My Own Little World

So, Star Wars. We all know and love it, especially me. I have seen the original trilogy more times than I can count, the prequels just enough times so I can not completely hate them, and The Force Awakens  about half a dozen times in the year it's been released. I also love what Disney has done with the place, aiming to release one film a year for the next several with the anthology films and the saga continuing. That being said, I was a little nervous going into Rogue One . A spin-off film has never really been done in the Star Wars universe before, and I had no idea what to expect. How similar would it be to the saga films? Would it add to the franchise in a meaningful way, or would it simply hold me over until Episode VIII  is released next December? To be honest, Rogue One  caught me by surprise in a lot of ways. I really ended up enjoying this film, but it was not by any means perfect. It does have a killer finale and some very well-directed moments, as well as...

In case you haven't talked to me in the past year, I love Hamilton . This Broadway musical makes me completely and entirely helpless whenever I hear it. It ranks among the best pieces of music I've ever heard in my entire life besides just being my favorite musical ever written.  One of the things that the musical's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda teased during the musical's development and performances was The Hamilton Mixtape , a compilation of multiple artists from the realm of popular music covering and reimagining various songs from the show. It was finally officially announced a month or so ago and released on December 2.  To be honest, the fact that Hamilton  itself is so untouchable in my mind made me really nervous for the mixtape. I don't think I've ever been more helplessly obsessed with any piece of music ever, and to see other people do these songs that mean so much to me and restyle them made me really apprehensive. I've memorized every...

I was practically raised on Disney animated films. I watched ones like Aladdin , The Lion King , and Beauty and the Beast growing up, and recently I've rediscovered how magical they can actually be thanks to my girlfriend and I watching them all the time. Their (mostly) timeless scores get stuck in my head so easily, and the stories, despite their target audience of children, seem to have a transcendent nature and punch way above their age bracket. However, as of late Disney has had a little trouble finding its animated musical mojo.  Yes, recent films like Tangled and Frozen have begun to turn this trend around, but forgettable films like Brother Bear and Home on the Range  still are a large blemish in the Disney catalog. To some extent, the name "Disney" in front of a film lost some of its magnitude and power. Meanwhile, studios like Pixar and DreamWorks have come alongside (and in some cases, jumped ahead of) Disney in the race for kids' attention spans....

Harry Potter is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I grew up reading the books and watching the movies, loving every second of it. In my freshman year of high school, a few of my friends and I actually watched all eight films in one sitting.  So, naturally, when I heard that a spin-off was in the works, I got really nervous and really excited at the same time. On one hand, I really like the world that J.K. Rowling has created and wanted more from it; on the other hand, I was nervous that this new chapter might spoil my memories with the wizarding world. Harry Potter is just one of those things that seemed so self-contained and so complete on its own that anything else additional ran the risk of bringing my opinion of it down in my own mind.  That being said, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is absolutely the right next step for the Harry Potter universe. It recaptures all the magic of the original franchise but doesn't come from any of the sam...

Hey all. I'm back to update you on my college life, and it's been going quite swimmingly. Just a few things to catch you up on if you don't look at my Facebook profile: Broadway Revue was at the end of September, and it was fantastic. I got to work with some great people in the theater department and was featured in a number from Finding Neverland  that I had a blast with. It wore me out so much, but in the end it was a very fulfilling and enjoyable experience.  So, there's this girl named Felicia, and she's incredible. That is all I'll say about that for now.  I was in the room where it happened on October 23 and saw Hamilton  in Chicago with Felicia and a few of her friends. Big thanks to my parents for a great birthday present in that ticket, possibly the best I've ever gotten.  So, with that lengthier-than-I-thought-it-would-be update, let's talk about my personal least favorite part of any college semester: that time when you realize you'...

A couple years ago, I got hit with this infectious bug from this song called "My Type." It had a ton of soul, swagger, and just made me want to dance. The band behind this infectious indie pop gem goes by the name of Saint Motel, and as I dove into their discography, I began to see that "My Type" wasn't just a one-trick pony: they had a ton more in their catalog to enjoy. Their debut full-length from 2012, Voyeur , had that same indie party pop vibe that I enjoyed so much from "My Type" while also showing a little bit of an expanded palette at times. It wasn't perfect, but it was incredibly enjoyable. Fast forward to today. I've been waiting for a new release from Saint Motel ever since I finished listening to their back catalog, and this Friday saintmotelevision  is getting released to the world. But does it live up to the hype, and will it please people like me who fell head over heels in love with their older work? The answer to both o...

