2021 Top Five - Movies

Today I have my top five movies of 2021. This was hard for me to pair down. I have watched a ton of movies this year, both new and old. I also went back to the theater for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. I only went once, it was a work thing with my wife, and that movie, "F9" is not on my list. But I have loved having the ability to see movies in my home the same day they come out in theaters now. This has been a nice, and pleasant surprise of the pandemic. I feel much more comfortable in my home, and I do not need to see movies on a big screen in the theater. My TV at home is big enough and the sound is just fine. My wife and I also do quarantine date night every Friday where we alternate picking what we will watch. Needless to say, I have seen a ton of movies this year. I got it down to five, but this list could have easily been a top ten.

At number five I have "Bad Trip". I adore this movie. I think it needs more love from critics and social media. Eric Andre, who I am a big fan of, created something that was even better than "Jackass", which I used to watch all the time. "Bad Trip" was not a new idea, but Andre and his crew may have perfected the prank comedy. I was howling while watching this movie. So was my wife. The jokes, the jumps, the pranks, it all worked. Getting actors like Lil Rel Howery and Tiffany Haddish to buy in and go as hard as Andre, that was key. This movie worked on every level for me as a comedy. We were living with my folks while getting our home worked on at the time of watching, and my wife and I were laughing so much they asked us to keep it down. "Bad Trip" is a fun, fast moving comedy and it is available to stream on Netflix. I have watched it twice since my first viewing and I am sure I will watch it even more.

At number four I have "Dune". I know this movie has split reviews from many different people, but I loved every second of it. I watched it the night it came out on HBO Max and I was enthralled. It was never slow. I understood what was going on. It was beautiful to look at on my TV. The acting was superb. I am very excited for part two, whenever that comes out. I also like Denis Villenuve's direction. I loved "Blade Runner 2049", and having been a fan of "Dune" prior, I knew I was going to enjoy this movie. I also thought Timothee Chamelet did a superb job as the lead. I am not a big fan of his, but he crushed in "Dune". So did the rest of the cast. This version was everything I hoped and wanted. Again, I know it has many people talking, but I think that is a very good thing. That means a ton of people saw it and they thought about it long after it was over.

At number three I have "Shang Chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings". This was the most fun superhero movie since "Thor: Ragnarok". I laughed at this movie. I rooted for the good guys. I wanted Shang to win. I wanted his family to be safe. I was blown away at the effects. I wrote about it after I saw the movie, and I really appreciated the backstory because I knew nothing about this hero. I liked the dude from "Doctor Strange" in the movie. I thought it was as colorful as "Guardians of the Galaxy". That is a good thing. I adored Awkwafina in her role. It was nice to see her in the MCU. I did not know what to think about this movie due to my ignorance of the character. But the moment the fight scene on the bus occurred I was fully bought in. This movie really has everything I want out of a superhero movie, and I am stoked that they are making more and that Shang Chi is going to be part of the MCU moving forward.

At number two I have "The Green Knight". This is the wildest movie on my list. It is big and bold and beautifully shot and just weird. I am an A24 fan. I watch a ton of their movies. I think they make some of the best and most innovative movies. They take chances. They take big swings, and usually they hit. "The Green Knight", for me, was a grand slam. I knew nothing of the ages old story they told, but the way they went about telling it had me on the edge of my seat. I also love that A24 took a chance to make a "big" movie. This was not a cheap movie to make, but I am glad they finally bit the bullet and did it. Dev Patel was phenomenal in the lead role. He is such a good actor and this was a perfect role for him. He commanded the screen. Alicia Vikander played two roles and she was equally great at both. And the Green Knight character was so real looking and so well done. I was confused after watching the first time, but when I watched it again I felt like I understood it a bit more. This movie is a trip, but in the best possible way. The music also kicks ass. So does the scenery. I was hyped to see this movie, and when I did, it surpassed my wildest expectations. "The Green Knight" is a beautiful spectacle.

