The King's Speech, Five stars, Two Thumbs Up, Hands In The Air

Where did I get all these  hands?
I must've picked them up at the movie because I think everyone in the theater had the same reaction in the end, judging my the standing ovation of a movie that came out a month ago.
So  here's the deal: King George the V (Colin Firth) has a speech issue. He stammers due to childhood issues, and his dad (Dumbledore, Michael Gambon), and teasing and other such matters. So they call in this unortohodox speech therapist Lionel Louge (Forgive any spelling errors). And when World War II breaks out, he has to give his war time speech via radio, which is the climax of the movie.
Anyway, bit by bit  shall we?
Actors- The obvious two best preformances were Colin Firth and Geoffery Rush, King George and Lionel respectively. Helena Bonham Carter was showing off her diversity in a normal-ish role (I'm so used to seeing her as Bellatrix or the Red Queen or something crazy that when I finally see her out of character I have to tell myself several times, "THIS IS ACTUALLY HELENA!"). And whoever the two kids playing Elizabeth and Maragaret Rose were incredibly adorable!
Story- How anyone can make speech therapy so energizing is beyond me. I'm a lost cause ADD child and this movie was, like, two and a half hours and I was enraptured the whole time. And ITS ABOUT SPEECH THERAPY! It was hugely amazing and I'm running out of adjectives, so lets move on, shall we?
Cinematography (sp?)- I loved the whole look and feel of the Speech Therapy office. It was a gritty kind of beautiful. Lower class London at it's finest. The couch is losing it's stuffing, the wall is a commotion of scuffed up colors. The royal settings had a very regal, stuffy, confined feel to them. Lots of reds and rich dark colors.
Rating- Alright, as weird as it sounds, I give this to those who have concerned parents. The movie is reated R..but
If you're kids can handle the F-word, we're good. There were incidents of smoking, some alcohol, and the only time they really cursed was in speech therapy as a way of getting out stress and not stuttering. I talked to  my mom about why they put that bit in (she works with much more orthodox speech therapists)  and she said that that's actually pretty normal in treatment. Anyway, it was a very light R-rated movie. If you want to take a thirteen  year old, it wouldn't disturb them.
(By the way, if you don't trust me, and I don't blame you if you don't, IMDB has a good parental guide on the movie, as they do with most films).
Overall: Refer to the title

Patti Rothberg Returns

If you don't know who Patti Rothberg is, I don't blame you, but you need to find out. Her new album "Overnite Sensation" comes out on Valentines day, and it's one of my most anticipated this year.
First, lets do a lot of history.
If you've been around long enough, you've probably heard the name Patti Rothberg before. She had a hit song in the 90's called "Inside" from her debut album "Between the 1 and the 9". Then her record label branch closed off and we didn't see anymore from Patti until 2001's "Candelabra Cadabra".
Then in 2008, "Double Standards" came out, and that was when I was introduced to the sardonic, sarcastic, beautiful, lively, genius that is Patti Rothberg.
And now she's back for a fourth round.
What I really liked about the album was that every song sounded different in it's own way, yet you could still tell you were listening to the same album. Lots of rock, blues, acoustical, a little bit country, punk, singer-songwriter.
So if you like any of those genres,you'll like Patti.
I reccomened buying all of Patti's discography, "Candleabra Cadabra" and "Double Standards" (as well as a short EP called "Snow is my Downfall) are on iTunes. You might have to do a little searching for "1 and the 9" but there are some good copies on eBay (that's where I got mine).
You can also find her on Facebook and Myspace.
So do the world and yourself a favor and check this very talented lady out.

Love Letters From Hogwarts

Dear you,

I'm in a wizard rock band, Love Wrocks (we're on Myspace and Facebook) and we submitted two songs to an awesome charity compilation Love Letters From hogwarts. All the proceeds go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It'll be on Bandcamp and maybe iTunes Feburary 8. Or you can buy a physical copy, but more on that later.
Sorry to spam you all, I just want to spread the word. And hope someone buys it besides me.
And if you don't know what wizard rock is, here is the answer to that.
Wizard rock is an incredibly silly genre of music devoted to songs involving Harry Potter in one way or another. It's incredibly stupidly fun.
It also is a fun way to promote literacy. If you wanna start a band, grab a kazoo/guitar/flute/lute/tuba/bass/drumkit/your vocal chords/mandolin and get at it!
Randi Redvines