Note: the following was mostly written in August before I returned to school for the fall semester. I will catch you guys up on how my college life has been going so far this year in a future post.  As I'm writing this, I'm sitting on my porch in Champaign on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, watching the dogs and sipping a glass of water while I listen to this amazing Indie Goes Epic playlist on Google Play. I'm also counting down the days until I go back to Bourbonnais. You see, as much as I loved summer in high school, in college things are completely different. In high school, you stay in the same place and can see the same friends while just taking a break from classes. Life goes on with you at home, and you don't miss a beat with your social life. You just don't have to go to school for a few months. It's awesome. College is a completely different ballgame, especially if you go away to school. All those friends that you've become so close with du...

A few months ago, a British worship artist by the name of Ian Yates got in contact with me, asking me to review his upcoming album. I jumped at the chance to get a bit of an early look at a (at least in the United States) relatively unknown artist while also getting to form a bit of a relationship directly with people actually making their own music. I went and listened to all of Ian's back catalog to make sure I had a proper perspective on this new album. To be honest, I'm not really a huge fan of a whole lot of his older stuff, as it fits into the modern worship box way too snugly. There was definitely some evident improvement as I went from album to album, but on the whole it's by the books worship music. I didn't think his material was bad; it just didn't grab me in any meaningful way. That being said, Ian's new project Awaken to Love  has a lot more to offer than his prior work. It's got some solid lyricism and musical composition that are just in...

There's something about watching these shorter shows I've been into recently. I think it's allowed me to get some much-needed variety in my binge-watching habits. Case in point: going from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt , I decided to watch something I had first encountered thanks to one of my bandmates: the SNL alumni project Documentary Now! My first exposure to the show came one late night while we were at our homestay for the weekend and decided to spend some quality time on Netflix. One of us suggested that we watch the second episode of Documentary Now!  because it was an absolute riot, or so he claimed. Well, now I'll claim the same thing: this show is a riot. However, what may be surprising to many of you is that, despite being helmed by Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers, Documentary Now!  is not a laugh-out-loud kind of show most of the way through. Instead, it possesses a huge amount of dramatic irony that all good parodies do. Most of the comedy i...

At this point in Skillet's career, most people know what to expect from these Christian hard rockers. Whenever they make an album, no matter what the explicit theme is, there will be some super emo power ballads, riff-centric upbeat harder tracks, and some symphonic strings in the background. Ever since their hit album Comatose , this is the formula they've followed and have done commercially quite well with. Most people either really relate to their music or find it derivative of itself and quite bland. I'm definitely in the latter of the two camps. I really enjoyed their 2003 release Collide  because of its rabid sonic intensity and somewhat rough-around-the-edges sound. Comatose  was slightly less enjoyable for me because of its extra layer of polish, but it still retained some originality with its addition of strings and some subtle electronic elements. However, with Awake , Skillet lost me. Their over-reliance on either ballads or remakes of "Comatose" we...

What do you do when you want to like a movie so much, but you walk out of the theater bored and wanting to just sleep away your problems? I've never had to ask this question until last night. I made the always-tragic mistake of putting my hope in some amazingly well-crafted trailers and expected the world with Suicide Squad . Instead, I got a movie that bored me. A movie with some of the greatest comic book villains of all time, and it bored me. I legitimately yawned several times towards the end and was just waiting to get out of the theater so I could do something far more interesting. I also want to put a bit of a disclaimer before the rest of my thoughts: this is no way because I want to align myself with the critics. If you remember my Batman v Superman  review (if you don't, just  click here ), you'll remember that, despite the negativity critics hurled at it, I quite enjoyed it. It was something far different tonally than anything else any comic book film had g...

