So, season 2 of Smiling Friends just dropped, and I wanted to share how I just recently got into the show.  I don’t remember where or when I first heard of it, but I do remember it being introduced to me by my roommate. It was one of the first shows we watched all the way through. (Without him watching ahead.) 

 

 

At first, the show put me off. The interesting yet disturbing animation, the use of 3d models as well as 2d.  the pace and ideas for episodes. It all nudged me in the wrong direction. But it quickly became one of my favorite shows the more I watched. I really like the dynamic between Charlie and Pim. And the conversation/dialogue between all the characters feels real and genuine. 

I really like Charlie, I love his melancholic attitude toward everything. I like how he’s the most cool-headed of the group, and that he’s kind of just…. there. I also really like his character style. I also think he’s the funniest character personally. His voice is really funny. 

I find Pim’s character really interesting as well. The colors really mix together and his attitude is really up beat and exciting.  I always love the 100 vs 0 personality tropes. Pim always trying to keep things bright, while Charlie is more of a realist. 

He kind of just really freaks me out. At first, when my roommate was showing me this show, I thought it was a meatcanyon video, by the way this character acted and talked.  Yeah, I’d rather keep talking about him a little short. 

Other than Charlie, Allan Red is my other favorite character. I really like the way he acts and goes about his job. I’m glad he finally got some more screen time in season 2 of the show. 

Little green guy. He’s so small and awesome. I like that he speaks gibberish too and that everyone else can understand him. And I forgot to mention, but there was a scene in season 2 where they showed all his information and it basically proved that the show was set in the year like, 300. 

Anyway, that’s all. I can’t wait for the next few episodes to drop. I really enjoy them so far.

So, if you ever plan on having kids, this is The best…. seven names that you should give to that rodent of a child. These names have been hand picked by me, and if I ever have a kid, I’m definitely naming it one of these seven. 

#7 – Beetlejuice

Easily in the top seven. I mean, Imagine your raising your kid, and you call his name. And your mind instantly thinks of Michael Keaton in the hit movie Beetlejuice. And any bully is going to think twice before calling him out three times. 

#6 – Hemlock 

I mean, being named after a Shakespearean poison has to be pretty cool.
It also rolls off the tongue easily. “Hemlock! Time for dinner!” Imagine, that. Pretty satisfying. 


 

#5 – Waxed Lightly Weathered Cut Copper Stairs

Come on, being named after Minecraft’s longest block has to be pretty impressive. And imagine calling out their entire name when their in trouble. 
“Waxed Lightly Weathered Cut Copper Stairs Jr, get your butt in here.” 
It’s a bit of a tongue twister. 

#4 – Ender Dragon

Another Minecraft reference, but who doesn’t like Minecraft? 
For short, you could call them ED. Also, this name kind of just strikes fear into the heart of your enemies. 

#3 – Willem Dafoe

Let’s be so for real. Who doesn’t want to be named after the green goblin.
Dafoe also sounds like a really good street name. Or nick name. 
“Hey, what’s up Dafoe.” 

#2 – Cooper Brumfield

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This name sounds familiar but I can’t place my finger on it. 
But this would be a good name. Especially if you add a middle name like, Wolowitz.  “Cooper Wolowitz Brumfield! you’re in trouble mister!”  
It strikes as a very Victorian name to me. 

#1 – Yellow Sharpie Marker

 

I don’t know, this name just rolls of the tongue. I think it’s a winner. 
I mean, how many times do you hear someone say, “I need a Yellow Sharpie Marker” Just like, offer your kid. Easy. 




Well, this has been a wonderful experience. If any of you have kids, and not one is named after one of these, I’ll be genuinely offended fr. 

Controversial Topic, but… I want to explore it. 
In Avatar: The Last Air Bender, for those who aren’t familiar with it, you can be born to control either nothing, or one of the four elements. The elements being Earth, Water, Fire, and air. I want to explore the benefits of these elements. 

And to keep things simple, I’m going to be talking about people that have master the element, so like… blood bending, metal bending, literally stealing the air from your lungs, and lightning bending too. 

 

#4 Earth

Don’t get me wrong, I know that this is a powerful element to be able to use. But like, I think its also the most conditional out of the rest. 
Fire and Air benders can literally just bend whenever they want, they don’t need to meet a condition. Water benders can take their own sweat, or literally any form of hydration. Water is still technically conditional, but I would say less so. 
I know that master earth benders can move entire mountain, but like, how often are you going to need to move a mountain?? 

And this is completely unbiased too, Toph is like, my favorite fictional character. I love her attitude and behavior, and her character and background are really unique too.  But considering the prior statements, I would have to say that Earth might be coming in last for this. 

