Happy Hub: Tunes Haul, Suicide Squad, Olympics, & More!

It's been quite the eventful month for me, but this kind of thing only happens once every two years (and I only get to fully watch every four years because school) so I can make an exception for not really doing anything this month. You'll find that this is a fairly long Happy Hub. I was surprised when it turned out to be this much but when you wake up early to, say, watch the Olympics, you have more time in the day in general. Hmm, maybe I should start waking up earlier... I'll think about it. For now, let's get on to the things that made me happy this month!

Tunes:

At the end of last month a bunch of my faves decided to drop new music and the first thing I tackled was Fresh Eyes by Andy Grammer. It's been the longest time since he's released new music and he's kind of on top of the game right now so it was probably his single that I was the most excited about out of this haul. My first listen was lukewarm but every time I heard it I found something new to love about it and now it's always playing in my head.

The Girl and the Dreamcatcher have been teasing me with singles for a while now and it's worked. I was so excited for their Negatives EP I was nearly jumping out of my seat. Two of their three already released singles are on this EP so I won't talk about those since I've already covered them in previous Happy Hubs but there are four new songs and I love them all. They're so different and unique to one another. If I had to narrow down my faves, it would have to come down to Gladiator or My Way but I find myself singing Cry Wolf and Monster more than I do the former two. They're just all so good. I can't choose. 

Another Disney Channel artist Sabrina Carpenter also released a single on this fated day. On Purpose is a song about falling in love when you shouldn't and out of this haul, it got stuck in my head the easiest. The sound is very distinct and very different from her first album. She's matured a lot since then (not that her debut was immature I still love that album) and you can hear it in how she's changed her sound. When I'm doing something mindless I find myself humming this song because it's so easy to pick up. I seriously cannot wait for her new album it's going to be so good I can already feel it.

They say good things come in threes. The end of last month provided me with music from three of my favorite artists and the middle of this month provided me with another set of three. The first of the three was God, Your Mama, and Me by Florida Georgia Line. Now you might be scratching your head wondering when I have ever said Florida Georgia Line (or country music, even) is my favorite. They aren't. It's the featured artist that's got me excited. Of course, that featured artist is the Backstreet Boys. It's been so long since I've heard a new Backstreet harmony that I was actually clutching my chest when I heard this song. I was literally blown away. One thing that makes this song so great other than the music itself is that the song means so much to all of them and, although it's about their wives, it's gender neutral. I love this song and Backstreet is featured so heavily on this track (Nick and AJ have solos and they're all on every chorus) I'd love to hear a version that's just them. When I listen to it, I hear some bits of country, but there are times when it sounds like a tried and true Backstreet Boys song. Even in the verse where it's just FGL there's a bit of BSB sound. Give this song a listen even if you don't like country because I'm sure you'll find yourself bopping along to it. If nothing else, you'll hear some much needed Backstreet Boys harmonies.

I was surprised when I saw Ellie Goulding had released a new single on Spotify. I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't sure what I should be expecting when I saw it was off the soundtrack of Bridget Jones's Baby. Now that I've had it on repeat (along with the other two songs in this second batch) I can say Still Falling For You is a definite hit. It sounds so Ellie. I should probably petition for her to be on every soundtrack. Everything she does is just so good. The music video also makes me interested in the film. It's very good at what it does. I'm not going to get a chance to see it in theaters but I mean, I find it hilarious how Colin Firth keeps ending up in these kinds of movies. I hope this gets some air time on the radio because I think it's comparable to Love Me Like You Do in terms of likability.

Bridgit Mendler has been teasing new music for quite some time now and once Undateable got cancelled, she could focus all her time on her music. Earlier this month she announced she was dropping her new single Atlantis at the end of the month and she teased us as we got closer with some background on the song. (x, x, x) She ended up releasing it a day early and that was the best thing in the world because that's one extra day in my life that I get to listen to this song. Bridgit talked about how she wrote this song after splitting with her first love and when I listen to Atlantis, I can feel the heartbreak. That doesn't happen to me like ever. Oftentimes when I listen to the lyrics of a song, I can relate to them or I can envision what that would feel like if it were happening to me; never have I felt emotions so strongly straight from the artist. I can only imagine what her new EP will sound like. It comes out November 4th, which is also the same day Doctor Strange comes out and is the day before Charlie Puth is in Seattle. It's a big weekend for me. I'm so happy she's back in the music industry. It's been a long time since Hello My Name Is... (it's still one of my go-to fall albums).

