Blogging: Reviews for Music, Television, and more...

I've decided to get back into this blog. My love for music and entertainment in general is the main reason why I decided to start this site so with that in mind, I will be reviewing new music, shows, and movies.

I will also have news for artists to watch out for and why.

There will be videos posted from across the web, and hopefully one day, I will start a YouTube channel to keep everyone in the know.

For all else, follow me on twitter.com/neominitails.

Kelly Rowland Talks a Good Game And Knows How To Back It Up

It's been awhile since I've made a post however, after hearing Kelly Rowland's newest album, it appeased me to make a review. As a starter point, I must say, I have always been a fan of the "always in the shadow of a certain Destiny's Child singer" since the beginning, always hoping for her to get her big break. And, for once, her big break is here and with the right decisions, she can also stop doing her 'dirty laundry.'

With a perfect mixture of pop and r&b, Kelly's perfect choice in lyrics creates her own "Control" type of album that fans have been waiting for since the beginning.

This will be a track by track review so let's get started.

1. Freak - This song opens the album that reminds you of something Missy Elliot would have written during the 90's when she was at her biggest, writing for R&B stars everywhere. It's a song that gets you wanting to dance within seconds and the way Kelly sings this song, it just feels like she means it.

By the second chorus, you, too, find yourself singing with her, saying: "Can I be your your your your your FREAK!" In case you feel bad about saying it, Kelly reminds you, "Every bodies... Somebodies.. FREAK!" so its a-okay.

The song goes on for four minutes and thirty four seconds and yet it feel so short.

Rating: 7/10

2. Kisses Down Low - I didn't really care for this song when I first heard it however after buying the MP3 album and after the lead in song, this song suddenly becomes extremely hot. Kelly's first single. It seems like Kelly realizes that sexy music is her expertise. The lyrics are hot and sensual. Her low notes are nice but I must say, it makes it ten times better when she's singing in her higher register. The song is very visual, and its easy to imagine what she's talking about without the elicit descriptions.

While a very strong R&B song, there is definitely a country influence, something her and Beyonce have in common in writing which is great in being able to tell a story which this song does very well even if its not very deep.

You'll find your sensual side after listening to the first two songs, that's for sure.

Rating: 7.5/10

3. Gone featuring Wiz Khalifa - This song is hot! I personally would have preferred this as the second single but as that won't be happening, this would be the best next song! This is the first song that isn't a "sensual" love song, but rather it's a break-up song reminiscent of Janet's "Got 'Til Its Gone" and Beyonce "Irreplaceable." It uses the same sample Janet used on "Got 'Til Its Gone" however having the same message as Beyonce's "Irreplaceable."

You have to laugh when Kelly gets to her second verse, telling her man that it's over.

Oh love – your dinner’s waiting down the street…

And you can have it your way

So… the mess you made is yours to clean

So don’t be looking at me

See, I don’t mean to disrespect you

But I think you could’ve done me better, don’t you?

You fool

It's a fun song, and for some reason, I can see girls quoting this song as if it's a valid way to tell someone that they're breaking. Actually, it's a pretty good way to break up with someone.

Wiz Khalifa was a perfect addition to the song although I'm not a big fan of him, myself.

Rating: 8.25/10

4. Talk a Good Game featuring Kevin Cossum - The title track. This is one of the slowest songs in the album and also, the first song that is very so-so in my opinion. It definitely isn't bad, but it isn't great.

Kelly opens the song with a very promising opening while the rest of the song shows off how well Kelly can say "Oh and ahh..."

The rapper Kevin Cossum just doesn't add much to the song in terms of story. He seems like he wasn't sure on how to add to the story so he never seems to add that care factor or anything that would add more to the song. I almost wonder if having another singer like John Legend, Usher, Robin Thicke or even Justin Timberlake would've add more to the song. There were other rappers that she could have chosen such as Drake or maybe an old school rapper from the 90s or earlier 2000s.

The beat is kind of boring and nonchalant and the song has a very nonchalant feeling to it.
Rating: 6/10

5. Down on Love - In keeping up with Kelly's storytelling skills, this song picks up from where the last two songs have led us. Your voice is beautiful on this track and the emotions are sung perfectly. It shows vulnerability, confusion, sadness, and anger especially at the end when she starts ad-libbing and while she keeps saying the same thing, you feel it. "I've been down on love!" The sequence is wonderful for where the song is placed, having now told the guy that she's 'Gone' and how she can leave a guy if he talks a good game but his words are a meaningless nothing.