#3 Fire

So, The ONLY reason that the fire nation got control of most of the world, was because they were a literally army. Or at least they functioned as one. Air benders were peace nomads, Water benders were more of a tribal community. And Eart was close. But they had no military force, they just lived in peace because that’s how everyone literally thought the world would be. 

And how did literally no one see that the fire nation was making all these battle ships, warriors, Armour and not get suspicious??  
Not to mention they’re the only bending element that can be nerfed depending on whether or not the sun is shining. Seems weird. 
And lets not talk about how in LOK they’re “Master ability” Lighting bending, was used for powering a light bulb. 

#2 Air

Air could have dominated with their agility. Ang held his own throughout the show using barely any offense. He was dogging left and right. Imagine if he was as aggressive as a fire bender. Also, imagine being able to just, take the breath out from your opponent.  Breathing under water, flying. I think Air is one of the more underrated elements in my opinion. 

Blood Bending, Easy. Unless you’re the avatar and can just apparently say no, you’re done for.

I am actually so stoked. After four long years of waiting, Oolong has finally released another album. I did an entire blog about them near the beginning of the year, which I’m slightly revisiting now. 

It’s actually really funny how I stumbled upon this album. I was scrolling around on Twitter (yes, I still call it twitter cause what are you supposed to say ” I just made an X” no lol) Anyways, I was scrolling through twitter when I found Oolong’s page, I was surprised they even had one, and even more surprised that they had a large number of followers. But I was scrolling through their recent posts and found a “tweet” saying that they had just released a new album That day. 

I looked through it, and it looked promising with a whopping 21 songs. I was absolutely excited to listen to it. 

However, it is with complete sorrow that I say not all these songs were bangers. 
The instrumentals were amazing in all of them; however, the lyrics / vocals didn’t feel the same in most of the songs. I was halfway thought album expecting it to get better. It seemed like they were more focused on the delivery of the vocals they didn’t care much whether the lyrics themselves were the best. 

But I still have hope, I genuinely believe that this might be a huge steppingstone into more oncoming albums. I just hope they’ll revisit a style more like their first original album. 

Out of all the 21 songs, I think I could only recommend like, five. 
Although I wasn’t a big fan of most of these songs on their album, I can’t recommend the band enough. (although I’d start with their “Imaginary friends” album first)
Their second to last song on the album was really good. “F*** it, Lego hands” It’s definitely a hit or miss, But I liked it a lot. 
Anyways, thanks for letting me waste your time on Oolong once again. 

So for this week, I wanted to write more about music and albums. And I wanted to revisit the post I made week before last. I thought it would be neat to show you guys my favorite albums in themes of the covers. And this will start least to greatest in favor. 

I don’t know where to even start. This album was introduced to me by Cooper, and I think its one of my favorites. The slow music, the soft vocals. I want to have this on vinyl so badly. This just seems like the perfect album to slowly drift away to as you fall asleep. If you’ve had bad day and you just need to be somewhere else for a moment, this album takes you there. 
I really like the cover as well. Albums with Dog covers always have a special place in my heart, this one especially. 

I really like this album. I think it’s really unique. It combines instrumentals and vocals I’ve never seen before. The vocals themselves are especially unique. I’ve always been a fan for vocals that put everything in their work. The Lyrics are really heartbreaking in some areas too. I would highly recommend this album if your ever getting out of a nasty relationship.

I’ve liked Alex G for a long time without even realizing it. I liked these songs but never really put the name to the songs. So When I found out who wrote them, I immediately went through Alex G’s albums race and treehouse. I knew about treehouse back in like… 2020 I think. Anyways the vocals in this our interesting, I don’t think I could put a label on them, but the instrumentals are really good. However, if your looking to get into Alex G, I would recommend his album “Race” first.

I was introduced to this album recently by Erin, It quickly reached one of my top favorite albums. Technically the mascot is a dog so…. I’m counting it. 
I really enjoy this album, the Lyrics, vocals, and instruments all come together to make this beautiful cacophony of music. I’ve been slowly going through Car Seat Headrest’s albums, And I’ve had a general liking for the most part. I think one or two of the songs are like 14 minutes, which I can find hard to pay attention to for long. However, I can still appreciate the hard work that goes into them. 

One of my favorite albums of all time. It’s a short 3 song album however, I love each and every song. “Change your name” Has been a long time favorite of mine. I don’t even remember how I came upon this album. I just remember it always kind of being there. The vocals are really heavy, and the instruments are really neat. I would highly recommend this album to anyone who likes rock. 

Anyways, those are my favorite Dog Themed albums. Thanks for reading this far! I don’t know what I’m doing for next week’s post, but I’m thinking more themed albums like this one. 

