Personal

10 Things I Loved About 2017

As the ball was dropping on New Year’s Eve, I had one hope for 2018: Please be better than 2017. It seems like everybody had a terrible year, and I was including myself in that. Sure: Last year did have some great moments, but some events and situations had me so grateful for 2017’s demise.

In truth, I had been putting off writing this post because I really didn’t want to take a stroll through 2017. But I am oh so glad that I did because it turns out that I had a bang-up year. A huge smile crept across my face as I was scrolling through photos on my phone. ‘This couldn’t have happened last year,’ I thought to myself. But the timestamps can’t lie.

Was I really putting this much stock in what I perceived as all of the negatives that came along with 2017? Indeed, I had been. ‘For 2018, I can’t let this happen again,’ I demanded of myself. So to help make sure I don’t forget how good 2017 had been to me, here’s a list of the things I loved about the year.

Continue Reading

Personal

A Fresh Start

Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash

I should explain. About a year ago, after having been mostly M.I.A. for two years, I shared an update on my personal life and what I had been up to during that time. This update was intended to be my turning point; I’d made it my New Year’s Resolution to have a more active online presence (blog more often, add more designs to my Society6 shop, that sort of thing). Oh, how I should have known! New Year’s Resolutions NEVER come true!

This time, however, I’m back and ready to commit. Right after Christmas (but still during my vacation), I decided to leave Tumblr and – after careful deliberation – host my own WordPress blog. Then began the arduous process of migrating, updating styles, tags, and categories to my new blog’s home and URL. While Tumblr had served it’s purpose (for over 6 years!), it just felt like it was the wrong place for me to host a focused blog. Despite spending that many years at Tumblr, I never really found my niche as a blogger so I’ve decided I’m going to be strict about maintaining an overall theme here. I’m officially branding this little corner of the web as my personal lifestyle blog with some emphasis on the topics I’m most interested in: Entertainment & Tech.

Since I would no longer be blogging on Tumblr, it only made sense to move my portfolio to another platform. I decided to go with Adobe Portfolio, since it’s included as part of my Adobe Creative Cloud plan. While there are definitely things I don’t love about the platform, it’s still rather new, so I’m going to be staying there for now. If you’re interested in the new updates I’ve made, it’s now up and running here.

Forget resolutions! I do actually care about running this blog, updating my shop, and having a social media presence. I’m sticking with it, this time. Hold me to that!

Music Video

Heaven

Heaven is one of my favorite songs from Troye Sivan’s album, Blue Neighborhood, in part because it features the fabulous Betty Who, but because of it’s message. It can be incredibly difficult to understand and accept your sexual orientation, and coming out is not an easy process. As gay people, we experience two realities. One of love and acceptance, where we know deep down in our core that what we feel is true. And another reality where we are simply misunderstood, and told that our lives are wrong or dirty. A reality where fighting for equal rights – and acceptance – is a necessity. I think Troye expresses that thought in this song and video, while also bringing religion into it.

Continue Reading

Personal

Changes

Considering it’s been two years since my last real entry, I’d say that I’m long overdue for an update on my life. So here goes:

2015

In March of 2015, I accepted an offer to work as a graphic designer for an engineering firm in Manhattan. This job has reignited a spark in me that I thought had been extinguished long ago: my love for design. While I’ve worked as a designer in some capacity over the past few years, it isn’t something I’ve really pursued. The bulk of my work for this company is designing book covers – which is what I’d like to continue focusing on throughout my career (though it’s wise to be well-rounded).

Two months later, I did something I had wanted to do for exactly 15 years: I saw S Club 7 in concert. Only I had to go to London in order to do it. Oh, and I MET THEM.

Okay, so here’s the story: I fell in love with the British pop group S Club 7 when their second television series, S Club 7 in L.A., aired on Fox Family (now Freeform). I taped their marathons on VHS (oh yes), ran fan-sites for them, and made a lot of graphics featuring them. So when the Bring it All Back 2015 UK Reunion Tour was officially announced, I told my Andy that I was interested in going. After waiting a few seconds for him to process that, I told him I was definitely going to go. Once that sunk in, I asked if he would come with me. And once he picked his jaw up off of the floor, we booked our vacation to London (his first, my second).

We ended up renting a cozy flat from a lovely married gay couple, and booked mini adventures all around the city (and Wales, for the Doctor Who Experience). And of course, because I was seeing my pre-teen obsession in concert after waiting many years I purchased a VIP ticket – and met them! They were so nice (and beautiful) in person, and the show was everything I had expected it would be. I’m already itching to go back!

Later in the year, I decided to start selling designs on Society6. Unfortunately, I began to neglect it shortly after – but I plan on creating more for myself this year so expect my shop to be more active this year. The main event, however, of that summer was my venture into real estate with Andy. We attended many open houses – and fell in love and had our hearts broken – and began to embrace the inevitability of having to rent short-term until we found something. Only then did we stumble upon a charming pre-war building in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Continue Reading

Movies

Into The Woods

Disney’s getting a little dark. No, I’m not referring to the measles outbreak but rather the screen adaptation of musical Into The Woods.

via Disney's Into The Woods Official Tumblr

source: intothewoodsmovie.tumblr.com

My parents took Andy and I to see it two weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. So much so, in fact, that I can’t stop listening to the soundtrack. “On The Steps of the Palace,” available above to stream from Spotify, is sung beautifully by Anna Kendrick and is one of my favorites from the soundtrack.

