All posts by Kev Brock

I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.
music

BREAKING NEWS: After a 31 year long career, R.E.M. hangs up the mics…

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In the year 1980, Michael Stipe formed the band, R.E.M. himself. The band released 15 albums in their career and they had a slew of mainstream radio hits. R.E.M. had hit songs such as: “It’s the End of the World As We Know It”, “Stand”, “Losing My Religion”, “Shiny Happy People”, “Everybody Hurts”, “Bang and Blame”, “What’s the Frequency Kenneth”, etc. You can still hear all of those songs on your FM radio stations to this day.

Their latest album, “Collapse Into Now”, which they just released earlier this year, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200. I’ve been a fan of R.E.M. for years. While this is pretty shocking and unexpected, I understand them of why they want to hang it up. Bands don’t stay together forever, that’s just the way it goes.

Read what the three guys have to say about their, break up, here.

Even though they’re calling it quits, I’m sure they’re still going to be releasing material. Not new studio albums, but I’m sure they’ll release some live albums and maybe unreleased stuff. They might even make a DVD about their long career.

No matter what you think of R.E.M., they are legends and they were very successful. Michael Stipe is a talented singer, and I’ve always admired Peter Buck as a guitarist. I’m pretty sure the three guys will move on to other musical projects. Maybe that’s why they want to end it, to explore other musical opportunities.

Kev

 

TV

“The Playboy Club” premiere…brief review…

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I just watched the DVR’ed episode of “The Playboy Club” premiere, here is my brief review.

Here’s the synopsis from episode 1:

“In Chicago, 1963, Maureen, a worker at a bar called “The Playboy Club”, is almost raped by mob boss Bruno Bianchi when she, along with a lawyer named Nick Dalton, accidentally kill him. They cover up the murder and hide the body in the river. While Bianchi’s son John and the rest of the mob start to uncover what happened, subplots include a worker named Brenda, who is seeking to be the first African-American Playboy playmate, Alice, who is secretly lesbian in a sham marriage with a gay man named Sean, and Carol-Lynne, who recently becomes the “Bunny Mother” of the club.”

As some of you know, this show created a lot of controversy over the past couple of weeks. Just out of curiosity, I just had to watch the first episode to see what this show is like. Did I like it? Yeah, it was actually pretty good. Back in those days, was the beginning of Playboy and this show want to show you how it all started.

While this show is mostly fiction there is a lot of real history in it. The PTC called the show, “pornographic material”. It is not, “pornographic material” if it doesn’t have naked women showing off their privates. This show doesn’t show any of that stuff. Yes, the women do show a lot of skin and cleavage, but that’s about it. I don’t see how that’s considered, “porn”.

Amber Heard, did a good job in this show. I enjoyed her performance. I remembered her from, “Zombieland”, and the “Friday Night Lights” movie. “The Playboy Club” is a soap opera and mob story. It is a show aimed for both men and women.

A lot of people accused this show of exploiting women. Well yeah. Women go on Playboy and other adult magazines, because it’s a free country. That’s the beauty of America folks. People make their own decisions and do what they want to do. If women wants to take their clothes off in front of a camera, so they can publish them for the world to see, that’s their choice. It bothers me that other people attack women for wanting to pose nude. In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with it. As long as it’s legal, they have that choice to do it if they want to.

I’ll admit it, I do have an interest in, ‘porn”. I’m not addicted to porn, I don’t collect it, but I need my eye candy too, right? Hey, I’m a guy, that’s what they do, look at porn. If you say you’re not into porn and offended by it, you’re lying. Everyone is into it.

I like Playboy. I respect the legacy they created with the magazine and the Playboy empire, and all that. I don’t like how the magazine is today, but the earlier history of the magazine is really incredible stuff, and “The Playboy Club” TV show wants to school you in on their past.

I read that the ratings for this show was pretty low, and I think the reason was, that people didn’t like Playboy on an NBC family friendly station. “The Playboy Club”, should be on an adult friendly station like HBO or Showtime if they want to get more viewers. Other than that, it’s a good show. I kept thinking it was going to suck, but I actually watched through the whole hour. Thumbs up.

