So what’s the movie about? Basically there’s this guy called Eli who carries a book and a knife. Apart from that he also kicks major ass.

So that’s Eli. And what does he do? Apparently he has to carry the book to the west and he’s been trying to do that for the past 30 years already. 30 Years ago, the war (probably the third world war) tore a hole in the sky. What they are trying to say is that, that same hole wiped out a large part of the human race because the sun burned everyone that wasn’t in their shelter. Nowadays people have to carry sunglasses outside constantly (otherwise they’d go blind) and things we consider basic necessities are more than luxury in that world. Take for example body water, soap, shampoo and even wet wipes from the KFC (I’m serious dude…), they are all considered worth a lot in the future. Quite a cool setting if you like post-apocaliptic settings and the overall movie sceneries look good. the desaturated and cool colors fit the setting very well. The fight scenes are also very nicely shot. The camera rotates around and Eli fights of a lot of bad guys and the whole looks very dynamic.

So what about the story? Well…I’m not a religious person but the whole concept is kinda cool. If you don’t want to get spoiled, skip this paragraph right here. Right…so Eli is carrying the bible and some other guy wants the bible so he can control the dumb and poor, because apparently, that’s how you get control over the mass (look at how much power the church has these days). And Eli will not let go of the book because a voice in his head told him to carry it east. So the story is actually pretty simple, but I think it nicely reflects on society now. Seeing how stupid the ‘normal’ people are and how the elite (Gary Oldman) wants the bible so he can gain control of the people again, because religion is a very powerful weapon.

So the acting…Basically I don’t think Denzel was a very good person to portray Eli, but that’s because I expected Eli to be a bit more hardcore and thought Wesley Snipes sure would make a better action hero. But since the movie didn’t focus on action, Denzel was OK I guess. Gary Oldman did a pretty good job and looked very convincing in the movie. The only real misstep was Mila Kunis. She’s not a bad actress, but she reminds me too much of ‘That 70′s Show‘ and she’s not fit for serious roles. Also the fact that she was actually not necessary for the whole movie, but I think Hollywood just likes some random sidekick in the movie.

But is there anything special about the movie? If I have to be honest…No. It’s not a movie you have to see, but if you have time and money spare, why not? It is not the best movie of the year, but absolutely not the worst. I never had any big expectations of the movie and I was basically left with the same feeling before walking in the cinema as I had before. Don’t expect anything mindblowing, but just some good entertainment. One thing I do want to mention is that  I actually expected a few more a fight sequences. The ones in the movie were OK, but not that spectacular and way too short. The trailer made it look a lot cooler that it was in the actual movie.

Verdict: 

So back in November, when I first heard about the concert, I was crazy excited about the fact she was going to London. Even though I’m not from the UK myself, it sure was a lot closer by then Japan. The day the pre-sale started, I was already camping on the website to get the tickets (button-bashing my refresh button from 8:59 AM). Of course, the night before, I was calling everyone I knew frantically about the concert and see who was down with going to London with me. I found a few people and bought the tickets. And lucky I was crazy enough to wake up early for the pre-sale, because the tickets were sold out pretty fast.

So a few months later, it was finally time for the concert (I went to the one on the 12th of February), and I planned on going to the venue at 12:00 PM, even though the concert would start at 8:00 PM. Since I was a bit too early, I decided to come back later.

So now it was about 4:00 PM and there was a small queue. Everyone was standing pretty close to each other like penguins, because it was COLD! And knowing I had to stand for at least 3 more hours didn’t help. Once the queue slowly started to get longer and longer, it struck me that I was actually one of the few asian people there. Quite a surprise that we asians were outnumbered.

Anyway, the doors opened around 7:00 PM and everyone rushed in. Good thing I was queueing early, so I got a pretty good ‘seat’. I was standing approx. 10 feet away from her and it was pretty amazing, to stand so close to the stage AND in the middle The concert started of slowly, and some Greek DJ was playing some pretty good music (I think her name was DJ Marlene). There were some discussion about the fact whether it was really a ‘she’ or a transvestite, but yeah, I have no idea. All I know was that she was kinda….boring. No interaction with the crowd or anything. Too bad, because the music really wasn’t that bad, but she needs to work on her interaction and her transistions between songs.

So after that, around 8.15 PM, ‘Opening‘ started to play (track #1 on ‘Exodus‘). A very nice opening for this concert, as it is her first overseas concert and also a very nice piece on her ‘crossing-over’ to the international market with her music.

I put the whole tracklist of the concert below, but I’ll go over a few of the songs in particular here. So right after the interlude, she started with ‘On and on‘. Very nice song to get the whole concert started a very catchy song in general. She basically started of with a set from her ‘This is the one‘ album (this was the tour for that album, you know) and they were pretty good. Her voice was very good and she hit the notes pretty well, though a few slip ups every now and then, but yeah, it’s live. But she basically did all top songs in the beginning, like ‘On and on‘, ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI‘ and ‘This One (Crying like  Child)‘.

After this set, she started with ‘Passion‘ but switched to ‘Sanctuary‘ for the second verse. Quite a nice move I’d say. A favorite of most people, but even though I like ‘Passion/Sanctuary‘, I don’t think it’s one of her best songs.

Afterwards, she got on the piano for a few songs. She actually almost forgot to do ‘Passion/Sanctuary‘ and got on the piano right after here ‘This is the one‘ set But she started playing ‘Sakura Drops‘, which was incredibly good. The song is already amazing, but hearing it live is a whole different dimension of ‘cool’.

After the Japanese set she did the ‘Exodus‘ set. Not everyone may like, but I personally really love ‘Exodus‘ This was where the highlight of the concert was for me. Once I heard the start of ‘Kremlin Dusk‘ I almost had to cry (almost….). It was the most amazing thing ever. I’ve seen this on her ‘UNITED 2006‘ tour, but still, to see it with my own eyes…The whole buildup, and the live version had a lot more ‘rock’ feeling to it, which just made the song even more amazing. After this she did a cover of Placebo’s ‘The Bitter End‘. I never heard of this one before, but it was pretty good. The live arrangements were cool and Hikki going all rock is just awesome

Then she did another set of ‘This is the one‘, with ‘Apple and Cinnamon‘ (a favorite of many people I think) and ‘Come back to me‘. Both very nice songs so not much could go wrong. But right after ‘Come back to me‘ she started ‘First Love‘ and the whole crowd went crazy, which is understandable of course, since this is one of her most famous songs, and I bet a lot of people started listening to her because of this song 11 years ago. Another classic was of course ‘Automatic‘. The crowd went even wilder here, since this is her first single and also how I got to know her. Very nostalgic.

After ‘Dirty Desire‘she went of the stage and everything just went black. Some people even left the venue (probably didn’t see the tracklist online…stupid). But she made us wait for about 15 minutes before coming back for the encore. It started of with ‘Simple and Clean‘, which sounded very similar to ‘Hikari’ in ‘UNITED 2006‘ (duh…) but also how it was sung was similar, but still nice, since it’s one of my favorites. Afterwards she had small talk about ‘Me Muero‘ that it was her favorite song and then she started doing the last song of the whole tour. And this is how it all ended.

She started throwing the foam balls at the end and I desperately tried to catch one, but the 2 going my way were just wayyy up there, so no luck there. One drumstick flew my way though, but my friend standing behind me, but who’s much taller than I am caught it -_-

A few more funny things:

- There were people from all over Europe who came to London for the concert

- Some people also went to the concert the day before, which was held because a lot of people couldn’t get tickets for the original one on the 12th

-There were even people from Japan, since the tour was only in the US and UK, asians just had to fly over to either US or UK for the concert. Pretty hardcore I’d say.

- Pictures were not allowed, and they were very strict about that. There were a few flashes and the security immediately started searching the crowd for the people. My friend managed to take a few pictures though

Playlist of the concert:

0.Opening (Also known as track #1 from Exodus)
1.On and On
2.Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI
3.Poppin’
4.This One (Crying like A child)

5.Passion / Sanctuary [Japanese & English mix]

6.Sakura Drops (Utada on piano)
7.Stay Gold (also with piano)
8.Devil Inside
9.Kremlin Dusk
10.You Make Me Want to Be a Man
11.The Bitter End [cover song originally by Placebo]
12.Apple and Cinnamon

13.Come Back To Me
14.First Love
15.Can You Keep A Secret?
16.Automatic
17.Dirty Desire

Encore:
18.Simple and Clean
19.Me Muero

Apart from this, She’s also been posting extensively on her blog (translations here). Some posts about her recent promotional activities, which of course, include the Sephora events, check ‘em out here, here and here. Wish I could be there man, think it would’ve been awesome. Well, too bad I live on the other side of the planet.