At number one I have "Inside". I told you all to get used to hearing me rave about this movie/special on these lists. There was no better telling of the pandemic than what Bo Burnham did with "Inside". When it starts it is like a comedy special. There are jokes. Burnham is doing his style of songs. But there is an edge. There is something different to it this time around. It is dark. And when he is doing bits in the first half, they are funny, but dark as well. I loved him doing the reaction to his song bit, but even that felt uneasy and stressful. Then, after performing "30", this movie turns dark. Burnham shows what anxiety and depression and fear and isolation can do to a person. There is a song, "All Time Low", where he talks about his poor mental health at that time, and when he sings he doesn't blink at all. It is unnerving. Before the camera cuts to "All Eyes on Me", he cannot even get a sentence out without breaking down and punching his leg. He openly weeps on camera. I do not know if it is real or a character he is playing, but I felt those emotions while watching. He made it seem real. Even when he is sitting amongst all his cords and covered with a blanket, it felt very real. I, like I said yesterday, fully believe people will look back on "Inside" and say that it is the quintessential viewing for what life was like during the pandemic. It is perfect. I have watched it multiple times. I have talked about it with everyone I know. "Inside" is, by a wide margin, the best movie to come out in 2021.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for my top TV shows/episodes of the 2021.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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2021 Top Five - Albums

This week starts my Best of 2021. I will do my top five for most of my lists. I will do music, movies, television, podcasts and sports. That is also the order I will proceed with starting today. Some of my lists were easy to get to five, others, not so much. Let's get to it.

Today I am going to do my top albums of 2021. This is one of my lists where I do not have five picks. Part of that is my lack of listening to new music and the other part is I do not know many of these new artists. I used to be cool and hip. I used to know a ton about new and underground music. I used to listen to all different kinds of music. But as I have gotten older plenty has changed. I am kind of stuck in my ways now. I like what I like. I have been introduced to "new" music for me, but it is older bands or musicians I have never really given thought to before. That is my "new" music. I have recently gotten into Prince, more Talking Heads, an indie band called Whitney and more old school hip hop. But I did find three albums that I really enjoyed that came out this year. They are three new albums too. They are by artists that I like, but again, these records did come out this year.

At number three I have Har Mar Superstar's "Roseville". I love this record. It is like a throwback to older soul and R&B. There are horns and back up singers and cool, retro guitar and all along the way we get Har Mar's great voice. I like this new direction Har Mar is going in with his music too. It is very fitting for his voice and his range. You can really tell on this record that he is in his pocket. I also feel like as he is getting older he is starting to pain gratitude to artists he grew up listening to. This record is like an homage to older soul music. And I am a sucker for horns. I just lose myself to the music whenever I hear a good horn section. Lyrically, this album is very poignant and timely. He talks about COVID and other things that are going on in and around his life. It is a good snapshot of what this past year has been like. "Roseville" is very solid and I'm kind of stunned that some of the bigger publications and websites have kind of just pushed this record to the side and do not talk about it.

At two I have Tyler, the Creator's "Call Me if You Get Lost". This record is like older Tyler with his new vibe attached. It is straightforward hip hop. Tyler's rapping is impeccable. He has gotten better and better every year. He is on the Mount Rushmore of current hip hop artists right now. I also love how most of the songs are less than three minutes long. Even the songs that go six to nine minutes have like three different songs built in. They don't linger too long. There is enough change that it feels different. Tyler, much like Har Mar, also touches on the pandemic, but does it his way. I also love the addition of a hype man on the record. It adds so much to hip hop albums. I also really enjoy the production on the record. It may be his second best production, behind only "IGOR". Tyler, the Creator is aging like a fine wine. He is consistently trying new things and it has all been really great as of late. Tyler is getting to that echelon of always doing wonderful and innovative things in music. He is the man.

My number one album of the year is "Inside". Get used to seeing this on my best of lists. This album is amazing. The fact that it was made in a year is astounding. Talk about being timely, this album is all about the pandemic, loneliness, anxiety and loss during COVID. It is truly a masterpiece. Bo Burnham has done something amazing and memorable. To make music like this, at this time in history, to make it this well and this astounding, I'm floored. The way the whole album kind of shifts after "30" is a real feat. It goes from kind of dark to super dark, in all the right ways. There are songs on this album that I feel like school kids should study. There is stuff on this album that will be talked about for decades. This is a true work of art. I adore songs like "How the World Works" or "Welcome to the Internet" that are instant classics. I mentioned "30", that is an exceptional song about growing old. "Problematic" is a great look at his past and how he has grown. "All Eyes on Me" is so twisted and dark and perfect. "That Funny Feeling" may be the best folk song of the year. "Content" is a perfect album starter. I could go on and on and on, and I will on some of my other lists, believe me. "Inside" is amazing. It is the best album of the year, and when we get to 2030, it may end up being the best album of the decade. It is really that good. You can go look at my year in review on Spotify and see how much I have devoured this album. "Inside" is, hands down, the best album of 2021.

