Andy Grammer, the Book of Mormon, and Manga.

I've been wanting to post something on music for the past week to keep up the name of this blog, but I had so much going on, yet nothing much at the same time. (I know it's vague, but it's true.) Last night though, I got the initiative to write something after I heard a song by a man named Andy Grammer. He's an artist who's first album is due to be released in June, and judging by his first EP, (*Extended Play) I think he's going to be quite a hit in the years to come. He has an acoustic-pop style similar to Britt Nicole and Colors. His lyrics are well written and very clean and uplifting. He says the d-word in one song about a breakup and that's as 'bad' as he gets. His song "Lift Your Head Up" is his most uplifting song. His other songs include "Fine by Me," a song about love, "Miss Me," his break-up song, and "Ladies," the song I'm focusing on in this post.

After reading the title, I was expecting this to be a love song or something about "loving the ladies." I didn't expect it to be inappropriate, but I could never had suspected the words that were to proceed out of this man's mouth.

(Acoustic riff)
My mother told me,
She said Andy,
You'll be a man soon,
So understand me.
Most of this world sees
Woman like candy...


I had been messing with my pillows and stuff, but now, I was totally still and attentive. My eyes got wide with shock. I quickly restarted the song and sat back in my pillows so I could focus all of my attention on the lyrics. Could this song really be RESPECTING woman?

My mother told me,
She said Andy,
You'll be a man soon,
So understand me.
Most of this world sees
Woman like candy.
And
You'll be a man who
will be standing


For me, my sisters, my daughters, and wives
Girls who are learning how to shine their light,
Who are dedicating some of your lives.
Stand for them all.


Singing out
me, my sisters, my daughters, and wives
Girls who are learning how to shine their light,
Who are dedicating some of your lives.
Stand for them all.

Singing out ladies, 
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
You don't even have to try.


Oh, ladies
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
more than you can realize.

My eyes continued to stay wide. This song was one-in-a-billion! It wasn't a **love song, nor was it a 'lust' song. It was a song praising the elect woman in his life! I had respect for this guy before, but now, it shot up like a rocket. He had created something so incredible, so original, so praise-worthy, yet it was as simple as anything. If all songwriters wrote by a similar moral code that this man wrote by, then music would be a whole lot entertaining. Yet, not everybody does, and it was such a surprise to me that I had heard a song like this one. I had never heard anything like it from the pop world, or anywhere else that I could think of, in fact.

Well, I actually did find a song by a teenaged rapper that went by the name of 2Krayze, (Too-Cray-zay) but he isn't famous in mainstream media, so although he's good, I'm not counting him. I'm talking about the mainstream media world that would be associated with Lady Gaga, Usher, or any other pop star.

I continued listening and found more joys within this song. (There are no lyrics to copy off the internet, so I half to write them down. Because of this, they might be slightly inaccurate, but not inaccurate enough to matter much.)

My mother told me,
she said Andy,
I know this all may
seem demanding,
But I'll be leaving
and will be handing
All of my love to you.
You will be standing


For me, my sisters, my daughters, and wives
Girls who are learning how to shine their light,
Dedicate some of their lives.
Stand for them all.

Singing out ladies, 
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
You don't even have to try.


Oh, ladies
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
more than you can realize.

I'm not sure 
If I'm the best one
to carry this torch.
I'm a mess, and my nose is sore
from falling on my face.
Trying to break the norm,
but I still conform.
And I know you see 
the mistakes I make
And wait patiently
for me to replace them.
And I can't quite seem
to be the perfect man
that you needed me to be.
I needed to believe that
I'll be standing here.
I got my sword,
I got my shield.
And you keep ringing in my ear.
Oh, Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

Talking about me, my sisters, my daughters, and wives
Girls who are learning how to shine their light,
Dedicate some of your lives.
Stand for them all.

Singing out ladies, 
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
You don't even have to try.


Oh, ladies
You are beautiful,
You are beautiful,
more than you can realize.


