Media Review

What are we doing here? Honestly, what are we doing with this “drumless” edition of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories? What possible lessons can we learn from 2023’s second re-edition of Daft Punk’s third-best album, in which every sonic detail is the same, other than the absence of drums?

The first thing that I did with this album was listing to Giorgio by Moroder and couldn't get into it because it just seemed off.

I took a step back and decided to listen to the entire album from the beginning with the view point that this is supposed to be different.

I’m listening to it again as I write this and I think it falls some where between a cover version and an acoustic mix. I think the article that I linked to does a better job of explaining it.

For me, the cognitive dissonance sometimes gets me out of the grove. The album moves from something that I would look at to pull songs from for a dance party to an album that I would look at for a speakeasy; a party where people are expected to talk over it.

That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. It’s definitely a different take on a record that I listened to on a regular basis.

A frequent type of post that I write is a small little review of different forms of media. Usually a movie, but I’ve been adding more tv recently. To quickly differentiate them, I’d put Media Review in the title in the hopes that whoever it helps the reader.

There is a small problem in that I’m populating my blog using letterboxd and it goes directly to the blog. I then have to rename the post, add the alt text to the movie poster, and add the Media Review category.

I’m going to be changing this process going forward.

I’ll continue to mark the post in the category for Media Review but leave it from the post name. In this way, I won’t have to worry about dead links related to post titles changing.

Please let me know if you’ve read any of the reviews. All my writing is for me first, but I do love feedback sometimes.

Link: 📺 The Curse (2023)

Overview

An alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring on their problematic new HGTV show.

One word: Awkward.

I only saw the pilot and it was one of the most awkward things I’ve ever seen on tv. It’s supposed to be that way… I think. 126% not for kids. I don’t know if I’ll come back to see the other episodes because I don’t have Show Time, but it was intriguing enough that I did listen to a podcast about the second episode in order to find out what happens to the “cherry tomato boys”.

Here is a link to the official trailer for The Curse

I saw this one with my wife. We both love Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthey. We thought it was in the same vein as Bridesmaids and we were rewarded with big laughs.

Update: Apparently, we don’t love them enough to get their names spelled correctly.

📺 Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)

This series is fun and finishes quickly. I watched it with my 14 year old daughter in one setting. Warning there was some kissing in the first episode and some sexual innuendo in various places throughout the season but nothing gratuitous.

I don’t think you need to no the original source material enjoy the show, but you will get more from it if you had.

What I like the most of the show was that it takes a look at how breaks ups affect us and how and if we move on afterwards. It never forget that it’s a comedy but it does have some serious moment that made me think about the show after it was done. I don’t know if it’s just my brain trying to digest the messages or the effects of me binging a show in for the first time in a years.

All in all, I’m happier with this ending than I was with the movie.

Here is the trailer for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.

Template uses lantern by Rob Knight

This is my favorite episode so far in the season.

The show is known for having gratuitous amounts of sex and gore, but I really felt that it took a moment to show us a little bit of tenderness between some of the characters. Sure, there might have been some puppets involved in there as well, but I guess the romantic in me saw something special as two people take their ill advised relationship further.

For the other characters, I feel that the actors were really showing the depth that they can bring and highlight that there really isn’t a “good” or “bad” person in our main group of up and coming heroes.

They only have two more episodes so I hope that they can still the landing with this season.

I picked up a used copy at GameStop a couple of months ago and put a LOT of time into it. I remember spending time looking into how to unlock all the different items and story beats in the game.

The game is huge! You can spend hours going through the story and getting to know the characters.

Now, I’m 96% done with the game. I’ve got a couple secret bosses that I can’t seam to beat but I’m pretty satisfied with how the main story has played out.

But than someone asked me “did you like this game more than the first?”

I don’t think I enjoyed this one as much and some of that is my own fault. In an effort to stay on top of all the little collectables, I saw a number of spoilers. In addition, focusing on different items to pick up in the hope that I don’t have to double back made it so I wasn’t fully engaged with the story.

Still, it’s a fun game and excellent conclusion to Kratos’s story… until they bring him back to get more money from the IP.

Saw this with my wife over three days because a certain someone kept falling asleep. It’s got a message somewhere in there and it definitely echoes things that I’m seeing nowadays. I think they had to rush it and didn’t really stick the landing. 

This was definitely a movie that made me think about what 3 stars means.

I like the fact that this film was different from what I would normally watch. It’s light and sometimes thoughtful about relationships. It’s got some dirty jokes in it as well so don’t watch this with the little ones. 

My wife said the movie was stupid but she was the one who recommended it.

Short and sweet. I don’t watch a lot of the Wes Anderson movies but this one will definitely make me think about adding more to my life. It’s a story within a story with a lot of dialogue so if that isn’t for you than feel free to skip it.