Review of Tinchy Stryders new CD

Tinchy Stryder's ascension from grime crew Ruff Sqwad's squeaky-voiced 14-year-old gimmick to one of Britain's biggest pop stars may have taken a decade – but the past two years have been meteoric for him. Third Strike aims, first and foremost, to maintain the momentum set by 2009's crossover album Catch 22.

This comes at the expense of any surprises or twists, though. Tinchy seems content to consolidate his territory with more of the same. The album piles on faux-inspirational choruses, platitudes about perseverance and empty, vague yearning relentlessly. Trebly electro synths and needless Auto-Tune is slathered over the production like cheap icing: light and shade are eschewed. Tinchy's dogged flow fits the aesthetic, but fails to elevate it: an unthreatening likeability has been the key to his crossover, and he mostly sticks firmly to bland nice-guy roles in lieu of having anything memorable to say or ways in which to say it.

It wouldn't be so disappointing if Tinchy hadn't already proved himself capable of better – and as on Catch 22, there are a couple of cuts on Third Strike on which he cuts loose, both musically and lyrically. Gangsta? twists and turns with genuine energy, Tinchy suddenly sounding hungry and full of life. Even better, the grimy, bass-heavy beat of Game Over provides the base for a menacing posse cut that brings the best out of all involved – and it must surely be cause for optimism that it was chosen as a single above some of Third Strike's less inspiring moments. Let's hope this foreshadows what could still be a brilliant career.

Media (Upcoming movies)

On my last visit in the cinema, I have watched a few movie trailers for the upcoming year, 2011. There had been a lot of good films released this year, but the trailers had made me look forward to 2011. These are a few of the movies that had caught my interest:

1. Transformers 3

I have watched the previous Transformers and have been a big fan of this movie series. Another thing to look forward to in this movie (im sure most people is looking forward to) is seeing the new leading lady who replaced Megan Fox lol.

2. Fast and the furious 5

I will be expecting another fast paced action adventure for this 5th addition.

3. Harry potter 

The last part of the Harry Potter series. At last we get to find out the ending of this famous novel based movie. I have been watching this from the very beginning and I’m looking forward to see its ending (hoping it’s a happy one).

4. Paul

This film should be a good laugh, giving a new angle to an “alien” movie.

5. Gnomeo and Juliet

Another version of Romeo and Juliet. Like the original, the families are in a feud, but in this movie the characters are gnomes! This kind of movie keeps me in touch with the kid in me.

Next year should be a good year for films and should keep me entertained J

Jayson

two recent movies I watched

Ohhhh yeah the two recent movies I watched was Harry Potter the Deathly Hollows part 1 and Narnia The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. Even though I never planned to watch this movies as I had been dragged along to watch it. I actually enjoyed watching it. I think both of the movies where good but I rate harry potter to be better. When I was watching Harry Potter I was expecting it to be boring but I was surprise for it to be that good. My favourite character was Dobbie, he almost made me cry specially in the ending lol. It was a very sad moment. It was filled with action packed magic and sorcery.

Narnia was also good but I think that first one was still better. I also thought the two films have a lot in common. When I was watching Narnia I fell asleep for about three minutes I think because I was tired lol.

I watch it with my girlfriend and she was very into it. About Narnia it always end the same way! As if nothing had happened to the characters, all the adventures that they had been too and the entire struggle, they always go back to the way they lived and act as if nothing had happened. I think this is the only part I hated about the movie. And for harry potter I’m excited for the last part as it is going to be the last Harry Potter movie. We can finally see what the ending is going to be!! I think if you haven’t read the book you will be excited but I know most people have if they are really into Harry Potter, as for me I haven’t read it so there is a lot to look forward to. 

I think these two movies are for the family to watch and if you haven’t seen these movies yet I recommend that you do!! J

Jayson

Top Gear

This popular motoring show started out in 1977 and ran until 2001, before being revived in 2002 in a new format. It features Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as they review new cars, and sometimes older classics, in varying manners. The shows invariably feature a high-performance supercar of some format being driven very harshly around a custom built test track. Implausible challenges are shown almost every episode, usually featuring the tagline “How hard can it be?” The show would also feature famous people, mainly musicians or actors, to drive a “reasonably priced car” around the test track. This is a good show because it has good variety in the challenges, the supercars that are shown are otherwise very difficult to see in real life and the presenters themselves are very good at entertaining all manner of viewers.

The Crystal Maze

This show started in 1990 and ended in 1995. It was a mainly physical game show that saw contestants trying to win big prizes. This was achieved by collecting time crystals obtained by beating challenges in 4 categories – Mental, Physical, Skill and Mystery. The games were timed between 2 and 3 minutes and any contestant staying in the room for more time than was allotted for the game was locked in. the time crystals would give 5 seconds of time each inside the Crystal Dome, where the contestants would try to collect as many gold tokens as possible. The number of tokens that they collect determines what prize the team wins and over 100 gold credits after deduction of silver tokens will win the top prizes. The theme tune to this show was titled “Force Field” and composed by Zack Laurence. This series is a personal favourite of mine because it always has high entertainment values when contestants make mistakes during the games.

The Adventures of Tintin

This animated series was started in 1991 in an attempt to make a more faithful rendition of the books than the earlier attempts running from 1958-1962. The series ran much closer to the books, something that pleased the viewers of this series. The theme tune, and the majority of the soundtrack, was composed was composed by Ray Parker Jr. Some things were unsurprisingly changed; for instance Captain Haddock’s constant drinking of alcohol, seen commonly in the books, was toned down to avoid problems of audience sensitivities. Also, in the books Tintin’s dog Snowy was frequently seen speaking to the audience yet can’t in the series, presumably because Tintin would understand him as well. Finally, minor scenes were removed from the original storyline because of time restraints, and where possible new scenes were added in to explain some of the behind the scenes activity that hadn’t been seen in the books. This programme is a favourite of mine because of its faithfulness to the books in both storyline and aesthetics.

Road Wars

This series follows a specialized team of police officers from the Thames Valley Police, later the Devon and Cornwall Police as they try to keep control of suspects believed to be involved in drink-driving, drug related offences and other situations. Frequent themes include high speed chases and aggressive suspects. Footage of pursuits from the USA also makes appearances. This series separates itself from regular police shows because it follows the officers’ work as opposed to simply showing pursuit clips. I like this series because the police are on camera, yet always maintain their standards of professionalism throughout the program. Another good thing is the often amusing “strategies” that suspects will try in order to get away from the police.