Why the World May as Well End Right Now

                I’m just going to throw it out there. Tamora Pierce is my favorite author ever. Or at least she was. You may not have heard of her, and I can guarantee you that your life is deficient because of it. It’s not that she’s the greatest writer in the world. Heavens no I have certainly read better, but in my calm subjective opinion she is the best storyteller ever to grace fiction. To me the point of a good story is to get one out of one’s own head and into the world described before them. The world of Tortal in Pierce’s novels is spread out among numerous books and is the connecting vein between several different series’. It is the common factor that makes every book of hers enjoyable. Her world is captivating in a way that transports you right onto the streets of an imaginary place like nothing, so different from the world you know. The problems in this place are old worldly and are like nothing that people of our generation have ever had to face. However, the human interaction is such that you can relate in a very human way. It’s fantastical and just plain fantastic. Everyone that I have ever encountered that has read even one of her books is a happier person for it.  Thusly I believed that she could do no wrong. Apparently I was very mistaken.

So sue me. I like books

                I have read seventeen of Pierce’s novels and had enjoyed every moment of every single one. Then I read her most recent novel that came out in 2011. I realized after that that the world may as well end right now for my favorite author had clearly run out of ideas.  This may sound melodramatic to some, but most people can’t even begin to comprehend how profoundly I love books. I collect them by the hundreds and read them by the thousands. I’m passionate about each and every one. I love books and wildly hate them, rarely am I ambivalent. When I read books I feel.  So, when I say that the world may as well end now I mean it. The woman I had thought to be the greatest living author gave me the greatest let down of my life.

Best book ever

Worst book ever!

 The book to which I credit my searing disappointment  was the third book in what had previously been my second favorite series by Pierce simply entitled after the main character Bekka Cooper (my first favorite series is Wild Magic, and it truly is divine. Just so ya know.) I won’t explain what the series is about here because I have never read a plot summary that has EVER done a book justice. Let me suffice to say that the series was superb.  It has intrigue, subterfuge, romance, mystery, action, and everything else that has ever made a book great. So imagine my surprise when I rushed out to buy the last book in this series entitled Mastiff, (yes an actual copy because well, screw kindle) rush home in a frenzy to read what I imagine is the most fantastic read I’ve had in months only to find out that it was terrible. I had been waiting a year to read this (since I had finished the previous one without this one being written yet.) So I had waited all that time to have this book be such a letdown. But it wasn’t only disappointing, or poor compared to her other books, it was flat out bad. I hadn’t read a book that horrendous in years, and the poor quality was something that you would expect from a first time novelist, not a seasoned and acclaimed author of over twenty-seven books. How was it horrible you may ask? Oh, let me count the ways.

See look how can you make such a rookie move after all these?

                                  

First I have to ask, is it just me, or is the point of a series to tell one cohesive story stretched out over a few books? It’s not just me right? Ya, I didn’t think so. So imagine my surprise when I open the last book in a series to find that it has almost nothing to do with the previous two installments!  It wasn’t merely a skip forward in time. Oh no, that happens often in well written series. (Series?  Series’s? Series’? Seriously how do you pluralize that word?) It wasn’t even that there were different characters to pick up where we left off; I almost wish there had been, no matter how much I had wanted to continue the story where it last left off. No such luck. It just left a huge chunk out of the eponymous characters life and expected you to feel empathy for events that the reader was unaware had even occurred.

  At the end of the previous book there had been a budding romance that most of the fan base had just been waiting to blossom. Once again no such luck.  Enter book three where there was an apparent relationship and engagement between the main character and a brand new man that happened entirely out of text!  That’s right. In that gap poof new man we know nothing about. I’m sorry that’s just poor, sloppy writing. You can at least use a prologue instead of just leaving it to the imagination. People are lazy. The whole point of reading is to have someone use our imagination for us. Nope this time the reader has to make the whole thing up. The book actually opens upon this random dude’s funeral. Awesome so he’s dead now. Am I supposed to feel sad at the death of this character I don’t know?   That’s all she wrote. There was a man, the protagonist loved him, and he died. Forget the fact that she had emotions for another man at the end of the last book. Nope! Someone else was there, he died… classy.

