The New *NSync Song For the Latest, "Trolls," Movie is Legit Great

It has been over 20 years since *NSync released a song as a group. Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, and Chris Kirkpatrick have reunited for--of all things--the latest, "Trolls," movie, and they've got a new song titled, "Better Place." It is really, really good. For years a reunion seemed unlikely, but nowadays perhaps the breakout star of the group--Timberlake--needs *NSync as a safety net and they're happy to work with him too. The group never truly broke up and they all seemed to still like each other, so why not reunite and do, "Trolls Band Together," for fun (and one would assume a hefty check)? It helps that, "Better Place," hits, and it hits hard. Give it a listen:

Don't get me wrong, "Better Place," is a somewhat vapid pop ditty without any big message or point beyond sounding good and being fun. That's okay, however, because sometimes you just want a tune to be a joyful time! The, "Trolls," movies have always had good covers and some surprisingly great original tunes too so I'm optimistic the 3rd in what has become a trilogy will be enjoyable! Even if for some reason, "Trolls Band Together," isn't a hit at least we got, "Better Place," out of it.

Film Friday: "Trolls: World Tour," Makes Some Smart Comments on Cultural Appropriation

We did a digital rental of, "Trolls: World Tour," recently as Clarkson loves the original, "Trolls," movie and we thought he'd like the second. It mostly kept his attention plus Samii and I found it cute as well. It also has a good message about how diversity is a good thing, using music as a metaphor for fighting efforts to make everyone the same. There is one incredibly clever twist in the movie too which I will spoil in case you want to eventually watch the flick without knowing too much plot, so you've been warned.

The basic plot of the movie is that the Queen of the Rock Trolls, Barb, is trying to gather all the music strings in an effort to turn everyone into a Rock zombie of sorts. Poppy (who has learned she's a Pop troll) has teamed-up with Branch and other Trolls from the first movie to put a stop to this. Midway through the movie, they meet the Funk trolls (led by Trolls voiced by George Clinton and Mary J. Blige) and propose they give the Pop trolls their strings to help fight Barb. The funk Trolls flatly refuse this, and their son (a prince voiced by Anderson .Paak) delivers a song about how the original villains were, in fact, the Pop trolls! The reason the strings Barb wants to gather were even separated in the first place was because the Pop trolls wanted to keep taking all the other Trolls' music and turning it into Pop. This is an ingenious metaphor for cultural appropriation.


There is a long history of various genres having their music taken and turned into a more, "Mainstream," or as .Paak's Troll puts it, "The Pop Trolls started snatchin' up all of the strings (oh no)/Put the melodies on top of poppy lil' beats/They cut us out of the scene." Those are some incredibly deep metaphors and the song itself he says them on, "It's All Love," is incredibly catchy too. and right above this paragraph for your steaming pleasure. It is a really clever piece of, "Trolls: World Tour," and the whole movie is quite fun too, but the twist is what really stands out to me for how deep it is.

Television Shows of the Year--2018 in Review

A Lot of Great Shows

2018 had a number of television shows I greatly enjoyed. From the serious to silly, fantastical and more slice-of-life, these all were delightful in various ways.

Four Stellar Shows

Black Lightning
It is hard to believe the first season of, "Black Lightning," actually occurred in January of this year and now we are quite far into the 2nd as the year ends. I'm not complaining at all however, instead I'm overjoyed that this amazing show keeps putting-out such entertaining episodes. With its mixture of super-hero action, racial politics, social consciousness, and a cast full of dynamic and great actors, Black Lightning is fantastic.

Westworld
I talked about how I felt the first season of, "Westworld," suffered from feeling like pure buildup to what would most likely be a much more climatic season 2. Well, it turns out I predicted that correctly because the 2nd season of Westworld delivered almost everything I wanted (it's little habit of jumping around in time randomly still can be a bit annoying, though). This season of, "Westworld," brought us the promised robot revolution and it was bloody, nasty, and full of awesome special effects. The show also filled-in more back-story for everyone, gave us both long looks and short glimpses at other parks (as well as the, "Real," world), and basically made good on the promise of the first season that good stuff was coming, we just had to let it put all the pieces in place. I loved it, and I'm excited for more.

Trolls: The Beat Goes On
The original, "Trolls," movie surprised everyone by actually being really good, and the spin-off Netflix show that follows new adventures of the characters being great as well is doubly surprising. The show may have different voice actors (Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake probably were too busy/wanted too much money) and an animation style that is more cartoon-than-computer, but none of that is a big deal because it is absolutely hilarious whether you're a little kid, big grown-up, or somewhere in-between. Each episode is generally a bit under 30 minutes with two segments (usually separate, sometimes related). They are short, but loaded with clever content and results in a, "Kid's show," that is enjoyable for all-ages.

American Housewife
I have said before that people really ought to watch, "American Housewife," and I continue to think that as the show continues its mixture of twisted humor with a hint of heart. The Otto family is full of characters who may not always behave the best, but in the end you root for them to succeed, or at least learn some kind of lesson from their mischief. The low-key way the show builds itself into humorous situations that zig when you expect a zag are genius and that's saying something when you're myself, a person who usually can guess the overall gag or twist coming on a program. It looks like, "American Housewife," should be getting another season, so I'm excited for more laughs to come!