New Single Released

One Direction surprised fans this morning with the impromptu release of their brand new single “Drag Me Down.”
 
The band dropped the song on iTunes and Spotify worldwide today with no fanfare, and before premiering it on radio or online. “Drag Me Down” is available now HERE.
 
Featuring crashing guitars and soaring harmonies, “Drag Me Down” showcases a more mature One Direction sound.
 
With sales of over 65 million worldwide and performances to over 7.5 million fans, One Direction truly are a pop phenomenon. In May this year the band won two Billboard Awards for Top Group and Top Touring Artist. 
 
The band are currently on the American leg of their massive On The Road Again stadium tour, before returning to the UK this September for another sold out arena tour.  Their fifth album is due for release this November.

Avengers Assemble!

Actually I don't the title I gave this post is ever mentioned in the movie.  I took my 2 younger brothers to see this move late Sunday after we went to the comic book shop.  There is no shortage of action in this movie.  When we got home, my brothers were still excited about the movie trying to tell my parents about it even though they didn't know all of the character's names.  My brothers are 9 & 10 and they were having trouble remembering the original characters plus the new additions, plus the new villains  etc...  The special effects were on point, the 3D was used very well, I liked the story line and humor was used to the full effect to advance the next series of movies! 

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed my 3D viewing of Avengers: Age of Ultron, I will have to go see it again.  Since Ultron is based off of Tony Stark he makes quite a few funny quips in this film, combined with the lines from RDJ I feel like I may have missed a few one liners that were amazing.  I know I missed some because the entire theater was laughing a few times and I couldn't hear what was being said.

Btw, the previews in front of this movie were great, I am ready for Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World, Star Wars, and AntMan. 

Rising Star!..... An Interview with Sam Wearing

I am excited to bring to my readers an interview of a rising star who is working his way up online and gaining exposure on YouTube with his videos, Sam Wearing.  I actually found him by doing a YouTube search on 'Into the Woods'.   I then discovered his One-Man 'Into the Woods' Medley video and knew I wanted to interview him for our blog.  Sam was obliged to answer my silly questions. 

 

Give us a quick bio.... Mom and dad, siblings, hometown,

 

Hello! My name is Sam Wearing, I have recently turned 21 years old and I live in a small town in the UK called Swindon with my Dad Mike and my Brother Joe. 

 
 

Tell us about some of the jobs you've done in the past that aren't music related that got you to where you are now.

 

I  have actually only had one job in my entire life to date. It was my first ever job interview too and I was absolutely terrified! Luckily it went very well, and I was given a job at River Island, which is a fashion store based in the UK (RiverIsland.com). I started working there on a 4 hour contract, which meant I only worked 4 hours a week every Saturday morning. At the time I was living in London too, studying Musical Theatre at the BRIT school Monday – Friday, so I was travelling a very large amount back and forth between Swindon and London on a weekly basis.

 

In 2012  I graduated from the BRIT school. I was then given the opportunity to progress at River Island and work full time, so I moved back home to Swindon and worked, which I did until September 2014. I then moved back to London to study a degree in Musical Theatre at the London College Of Music, but I sustained a serious knee injury and had to leave the course in November 2014. Before you ask, I was asleep in bed, and injured my knee rolling over. (No word of a lie). So I then found myself needing surgery to repair a torn and displaced Meniscus in my knee. After about 10 weeks recovery and not being able to walk, I am finally up and around again, and it feels amazing! I do plan on studying a Musical Theatre degree again in the future at some point, but I need to focus on my recovery, and getting back to doing physical activity again very soon.

 
 

Funniest story?

 

I love questions like these! I think one of the funniest (yet embarrassing) stories is when I was performing in a professional pantomime in Swindon. The show was Aladdin, and of course there is a scene in the 'cave of wonder' which involved a lot of dry ice (Dry ice is the low lying smoke/fog effect that is used in many film/TV/stage productions). The machine that was creating this effect started to leak water all over the stage, obviously we were in the middle of a performance,and also the actual dry ice itself was covering the huge pool of water in the middle of the stage. So unaware of the swimming pool created in front of us dancers, we carried on as normal. Now you can imagine, dancing + pool of water on stage = Not the best situation to be in. By the end of the song, all 12 or so dancers had fallen over at some point and were trying so hard not to laugh on stage! Fun memories. 

 
 

Biggest celebrity encounter?