I really didn’t have much of a plan when it came to this weeks blog. Even though we had so much time to do so. Anyways, as a last minute idea, I wanted to share my opinion on the new movie Monkey Man. 

First off, Dev Patel is basically running this whole operation. He is the director, star, co-writer, and a few other things. I think his acting really made the movie. 
He was also the star is Slum dog millionaire, so he has had some experience in acting. However, this is the first movie he’s ever directed. And for a first movie, it’s incredible. 

A lot of people are calling this a rip-off of John Wick. But honestly, I feel like this story far surpasses John Wick. That might be an unpopular opinion, but I stand by it. In John Wick, the whole movie is about revenge over a dog.  I get it, they needed an inciting force, but I really don’t think an Ex-assassin would go to war with a bunch of criminals over a dog. 

But the plot of Monkey man is WAY more believable. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but the inciting force is very believable, and it deals with more than just personal grudge and hate. Its revenge, heritage, and other things. Also, I think the budget for this movie was less than 20 million, which is a lot of money, but for a theatrically released movie that’s pretty low. 

Action wise, there were many amazing stunts. I’d say equal to if not better than those of John Wick. The choreography in the fight scenes was outstanding. the tools he would use to fight were just as interesting too.  They used a lot of different types of camera angels. Some got a little repetitive. Like, they used the Dutch angle for 5 shots without a break, but they were very diverse in the camera angels overall. 

So I Highly recommend this film if your into action movies. I hope I’ll be able to see more of Dev Patels films in the future. I think he has promising talent and can be a great director if he’s given the chance. 
If you haven’t seen Slumdog millionaire, I would also recommend checking that movie out as well. I don’t think it’s as good as Monkey man, but it can also be an entertaining watch.  

So In conclusion….

Monkey Man > John Wick

This week, I want to share some Oscar-worthy scenes, from movies/plays

In specific order. Some of these have a spoiler warning before hand. 

#3 -Stronger “I can’t!” 

also have a link to the scenes on YouTube. I would recommend watching them if you’re interested, I Don’t think the text can quite deliver the amount of emotion they put into each of these monologues. 

This scene is crazy. From start to finish. The movie overall is a must see and not to mention a true story. (minor spoiler alert) in this scene. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character is scared because he’s basically being told he’s going to be a father. 
But he had recently lost both his legs in an explosion, so he’s scared that he won’t be the father that his girlfriend expects him to be. 

#2 Manchester By The Sea “Please…”

(Trigger warning – attempted suicide.) 

Manchester by the sea is one of the best movies I think I have ever seen. The writing, characters, plot, and pace are all amazing. I’ve seen it at least three times.
This scene depicts the main character realizing he’s free to go after making a horrible mistake, and as if to try and justify that mistake, he takes matters into his own hands. It’s very emotional, and very strong. Every time I’ve showed someone the movie, they always cry.  This movie was nominated for 4 Oscars, and won two… Best original Screenplay, and best leading actor which were both extremely deserved. 

#1 – Prodigal Son –
“Someone Saw me…”

I dont even know where to start with this scene. Timothy Chalamet has genuine talent. The emotion and body language he expresses in this scene is unmatched. In the video, you can even tell that the audience recognized his talent. At first, when the teacher was talking, they were laughing. But once Timothy’s part came, everyone was quiet.  This scene talks about the double standard of respect. How authorities are often times demandant of it from the start, while those under them have to “earn it”. 

Anyways, those are the three Oscar Worthy scenes that I wanted to share. If you haven’t seen any of the movies (and one play), I would recommend watching all of them immediately.

(With Bias towards the songs)

For this post, I wanted to share some of my favorite album covers. Not specifically the songs, although there might be a little biased choosing in those regards, but specifically just the cover and the photo/art. 

Some of them are really well done. They tell an interesting story that can go along with the songs as you think. I think some of them give off a nice aesthetic, and others are just pleasing to look at. 

So for the first Album- 

 

#5 LUSTRA – Left For Dead 

This Album gives off Rodrick from diary of a wimpy kid’s vibe which is contrary to the tone of the lyrics. There are some decent songs on here like “Scotty doesn’t know.” If this were a T-Shirt, I would %100 wear it. I don’t think I have enough Album T-Shirts in my wardrobe. 

 

 

 

#4 Prince Daddy & The Hyena – I thought You Didn’t Like Leaving

This Album has some really great songs on it. I would say, however, that the art does not match the tone of the music. It’s for some very good vocals. Some of the songs have interesting titles too, like, “I wish I could Cntrl+Alt+Del my life.” I really like the song, “Clever Girl” from this album. 