 Well, for those fans interested in the continuation of a romance from the second book at least the new man is dead right? That means she can get right back into it with her old flame yes? Ha ha just kidding. Nope everyone’s favorite rogue there for two second, maybe less than five pages and is never mentioned again.  What? Okay, I get artistic license, but come on, that was the only reason that anyone even cared about what happened anyways. Trust me if you haven’t read the books you would have loved him. But you know that’s just a personal peeve of mine, not necessarily bad writing.  I mean a bit baffling, but not exactly bad.  Authors do stuff that I don’t agree with all the time. Well, after that piece of creative genius it all went downhill from there and truly showed what a bad book looked like.

Boring, that’s what a bad book is. It’s boring. I have never been so captivated by a story than a book written by Tamora Pierce, but I was so bored! It was a struggle to read the rest of the book. Only the thought that surely it must get better let me struggle through, but I turned the last page and was still just uninterested. It was shallow and vague and just poor story telling. The whole thing was a facsimile of former glory. Mastiff took everything great about the rest of the series and tried to reiterate what had been into a new story. It didn’t work. It was then that I knew that Pierce had flat out used up all of her God given writing talent. The flow of such grandeur can apparently only last so long. She had tried to tell the same story in a different way, but it just lacked the luster that brings a book to life.

The rest of the faults of this book aren’t even worth specifically worth reiterating. Just thinking about them fills me with a terrible feeling of ennui. But, just like I was when reading the book I must soldier on and drag through the awfulness if only for a bit more. There were new characters, but they were awful. I have discussed this with others that have read this book, who actually disagree with this sentiment, but they’re wrong, they were awful. Period. The plot should have been intriguing, but it wasn’t. I felt like I’d read it before, and I had. It was merely the rest of Pierce’s other works combined.  There was a new love interest for our heroine but he was uninteresting. Especially when compared to the intrigue of a former flame.  There was horrific treachery but I couldn’t even muster the energy to be appalled. Finally there was conquest and conclusion. I had read over 1,500 pages about this characters life and couldn’t even be bothered to be excited when she became freaking Abraham Lincoln and ended slavery all by herself. That is how much I didn’t care.

                So now it’s over, my faith in an infallible story writer, the story, and this article. The world of good literature has now ended and now that I know there are to be no more good stories such as the like of Tamora Pierce in her prime the world can end too for all I care. Wait… ooh this one looks good… I’ll be right back. Okay so my declaration of the end of the world might have been a little hasty (and melodramatic [slightly.]) Perhaps there are more good stories as of yet unread and explored.  I guess I was just really disappointed. But I mean really it was just bad! I guess we all have to get back out there and realize that there’s more to life than one failure, disappointment, or embarrassment.

Hungry for some Hype?



Oh hey that's me!

              Oh great, it’s another movie that EVERYONE is talking about.  Mmm, hmmm it was based on a book too? Yes, and which part of this am I to not have seen before? What is with these people deifying these things until they become a pandemic phenomenon? You know what I’m talking about, right? Was there any doubt in your mind that I was talking about the ever acclaimed “Hunger Games?” I know, with all the hype you expect the clouds to open up and the angels to sing a hallelujah chorus every time the name is uttered.  Seriously the Seraphim would have their vocal chords snap if they tried to fill such a tall order. Maybe someone should talk about it in Seattle, I’m sure they could use a dose of cloud opening.  A glimpse of the almighty, ya I’m sure Stanley Tucci could use a bit to get all that dye out of his hair.  Okay, so The Hunger Games doesn’t come with its own personal choir, but people talk like it deserves to. I’m sure the thing that people are dying for in these dire times is an elite indifferent journalist, one who will rise above the rubble on a golden chariot, and for once tell it like it is! Well, sorry to disappoint, but I’m biased. That’s right; I admit I’ve been tainted. I’ve managed to avoid almost every major pop culture epidemic to sweep the nation, but this one, darn it all, has me swept up with it.  Though, I promise to you that I have purchased NO merchandise. Not even a T-shirt. 



