Category Archives: THINGS WE LOVE

Oct 24 2012
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Music, THINGS WE LOVE

“Begin Again”: Correct Maturity Level

Guys, we know we’ve been a little MIA recently, and we apologize for that. But fundamentally, there hasn’t been that much exciting stuff in pop culture for us to be talking about. Yesterday, ALL OF THAT CHANGED.

Yes, indeed–Taylor Swift’s fourth album, Red, was officially released yesterday, and we’ve been listening to it ever since. Look, we know you have too. And honestly, we’ve been enjoying it a lot! It’s been entirely too long since we had some new T-Swizzle, and Red on the whole is pretty great.

BUT THEN! Today, she went even further in our excitement and released a new video. We didn’t even cover her video for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” because we hated it so much, so we’re glad to have something we can actually talk about. Tay-Tay released the video for “Begin Again,” a very pretty song about starting over in a new relationship. In the video she wanders around Paris in a lot of pretty outfits looking sad for most of it. Here, watch:

Some thoughts:

  • Sorry, the image of Taylor biking in that skirt is really hilarious to us for some reason. Right? Not that anything about it is wrong in any way, it is just hilariously pretentious.
  • Unsurprisingly, Tay-Tay drinks an espresso shot more slowly than anyone ever.
  • Do we think those are her actual sketches at 1:09? Because they’re pretty impressive.
  • Okay, the new guy is very cute in general, but what is up with his hair??? We are not on board with that amount of gel. Gentlemen, take note: it’s not cute.
  • Love that purple dress. Its sole purpose seems to be to look pretty (not really sure what she’s doing sitting on that ledge in general) but it is EXCELLING at that.
  • We would probably not get involved with a guy whose version of a pick-up line is taking our picture. It’s a personal choice and not one we’re judging Taylor for, but this clearly would not work for everyone. We would move away slowly. Maybe it’s different in France?
  • What is with the tart interlude? Does she leave the guy and go to a different cafe? So confused.
  • Can we talk about how much more age-appropriate this guy is for Taylor than the 18-year-old Kennedy she’s dating? Too soon?

Anyway, overall we really enjoyed “Begin Again.” Though it is admittedly a little overwrought and… well… Taylor-y, it is in the right direction, which is away from “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and people dressed like animals. Stick with angst and cafes, Taylor–you never go wrong there.

 

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Sep 09 2012
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Movies, THINGS WE LOVE

The Master: guys just go see it

Okay, guys, the previously retired actor JOAQUIN PHOENIX is back. In a movie about a CULT. How awesome is that? How much more do you need to know to want to see this movie??? If unconvinced, watch the trailer below!

MIND BLOWN. And that’s just the trailer. Imagine how great the movie will be! Some of the many awesome things about this trailer:

  • JOAQUIN PHOENIX IS IN A MOVIE AGAIN. It’s actually him!
  • The director. Guys – Paul Thomas Anderson is kind of amazing. Not only did he direct the epic There Will Be Blood, his long term partner is Maya Rudolph from SNL. He’s a winner.
  • Paul Thomas Anderson said that Phllip Seymour Hoffman’s character is loosely inspired by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. Phillip Seymour Hoffman + Scientology??? We are intrigued.
  • Jesse Plemons is in this movie! Obviously if a movie has any actor from “Friday Night Lights” in it, we’re going to see it. But ESPECIALLY Landry. We love Landry!
  • Also, Phillip Seymoure Hoffman looks AMAZING in it. We would probably join his cult…
  • Amy Adams – always a plus. Ever since the The Muppets we are totally on the Amy Adams bandwagon.


Just in general this movie looks so. good. This is one of those movies where everything seems to come together and a truly unique and amazing movie is made. WE ARE SO EXCITED. EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE.

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Aug 29 2012
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Music, THINGS WE LOVE

“Blow Me (One Last Kiss)”: Yes, Pink Is Still Awesome

We love Pink. No qualifications, no apologies. She is a total badass, a great singer, and never seems to be trying to be someone other than herself. What’s not to love?

So no surprise, we are absolutely obsessed with her new single “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” First of all, how great is it that she named her song “Blow Me”? It is so much more fun to tell people, “Oh, I’m listening to BLOW ME” than about 99% of most song titles. Plus, no one can hate on Pink and make fun of us for listening to her in the same way that we have to suffer for our enjoyment of Demi Lovato. No regrets.

