Something Resembling a Review of Harry Styles Self Titled Debut Solo Album

I’ve not written an album review for this blog before, mainly because I lack the necessary music knowledge to add anything insightful to the conversation beyond ‘this is a bop’. But last year I taught myself to play guitar so I figure I’ve got qualifications now so why not use that tiny amount of credibility to cry about Harry Styles because I was going to do that anyway so may as well inflict my feelings on anyone that happens across this blog. Probably my mum. Hi mum.

WARNING BIASED UNFOUNDED IRRATIONAL OPINIONS AHEAD!

“I’ll die if I don’t get tickets”: in defence of zero chill

Tickets for Harry Styles super intimate and much sort after world tour are about to go on sale, and as we prepare for The Harry Games I am confronted by yet another annoying round of ‘let’s make fun of fangirls’. It’s amazing after Harry Styles impassioned speech in Rolling Stone about how teenage girls are the future I’m still stuck with folks making jokes about how hilariously over the top fans can be.

Something Resembling a A Review of 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'

If you’re looking for a repeat of everything you enjoyed about Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) only more, then you’re probably going to love Vol. 2. If you’re like me and you’ve reached your exit point on the Marvel fatigue scale, then you’re probably going to be underwhelmed with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Basically see this film if you want more of the same (it’s a funny, colourful space adventure), but save your money if you’re not super keen. I mean if you’re on a movie ration and you can only buy one ticket a month or something, don’t waste it on this movie.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT!

Weekend Recs: My Go To Totally Random Comfort Fanfics

Okay so there was a plan for this week. I had a theme and list ready to go but then I was sad about the world ending and I thought may as well throw my heart out there. If there was ever a day for self indulgent head in the sand fanfic marathoning, it is today. Tomorrow we can get back to the revolution but for today, here’s there fics I’ll be reading to save myself from thinking about the oncoming apocalypse.

Weekend Recs: The ‘Baking’ List

Now that we’ve hit the second week of the year the reality that everything is not suddenly going to be better because the date shifted had set in. 2017 is not some kind of magical fix all for what happened in 2016, and we’re still the same people we were last year. Diets have failed, the gym is too hard, we’re all out of money and the mood is generally low. Let’s face it, we could all use a little comfort and nothing says comfort like baking.

Weekend Recs: The Channing Tatum List

He’s hot, he’s hilarious and he’s here to fulfil every single one of my teenage fantasies. Seriously, it’s like he got a copy of the diary I had at fourteen and he’s picking his roles based on every fantasy boyfriend I ever had. Basically he’s amazing, and there’s no better way to star the year off right than marathoning some of his best roles. 

Something Resembling a Review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

If you’re looking for a review to figure out whether or not you want to see this movie, then you’ve come to the wrong place. I mean if you’re a Star Wars fan then of course you should see this movie but like you were already going to do that (you’ve probably already done that), and if you’re not a Star Wars fan then I’m just gonna say you probably won’t agree with this reviewish mess upfront. All I can say is that without spoiling everything is that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a gripping, visually stunning and surprisingly poignant depiction of the realities of actually living a rebellion. It has some seriously issue in regards to characterization but honestly that was a dealbreaker for me. Basically it’s a pretty good tragic war action flick so if that’s your thing then you can probably tag along with your smart Star Wars loving friends for a screening of Rogue One without regretting your life choices too much.

Spoilers beyond this point, proceed at your own risk…

Something Resembling a Review of Captain America: Civil War

Before we get into the nitty gritty here’s a spoiler free and heavily biased short review of Captain America: Civil War for those of you that just want to know if it’s worth seeing. To start with this is an Avengers film despite the title - they do a decent job of tying up the Captain America trilogy but that is not the focus of the film. Good news is it’s a MUCH better Avengers film than Age of Ultron. Action sequences still a little clunky but tied reasonably well to the emotion and plot so it doesn’t really matter. There are so many characters but somehow you come out at the end without feeling shortchanged. Character motivations are mostly clear and some are even interesting. There are too many white dudes but we already knew that. Overall a good fun exciting ensemble superhero movie. Totally worth the price of admission. 

THIS IS YOUR SPOILER WARNING! SO MANY SPOILERS! FOR ALL THE MARVEL MOVIES! AND SOME COMICS! SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS! 

The “Out Of The Woods” Video Finally Gave Me The Fairytale I Wanted From Taylor Swift’s 1989

Everyone has preconceived ideas about Taylor Swift at this point, and I’m sure many of you are already judging me for liking her music. I don’t always like her as a person as we seem to have quite a few ideological differences but I really do genuinely love her music, especially 1989 as an album. Over the past year or so I’ve had to defend my taste more than once but it was never really that much of a hardship because I know exactly why I loved 1989 - and now thanks to the “Out Of The Woods” video clip I have a visual representation of my feelings. 

Ranking One Direction's Videos From Worst to Best

What happens when I’m bored and little tipsy… apparently I rank all of the One Direction video clips from worst to best. I wish I had a better explanation for this because I know it’s been awhile since I posted anything here but really I just love watching these adoramuffins. Yeah I’m just super bored so bare with me I’m going to try to write something of substance soon I promise.