Pictured here: hype

                Honestly, it saddens me.  I can, as of right now, tell you a thousand ways why Twilight was stupid, or a hundred quips as to how Justin Bieber looks like a girl. This is because every cultural trend that is in a happy majority has a sub culture of people ready to tell you just how wrong you are. I had always been a proud member of the latter; determined to hate anything that could even remotely be popular among a group of people inexplicably and grotesquely called tweens.  And ok, seriously? What kind of word is that?  I would be more comfortable with people calling the nation’s youth hooloovoo (which is a hyper-intelligent shade of the color blue for you non Douglas Adams fans) than tweens. It really is just a contemptible word of utterly ridiculous and uninteresting origins. How would one establish etymology for a word like that… but I digre… ooh look a distraction! Sorry about that, little side track on the rant train, next stop: Sesquepedalia.    



Oh God it's touching me

                Anyways I did like both the book and the movie, and sometimes I have really silly reasons for likening things, as seen in previous articles. So I’ll skip telling you how much I liked it, and why, because chances are, you have already seen the movie or read the book and have already established your own opinion on each. So, the real question isn’t about its value to literary and cinematic forums.  No, the true query is if it’s worth the hype. Now, I know that America has a penchant for things with a gladiator theme, but is that the draw, the violence? In my experience people are horrified by the violence. Most say that that was their least favorite part. I heard more collective gasps in that theater than the emergence of a diving expedition. It was ridiculous, all the gasps and cringes were quite distracting. It was almost like taking a drive with my mother. So no, maybe not on a level people are willing to admit it wasn’t the violence. Maybe it was the high class society of the future, with all the high fashion and colors. Personally I found the colors to be eye numbing, and the costumes absurd. It’s also hard to romanticize a futuristic city when there is a dystopian wasteland right on the other side of “paradise.” So, no, I guess it wasn’t the glitz of the cities; after all, I would rather be neighbors with The Jetsons than live in Panem. 

Sup

                Nope, I think it really boils down to humanities love of an underdog story.  The characters are lovable. They inspire compassion in the audience without feeling weak. You want Peeta to save Katniss. You want Katniss to get back to her sister.  But goodness, they never really left any doubt that that would happen.  Really, they didn’t even pretend that Katniss was in danger of losing.  The audience cheers her on but, I think the fact is that there isn’t much real suspense. You get all the adrenaline of adventure without all the risk involved in the loss of a beloved character. Now you might say “ah what about Peeta!” Well, in all honesty he really isn’t beloved until they announce that Katniss has the ability to keep him, and at that moment the potential for disaster disappears because cliché endings make people happy, which lead to ticket sales.

                Without even realizing it the wave that swept the nation was really a wave of assurity.  People got to pretend that there was danger and angst when all there really was was a series of events that were captivating enough to intrigue the audience enough to get them through to the one and only eventuality that deep down everyone saw coming.  As to why other series reach this pinnacle of popularity, I couldn’t tell you, but the Hunger Games reached to unlimited heights only to smack strait into a wall of brazen unsubtly.

Some Serious Need for Redemption: Why I hate sell outs

                Okay so I have a problem with a couple of bands and need to get it off my chest in some form other than reiterating it to whoever is closest when I’m irritated. I hope that once I get this down I’ll stop telling every helpless soul who wonders by with a similar music interest my rant, but I doubt it. J Bands need to stop making sell out albums. There I said it. Stop doing it, just stop, please. Now you may be wondering:  to what are you referring?  Well, I’ll tell you. A sell out album is an album made by any artist to make more money and to appeal to a more popular demographic. This normally includes changing your sound and ruthlessly betraying loyal fans to quite literally sell more music. Now this may seem mean, and perhaps a bit too condemning, but I am so sick of going to buy an album based on the fact that I have loved literally everything that the band has released previously only to be disappointed with their new album.



Before



                I understand a band wanting to go in a new direction, but when they release an album that I, as a devoted fan thought was crap, and that now everyone and their mother thinks is the new best thing. No. That I cannot condone.  Take for instance My Chemical Romance. I was a devoted fan from the very beginning of I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, and was cemented into fandom by Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.  I loved the sound, the atmosphere, and the fact that they were like no other band I had ever heard before; purely individual.  Then, came Welcome to the Black Parade. This album was more widely accepted by more people than the previous albums, i.e. it became popular.  Now, this album I wouldn’t call a sellout album. Yes, it became popular with the rabble that have no clue what good music would sound like even if it was blared 24/7, but it stayed true to the bands previously established sound and I still liked it. 