Kev

music

3 Unreleased Nirvana songs surface the web, in celebration of “Nevermind’s” 20th Anniversary…

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Nirvana is celebrating the 20th Anniversary of their iconic album, “Nevermind” this year, and three unreleased tracks hit the web. Be aware that these tracks are just demos, so the sound quality is not going to be that great…but they still rock.

Enjoy them, here.

I love Nirvana. Nirvana’s, “Nervmind”, was released on Sept. 24th, 1991, so that day will officially mark the 20th.

“Nevermind”, means so much to me. That was the album that first got me into Nirvana, of course. I first saw, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, video on MTV for the first time when I was a kid and I was blown away. I just had to buy that album. I probably played that album to death. I still have that album to this day and still listen to it. I’ll never get tired of that album. It was the best rock album of the 90’s for sure.

Kev

movies, music

Report: Is Tyler Bates the new composer for Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel”???

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Rumors are hitting the web this week that film composer, Tyler Bates, could be the new composer for Zack Snyder’s, “Man of Steel”. The reason this rumor started because he was listed in IMDB, in the credits as composer. So far, no official press release about it from Warner Bros.

It could be true because Tyler already worked with Zack for “300”, “Watchmen” and “Suckerpunch”.

This is starting to worry Superman fans, ’cause the John Williams main theme could be ignored. I don’t think so. In every Superman movie, there is the John Williams score just different versions of it. J.W.’s didn’t score every Superman flick, only the first one.

If Tyler is indeed the composer for, “Man of Steel”, I think it’s still a possibility they will still use the J.W.’s score, but a different take on it. They shouldn’t really ignore the theme completely and they probably won’t. Hope they won’t ignore it anyway.

Kev

movies

Report: Liam Hemsworth officially joins, “The Expendables” sequel…

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The young, Liam Hemsworth, officially joins the cast of, “The Expendables 2”. Liam can be seen in movies such as, “Knowing”, and, “The Last Song”. He will also have a role in the upcoming film, “The Hunger Games”.

Liam originally was going to have a role to play along side with Sylvester Stallone, in the first, “Expendables” film, but Sly wrote him out of the movie. I guess Sly wanted to put him in the sequel to make up for it.

Deadline, reports.

Well, Liam is a pretty muscular guy and he’s a superstar, so he’s the right fit. The point of the Expendables, is having of bunch of muscle guys who are icons all in one film.

Another addition that would be pretty cool to add to this cast is Jason Mamoa, who is famous for “Game of Thrones” and “Conan, The Barbarian” remake. After seeing the movie, “Warrior”, Kurt Angle would also be a good addition.

Kev

 

TV

Charlie Sheen – Roast review…

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I watched, “The Roast of Charlie Sheen” on Comedy Central last night instead of Monday Night RAW. I must say that I was pretty disappointed with the show. The roasters were funny yes, they told jokes in a no holds barred type of way, they even went as far as making gay jokes and brought domestic violence into it. They even made fun of William Shatner’s plastic surgery and how he’s about ready to die and all that. It seemed like it was the Mike Tyson show ’cause the spotlight was on him most of the time.

It’s not their fault though ’cause Iron Mike is a boxing legend and he’s easy to make fun of. The roastees even went as far as making fun of Mike Tyson’s criminal past with the drugs and his history of domestic violence as well.

The roastees did pick on Charlie Sheen of course, but a little bit. Like I said, they spent most of their time making fun of the other roasters instead of Charlie. Who did I think did the best job roasting Charlie? I thought Kate Walsh did the best job. She actually pissed Charlie off a little bit.

It really is hard to piss off Charlie because he’s a pretty strong guy. I guess that’s the reason why Comedy Central wanted to do a Roast show on Charlie ’cause they wanted to find  a way to piss him off which isn’t going to be easy. Charlie just laughed and clapped throughout most of it like I predicted. He did make an angry face once when Kate Walsh was up there.

Other than that, the show was entertaining. I just wished they focused on Charlie more than the other roasters.

I’m a Charlie Sheen fan, always respected the guy. Like him or not, he is a legendary icon, no matter what you think of him. He had a pretty huge career in the movie business back in the day. I loved all of his older flicks. Will he ever come back to the movies? Well Charlie once said, he has plans in making a “Major League III”, but so far, no news about that project, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Charlie is looking so good and healthy lately. He is looking much happier too, I hope he stays this way. I didn’t really like the lunatic Charlie. Glad he’s trying to get his act together and admitting his wrong doings. It was an okay show last night, just wished it was better.

