Reverb: The Official UTF Blog

When I was a kid, I was a huge Ultimate Warrior fan, but I agree with the wrestlers and commentators in this video; nobody understood his promos. However, I remember rooting for him in his matches anyway…despite the fact that he couldn’t wrestle worth two cent.

Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, you’ll find this video enjoyable. The Ultimate Warrior was quite a character in the 80s…he still is today. The man (aka Jim Hellwig) did actually legally change his name to “Ultimate Warrior” after all, and he is clearly in another universe.

YouTube Video Link: Ultimate Warrior

This is why I love Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor. This is a quote from an interview he did with the Herald Sun in Australia:

Well, in Brisbane I end up meeting and greeting some record label people, who are pleasant enough, and one of them is a sales guy, so I say “Why is this the case?” He goes “Because your packaging is a lot more expensive”. I know how much the packaging costs — it costs me, not them, it costs me 83 cents more to have a CD with the colour-changing ink on it. I’m taking the hit on that, not them. So I said “Well, it doesn’t cost $10 more”. “Ah, well, you’re right, it doesn’t. Basically it’s because we know you’ve got a core audience that’s gonna buy whatever we put out, so we can charge more for that. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy it. True fans will pay whatever.”

Read the rest of the article at the Herald Sun. It’s an interesting read that’s basically in agreement with how I feel about major record labels and why I’m in favor of musicians being independent.

Shrek and Fiona are back in this third installment of the Shrek movie franchise. Before seeing this movie, I accidentally ran across a movie review headline from a critic. I didn’t read it until after the movie, mainly because most movie critics and I do not see eye to eye about movies…especially Spider-Man 3. In any case, the whole gang is back, this time in Far Far Away. In 60 seconds or less, here’s my impressions of the film:

1. Shrek the Third is not as funny or entertaining as the first two films. I didn’t find myself laughing out loud as much (or as hard) as I did with the previous films. That doesn’t mean it’s not funny because it is, but some of the jokes intended to be funny fell flat with the audience. It seemed that the film’s writers were trying to hard for laughs.
2. The story line (a version of Camelot) for Shrek the Third is on the weak side. While Shrek and Shrek 2 borrowed from popular fairy tails and pulled it off brilliantly, the third installment did not do this as well. I also found the ending for the main plot of the film to be a bit disappointing and a bit too “peace, love, and happiness” for me.
3. Producers are already planning a fourth movie in the franchise. I think they should stop at this movie. I really don’t see where else they can go with the Shrek story. They should stop thinking about money and end the franchise before it turns into Superman III and IV.
4. Shrek the Third’s story is not as well thought out as the first two films. Again, that’s not to say that it’s not a good, entertaining movie. The bar was set very high after the first two films, and while my expectations weren’t enormously high, I did expect better.

Shrek the Third is a good but not necessarily perfect ending to Shrek and Fiona’s story. I would recommend seeing it, but for me, it’s not one of those films that you should rush out to go see. Apparently, other movie goers agreed because my theater was nowhere near as packed as it was for Spider-Man 3. Nevertheless, Shrek the Third was a good start to my weekend, and if you enjoyed the first two movies, go see it…just lower your expectations. Read more

In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m a big Prince fan and have been since I knew what music was. While I still love and support the purple one, I feel like some his best music was made in the 80s with Wendy and Lisa. They contributed to Prince’s music that made him better, something that’s been missing since The Revolution dissolved. Some say that Wendy and Lisa helped to give Prince’s sound in the 80s a more “pop” sound rather than the funk sound he had without them. I would agree with that considering nearly all of Prince’s music since the Sign O the Times era is very funk-oriented; however, while Wendy and Lisa was contributing to Prince’s sound in the mid 80s, he managed to channel his funk sound into pet project Vanity 6 hit song, “Nasty Girl.

Vanity aka Denise Matthews is a born again Christian now, but back in her day, she was the most recognized figure in Vanity 6. She radiates on the stage, even in this lip-synced performance. Prince knew what he was doing when he chose her to front Vanity 6.

YouTube Video Link: Vanity 6 – Nasty Girl

I’ve been following the Paris Hilton story since it first broke that she would be doing some time. Not electronic monitoring. Not community service. Not work release but actual jail time for violating her probation. While I am not rejoicing in her going to jail, I feel satisfied with the judge’s decision to make her do time. If any other ordinary citizen breaks the law, we suffer the consequences. So, why does Paris think she’s so different? Because she’s Paris Hilton, of course.

She’s the celebutante who is “famous” for doing nothing. Since the Simple Life first came out, I have rolled my eyes at the stupid antics she’s orchestrated to remain famous. I shook my head when her sex tape got leaked to the public. I asked myself why is Paris constantly strutting the red carpet and calls herself a “Hollywood starlet” when she’s only made one film, the House of Wax, in which she plays herself. I cried in horror when she made her “singing debut” and released her album. Maybe it’s her “I’m better than you” attitude that initially polarized me from the beginning, but over the years, it’s become more than that. Paris Hilton is a racist, has no morals, lacks intelligence, and has gotten on my nerves since I first started hearing about her. I have wished she would just go away, like much of the public. Now, it looks like we’ve gotten our wish…at least for 45 days.

What annoys me with Paris is that she refuses to accept any responsibilities for her actions. She messed up, not her publicist. So instead of saying, “I broke the law. I didn’t do what I was suppose to do, and now I have to face the consequences of my actions.” she blames it all on her publicist! Last time I checked, Paris is a grown woman…at least in terms of her age. I mean, she is 26 years old, believe it or not. If Paris relied on her publicist to take care of her legal problems, then it’s her fault for “not knowing she didn’t have a suspended license,” not her former publicist. Read more