Five Fresh Finds

I hope each of you are having a beautiful Sunday!  As for me, the highs of this weekend were fantastic, but the lows were the absolute worst.  I felt like I was trying to catch up on work literally all day Friday.  No matter how many tasks I juggled at once, or how quickly I attempted to get things done, I just couldn't seem to keep up with everything.  Alas, that's just the business I suppose...especially this time of the year.

So I've come across, in one way or another, some really great films, music, and TV shows, and each of these things (for lack of a better word) have been on my mind non-stop for the past week or so.  Because I've enjoyed them all so much, I thought I'd take some time to share them with you so you can experience them for yourself if you haven't already.

1.  Harmony Korine's outrageously fun and dreamy Spring Breakers.

Now, I know this film has gotten a TON of buzz all over the media, but, in my opinion, it is well deserved.  My favorite parts were all of James Franco's scenes, of course, because his lines and his image absolutely ruled the film, but I also surprisingly enjoyed the girls' performances.  I was a little hesitant about the movie's credibility when I first heard that the main characters of the story were to be played by some ex-Disney starlets, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It's definitely not for everyone and is super weird at times, but I really enjoyed the bizarreness of it all.  I would dive further into my views on the film, but this Hello Giggles article by Lesley Arfin truly expresses my exact thoughts on the film.  I honestly cannot say it better myself.

2.  Afraid of Heights, the new full-length album from So-Cal pop-punk band WAVVES.

This has to be my favorite album right now!  I just can't stop listening to it.  I mean, King of the Beach was a masterpiece, but Afraid of Heights takes it to the next level.  The band has remained true to their raw, catchy sound, but taken their lyrics to a deeper, darker place, and I am absolutely swooning.  My current favorite tracks are "Sail To The Sun", "Demon To Lean On" and "I Can't Dream."

3.  Deerhunter on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the other night.

Did anyone else happen to catch this crazy weird performance?  Having been a fan of Deerhunter for years now, I half expected them to do something odd because that's just the nature of frontman Bradford Cox, but I was pretty stunned.  Bradford was wearing a leopard print blouse and black wig and had two of his fingers bloody and bandaged as they gripped the microphone he was singing into.  Then, toward the end of the set, he threw the microphone down and walked off down the hallway backstage all the way to the elevator, pushed the signal button and leaned against the wall as the band played out the rest of the song.  Well played, Mr.Cox. 

4.  Hannibal.  

Jason and I decided to give this new NBC show a try since we're both fans of cannibalism (kidding), and the cast looked pretty legit.  So far there has only been one episode, and it was actually really really good.  It held my attention the entire time and even challenged my mind a little (which isn't terribly difficult to do, haha).  I think we'll keep watching it if it stays on par with what we've seen so far.

5.  Bates Motel on A&E.

Bates Motel is another new TV show we've adopted to our every-growing list of shows to keep up with, but I'm totally not sorry.  If you know me well, you know I've been an avid Hitchcock fan my whole life, and, while Psycho has never been my favorite, I love that Hollywood is re-imagining the story this way.  Jason doesn't really like that it's set in contemporary times instead of the original time period, but I don't really mind it.  It's definitely a fresh take on the classic story of a twisted mother-son relationship and Norman's downward spiral into insanity.  I'm anxious to see where the story will lead and eventually end.