That being said, I figured I'd balance out all that hate from earlier in the week with some stuff you can get excited about this month... in no particular order.
1.) Iron Man 2
A few years ago, the dude that made Swingers made an action movie that didn't suck. No, not Elf (even though Elf didn't suck). I'm talking about Iron Man 2! Tony Stark is back in the armor, and he brought Don Cheadle with him to church up the whole affair, and Mickey Rourke to make sure that everyone wants to take a shower as soon as the movie is over. That dude looks like he smells like the dumpster behind a pizza hut. I purposely haven't been reading a lot about the movie because I didn't want it spoiled for me, but it should be awesome. I mean... it can't be worse than Transformers 2. Right?
2.) High Violet by The National gets released on May 11th
The National is, arguably, my favorite band right now. They write music that just sneaks up on you out of nowhere. They're a band that is often described as "Chamber Rock", which (I guess) means that it's the sort of music that navel gazing 20 somethings (such as myself) like to listen to while wearing head phones late at night. Their most known for Matt Berninger (the lead singer) distinctive baritone voice, that melts over you like sugar while you're listening, drummer Bryan Devendorf's tom heavy drumming, and their frequent (but not over) use of a horn section. I can honestly say that each album they've made has been better than the one before, and I don't think this one will suck either.
3.) Heaven is Whenever by The Hold Steady gets released May 4th.
I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know this album was coming out until today. The Hold Steady is an incredibly strange band. They're composed of 4 guys from the Midwest who write songs about drug abuse, rock and roll, Ybor City, and Catholic guilt. What I love about the Hold Steady is that they have this gift for making songs about subjects that most people have had little to no exposure to, and making the listener feel like they've done that thing a million times.
Their first three albums Almost Killed Me, Separation Sunday, and Boy and Girls in America were loosely based around a group of kids run away from their homes to get into the glamorous world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. While they enjoy said things at first, they quickly find that they feel like they're missing something, but they don't know what that something is. Boy and Girls in America is arguably their best album. It does the one thing that I think most "rock" albums don't: pause for the occasional emotional moment. The best example of this is the song First Night, the fifth album on the track. First Night is a song about a girl name Holly (short for Hallelujah) who got a little too deep into the party, and never quite recovered. She was the sort of girl that was always searching for the feeling she got from her very first high... but can't do it. My favorite part of the song happens about 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the song, during the bridge (at least I think it's the bridge, I don't know a lot about song structure), where almost all the music stops except for a piano and some muted strings and the singer says: And then last night she said "Word's alone never could save us"/ And then last night she cried as she told us about Jesus/Holly's inconsolable,unhinged ,and uncontrollable, cause we can't get as high as we got... on that first night.
It's hard to explain in writing... but it really is very emotional.
Their 4th album Stay Positive dropped the shared universe that the first three albums shared, to mixed results. It was their most critically acclaimed album to date, garnering lots of (in my opinion) unfounded parallels to Bruce Springsteen. It wasn't a bad album, but it had a lot of songs that had me running for the "next" button on the ol' iPod, which hasn't happened to me before with any of their albums.
I was also bummed to find out that their keyboardist left the band, because I felt that the piano parts gave their work an extra layer of depth that fleshed out their work even more.
4.) The Lost series finally.
I don't want to give anything away... so I won't go into great detail... but I'm pretty freaking stoked. I do have a few questions that have been boggling my mind though. For example:
- Is Hurley really seeing dead people? Or is that just "the man in black" (not Johnny Cash... that's what the writers and fans have taken to calling the antagonist this season) in habiting the bodies of people that have died on the island trying to play with his delicate psyche???
- What's the deal with the polar bear?
- Is Sayid evil?
- Waaaaaaayyyyy back in season one, a psychic told Claire that is her baby was born it would be all evil and junk and destroy the world. He later tricked her into taking OCeanic Flight 814 to LA, b/c he knew it would crash and the baby probably wouldn't live. Long story short: they both lived, and the baby eventually escaped off the island and came to America. Is Austin really evil? If so, shouldn't they get him back to the island?
- Lastly: Libby (Hurley's season 2 love interest) died shortly after they revealed that she was in the same psychiatric hospital as Hurley. Was that story supposed to go anywhere, or was that a subtle "screw you" to the viewer.
There you have it friends and neighbors. Four things to get excited about. I hope you enjoy them. I know I (hopefully) will!
Ya'll stay classy... wherever ya'll is...
Blakely A-dam Sumner
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