Getting back on track, “Blow Me” is both an amazing break-up song and generally the perfect thing to drive around to singing loudly, especially with summer winding down. Making it even more fun, Pink’s video for it is crazy. Like, even for her. Check it out:

Things to note:

  • The video is both black and white and apparently ostensibly French, as all of the credits are in French. However, the song remains in English. Oh, Pink.
  • Pink’s jewelry in the first shot is INCREDIBLE. Seriously, we aren’t entirely sure what to call that jeweled collar thing but we know that it is gorgeous! And those pearls!
  • This guy she’s dating is a sleazebag, though admittedly hot. Answering the phone during a romantic picnic? Also… why does he have a cell phone? The costuming made us think this was a period piece, but now it is apparently not?
  • So PINK is the only color in the video! Oh the symbolism. Just watch her wine splashing over his face!
  • Pink later strips to an old-timey bathing suit, further confusing us on this setting. Also on why she’s stripping, but you can’t hope for everything. Inexplicably, she decides to take off the jeweled collar. Then she goes to a pretty French house and is an artist’s model. As you do.
  • The outfit Pink wears to crash the sleazebag’s party is pretty awesome. She puts on a black power suit, slicks her hair back, and dances with his other girlfriend to scare the crap out of her. But then he proposes to her! Right in front of Pink! Does he have a death wish??
  • Wait, her next outfit is even better. She wears all black, including a mask and a parasol, to the guy’s wedding!
  • Then some fairy creature, we guess, comes in on a bike in the air (???) and blows up a pink heart to splash all over the whole wedding party. So many questionable things about this. Pink just looks like a dominatrix and glories in the whole thing while everyone else at the wedding screams and runs away. It’s amazing, obviously. Then she leaves on the flying bicycle. What? …but also, props, Pink.

Basically this video could be summed up as: doesn’t matter that she’s a mom now, Pink is and forever will be a badass. And we love her for it. May she always be so cool.

 

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Aug 26 2012
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Movies, THINGS WE LOVE

Taken 2: Kidnapping is Still Bad Guys

Guys, Liam Neeson has finally answered all of our prayers by making a sequel to the movie Taken, titled….wait for it…..Taken 2! Now we don’t know about the rest of you, but the moment we saw this trailer we rejoiced. Out of all the bad movies Liam Neeson has found himself in the last few years (Batman Begins being the exception), Taken is definitely our favorite. Liam Neeson may seem an unlikely action star, but we absolutely LOVE watching him kick ass to save his daughter from evil human traffickers. Basically, Liam Neeson is kind of the best and we’d rather watch Taken over James Bond any day. (Sorry folks, it’s true – no disrespect to 007 intended.)   

Now as many of you know, sequels are always iffy because they bring up the question: ‘Will the director totally change the plot / invalidate a lot of the first movie?’ For example, after Ocean’s Eleven, a movie about how eleven people pulled off a truly incredible heist successfully, they decided to make Ocean’s Twelve, a movie about how they weren’t actually that successful because Andy Garcia figured out who robbed him and wants his money back. They then have to go rob some folks in Europe to get his money back. Whoops. Seriously, don’t try to pull one on Andy Garcia. However, we don’t have to worry about that with Taken 2, because based on the trailer they are not changing anything. They actually seem to be making the exact same movie as the first one!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, observe the basic arc of the Taken trailers.

Beginning

  • HUGS: Obligatory hug from daughter in first minute of the trailer, this establishes that they are happy and everything is all good. (0:12 in Taken and 0:40 in Taken 2)
  • HOTELS: Several shots of them being in hotel rooms with lots of windows…. this establishes that they are on vacation. Why are they always on vacation? WHY ARE THEY NEVER AT HOME?


Middle:

  • The Kidnapping: The kidnappers show up and this is where the windows (see: ‘Beginning’) become important. The daughter either watches the kidnapping through the windows or climbs out of one.
  • THE PHONE CALL: Liam Neeson gives instructions to people over the phone, during which he establishes that he is a complete badass and the kidnappers should just give up right now. BUT THEY DON’T. Fools.


End:

  • EXPLOSIONS: Liam Neeson wins. Always.


For more proof see the trailers below:

 

Taken

 

 

Taken 2

 

In sum, Liam Neeson knows if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

 

 

 

 

 

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Aug 12 2012
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Music, THINGS WE LOVE

“Hurt Me Tomorrow”: K’naan and Stick Figures Are In Pain

Many people probably just know K’naan from his monster World Cup hit “Wavin’ Flag,” but the Somali poet-rapper is far more than just that one song! We have been legit obsessed with K’naan since randomly catching a show of his in 2009… and ever since then, we’ve been eagerly anticipating new music from him. He hasn’t released a new album since 2009, but thankfully 2012 will be the year for it!

