Guest Post: Why I Won’t Be Watching the Film The Great Gatsby: A Rather Bitchy and Uptight Commentary on the Trailers

With the news of the upcoming feature film adaptation of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby opening this year's renowned film festival in Cannes, my friend, the writer Suzanne Zhang, decided to share her opinion before the hype storm for the film reaches its peak. 

The Great Gatsby's First Edition Cover.
Source: Wikipedia 

‘And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past…’ 

is one of my favourite lines from the great American novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and incidentally, it is also a good illustration of what I feel about the 2013 movie adaptation by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. As we attempt to move forward we are constantly restricted by our past and trying to go back to it, which to me seems like an analogy for this film. Why are we not moving forward? Why this need to go back in time to one of the best American novels ever written? Why adapt this book? Why ruin it with bad taste and terrible actors? Can we not focus on new movie plots? Film adaptations are always risky but after having seen the two trailers of The Great Gatsby, I can say with assurance that I will not be watching it as it would be a blasphemy for one of my favourite books and writers.

Free Tune: Little Boots' Nightly Soundtrack

Nocturnes Album Artwork. Source: Instagram

I know that in the first post from the Free Tune series I categorised it as a weekly thing, but how am I supposed to keep good music that comes out for as much as nothing only to myself?

Little Boots, the girl who is no longer new in the town of the music industry, not only announced the May 2013 release of her sophomore album today, but also gave her fans a beautiful taster called Motorway that is downloadable for free via the artist's official website (well, in return you subscribe to a newsletter by giving your e-mail address in the bottom left of the page to access a download link, but there's always the possibility to unsubscribe)!

Stop Making Lists, Advises Nelly Furtado

Little Things. Source: YouTube

It's Sunday and the more organised part of the population have probably already compiled their to-do lists for the upcoming week. Just two days ago, however, Nelly Furtado released a short film to the track Bucket List off her latest album The Spirit Indestructible and the song tackles the question of the important things in life and the universal lack of time that even Shakespeare and people before him resented with passion.

The video starts with a visual introduction to its main characters, who are a bunch of five young and good-looking people, and while you get to know their appearance you listen to Nelly's monologue on how useless bucket lists are because of their high dependence on time which as we all know is a Bitch that can screw any plan you make.

But Furtado is an optimist and so are the group of friends in her video. They make an example of how one can live free of depressingly unrealistic dreams and just enjoy life in its little things right here and right now. Bucket List is in its core a happy sunny film about youth and embracing it through messing about with your friends, running and jumping around the city, capturing these moments in your head and on film and keeping silent in the company of those you love and the sunset. Love and Nature are the other two main characters in the video and despite the slightly annoying close-ups of Nelly Furtado that pop up at different points to show her sing some of the lyrics, the positive message of the song is successfully conveyed.

Free Tune: Everybody Drink; It's on The Cataracs!

Double Vision. Source: YouTube

With the weekend in full swing, what would a night out be without an easy-listening, easy-to-dance-to and rather silly soundtrack? Minus its other duo member, but still having enough experience in the field, The Cataracs is offering a potential party dance floor anthem, which you can download for free below. It has it all: a dirty electronic beat, guest vocals from the not-sorry-for-party-rocking LMFAO's Sky Blu, and flirtatious lyrics consisting of stupid pick-up lines. And now it has a music video, too!

The Roaring Suit & Tie Video

Lazy Sunday in JT Style. Source: YouTube

On this year's Valentine's Day, Lana Del Rey was not the only one with a visual surprise. Justin Timberlake premiered the music video for his comeback single Suit & Tie featuring Jay Z, which follows the singer in what looks like his everyday life that includes getting massaged, hanging around with his rapper friend in front of the TV, driving to the studio to record some music, rehearsing and giving quite a decent performance in front of a stylish crowd. All of this, however, is presented through a black-and-white prism that pays tribute to the way American musicians used to do it during the Roaring Twenties of last century, surrounded by beautiful women, high-quality cigars and ever-pouring mellow alcohol (or at least the image that this period's New York scene evokes).

Free Tune: The World Is Harlem-Shaking

Source: Rony Alwin on Vimeo

If you haven't heard of the Harlem Shake, then it's highly likely that you're my mother who uses the Internet for e-mail, childish web games and cooking websites, and in fact you have no idea what YouTube is.

I personally was acquainted with the latest audiovisual craze of my generation at my friend Amanda's house kawaii trash party last week when someone played Baauer's twerk-worthy track and then another friend made us watch one of the thousands 30-second long clips of people doing the now ubiquitous Harlem Shake and persuading us in a drunken manner to do our own version of it.

Gossip's Tip of the Day: Work!

Source: YouTube

Source: Gossip's Official Website

After I listened to Gossip's A Joyful Noise for the first time back in May 2012, 'Get A Job' became an instant favourite of mine. And how could it not? If a 2 has just replaced the 1 as the first digit in the numerical inscription of your age, chances are that you're in the same position as me: doing a degree in higher education, living out of your parents' house and having to finally deal with money problems. Unfortunately, the most common solution to those lies in the title of the song that is the reason for this post.

Source: Gossip's Official Website

The electronic beat quickly infects your body and Beth Ditto's robotised rendition of the repetitive 'I'd love to stay and party, but I gotta go to work' immediately sends you to all those alcoholic gatherings with friends you left because of the part-time job you hate, but have to do in order to avoid prostitution and selling your kidney just to pay your rent at the end of the month. The song's subject matter is so relatable that it's easy to omit the fact that its lyrical content is actually targeted at spoilt 30-something (or over) boys and girls whose parents have made sure they don't have to be educated about the basic principles behind money and where it comes from.