Rating: 8.75/10

6. Dirty Laundry - This is the second single and personally, I think this song should have been the title track. The emotion in this song is "top notch" and her low notes are amazing. This song does right that the title track does wrong. This feels like something Janet Jackson would have written in the "Velvet Rope" era or something Eve could have written when she's at her top.

There is never a moment where she oversings, but she holds back in a way that tears at your heart strings. From her opening 'hmm... hmmm' to her ending lines 'love is pain and pain is love'... you can feel the angst in her voice. There is no doubt that she's actually still feeling this pain.

Her third verse and powerful and climaxes the entire song.

So here I am in the spin cycle

We’re comin and we’re goin

Nobody can know this

And I was trapped in his house, lyin’ to my mama

Thought it could get no worse as we maximize the drama

Started to call them people on him

I was battered

He hittin the window like it was me, until it shattered

He pulled me out, he said, “Don’t nobody love you but me

Not your mama, not your daddy and especially not Bey”

He turned me against my sister

I missed ya

The song doesn't offer advise saying this is how it is and what you should do. It's just pure and honest emotions, telling the story of what happened to her. When someone is going through situations like this, there is no "I have to do this" or "People look up to me so I will be a hero for everyone," it isn't just an easy "yes" or "no" situation.

People have claimed that the song is a Beyonce diss which it is not. It just happens that she mentions her in the song because that was her reality. For people whom claim it's a diss, the following lines cannot be dismissed as her just covering her tracks, but merely telling a story and how it affected her Bey's relationship.

From the first verse, she mentions Beyonce:

While my sister was on stage, killing it like a motherfucker

I was enraged, feeling it like a motherfucker

Bird in a cage, you would never know what I was dealing with

Went out separate ways, but I was happy she was killing it

Bittersweet, she was up, I was down

People seem to only listen to the first part on the verse rather than what she says after.

From the second verse:

Kinda lucky, I was in her shadow

Phone call from my sister, “what’s the matter?”

She said, “Oh no, baby - you gotta leave!”

I’m on the kitchen floor - he took the keys

I was mad at everybody, I mean everybody

Yeah, her, her, her her everybody

Five years later, I got my shit down pat

A diss about someone wouldn't show that person trying to help them even if that person didn't know exactly what was going. It takes me back to when DC came out with "Girl," the therapy Beyonce and Michelle came out with to help Kelly neither girl knowing what was going on but knowing that Kelly was going through something.

From the third verse:

He pulled me out, he said, “Don’t nobody love you but me

Not your mama, not your daddy and especially not Bey”

He turned me against my sister

I missed ya

If anything, the song is like an apology to Beyonce.

Rating: 10/10

7. You Changed - Destiny's Child is reunited in an amazing song! This and the last track are both on the same level of just being awesome. This song also shows that the last song wasn't a diss against Queen Bee. The three girls still have an amazing chemisty when they sing together.

The chorus is powerful and sarcastic:

I can say I'm done in a million ways

But let's not beat around the bush

Let's cut to the chase

You changed, I changed but it's too late,

Now I'm so through, too cool, oh yeah

And if our love was a game, you just lost

You changed, I changed but it's too late

It's a perfect sequence after the last song like a sequel to the last few songs. It seems like a part two to the song "Gone" and the way Kelly tells stories is pretty darn amazing.

Rating: 10/10

8. I Remember - Kelly's dance track. It also is the start of a new chapter in Kelly's album. I'm not a fan of dance music however, even I, a person whom doesn't like this kind of music, love this song! It's sweet, melodic, her voice is pure prettiness in this track. It's a sad love song that speaks of an "ended" relationship that she still remembers.

I do have a thing for sad songs that are not sung completely sad. Still, her emotions emote perfectly. Strangely, it reminds me of a J-Pop track something that would be done by Ayumi Hamasaki or Lia.

Rating: 7/10

9. Red Wine - The title, the beat, the way she sings, it all fits. Its just so smooth. This is another song that reminds me of something that would probably have been on Janet Jackson's "Velvet Rope" album. If she keeps doing music like this, she's going to have a huge career in the future. It has a very 90's pop feel and again, it continues the J-Pop sounds of Ayumi Hamasaki and Lia.

I can see someone using this song in a dinner date.

Rating: 8/10

10. This is Love - Continuing the chapter of love, Kelly Rowland assures herself and fans that love still exists. She lets you know that she truly knows love and that she's "be a fool to let this go." The pity party is over and she is not "down on love."

Rating: 8/10

11. Street Life featuring Pusha T - The beat in this song is hot! It's simple but it's most definitely a filler and doesn't seem to really fit in with the rest of the album. It reminds me of something that Vanessa Hudgens would have released in her "Sneakernight" album. It's very corny and a try at being hip, but it comes off as a woman whom has hit a mid-life crisis or trying to prove to her kids that she's still cool.

