02/25/22
This week: History, mystery, electropop, a very cool thriller, and not one, but two excellent podcast recs. Your weekend starts now.
TRENDS THIS WEEK:
☞Youtube Anti-war protests break out across Russia
☞Letterboxd TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE
☞TikTok #artistsofTikTok
☞Spotify Heat Waves - Glass Animals
☞Netflix INVENTING ANNA
☞Twitter Ukraine
Life & Culture
Russia invaded Ukraine this week in an act of war with devastating human consequences. We normally try to keep things light in this newsletter, but this is too big and terrible a thing to ignore. So, I wanted to open with a few recs for content that might help us all better understand what’s going on. Vox’s TODAY EXPLAINED podcast dropped an episode on Wednesday that contextualizes the conflict and the effects it will have on future generations. Amazon has a 2018 documentary, BREAKING POINT: THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE, that gives an important history lesson as well as chilling insight into the tactics Russia has used in invading this region in the past. A STRUGGLE FOR HOME: THE CRIMEAN TATARS (also available on Amazon) tells an on-going piece of the story that gives background to one of the most devastating pieces of this conflict.
If you listen or watch any of the above and feel motivated to help, Ukraine is currently crowd-funding in order to raise money for its army. A few other options for donations: The Ukraine Humanitarian Fund benefits the most vulnerable people in the country, Army SOS benefits the army, and Kyiv Independent benefits independent journalism on the ground.
It’s hard to follow that up with, well, anything, but children’s television is where I’ll go next. Because my personal favorite show as a kid, ARTHUR, came to an end this week. Running for 25 years, it is the longest-running animated kid’s show of all time. The final episode (which fellow nostalgic PBS KIDS kids can watch for free on YouTube) depicts the beloved characters as adults, when Arthur and his friends play a fortune-telling game that shows what their futures might hold in 20 years. It’s wonderful, and for a minute, it might just make you feel a little bit better about this world.
As the person who updates the “trends” section every week, I can definitely tell you that Glass Animal’s HEAT WAVES has been hot for a long time. It broke the record for the “longest-simmering slow riser in the history of the Billboard Hot 100”, now in its 57th week on the chart.
And finally, I’ve decided to share three very calming TikToks this week, because I think we all need it. This one brings you directly into the peace of nature, this one invites us into a unique perspective of a hummingbird, and this one depicts the flight of what feels like a million monarch butterflies.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
I came across a Twitter thread from popular artist Mitski last night, where she implored her fans to put down their phones at her concerts.
What do you guys think—does an artist have the right to ask this of their concert-goers?
➙Yes, concerts should be like movie theaters
➙No, if I’m paying good money for a ticket, I should be able to do what I want
Film
If you’re looking for a bright, contemplative piece of queer cinema to support this weekend, I have just the movie for you! THREE MONTHS (trailer here) is a coming-of-age dramedy starring pop musician Troye Sivan as Caleb, a teen living in suburban Florida who’s distressed by the realization that he's been exposed to HIV on the night of his high school graduation. As Caleb waits three months for his test results, he strikes up an unexpected relationship with Estha (the wonderful Viveik Kalra), another teen in his support group meetings also waiting for his results. While slight and awkward in areas, THREE MONTHS remains an important and refreshing character portrait that takes a crucial step toward reframing the depiction of HIV in modern society. Writer/director Jared Frieder eschews tragic clichés in this lighthearted debut that features original music from Sivan and supporting performances from Ellen Burstyn, Brianne Tju, and Judy Greer. THREE MONTHS is available to stream now on Paramount+.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
TV
From the opening shot of SEVERANCE (trailer here), I was hooked. This thriller takes the sentiment of work-life balance to the extreme. In the series, there’s a distinct split between one’s work self and their not-at-work self; therefore, due to a chip implant, you have no memories of your work life once out of the office and vice versa. Sounds like a dream right? No. Absolutely not, it's terrifying. In the opening, an aerial shot zooms in on new employee Helly, passed out in an isolated conference room—she wakes up and can't answer even simple questions about herself—she's horrified. But this is the norm for Lumon Industries. The one character we straddle across personal and work life is Mark, played by Adam Scott, diving into very interesting reasons why someone would want to shut off any memories and thoughts of their personal lives during a large chunk of the day while at work. And throughout this pandemic, where many folks have shifted to WFH and work has infiltrated much of our home lives, I really like how this series toys with the balancing act of your personalities in "professional" spaces vs. not. A lot of us, especially in this zoom-era, have glimpsed into the personal lives of our coworkers and likely have newfound empathy for them as a result—but what if we didn't know any of those things? Largely in thanks to deft direction from Ben Stiller, this thriller series feels new, fresh, and surprisingly funny.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant
Music
The musical stylings of Grace Ives could be best described as "girl quietly freaking out." By blending punchy synth with her own dreamy vocals, she imbues all her work with equal parts urgency and whimsy, delivered in consistently satisfying and compact pieces of electropop. The only problem with these songs being so satisfying and compact is you want more of them, and the last time Ives dropped music was almost three years ago—which is way too long ago. So, thank god for her new single LOOSE (music video here), in which Ives ponders her Brooklyn life as a cycle of bodegas, bedbugs, and depression, toeing a fine line between a sense of liberation and some foreboding anxiety. So, stream LOOSE, but also check out her earlier stuff to hear more of those DIY instrumentals that somehow hit every pleasure point in your brain (while, underneath it all, softly channeling some highly relatable anxiety and rage). My personal favorites include: MIRROR, BABYY, ICING ON THE CAKE, ANYTHING, and WHAT’S IT FOR?.
—Alicia Devereaux, Development Assistant
Podcasts
If you devoured THE TROJAN HORSE AFFAIR as voraciously as I did, you should check out "A Couple Walks Into A House," a two-part THIS AMERICAN LIFE episode from a few weeks ago. The episode follows a Michigan couple who make a disturbing discovery while house hunting. (Before you read any further, know that the following is only a mild spoiler/happens in the first few minutes of the episode—but it’s a spoiler no less!).
Within minutes of stepping into a large backwoods estate, the couple discovers a slew of alarming racist memorabilia. Mere seconds later, they realize that the home belongs to a police officer in their town. This discovery inevitably sparks a town-wide controversy, sparking debates about police misconduct and racial profiling. While the episode is about the small town of Muskegon, Michigan, it feels incredibly representative of larger conversations our country needs to have. I promise it's not a total downer—while there are some very disheartening and upsetting elements of the story, there’s hope, too.
—Julia Hammer, Director of Production
I’m admittedly not a huge true crime person, but when my hairdresser described SWEET BOBBY to me, I couldn’t wait to listen. It’s a catfishing story, which I know we’ve all consumed a lot of ever since MTV’s original CATFISH came out. But this particular story is much more insidious than any single episode of CATFISH ever was. Radio host Kirat tells her own story of how a man she thinks she knows in her community strikes up a relationship with her on Facebook messenger. In the years that follow, she gets stuck in a web of manipulation and lies, masked as love. Kirat’s story has gripping twists and turns that left me truly shocked. The six parts that make up the series came out last fall, so if you decide to listen you are most likely in for a quick binge—I was so into it I finished the whole thing in just a few days.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
