MONTHLY REVIEW: August

The dog days of summer are coming to an end but it was fun while it lasted...and ZONINO! made it that much better!

MUSIC

Be the first of your friends to know Mike Posner by downloading his song "Please Don't Go" now!

German band The Baseballs have the right idea: see if current hits could have been popular in the good ole rock 'n' roll days. Yes, they can! Check out their version of "Umbrella".

Under-appreciated country crooner Sunny Sweeney hits it out of the park with her single "From A Table Away".

Jazz great Herbie Hancock has done it again with his legendary collaboration projects. Go out and buy The Imagine Project, featuring greats like today!

Cross-over artist Sheryl Crow tries her skills at singing the blues with favorable results on her new album 100 Miles From Memphis.

Need something fresh and different fro your iPod? Check out the single "You've Got A Friend" by MC's Far*East Movement.

MOVIE

Have you gotten in line to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starring Michael Cera, Chris Evans, and Jason Schwartzman yet?

Could Oscar season have started already? Get a head start by checking out The Dry Land about a soldier's journey post war.

Relive the painful days of middle school from the safety of your own home by watching the hilarious adaptation of Jeff Kinney's book, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Its a lot funnier than you remember.

Also, don't miss the incredible German film Die Welle (The Wave) about a teacher who turns his students into the next Nazi regime as part of a civics class lesson.

BOOK

Jhumpa Lahiri has done it once again with a beautiful collection of short stories in Unaccoustomed Earth. The second part of the book is a literary work of art not to be passed over.

WEBSITE

When ZONINO! doesn't have the dirt, bookmark and check Rotten Tomatoes for all your movie-going needs!

Need a midweek chuckle? Visit Buttersafe, Whiteboard Unicorns, or Chain Bear for a much needed laugh!

And never forget about the draw and addictability of the Word Bubble Game!

YOUTUBE

Why can't all classic remakes be as good as Jane Austen's Fight Club? The woman was ahead of her time.

Katy Perry's "California Girls" have got nothing on the "wind chafed legs" of these "Minnesota Gurls"!

Possibly the cutest thing on the internet right now, check out Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, voiced by SNL's Jenny Slate.

Mike Tompkins has a lot of talent...and time on his hands. See his acapella remix of "Teenage Dream" and "Just The Way You Are".

Oh, and then there's this.

RECIPE

Remember when all you wanted to eat was the middle of an Oreo cookie? Now you can indulge your sweet tooth anytime with the recipe for the cream filling!

YOUTUBE: Mustache Baby Music Video

A friend recently sent me this video with a message that said simply, "This is the last music video you will ever need to see in your life." After watching just half of it, I knoew he was right. That being said, I give you Mustache Baby Music Video.

Sergio del Limonar

*This song is apparently by some absolute genius named Riva Starr.

MUSIC: "You've Got A Friend"

This song is great on so many levels! First is that it is a rap song with a positive message and nothing explicitly inappropriate, which lately in the mainstream rap world seems to be a rarity. Second, the group, known as Far*East Movement (or FM for short) is a group of Asian-American MC's. People of Asian decent make up a large and growing portion of the US population and are yet severely under-represented in pop-culture.

The single, "You've Got A Friend", featuring Lil' Rob and Baby Bash, extolls the benefits of not only being a lover but a friend at the same time. This is the Los Angeles-based group's first real mainstream single, however, many people may recognize them from the soundtrack to The Fast & the Furious. Although simple and sweet, this song will become an earworm if you're not careful! Either way, its not a bad one to have on the brain if it does.

Sergio del Limonar

YOUTUBE: Mike Tompkins Acapella cover

My two favorite types of videos on YouTube are those from people with talent and those who have waaaay too much time on their hands. This video, therefore, in double my pleasure and double my fun because it accomplishes both feats.

