Just One May (May 2021)
May wasn't so eventful for me when it comes to media consumption. Weekdays were kind of busy while the weekends were also filled with errands. I feel fine with it, though. I mean, what am I gonna do about it?
My top 5 artists for the month of May are Evanescence, Within Temptation, Portugal. The Man, Yeng Constantino, and Nick Jonas.
Here's a brief explanation of this trend: Evanescence is a throwback since they are a band I liked in grade school, and through them I discovered Within Temptation by Spotify's related artists feature. For the Portugal. The Man trend, I really liked their song Feel It Still so I checked out the rest of their album Woodstock. Yeng Constantino and Nick Jonas on the other hand were kind of a throwback, too, since I have known both in high school.
Consequently, my top 5 albums for May 2021 are Resist (Within Temptation), Woodstock (Portugal. The Man), Fallen (Evanescence) , Synesthesia (Yeng Constantino), Spaceman (Nick Jonas).
Resist evoked some fantasy feels in me. It just seems like an album you'd play as an anthem. There's a war theme going on in the tracks, lyricswise and by the nature of the beats. The contrasting surrealness of the vocals was really good, and it complemented the otherworldly instrumentation of the album. I actually don't have a favorite song in this album because everything is good.
Woodstock on the other hand isn't as hard hitting but the bass lines sure made me feel really pumped. Another thing I like about them is the vocals. It's unique to my ears.
I wanted to check out an album from a local artist so that is how I came with Synesthesia by Yeng Constantino. There is something about her voice that brings nostalgic feelings, those Hawak Kamay moments of my younger days.
Spaceman is an overlap from my April music trend but I believe this month's trend is mostly me appreciating some of the other songs I didn't get to focus on last month. This includes the songs Nervous, If I Fall, and Selfish.
But I think Fallen and The Bitter Truth from Evanescence painted the mood of my whole May. There is a lot of angst and unresolved personal conflict that got addressed with songs from these two albums. They made me feel free. You know that feeling when a song perfectly captures your jumbled thoughts? Yeah, that's how it was for me.
Top Tracks
My top 10 tracks for May 2021 are Don't Love You No More (Craig David), See You at the Café (Julie Ann San Jose), Need to Feel Needed (Amber), Going Under (Evanescence), Please Me (Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B), Nervous (Nick Jonas), Ako Muna (Yeng Constantino), Pagpaparaya (Yeng Constantino), Just One Day (2win²), and Live In the Moment (Portugal. The Man).
We have a wild ride here.
Don't Love You No More is a song I liked a lot in high school. The melody is addicting for some reason. It's a sad song but I actually dance to it, a little body sway to the left and right, with some finger snapping. I don't really relate to the lyrics, though.
I've been hearing See You at the Cafe from our television almost every night because my mom watches the drama. It's a nice song and I like the guitar. This one I related to the lyrics with, and Julie Anne's singing is kinda cute, I also felt cute myself.
Need to Feel Needed is a favorite song of mine from Amber. I'm not sure about the reason for the throwback, though.. Oh yeah, it's my stupid ass anxiety.
Going Under just moved my mind and soul. I swear all my angst just came out that I literally cried a bit. So, yeah, I have put it on repeat mainly for therapeutic purposes. It's sad that The Game Is Over didn't make this month's top 10 list. That song also comforted me a lot. I honestly think that aside from the lyrics, the Evanescence' singing also added to the healing. Amy Lee's voice just tugs at my heartstrings.
Please Me I streamed a lot because of Cardi B. Her line "Your pussy basura" is just so cute to me.
Nervous is such a romantic song. It's actually one of the three romantic songs I really liked from Spaceman, the others are If I Fall and Selfish, as I mentioned above. Like, if I had a boyfriend again, I'd like to think about him while listening to these songs. Since I don't have one right now I'd content myself with thinking about BaekHyun for now. They were all just so sweet.
I actually liked Ako Muna on its own because I remembered discovering it on an OPM playlist way back when. Pagpaparaya is brought by my emo phase this month. I just related to it a lot, in a groundless basis, but hey, it's okay..
Okay, Just One Day is a new release by BDG and since I love BDG I streamed this song. I don't know, I just like BDG's voice and humor a lot.
Live in the Moment is just one of my favorite songs from Woodstock. I also really like Keep On and Rich Friends. Woodstock really had this movie vibes going on from the instrumentation and the beats.
