April Recap

Here's my April recap. I'll be recapping all the things I read, watched and listened to during April.

TELEVISION

Finished (2020 shows):

• Tiger King, Netflix, episodes 4-7

• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Disney+, episodes 8-10

In Progress (2020 shows):

• Love is Blind, Netflix, episodes 3-5

• Hunters, Amazon Prime, episode 5

In Progress (2019 or earlier shows):

• Westworld, HBO, Season 2 Episode 1

• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Netflix, Episodes 8-9

MOVIES

Finished (2019 or earlier movies):

• Parasite (2019)

• Booksmart (2019)

• The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall - 25th Anniversary (2011) (Stage musical recording)*

• Love Never Dies (2012) (Stage musical recording)*

*Just a note, if a concert or musical has been professionally recorded and released like this I'm going to be counting it as a "movie."

ALBUMS

Finished (2020 albums)

• After Hours, The Weeknd

• 3.15.20, Childish Gambino

• Kelsea, Kelsea Ballerini

• Kid Krow, Conan Gray

• Calm, 5 Seconds of Summer

• Before Love Came To Kill Us, Jessie Reyez

• Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa

• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The Soundtrack

In Progress (2020 album)

• I Feel Alive, TOPS

• love is not dying, Jeremy Zucker

• Fetch the Boltcutters, Fiona Apple

• It Is What It Is, Thundercat

BOOKS

Finished (2020 books)

• The June Boys, Court Stevens

Finished (2019 or earlier books)

• Lucky Boy, Shanthi Sekaran

I didn't really get too much done this month. It's a little disappointing. I did read two books this month which is an improvement. I should be at ~6.5 of each media type by the end of April. I have only read 3 (2020) books and watched 3 (2020) movies. I am way ahead of schedule with albums. I'm also a little bit ahead with TV shows. I've said before that there aren't really theatrical releases right now, and a lot of things are being pushed back to next year. So the movie category might be kind of hard for me to complete this year. There are a few Netflix original movies coming out in May that look decent, so there is hope.

I do have a few things I want to talk about for Parasite and Booksmart, which I'm not going to be posting full reviews for.

Parasite (2019):

I really liked this movie. I don't think it was overhyped at all. I think it is very deserving of all the praise it has been getting. I think it's genius and just very full and deep, yet still is able to convey the story in a cohesive way. Movies like Mother! are very off-putting for a lot of people because of how abstract it is; Parasite is full of deep and complex thematic messages but is still able to be an entertaining story that most people will enjoy and the thematic elements are subtle yet obvious in a way that most people will be able to interpret at least on some level. One complaint I would have is that it wasn't as creepy and scary as I would have liked, but I was very entertained by this movie. It was just so good.

Booksmart (2019):

Unfortunately I think this movie was a little disappointing. It didn't really connect with me as an effective coming-of-age story. It felt a little disjointed and scattered at times. I really enjoyed the two main characters and I liked seeing their friendship, but most other characters were a little annoying for me. Also I think the plot was a little lackluster, and there weren't enough funny moments for me. It was a little too extra and try hard for my taste. I didn't think it was bad, I just think it was a little forgettable. I was a little disappointed, and definitely thought it was over-hyped.

I also want to talk about my monthly favorites. I don't have a certain number, it's varies on how I feel each month, and this is across every category.

April Favorites:

• Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa. This whole album is just IT. It's perfect. The whole thing is great.

• Kid Krow, Conan Gray. This album is also perfect

• Tiger King. I just have to put Tiger King on here. The memes and internet phenomenon was just crazy.

• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. I also have to put this on here. It took up a lot of my month, finishing the show, watching behind the scenes and interviews, and listening to the soundtrack.

This was a very strong month for favorites. There are quite a few other things that could also have been included on this list, but I didn't want to make it too long.

That's pretty much it. Do you have any thoughts on any of the things mentioned above? Be sure to let me know your thoughts down below.