05/13/22
This week: Taco Bell musicals, non-romantic love, new (!!!) Kendrick Lamar, and a meditation on the poetic genius of Hayao Miyazaki
TRENDS THIS WEEK:
Youtube Kendrick Lamar - THE HEART PART 5
Letterboxd DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
TikTok #WellThat’sYou
Spotify As It Was - Harry Styles
Netflix OZARK
Twitter Milky Way
Trailer CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH
Shopify It’s Been A Week
Life & Culture
In news that will make you feel tiny…the first image of the supermassive black hole in the middle of the Milky Way is here! And it’s pretty wild. It’s the first image that confirms the existence of the black hole, which is apparently 4 million times the size of our sun. According to Michael Johnson, astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian, the black hole is “what lies at the heart of our galaxy, pulling stars into tight orbits through its immense gravity.” It “accelerates matter to close to the speed of light and bends the paths of photons in the warped (space-time).” Which is pretty awe-inspiring, when you think about it. Of course, it’s also a little hard to wrap your brain around it all, but it’s pretty cool to learn about.
In completely unrelated but (almost) equally weird and wonderful news, Dolly Parton is playing the lead in a TikTok musical about…Taco Bell’s Mexican pizza. Yes, really. This comes after Dolly shared that she missed the Taco Bell menu item back in January. It also comes as consumers are consistently inundated with celebrity-sponsored content. Taco Bell itself has had a well-publicized (and unconventional) partnership with Doja Cat this year as well, with the singer even announcing the return of the Mexican pizza during her Coachella set. Anyway, the musical is coming out on May 26 and I can assure you I’ll be tuning in, and then circling back to all of you to let you know what the deal is.
Speaking of TikTok, I have two wholesome videos to get your weekend started on a solid note. This one features an old dude completely in his element, and this one highlights the joy of a little deer enjoying nature.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Our Q for you this week: What’s the most memorable movie you’ve seen in theaters? We’re buying whoever writes the best recommendation their next overpriced tub of popcorn. Hit us with your best recs!
Film
It’s really remarkable when a film is able to show love without forcing a relationship, and COLUMBUS (trailer here) is one of the greatest examples of this. Equal parts coming-of-age and mature drama, the film follows two people who are in the city of Columbus, Indiana for completely different reasons. Jin (John Cho), a middle-aged book translator, has come from Korea to look after his ailing father who is a well-renowned architect. He comes across college-aged Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a quiet and humble enthusiast of the local architecture—and of Jin’s father. Though Jin and Casey share virtually nothing on the surface, they find a commonality in their tumultuous feelings toward their parents. As time goes on, they form a strong bond and grow close, rediscovering the beauty of life together. Though these two are never romantically involved with each other, there’s no absence of romance in the film; the visuals and dialogue are rich and tender, creating strong feelings of romance between Casey, the city, and her humble life that she’s reluctant to change. It’s really very beautiful. So, if you’re feeling a little introspective, this should be your weekend watch—it’s guaranteed to have you nostalgic for places you've never been and aching for people you've never known.
—Victoria Moniz, Development Intern
TV
FROM THE VAULT
SNABBA CASH (trailer here), translated to Fast or Easy Cash, is a Swedish show on Netflix that simply hasn’t gotten enough attention. The series is based on a book (with the same name) from 2006 by Jens Lapidus, a Swedish criminal defense lawyer. Set mainly in the projects outside Stockholm, the show draws parallels between the start-up/tech world and the mob in a really interesting way. The story, which ultimately centers around class, follows a young single mom of Middle Eastern descent who’s desperate to get her tech business off the ground and gets entangled with drug money from her brother-in-law. What sets this show apart from many other Nordic shows is the diversity of the cast—and absolutely incredible performances from Alexander Abdallah and Even Ahmad.
—Martina Lund, SVP Brand Marketing
Art
One of my earliest memories is of dragging a stuffed Totoro toy around Japan on a family reunion trip when I was 2. It's a miracle my older sister and I never wore out our VHS copy of KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE. I still think most of my childhood nightmares and fears—who am I kidding, most of my current ones too—can be directly traced to SPIRITED AWAY. And then at some point, as I hungrily made my way through countless other Studio Ghibli films over the years—each one opening my mind in a new and incredible way—I grew up. But this past weekend, I stepped into a room and found myself in a tunnel surrounded by a makeshift magical forest, greeted by the twinkling melody of Joe Hisaishi's MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO theme, a tide of excited little kids rushing past me. And wow. I was one of them.
Just one glance at the brand-spanking-new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures gift shop makes it clear that the Hayao Miyazaki exhibit is the highlight of the museum, given the abundance of dust bunny plushies and No-Face figurines. My family and I finally made it to the exhibit on Mother's Day, and I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of artwork on display: sketches, storyboards, and frames that are each a masterpiece on their own. It’s so easy to take these films for granted; it's nearly impossible to process the fact that something like PRINCESS MONONOKE is made up of thousands of forest scapes that impossibly capture the way sunlight hits moss, or that the clouds that roll by in the background of THE WIND RISES are so painterly and emotionally evocative they're worth framing. The walls are also peppered with short poems Miyazaki wrote for his team as inspiration in the creative process, and as I read, I thought about how frankly absurd it is that every word out of this man's mouth is an instantly quotable nugget of wisdom.
When we were reading one of these letters, describing the dual beauty and brutality of nature, my dad explained to me the Japanese sentiment of evanescence, epitomized by the cultural attitude toward the falling of cherry blossoms, beautiful and fleeting (natsukashi). Miyazaki's films always capture a tension like this—between man and nature, childhood and adulthood, creation and destruction, old and new—but those tensions are never resolved. Because his movies are far more interested in the bittersweet complexity of life, watching them means simultaneously cherishing how they've helped us grow and reaching for the lost time in our lives they represent. But when my mom, sister and I all look at characters like Mei and Satsuki and see a bit ourselves. And when we lie in the "grass" carpet of this exhibit to watch the clouds go by like Kiki, we realize that kid is never fully gone. If you can, find your way to the Academy museum for this special experience, and take some time to appreciate a truly timeless and transcendent body of work.
—Alicia Devereaux, Development Assistant
Music
We have been waiting…and waiting...for 5 years for Kendrick Lamar to release an album, and now the wait is finally over. MR. MORALE & THE BIG STEPPERS, released today, is his first full-length endeavor since 2017's DAMN. Of course, Kendrick has been keeping busy in the music scene over the past few years, featured on many top songs such as FAMILY TIES with rising rapper Baby Keem (who is also his cousin). And we cannot forget Kendrick's incredible work executive producing the BLACK PANTHER soundtrack, a truly monumental moment. But to have Pulitzer prize winner Kendrick back to grace our ears and challenge our minds will a full-length album is such a freaking treat to end the week. And with the opening track titled UNITED IN GRIEF, we know we're in for a wild ride.
P.S. He's touring this album starting in July, and you know I'll be there.
—Erin Harris, Development Assistant.
Book
Last week we asked you for the best book you’ve read this year. PS Weekly reader LeJarie Noguchi’s came through with an excellent rec for celebrating mental health awareness month.
What's normal for me may not be normal for others. That's what I learned from reading FURIOUSLY HAPPY, a humor memoir by Jenny Lawson. Just thinking about this book makes me literally laugh and cry at the same time—and injecting that humor into the mental health conversation is something I think we could all use a bit more of. But ultimately, this book is about how we as individuals deal with trauma...or try to deal with it as well as following the author’s own journey with mental illness.
