Irrelevant But Awesome

Joel:  If every government thing that could possibly go wrong is going to go wrong at one point or another during the Bartlet presidency, the shutdown of the government was one more thing that had to be checked off of that list. And I did like where the show would take time to point out what all a government shutdown could have an impact on. Things that easily slip through the cracks like the social security checks, or how a trip to Washington DC that someone’s been planning for the past year is now completely destroyed. But what really gets me about this episode is how dramatic the passing of time is. This episode loves to dramatically count the passing hours as if even it can’t believe that the government it being shut down for this long. In total it just adds up to a handful of days. Ten years after this, in 2013, the government would shut down for over two weeks, so it’s interesting to watch this episode now after having lived through the real life equivalent. Chris: ...

Joel:  There is a lot of back and forth throughout the show as to whether or not Bartlet is a strong President. We know that he is supposed to be a good president. It’s pretty much the whole point of the show that this administration has an ideal view of government and their role in America. What the show seems to go back and forth on is if Bartlet is a good president, or at the very least and effective one. So much of the first season is about how often they fail or their ideas and plans are blocked from being effective. But the show flips on us every now and then to show that when Bartlet decides it’s time to really go after something, nothing in the world will be able to stand in his way. I feel like we keep having to talk about how Bartet isn’t that effective, that he has no political capital left, so we can keep getting those moments where he can draw a line in the sand with a long, angry monologue about the state of this or that in America. For example toward the end of...

The Dear Hunter continues it's saga into the third Act in the series, here's a rough interpretation of the plot of this album (the source can be found  here ) Act III: The Boy is on the same boat he was on at the end of Act II when he left The City as The Oracles narrate what will happen if he continues and emphasize how he should've taken their advice but know there's no going back now. The story moves ahead in time a ways to find The Boy is now a soldier in The Great War but displays a fear he can't shake over fighting in this brutal war. The Boy becomes horrified over the sight of all the fallen soldiers and begins to pray for an end but gets no response. His platoon manages to dodge bombs in combat but comes across an enemy tank. His platoon fails at trying to overcome the tank and as he loses all hope, The Boy abandons the battle. The Boy comes to a forest at the edge of a destroyed city and encounters The Poison Woman. She had unpleasant experiences ...

Joel:  The scene that really stays with me from this episode is toward the end, where CJ confronts the President after he’s stayed in Oklahoma about a day longer than he should. There’s a lot to unpack in that one scene. First of all, I very much get where The President is coming from here. The glacial pace of government progress can be incredibly frustrating. I’m constantly frustrated by it in real life, and for the most part, I’m just an outside observer. I’ve even gotten frustrated with it on the show. It seems like each episode has an episode long issue that should really be taken care of in ten minutes if everyone would just shut up and listen to the smart people. I get how it feels like he’s finally doing something really helpful instead of sitting in the Oval, signing papers and talking about places a million miles away. At the same time I get where CJ is coming from. It’s easy to call her crass because she’s looking at the political angle on the disaster, but It’s...

The Dear Hunter continues into their second album in their storied saga, the true meaning of which is heavily debated but here's an interpretation we like the most (source can be found  here ). Act II: Ms. Terri (The Boy's mother) has passed away, after her burial, The Boy packs his belongings and makes his way out of the town he grew up in, going further from home than he had ever been. The Boy makes his way through the forest, deciding that he wants to know more about his mother's past, something she had kept him sheltered from. He finds his way to a beaten up train station and boards a train called The Delphi Express heading towards The City. During the ride on the Delphi, The Boy encounters The Oracles. They see The Boys future and warn him that The City will be the source of his unfortunate luck and advise him to return to The Lake and The River. The Boy ignores the warning as the train enters The City. As The Delphi runs through The City, the audience is told ...

As mentioned in previous reviews, the Act albums are what The Dear Hunter is most known for all they all follow a linear story of a character simply known as "The Boy." However Act I begins before he's even born but it establishes the environment in which he was created. So with these reviews, not only are we going to give our opinions of the albums but we're also going to display an interpretation of the story itself (something the band hasn't provided although graphic novels are in the works). Below is a rough plot summary, none of which has been confirmed by the band but it's the interpretation that I (Chris) most agree with and I feel it's the closest to the band's intention. The source of the summary can be found  here . Act I: It begins with a prologue to set the story of a child that will be born and gives a vague foreshadow of what's to come. After the instrumental, we are introduced to Ms. Terri and, as the song suggests, she is es...

