“If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned: if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish.” TheseContinue reading “Movie Review – Kubo and the Two Strings”
Author Archives: jeshuahayden
Movie Review – How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
On the island of Berk, vikings and dragons had been enemies for as long as anyone could remember. Dragons were a scourge on the villagers’ livelihoods, torching houses and gobbling up livestock. In response, vikings feared dragons and hunted them mercilessly. For generations, no one dared to question the logic of this war. No one,Continue reading “Movie Review – How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”
4 Really Good Reasons Why You’ve Got to Listen to Andy Gullahorn
The first Andy Gullahorn song that I ever heard was an ode to someone’s dismembered toe. I ran across the song in a concert video, where Gullahorn recalled hearing that his friend had lost a toe to a lawnmower blade. Titled “Roast Beef,” the song began this way: “He had roast beef for his lastContinue reading “4 Really Good Reasons Why You’ve Got to Listen to Andy Gullahorn”
The Knucklehead, the Drunkard, and the Warrior Heart
If you want to know what I was like as a kid, picture Hiccup from the movie How to Train Your Dragon, and that about sums it up. I was a shy, quiet daydreamer with the physicality of a string bean. Instead of listening to class lectures, I doodled pictures in the margins of my notebooks. MyContinue reading “The Knucklehead, the Drunkard, and the Warrior Heart”
Dancing at the Depot
How do you feel about change? Do new experiences fill you with fear or with excitement? Are you a Luke Skywalker, gazing out across the desert behind your uncle’s moisture farm and wishing you were someplace else (maybe pulverizing the forces of evil, or just going to Toshi station to pick up some power converters)?Continue reading “Dancing at the Depot”
All-Time Favorites: Sigh No More
What music takes you back to your middle school / high school years? Whether it was punk rock, hip hop, or even (horror of horrors!) the soundtrack to High School Musical, we all carry soundtracks of the past with us. Some songs fill us with nostalgia, reminding us of bright memories and the adventure ofContinue reading “All-Time Favorites: Sigh No More”
WANTED: Just as We Are
What makes a story resonate with us? Why do certain books, movies, and pieces of music have the power to fill us with longing, to make us cry, or to overwhelm us with joy? In my experience, the tales that have moved me the most have been stories that artfully depicted things that were deeplyContinue reading “WANTED: Just as We Are”
All-Time Favorites: Light for the Lost Boy
I first heard Andrew Peterson’s music when I was in high school. I remember listening to the album Counting Stars and being struck by the quiet beauty of the music and the thoughtful poetry of the lyrics. As someone who loved literature, I was stoked to find words that seemed like they’d been carefully crafted to engageContinue reading “All-Time Favorites: Light for the Lost Boy”
Sucker-Punched by Beauty Ninjas
On an overcast day, I sat on a step by my family’s deck, looking out at the tree line past the roofs of nearby houses. I’d been sitting there for a while when I looked down to my right and saw a bird sitting on the step next to me. It looked like a sparrow,Continue reading “Sucker-Punched by Beauty Ninjas”
All-Time Favorites: The Ragamuffin Album
If you could get everybody on planet earth to check out one work of art – whether it be a book, a movie, a piece of music, a painting, or a replica of a famous monument made out of dry pasta – what would you share? For me, the answer comes quickly: that work ofContinue reading “All-Time Favorites: The Ragamuffin Album”
