The Eleven Best Movies Coming Our Way

Another Pirates of the Caribbean-movie! Seriously? Can't they pleas stop before they ruin everything...

I LOVE the three original Pirates movies. Shares the top shelve for trilogies together with Nolan's Batman movies. But the fourth Pirates movie was a disappointment... Without Gore Verbinski and more than half of the original cast it's simply impossible to top their game. Stop while you can so you don't ruin Pirates' reputation more that you've already done.

That being said, there are quite a lot of films I'm really looking forward to!

There has actually not been that many films that has sparked my interrest, but that's about to change... Some of these movies I've waited for for years (like The Hobbit) and some I simply discovered while writing this blog post. To keep the list from being never-ending, I managed to narrow the list down to only eleven...

(Note: all release dates are for Norway)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (November 9th)

Why: I've heard about the book, and when I learned Emma Watson was going to starr I had to check out the trailer. It blew me away, an I know I just have to see it! Such an adorable and honest story of misfit and misunderstood teenagers.

Who: Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller

Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 (November 16th)

Why: Well... I have read all the books, so I sort of have to se the conclution to it all. However, the movies are not as good as the books. For this last one I even know they changed the ending quite drastically. But I think I'll se it anyway, just because it's the last and because Robert and Kirsten are great actors.

Who: Robert Pattinson, Kirsten Steward, Taylor Lautner, Dakota Fanning and Stephenie Meyer.

The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (December 12th)

Why: Lord of the Rings are epic! Everybody knows that, even if they have neither seen or read it. Unfortunately I was only seven years old when the movies came to cinemas all over the world. Now it's about to happen again. We get to see how it all started. The Hobbit is a lot more funny story, and I can't wait to actually be able to be a part of it this time! Me and my sister has got tickets to the midnight premiere, so bring on December, pleas :)

Who: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Peter Jackson, Howard Shore, Benedict Cumberbatch, Elijah Wood, Christopher Lee, and a whole lot more!

Life of Pi (December 25th)

Why: I heard it on audiobook many years ago. All I remember was that it was totally wired and absurd, but it was also quite amazing. Such a special story I actually don't know how they will manage to tell on screen... But I hope they do. I hope its great!

Who: Ang Lee and Suraj Sharma

Silver Linings Playbook (January 4th 2013)

Why: Seriously? Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in the same movie? I loved it before I even read the title! And when I saw the trailer I instantly knew this is going to be one of my movie highlights... If you, like me, loved the 1993 Benny and Joon, you just have to see this.

Who: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro

Rust And Bone (January 11th 2013)

Why: I have no idea. I literally discovered this while writhing this post. It's even french! I normally can't stand french movies. But this trailer... It just drew me in, and now I just know that I'll have to see the movie. It actually looks great.

Who: Jacques Audiard, Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts

Les Misérables (January 18th 2013)

Why: Epic. That's what this is. The story, the actors, the music... everything. The trailer is one of the most breathtaking things I've seen, and I just know that this is going to be big.

Who: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe, Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Seyfried, Sacha Baron Cohen and Tom Hooper

Anna Karenina (February 22nd 2013)

Why: I've always wondered what it is about this Tolstoy-guy that has fazcinated generations... Finally I'll get an opportunity to find out.

Who: Keira Knightly, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Joe Wright

The Great Gatsby (June 7th 2013)

Why: I've seen the old one. I didn't understand a thing... That's the thing about this story, it's not really about what it seems to be all about. That much I understood. I hope I get it this time. This is the 21st centurie's Gatsby... An old tale in a new dress (or suit).

Who: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Baz Luhrmann

Man of Steel (June 14th 2013)

Why: One reason - Christopher Nolan. Anything that man touches literally becomes gold. He's my favorite director/writher/producer of all time, and I just have to see what he's done with this one. I'm not a fan of Superman, but the trailer looks promising...

Who: Christopher Nolan, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Russel Crowe

The Lone Ranger (July 3rd 2013)

Why: With a cast and crew like this one, the film could be rubbish and I'd still watch it! Mr Blockbuster himself (Bruckheimer) managed to unite the world's best actor (Depp), two brilliant scriptwriters (Elliott and Rossio), a fantastic director (Verbinski) and the ever-present Depp-sidekick (Bonham-Carter). This just has to be good!

Who: Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski, Helena Bonham-Carter, and Armie Hammer


Anything tempting? :)

Darren Criss - Where Did He Come From?

Thousands have seen the TV-series Glee. Most of them know the character Blaine Anderson. Some also know that Darren Criss is the actor portraying him. But very few actually knows where he came from... What did he do before Glee?

Have you ever heard of A Very Potter Musical? Or StarKid Productions?

I actually discovered Darren before he became a part of Glee. He could be found om Youtube!

While attending University of Michigan he majored in Theatre Performance. After graduating, he and a bunch of his former class-mates founded the production company StarKid Productions. 

The idea for their first stage production came quite out of the blue. Darren and a couple of the other guys was just playing guitar and making up songs for fun, and suddenly they had made this funny song where Draco (from the books of Harry Potter) was secretly in love with Hermione, and that's the reason he was so mean to her all the time. That little idea lead to a lot of ideas... and soon they had made an entire parody musical based on the Harry Potter-universe!

It became an instant hit, and all of their performances at the University of Michigan was completely packed. So high was the demand that they decided to videotape one of their shows so that friends and family could watch it online. What they didn't expect however, was that the show would go viral on Youtube. Today, the first part of the show has got over 9 million views!

The show has a completely different take on the Potter-story, key words being Draco played by a girl, Voldemort being the most likable character, and RedVines turning out to be quite magical. The songs are really catchy, the characters and the plot are truly hilarious, and the actors behind it all are brilliant. Even Tom Felton thought it was great! In 2010 they did it again, and A Very Potter Sequel was born. 

This unpredicted success boosted both Starkid's and Darren Criss's carrear. Out of the blue Darren got an audition for the hit TV-series Glee on Fox. He was cast as Blaine Anderson, and only two days later they started filming. Now that season four has just started Blaine is listed as one of the main characters and Darren has never been more popular.

Earlier this year he got his first role at Broadway as the main star of the show How To Success In Buisnes Without Really Trying. And just to confirm what a strong bond there is between Darren and Harry Potter, he was cast in the exact same role as Daniel Radcliffe! They played a couple of weeks each.

As some sort of gesture to where Darren originated from, one of the newest episodes of Glee portrayed him in a wizzard costume. Fans of StarKid and AVPM all over the world spoke up in total excitement! Everyone is eagerly waiting for the finished edit of A Very Potter Senior Year, which was preformed at this year's Leaky Con.

He recently starred in Katy Perry's music video Last Friday Night along with some of his fellow Glee members. As he's one of Gleeks' favorite character, and he's set to starr in the movie Imogene opposite Kirsten Wiig, just imagine how far he can go from here... Three years ago he and the other Starkids dressed up and sang their songs outside the midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Just one year later he was invited as a special guest at the red carpet screening of the Deathly Hallows Part 1! He's such a humble, thankful, awesome and hard-working guy I hope his journey has just begun :)

A Dubstep Violinist? (Lindsey Stirling - album review)

Lately I've been more into music than I usually am... Så here's yet another post about a new album!

Lindsey Stirling entered America's Got Talent in 2010, and became known as the "Hip-hop Violinist". However, she got voted off after just a couple of weeks. Piers Morgan, one of the judges told her she was unmarketable and needed to be in a group. He also said that she was unable to dance while she played because that made her playing sound like "rats being strangled". At the time she said id was quite devastating, but it also made her determent to prove him wrong...

Shortly after, she was contacted by Youtube cinematographer Devin Graham (devinsupertramp) who wanted to make a music video with her. The result, the song "Spontanious Me", instantly became popular and got thousands of views! This marked the start of a great collaboration and an even greater Youtube carrear.

What's so different about her is that she brings so much more to her music and videos than normally expected from Youtube musicians. She's got a bobly personality that shines through and makes her stand out! Even though she plays the violin, which is a very classical instrument, she loves genres like rock, dubstep and just about anything with a good rhythm. The key is that she mixes the genres in such a perfect way so that just about everyone that hears her loves her music.

Another fantastic thing about her Youtube-channel are the videos themself. They are SO GOOD. Costumes, fantastic landscapes, thousands of camera angles, surprising locations... She's got it all. As of this date, her channel "lindseystomp" has got 870 116 subscribers and the incredible total of 144 million views!

She's also done a very famous medley of music from the videogame "Zelda", a "Lord Of The Rings" medley, and she cooperated with percutionist Peter Hollens on a "Skyrim" cover and, more recently, a "Game Of Thrones" cover.

Due to her success she recently released her first album, appropriately named "Lindsey Stirling". It can either be bought on iTunes or, like I did, directly from her website. It features a lot of the songs form her Youtube channel, but also a couple of new ones.

It's just as amazing as I knew it would be! Even though you don't get the visuals like you do watching her videos, the music itself is so good and varied itself you don't need anything else, really...  For some of her songs she's even added vocals here and there, and that made the songs stick out even more, and it removed the danger of the different tracs being too similar.

Favorite tracks: "Moon Trance", "Elements" and "Crystallize"

All in all... loved it!
Perfect for both enjoying really loud in my headphones and as background for my homework reading :)

The Kaizervirus

As most of my norwegian readers already know, The Kaizervirus is spreading across Norway, Europe and beyond. But I thought I'd make this post anyway to enlighten those of you who don't know.

So, first thing first...

Who and what is Kaizers Orchestra?

Well, they are...

Jan Ove "The Jackal" Kaizer (Vocal)

Geir "Hellraiser" Kaizer (2nd guitar)

Terje "Killmaster" Kaizer (1st guitar)

Rune "Mink" Kaizer (drums)

Helge "Omen" Kaizer (Pump-organ)

Øyvind "Thunder" Kaizer (bass)

And that's just about it!

Adressing the what-issue, Kaizers Orchestra is probably the most famous Norwegian band since... ever? At least they've done what many thought impossible: Make a Norwegian band, singing in Norwegian, that is not a heavy metal-group, famous abroad. Now fans all over the world actually learn Norwegian just to sing Kaizers-songs!

Formally, Kaizers Orchestra is an alternative rock-group, but they don't let themselves be pinned down to just one genre. With "instruments" like a pump-organ, ash-trays, trash-bin-lids, hubcaps and their ever-so-famous oil barrows they are truly unike and never boring. Some describe their style as messy, noisy and just a mashup of screeching sounds. I used to be one of those... But increesingly many people all over Europe and beyond love their style and theatricality, and they are said to be Norway's best live-band.

Just to clear some things up, the band formed in 2000 and have published eight albums since then, so they are in no way in the "new-and-upcoming-category". And secondly, I'm not at all fitted to be a spokesperson for them or their music, as I only a couple of months ago suddenly discovered that I actually liked them.

What is The Kaizervirus?
You see, they are from Jæren in Norway, which is basically where I'm from. (It's about 20 minutes from Stavanger.) And they even sing in my dialect, which would probably be called Stavangersk or Jærsk. It's actually got a very special, odd and distinct sound to it. In Norway people either love it but can't imitate it, or they hate it and think it's broad and ugly. Either way there are even a lot of Norwegians that can't understand it very well... My point is: All of Kaizers' lyrics are written and preformed in this dialect, which is a very bold and un-common choice.

Anyway, to complete their album trilogy named "Violeta, Violeta", they have developed an android-app named The Kaizervirus. Basically you just install it on your phone, go for a walk, and suddenly your phone tells you that you have been infected by one of the viruses. Which means that you walked by another person who'd already been infected. Then you open the app and you get to listen to one of the bright new songs from the not-yet-released album "Violeta, Violeta: Volume 3". After a while, the band will release another song, and it will start to spread just like the others. After all the songs have been spread the album will be released... It's never been done before, it's awesome and it actually works!

The music video for the first single, Aldri Vodka, Violeta, has been released today and can be watched HERE.

The second song, Siste Dans, and its intro has been leaked unto Youtube...

Why haven't you been a fan of these for years already?
I know. Stupid me. My problem is this: I always refuse to pay any interest to what "everyone else" is into at the moment. I don't listen to the Billboard Hot 100, or read the bestselling books, or buy some kind of clothes that everyone wears... You get the point. It's not because I want to be cooler or better than anyone else, it's simply because it's boring. It doesn't tell anything about who you are.

This sort of thinking sometimes makes me very "late" in discovering popular things that were actually great! I discovered The Lord Of The Rings seven years ago, the Harry Potter-series five years ago, the Twilight-saga three years ago, MUSE two years ago, and so on... Since Kaizers was basically from Stavanger, where I grew up, they were very popular and "everybody" loved them. As you have already guessed, I did not. Perhaps mostly because my little sister became so into them? I figured she could have a passion I didn't "interrupt".

Sadly that ment that I only recently discovered how great Kaizers Orchestra really were. But, better late than never...

Now I'm trying to make up for lost time, as I'm actually going to see them live in the new Stavanger Concert Hall together with my sister in February! She told me I could not embarras her by not knowing any of their songs. I guess I'll just start in one end or the other?

So, twelve years later, I hope I'm still welcome into the line of Kaizers-fans...