So K’naan has released a new music video for his single “Hurt Me Tomorrow,” and it is… interesting. Here, watch it for yourself:

0:01: First of all, we kick off with a stick figure couple arguing. Okay.
0:27: A girl’s feet in heels walk past us. We do not see any other part of her body. Also, this stick figure thing seems to be staying… they are still there.
0:45: Full-size women actually appear! They appear to be making up a rainbow. Unclear why. Also one of them has a dominatrix stick.
0:53: What is with that giant head? Seriously, it’s kind of creepy. We didn’t bring it up the first time because we were hoping it would just go away, but that is clearly not the case.
1:03: Why is one of the girls standing separately from all of the others? She is also in red, which is clearly already represented in the rainbow line-up. Girl, get your costume together. We also keep seeing her lips moving, apparently while reading a note… but we don’t get any info on what on earth she’s reading about.
1:17: Oh, the other girl was ORANGE! So the red one gets to stand separately because she’s their leader! Well… that part makes sense at least, but we still don’t really get the rest of it.
1:21: What are the women swinging? If we were K’naan we would be very nervous right now.
1:36: They’re swinging ribbons? Maybe? That explode into dye everywhere?
1:43: It appears that every time that K’naan points, there is a dye firework. We respect that.
1:56: The female stick figure is in the background carrying a sign what says “Remember the lawnmower.” No real commentary, just found it hilarious.
2:37: For the second time, we see the red girl bare her teeth while wearing spiked earrings. It is more intimidating than you would anticipate. Then she and all of the girls walk away… WHILE K’NAAN ASKS, “Why you gotta go and walk away?” We just understood something in this video!
3:03: All of the girls are back, and are, for no apparent reason, launching a bunch of balloons at K’naan with a giant ribbon cord thing. It’s a pretty cool visual, but we aren’t really clear on why it’s happening. Story of this video.
3:17: More explosions. This time, though, it’s in front of the PYRAMIDS. So that happened.
3:43: K’naan is covered in the explosions, which looks kind of like what you look like after attending Holi. Then he looks at the camera kind of creepily… and it’s just over?

While we definitely didn’t understand that video at all, we are so happy that K’naan is back with new music! We really like “Hurt Me Tomorrow” as a song… we just might suggest downloading it instead of watching the video. Seriously, everyone should support K’naan! He is one of the most original voices in rap today as well as being one of the most prominent activists for Somalia, and we should all support the important work he’s trying to do.

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Aug 08 2012
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Fastest Girl In Town: In a Different Speed Class

So as we said in our last post, a couple of our favorite ladies in country music have been releasing new music videos recently. And as much as we love Carrie Underwood, for us there’s honestly no one like Miranda Lambert. She’s tough, she’s funny, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. Miranda Lambert basically fulfills the definition of badass. Did you know that she killed the deer that she served for dinner at her wedding to Blake Shelton? That’s just how Miranda rolls.

Miranda has now released a video for her new single, “Fastest Girl in Town.” And honestly… it’s not our favorite of her songs. It’s also just hard to come after “Over You,” which is one of her most gorgeous songs ever. However, this is not to say that we aren’t incredibly excited about a new Miranda video, and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Whaaaaat? She is actually like 239847215 times cooler than we will ever be. True life. Here are the top reasons from the video that prove it:

  • Miranda’s name on the big theatre marquee at the beginning. Not something that’s ever happened to either of us, much to our dismay.
  • We have yet to fully master the art of hypnotizing a dive bar by walking in the door without appearing blatantly trashy. It’s a fine line, but one that Miranda has learned to walk well.
  • SHE STEALS A CAR. We legit did not see this coming… we thought the video would more follow the plot of the song lyrics and she’d go on a drive with the tough guy, but instead she and her friend decided to skip a few steps and just steal the car. Casual.
  • When Miranda steals cars, the guy she stole it from gets arrested instead of her. Boss.
  • After Miranda steals a car, she shows no remorse and just wants a beer. Understandable, car-thief operations are hard work.

While this video was more of a short Thelma and Louise film with “Fastest Girl in Town” as a soundtrack than the intense symbolism of “Over You,” Miranda’s new video is a ton of fun and definitely worth checking out. Miranda Lambert is way cooler than we will ever be, and we aren’t even sad about it.

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Jul 22 2012
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Movies, THINGS WE LOVE

Batman Remains Quality: The Dark Knight Rises

Like everyone else in the world, we went to see The Dark Knight Rises this weekend. And also like everyone else in the world, we had been anticipating this movie for a very long time. Seriously, who hasn’t?? The Dark Knight came out in 2008, and four years without Batman is entirely too long.