Something Resembling a Review of Marvel’s Ant-Man

Full confession - I wanted to hate this movie. I went in hoping that Ant-Man would be Marvel’s first complete failure, because I am terrible person obviously. Unfortunately despite my best efforts, Ant-Man turned out to be a perfectly adequate movie. Sure it wasn’t amazing, and certainly not groundbreaking in any way, but it was entertaining enough to warrant a trip to the cinema. Here’s the thing though, while Ant-Man is a decent film in it’s own right, it also highlights everything that’s wrong with the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the moment. 

Something Resembling a Review of Avengers: Age of Ultron

This review is going to be chocked with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it then maybe don’t read. Although the Marvel Marketing Machine has basically spoiled the whole movie already so it probably doesn’t matter. Anyway if you want to know whether you should shell out $20 to see this film the answer is depends. If you like the Marvel movies then yeah, go see it. All your faves are there and Joss Whedon’s trademark wit is on form. BUT if you aren’t already invested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe then this movie is not likely to change that. 

Recap-turing Marvel’s Agent Carter: "Now is Not the End"

Previously on Captain America: The First Avenger, Peggy Carter - professional badass - made the mistake of falling in love with a man with a death wish, aka a hero. So Steve Rogers got fridged, literally, and almost a year later Peggy’s still pretty cut up about it as shown via flashbacks as Peggy stairs wistfully out of the window. There’s no time for mourning though, because the war may be over but Peggy Carter’s battle has just begun. 

Adventures in Fandom: Taylor Swift Takes Over The Triple J Hottest 100

The Internet is abuzz(feed) about the possibly of Taylor Swift’s pop hit “Shake it Off” making it into the Triple J Hottest 100. A harmless joke? A heartless campaign for Buzzfeed hits? An affront to Australian musics most important day? Or simply the chance to show some love for a DAMN good song? The answer is probably all of the above, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. In fact it could be just the kick in the butt the Hottest 100 needs. 

Peggy Carter in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, fans of Peggy Carter got something quite unique. They got to see how the story ends. We know that Peggy survives, we know that she has a family and we know that she helps found S.H.I.E.L.D. we just don’t know how she got there. In the contemporary Marvel Cinematic Universe Peggy has lived her life and although it’s heartbreaking to see her struggling with Alzheimer’s disease, it’s comforting to know that she made it that far. Even though the one thing she worked towards for her whole life turned out to be a secret hive for the people she was hunting, but hey Peggy’s always willing to admit her mistakes and luckily Steve’s always willing to listen to her advice. 

Peggy Carter in Marvel’s One-Shot Agent Carter

The first time we get a glimpse of post war Peggy Carter is in the short film Agent Carter, which was part of the Marvel One Shot series. One year after Steve Rogers death - which is shown via flashbacks - Agent Peggy Carter is still working with the Strategic Scientific Reserve but a lot has changed since the war ended. Gone are the female dominated offices of war time, Peggy Carter is the only woman to be seen. Agent Carter is over looked and patronised by her male co-workers especially her boss Agent John Flynn but she’s not getting pushed out without a fight. When a call comes in while the boys club are out for a drink Agent Carter takes the mission her self.

Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger isn’t discussed as often as the other Marvel films but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite. Captain America: The First Avenger doesn’t get enough attention because it’s a really well made film. The script is incredibly solid. The casting is perfect - from Chris Evans right down to the background one liners. The decision to make it a period film was brilliant, the set design and costuming is fantastic and the score is everything a superhero movies score should be. So while the plot is your basic cookie cutter origin story, the execution makes Captain America: The First Avenger a super entertaining, infinitely re-watchable, movie. 

14 Things That Made Me Happy in 2014

It was a big year in which a lot of bad things happened - including my terrible neglect of this blog but also the rampant racism and sexism and people getting shot and stuff. It wasn’t all bad though, so I figured instead of focusing on the negative, I’d give you 14 things that made me smile in 2014.

Fangirl Confessions: Batman & Robin is the Reason I Need Representation

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997) is a terrible film. I’m not going to argue with that universally acknowledged truth because I would look like an idiot. And the fact is Batman & Robin truly is a terrible film but that doesn’t change the fact that when I was an impressionable young fangirl I absolutely adored it. Even at 11 I knew this movie wasn’t great, but I still loved it unironically because it gave me something I didn’t know I needed, it gave me Batgirl. 

Something Resembling a Review of The Maze Runner

Based on James Dashner’s best selling novel and starring Teen Wolf’s very own breakout babe Dylan O’Brien - The Maze Runner is the latest YA dystopian novel to get The Hunger Games treatment. Fans of the series are probably shouting at me to not make comparisons, but lets face it, if it weren’t for The Hungers Games this movie would not have been made. But I guess if I was a fan of The Maze Runner I wouldn’t want it compared to The Hunger Games either because the fact is it’s just not as good. That said, The Maze Runner is still pretty entertaining and worth seeing on the big screen for the action sequences alone… Also Dylan O’Brien.