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.
movies

Film Review: Love & Other Drugs

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Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway

Directed by: Edward Zwick

I wasn’t really all that excited about this movie. I saw it because I had a free ticket out of them Regal’s reward zone cards that I have. I also saw the movie ’cause it was just for something to see since there was nothing else playing. The movie was getting some good reviews so I decided to check it out myself. Here is my review:

Plot/Synopsis: Jake Gyllenhaal, plays a pharmaceutical salesmen named Jamie Randall, where he goes and sells various drugs to doctors offices and drug stores. Jamie is a fun and happy upbeat kind of guy, where he tries to make his sales entertaining. Jamie is a bit of a ladies man as he has one night stands whenever a woman is attracted to him. Along the way, Jamie meets Anne Hathway’s character, Maggie Murdock, where he first meets her at a doctor’s office. Of course, Jamie has a one night stand with Maggie later on, they become an official couple later on throughout the film. The film is about Maggie trying to battle the onset of Parkinson’s Disease. Jamie also have health problems of his own as he struggles to have good sex with women without his privates down there going wrong. Jamie never believed in falling in love with women, all he wanted was sex but when he met Maggie, all he wanted was her.

I was a little worried that I was going to be bored to death with this film, but it didn’t turn out that way. I thought it was great. Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting has matured. You know how in most of his films, his acting skills always seem to be like a kid? Well, he’s more of an adult in this one. His acting in this film is different than his acting in the past. So kudos to Jake for improving his acting.

I thought this was going to be nothing but a strict romance movie. It was a romance movie, of course, but it was more than that. It got really deep into things. It was serious about diseases and Viagra. It really showed what drugs can do to a human body. I thought the writing was fine. The movie was at good pacing and good length. Not that long and the pacing actually went by pretty quick.

There is a lot of nudity of course. I think Anne is a great looking woman, but I was impressed with her acting skills in this film. She was brilliant and I think she will an Oscar for this role. Since she’ll be hosting this year ‘s Oscars, she’s definitely going to win too. I like Anne Hathaway a lot more than Angelina Jolie and she’s a better actress than the overrated, Julia Roberts. Seriously, Anne was amazing in this movie. Not because she was naked throughout most of it. I believe her being naked in this movie was real. She said many times on the internet that it wasn’t fake, it was really her baring it all.

I think the film just wants to wake us up that Viagra isn’t a good drug that everyone thinks it is. Even if the film isn’t doing well in box office, I quite liked it. I would suggest everyone else to check it out too. It is worth watching.

Score for “Love & Other Drugs” = *** (3 Stars as in “good”)

Kev

Health and Fitness

Anybody that learns from Tony Horton or from BeachBody is just wasting their time and money…

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I don’t want to slam, this blogger, but it’s my opinion that I think learning fitness from these expensive programs like P90x, Total Body, or 10 minute bullshit, that it’s all fake and won’t give you results that the ads claim. The reason I hate P90x and Beachbody instruction, is that when you buy these things, they give you a packet of stuff, like a set of DVD’s, instructional books and extra small workout equipment, etc. These packets will give you a program and you must follow each one, each day and follow their diets exactly the way it is shown.

I never go for these fitness programs that mail you these boxes of DVDs and you have to go through them all, blah blah blah. Not my thing. Why go through all that crap, when all you need is a good set of cheap dumbbells for home and a gym membership? That’s much cheaper than these ripoff beachbody programs that just want to take your money.

I don’t need to  learn from Tony Horton or from any of those professional trainers that are famous.

Did I go through any of this to get the body of my dreams? Did you see me go through any of this expensive stuff? NO! It only costed me very little to get ripped! Anybody can lose weight and get jacked, and it will only cost you cheap. I don’t think these fake beachbody programs will give you good results. You certainly won’t look like Arnold or Sly by going through this crap. You don’t have to buy anything to get into fitness. All it takes is research, dedication, and hard work to get good with fitness. You want to learn more about fitness, don’t do it through Beachbody.

I learned and taught myself fitness by doing a lot of reading. I read through Arnold’s BodyBuilding book, through the internet and other resources. I just studied, studied, studied. Without buying anything. If you’re thinking about getting into fitness to get ripped or to lose weight, I don’t want you going through this, or this.

Another way to learn about fitness is learn from other bodybuilders who have a lot of experience, they’ll be willing to help you. Just don’t get ripped off by these major fitness companies that all they want is your money. End of story.