Anyway, so we were extremely excited to see it, and we were not at all disappointed. Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job with wrapping up his trilogy. And it was not only Christopher Nolan who did a fantastic job, pretty much every single person in the cast was phenomenal. He may use the same 10 actors in all of his movies, but damn, can they act. We kept waiting for Leonardo DiCaprio to show up but alas (spoiler alert) he did not. :( Here is a brief breakdown of all of the performances from this movie. They were all great!

  • Christian Bale: First things first, we have the Batman. He may be a cray, but Christian Bale is a fantastic leading man and continued to be awesome as Batman. Even though Batman is a super hero, Bale makes him seem more like a tragic hero from an epic Greek play or something… it’s crazy. When you watch this movie it does not feel like a campy superhero franchise (we’re looking at you Avengers), it feels like an intense character drama. Props to Christian Bale for real. No wonder he won an Oscar in 2011, he’s amazing.
  • Joseph Gordon Levitt: We love JGL, so we were never going to be very objective on this one. He was introduced as a new character in The Dark Knight Rises, the cop Blake. We were really concerned that Christopher Nolan was going to make him be the bad guy, but it is impossible for Levitt to ever seem like a bad person. He is just too likable! Anyway, his faith in Batman was incredibly endearing, and he was the character most consistently trying to do the right thing throughout the movie… and JGL did a fantastic job in making us believe every minute of it. Hey, Nolan: You sure you’re done with Batman? Because we would love to watch you make some sequels with JGL. Just throwing it out there.
  • Anne Hathaway: Okay, so everyone was a little dubious when it was announced that Anne Hathaway was going to be playing Catwoman. We can all admit it. But fortunately SHE TOTALLY PULLED IT OFF. Our girl Anne was sexy, strong, and generally awesome, and we were always looking forward to the next time that there was a scene with her. Girlfriend was believably conflicted but still someone worth rooting for. We would totally watch Catwoman spinoffs, for what it’s worth.
  • Tom Hardy: He is unrecognizable in this movie, and not just because he had a giant mask over his face for Bane and a shaved head. Physically he looked like a different person and his acting, despite the mask, was awesome. It is so challenging to act and have half of your face covered – but Hardy took on the challenge and was a terrifying, but believable villain.
  • Marion Cotillard: So obviously she is a fantastic actress in absolutely everything that she’s in, so there’s not that much of a point in telling you that she’s good. Surprise: she was great! We don’t want to give anything away, but we can say that she did well with playing many different emotions/situations throughout the course of the film. One of the nicest things about The Dark Knight Rises is the total lack of a damsel in distress character: both Miranda and Selina are clearly strong women who can get through a crisis with any means necessary.
  • Gary Oldman: Who doesn’t like Gary Oldman? Seriously. He was great! We maybe want to join the police now because of him! Even though he was lying down in a hospital bed for the majority of the movie we were still in awe of him. He’s just kind of the bomb.

In conclusion, this movie is really, really good. We know, you’re shocked. The action is awesome, the plot (minus some holes) is intriguing and there is a serious twist at the end that will take you by surprise! We even paid extra money to see this movie in a fancy theater (a big deal for us, we’re cheap remember) and we can say with certainty, that this film is worth every penny.

 

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Apr 29 2012
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Music, THINGS WE LOVE

Proof that Nicki Minaj is from SPACE!

Nicki Minaj’s new video for “Starships” does not disappoint ya’ll. Everyone should watch this. Not only does it feature her most important asset quite prominently (you know what we are talking about) it also looks like everyone is having a good time filming this music video (rave).

“Starships” can’t really make up its mind on where it’s going, so it’s a little hard to describe the concept when it seems to change every thirty seconds. Here are some words that we thought described the video: TROPICAL, SPACE, RAVE, DANCE, BOWLER HAT, KALEIDOSCOPE. Right? None of this makes sense. But in Nicki’s world, it does.

Oh Nicki. Here are some of the most notable moments:

1.) Tribal dancers in red bowler hats. Clearly the highlight.
2.) The spaceship, no wait, STARSHIP opening. Nicki Minaj is indeed from outer space and made of stardust. We get to watch her get beamed down.
3.) The number of bikinis Nicki seems to have in this video. We counted at least 4. She was also a little uncomfortable in one of them–note in the white one towards the end that she keeps trying to hold it in place.
4.) KALEIDOSCOPE. KALEIDOSCOPE NICKI. It’s actually really strange but we couldn’t stop watching? It makes you imagine what the world would be like with 12 Nickis instead of just one.
5.) Nicki’s hair: so many colors.

