Thumbs up to Taylor Swift for stepping so far out of her comfort zone (come on she’s classified as a country singer!) and thumbs up to T-Pain for doing this at the risk of losing his “cred”

Oh and check out this video of Taylor getting  shocked during Halloween by Ellen Degeneres. Just watch it for 28 seconds. Hilarious!

Before I start, let me preface this by saying I’ve never read about Astro Boy before and I didn’t know a thing about the Astro Boy comic before going in, including the casting. That means that stuff I was surprised or impressed by may be different if you already know the backstory or you’re expecting it to be similar (or different) from the future incarnations of the character. Needless to say there are spoilers, if you don’t want to know any specifics about the movie, stop here and just know that it’s worth watching.

First of all, the animation is pretty amazing. I don’t think I can recall another show that has had such vibrant colours, seamless animation and stunning visuals quite like this. The contrasts between Metro City and the Surface are clear and you always have a pretty good sense of the environment as well as what’s going on. The fights are pretty cool as well and every single one of the characters is pretty well animated too.

The story is really the best part for me. It’s a pretty dark story as I didn’t expect the original Toby to actually die. As I mentioned I hadn’t read Astro Boy before so I’d assumed it was like a Japanese Pinocchio story where a boy is just ‘made’. But the tragedy made it even more poignant, and made worse when Doctor Tenma wants nothing to do with him. In yet another dark turn we see Hamegg turn on Astro Boy (which I suspected would happen) but you do sorta feel like poor Astro can’t get a break in the film. Sorta like how Spider-Man is when he’s Peter Parker – nothing goes well.

The voice acting is great as well. I paid specific attention to Donald Sutherland (the president) and Bill Nighy (Dr Elefun) and Kristen Bell (Cora) just because I knew who they were, and I thought Donald Sutherland and Bill Nighy in particular outshone Nicholas Cage (Dr Tenma). Freddie Highmore as Astro was pretty decent and I loved that Samuel L Jackson had like three lines as Zog.

Speaking of Zog, the characters in the show really shine. From the silly Robot Revolutionary Front (I want an action figure of the Fridge) to the kids from the Surface to the squirt bottle and wiper to Trashcan the robot dog, they all have really fun bits in the show which come together without overdoing it, which is a nod to the great pacing of the show as well.

I’m sure some will point to the over the top president as an analogy to some modern politics and going to war, but it didn’t disturb me quite as much. What I did find out of the ordinary was Dr Tenma’s suddenly switch of mind to revive Astro, despite previously wanting nothing to do with him and agreeing to de-activate him for the president.

Overall I thought this was a great show with a tight script, great voice talent and top notch animation and something fans of the super-hero, animation or action genre would definitely enjoy.

[image credits: Wikipedia and Zap2it]

“.. it employs polo shirt-wearing teenage baristas who field your requests courteously and with a smi – actually, the French are still working on the whole customer service thing.”

Truer words have never been spoken er… written!

I can’t say I took notice of 3Oh!3 before this though I certainly heard the song on the radio, but the addition of Katy Perry really does it for me, and the video is fantastic! I love the premise of it (don’t miss the first few seconds or you won’t get why all the women are running), I love the silly period parts at 1:22 and 1:43 and the RIDICULOUS rock-climbing + sushi eating at 2:07!!!

And of course Katy Perry looks really hot in this video. She strays from her usual poofy bottom skirts to wear rare one pieces which fit her surprisingly well considering her hips are a little wider than her frame allows. Well done for not going with the same look, Miss Perry!

I see this song in my brain for a long time to come.

[ps: just want to throw a link to The Best Damn Blog where I first discovered the song! Great blog! And also to MTV who seems to have learned not to restrict their videos to US-only]

It also means Christmas is coming, which is my favourite time of the year!

All in all, it’s happy time.

: D

The jokes might be too geeky for some, but if you’re a comic book fan, Star Wars fan and gamer like I am. The show is perfect.

: D

So here’s the thing: is sounding that similar good or bad? I’ve posted both versions below. You decide!

There’s enough choice out there. Let’s get over it and move on.

And the original song for reference:

Regardless, here’s my prediction: Heroes will be canceled after this season. And it’s about time.