrument and the only song that makes me change the dial quicker than Green Day’s September Ends. All I hear whenever Nickelback is on the radio is a cacophony of noise with no harmony, no collective sound, no structure and no coherence.
Coldplay – X&Y
I’ll pick this album since it is the most recent, but every song I’ve heard from them is like a whinier, crappier more painful version of any Oasis song.
Gwen Stefani
Hollaback Girl has to be one of the 5 most annoying songs of all time. Again, most of the pain-inducing “music” heard this year from her was from her 2004 album, it was still tough to avoid.
And five “classics” that make me cringe...
The Who
Who Are You? I’ll just go with that one, but just about any of their songs. At one time I liked the Who, I saw Tommy and loved it. But now, this band is overplayed beyond reason. Why the song Who Are You is even allowed on radio request hours when you can hear it three times a day if you watch CSI is beyond me.
Lynyrd Skynyrd & The Allman Brothers
Really, they just represent 95% of Southern Rock for me. At least where I live, an hour doesn’t go by without one of these two overplayed bands receiving some sort of airplay on one of the three major rock stations in the NY/NJ area. Just like Who Are You?, Sweet Home Alabama should be banned from all caller request radio shows. I know the Allmans have a big following, I just don’t get why their music is so great.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Another hugely popular band whose music makes me want to stick hot pokers in my ears. Aside from their cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, anything I’ve heard from them makes me want to automatically change the radio station. However, I do acknowledge Flea’s superb bass-playing skills and liked him in Back to the Future movies.
The Clash
Particularly Rock the Casbah. Ugh. UGH. Great, they were punk rock pioneers.
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