A gentleman named Mike Tompkins has created an acapella mash-up of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and Bruno Mars' "Just The Way You Are". Its similar to some Star Wars acapella video I saw awhile back that used one person and some split screened editing to make as many parts as needed, but I don't like Stars Wars much and these songs are just more entertaining. Tompkins sings not only the lead and harmonizing vocals but also mimics guitars, percussion, bass, and somethings called a "kick" and a "pad" which I can only assume to be more percussion (?). Either way, it is incredible and the more this guy clones himself its all the better in my book!

Buzzy

MUSIC: 100 Miles From Memphis

Its not new for artists to venture away from their genres and test the waters in another's pond. Sheryl Crow has had many mutations in her career and explored everything from pop to rock to folk, which makes this morphing to blues less extraordinary. Regardless, it is a genre shift that suits her. Actually, it is a genre that sounds like she was flavoring all her previous works with all along.

Playing homage to the South's other big music draw - other than country and southern rock - Crow works her way through a series of soul-inspired tunes on her newest record, 100 Miles From Memphis. Stand-outs include the titular song and the emotional "Sideways". The song "Sign Your Name", featuring backing vocals by Tennessee-native Justin Timberlake, also makes a nice attempt to sound authentically "Memphis." A bonus track recording of the Jackson 5 song "I Want You Back", in tribute to Michael Jackson himself, will also have you tapping your toes, although the version is nearly identical to the original.

If only other artists could make the change to other genres of music this seamlessly.

Sergio del Limonar

BOOK: Unaccustomed Earth

Jhumpa Lahiri is already a favorite here at ZONINO! so its ashame that it has taken this long for a recommendation of her third book and second collection of short stories. Unaccustomed Earth is similar in subject and style to Lahiri's previous works in that it centers around characters of Indian origins, either in India or immigrants elsewhere in the world; write what you know seems to be her mantra.

Unaccustomed Earth is written in the same simplistic and yet beautifully detailed prose that has put Lahiri on the map. Divided in two parts, the first is similar to her first published book, Interpreter of Maladies, and consists of several independant stories. My favorite involves a Bengali-American man who is attending a wedding at his old boarding school with his American wife and the events that transpire in light of a stressed marriage and mixed feelings toward the bride and his alma mater.

The second part of the book contains one longer tale divided into three sections, each potentially independant in and of themselves. Each is written in a different voice and have their own free-standing sense of beginning and ending that is unique from chapters in a book. The last of the three sections has a double ending in which the second caught me completely, and tragically, off guard. It is not often you can be hit in the face, figuratively, while reading a book.

I like to imagine that Lahiri writes short stories as a way to meet potential characters that may become intriguing enough to keep around for an entire book, as she did with her novel, The Namesake. I thoroughly enjoy her short story wirting and I hope that one of these years she meets another character that can carry her next book.

Sergio del Limonar

MUSIC: The Imagine Project

Many people outside of the music business don't know Herbie Hancock. For those of you in this boat, let me introduce you to him. The man is a genius. He has a collection of Grammy awards and is pretty much deified in the jazz community. He has worked in front of the crowd (as a mutli-talented instrumentalist) and behind the scenes (as a producer).

His most recent series of projects has been to record with a variety of artists, usually on a particular theme. The best part is how Hancock brings people together in these recordings that you would not expect to 1) record jazz and 2) sing together. If this all sounds intriguing to you, then check out The Imagine Project featuring songs of hope and peace by an international and diverse recording community. Relying heavily on African instrumentation and voices, much of the album fuses American jazz grooves with African beats and sounds.

Not to say that that is the whole album though. A unlikely duet, "Don't Give Up", between pop bad-girl P!nk and R&B pianist John Legend is all class and quality. Likewise the Juanes performed "La Tierra" and the James Morrison version of "A Change Is Gonna Come" will have you hitting the repeat button.

Play this in the background the next time you have people over or even quietly at your office and you will have an audio conversation piece. This is a must-own album if I ever heard one.

Buzzy