As Woody Allen said, the heart wants what it wants. So, why are you here?

Thomas has taken a lot of flak over his short career - "shouting when a whisper would do," one critic put it; "slick, monochromatic balladry," noted another. "Matchbox twenty's embrace of that aesthetic has tightened into a crushing bear-hug, squeezing all life out of it." Thomas has taken the heat and come up smiling each time: 1996's Yourself or Someone Like You was an instant pop-rock hit, ridiculed for seeming too "cookie-cutter." Thomas followed with 2000's Mad Season - epic and much more lyrically rich - which was thrashed for being "overproduced." Thomas eventually won over critics after the release 2002's More Than You Think You Are, which was eclectic and rocking and everything that critics said that Thomas wasn't. It was also not nearly as good as either of matchbox's other albums, and therefore got much better reviews and much fewer album sales. Matchbox twenty decided to take a short break.

In the meantime, Thomas decided that he would launch out his solo career and really show those critics. Something to Be is the result: Thomas's distinctive singer-songwriter style spread in all different musical directions, supposedly cementing his place as one of the brightest young singer-songwriters on the radio today (he was named Billboard's "Songwriter of the Year" two years in a row, and received the Songwriter's Hall of Fame first-ever "Starlight Award" - created to recognize a songwriter in the early years of his career who is already making a lasting impact).

I tell you all this because Something to Be is more than an album - it's the cautionary tale of what happens when you listen to critics too closely and forget to do what you're good at. Still, you've got to commend Thomas for how willing he is to stretch himself: Something to Be features Robert Randolph, John Mayer, a gospel band called Greater Anointing, Heartbreaker Mike Campbell, and Dr. Dre's bassist, Mike Elizondo. It's a mix of excellent talent from all different genres, and the experimentation shows, to good effect - listening to him break out with bolder, riff-laden, hip-hop flavored pop-rock is pure joy: "This Is How A Heart Breaks," "Lonely No More," and "Something To Be," are the strongest songs on the album, and they all cut loose like a Texan at Mardi Gras. When he slows the tempo, things often still hold together well: "Ever The Same," "Problem Girl," and "My, My, My," all sound like b-sides from an unreleased matchbox record, yet, as Rolling Stone noted, "it still sounds fresh in this new context."

That being said, Thomas' songwriting has clearly faltered. At times his rough-edged, stitch-it-together lyricism works to good effect, but sometimes it's woefully inadequate - on "All That I Am," Thomas channels Josh Groban to ill-effect, crooning "I am the one winged bird for flying, sinking swiftly to the ground." It might fly if Thomas were tongue in cheek, but he's deadly serious, and the deeper you dig, the more you find that it's just emotive words strung together in a vague, Cobain-lite sort of fashion. "Fallin' to Pieces" is particularly vacant, and Thomas' swing-for-the-fences funk shout-out to his "sisters and brothers, of every different color," is saved only by John Mayer's wailing lead guitar.

Something to Be isn't particularly bad, and when it's at the top of it's game, it's something to sit up and take notice of - which people inevitably will be forced to: Something to Be, already gold and still in the Billboard top 10, will have it's newest single, "This Is How A Heart Breaks," featured throughout the rest of the NBA playoffs - an excellent launching ground, just ask the Black Eyed Peas. There's nothing particularly dislikeable throughout the record, at it's worst it's bland, it never reaches the point where you reach for the "skip" button. But it's high points remind you just how much better it would be if Thomas would hole up in his room between albums and not listen to what anybody's saying about him.

Three Stars out of a possible Five.

This was a good night. Jeremy White (my partner on, and the star of, Leaves) and I were looking sharp - I was in tux and silver tie, while Jeremy sported the dark suit with charcoal sweater - and we went and took our young co-star, Christie Osterhus, out to dinner. Okay, we took her out to Applebee's, but when you're 10, I'm assuming that's still pretty cool. We all did the Veggietales wordfind on the kid's menu, and just to let you know how competitive Jeremy and I are: neither of us let Christie finish first. We were both too concerned with winning ourselves (Jeremy won. I was a close second. "Princess" was a tough find). After that, we headed back to school to grab seats for the festival.

Opening night was fabulous. Everyone was dressed to the nines, the anticipation was palpable, and the mood was electric. Jeremy's family, had, of course, turned out in force for the festival - they came both nights, and were always one of the first ones there - and so Leaves got a lot of popular support in the audience vote (there were about a dozen of them, and Leaves had a 15-vote lead at the end of the first night. Probably not coincidental).

I loved the film festival. Each one of the 13 short films selected was creative, clever, and was usually well written. In a future post I'll critique each. For now, suffice to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable viewing experience. Especially for me: I appear, or was involved, in seven of the productions.

The student films were followed by the premiere of Stolen Moments, the film shot by Asbury students early this semester (end of January to the beginning of March). There's a lot to say about Stolen Moments, so I'll critique the film later. But to answer your question, yes, I was involved in its production. I was a behind-the-scenes documentary cameraman. But I was also a storyboard artist. And I did pre-visualization for some of the bigger sequences of the film. Oh, and I did continuity for a scene or two. And I typed up the shot sheets for some shoots. And I was a production assistant once in a while. And a camera assist. And an audio assist. And I ran the camera once in a while. And I acted in the film. Oh, and I directed a few shots. I think that covers it. And it was the best time of my life. I loved every minute of it. Seeing it all come to screen was an interesting experience - both thrilling and anti-climactic. I don't know how to explain it. It's like Christmas feels these days: it's exciting and it's fun, but that pure visceral thrill that you'd expect it to be isn't there. Ah, well. It was still a great time.

Most is the Academy-Award nominated, Sundance-winning half hour film written in part by Billy Zabka (the blond guy in Karate Kid). Billy's a cool cat, and I love the film, it's beautifully moving, but it's a tough way to end a film festival when you've been there for three hours and you're starting on another film and it's a foreign film about a father having to make a choice between the life of his son and the lives of a few hundred people on a train. Tough note to close on. It mighta been better if they'd showed Most first and finished with Stolen Moments. But who wants their film to be shown after a Sundance winner? All in all, Jeff Day, the director of Stolen Moments, who put this whole thing together, probably made the right choice.

And then the after-party. Having sweated through most of the festival in nervous anticipation, I now stripped off my tie, undershirt, and vest, and wandered the party looking, as several people mentioned, "like a drunk best man at a reception." That's as may be, but Becca Harvey saw fit to mention "you look so hot right now," and Erin Channell demanded that I stay right next to her for the rest of the evening for protection. Where I come from, that's a pretty good night.