Kev

Books, Celebrity news

Thought: How can Steve Martin be boring? Seriously???

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Steve Martin, hosted a show at a venue called, 92nd Street Y, in NYC, to promote his new book, “The Object of Beauty”, but the audience complained about the show ’cause Steve was too boring to them. Steve was not acting funny and wasn’t telling jokes on stage that he’s known for. Instead, he went to talk about something serious and talked about art most of the time. The venue apologized for the show and gave the audience refunds.

Read more on the story, here.

In Steve’s defense, anybody that calls Steve Martin boring, is a stupid idiot. Does a standup comedian always need to be funny and entertaining, all the time? NO!!!!!!!!!!! Steve Martin is never boring. Whether he gets funny or serious, whatever. I think his topic on art would be pretty interesting. It’s just that the whiny audience had something to complain about.

There is a reason that Steve was unfunny that night. His book, “Object of Beauty” is about the arts & culture. A serious subject, not about comedy at all. If you go to a Steve Martin show about this book, you would have to expect him not to be funny. The new book is a fiction novel about a young woman named Lacey Yeager who is an art dealer. The book sounds interesting to me, I’d like to read it myself.

Steve just wants to try something that’s not comedy for once, give the guy a break!

Kev

Politics/war, Uncategorized, World Wide Web

Thought: Wikileaks should be taken off line and the site creator should be arrested!

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Yesterday, I decided to check out the controversial Wikileaks, website, that’s been all over politics news. I looked through it all, and yes, there are some pretty heavy duty stuff on that site that is pretty disturbing. Lots of private and confidential war logs have been made public for the world to see and there’s even shocking and sad videos of innocent Baghdad civilians being shot and killed by the US army on helicopter. It’s obvious this Julian Assange guy, just wants some attention for himself. I agree that the site should be shut down and Julian Assange should be arrested. This guy is giving America a bad name. I hope they catch him.

Kev

TV

Report: Chuck Norris becomes real life Texas Ranger!!!

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Former action movie hero and the star of the successful TV series, “Walker, Texas Ranger” goes from being a fictional Texas Ranger to real life Texas Ranger. Chuck and his brother Aaron, pictured above, were honoured by Governor Perry during a program they did in suburban Dallas. This was all because of the Kickstart Kids program which Chuck and his wife Gena has started. They are scheduled to give out awards to Davila Middle School Students Friday evening.

More on it, here.

Nice to finally see a recent picture of Chuck Norris! Notice he hasn’t changed a bit. Chuck is 70 years old, and he’s still looking like he’s frigging, 30!!! Plastic surgery Chuck? Wigs? Chuck is standing next to the guy with the white cowboy hat on.

Wonder if Chuck will make a comeback to acting, whether it’s for film or TV? Maybe he quietly retired from the entertainment business.

He has gained some weight, I can see, he’s pretty fat now.

Kev

movies

Report: Frankenstein on his way back to the big screen, will be written by Craig Fernandez…

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Well look like Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein” is getting another remake but this time it will be a contemporary version, being written by a screenwriter named, Craig Fernandez. Read all about it, here.

I hope the new movie will stay true to the 1931 “Frankenstein” movie with Boris Karloff, but I’m having this bad feeling that this new “Frankenstein” movie Deadline is reporting, maybe another boring CGI popcorn fest and it might be in 3D. It should be a serious horror film with acting talent and good film making.

Kev

 

Crazy stuff

Report: Aliens do exist after all???

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Earlier this afternoon, NASA made the shocking announcement that there could be Alien Life Forms after all these years. Over the many years that Earth has been around, there has been speculation that there might be aliens from outer space and other galaxies, making their way to Earth. All these stories in UFO’s and fictional movies doing stories on aliens (“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “E.T.”, “Communion”, “Cocoon”, etc.). It seems official that aliens could be real.

NASA found bacteria arsenic in the poisonous Mono lakes in California. Read all about it, here.

Interesting! I’ve always believed in aliens. Not sure if aliens look like what you see above, but the bacteria is evidence that aliens could be real. What do you think? Do you believe NASA or they could be full of shit? Just to get some attention in the news?