The rapper, unlike Kevin Collum, adds a lot t the song but not enough for me to like the song.

Rating: 3.5/10

12. Stand In Front Of Me - Kelly Rowland's final song in the normal version. Your voice is song phenomenal. The song is also simple and slightly bubblegum, but it's okay. It has a very 50s feel with a modern twist. I actually really love this song. Her low notes, higher registers, falsetto are all on point.

Rating: 9.5/10

Final Rating for Album: 8/10

Now onto the deluxe version which is what I bought myself:

13. Sky Walker featuring The Dream - This song is awesome. If you're like and buy the clean versions of albums, The Dreams part will be heavily edited. It's written by The Dream whom is an awesome writer however, he has a tendency to curse a lot in his lyrics when writing adult lyrics even when writing pretty songs about love.

This song often curses without reason however it doesn't take away from the production, the singing or the story.

Rating: 9/10

14. Put Your Name On It - The production is top notch! Her vocals are top notch! This has to be one of the sexiest songs ever! It has a rock theme, hip-hop, r&b smoothness, and even a slight J-Pop theme to it. This may be my favorite song on the album.

Rating. 15/10

15. #1 - The final song in the deluxe version is here. This young woman knows how to end an album! It reminds me of like a Ciara and Beyonce made a child and this is what they came out with. However, this is Kelly Rowland letting a man know that she will be nothing but number one if she is to be with this man.

Empowering to woman, production top-notched, vocals even higher than her own top-notched, this is the ultimate in closing n album.

The deluxe version is definitely worth a buy.

Rating: 12/10
Overall Rating for the Deluxe Version: 9/10

Click the above link to buy the Deluxe Edition - Explicit Version on amazon.com

Click here to buy the normal edition...

For clean versions:

Talk a Good Game

Click above for the clean normal edition!

For the clean deluxe version

(You can skip this part! UN-IMPORTANT!!)

Hello everyone! For those who have known anything about the story Fiery Rose, there's finally some exciting news if my plan ever goes into action. The plan didn't just come to me, sadly... so I can't say I just wanted to be plain an individual, but it came to me after I was going all over youtube and noticed these strange new series of Sailor moon coming out or the trailers for them. It was odd to me then it clicked, wait, I want my own show! Lol. Who cares if I don't own most of the character? Haha.

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T HAVE A CLUE TO WHAT FIERY ROSE IS:

A couple of years ago, I wrote a story called Fiery Rose with the unusual couple being Rei Hino (DUB: Raye) and Shuichi Minamino. Rei Hino is Sailor Mars in the anime Sailor Moon while Shuichi is the kitsune that we all know and love on Yu Yu Hakusho named Youko Kurama. The story also crosses over with Inuyasha but in general, they are not part of the main cast.

Each show has their own storyline to Fiery Rose:

On Sailor Moon:

Usagi has disappeared and Rei has been in search for her for awhile now. While taking care of ChibiUsa aka Rini, she must keep on the lookout for the girl's mother while trying to keep her own composure. Her personality is based on the manga and anime... portions of both are used in this story. her grandfather dies in the beginning thus her reason for moving in with Kagome Higurashi of Inuyasha, her cousin. There was no chance that she would move in with her father.

There, she is removed from her private school and decides to go the same school as Yusuke which is where she befriends Keiko and then sees Kurama whom she used to be friends with long before meeting Usagi. He didn't remember her immediately but thought she was very familiar.

Main characters from this show that'll be in the movie or serial project that I want to start:
Rei Hino (Dub: Raye ) aka Sailor Mars
Hotaru Tomoe aka Sailor Saturn
Setsuna Meiou (Dub: Trista ) aka Sailor Pluto
ChibiUsa Tsukino ( Dub: Rini ) aka Small Lady aka Chibi Moon

On Yu Yu Hakusho:

This is after the final episode but Hiei oddly has come back to the Ningenkai, no real explanation for this until later on. Although still the same, there has been some off changes about him almost like he seems to care more even when he doesn't want to at all. Comical and serious. Kurama has been having a lot of dreams lately about a certain raven-haired girl even before she shows up... he doesn't realize this is the same girl that he once was friends with a long time ago whom moved away after her mother's death (Rei Hino.)

Kurama has been keeping these dreams to himself since he figures that they'll never be that important to speak about in any way, shape or form. He started dating Botan sometime before the story starts and is given a mission by Koenma to kill the Mars Princess, not knowing that that would be the same girl he once and still does love.

However things would get much simpler when Rei is set up to kill Kuwabara.

Main characters that will be on this movie or serial project:
Kurama aka Shuichi Mimamino aka Youko Kurama
Yusuke Urameshi
Keiko Kitagawa
Yukina
Kuwabara Kazuma
Hiei

On Inuyasha:

The whole main cast is taken to the present era after Kagome decides to go back home because her cousin Rei was going to be staying there. (assuming she was just in the present time and her mother told her this). They begin to search for Naraku in the present when they come to realize he is no longer residing in the past and is causing havoc in the present... they know it even if he's not showing up nor his minions. Soon enough, they realize that they are right and he's the one playing the chest pieces in this game and they're the piece, everybody in this story.

Main characters from here:
Inuyasha
Miroku
Kagome
Souta


Other characters that will make an appearance:
Usagi Tsukino aka Neo Queen Serenity aka Sailor Moon
Makoto Kino voice aka Sailor Jupiter
Sango
Rei's father
Naraku
Kikyo
Mamoru
Shizuru Kuwabara
Naru Osaka
My own character: Eli
Many background voices...

(other info)

The story gets deeper as it goes on... if you want more info, contact me.

Auditions are open for all the characters.

Soundtrack: There needs to be a few people who can come up with a soundtrack, background music, themes and everything. Auditions for that are open!

Video Editing is open for auditions.

testing

I'm just testing the e-mail system of blogging.

The story of Miracle Knights on that site will not be completely canon to the actual story. Its the story of teens on an adventure of their lives with a romance that'll touch the heart of anyone who comes across the story.

I'm writing a book called Miracle Knights. To see a semi-preview go to: www.fictionpress.com/~NEOMINITAILS

So You Wanna Be A Writing Master?

Talking about characters is a sensitive subject for most writers and its understandably so... who really wants to hear something that “precious” is just a piece of crap scrapped off the mind and written down on paper. I know I would hate to hear that. However, it is truly sad to say that it is true of many people's work of creations.

You, I, they, everyone spends so much on this person or group of people and when we're ready, we let them go off into the cruel world of fiction where not only will they probably have their head smashed in by their enemies but where they will be burned by the devastating flames of reviews.

Sometimes those fierce burning reviews come in flocks, some every blue moon, and then there could be that ONE review. Oh... that one review... it is the review that NO ONE, I dare not even those with the strongest of hearts to read... and those feint of heart, bless your soul for you may never be the writer you once were, the writer who used to update once a week and dear lord, you talked the IM's mechanical ears off about the story. However, the person whose work you respected the most has downhearted you and now, you find yourself here.

I won't describe the hurt and pain for those who already went through because you have no need to be reminded and besides, this isn't an essay about bad reviews.

This is about improving your writing style and making your characters believable.. even to you (if you haven't accepted that is probably a problem)!

This first part of this essay that I'll write every week will be about characters until I feel that we are all ready to move on to the big leagues.

However, as I go on with this essay, I suggest that you recommend me to read your stories in your review. I will then read and review your stories and add the review to my next chapter and a preview to that story. I will either congratulate you greatly or I'll give you many pointers with some honest compliments. Isn't that nice?

The idea is that everyone will begin to help one another (me included ) and for all of us to become as one nice community of writers all about getting better (okay, not really... just sounded nice to say JK hehe).

So, here's how this essay thing will until I decide to add some changes.

Introduction To Character

Part 1: Characters

A: Making Your Characters

Good Guy

Bad Guy

Comic Relief

Mary Sues?

B: Motives

C: In Your Story

D: RPGing with your characters

Introduction To Settings

Part 2: Setting

A: Why Does It Matter?

B: Does the type of story affect Setting?

C: Keep It Interesting

D: Make It Match

E: Story Behind It

Introduction To Genre/Plot

Part 3: Genre/Plot

A Choosing A Genre

Why it matters

Choosing Characters and Setting Matters

B. KYP

Know

Your

Plot

C. Keep To It

Introduction To Interaction

Part 4: Interaction

A. KIRSE

Keep It Real Serenely for Eternity

B. Different People, different reaction

Individuality

C. Curse of the unKIRSE

Do I have the symptoms?

Introduction To The Beginning of the End

Part 5: Beginning Might Be Your Ending

A. Prologue

Creation Days: How it Should Begin

B. The Beginning

2. WHY ITS CRUCIAL

C. The Ending

3. How It Should Be Remembered

I'm sure they'll be more but that is to whet your tongue. You can however pitch you ideas that you want me to write about in a review though and I promise I will try to keep every subject interesting. Oh I forgot about the subjects of “summary” and “title”. I'll write about that too.