The Toad's Burrow

    Where do I even start with this album. I first discovered this band while rock climbing with a friend, he had kept on mispronouncing this bands name, calling them "Attack on Black's." Of course this sounded hilariously incorrect and racist, at the time I didn't find the band particularly riveting, I mean sure they were Canadian, but you don't see me rushing out to listen to Nickelback. It was only until months later, when I heard it again bouldering that I finally decided to give the band a bit more of a listen, at first Young Leaves, was the only song that stood out to me, I thought the folkier elements were interesting, but sadly the singing left a lot to desire. Even still, I couldn't shake this band, and fast forward a couple weeks, it just hooked. One of the bands songs was stuck in my head, and I decided to give the entire album a listen. Now, I love this album, I love the mix of folk, indie and punk, the lyrics, and the warm weather this album radia...

      Obligatory intro about how I know nothing about this artist or this album. Shoutout to my friend Slayer for recommending it though, I do tend to enjoy reviews where I have no bias or preconceived notions tainting my opinion, regardless of how I actually feel about the projects. It's pretty short all things considered so hopefully I don't feel like it's bogging me down. I guess I like Frank Ocean's music, and I really enjoyed Isolation  by Kali Uchis, so technically I enjoy music from this genre? Even still, I'm such a tourist that I would not consider myself knowledgeable about it at all. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. A Brief Nirvana - Khamari Wax Poetic - 65/100 I'm not too crazy about the flow and delivery in the verses, but I do think that the chorus has a decent enough hook that makes me enjoy it. This song is pretty short though and all he pretty much says the entire time is that he's not very good at verbalizing his thoughts. ...

     Look I understand how it seems for me to only be watching Conclave  now. The pope died and now as a Catholic I'm interested in watching a movie about what happens when a pope dies. Even still, I don't think I can understate just how good this movie is, and that you should watch it, not just for its rare cultural relevance, but for the fact that it's a fantastic movie. It takes what seems like an arbitrary and overly secretive process and strips it down, it grounds down any sort of mysticism around it into one that we as humans can actually relate to. Because after all these cardinals are only human themselves, and what seems like some spiritual process is really a petty one, full of politicking and intrigue. If there was ever a time that it made sense to watch this film now would be it, and it would be worth every second of the two hours.     I think to start if off you have to praise the acting, especially Ralph Fiennes, who without him this simply wo...

      Yes I have spent the past hour just letting the finale of The Soprano's  sit, and yes I did in fact actually enjoy it. Letting Don't Stop Believin' course through me, I can only sit back and appreciate the fine job that David Chase and co. did. I definitely did not agree with every choice that happened at the ending, and some parts I definitely felt could have been just straight up removed, but you can't separate the good from the bad, otherwise was there ever any real meaning to begin with? I do think this season most definitely does drag on, especially as someone who was not there to experience the "two different halves" of this season. However, even still, I think Chase had a pretty clear direction and vision when it came to how the wanted this series and considering how easy it could have been for them to fumble their way to the finish line you have to appreciate the cohesion.      So, let's get the elephant out of the room, let's talk about ...

      Look, I know in recent years, at least online Detroit: Become Human  has a bit of a reputation as a game that's a little too on the nose with its commentary. Look, I get it, it does kind of give off some 2016 liberalish vibe, not to say it's necessarily bad, but I would not call it a little nuanced. All of this to say that I did indeed come into this game with a little bit of a bias, I did chuckle when the first mission you go on with Markus has him wear a sash like a Jewish person in Nazi Germany and then ride the back of the bus like Rosa Parks. Honestly, it does feel like perhaps this society should have been more woke and did need some diversity hires to tell them how bad the optics are. Jokes aside, they quickly faded, because even in spite of the hamfisted themes the game is good and I managed to suspend my disbelief very quickly. I can also gladly say that I finished the game with everyone, sadly I didn't really believe in violence. So how was it all? ...

      I have finally finished The Soprano's season five, and I will say that I think they turned it around a little bit from how I felt about season four. Yes, some of the tension from past seasons like with Paulie and Christopher are mostly still bubbling, and they still follow the formula of introducing a new character that you can tell is not going to survive past this season. Even still, I felt like this season ended on a strong note, even if it took me forever to complete this season, and I'm ready to see how this legendary show finally ends. The two big changes this season is that Johnny Sack is finally in charge in New York, or at least trying to be in control, and the new character is not set up as someone who immediately hates Tony, which was a nice change. I can even safely say that I was surprised by most of the deaths this season, which is becoming a rarity, though luckily, I've mostly stopped searching up accidental spoilers for this show.     Let's...

      Ok so yes I did go back and re-read through the whole Invincible series because of the show, and no I don't regret it. I once watched a video on the series in which someone described it as pastiche, and I think that's a perfect way to describe this comic series. It kind of does the evil superman thing for a little bit but it drops it pretty quickly. Also a lot of indie comics have done that anyways like Irredeemable , so just go read those if you really want that (I never did end up doing a review on that series). Anyways, this series is not like The Boys , yes it pokes fun at superhero tropes, but it usually does it from someone who has read comic books and still enjoys them. That is not to say that this series is perfect, but by making their character nigh invincible, it does allow Kirkman (who is a great comic book writer) to play with things that the big two never really would.     Let me start with the good, what this series gets right. I think while ...

      While I have written book reviews before, I watched and read this book at around the same time, so I felt it was fitting that I simply compile my thoughts about both into one post. Honestly, it's been quite some time since I've read the series, and after finishing the first novel, I have to ask myself why I was underrating it so much. Perhaps I had been too ASOIAF -pilled, excited at the prospect of all these common fantasy tropes being turned on their head, tropes that were most-likely popularized by this very novel I read. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It may be 500 pages, and fantasy might be my favourite genre to read, but honestly this novel was a joy to read. So often online do you hear people complain about Tolkien's writing and how he was more a "historian" than writer, and honestly I do not really see it. Yes, sometimes the books will randomly go on a tirade about certain random details, but other than the fact that they leave Boromir's d...

     I have read all of Invincible , so I come into this review, not as someone with a fresh mind, but as someone who is rediscovering what they already know, retreading ground to once again ignite my enjoyment for a franchise and see how this adaptation fares. Leading up to this season practically all the buzz was about how bad the animation for this show has become, helping blunt a lot of the hype that this show had built up in its previous two seasons. I suppose the show isn't exactly helping every time they hire another celebrity voice actor, at that point the joke just writes itself. Even still, honestly the animation never bothered me, it's like that meme about enjoying pizza when you don't have someone in your ear complaining to you about how bad it is. So, how did this season fare?     I am not here to tell people how their action/superhero pieces should play out. I am acutely aware of how pastiche Invincible  is meant to be, and how it also enjoys ...