Batson's Blog

Fall Out Boy returned this year with an entirely new album ( Save Rock and Roll ) full of tracks that have the kind of energy only they can provide. Their second single -- "Alone Together" – is picking up some traction after “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark” peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Their album is full of energetic rock and roll. They branch out in some ways, but stick to their roots on every track. Here’s the track-by-track review: The Phoenix This one kicks off the album. It’s a good start. It’s got lots of high impact beats and some good vocals. It’s the kind of song one would expect from Fall Out Boy. The fast-paced music and high-impact drums kick in right away. After a short bit of soft-spoken words, the chorus kicks in: "Hey young blood Doesn't it feel like our time is running out? I'm gonna change you like a remix Then I'll raise you like a phoenix" Very good track. It wouldn't be my...

Amidst all of the movies I was looking forward to seeing this year ( Man of Steel , G.I. Joe 2 , Thor 2 , etc.), there’s one that fell off my radar: Red 2 . I’m not sure why I forgot all about this one, but I did. I enjoyed the first one. Red was about a group of retired special agents who were trying to be taken out of action permanently. Red 2 is every bit as hilarious as the first one. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, I was laughing out loud. So was the rest of the theatre. It’d been a while since I’d seen Red , so I’d forgotten a good deal of the specifics of that movie. Thankfully, you don’t need to know much about Red in order to enjoy Red 2 . There’s some typical action movie scenes, including car chases, sneaking into a high-security government facility, and explosions. Somehow it didn’t feel like it was ‘been there, done that’ though. Just like in Red , this time around the characters find themselves dodging bullets (literally) and trying to avoi...

I got this album several months ago, when it was still on the end cap in the music section at Target. I wasn’t blown away by the songs, but here I am, several months later, and I find myself singing along to a lot of the songs when they come across my iTunes shuffle list. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I figured I may as well give credit where credit is due and deliver a review of Ke$ha’s sophomore album: Warrior . After the success of Animal , Ke$ha came back with electropop music and more politically incorrect, outlandish lyrics. All in all, it's a lot of fun. Warrior This song was somewhat lackluster. It’s a Ke$ha party track, but it doesn’t have a distinguishable hook or chorus – at least not compared to the other ones on the album. The main chorus of “Warrior-ior-ior-ior. Warrior-ior-ioooor,” doesn’t really stick inside your head. That being said, Ke$ha’s vocals are pretty good on this one. "Warrior" utilizes a lot of forms of music dis...

I checked out Oprah's Favorite Things list recently. Sorry, O, but I can't say I'm intrigued by almost any of it. To counteract that list, I'm presenting to you today: Batson's Favorite Things 2013. 10. That 70's Show (the complete series) You can find this series at various places online, but I got this for under $40 at Sam's Club recently. Talk about an amazing deal! Considering The Big Bang Theory is going for around $30 a season, I was thrilled to see this deal. I know it's all about supply and demand. That 70's Show ended in 2006 has been played several times over in syndication since then. One day the complete series of The Big Bang Theory may be going for $35 too. If Sam's Club is offering up That 70's Show for $39.95, I'm taking it! Outside of a handful of other sitcoms, That 70's Show is my favorite. It's one of those shows that you can put into the DVD player and watch at all times, no matter wha...

Wow! I almost didn’t stop at Bowtie Bakery . That would have been a huge mistake. I was up at Concord Mills Mall and I decided to check out Purple Cow Bakery . I arrived at the address I had for Purple Cow, but there was no bakery there. I Googled the store and one of the search results that came up was “Bow Tie Bakery.” It looked like Bow Tie Bakery was near the Carolina Place mall. Frustrated that Purple Cow evidently moved or went out of business, I was going to call it a day and head home. While driving towards Interstate, I passed the mall. I did a u-turn and found Bow Tie Bakery – located next to Sogo Japanese Seafood and Steakhouse in a strip mall. I’m not sure what I was expecting, if anything, when I walked inside. What I got was a huge selection of cupcakes. Each one was a different, enticing flavor and was visually impressive. I probably spent 10 minutes trying to decide which cupcakes to get. I ended up choosing five of them. I ended up sharing them sin...

When I heard that Daughtry was coming out with new music I was ecstatic! Besides the fact that he's a fellow Batman fan , I was a impressed with Daughtry , the 2006 album Chris and the rest of the band released. Their 2009 follow up -- Leave this Town – was even more impressive with more of a rock sound on several of the album’s tracks. Break the Spell was far and away their best work though. That album has more plays than any other that I have imported in iTunes. This time around, Daughtry apparently worked without his band mates. How does Baptized compare to Chris' previous work? There are some decent songs on it. I don’t know that it quite measures up to Break the Spell . It’s a solid effort though. Baptized "It was one of the first songs written for the record and it's probably my favorite song on the album," Chris told The Hollywood Reporter . It's not my favorite, but it works. I was waiting for that high note -- the climax of ...

Terrence Howard opened up about being replaced by Don Cheadle in the Iron Man movies. He was on Watch What Happens Live and hinted at the reason he was replaced by Cheadle as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes. The reason? Apparently it's Iron Man himself. Yep. Howard says Robert Downey Jr. is the reason he got booted...more or less. He told host Andy Cohen: "It turns out that the person I helped become Iron Man ... when it was time to re-up for the second one, (he) took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out." Iron Man, of course, is Downey. I guess he and Downey had some kind of falling out. "We did a three-picture deal, so that means that you did the deal ahead of time," Howard said. "It was going to be a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second one, a certain amount for the third. They came to me with the second and said, 'Look, we will pay you one-eighth of what we contractual...