I'll Tell You What A Larsh Is

A while ago, I got it into my head that I wanted to watch Hatching Pete, a recent Disney Channel original movie, namely because Tiffany Thornton is beautiful. A week or so ago, I acquired a copy of this movie and settled in to watch it, and when it was over, I came to a revolutionary conclusion: Hatching Pete is the best Disney Channel original movie ever. I know, I know, you're all scratching your collective head, saying "Huh? How can a movie about a boy in a chicken suit possibly be better than the masterpiece that is High School Musical?" Well you're in luck, because I'm about to tell you just how that's possible.

Just to clear this up, it's not because of Tiffany Thornton (she actually had a rather small part in it overall, and even then I wasn't a fan of her stuck-up cheer captain character, although I wasn't supposed to be, so she did her job adequately). It's actually because of the movie's two largely unknown stars, Jason Dolley and Josie Loren. It's a shame Hatching Pete didn't become the phenomenon that High School Musical did, because I'd love to see more of these two actors in the future. Jason Dolley is more charming as Pete Ivey than Zac Efron is as Troy Bolton (even if Pete Ivey doesn't grow up to become an awesome pastor in central Virginia), and Josie Loren is much more adorable as Pete's initially distant love interest, Angela Morrissey, than Vanessa Hudgens is as Gabriella Montez. There's a natural chemistry between Pete and the Angela, and the progression of their relationship seems a lot less forced than the "love-at-first-sight-that-encounters-a-brief-rocky-patch-three-movies-in-a-row" formula between Troy and Gabriella. Granted, High School Musical had better music (duh), but the character development in Hatching Pete was vastly superior, the story much more compelling, and, to say it again, Jason Dolley put out a great performance.

So what do Zac Efron and Josie Loren have in common, aside from starring in Disney Channel movies? 17 Again! This particular film was recommended to me by none other than our very own Danny Latin... it surprised me that he would actually even want to see it in the first place, since he's not a big Zac Efron fan, but he saw it and told me it was very good. It interested me since I first heard about it, because I do in fact like Zac Efron, but this unexpected endorsement made me want to see it even more. If you've never seen it, think of it as a sort of cross between Freaky Friday, It's A Wonderful Life, and Mrs. Doubtfire. On the surface it looks like your average, fun, body-switching high school flick, but it actually deals with themes deeper than "being yourself" and the other sorts of things that normally drive the plots of films centered around high school. After watching Hatching Pete and learning that Josie Loren plays a good female lead (and is also extraordinarily pretty), I found out that she was also in 17 Again, which bumped it to the top of my "movies to watch" list. Alas, she only had a very small part as the muse of Zac Efron's character's son (played by Sterling Knight), and it didn't do much to show off her acting abilities, but she is basically the epitome of what you'd call "my type," so every scene she was in was a good one anyway. The movie itself was indeed very good, even hilarious at times (the interactions between Zac Efron and Thomas Lennon are a riot, and the latter is just plain funny in his own right throughout the duration of the movie). I'd highly recommend it... and you know if a movie gets an endorsement from both myself AND Danny Latin, it must be pretty friggin good. Incidentally, 17 Again features, as I mentioned earlier, Sterling Knight, who stars on Sonny With A Chance with Tiffany Thornton, who was in Hatching Pete with Josie Loren, which completes the Disney circle by bringing us back to 17 Again (even though it's not a Disney movie). File that under "F" for "Fun Fact".

Last week whilst in the car on the first ever Fast Food World Tour, Chris and I were discussing the nonsensical song "Fireflies" (by Owl City) and its unwarranted popularity. Sure, it's reasonably catchy, but the lyrics may as well be gibberish, and in my opinion, that vastly diminishes a song's overall value. I wondered aloud just what he meant by "a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs." To me, that could mean one of three things: he's getting one hug apiece from one thousand individual lightning bugs out of a group of 10,000; he's getting a combination of any number of hugs adding up to one thousand from any number of lightning bugs, again out of a pool of 10,000 total bugs; or he's getting a thousand hugs apiece from 10,000 lightning bugs, resulting in a net total of ten million distinct insect hugs. I'm inclined to believe it's the second choice (which actually inherently allows for the first choice, making it the most versatile and efficient), because getting ten million hugs in the form of one thousand hugs being doled out one after another would just take too long, especially considering you couldn't fit all 10,000 bugs on your person at one time. At any rate people, please, PLEASE stop liking this song, the novelty of hearing about this guy's looney dreams has long since worn off.

And speaking of lyrics, I still don't know what Martin of Boys Like Girls says at the end of the second verse of "Love Drunk." As best I can tell, it sounds like "Oh girl, you make me such a larsh..." What the heck is a larsh, anyway? Sure, I could look up what the actual word is and find out for you, but for my part, I prefer speculation. Based on the context of the rest of the song, I'd have to extrapolate the meaning of the word "larsh" as one who is angry, disappointed, and confused, most likely because the girl he loves suddenly wants nothing to do with him and he can't figure out just exactly why, nor can he get her to even talk to him, despite his best and repeated efforts. I guess a "larsh" is a good term for a guy in the early stages of a broken heart, which is to say that his denial of that fact is exemplified by his rage at the situation, which really is only there to cover up the fact that he's hurt. I think, then, that this song is a great example of a male speaking from that point of view; boldly offering a big fat "eff you" to the girl in whom he invested so much time only to have her yank the rug right out from under his feet, because that's simply the best (or at least easiest) way to deal with it right after the fact. You can tell how much a guy really cared about a girl by how much he hates her after she breaks up with him, and I think this song expresses that perfectly.

In addition to being a great breakup song, "Love Drunk" was Boys Like Girls' opening number when I saw them play live at Northern Lights last night. My review of that show (which also featured Cobra Starship, Versa Emerge, A Rocket to the Moon, and The Maine) will be the first featured review on the blog Danny Latin and I have started, and will be posted next Thursday, so keep your eyes peeled. What's better than one genius level blog-weaver giving his take on pop culture? That's right, TWO brilliant minds combining their powers into one solidified effort to do a mighty service for all the media hungry folks in internet land. If you like movies, TV, music, sports, or any other facet of modern entertainment, or if you just can't get enough of either of our timely insights, then you'll probably want to check billyanddanny.blogspot.com daily, because starting Monday, November 23rd, that's how often new content will be published. You heard me kids, we will be posting new stuff every single buckin day, so for those of you dissatisfied with the wait time in between posts on this blog, your cries have been heard, and you shall want no more. And while you're at it, tell your friends too, you wouldn't want them to miss out on the experience.

Alright, that's all for now. I'll see all of you on Monday at billyanddanny.blogspot.com.