Submarine (2010) dir. Richard Ayoade

 

Submarine is a  teenage drama/comedy/romance that feels very real yet imagined/dreamy at the same time. What I especially like about this story is that it doesn't have the Hollywood approach to a British school boy that you normally see in movies. What I mean by this is that it's not the cliche hot guy who makes all the girls swoon with his thick accent - he's just a typical guy. Also, his best friend "Chips" looks frighteningly like a gangly blonde British kid I used to know and I just can't shake it. 

 

This movie tells the story of Oliver Tate and how his family is falling apart, as he thinks he's falling for a girl called Jordana. Due to Jordana's confidence and cockiness they become a thing and the movie shows the development of their relationship and the "ups and downs" (to quote any rom-com review out there). 

 

The cinematography of this film is really  nice, and there's a lot of shots that show off/embody the small town feeling really well. The pastel colors yet darkness of the shots is not something I was expecting, and kind of leaves me surprised, because I imagine this being a big hit with all those *soft grunge* tumblr users (not to stereotype, but yeah) yet I have never seen any of the *soft grunge* blogs I follow mention it. 

 

It's also a strangely relatable film. Even if your parents aren't having troubles, even if you are not chasing after a girl/guy there is just so many tiny aspects of teenage hood that this movie gets right.  For example, there's a lot of parallels between random thoughts I have, and thoughts that Oliver has. The above image shows one of the more obvious examples of these thoughts, but I promise there's tons sprinkled throughout the film that will fill you with a strange suprise of "I'm not the only one". 

Also, this movie feels timeless.  While watching, if it hadn't been for the cassette tapes and Polaroid, I could have imagined  this movie taking place anytime between the 1980's and now; it feels modern yet very lost in the past. This is a strange balance that works really well in the movies favor, and in my opinion, shows the timelessness of teenage angst/thought/boredom. 

Furthermore, this movie is  funny. Not too funny to make it seem like its trying to hard or too fake (like in the Kings of Summer how Biagio just pushes the bill on realisticness), but just this raw honest emotion of a teenager that reads as funny.

Finally, the soundtrack is really fitting. It's all done by Alex Turner, and he sets the melancholic, lost in time sentiment. I enjoy the uniformity of the soundtrack, and how unlike many other soundtracks, it's not just a bunch of different pop songs thrown together that leave the viewer feeling like it could have been better.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, and I am in disbelief that I hadn't heard of it earlier.

IMDB

OH!hello//Sleepy

Sleepy is OH!hello's second full album, and is a true lazy day gem. This acoustic lo-fi pop band from Portland creates a casual and comfortable sensation, the perfect soundtrack for a day at home. I feel like this is the kind of music that plays in the background of the "falling in love" scenes in movies, yet you can listen to it without feeling that melancholic "why have I never found love" sentiment. The use of ukulele incorporates a kind of uplifting sensation, even in the more downcast songs. This creates a very satisfying balance, and I think is the reason why the album sounds so good.

Genre: acoustic pop, bedroom pop, indie, lo-fi
Favorite Track: Savana Sabertooth

Bandcamp

Music of the Week//23-11-2014//A Hug From a Friend

Home (RAC remix)//Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

This is such a cheesy song but this remix is everything, it's to the moon and back amazing. 

 

Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing//Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Overall a feel good sound.

 

I Still Haven't Seen Almost Famous//Panucci's Pizza

I relate to both the lyrics and the title of this song, so all around a 10/10

 How Do I Tell A Girl I Want To Kiss Her?//Modern Baseball

This is nice music to do a wierd sway thing too. 

I Want You To Sit Next To Me At The Park//Cyberbully Mom Club

I love the obvious titles Cyberbully Mom Club always has, and sometimes I like to pretend people pay attention  to what I'm listening to on Spotify. 

Thats all for this week, hope you enjoy!

A 

Panucci's Pizza//Don't Tip the Delivery Boy

Today I'm just putting up this super small, quick post about an indie punk band from Pennsylvania called Panucci's Pizza. To be frank about it, their production quality isn't the best, but their songs have this strange addictive quality to them. I originally listened to them after seeing the title of one of their songs "You know when the Trojans got that horse and they were all "Yeah this is totally a gift" Thats how sure I am" because that just sums up a lot of emotions in a strangely relatable way. I really like how on some of their tracks, one second they seem like a casual folkish pop kind of band and then all of the sudden it just breaks out into punk/rock vibe. Maybe it's just because I've been having a bad week, but this album (Don't Tip the Delivery Boy) feels like a hug from an old friend that turns into a dance party. 