After

            Then came Danger Days:  The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys. This was the sell out album. I’m sorry MCR but I’m calling you out for this one. I think this was supposed to be a concept album, I think telling the story of a group of rebel hero things called The Fabulous Killjoys. I don’t really know. Why? Well because I as a fan was so appalled by this album that I didn’t care enough to find out what the band meant by this album. (And may I just say this whole thing with calling each other killjoys is reminiscent of the whole Lady Ga Ga mama/ little monster thing… just saying.) Some of the songs such as “Sing” and “Na Na Na” became incredibly popular with everyone. So much so that “Sing” was used on an episode of Glee.  Not all of the album was horrible. Most of them are tolerable, and I’d even go so far as to call some of them decent, but that is IF I put in the qualifier of forgetting that they are performed by My Chemical Romance. This album went a serious 180 of all their other music.  It’s very upbeat and poppy. Like happy teen punk status.

WHAT HAPPENED! I’ve heard opposition to my complaints in the form of someone citing that the band became depressed by their own music.  Not to be too insensitive, but suck it up! I realize that artists get really involved with their music and are emotionally attached to the songs, but you know what? So are the fans.  Think of why they’re your fans and devoted listeners before you decide to change up your whole shtick in favor for something that catches the eye of the mainstream crowd.  So, even though you might have personal issues, I declare: get over it!  Seriously, you don’t have to be always morbidly depressing, but redeem yourselves and bring the sound back in the direction of your origins for the sake of the people who unwittingly bought that awful album without even thinking because they believed. Just know you have broken my trust.

I think the most heinous sell out of late though was Linkin Park.  Their album A thousand Suns was such an atrocity, I couldn’t help but find out what they could have possibly been thinking when they made it. It’s like the morbid curiosity people have when viewing a car accident. You know it’s going to be horrible, but some gross curiosity just gets the better of you.  But, I didn’t have far to look, since it was on the inside of the CD cover. This, I may add was another album I had bought on blind faith because I had liked literally every song that they had ever released prior to this album. Well, except for the one song “In Between” off of Minutes to Midnight, but come on, one song in three full length albums should be good odds, or so I thought.  According to the band, this grievous offence of an album was committed in the name of art. Can you believe that? Art!  Paraphrasing their statement: basically its art, we don’t care if you like it, and yes we’re taking a new direction, but so what if you don’t like it, it’s art.



Pictured Here: Art!
also known as "really, what the heck is that?"



                That was the excuse they use to cover up a sellout album. In the name of art.  Basically they just told their fans to shove off because they didn’t care if it appealed to them. Wow...just wow.  I respect the fact that musicians are artists. I really do.  So it’s really despicable to insult real musical art with your blatant disregard for taste and call it something special.  Seriously to make this album sound artsy, they added some ambient noises and called it a day. Then, the songs themselves: Well those are absolutely nothing like their previously awesome songs.  They are so different, and not even in a good way; just in an annoying way, and for some reasons the songs have become incredibly popular.  I wouldn’t normally think that this was a sellout album so much as a mistake, except for the fact that the popular radio stations ate it up like candy.  I can’t even begin to fathom why.  It was so revolting that I couldn’t escape their garbage because it was everywhere! It was so annoying and really quite a shame.  I’m still sorely disappointed by the bands shortcomings.  Really bad music in the name of art is really just a disgrace to art.

                So, both of these bands need to redeem themselves.  I recently heard that both My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park are coming out with new albums this year.  They have both now made a ton of money off of their stupid and insanely popular sell out albums so let’s hope that they can get back to the music that made them famous in the first place.  The music; that is the reason they have a fan base to begin with.  I have learned my lesson however and will not be rushing out to actually pay money for the full albums expecting them to be good like I have in the past.  No, that trust was broken so I now know to be more cautious.  Hopefully I will hear a song on the radio, maybe one of the more obscure stations and be pleasantly surprised… I hope.  Well, Linkin Park is releasing a single on April 16.  I’ll come back on and tell you what I think.