The Dear Hunter: White EP The White EP doesn't really resonate with me, to be perfectly honest, not to say it's bad because it isn't but it just doesn't quite click with me. That piano-driven element that I praised so much in Violet makes a return and even gets kicked up a notch but beyond that, aside from the occasional moment here and there, I found White to be a bit bland and boring. However, don't let the color fool you because the lyrics cover some interesting topics such as "No God" which essentially reflects a distrust in any sort of spiritual being that gets the credit for things that people in your life contribute, a theme that carries over into a couple songs in Act IV. I will say this, however they mixed the piano in the intro of "Lost but Not All Gone" deserves an award for making liquid gold, easily the highlight of the White EP.

The Dear Hunter: Violet EP I know the song titled "Home" is in the next EP but Dear Hunter is back home in the Violet EP. The four songs in Violet are a return to their wheelhouse that we've all come to know and love with that piano-driven vaudeville theatrics that feature an expanded instrumentation. As we'll discuss in our future reviews of their Act albums, Dear Hunter is a story-telling band and even though they're not part of any sort of over-arching story each Violet song contain a short story within themselves. What I enjoyed is how all four songs leading in with a piano melody and then expanding to the full instrumentation shortly thereafter. It's like the piano is the bright red curtain the start the show and then pulled back to reveal the full production. The orchestral element is a major part of a lot of the previous EPs but Violet introduces a heavy hand of wind instruments and it all expertly comes to a head in the final song "Look Awa...

The Dear Hunter: Indigo EP It's tempting to label this a transitional EP in the overall scheme of The Color Spectrum but I would hesitate with that label because Indigo has a very distinct electronic characteristic that sets it apart from the other EPs. The transitional aspect is how Blue was down in a mellow mood and there's a certain mellowness about it that's comparable in Indigo as well as lyrical content but the electronic aspect makes the EP feel like an upswing. One of the more defined characteristics that distinguishes this EP from the others is the inclusion of an instrumental song called Therma (loving referred to be me as The Clap Song). I greatly enjoy this EP as it's a far reach from the typical Dear Hunter songs and yet it doesn't seem out of place in the slightest. There's an iPhone app called Pzizz that basically helps you take a power nap through soothing sounds at different frequencies and voices. I bring this up because you set a timer ...

Last month we were hit with an overwhelming amount of Hollywood advertising and announcements in the form of Comic-Con 2016. Originally I was going to try to compile a huge post of all the big stories and trailers that were released over the weekend but that quickly became an insurmountable task. With new announcements happening all the time, there were announcements happening faster than could be reported on. This isn't even a complete list of every trailer that was released at comic-con (Trailers for Netflix Marvel shows Luke Cage , Iron Fist and The Defenders were released as well) but it is a list of some of the biggest trailers to debut this year from Comic-Con gathered in one place for your viewing pleasure. Wonder Woman Warner Bros. and DC had a pretty big task before them going into Comic-Con this year. After the reaction that Batman v Superman received back in March, they had to prove that they had not only taken the reaction to heart but that Batman v Superm...

Welcome to Kue's List! This is a weekly collection of fresh and fantastic tunes curated by yours truly, Jonah Kue. So, without further adieu, here's this week's Kue's List, followed by Apple Music and Spotify links to it: Lewis Del Mar - "Painting (Masterpiece)" Wild Beasts - "Tough Guy" Tiwa Savage - "African Waist (feat. Don Jazzy)" DJ Khaled - "Nas Album Done (feat. Nas)" Glass Animals - "Youth" Balance and Composure - "Postcard" Stwo - "Fill the Void (feat. Amir Obe & Daniel Caesar)" How to Dress Well - "Lost Youth/Lost You" Toro y Moi - "Grown Up Calls" Nadia Rose - "Skwod" PARTYNEXTDOOR - "Not Nice" ABRA - "Vegas" Miranda Lambert - "Vice" Click for Apple Music link Click for Spotify link

The Dear Hunter: Blue EP I likened the Yellow EP as all the peaks and valleys of falling in love for the first and if that's true, Blue is like falling in love for the final time, knowing that the person next to you will be by your side the rest of your life. Blue ranks pretty high with me on the Color Spectrum album and it remains one of my go-to selections for times when I just want to relax because even though the color blue usually invokes a coldness connotation, that warmth of sound I discussed forever ago about Dear Hunter becomes prevalent only this time it's used to produce a more mellow vibe. My personal favorite song in the EP is The Collapse of the Great Tide Cliffs which obviously runs along with the theme of the album cover but it's such a beautiful song that I'm afraid anything I might say about it wouldn't do the song justice. The song is one of their more simplistic but Casey Crescenzo puts just as much emphasis into the silence as he does the...