I don't really have much to add regarding this series. I liked the imagery of the finale - the trophy watch, the fiery zumba dance, the crow, and the bed of gold. But I believe the ending feels rushed, must be because there is a need to put resolution to a lot of characters and subplots. The series ended with the villains versus villains trope, which I personally don't buy anymore since I am exposed to that quite a lot already. What I liked is the main lead's chemistry in these last moments. Vincenzo isn't rife with romance but when we do have kissing scenes they never fail to make my heart race. The female lead reciprocates (really well, at that) so maybe that's why I feel "kilig".
To be fair, we had reasonable character conclusions, at least in accordance with the series theme, but there is one death I cannot accept because it doesn't really add to anything. I actually spoiled myself about this particular death because during the last two episodes I saw it coming and felt disappointed. And due to this death, I postponed watching the ending for a long while and just finished the series last week of May. This resulted in me forgetting most of the plot leading to the ending, thus probably adding to my anticlimactic reactions to the finale. Even so, Vincenzo did leave me having a crush on both the male and the female lead, Song JoongKi and Jeon YeoBin. And that's how a typical KDrama ends for me.
Why We Sleep
Only book I read this month and I think I have accepted this fate. I noticed that I tend to read a lot slower when reading non-fiction books. This one isn't exactly long, around 250 pages, but it was packed with a lot of info I tried hard to digest. It also doesn't help that the book persuades you to sleep. I usually read before going to bed so when I'm unsure about the time I just choose to sleep instead. The author actually encouraged this.
I'd like to make a separate review/post about this book, but in summary, I have a new and convicted outlook about sleep now. That is expected because when a book says to you, in its first pages, "The shorter your sleep, the shorter your lifespan", and proceeds to tell a very compelling summary of how and why that is, you'd really get the message. Then rest of the material further solidifies this thought, the importance of sleep in our everyday lives. So much so that even though this isn't a tip book I actually started building better sleep habits during the course of my reading.
Also, even with all the infodump, I still find the writing fun, must be because the author is English. It just took me a while to finish it because as I said, I developed an attitude that I'd rather sleep than stay up late reading. But I think that's still a success for this book.
Music
Top Artists and Top AlbumsMy top 5 artists for the month of May are Evanescence, Within Temptation, Portugal. The Man, Yeng Constantino, and Nick Jonas.
Here's a brief explanation of this trend: Evanescence is a throwback since they are a band I liked in grade school, and through them I discovered Within Temptation by Spotify's related artists feature. For the Portugal. The Man trend, I really liked their song Feel It Still so I checked out the rest of their album Woodstock. Yeng Constantino and Nick Jonas on the other hand were kind of a throwback, too, since I have known both in high school.
Consequently, my top 5 albums for May 2021 are Resist (Within Temptation), Woodstock (Portugal. The Man), Fallen (Evanescence) , Synesthesia (Yeng Constantino), Spaceman (Nick Jonas).
Resist evoked some fantasy feels in me. It just seems like an album you'd play as an anthem. There's a war theme going on in the tracks, lyricswise and by the nature of the beats. The contrasting surrealness of the vocals was really good, and it complemented the otherworldly instrumentation of the album. I actually don't have a favorite song in this album because everything is good.
Woodstock on the other hand isn't as hard hitting but the bass lines sure made me feel really pumped. Another thing I like about them is the vocals. It's unique to my ears.
I wanted to check out an album from a local artist so that is how I came with Synesthesia by Yeng Constantino. There is something about her voice that brings nostalgic feelings, those Hawak Kamay moments of my younger days.
Spaceman is an overlap from my April music trend but I believe this month's trend is mostly me appreciating some of the other songs I didn't get to focus on last month. This includes the songs Nervous, If I Fall, and Selfish.
But I think Fallen and The Bitter Truth from Evanescence painted the mood of my whole May. There is a lot of angst and unresolved personal conflict that got addressed with songs from these two albums. They made me feel free. You know that feeling when a song perfectly captures your jumbled thoughts? Yeah, that's how it was for me.
Top Tracks
My top 10 tracks for May 2021 are Don't Love You No More (Craig David), See You at the Café (Julie Ann San Jose), Need to Feel Needed (Amber), Going Under (Evanescence), Please Me (Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B), Nervous (Nick Jonas), Ako Muna (Yeng Constantino), Pagpaparaya (Yeng Constantino), Just One Day (2win²), and Live In the Moment (Portugal. The Man).
We have a wild ride here.
Don't Love You No More is a song I liked a lot in high school. The melody is addicting for some reason. It's a sad song but I actually dance to it, a little body sway to the left and right, with some finger snapping. I don't really relate to the lyrics, though.
I've been hearing See You at the Cafe from our television almost every night because my mom watches the drama. It's a nice song and I like the guitar. This one I related to the lyrics with, and Julie Anne's singing is kinda cute, I also felt cute myself.
Need to Feel Needed is a favorite song of mine from Amber. I'm not sure about the reason for the throwback, though.. Oh yeah, it's my stupid ass anxiety.
Going Under just moved my mind and soul. I swear all my angst just came out that I literally cried a bit. So, yeah, I have put it on repeat mainly for therapeutic purposes. It's sad that The Game Is Over didn't make this month's top 10 list. That song also comforted me a lot. I honestly think that aside from the lyrics, the Evanescence' singing also added to the healing. Amy Lee's voice just tugs at my heartstrings.
Please Me I streamed a lot because of Cardi B. Her line "Your pussy basura" is just so cute to me.
Nervous is such a romantic song. It's actually one of the three romantic songs I really liked from Spaceman, the others are If I Fall and Selfish, as I mentioned above. Like, if I had a boyfriend again, I'd like to think about him while listening to these songs. Since I don't have one right now I'd content myself with thinking about BaekHyun for now. They were all just so sweet.
I actually liked Ako Muna on its own because I remembered discovering it on an OPM playlist way back when. Pagpaparaya is brought by my emo phase this month. I just related to it a lot, in a groundless basis, but hey, it's okay..
Okay, Just One Day is a new release by BDG and since I love BDG I streamed this song. I don't know, I just like BDG's voice and humor a lot.
Live in the Moment is just one of my favorite songs from Woodstock. I also really like Keep On and Rich Friends. Woodstock really had this movie vibes going on from the instrumentation and the beats.
TV Series
Vincenzo (Episode 16-20)I don't really have much to add regarding this series. I liked the imagery of the finale - the trophy watch, the fiery zumba dance, the crow, and the bed of gold. But I believe the ending feels rushed, must be because there is a need to put resolution to a lot of characters and subplots. The series ended with the villains versus villains trope, which I personally don't buy anymore since I am exposed to that quite a lot already. What I liked is the main lead's chemistry in these last moments. Vincenzo isn't rife with romance but when we do have kissing scenes they never fail to make my heart race. The female lead reciprocates (really well, at that) so maybe that's why I feel "kilig".
To be fair, we had reasonable character conclusions, at least in accordance with the series theme, but there is one death I cannot accept because it doesn't really add to anything. I actually spoiled myself about this particular death because during the last two episodes I saw it coming and felt disappointed. And due to this death, I postponed watching the ending for a long while and just finished the series last week of May. This resulted in me forgetting most of the plot leading to the ending, thus probably adding to my anticlimactic reactions to the finale. Even so, Vincenzo did leave me having a crush on both the male and the female lead, Song JoongKi and Jeon YeoBin. And that's how a typical KDrama ends for me.
Why We Sleep
Only book I read this month and I think I have accepted this fate. I noticed that I tend to read a lot slower when reading non-fiction books. This one isn't exactly long, around 250 pages, but it was packed with a lot of info I tried hard to digest. It also doesn't help that the book persuades you to sleep. I usually read before going to bed so when I'm unsure about the time I just choose to sleep instead. The author actually encouraged this.
I'd like to make a separate review/post about this book, but in summary, I have a new and convicted outlook about sleep now. That is expected because when a book says to you, in its first pages, "The shorter your sleep, the shorter your lifespan", and proceeds to tell a very compelling summary of how and why that is, you'd really get the message. Then rest of the material further solidifies this thought, the importance of sleep in our everyday lives. So much so that even though this isn't a tip book I actually started building better sleep habits during the course of my reading.
Also, even with all the infodump, I still find the writing fun, must be because the author is English. It just took me a while to finish it because as I said, I developed an attitude that I'd rather sleep than stay up late reading. But I think that's still a success for this book.