                Lets just hope these two take a cue from one band that has already gone through the sell out phase all the way through to redemption in my book.  The band Panic! At the Disco had what I consider a sell out in the form of their album Pretty Odd.  It was another album that was so awful that it just left me scratching my head in its attempted popularity. and that the masses just ate up.  They even temporarily took the exclamation point out of their name for a while.  After living through that horror, I thought I was done with them, but then they released Vices and Virtues three years later.  The clouds cleared and the angels sang and the heavens shone through.  They rose from the ashes of a major mistake to come back and make a glorious album that has got to be one of my favorites ever. And just like that, the trust was reestablished.  So, I suggest that the afore mentioned bands take note, and learn from their mistakes.

What happens when you're finnished selling out

 



21 Jump Street: Recycled

Some movies span the ages; some storylines bridge the gaps between entertainment mediums, but sometimes, Hollywood just plain runs out of ideas. This, however, isn’t always a bad thing.  Some ideas are better re-imagined, with different minds thinking of different scenarios.  Well, let’s just say that lately Hollywood has been writing and mass producing some really elaborate fan fiction.

                The movie 21 Jump Street, while a re-engineering of an old concept, is a movie that really rises up to the challenge of being one of the many re-vamps that have most people convinced that imagination has moved right on out of Hollywood. That, or it’s just really hard to find a decent writer in that town. This movie however, realizes that it is a product of lack luster imagination and does all in its power to not so subtly address that fact; while somehow simultaneously sweeping it under the rug.  Let me just say that I am incredibly proud of the fact that this movie flat out states that it is a remake. At one point the character of the Captain, unabashedly states the fact that the 80’s are coming back as recycled material because people are unimaginative (why yes that was a paraphrase not a direct quote, why do you ask?) Also, there is an extremely blatant nod to the original when *spoiler alert* some of the original actors from the show appear in character, in probably the most ridiculous manner possible.

                Enough of the back story though, the real question is: Was it good?  The answer is: It was fantastic! And, a part of my being is kind of ashamed of that admission, but I’m sorry, anything that makes me laugh that hard is worth the admission of its merit. It was funny.  For both witty and stupid reasons it made me laugh.  I must say that the base humor was much more prevalent than the witticism. So, if you consider yourself a bit of a prude, maybe it’s not for you, but if you don’t mind a bit of language and lower hemisphere anatomy jokes, then it really is worth it.  And that is really what people are looking for in a movie right? I like to think so.  Just pure unadulterated laughter is all people ask.  Well, that is unless you have someone else in the theater that doesn’t laugh so much as guffaw (like me J.)

                The characters were hilarious, if a bit stereotypical. You have your basic jock and geek dichotomy in this movie.  The egg head versus the muscle head who, in an entirely unrealistic flash-back montage don’t really get along. However, when they enter the police academy, two adversaries become unlikely friends when they find out they need each other’s help (as bike cops tee hee). I’m sure you probably found this out in the trailer which, I’ll be honest showed most of the movies entire content in its brevity. Really, just tack on 5 minutes to either side of the trailer content and bam, that’s your show.  But I must say that 5 minutes is kind of worth it.  The bond between the unlikely duo of Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill is entertaining.  It’s funny, dynamic, and even sentimental.  The new term of the era is “bromance” so I guess that overwrought term is actually apropos for the situation that unfolds.  It occasionally gets a Sam and Frodo vibe when one gives the other a look that just screams breakup, but it’s sweet more than creepy so I deem it okay.

                This movie also gives way to the outlet of the worlds shared view that teenagers are just weird.  Honestly, I am a teenager, and I find other teenagers creepy and weird, and just slightly menacing when viewed in public, so I appreciate the outlet for those sentiments that is created by this movie.  It contrasts Hollywood’s normal view of “the cool kids” with the supposition of “today’s cool kids.” It shows that the old ideas of athletes and kids who just don’t care aren’t the in crowd anymore.  Now eco-friendly is the cool thing for kids and recycling is guaranteed to get you way more chicks and any dumb football trophy.  Um... what?  Now the drama kids are cool, bicycles are more awesome than muscle cars, red is blue, and pigs fly.  Yet in all this insanity the science geeks are still geeks. Hmm, I guess some things just never die.  But, there is a point to all this pandemonium! (I think) Kids are confusing.  Yay! That’s the point. To me, the only reasoning for the movie to employ these highly unrealistic views of high school is to make parents feel better about the fact that they don’t understand their own children; because children don’t make sense!  Either that or we’re devolving back to the hippie movement. I really can’t decide.  Actually, this movie is geared predominately towards teenagers who know for a fact that teenager’s aren’t really the kind of crazy that this movie is trying to portray them as.  Well drat!  Fine Hollywood: make my analysis inconclusive.