Kev

TV

Report: Peter Dinklage who played Tyrion on “Game of Thrones” wins Emmy…

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The talented, Peter Dinklage, wins an Emmy for role as, Tyrion Lannister, in HBO’s, “Game of Thrones”. Peter says he is surprised about the win and admits he wasn’t ready for it. He also admits the other nominees for that category should be up there instead.

Read what he have to say, here.

Congrats to Peter, and well deserved to one of the most talented short actors, I’ve ever seen. See Peter’s acceptance speech in the video below.

Kev

business, movies, TV, World Wide Web

Report: Reed Hastings speaks out on price raise of Netflix, also unveils Qwikster…

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Reed Hastings, the head honcho of “Netflix” finally speaks out about the backlash of the price raise. He says the reason they did this because they are starting to realize that streaming and DVD are both becoming two different businesses. They needed to let both grow and market differently & separately. They feel the businesses need to evolve and improve.

He also unveils the Netflix DVD rental section will be re-named to, “Qwikster”. It will be the same site, you can still select all of your DVD’s and put ’em in your que’s, but different site name.

Reed also announced the surprising news, that Netflix will have a video game section in there. Soon you will be able to rent games from PS3, Xbox360, and Nintendo Wii which will be really cool.

Read, Reed Hastings, full explanation, here.

No matter what people think of Netflix’s decision, I’m still sticking with them. Yep, both streaming and DVD. The price raise is not that big of a deal. They are a business, they need to do what they need to do. Businesses change, shit happens. Have any of you out there ever owned a business? Yes, I’m sure you’ve had. All businesses want to change and evolve, the same with Netflix.

People need to relax over this.

I’m sticking with Netflix because there are a lot of TV shows on there I want to see that I have never seen before and that’s one of the reasons I joined Netflix to begin with. Plus, I like to watch movies on there too, of course. I joined their DVD rentals for the new releases.

I don’t really watch regular cable TV too much, but I’ll watch a lot of Netflix at night. The show I’m currently watching now is Kiefer Sutherland’s “24”. When I finish this show, I’m thinking of either checking out “Heroes” or “Sons of Anarchy”, not sure yet. Netflix is great, screw the haters.

Kev

Health and Fitness

What kind of physique do I want? Do I want to look like a Mr. Olympian???

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When talking about the Mr. Olympia competition, some of you may ask, will I ever look like that? Will I ever get the similar physiques that the pros have? Will I ever look like Phil Heath, Jay Cutler, or Flex Wheeler? The answer is no. While I do respect the pros, I’ll never look like that.

I do want to have a massive body someday, but not that big. I’m never going to compete. Never been my thing, I’ve said that before. I do respect the competition industry though.

My goal is that I want to look like how Sly Stallone looked back in the Rambo days. He was pretty massive back then. It’ll take years of hard work, but I’ll get there. I’ll do it.

Kev

music

Cool Video: Metallica & Lou Reed posts 30 second clip of new song titled, “The View”…

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Lou Reed & Metallica have posted their first song online, well, a little bit of it anyway. As usual a lot of people are bashing the hell out of it. Saying it’s crap because it’s METALLICA!

Below is a short clip of one of the songs off “Lulu”, the name of this song is titled, “The View”.

What people don’t seem to understand is that these songs on the album were originally supposed to be a German musical for theater. So these songs are supposed to sound like a musical. The way Lou Reed is singing the vocals, that’s the way he always sang. It isn’t really singing really, it’s just spoken word stuff which is what Lou is great at, plus he’s a really poetic lyricist. Maybe this German play was supposed to be backed up by a hard rock band and Metallica was the good fit for that. Everything you’re gonna hear on this album, is all Lou Reed, he composed everything. He just gave these songs to Metallica for them to back him up.

I wouldn’t badly judge this song on a 30 second clip, though. Before saying, “it sucks”, wait until you hear the full song and then you can make your opinion. I liked what I heard so far.

Kev