BuzzFeed recently introduced me to the the existence of @firstdateqs, a Twitter account where people are revolutionizing first dates. Throw out questions about careers and families of origin and ask the truly important ones, like, “Do you think birds hear their own voices and are like ‘ugh is THAT what I sound like?'”
I’ll be honest, I would be super impressed by a guy who brought his creativity A-game to the restaurant. So, just to practice, I thought I would answer a few. Continue reading
I have all-time favorites when it comes to Mumford & Sons: “Hopeless Wanderer,” “White Blank Page,” and “After the Storm.” But there’s one song in particular that I always forget about, and when I hear it I always say, “Oh YEAH, I love this!”
“Below My Feet” is a catchy enough song. When the chaos drops out at 3:35 and the chorus grows in intensity, I have never yet been able to keep myself from punching my steering wheel in time to the beat. But what I really love are the lyrics. Continue reading
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post about my love for movie soundtracks. In the comments, Joseph Richardson mentioned video game soundtracks, and I realized I had missed an entire genre of awesomeness. Although other games have wonderful soundtracks (and I will want your comments to inform me of specifics!), for me, it’s always about Final Fantasy. (And some Kingdom Hearts, because FF characters are included in the gameplay.) Click on the links to listen to the songs on YouTube.
1. “Main Theme” – Final Fantasy VII
For me, video games begin and end with Final Fantasy VII. So does my taste in video game music. The slightly ominous beginning builds to an epic melody that will, for me, forever be synonymous with exploration and adventure. Check out an orchestral performance of the song here. Continue reading
This weekend, my cousin Bess came to Dallas to visit me. We spent her first night here watching all three Jurassic Park films in anticipation of Jurassic World‘s release. I chose to view our immediate fixation on movies in a positive light: our family is very media- and story-oriented, so really, we were honoring our ancestry. After all, this was not the first time movies were central to my memories of Bess.
When I was very little, I loved the Ernest movies starring Jim Varney. So did my brother Roy and my cousins Andrew and Bess. One night when we were visiting them in Atlanta, we rented Ernest Scared Stupid, in which Ernest must destroy a bunch of trolls on Halloween. It is the most absurd film to ever exist, culminating in Ernest dancing and kissing said evil troll. The four of us peered over blankets, laughing as though we weren’t actually terrified. I vowed never to watch a scary movie again. Continue reading
When I was eleven years old, I saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace in theaters. When I got home, I ran to my white board. It was where I wrote my most embarrassing thoughts, the ones too scandalous to leave permanently on a journal’s pages. “I know that Anakin is supposed to be so cute, but I LOVE young Obi Wan Kenobi!!” I stared at my admission of love, smiled, and erased the evidence.
Two years later, I sat in a theater again, sobbing over popcorn as Christian wailed, clutching the body of Satine as the curtains closed at the Moulin Rouge. I became obsessed, printing quotes (“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return”), taping pictures to my bedroom wall, and singing “Come What May” loudly as I vacuumed the house. The Internet was a lot more useful by 2001, so I soon discovered that I had loved this actor before. Both Christian and Obi Wan Kenobi were played by the same man: Ewan McGregor. Continue reading
A Very Potter Musical is a parody that pokes fun at its subject while never losing sight of the fact that everyone loves Harry Potter. A group of college students from the University of Michigan created a three hour musical and uploaded it in short scenes to YouTube. It quickly went viral and spawned two sequels and a theater company.
The Harry Potter books will always be first in my heart, because they are the foundation for all things Hogwarts. But when it comes to visual representations of the stories, I believe the cheap student-made production far exceeds the multi-billion dollar movie franchise. Continue reading
The first time I noticed the power of music in a movie, I was eight years old and watching Return of the Jedi.
Luke: I will not fight you.
Darth Vader: Give yourself to the Dark Side. It is the only way you can save your friends. Yes, your thoughts betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for… sister. So, you have a twin sister. Your feelings have now betrayed her, too. Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me. Now his failure is complete. If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will…
Luke: Never!!
Packing means going through old memories, one of which was a folder full of quotes and pictures I hung on my dorm room door in college seven years ago. I think the quotes capture the highs and lows of my interests pretty well.
(I didn’t keep track of who wrote these quotes, so I apologize for the lack of accreditation. They definitely aren’t mine!)
Gilmore Girls is a dangerous show, especially now that it is on Netflix and can go from episode to episode without requiring me to stand up and change DVDs. In the last two weeks, I have watched four seasons of the show. My obsession is just bad enough that I’m a little bit ashamed that I have not watched more. Spending so much time in a fictional TV world has messed with my emotions, sometimes for better, and sometimes for worse. Continue reading
Mad Max: Fury Road was not on my radar until I learned that Men’s Rights Activists were protesting it (sight unseen, mostly) because it was “feminist propaganda.” There aren’t many other phrases that will draw my attention quite so quickly. I knew it was an extremely violent movie, so I did a ton of pre-movie research. I quizzed a friend who had seen it, read dozens of articles about it, and googled “how gross is mad max fury road.” It wasn’t until a friend texted and said she was interested in seeing it (also because of its ties to feminism) that I decided to bite the bullet and go to the theater.
I needn’t have worried so much. It is definitely a violent movie, but I was relieved to see that the violence is mostly insinuated rather than shown. It also helped that, thanks to my research, I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen. Once I realized that the film wasn’t going to try to gross me out, I got lost in its story.
(So many spoilers ahead. You’re forewarned.) Continue reading
It Is Trish 