Films:

Suicide Squad (x)

The latest addition to the DCEU has been highly anticipated, especially after the mixed reviews from Batman v Superman. I can't say it entirely delivered. It was a fun, entertaining movie, but there were too many parts that really took me out of the movie or just didn't flow (looking at you, Joker scenes). I really liked some of the characters like Deadshot, Diablo, and Harley, but others seemed to just be there to make the slow-mo squad walk look cooler. The mission was also kind of lacking. More development would've been nice. It also didn't live up to all the news coming out of production for this film. The biggest thing for me was how David Ayer tortured his actors. It was entirely unnecessary because none of it showed in the final product. Those poor actors. I feel like everybody keeps saying they'll wait for the next DCEU movie to decide how they feel about the universe and I agree with that as much as I think it's hilarious. We may be very well saying that even after Justice League 2 has come and gone for how the DCEU has been turning out so far. When all is said and done, Suicide Squad was fun, but no work of art by any means. 

I read The Little Prince earlier this year because I knew the movie would be coming out soon but then there was some drama with the distribution so instead of getting to see it in theaters in March, we were left hanging until news broke that Netflix picked it up and would be releasing it in August. All the better since now I don't have to shell out any extra cash to go see it. It was also convenient being able to watch it in my room, on my bed, where I was free to sob my eyes out. I knew I was going to cry watching this film but I wasn't prepared for how much. Just before the halfway point the tears gradually started building so slowly that I didn't notice them at first then we hit the middle and it was just me, a tissue, and my body-wracking sobs. I was able to calm down after that end then something happens that would be a spoiler and the tears start welling up again and for the rest of the film I'm barely holding it together. I cried so hard my swollen eyes took a full week to get back to normal. That is not an exaggeration. So yeah, if you have 108 minutes and some tissues to spare, I would highly recommend this movie. It's a beautiful adaptation of the book and I have absolutely zero complaints.

Rio Olympics:

If something takes over my life for two weeks, it deserves its own section in my Happy Hub. I may not have talked about it much on xo, Yvette but I know I've mentioned it at least a couple times. My love for the Olympics is no secret and you can see that love fully on display on my Twitter every 18-30 months, depending on which season Games is coming up next. I also did a book tag inspired by it on the day of the Closing Ceremony because how could I not commemorate it with at least something?! I don't have anything specific about the Olympics that directly affected me, which is boring because why would I be talking about it??? But it's such an inspiration to me and I love to see others achieve their dreams. It was also a very historic Games with some Greats stepping down and others rising up. I cried for all of it. I have a lot of emotions about this. So much so that I'm making it my personal mission to make it to Tokyo 2020. I can use Pyeongchang 2018 as a practice run for logistics (not that I'm actually going) but I think if I put my mind to it, Tokyo 2020 is achievable. Nothing's going to stop me from crying about the Olympics in person rather than in front of my TV. I really miss Rio already...

Miscellaneous:

My friends are all leaving me one by one to head off to start another year of college. Ah, semester system. I think it was during my birthday celebration that Steph brought up Dick's, a local drive in burger chain, and I thought that was a great idea seeing as I've lived here for twenty years and have never had Dick's (the capital D is imperative). We talked about going but never made it happen until it came to deciding what to do for our final hang out of the summer. There are various locations sprinkled throughout the Seattle area but we chose to do Wallingford because just down the street is Molly Moon's Ice Cream, another Seattle staple. Somehow I managed to avoid experiencing Seattle all these years. We both got Honey Lavender and Jamberry Crisp (a seasonal flavor). Both of these were perfect for a hot summer day and a sweet goodbye.

Burger #8 (x)

Honey Lavender & Jamberry Crisp (x)

Blogosphere:

As you can tell, I've been kind of busy lately but I did manage to get one more Yve Eats in before Mikaela headed off to school. We wanted to go with something on the lighter side since we had a lot of cheese in the last two dishes. It was delicious, but I could definitely see the toll it was taking on my body. With Mexico as our country of inspiration, we chose and Avocado Corn Salad and Baked Churros. The Avocado Corn Salad hit the spot and I would definitely make it again. It wasn't too difficult to make either. I bet if I at enough it could be a main course, right? It deserves an upgrade from "sides" status to "entree."


Okay, this turned out to be more than I expected. There was a lot of music. I can't help it if a bunch of my favorite artists decide to bless me all at once.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's been such a good month. Be sure to leave a comment telling me what made you happy this month and let me know if I missed anything! I know for sure there's about a week missing out of this post but I'm saving that for later. ;)


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette