This Week in Pop Culture

All the pop culture things I'm obsessed with this week

My Spring 2012 Jams playlist on Spotify 

From The Hunger Games soundtrack to Fun. to Kelly-Clarkson-does-country, this wide range of music is all I've been listening to prep for finals. (And yes, One Direction is on there. But I feel that this is balanced by The Civil Wars. And Kimbra.)

The Legend of Korra

All right, before you all judge me, I would just like to say that I will not apologize for being psyched about this kickbutt show. It's predecessor, Avatar: The Last Airbender, was shown on Nickelodeon, yes. It was targeted at children mainly, yes. But it also featured some heavily adult themes. Such as genocide. Or the balance between spirituality and physical toughness. Much of one episode pondered if it’s ever acceptable to compromise your ethics and kill a human being, for heaven's sake. It also had some of the best character development on any TV show anywhere, as well as some great one-liners ("That's rough, buddy"). And the animation was gorgeous.

The Legend of Korra is the sequel to the Last Airbender, following the new avatar, Korra, a seventeen-year-old headstrong girl, as she tries to learn airbending and the politics of Republic City. The first and second episodes were great. They were beautifully drawn, funny, and already seem to deal with some serious issues. The main conflict seems to be between "benders vs. normal humans," which I'm excited for, since both sides have their points. Way to not show clear blacks and whites, "children's show." This is why I love you. Also, Mako is hot for an animated character. Just saying.

The Legend of Korra

Not sorry.

Titanic 3D

Can you believe this was the first time I've seen Titanic? My mom never let me see it when I was younger (Kate Winslet's boobs, and all), and I just never got around to watching it. The 3D didn't add much except make the movie seem like it was made yesterday instead of 1990-whenever. And yes, parts of it were extremely cheesy. But I'll always love Leonardo DiCaprio. And I'll admit I teared up. Especially at the end, when I realized that all these people really did die like that. So incredibly sad. Now I need to listen to some Celine Dion. Excuse me.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Once again, I can't believe it's taken me song long to read John Green. I decided to start with his latest book, The Fault in Our Stars, and holy cow was it incredible. I've heard some people argue that Green is this generation's J.D. Salinger, and I'd say that's a pretty apt observation. In order to be a great YA author, you really have to be able to write well-developed characters, which Green does in spades. Yes, it's about teenagers with cancer, and yes, it made me cry, but this book is so much more than that. The characters are real and unlike any other ones I've read before. I loved the heroine, Hazel Grace, and her sick-but-hilarious boyfriend, Augustus Waters. I don't want to give too much away, so just read it. Trust me.

AUDIO-FILES

I mentioned this yesterday, but this is just another show I'm obsessed with. I've loved Imagine Dragons for several years now, and seeing behind-the-scenes info as well as exclusive music content is awesome. Future episodes of AUDIO-FILES include Low, Neon Trees, and Joshua James. Tuesdays at 6:30 on BYUtv. Check it.

ALSO

Brad and Angie are engaged. All is right in the world again...

...At least it was, until I came across this story.

F!N@L$ W33K

So instead of studying, I'm blogging, of course.

Although I really only have one actual final. And a project due Wednesday. And I have to be moved out by Friday. I'm the worst.

Obviously, life has been pretty insane lately. So here's just a super quick update of everything:

• The Adobe Summit  was a great experience. It was really enlightening to see just how much planning and effort goes into throwing off a big corporate event like this. It was hard work, but I got paid to see Foster the People (who were really good! Helena Beat is probably my favorite song.) and got free Skullcandy speakers, so I can't complain. 

The sign outside the Salt Palace

Us girls working at the Canyons, where we got to stay for free

• The Hunger Games! I've seen it twice and I loved it. Even more than the books. I know, I know, blasphemy. But I thought that Jennifer Lawrence was amazing, that the added scenes added an emotional layer, and I even loved the cinematography, included the "shaky cam." I thought it showed Katniss's perspective really well, and showed the violence without getting too graphic and glorifying it. Stanley Tucci was another standout. I think the reason I liked the movie so much more was that it showed the themes of the story without all the silly romance stuff getting in the way, and showed how much of a heroine Katniss really was without all the inner monologuing I didn't enjoy in the books. The soundtrack is equally amazing.
• This month in PR: Bradley is officially over! We had our trade show and even though Enough Is Enough didn't win, we still had a great semester and I'm so grateful to the girls on my team. AUDIO-FILES got second place though, which was pretty awesome. If you don't know what AUDIO-FILES is, you need to check it out, especially if you like good music. It's a new show by BYUtv, but it's unlike anything they've done before. The first episode, featuring Imagine Dragons, is stellar. Check out an exclusive music video:

 

• I officially start my internship in a week! I'm actually pretty nervous. I've never really been to Los Angeles and I don't know what to expect. I've been pinning all the things I want to do, though. Basically I just want to be a Hollywood geek tourist and visit all the studios. WB is showing the Harry Potter exhibit at their studio, which I really want to go to. I also have an apartment to myself this summer, so please come and visit me! I'm being dead serious. I'll get lonely.

That's about it for now. I'm going to try to blog more frequently this summer, since I'll actually have time to. Also, starting tomorrow, I'm going to start a new segment, called "This Week in Pop Culture," which will highlight all the pop culture things I'm obsessed with for the week. Hope you enjoy!