Category: Art

Meow Wolf Denver

Meow Wolf review time! I actually visited around a month ago so this is long over due but that’s ok. Better late than never.

While my aunt and uncle were in town around the time of graduation, we decided to make a family trip to Denver to see Meow Wolf. If you plan to go, you do have to book tickets in advance, so plan ahead! We also found that we had to book our tickets like a month in advance also, because the place is popular!!

I’m not exactly sure how many locations there are but I know for a fact that beside the Denver location, there is also one in Santa Fe. I believe the two locations also have different themes. All I know is that Denver’s theme is convergence station. The idea is that there’s this main hub for different alien societies to join together.

Anyway, time for the review now. I think Meow Wolf is a cool idea. An interactive and fully immersive art museum sounds like a really good idea. I found that it was too much for me though. There were a lot of people and a lot of colors and sounds and it was just a lot to take in. I found some of the stuff to be really weird and kinda creepy in some places and in others, I found some genuinely pretty things to look at and walk through.

In this huge area that was like an underground city, my sister and I found some stairs that led down to a little pizza shop and I think that was by far the CREEPIEST room of the entire place. In the center of the shop, this massive one-eyed pizza creature stood before my sister and I. There was this panel you could press and he would say a variety of things. As we walked through the pizza shop a little more, I looked down into what I thought was a sealed-off ball pit. It was exactly what I thought it was AND MORE. There was this creepy little figure that appeared to be crawling through the pit. All of my fears of ball pits and foam pits as a child came back to me in that moment. Demented pizza place? Check!

Moving on from the horror at the pizza shop now, my favorite areas within Meow Wolf were probably the ice palace room and the big forest room. There were definitely still some strange looking creatures and figures within each of these two rooms, but overall, I liked these areas a lot.

In general I would say I wasn’t the biggest fan of Meow Wolf. It was just SO overstimulating. So much noise, color, and movement. It was just a lot to deal with. I’m pretty sure we were there for close to two hours but I’ve had friends say they think they could stay for 5-8 hours!! I feel like two hours was pushing it for me honestly though. We did miss out on buying these pass things (I think they were called Q passes?) that would make the whole museum more interactive and engaging. If we bought those I think you have the ability to learn more about the stories behind each area and uncover some sort of mystery. I was okay going through Meow Wolf without doing that but if you’re the type of person that likes that kind of stuff and can deal with all the busyness that is Meow Wolf, then go for it! I think certain people can have a lot of fun there and I’m just not one of those people.

If you’re in Denver and you’re interested in Meow Wolf, be sure to make a stop at it! From my experience, I can say I definitely ventured outside my comfort zone with my visit and if that’s something you wanna give a try, then go for it. Maybe you’ll react like I did or maybe enjoy it! If you go, let me know what you think! Have a good week everyone!

January 23, 2022
Unpopular Opinion: Hamilton Isn’t THAT Good

Picture from Hamilton on Disney+

So Disney+ released Hamilton on its platform yesterday. What did I think of Hamilton? I’m going to be honest here. It wasn’t my favorite show, I’ll start by saying that. And I know that a lot of people are going to come after me and say a lot of things about how incredible the show is. In some ways I agree! I’ll share what I liked. But overall, I don’t really like the hit musical, Hamilton.

If you aren’t familiar with Lin Manuel Miranda and his work on Hamilton, I recommend you either watch the musical or at least make yourself familiar with the show before reading this post. There will be spoilers! 🙂 But for the most part, I’m pretty confident that everyone and their grandmother knows what Hamilton is so I’ll dive right into what I liked and didn’t like.

I’ll start with the positives. I really enjoyed the set and all of the effects. From that perspective, Hamilton was incredible. The use of movement with the stage and the use of LIGHTING in this production was phenomenal.

Each of the actors and actresses were incredibly talented too. I really enjoyed watching the young lady that played Eliza. She was phenomenal and I loved her voice. I also loved Jonathon Groff’s appearance as King George. His vocals suited the role extremely well. His work with Frozen has definitely not gone unnoticed by me and the same goes for his work in Hamilton.

And now onto what I didn’t like as much in this hit musical. I’ve never been that big a fan of rap and that’s basically what most of the music is in Hamilton. That’s just a preference thing. I’ve never really liked the beat or tone of rap and for an entire musical to be that way just wasn’t my cup of tea. It felt so repetitive at some point. There definitely were a few songs I liked from the show, but in general, the music was just a pass for me.