While “Starships” is definitely not our favorite Nicki song ever, the video’s entertaining. We’re relieved that Nicki decided to just throw a party instead of trying to make the song deeper than it is. Nicki: embrace the shallow. It’s why we love you!

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Apr 25 2012
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THINGS WE LOVE

Finals Meltdown

So for all you students out there – finals is already or soon will be upon you. Unfortunately, we have already started ours. Like most people during finals, we only do one thing: WATCH YOUTUBE. Studying is for people who like… want to go to grad school or med school or something. We are not burdened by those concerns, and so instead we watch YouTube as we attempt to get ready for our tests and papers. Unfortunately, like everyone else, we have way too much to do.

Navigating the world of YouTube videos is a seriously emotional journey for us. There are so many happy videos out there (i.e. “Call Me Maybe) and hilarious ones (ie. Drunk History). YouTube is normally a pick-me-up for us. But during finals, we just start crying at videos. Like, sometimes not even ones that it makes sense to do so with? You know what we’re saying. One minute you’re a normal person watching a video, the next minute you’re that cray crying in the library. Below we have listed our top three videos that have been making us cry during this finals period… so if you just need to let it out, now you know where to go.

Number 1: Kelly Clarkson Winning American Idol: “A Moment Like This”

Grantland reminded us of the existence of this video yesterday, and we watched it and IT WAS A MISTAKE. Kelly is so young and so excited to be winning and everything is so emotional and we went on a really intense journey with her and WE’RE CRYING. They keep showing shots of her mom (like all of America, we love Kelly Clarkson’s mom for no apparent reason)! Also her hair has those super weird blonde highlights. We all make poor choices sometimes.

Number 2: Miranda Lambert’s “The House that Built Me”

Oh my God. This song. Just hearing it makes us cry usually, but during finals all we want to do is go home. We are so close, and Miranda keeps singing about it and making us all sad! It has all these cutesy home video looking shots of baby Miranda (unclear if they are actually hers or filmed specifically for this video). Baby Miranda (even a possible fake one) makes us weepy.

Number 3: BYU It Gets Better

Okay if you do not cry at this one you actually have no soul. LGBT students at Brigham Young University are talking about their experiences and if you know anything about BYU and Mormonism’s history with LGBT people, it makes sense that all of these people have had really difficult experiences. We LOST IT when Mark (?) started talking about his sister. They are so inspirational and genuinely so optimistic about their futures as gay Mormons and it makes us cry and then remember that actually the 40 pages of writing we still have to produce in the next week is not that big of a problem.

In sum, now you know what we’ve been up to lately… crying everywhere. It’s okay. We understand. It’s all going to be over soon. Until then, Kelly, Miranda, and the BYU LGBT students are there for all of us.

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Apr 22 2012
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Movies, Music, THINGS WE LOVE

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

As much as we personally love rap and respect it as an art form, it remains unfortunately all too true that hip-hop is still not considered “real” art a lot of the time… and by a large number of people, mostly white. Much of the time, rap is placed in this racialized ghetto away from what music’s establishment considers “real.”

Ice-T is actively trying to change this perception this summer with the movie he’s directing, Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap. He’s managed to get many of the most important and most prominent rappers alive today to collaborate with him on this movie, explaining their own processes and the importance of what they do. AND IT LOOKS AMAZING! Here’s the trailer:

“Dignity behind that rhyme” is probably the best quote from this trailer that sums up why we want to watch it. This film focuses on the artists themselves (basically every rapper ever) and it gives them a chance to really open up and explain their art. Hip-hop is an extremely important movement and has been for decades. This is legitimately one of the movies we are most looking forward to seeing this summer. While we may spend hours at a time looking up hip-hop music videos and artist interviews, we realize that not everyone else does. Ice-T has taken the time to piece together an amazing film that synthesizes the story of hip-hop, from its conception to its current status in popular culture today.

As the quote featured on the poster from Grandmaster Chaz says, “Hip-hop didn’t invent anything. Hip-hop re-invented everything.” This is so true–the number of things that hip-hop as a cultural movement had a major influence on is absolutely incredible, and our cultural landscape today would be unimaginable without it. Seeing the thoughts of the people involved in creating this huge movement is so important and we are so glad that Ice-T has put this together!

Also Snoop Dogg = Tae Kwon Do. We love him. Seriously. And we can’t wait for this movie.

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