Brazilian Film Festival, Photo Studio Opening, + reviews of Rihanna remix album + new Josh Ritter & more

I went to a couple cool events this weekend, but before I start on that, I've got to say the highlight of my week was watching Alexandra Barreto (of Pepper Dennis, Tooth & Nail, and the upcoming short film Career Day) make a guest appearance on the FX channel's TV show "Justified" this past Tuesday. She will be a guest on the show again this upcoming Tuesday, January 8th. I was invited to go to a party this coming Tues, but I've decided not to go so I can instead watch this special episode. I would go to the party and download the episode on Itunes the next day, but all the TV episodes now are only in High Definition, and I found out my computer won't play HD videos. I bought Season 10, episode 22 of Law & Order SVU ("Zebras") and the Saturday Night Live episode when January Jones hosted; and neither of these videos would play on my computer because they were in HD. I don't know if it's the amount of memory in my computer, or the fact that I'm running Windows XP. Those of you who can watch HD on your computers can get this past week's episode of "Justified" on Itunes, and this coming Tuesday's episode will also be available on Itunes on Wednesday.

I had a busy weekend attending events this week. Friday the cool place to be in Hoboken was a studio opening party for Sigen Photography. The photographer, Irina Smirnova, showcased her work which was projected onto the wall as techno music blasted from speakers. While there I spoke with an independent film producer Lisa Cataldi, who is currently working on a short film called Thelonious Hands, the film is expected to start shooting in July. There were excellent gourmet cupcakes catered by Tawny Ong, as well as free drinks and custom-wrapped chocolate bars which were wrapped in paper imprinted with a photograph of the NYC skyline and on the back of the wrapping was Irina's website address ( http://www.sigenphotography.com ). After the photo studio opening party I paid a visit to Hoboken's Ninelounge, a classy venue with bottle service and flat screen TV's which was designed by the same designers as NY's Pink Elephant nightclub. Once inside, I pleasantly surprised to find that the manager there was a former manager from Pink Elephant.

Saturday I went to the opening night of the Brazilian Film Festival. I had to be there at 5pm to get my credentials, but there was a reception that began at 5pm in the Inffinito Lounge which is in the same building as Tribeca Cinemas. They had music by a DJ named Leanna, who played upbeat music which sounded Brazilian or Latin at the very least. Upstairs was a small VIP reception where I picked up a complimentary Corona, and there were also free Yuengling beers and Poland Spring bottles. Downstairs in the main reception they gave out free miniature personal pan pizzas. I met with an actress who has a movie in the festival, her name was Rita Cadillac, and I learned a little bit about her. She started out as a dancer on a Brazilian television show and also hosted a popular Brazilian TV show in the 80s. She's considered legendary in Brazil both as an actress and dancer, and her life is the subject matter of the film featured in the festival, "Rita Cadillac, The Lady Of The People" which screens Monday June 7th; and Wednesday June 9th.

The movies I saw Saturday at the opening were "The Well Beloved One" and "Mamonas 4-Ever". "The Well Beloved One" was totally up my alley since it was a comedy about corruption in politics. It was a hilarious movie about a mayor who would do anything to be re-elected and further his career. The movie parodied the way politicians use all sorts of accounting tricks to pay for pet projects for which the funding simply doesn't really exist. This movie is the story of a conservative mayor who gets elected because he promises to build the first local cemetery for a town that never had one before. Since city hall couldn't afford to pay for it, he takes money out of the town's electricity and water budget causing power and water shortages, and still he needs more funds so he shaves money away from the contractor's budget, resulting in a cemetery filled with graves too small to be occupied by a human corpse. Throughout all of this the mayor is having trouble juggling three mistresses, all of whom keep angling to marry him. The mayor spends the entire film at odds with the town's liberal local newspaper which invents false stories of a shark in the water at the local beach to damage the mayor's tourism revenues, hoping the tax shortages will lead to the mayor's downfall. The mayor finishes work on the cemetery only to realize he can't hold a grand opening ceremony unless someone dies, so that the opening of the cemetery features a commemorative burial. It is then that the mayor first prays for his own sick cousin to die, and then later tries to enlist the help of a murderous fugitive, who he goes as far as to hire as chief of police in the hopes that the criminal will kill someone soon. I found this movie to be very entertaining, upbeat, and funny. This movie screens again Wednesday June 9th. The other movie I saw, "Mamonas 4-Ever" was a documentary styled film about a popular Brazlian comedy-rock band called Mamonas Assassins. The movie talked about how the group originally formed, the factors that led them to decide to record comedy rather than conventional pop music, and how their unique brand of comedy won them popularity and commercial success in Brazil.