That is it for today. Come back tomorrow for my top five movies of the year.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Let's Talk About How Great the Lighting is on "Inside"

I just finished watching Bo Burnham's special "Inside" for the third time.

I keep watching it for a few reasons.

One, it is awesome. It's truly one of the best pieces of art I have ever seen.

Two, I constantly find new things every time I view. There is always something new that interests me.

Three, the music is rad. Burnham is already a very funny singer and songwriter, but on "Inside", while the songs are still funny, it is like real, legit music. There are some really solid songs throughout the special. In watching today I noticed something else, and that is what I want to talk about. I swear this will be one of the last times I write about this special, but damn this thing is amazing, so I am not sorry actually.

When watching today I was super impressed with the way he uses lighting for this movie. It is really cool, really unique and totally different from most things I have watched in this same genre. When the special starts, the impressive light show begins. When he is doing the song "Content", he is just sitting in a dark room for about 45 seconds, and when he gets near the end of the song he looks up and there is a spinning disco ball reflecting lights on the wall. The reflection is coming from a headlamp he is wearing and it is super cool. It is dope the way he uses some very simple things to make a very cool visual. This continues throughout the special. The two "Bezos" songs he does have very rad and very different lights. The first one is a bit dark with a shadow. The second one is like watching a techno concert with some wild red objects reflecting off the wall. It is cool to see the way he switches it up on the two different tunes. When he does "All Eyes On Me", the dark room with light blue lights reflects not only the mood, but also his eyes and his white shirt. It makes for a somber look on a dark song, but that has to be what he was going for. It is perfect. The way he shoots the final song, going back and forth, with different images displayed on the screen, it is so awesome. I was completely blown away at how cool and ahead of its time the way he lights and edits the song. We see him in three different phases, and when the camera pans away at the end, the spotlight on him is too perfect. It reflects the mood so well. I also really enjoy the woodsy background he has when he plays "That Funny Feeling". The song sounds like it would be played on a camping trip, so making the background symbolize that, well done. The song that takes the cake in the lighting process is "30". This is my favorite song on the record and during the special. The way he lights it, uses lights and performs with the lights is second to none. When there is a clap, he moves his white light out and the whole room is lit. When he is singing the verse there are red and purple and blue clouds in the background. When he sings the chorus he moves that white light around his whole body which reflects shadows on the wall and it looks like I'm watching a live show. I am immediately transported back to a time when I went to live shows. But the best part is when he is singing the "my stupid friends are having stupid children" and there are three of his shadow, one in the middle and one on each side, that is some damn good art. It is neat and interesting. It makes me wonder how he does stuff like that. I'm sure it is easy for him, but for a rube like me, this is pretty amazing stuff to see.

I get more impressed every time I watch the special. I simply cannot recommend "Inside" enough. It is so god damn awesome, and there are always new things popping up with each new watch. Go check this thing out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Watches "Inside"

I will get to the NBA game 7's that happened this weekend later this week. But today I have to talk about the movie my wife and I watched on our quarantine date night this past Friday.

I know things are opening up, and more people are going back into the world, but not my wife and I. We are still staying at home most weekend nights, we have seen a few more friends, but they are all vaccinated, our kids do play sports, but I am masked and we still enjoy our new Friday date night routine. We still order from a local restaurant and we pick a movie to watch after our kids go to bed. This week was my turn and I picked the new Bo Burnham special "Inside". RD has told me to watch this. A friend of mine told me to watch this. I watched the trailer which made me want to watch this.

I will say, I am so happy RD and my buddy told me nothing about it, and the trailer is very vague. It is best to go into this thing not knowing what to expect. I absolutely adored this special. My wife wasn't as into it as I am, but she did like the music. My wife's problem, there wasn't enough comedy in it for her. I was absolutely blown away by what I witnessed. I keep calling it a "special", and not a "comedy special". My wife is right, it is not very comedic. There are jokes, some of the songs are funny, but this is more a piece of art posed as a comedy special.