 

A few quite well known people I have been fortunate to work with are: Shaun Williamson (Barry in the UK soap EastEnders), JLS (Former UK boy-band) and Britt Ekland (Former Bond Girl). These  were all in professional working environments, and I was also quite young so I didn't fully understand or appreciate who I was working with, but they were all lovely and I have fond memories of working with all of them.

 

 

Other than Youtube, where have you performed?

 

I have actually been VERY lucky with opportunities of live performances in the past. In early 2011 I performed various solos at the 02 Arena in London as part of the “Voice In A Million” concerts, which was a very overwhelming, but so rewarding experience. Also in 2012 I was selected by the BRIT school to perform solo at the Royal Festival Hall in London with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and this has to be my favourite live performance experience to date. Performing with a live orchestra in a concert hall was incredible. 

 
 

What one artist do you look up to the most and why?

 

John Barrowman. He is one person I have always admired and been inspired by. He is loved by so many people, and has had a very successful career. He started in Musical Theatre, which is what I really want to do. He then went on to do to a lot of TV appearances, and also his solo albums & concerts, which are also some of my aspirations in life. If I could be any bit as successful as him, I will be one happy guy! 

 
 

Biggest hurdle of being a musician?

 

I would have to say a hurdle I have discovered through my personal journey on YouTube so far is being different. You need to have something people will remember, and want to watch again & again. When I started my YouTube channel back in 2011, I started by posting generic pop covers. This was my way of trying to please a wide audience, with as many people as possible. I then started recording acoustic versions of pop songs, versions not many people have heard, and this then started to gain a little reaction from people. For some reason, I was quite hesitant to post musical theatre covers, but when I finally branched out and started posting them I suddenly found myself with a target audience of Musical Theatre fans to focus on making videos for. Since then I have not written off covering pop songs, but I will cover the songs I feel suit me, and that people will enjoy watching. So yeah, make yourself a bit different, and know who you want to reach out to. 

 
 

Where are you playing next?

 

I do not have any current plans for live performances at the moment, but it is something I want to do more of in the future. My ultimate goal in life is to have my own live concert, singing songs I love, to an audience that have chosen to come and watch me perform. It WILL happen one day!

 

 

Biggest inspiration?

 

I am going to have to say my Mum. Unfortunately she passed away in 2011 from Cancer. When you loose someone so close to you, such as an immediate family member, it just throws everything up in the air. This was the reason I started making my YouTube videos, to give myself something to keep me busy, to monitor my own progress, and also for my own enjoyment. She was the only person who would never tell me to stop singing around the house! She was always encouraging me to take part in performances and really gave me so much belief in myself. Luckily the last time she saw me perform was at the 02 Arena in London, so it's nice to know she has seen me at a highlight in my life, and hopefully there will be many more highlights to come, so that I can continue to make her proud and do what I love. 

 

What can your fans learn from you, or what have you learned from them? 

 

One of the things I have learnt in life, that I would love to pass on to others, is that life is NEVER straight forward. One of my favourite quotes is : “Everything happens for a reason, even if it takes time to understand why”. It sounds cliché but is so true. Everyone goes through struggles and has difficult times, its just what happens in life. The most difficult times are those that give us the opportunity to thrive and come out a better person. I myself, have had set backs, but I can now look at all of these experiences, and know that these have helped me become who I am today. I am very lucky to be in a position where something positive has started to grow from a difficult time in my life. I have even received messages from people who say that I have had an impact on how they deal with difficult situations, which is an incredibly humbling feeling, and one I will probably never get used to. To be doing something I love, and being able to help others too is an awesome feeling.

 

 
 

Rapid Fire: Favourite: (one word answers)

 

Animal

Unicorn (Does that count!?)

 

Color

Blue

 

Food

Chicken Nuggets

 

Sports team

My dad supports Everton F.C,  so I have to say that!

 

Song

“Pretty Funny” from Dogfight.

 

Sport

Ice Skating

 

Artist

Sam Smith

 

Actor/Actress

Eddie Redmayne 

 

Number

16

 

Astrological sign

Capricorn

 

Movie

The original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

 

Book

“Is It Just Me?” By Miranda Hart

 

Drink

Fresh Orange Juice

 

 

Favourite music collab you've done? (Or want to do)

 

I have not done a collaboration to date, but I would love to do a live acoustic cover with someone who can play  guitar or Piano. I am working on learning to play the piano at the moment, and I envy those who can play, it takes so much practice. 

 
 

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?

 

Do what YOU love. There will be others out there who love it too, whatever it is. Gaining exposure online and also in person is VERY difficult so do not be afraid to reach out to people who may enjoy your material. If you know your target audience, use social media to invite them to watch. 

If you think they will enjoy it, ask them, you never know you may get yourself a new supporter.  Be proud of what you create, just be very careful how it comes across online, as sometimes it can come across as very arrogant or brash. In my experience, social media (Especially Twitter & Facebook) have been brilliant platforms for me to reach my audience, and gain support. Also try and do current things, these are what get more views as people are searching for material at that specific time. One last VERY important thing to mention.. NEVER give up! And always strive for what you want to do in life, it will be worth it in the end.

 
 

What is one fact about you that no one else knows, not even your close friends and family?

 

I get VERY excited about food. I try to hide it (and I think I do quite well) but especially when I am super hungry, I just get so excited when I am about to eat. Weird? Okay I didn't just say that... 
 

 

Where can we find you ? What is your twitter handle, Facebook, youtube, etc.....

 

YouTube.com/MrSPW2011

 

Twitter.com/SamWearing or @SamWearing

 

Facebook.com/SamWearingOnline

 

Instagram - @SamWearing

 

Soundcloud -  soundcloud.com/SamWearing2

 

 

Sam's latest video is his One-Man "Into the Woods" Medley and you can watch it below!

 

 

 

I Need to Catch You Up...

In the last couple of weeks I went on a movie watching binge (as usual) and here is what I saw...

Into the Woods (this ties in to next weeks post!)

Just as Maleficent was a different perspective on Sleeping Beauty, this is a different perspective on what happens when characters from our favorite fairy tales interact while in the woods!  Great talent in this movie, even better VOICES.  Anna Kendrick knocks your socks off with her singing abilities but she is overshadowed by 3 others that you wouldn't expect: Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, and the Amazing Meryl Streep.   This is a must watch for anyone that is interested in the entertainment world.  WARNING!!! if you didn't know already, this is a musical.  Cameo by Johnny Depp is also a good reason to go see it!

The Equalizer

Denzel is still on top of his game with these type of movies.  He plays a normal guy working at hardware store until someone hurts one of his acquaintances.  Turns out his is a trained ex military hit man that knows some pretty awesome moves.  He single handily takes down a WHOLE drug cartel. 

 

The Hobbit: Battle of the 5 Armies

I am a fan of all of the LOTR and hobbit movies.  This one does not disappoint except in one area but we will talk about that in a second.  Bilbo again is the key to the entire movie as he is the middle man between the elves and the dwarfs.  He snaps the dwarf king out of a gold fever, rallies everyone to fight together to stave off evil, and of course.... he HAS THE RING!  My favorite part is where Cate Blantchett's character shows how much of a bad ass she really is and banishes the Bad Guy in the middle of the movie all by herself.  My next act is to watch all of these movies back to back to back.  P.S. there is a chance we can still get more LOTR movies, The Samaulian is a precursor to The Hobbit and the Director might take a crack at it.

 

The Interview

Yes.... THAT movie, you know... the one that North Korea waged war against..... Stupid Country, now we can just watch it on xBox for $4.99 instead of heading to the movie theater.  You MADE IT EASIER FOR US!  James Franco and Seth Rogan were pretty funny in this movie but not their best work.  Truly some funny parts in it that make you snort out loud but also some boring parts.  My favorite part is everything to do with Katy Perry's Fireworks, and once you watch it, you will know what I mean!

A Great Week for Movies!

In the last 7 days I have went 3 times to the movies and saw 3 AWESOME movies.  I laughed, I cried, I was in Awe.

Interstellar

This was a great movie!  Mathew is forced to go think in 5 dimensions to send messages through time and space.  It also gives anecdotal information about how relatively works on other worlds, not just our own.  I saw this movie in RPX surround sound and I was in shock about how well Sound and the absence off sound was used.  ALSO, I am currently living in Longview Tx, (home of Mathew) and it was awesome to see some cameos of the places that I see everyday in this movie.  If I saw this movie in IMAX I think that I would be even more excited.  A great movie to go see, better seen on a large screen.

Big Hero 6

Disney has done it again.  Just as Frozen was for little girls, this is for little boys.  I believe that this gives little boys a character to connect with and may even help them excel in Math and Science.  My eyes started to leak in this movie several times, but I wont spoil it for you.  The only thing I will say is, if you think about the ending more, the sadder it becomes.  I think that Disney hit it out of the park.  I will definitely be adding this to my movie collection.

The Mocking Jay    

I am not disappointed at all.  I have read the books and watching this latest installment brought everything back.  This part of MockingJay sets us up for the ending of the series.  I am glad that it was split into 2 parts because this one helps tell a lot of minute details that would have been missed if they tried to cram everything into one last sequel.  Katniss is as stubborn as ever and Peeta goes through a HUGE transformation that had me glued to my chair! 

Summer Blockbusters and TV series

Over the last couple of weeks I watched 2 movies.... One great, and one not-so great.... And a killer TV series.

The Expendables 3

All your aging ass kickers are back for this third installment plus a few younger ones.  My favorite was Harrison Ford, Kelsey (sp?) Grammer and Arnold!  The entire movie is predictable though, I liked the guys on their press tour more, they had exciting stories and charisma, which this movie does not.... Sorry.  If you want to see explosions, gun fights, and wrestling, then this is for you, if you want a storyline, look somewhere else.

The Maze Runner

Yes Yes Yes.  This movie has guessing trying to figure out the twists and turns.  The actors are great, you've seen many of them before!  You really feel for the boys trapped in the maze.  This movie is not full of explosions or a sappy love story like the last tween trilogies.  The special effects are so good, you don't notice them, you see them as real happenings.  Because of this movie I went out and bought the book (on Kindle, while you are there pick up this blog!) and am feverishly reading it before bed at night.  One huge plus for me is that the main character's name is Thomas, same as me!  I did not know this going into the movie.  So everyone needs to root for Thomas.

The Walking Dead S4

I am a die hard fan of TWD, except for one rule that I've followed after the first season.  I don't watch any episodes until they all come out on Netflix or Amazon so I can watch them all back to back.  Over the last 3 days I have done just that.   I was not let down either except for when Herschel dies.  He was the glue that held the group together.  Seriously, after his death and an attack on the prison, the entire group is split up, some coming back together in the end.  P.s. Rick shows how much of a badass he is again by taking a bite out of crime if you know what I mean, makes you lose all memories of him as a boring farmer!  Great season, and am extremely excited for the next season! 

Lots of new Movies

Guardians of the Galaxy

Abosulutely loved this movie, but I love all of the superhero movies.  My favorite characters were Groot and Rocket of course!  I am excited that they have already green lighted a sequel.  One of my favorite things was the after credits easter eggs.  Being a child o the 80's I can appreciate a nod to Howard the Duck.  If you dont know the Marvel universe you can still enjoy this fantasy space adventure with an AWESOME soundtrack from the 70's and 80's.  It just makes you feel good!  SPOILER when the mother dies in the first 3 minutes of the movie, I had to hide the tears in my eyes.  Guys be prepared!

Hercules

This was the role that The Rock was born for.  I watched the earlier one with Mr. Lutz but have decided that while it was good in its own right, this one was better.  This movie showed more of the above human strength that Hercules possessed and all of the villians and creatures that he had to overcome.  Good movie, good storyline...

The 100 foot Journey

Now this is a movie that is flying under the radar and I personally never heard of it until I overheard a lady talking about how Spielberg and Oprah were a part of it.  I am naturally a foodie (and blog over at www.TheFoodieWithin.com) so this was right up my alley.  I am also turning into a big fan of Helen Mirren.  Are there any "wow" moments in this movie? NO, does it make you feel good after watching it? YES.  Any way, you follow an Indian family travel to France, set up a restaurant, some members of the family fall in love with members of the rival restaurant across the street.  There are even a few funny moments in it that you will enjoy.

The Queen

After watching "The 100 Ft Journey" I wanted to watch something else from Helen Mirren.  I watched this biography type movie of how the Monarchy handled the death of Princess Diana.  Americans do not get to see behind the curtain of a leader that has been in power for over 50 years.  Our leaders are in power for a maximum of 8 years, so we really do not get to grow up with them.  In England the Monarchy is a sacred member of the English family and culture.  It is a an older movie, but gave me more insight into the daily life of our brothers and sisters across the pond.

Noah

I am huge fans of Emma Watson and Logan Lerman, both stars of this biblical movie.  (Both were stars of The Perks of Being a Wallflower that I loved)  Keep in mind that when watching this movie that everytime they say "Creator" they are referring to "God"  It was done this way to keep from saying "God" every other sentence and to make it easier for people of a different faith to watch this and learn about someone else's culture.  BTW Anthony Hopkins plays "The Grandfather" that appears to have lost his mind, but is still pretty neat how everything ties up nicely with a bow at the end.  To me this is different than what is in the bible, but I am sure some parts are more closely to what really happened and there is of course a lot that is fantastic.