Kev

Kev Brock music

Thought: Playing music with high energy vs. playing with heart…

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Yes, there is a big difference between a band/solo artist that plays music with high energy or playing with heart. High energy means performing tight, something that will give people’s heads to bounce up & down to or dance to at live music shows. Playing with heart, means performing with feeling, the music slowly comes out naturally, giving the listener goosebumps. I do like performances with high energy, but the problem with bands, that a lot of them lack heart in their playing. Not enough feeling. That’s the way I always listened to music. I will be a fan of a music artist or band if they play with enough feeling or heart, the notes they play that will make me watch the performer in awe and never get bored. Feeling the goosebumps all over. If I don’t feel that with a performer, I’m not interested. Doesn’t matter how good you think they are.

With my own music, I try to play with heart. Playing with heart, really draws people to your music. When other musicians say, when you make music and your own songs that you write, make you smile, that means you’re onto something and it’s a possibility other people will like your music too. This is why you should record all of your song ideas down and listen back to it. If you don’t like your song, it’s best that you trash it, and only play the songs that you are proud of publicly.

The fact is, you can promote yourself to death as a musician all you want. You can promote yourself to death on the internet or put up ads in town, people are not going to support you, if  your songs aren’t good enough. Bands have this problem of releasing every song they write publicly and then they get all kinds of negative feedback because of it. If you want people to enjoy your music, only release the songs you like. I’m proud of the music I did and have learned this lesson myself. Next time I put out a new batch of songs which will be coming up ahead soon, I’m only going to release the songs that I like and being more careful this time on what I put out there. If you put a song out there and if it doesn’t get a response at all, then you’re doomed.

Take your time on songwriting, there’s no rush. You can take over a year to keep your songs to yourself and when you’re ready to make songs public, go ahead only if you’re proud of the work. You want to put out songs that people can respond to. You don’t have to be a classically trained guitarist or a virtuoso, all you need is just a few chords and you can still play your songs with heart. Neil Young did it. Neil inspired me that anybody can write great songs, no matter how good or bad you play guitar or sing.

I’ve been concentrating on more guitar and getting deep in music theory, I need to learn it all. If you want to be a better songwriter, theory will help improve yourself. Yes, I am also writing new songs again and hoping to get a new batch of songs out in 2011.

Kev

music, TV

Congratulations Eminem!

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It’s been a long long time since we’ve seen Eminem at the Grammy’s haven’t it? Yes, it has! The rapper scores 10 nominations, topping the most nominations this year. I hate the Grammy’s but Eminem making it this year is great news. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Eminem’s music. I admired his work for a long time. I think he’ll sweep everything.

Kev

movies

Thought: What would the Batman movies be like without Christopher Nolan???

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Chris Nolan announced the sad and not so surprising news that he’ll be quitting the Batman movies, after the “Dark Knight: Rises“. Warner Bros. will probably continue to make more Batman movies without Chris, but it makes you wonder what would happen if a director other than Chris helms a Batman movie? Here’s what I think. Nobody can make a better Batman movie than Christopher Nolan, period. I think we all know that. I’m a little worried that when Chris Nolan leaves after “DK: Rises”, the Batman franchise will go back to making crap movies again. Maybe a different director can make a good Batman movie, who knows…if a different director does happen to make a good Batman movie without Nolan being involved, it could be possible, but no other director could top Nolan. Nolan made the Batman movies the way they are supposed to be.

Hell, I’m even a little nervous about Chris Nolan’s “DK: Rises” flick that he’s planning. You’ll never know that the “DK: Rises” could turn out to be a shit movie or might turn out ok, but nothing will be better than ‘The Dark Knight” with Heath Ledger. I think, “The Dark Knight” is the best Batman movie out of all of them made from the past. I don’t just like, “The Dark Knight” just for Heath Ledger’s performance alone, he was great, don’t get me wrong. I like the whole movie overall ’cause it told a great story and the action was just amazing.

Don’t expect anybody to make a great Batman movie ever again. “The Dark Knight” was a very special film in so many ways. “The Dark Knight” should have gotten BEST PICTURE for the Oscars as well which didn’t make it that year. “The Dark Knight” was just a perfect Batman film, that I’ll never get tired of watching it. “Rises” won’t be any better, I bet your money on it. People want the next Batman flick to be better, but I don’t think it will happen. That’s how powerful, “The Dark Knight” film really is.

Just my 2cents folks, just don’t get all excited about “Rises” this soon.

Kev