After my experience with The Office , I was looking for something different to watch. I needed a break and was feeling like something quirky. On my friends' recommendations, I decided to give Netflix's original sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  a try. I knew that Ellie Kemper, who plays Erin in The Office , was in it, and I liked her character a lot, so this seemed like an idea that might fly. I was not prepared for what ended up coming my way.  Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  is, without a doubt in my mind, one of the most unique things I've seen on "TV" ever. It's also one of my personal favorites now.  What makes Kimmy  such a good show is Kimmy herself. Ellie Kemper is delightful in her portrayal of this Indiana woman who was held captive for 15 years by the leader of a doomsday cult in an underground bunker. The character reminds me of Leslie Knope because of her optimism and, well, unbreakable spirit. She's deliberate, determined, and alway...

It's always interesting to hear a band dramatically change their sound after years of doing pretty much the same thing. U2 did it with great success in the early 1990s with Achtung Baby  and Radiohead did while garnering massive acclaim with Kid A , as did (to a lesser extent) Hillsong UNITED a few years ago with Zion . It's a risky business transforming a style, however, because fans can react with great dismay after having fond memories of a band's past work and sound and seeing that go by the wayside for something "trendier." With that in mind, I took a listen to Needtobreathe's new album H A R D L O V E . The band is a Carolina-based Southern rock outfit much in the vein of Kings of Leon with more roots, but this new record scraps a lot of that for something much more produced and sonically polished. After having two albums in a row be very, very introspective and heavy ( The Reckoning  and Rivers in the Wasteland ), the band is ready to have a little ...

I think it can be safely said that Switchfoot is a band that has thoroughly stood the test of time. They have now released ten studio albums while maintaining a relentless touring schedule over the last nineteen years and show no signs of stopping anytime soon. The questions most bands begin to encounter at this point in their career are those of legacy and relevance. At the same time as maintaining the reputation and fanbase they've built over through their music, they typically also want to remain musically relevant and not just make new music for the sake of new music. The problem with doing the latter is it can tend to alienate the longtime fans because changes to a band's fundamental sound are jarring, especially when people have grown up with a very particular sonic image in their minds. This describes my experiences with Switchfoot perfectly. I grew up with albums like The Beautiful Letdown  and Nothing Is Sound  dominating my listening time to a ridiculous extent...

It's been a little while since I've updated you on my binge-watching, so yesterday when I finished my most recent show, I decided to write a little bit about it. I didn't think I'd have a whole lot of good to say about this show, especially because of what my opinion of it was early on in its run. I don't think I've ever had a show where I've hated the central character so much. Well, what's the show and main character I'm talking about here? The American version of The Office  starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott. (And if it weren't for me having to put a title on each post, this would have been a great reveal. Oh well.) I went through an intense love/hate relationship with Michael for the first four seasons of The Office , mostly because he is a character that has no boundaries, or even an awareness that he should have any in the first place. He is offensive, idiotic, and downright stupid. Yes, I do understand that that's the entire...

House of Heroes always has a knack for making albums that are very listenable. I began listening to the band several years ago and instantly was caught up in their album Suburba  and its catchy post-grunge rock. There was a little more pop than I preferred, but for that record it really worked. I didn't really move on from Suburba  and haven't listened to them much since then, but I do have some fond memories of driving home from work on country roads and just blaring that record. Fast forward to today, and House of Heroes is releasing their latest effort and first "official" concept album, Colors . A completely fan-funded record (that I got the privilege to support a couple of years ago), this is a new chapter for the band's evolution, both musically and lyrically. That being said, musically this effort is not always far off from the classic "House of Heroes sound" that fans have come to know and love. Lead single "Colors Run" as well as...

If you're around my age, there's a pretty good chance that  Finding Nemo  was a part of your childhood, and there's also a good chance that you really enjoyed it both then and now. It is an incredibly heartfelt and emotionally rich story that just happens to be incredibly well-animated. It also stands quite well on its own. So, naturally, when Disney announced that they were making a sequel entitled Finding Dory , I was more than a little skeptical of how they were going to proceed. Finding Nemo  to me was so self-contained that there wasn't much of anywhere to go with the story. I mean, I know that Pixar has done some good work with sequels before, but they've also misfired big time (anybody else remember Cars 2  or Monsters University ?). Thankfully, Finding Dory  definitely fits into the better half of Pixar's filmography. It is surprisingly engaging and a natural progression of the first film's story, and also has some of the best animation Pixar h...