                The only part that I absolutely think is stupid is the drug trip footage.  Okay, I understand that drugs are a major plot point because, hello; this is a cop movie, but the scenes with the drugs are absolutely ridiculous. These scenes use shoddy animation and an impossible amount of color mixed with still shots to tell you the symptoms; none of which seem that bad.  Way to glorify drugs in a movie geared towards the nation’s youth!  I will assent that one kid did die as a result of the drugs portrayed in this movie, but he looked so godlike and epic while doing them that some people might be willing to ignore that fact.  Seriously kids: drugs are bad. In the movie the drugs consisted of random lab chemicals and Doritos. If that sounds even remotely appealing, you can just get off this blog right now, because; seriously… eww.

                So, I recommend you go see it. It’s stupid and crass, and unfortunately, I like those kinds of movies.  Besides, it’s got Channing Tatum in it, and explosives! Do you really need more incentive than that?

X For Xtremely Wild and Incredibly Bawdy

     The new party flick “Project X” is not a movie for the faint of heart.  This movie is so crazy the best thing I can think to compare it to is if “Superbad” was turned in to a mockumentary and given the insane disregard for authority of a rebel faction.  Now, I for one am not much of a fan of fake documentaries or the concept of “found footage” for films.  I already had to suffer through this monstrosity of film technique with the movie “Chronicle” that was released earlier this year. So, I was not overly excited when I started watching “Project X” and it was the same concept. Fortunately the Camera action is kept to a bare minimum, but it still was an unfortunate distraction.

       The plot itself was nothing new.  A movie about a high school party that gets out of hand? Ya, I’ve seen it over and over again, but “Project X” took this trite plot to astronomical proportions.   This movie was certainly meant for a younger demographic, and if you were even remotely offended by the American Pie movies, then this is certainly not the movie for you.  All the cliché things that make a movie rated R is what makes me question if this movie was a waste of two hours of my life.  Excessive nudity, profanity, and utterly over blown teen sexuality, and drinking make the movie a bit too overdone to be believable.  

      However this movie also takes overblown to a whole new level that makes me wonder if it was quite possibly the most epic movie I have ever seen.    Adding violence to the melee took the movie to a level not yet before seen in a teen party comedy to date.  I really can’t put my finger on what made this movie quite so cool and unique.  When you dissect every individual element of this movie it has been done before and turned into a stereotype.  But this over the top movie was really quite fantastic.  Truly, the sophisticated part of my brain hates me for admitting that.  Really, there is nothing thought provoking about this film, nothing advanced.  It is a veritable display of everything that is base and crass about adolescence.  The fact that teenagers are reduced to a mass of hormones and rebellion under the right circumstances is the only surface level lesson on humanity that can be excavated from this film.

        Perhaps it was the characters that made me like the movie so much.  Yes, having the “nerds “as the protagonist has been done many times before, but these nerds for some reason are particularly likeable; even if they pull some really detestable stunts. First there is Thomas, host of the party; an obsequious sycophant to all of his parents’ wishes. I mean really this kid is the definition of a spineless pushover. Come on, he lets his friend in a sweater vest boss him around for most of the movie.  But, by the end he… well… he still lets everyone walk all over him, but he has a good time while doing it, even if it takes plying him with drugs to make him the life of the party.  At least he gets there. 