When “Inside” starts we see Burnham in a room by himself. He goes on to explain that he is doing this special by himself. He wrote, directed, edited, arranged, he did everything on this project. He had one producer, but I have to assume that was after the fact. This is all Burnham. So to see the way he did this, how he did this, to see the background stuff, to see some of the outtakes, to see him going through a massive change in his emotions, I was floored. Seriously, I was moved by this special. The whole idea was to do a one hour comedy show, but with no audience and by himself. He does it with no audience and by himself, but it is so, so much more than comedy. At the beginning Burnham is unshaven and has shaggy hair. He then goes into his routine. His first song is a short and sweet pop groove called "Content". It is classic Burnham. He is hammy and jokey and pointing out everyday foibles. He then goes into some more songs and bits that follow his usual path. The song "Comedy" is such a great F U to people who think they are holier than thou. "Facetime with my Mom" is downright hilarious. It starts to get a little darker on "How the World Works", but I love that song. It is so true and so of the time and so needed. Socko is a genius. "White Woman's Instagram" kind of goes back to classic Burnham, but there is this moment of clarity when he talks about a girl posting a picture of her deceased mom and the caption accompanying it. It shows growth. "Unpaid Intern" is a hilarious bebop parody. He then shifts into a very of the time bit about doing a response video. My son watches stuff like this all the time, and Burnham nails it. When he plays it on that loop it is wild. The first "Bezos" song comes out of nowhere, and it is totally off the rails, but I loved it. Then we get "Sexting", and this is a very funny song about how people are intimate in modern times. It does end on a dreary note. Then we get "Problematic", and this is such a great song which shows Burnham is embarrassed and ashamed of some of his past bits. He is apologizing in his own way for what he has done. It is fantastic.

Then, right in the middle of the special we get a complete tonal shift. Burnham turns 30 during the special. He stops and talks about it and we even see a clock that reads 11:58. He talks about how he thought he would be done with this special before his birthday, but he is not. Then this gets dark. The whole thing changes, and it is amazing to watch. He performs the song "30", and it is such a perfect way of explaining how most of us accomplish almost nothing when we turn 30. Burnham says nearly everything I thought when I turned 30, but I did have a kid and married my wife prior to 30. At this point in the special Burnham's hair and beard are much longer and very unkempt. He is also wearing the same clothes day after day. He is clearly going through some stuff. And it is all on film. He does a great little tune called "Don't Wanna Know". It is all of his personal thoughts laid out. Then we get real depressing stuff, "Shit" and "All Time Low". These songs are about how he is feeling bad, how he is depressed and how he doesn't know if he will get out of this or not. The loneliness and solitude are clearly getting to him. Then there is this vaudeville esque song called "Welcome to the Internet". It is bleak and sad and gloomy and scary and 100 percent true. I do not know if a more apt lyric than "can I interest you in anything and everything all of the time" has ever been sung. We also get some bleak bits in this portion where Burnham pretends to stream a game that is just him crying and barely moving, him posing with a knife and doing a YouTube-esque subscribe video. He is also clearly losing it when he talks to the camera and cannot get the words out without punching his leg. He is frustrated and losing his grip. There is a second "Bezos" song that is more bizarre than the first, but again, it slaps. Then he plays an acoustic guitar and sings a song called "That Funny Feeling". If this were sung by someone like Father John Misty or Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes, people would call it genius. Burnham nails this impression, and the song is so good. He then breaks down on camera. He starts crying and it goes black. Then he performs "All Eyes on Me". This is the quintessential portion of this special. This is Burnham letting it all out, really going for it and really just letting his mental stuff take hold. Again, it is bleak and brutal, but it hits so many chords. It hits so many feelings that all of us have had during this pandemic. He then closes it out with "Goodbye" and "Any Day Now". Both songs touch on things from earlier in the special, and they kind of wrap it all up. We also see Burnham finally step outside and a fake audience is clapping and cheering for him. This turns into laughter and he is terrified by it. He wants back inside. But then we see him watching this bit and a shy smile comes across his face and it ends.

Look, I was completely and utterly blown away by this. I have never seen anything like it. I think it is the best representation of life during this pandemic. Burnham absolutely nails every aspect of it. He hits a homerun with every song and every bit. It is perfect. I have watched it twice now and been listening to the music on Spotify. This is one of the best pieces of art that I have been able to witness. I do not know what Burnham was trying to achieve or get out of this. but man did he do something that I will never forget. "Inside" is genius. Of course I think you should watch it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.