It has been said that man and woman are needed as a pair in order to be complete and be the best people they can be in this world. It's a plain and simple truth. Each person does there part to uplift and hold each other. For example, when Joseph Smith had trials and difficulties, Emma was always there to comfort him. I think it would have been much harder to commit to all he did without her. Likewise, Joseph was there for Emma in her times of pain. Although we guys tend to conform a little to the ways of the world, the elect ladies of this world will be next to us to help remind us what we should be, making ourselves better.

I know some elect ladies in my life. I see them every day and if you're reading this, then you're one of them. You have so much light within you that you use for good every day and I want you to know that such actions of kindness and charity do not go unnoticed. I realize my audience may be down to only two people, but if there is any guy reading this, (or anyone, in fact,) we need to let these girls know that they are doing great and we, if I may speak for all, are thankful for that. Thank-you for being yourselves and for being the positive influences that you are. (And don't you try to deny it because I have proof of it all!)

Know that I'm doe with the lovey-dovey stuff, let's move onto "The Book of Mormon." No, I'm not talking about the actual book, I'm talking about the Broadway musical. It was created by Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and Robert Lopez.

I have no real idea who Robert Lopez is. He co-wrote a musical (or play, can't remember which,) called "Avenue Q," which won a few awards. I want to concentrate on the first two guys. These guys are famous for creating a cartoon both blasphemous and raunchy, as well as a few other movies. These are the creators of "South Park."


No, this is not a joke. Although it may seem ironic and fake, it's true. For quite some time, Stone and Parker had been wanting to make this kind of musical, and they finally did.

A few might expect this to be an attack on the LDS church, but it isn't. They have stated themselves that there purpose isn't to attack Mormons. Even if they hated Mormons, they said, they still wouldn't attack them. The play has a lot of bad language and sexual references in it, but that's as bad as it gets. (Oh, and blasphemous remarks.) If this was changed a little, it would be something similar to that of "The RM," or "The Singles Ward." The songs are very funny. "Hello!," "Two By Two," and "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" are hilarious.

As for the plot, it's about two missionaries who travel to Uganda, Africa, to preach the gospel where things like AIDS, warlords, and other evils exist. I want to see this SOOO bad, but the musical itself is a little dirty.

So anyway, what do you think about this? Is it okay for them to make such a play? In my opinion, I find it just fine except for the dirty language/terms. Another thing they do is use the name of our Heavenly Father and His Son a little loosely. I'm sorry if this is a bit scatter-brained. I just wanted to tell you people about this.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is manga. I decided to attempt reading "Pandora Hearts" a second time to see if it would work. This time around, it loaded the pages in a split second, so I read for a while. I'm on chapter four, and so far, it's pretty good. When I first started reading it though, there was some confusion. It went sort of like this-

Oz Bezarious.
Shall now pass judgement upon you.
I, who bear the chain of conviction....
...Your very existence.
Your sin is...

I thought the sentences were weird, but I didn't think anything of it. When I got to page seven though, I realized something was wrong. (Admit it, you're laughing now.)  It said-

- How-ever...
Someone once said "That place is engulfed in darkness."  

I then realized why nothing made sense. It was translated to English, but not structured like an American comic. I was reading it backwards! I quickly went back to the beginning and read it the correct way. It now made perfect sense.

Well, almost. I didn't quite get two things. First up was when the death gods showed up. The fight scene confused me a little. I didn't quite get what was going on. The next part was when Oz made the contract with Alice. What was she doing? Kissing him? Sucking his blood? Slobbering on him? It wasn't quite clear on that. My guess is that it's either not very important or it will be explained later.

Sooooo.. other than those moments of confusion, I really enjoyed it and plan on continuing it.

Last thing of all, a note. If there are other people actually reading this, then please comment! I need to expand my audiance a little more! (No offense, girls.) The comment can be nonsense or just a hi if you want. Just let me know if you've read this a few times.

Bye all you people! Thank-you for reading.

*An Extended Play is shorter than a full album, yet longer than a single release. In the case of Andy Grammer, his EP contained four songs.

**By the way, I have no problem with love songs. It's just that everybody writes them and the song was a norm-breaker.