Lin Manuel Miranda has an interesting sound too. I’m not sure if I like it or hate it, but personally, I thought his sound was just a bit odd in Hamilton. He is clearly a very talented and brilliant man and I must give credit where credit is due. He spent years putting this show together and it has definitely paid off. Do I enjoy him as a performer though? Most likely not.

I really wasn’t a fan of the ending either. This is REALLY where the spoiler is going to hit if you aren’t familiar with the history of the United States or the show so if you’d prefer to see for yourself, then stop reading here. 🙂 In the end, they sing a song called “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” after Hamilton is shot by Aaron Burr in their duel. I did enjoy the duel rap though, I must say. Anyway, after Hamilton is shot, Hamilton’s life is played out before us. The show ends a few minutes later with Eliza singing about how she started an orphanage to help kids that remind her of her precious Alex and then she screams in horror (I’m assuming because she has learned that her husband died in a duel) and the show fades to black. Personally, I feel like the show could have had a greater impact if it ended right after Hamilton was shot and then the stage went black. Does anyone else feel that way about the end? I’d be curious to know.

I did mention my opinions on the set and the lighting from the show and I’ve touched briefly on the talent of Hamilton but the biggest reason I don’t think Hamilton is all that great comes down to the fact that the show just didn’t have that “wow factor” that a lot of Broadway shows seem to have. The music was just constantly going with the rapping and dancing and I found myself zoning out occasionally. There just wasn’t a whole lot of different within the show if that makes sense. Hamilton would rap and they would dance and then someone else would rap and then it would just repeat and to me, it felt like that for the two and a half hours following the opening song. It got kind of old kind of fast and I found myself wondering WHEN the show would be over about forty-five minutes in. That hasn’t ever happened to me when watching a Broadway show before. Again, that could just be because I just don’t have the taste for Hamilton like others do.

I’ve mentioned this before but we are all entitled to our opinions and if you really enjoyed Hamilton, I’m happy for you! I wish this were a show that I could learn to love and appreciate as much as a majority of the world, but I unfortunately don’t find myself in that population. If you haven’t seen Hamilton yet and you own Disney+, I recommend checking it out for yourself and I’d be curious to hear your opinions! Have a good week everyone, and happy belated Fourth of July!

July 5, 2020
A Little Adventure in Downtown Denver

It’s honestly been a while since I visited Denver and I live like 45 minutes from it. So this weekend, my family and I took a little day trip to Denver and caught up on our history at the Colorado History Museum, saw the work of Edgar Degas at the Denver Art Museum, and then wrapped up our day with burgers and shakes at BurgerFi.

I’ve never been to the Colorado History Museum, but I’ve walked past it a bunch. It was awesome to finally see the building from the inside, haha. The Colorado History Museum covers everything from Colorado before it was a state to Colorado in the Civil War to Colorado now in all of its glory. The museum was extremely interactive and a lot of fun to mess around in. Allyson and I played in this little barn and went down a couple of slides. (Yes, I’m actually five). We got to “drive” a Model T around which was really cool too and watched a short documentary about Colorado during the Dust Bowl. The special exhibit they had this time around was about baseball and its beginnings. They had Babe Ruth’s bat and some of his merchandise as well as Jackie Robinson’s bat and some of his stuff. It was pretty cool to see. This museum is very hands-on and so much fun so if you’re ever in Denver and wanna learn about Colorado’s history, please come visit!

Now it was time for the Denver Art Museum. Personally, this was my favorite part. Currently on display, they have the work of Edgar Degas, a French painter, sculptor, and just brilliant artist in general. We a lot of his pieces including “The Star”, “After the Bath”, “Dancer With Bouquets” and much more. In addition to Degas’s work, we saw a lot of abstract and weird art as well as some really pretty and just amazing work. That’s the fun thing about art museums, all types of art and every medium is covered. I really enjoy being around art because it’s very peaceful and calming. It makes you think about all types of things and you come out inspired.

After all of this, my dad took us to this AMAZING burger place that’s maybe five minutes from the Denver Art Museum called BurgerFi. Honestly, just sitting here and writing about it makes me hungry. BurgerFi is an all-natural, grass-fed beef burger and hot dog restaurant that I also think has the best fries ever. Their food is just so good I can’t really explain it. What’s cool too is that they “brand” their burgers with the BurgerFi logo. I also got an Oreo milkshake and that was very yummy as well. The service was great and the food was even better and this was a great way to end a very fun day.

April 15, 2018