Having no prior knowledge of the musical might have contributed to my enjoying Disney’s adaptation so much, or so the critics would have me believe. However, I think that Rob Marshall revitalized James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s musical for an entirely new audience perfectly.

Let me start off by saying that I’m a big fan of Meryl Streep. My mom and I occasionally have “Meryl Nights” where we share dinner over an old (or new!) DVD starring Streep. So I was excited to see her play a witch and, well, sing. Despite what others seem to think, I like her singing voice and thought it was one of the best parts of Mamma Mia! I was not disappointed by her performance – as an actress and a singer – in this. Her songs are actually played on my Spotify much more than Anna Kendrick’s.

I was captivated by the entire cast, with the glaring exception of Johnny Depp. His song is my least favorite (I usually skip it), and his performance was boring. The child molestation theme of the performance, while sufficiently creepy and potentially construed from Sondheim’s lyrics, clashes with the entire feel of the film. Depp’s screen time is so minimal that it is forgettable, and more importantly, over before you know it.

It also must be acknowledged that Daniel Huttlestone was fantastic in this. He won audiences over with his performance in Les Misérables, and he shined in Into The Woods as well. Lilla Crawford was great, too, though I couldn’t put my finger on why I found her a little annoying until I looked her up after the film. She was the title role in Broadway’s revival of Annie a few years back. Annie, like any of the little girls that play the Welch’s girls are mind-numbingly irritating.

The film itself, when stripped of the fantasy environment, is an exploration of the desires and the demons we find in adulthood. Disney, of course, was really the only choice for such a story. However, the dark themes of the original show were not left in the dark in this adaptation: we explore death, mutilation, stealing, and infidelity. But no fear, we also witness love and have comedic elements such as the narcissistic princes.

In terms of the story, well-known stereotypes and fairytales collide: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and more. It’s at the very least, a fun outing, but I believe that a lot of people would be interested in this music that might win Emily Blunt her second Golden Globe (it’s her fourth nomination)!

Find tickets at Fandango. And if seeing it at a Regal Entertainment Group theater, definitely join their Crown Club: it’s 100% worth it.

Personal

A Look Back

The late Marina Keegan helped me come to a paramount realization about my life this year: it really is just beginning. Let me explain. I was reading her essay, The Opposite of Loneliness, and this paragraph very nearly leapt off the page to strike me awake from my miserable slumber:

But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up and move to New York and away from New York and wish we did or didn’t live in New York. I plan on having parties when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old. Any notion of THE BEST years comes from clichéd “should haves…” “if I’d…” “wish I’d…”

Marina Keegan

I’d better start from the beginning.

You see, I graduated from college and was thrust into a cold and pitiful economy. Like many of my peers, I struggled to find secure and promising employment but eventually was welcomed (with open arms) into the retail industry. It didn’t take long for me to go numb (literally – I worked in the temperature controlled rooms where perishable food is stored) and fall prey to the misguided notion that this was the top of the line for me.

2014 is when that all changed. I was granted the opportunity to turn my passions into two part-time jobs. Then a few months later, thanks to Marina’s words of wisdom, I accepted my first full-time job.

Marina Keegan is the reason I worked harder this year. For that, I will be forever in her debt. So to honor her and all that she’s helped me achieve, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what a great year 2014 was.

Continue Reading

Music

An Interview with Danny Malone

 

Danny Malone is a singer-songwriter from Austin, Texas whose newest release, SpeedDreamer, is available today. With three albums and over 700k combined YouTube views on his various music videos, we’ve come to expect a lot from Danny. And yet, a lot of people haven’t heard of him.

I recently was offered the opportunity to discuss his new album, troubled past and his thoughts on the music industry.

You’ve previously stated that you tried living in New York but it wasn’t for you. And you were quoted in a 2010 interview in Austin Sound as saying, “Southern is in my bones.” Is that still true – does your heart really reside in Texas?

No. I don’t know why I said that.   My mind is so strange.  Maybe I felt that then.  And maybe I thought I couldn’t handle NYC.  But today, answering this question, I think I could live in NYC, and I really don’t feel any connection to being “southern”.  I think I could live anywhere really.  No matter where I am, I’m somewhere deep in my brain, halfway in another dimension, talking to ghosts, or remembering the future.  I think what you’re asking is if I feel like any certain place is my “home”.  I have a response to this:

Wherever she is, that is where I want to be.  Probably where I NEED to be.  She is home.  And home is where my heart resides.

There’s a lot of chatter currently about the art that musicians create and the value that it holds. Taylor Swift has seemingly waged a war on Spotify about just that. What are your thoughts?

I honestly just don’t really think about this kind of stuff.  What does my opinion really matter?   This machine quite incredibly far removed from me and my ability to change anything.  Instead, I just think about what is directly tangible, or related to my little quiet life.  Doesn’t it seem like everything is just kinda fucked?   I just make art to affect myself and the people in my life who I love.  I think I make art for a maximum of 7 people.  If it reaches more, that’s great, but it’s not my intention by any means.  I’d rather leave those money-grubbing battles to the pop-star fakes and Bono.

I’ve been a fan since I saw the music video for “Baby Bleu” on YouTube back in 2008. You’ve got to tell me: I’ve heard everything from Baby Bleu was your brother’s dog to a beloved car of yours. Who – or what – is Baby Bleu?

Continue Reading