Now on to music reviews. Rihanna has a new remix album out, "Rated R (Remixed)", a collection of brand new remixes, all of which are by Chew Fu. Chew Fu is also known for remixes of recent hits by Blake Lewis, Lady GaGa, and Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado. The highlight of the album is the remix of "Russian Roulette". Her voice soars on this track, especially in the sensual chorus, "And you can hear my heart beating, oh you can see it through my chest, said I'm terrified but I'm not leaving, know that I must pass this test, so just pull the trigger". Of all the tracks on the album, "Russian Roulette" has the best vocal performance and it's complemented perfectly by Chew Fu's techno rendering, which turns it into a sexy club anthem. There are two more highlights of this album, the Chew Fu Molotov Mix of "Fire Bomb" and Chew Fu Guns In The Air Fix Mix of "G4". These two remixes play back to back actually, and they sound great together. Chew Fu does do a great job of creating remixes that have different rhythghmic paces so that altogether their remixes play well as a full album. "Rude Boy" and "Stupid In Love" were remixed into midtempo versions to provide some cool-down tracks for the album. "Wait Your Turn" is another of the more uptempo remixes on the album and a great song too. The album also has a cool intro-track which is mostly instrumental, "Mad House"; while "Hard" and "Photographs", the last two songs on the album, both sound like the kind of songs DJ's usually play at the end of the night at parties.

Another great dance track that is out now on Itunes is the latest single by Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl - "Your Love's A Drug". It's a mid-tempo techno song with an anthemic chorus, perfect for both radio and clubs. This is a strong follow up to her hit dance track "Somebody To Love" which featured Robin Thicke. With each single release Meester demonstrates her vocal prowess even more. It would be great if they could commercially release some remixes of these singles. So far the only remixes she'of hers are the remixes of "Good Girls Go Bad". 3 are available as bonus tracks to the deluxe version of Cobra Starship's album "Hot Mess", and one remix is available for individual purchase as a single on Itunes. For those of you who haven't heard Cobra Starship, their music is a cross between rock, techno and pop. Their most recent single "Hot Mess" was also remixed and is available as a remix single on Itunes. They also have an awesome song called "Chew Me Up And Spit Me Out" from the soundtrack to Megan Fox's movie "Jennifer's Body".

Now on to rock- Josh Ritter's latest album, "So Runs The World Away" is a phenomenal album. For those unfamiliar with his work, Josh Ritter is a cross between soft rock, folk music, with subtle country influences. He is also known for intellectual, thought provoking lyrics; often his music is heavily influenced by Ritter's liberal political views. The three must-hear highlights of Ritter's latest are "Southern Pacifica", "Long Shadows" and "Lantern". "Lantern" would make a great single, since it stands out as the record's most upbeat and memorable track. "Long Shadows" is also a fairly upbeat song, while "Southern Pacifica" is a ballad. There are a couple of harder edged songs on the album "Rattling Locks" and "The Remnant". "Folk Bloodbath" goes from a slower tempo to a midtempo pace with very dramatic lyrics. Ritter has done a fantastic job of building up a following over the years with minimal support from radio, due to the superb quality of his songwriting and performances. He's released a bunch of live albums which are further testament to the strength of his concerts, all worth checking out if you like his studio work.