So yeah, here are a few pictures of the package…man this CD rocks!

Cover

I really like the picture on the inside

Right, apparently you can’t rotate pics in WordPress…

So anyway, buy the CD, it’s great. Though they could have spent some more time on the backside of the booklet…

First thing is…according to Taku Hirano’s MySpace, who’s Hikki’s percussionist (I think you can see him in the “Utada United 2006” DVD) they have an upcoming performance for “On Air with Ryan Seacrest“, just read do quote below if you don’t believe me:

“Upcoming performances include an appearance with Japanese pop superstar ..Hikaru Utada.. (EMI Japan / Island Records U.S.A.) on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on March 23, 2009.”

So could that be our first live performance? Sure do hope so, I’m dying to see some real live Hikki again, because the 50th spin of “Utada United” gets kinda repetitive.

And our next piece…It’s another entry on Hikki’s blog in English, go read it here. There’s this funny picture where she looks exactly like an high school student. It’s about her doing another appearance on the radio which was located in a high school.

The last thing is an article by the LA Times with a very realistic view (IMO) on Utada’s and BoA’s American debut. It’s quite a long article, but also very interesting to read, so be sure to read the entire article, it sure is different from most promotional articles that appeared on the net the past few weeks.

]]> http://playscape.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/lots-of-news-on-utadaand-a-bit-boa/feed/ 0 RespectLoose utada-interview-asiance http://playscape.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/more-changes-for-the-american-release-of-this-is-the-one/ http://playscape.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/more-changes-for-the-american-release-of-this-is-the-one/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:41:08 +0000 RespectLoose http://playscape.wordpress.com/?p=267 ]]> That’s right, first it was the delay of the physical album and now there’s more. Or at least, it sure does look like it.

But this time around, the change isn’t as dramatic as the first one. Amazon (here) had a change in the tracklist. Actually, it’s more like they shuffled some tracks around, so no tracks added or removed. Here’s what it looks like:

1. Come Back To Me
2. Me Muero
3. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI
4. Apple And Cinnamon
5. Taking My Money Back
6. This One (Crying Like A Child)
7. Automatic Part II
8. Dirty Desire
9. Poppin’
10. On And On

I personally liked “On And On” as an opening song, kinda reminded me of “Fight the Blues” with the fast yet dreamy melody. Though I agree putting “Come Back To Me” earlier in the album (read earlier, not as the first song), it’s a bit too early for my taste. I also think “Me Muero” was a nice ending song, leaving you with this odd and strange feeling when listening to it. Sure hope they’re not going to use this as the actual tracklist, because ”On And On” was a very good opener while ”Me Muero” was the best ending track they had. But the release isn’t till May (at least not the physical) , so plenty of time to change it back.

Well, let’s start with the review. This is what the tracklist looks like (again):

1. On And On／オン・アンド・オン
2. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI／メリークリスマス・ミスター・ローレンス – FYI
3. Apple And Cinnamon／アップル・アンド・シナモン
4. Taking My Money Back／テイキング・マイ・マネー・バック
5. This One (Crying Like A Child)／ディス・ワン（クライング・ライク・ア・チャイルド）
6. Automatic Part II／オートマティック・パートⅡ
7. Dirty Desire／ダーティー・デザイア
8. Poppin’／ポッピン
9. Come Back To Me／カム・バック・トゥ・ミー
10. Me Muero／メ・ムエロ
11. Come Back To Me (Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit)
12. Come Back To Me (Quentin Harris Radio Edit)

So the album starts of with the track “On And On“, which is a very upbeat song and it starts of very nice. Once she starts singing it immediately sets the tone of the album, very mainstream pop-like music. The lyrics are simple, but somehow, I don’t think they’re lame. I kinda like her airy voice and the ending is very awesome, very much like the Hikki we know, yet different because of the lyrics. Which are a lot more carefree.

“Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI“ immediately starts off with a very familiar melody (which is of course the main theme of the movie “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI“). But like ”On And On“, once she starts singing it turns into a very simple mainstream song. But the song sounds really nice, with the piano piece and the urban beat over it. Her singing in this song is also very good, it just fits perfectly with the orchestra.

The next song has got to be my favorite song of the album. “Apple And Cinnamon” caught my attention the first time I heard it, and felt attracted to it immediately. The R&B ballad which somehow sounds like her early Japanese work, yet modern. But the lyrics are very good as well, very emotional and expressive, telling a story of 2 people fitting together perfectly, but somehow fall apart and her voice fits the song nicely. But somewhere 3/4 of the song, there’s this strange synthesizer for a few seconds which sounds totally inappropriate, but still, this song is amazing.

After the amazing ballad, we have another mainstream song, this time  more R&B oriented. “Taking My Money Back” somehow sounds strangely similar to Destiny’s Child (“Say my name” in particular). And I have to say, I hate Destiny’s Child and so, this song, sure isn’t one of the better ones on the album. It’s not bad, it’s just that I hate Destiny’s Child, and I don’t want to listen to something even remotely similar to their work.

Ok, next song, which is “This One (Crying Like A Child)“. Another R&B ballad and almost on par with ”Apple And Cinnamon“. Though I think the lyrics are simpler this time they also sound very unique. Strange, but I’m liking it. Maybe when she’s putting more emotion into the song, they just sound better, because the emotional songs are a lot better on this album.

So now we have “Automatic Part II“, which was supposed to be the crossover between her Japanese and English work. It starts of like a very playful song, and I have to say it’s completely different from what I had in mind. The lyrics are very similar to “Animato” somehow, like an introduction of herself, yet funny and playful. Give it a listen, you’ll see what I mean. But calling it “Automatic Part II“…hm…I dunno, it doesn’t do “Automatic“ justice, and kinda makes my all time favorite song look bad. Not that it’s a bad song, but it’s just not worth seeing it as a follow up of the original song.

“Dirty Desire” has very sexually oriented lyrics (duh…) yet the song doesn’t sound all that bad. The lyrics my be a bit much because she usually doesn’t do songs like this in Japanese, but hey, this is a totally different album. But somehow, the song changes it’s tune toward the end, much like “Apple And Cinnamon“, but this time, it’s worse, and they should’ve left it out.

When “Poppin’” starts off, I immediately was thinking of Pink Panther and a very burlesque/Moulin Rouge like setting. Apart from the funny feeling it gives me, the song is definitely the weakest song on the album. And she kinda sounds British when she’s talking in the song, weird. And yes, the lyrics are very sexually oriented again.

Next is “Come Back To Me” (See the longer version of the review on this song here), which is another slow R&B ballad and the lead single of the album. It’s a very good song and her vocals fit the song nicely and the drums are also very nice. Sounds kinda familiar, yet refreshing.

“Me Muero” is the strangest song on the album. The lyrics are so weird, yet so familiar and easy to relate to. It’s a very easy to listen to jazzy/latin flavored song. Again, not the song that I had in mind, but I was pleasantly surprised when I first listen to it, it’s just so weird to listen to it that I feel strangely attracted to it.

The other to are remixes of ”Come Back To Me” and not very special. I wished she made more remixes like m-flo’s remix of “Distance“, which is still the best remix ever.

Som that was the album. It did feel very short, and with 2 very weak songs (“Taking My Money Back” and ”Poppin‘”) it felt even shorter. It’s also different from her Japanese work, so don’t expect anything amazing like “Heart Station“, we’ll have to wait a while longer for that. Talking about waiting, US guys have to wait till May for the physical release of the album, while the digital release is still the 24th this month. But the album is something different, even different from “Exodus“, which some people may see as a good thing (I personally think it’s a shame, but that’s just me), this album came out like a very mainstream pop album, pretty much what she intended to do with it and shows a totally different side of her. But it’s still good, with songs like “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence – FYI” and “Apple And Cinnamon” I’m sure she’ll do fine. But The album doesn’t deserve 5 stars IMO, it’s too short and the I really hate ”Taking My Money Back” and ”Poppin‘”. Well I wouldn’t call it hate, but yeah, it’s just that she could’ve done better.

Rating: