The Useless Critic 2.0

The latest film in the Marvel franchise opened this past Friday, May 23rd, and let me tell you, it was no disappointment. X-Men: Days of Future Past (DoFP) took over the # 1 spot, earning $302 million worldwide in its debut. And boy was is it deserved. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Marvel and the films that have their name on them. So, it was only natural that I would be going to see the newest X-Men, especially since the X-Men franchise is one of my favorites. To prep myself, I re-watched X-Men: First Class and did not expect to cry as much in DoFP as I did in its prequel. I was wrong. DoFP is set during a time where a horrible war has emerged between the mutants and the humans. Due to the research of a man named Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), there are now robots, known as Sentinels, who are wiping out the mutants and any humans who possess the genes to produce mutant offspring. Seeking out the help of a mutant who can project a person's consciou...

I reckon not many people know short-lived British duo Mini Viva nowadays, so I'll give you guys a little 411. Created by production house Xenomania, Mini Viva consisted of Frankee Connolly and Britt Love, and were signed to Geffen and Polydor Records. The duo's infectious debut single, " Left My Heart in Tokyo ," was co-written by Norwegian goddess Annie and released in September 2009, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. Follow-up single " I Wish " was released in December, but charted at number 67, thus failing to match the success of its predecessor. Although Mini Viva's music wasn't wildly groundbreaking, their sugary brand of synth-heavy dance-pop was fun and deliciously catchy nevertheless. In May 2010, Mini Viva released a third single, "One Touch," which was co-written by rising star Florrie and happens to be my favorite song from the duo. However, despite plans to release an album, "One Touch" flopped even harder...

This song is the shit, period. Man, I miss Goldfrapp's electro-sleaze so bad. As I've said before, the duo's latest album, Tales of Us , left me rather underwhelmed. That's not to say I dislike their trip-hop/ambient stuff— Seventh Tree is a masterpiece—but I didn't think Tales of Us had that unique Goldfrapp oomph to it. I truly hope they release another album of infectious, throbbing sex music in the vein of Black Cherry or Supernature sometime soon.