My Own Little World

There are times when I sit down to watch a movie, expecting the world, and I get something that underwhelms me. I really don't like that feeling of being disappointed by films I really look forward to. On the other hand, there are times where I'll sit down with no specific expectations besides a film being good and get absolutely blown away. La La Land  is definitely one of the latter. I didn't have any idea what to expect from this movie. I loved director Damien Chazelle's last film Whiplash  because of its editing and incredibly tight pace, and I have really enjoyed what I have seen from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone recently; however, I still had no idea what I was getting into with this film, aside from the fact that it would be good. From the opening frames, my jaw dropped. La La Land  is a film from a bygone era and harkens back to the musicals from the 1950s such as Singin' in the Rain . This is seen so easily through the direction of the musical number...

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...