Genre: punk, rock, pizza party (why not?)
Favorite Track: I still haven't seen Almost Famous

Bandcamp

Music of the Week//16-11-14//Slightly Homesick

Young Boys//Sin Fang

Take Me To Church//Hozier

Chum//Earl Sweatshirt

I'm Your Teenage Prayer//Bob Dylan

I haven't posted much this week because school has just been a lot, but expect some new reviews/posts sometime this week.

Hope you had a nice weekend,

A

NO/NO//Drag EP

NO/NO is a pop punk band from Milwaukee, and the Drag EP is their debut release; reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees (specifically Hong Kong Garden) or even The Samples. The rawness of the rapidly strum guitar is dance inducing, and gives off a very teenage angsty vibe. The vocals can seem slightly drowned out by the instruments on a couple of the tracks, which adds to the apprehensive mood of the EP. The female (Cat Ries) and male (Harrison Colby) vocals work together in a really satisfying alternating pattern, specifically on the track Crooked Faith, which in my opinion is what really completes the EP.

Genre: pop punk, punk, new wave, coldwave, darkwave, dream pop
Favorite Track: Hardcore

Bandcamp (their EP is a free download!)

Music of the Week//8-11-14//Potential

 New Orleans//Naxxos

Facebook

Twitter

Cigarette Burns Forever//Adam Green 

Website

This Too Shall Pass//Danny Schmidt

Facebook

Website

Days Are Gone//Haim

Style//Taylor Swift

(I know, I know) 

Hope you're having a nice weekend!

A

I got this!

Hey! 

I made it to Friday! I'm only slightly overwhelmed by homework! I'm making friends! I'm hanging out with friends on the weekend! Positive thoughts! Excitement for the near future! 

I'm trying to exude as much positivity as possible so that I can just be a happier person and therefore hopefully have a happier life. 

Today was really good - one of my closer friends here came back to school after being in Florida, I got some really good grades back, and I didn't feel lonely once which I think is one of my biggest accomplishments of these past few months.

Heres a few pictures that I liked and wanted to share:

I want be at a diner at 3am - I feel like its an important part of American teenagehood

cool shirt I decided I needed

I apologize and say "sorry" too much, so I related more than I wish I did to this license plate. 

I've started listening to new music again, so hopefully this weekend you'll see a review, and then also a "music of the week" post like the ones I used to do. 

Hope you have a great weekend,

A

whelp

I haven't written in two weeks and thats partly because nothing much has been happening.

I come home, do homework, and then listen to music and think.

My mom says I need to be more creative and do things that will make colleges want me blah blah blah but sometimes (actually, alot of the time) that can be HARD. And sometimes I don't want to do hard stuff, sometimes I just want to lie in bed, swarmed by my blankets, listening to old music and soaking in the teenage angst.

Being the new kid is really hard, and I feel as if the other kids at school don't get that (even the ones that were new the previous years - like have they already forgotten the emptiness and loneliness of being new!??!).

ugh.

I'm going to try my best to update this blog more frequently because writing is being creative and so this counts for something.

That's all (sorry),

A

Things I've Been Liking:

Movies:
The Royal Tenenbaums - after constantly being recommended to watch this movie I finally took the plunge and liked it 10x more that I thought I would. The  organization and the colors of it all were aesthetically calming to me.
The Grand Budapest Hotel - After watching The Royal Tenenbaums I was eager for more Wes Anderson, and so I watched this for the first time and loved it a billion times over. I think what I really like about Wes' movies is that the story takes strange twists and turns that you never expect. 
Aquamarine - the last time I saw this movie I was probably 9 and at a sleepover, and yesterday we had off, so I decided to take a trip down memory lane. Its so bad that its good. The cheesiness is just overwhelming.

Music:  
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears - this song just makes me feel all confident and hopeful and bubbly (and also like I'm in some kind of fall High School movie)(also I listened to the Lorde cover of this song expecting to love it, but it just was not for me at all. It just felt so wrong)
Love Lust by King Charles - top quality dancing around your room song.
1989 (Album) by Taylor Swift - Everything is so good.

Books:
Naked by David Sedaris - I've spent a few weeks reading this book, randomly picking it up here and there and reading an essay or two.
The Ruining by Anna Collomore- this book makes me so mad. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Yet I can't help but picking it up and rereading it every few months.