     Then comes his friends. Trash your friend’s house… decidedly not cool.  Throw a party at your friend’s house out of the goodness of your heart because it’s your friend’s birthday… how sweet of you.  Invite so many people that it becomes a block party and incites a riot…funny.  Now accomplish all of this with a Chalice in hand, a New York accent, and a sweater vest and you’ve got Costa; best friend of Thomas and a bastion of comedic delight. Then, there’s J.B. who doesn’t serve any real purpose other than as an outlet for ridicule and having a laugh at the nerdiest of the nerds expense.  Honestly even though the characters are single faceted and have very shallow character development, I think it might be better that way. Really, you don’t get too attached to any one character.  So, as the movie progresses it is easier to laugh at the characters without any scruples because they are all fairly ridiculous.

     All in all, I still don’t entirely know how I feel about this film. After a complete analysis, I say that the movie pretty much balances itself out.  I kind of loved it, but at the same time I kinda thought it was exceedingly stupid and unoriginal.  What I will say, is that it made me laugh; albeit in a really primitive way.  Just know, if you have any qualms with bawdy content I say skip it. However if your mind resides in the gutter at all times, I’d say it’s quite the romp and destined to cause a laugh. 

A Pleasant Surprise from a Generally Avoided Genre

I had never heard of the band Hot Chelle Rae before about a month ago, but now it’s a name I can’t ignore or get enough of.  One day there was a song stuck in my head. It was a pop song, very catchy (It was the song “I like it like that”). So, I decided to look up the name of the group who sang it.  That was a total bust, because it was a group that I had never heard before. I thought nothing more of it until a little while later there was another one of those songs that are all over the place (“Tonight, Tonight”), and I being the curious person that I am, had to look up who sang it. Low and behold it was the same band that sang the “I like it like that,” and since then I had had a friend show me another song that turns out to be by the same people: Hot Chelle Rae. So I decided to look up even more songs by this band. Now, I am not by nature one to listen to pop music (I much prefer hard rock), but I felt myself compelled by how unusually good the songs were. So, I look up the songs and it turns out that I had already heard a good portion of them. I couldn’t tell you where I had heard them before but I found myself singing the words to a few songs that I didn’t even know I knew.  I generally could listen to any common song and tell you what it is called, and who sings it, but it appears that this one had somehow slipped under my radar. So I decide to buy their first album lovesick electric and I’ll admit, I liked it… a lot. 

The lead singer has quite the soft voice, sort of soothing. Though if the lead voice is that soft I think I would have preferred the backup vocals to be a bit harsher instead of the soft boyish vocals that they were, but that’s just me. There is a nice driving rhythm to the drums and guitar throughout the album. The whole thing starts out with a moderately paced song “Say (half passed nine)” and then branches out in other directions from there.  For instance that second song on the album is called “I like to dance,” and it certainly makes me want to get up and move.  The whole thing is driving rhythm and a back and forth pitch that makes it almost irresistible to at least bob your head with the beat, if not to make you jump up and down. This is common throughout the album there are a lot of pieces that are just down right fun to listen to. I wouldn’t normally say that pop is a good thing, but really it is quite a game changer.  

                On some parts of the album there are some slow ballad type songs. The guitar goes acoustic; the drums are few and far between and tend to be more percussive.  The lyrics get a bit more emotional (duh) and the vocals have a lot more soul poured into them, not in a totally sappy way though. I mean, yes it’s sappy, but not in an “oh my god I love you so much” way, but in more of a “wow, I actually care about this topic” way.  Now I will say that the Achilles heel of this album would have to be the lyrics. I don’t think that there is a single song on this album that isn’t about a girl. I don’t know what I expected from a group made entirely of guys.  Well, I guess I’m just too used to rock bands with more meaningful lyrics about life and such because the lyrics on this album seem to be incredibly surface level. As a bit of a warning I would also say that I could really live without the song “Alright.” It’s a bit repetitive, and the vocals get a bit pitchy. Just saying.

 I particularly like the song “Last one standing” though. Out of the two obvious ballads’ it mixes the slow vocal’s that are fraught with pleading with a few faster paced bits that make a truly enjoyable contrast. There is also a part at the end of the song where the guitar echoes the notes of the vocal’s and anthropomorphizes the guitar into becoming a voice on its own and accents the meaning of the words by making your brain fill in the words itself. This is the last song on the album and it ends with a bit of crooning and some very well placed string instrumentals that lead to a very satisfying end to a satisfying album.