 

 

 

Jeff Buckley – GRACE

I think I like this album cover mainly because I’m in love with more than most of the songs on this playlist. But at the same time, this album cover looks like its straight out of a movie or something. The style, the mood, the expression, everything about this photo feels amazing. 
I also say this every time I mention Jeff Buckley, but I think that he and James Franco look identical.  Like one in the same.  I put an image below for reference. 

Oolong – About Your Imaginary Friend 

This album has a lot of great songs. I’ve stated my love hate relationship about this band before, mainly them only ever releasing the one album in four years. But it was one of the best, so I can’t complain.  I think the shot of this album cover was done really well. It captures the skateboard trick midair, perfectly setting the tone for the rest of the album. A grunge sort of skater vibe. 
And don’t even get me started on the amount of effort that I spent on researching this band. Every time I looked up Oolong, It came up with the type of tea. 

 

 

 

 

#1 See Through Person – Chariot 

This is one of my favorite albums by far. The photo gives of an almost eerie vibe. This is how most of their album covers are shot. The music is outstanding too. The Vocalist really went all out in this one. Every time I listen to “Change your name” I look at this album and wonder what the dog’s name is. I haven’t done much, if any, research on the band. But I’m looking into it for another review. 

 

But that’s it. These are some of my favorite albums, with interesting album covers. 

This week’s blog was going to be a show recommendation that I’ve wanted to do for a while. 

My freshman and sophomore year were spent waking up early and watching tv before school. I started with friends, then the big bang theory, futurama, and many others. I’m surprised I got through so many shows in just two years. 
Anyways, one of the most memorable shows I watched before school was Bob’s Burgers

Bob’s Burgers Doesn’t seem all that appealing at first, and I can’t quite pinpoint what I like about it. Maybe its Bob’s attitude toward everything, or how crazy the youngest child Louise is. But throughout the show there are some interesting episodes. 

If you’re looking for a show that produces good morals and life lessons, I advise looking elsewhere. I’m not saying that this show doesn’t have anything to offer, but… it really doesn’t have much to offer other than mindless entertainment. 

There was no real character development, or plot, or much of anything that I can remember, it’s humor wasn’t even that unique. It’s by far one of the strangest shows I’ve enjoyed and watched all the way through. 

There were only two characters that I think had some struggle throughout the series, and that’s Tina and Bob.
Bob obviously had to keep his shop afloat and work for his restraint, but I think Tina was the one who struggled the most. I don’t remember if she finally found someone, but I do remember her going through each season trying to find the lover of her life. In a weird way, she reminds me of Mable from gravity falls. 

My favorite character was by far Teddy. He was interesting and added a colorful output on each episode he was featured in. I can find him relatable in some ways, not really, but I did think he was funny. 
         All in all, its a hit or miss but It can be entertaining if you turn off your brain and just enjoy it. 

Gosh, it feels like these blog dates always come as a surprise. 
I was really struggling with a topic this week, but I eventually found one. 
Tuesdays with Morrie.  (This is going to be a book rant.) 

So, Tuesdays with Morrie is a really good book that I think everyone should ought to read, and the best part about the book is that it’s a true story. 

The book follows our main character Mitch Albom and Morrie. Mitch is a graduated college student who has become obsessed with money, and work. 
He has a wife, but the relationships is stale, and I don’t remember him talking about children.
Morrie is an old professor who hasn’t much left in the years of his life. He was diagnosed with ALS meaning his bodily movements would come to halt rather soon. 
Mitch was a student of Morrie back in college. They were good friends throughout but eventually lost touch after graduation. Mitch learns of Morrie’s soon to be death and decides to visit him one last time.  Which just so happens to be on a Tuesday.
Mitch realizes the value in the knowledge that Morrie holds from living +8O years. So he asks if he can come back next Tuesday. Morrie agrees and every chapter of the book is a different conversation they had. 
There are chapters on Marriage, Religion, Work, Money and much more. 
I think its one of the most useful books I’ve read. With some really helpful advice as well. 
Morrie calls the meeting they have every Tuesday his “Final Project.”
He wants Mitch to write a final thesis (which is actually this book) about the things he learns from him. 
Morrie said, when he was diagnosed with ALS, he thought he didn’t have anything left to offer. Until he realized he had his experience. He began to advise dozens of people over the course of his soon to be death. But he made Mitch his Priority. 

I think this book has a lot to offer. It definitely put a lot in perspective to me, and it’s a short read as well. 

This story has been adapted quite a few times in plays and short films, and every time it was readapted, it was just as good. 
I think a lot of times people don’t think about death too often, or at least not the reality of it and how quickly it comes. I think reading this book helped me understand it just a little more.