06/11/21
THIS WEEK: IT’S FINALLY IN THE HEIGHTS WEEKEND!
TRENDS:
☞Youtube Lorde - Solar Power
☞Letterboxd BO BURNHAM INSIDE
☞TikTok #adultswim
☞Spotify good 4 u - Olivia Rodrigo
☞Netflix SWEET TOOTH
☞Twitter Doja Cat
Life & Culture
If you’ve been on TikTok this past week, you have most likely encountered at least one take on the new (and also old) Adult Swim trend. The platform’s newest movement is a tribute to Adult Swim’s bumps that often play between TV shows and commercials. What makes these videos so special is the fact that each video shows off the unique personality of its creator. The one thread that ties each video together is the Adult Swim logo that’s revealed at the end of each video, to tremendous nostalgic effect For me, it brings up a feeling of a past era, when I spent my nights watching whatever was on one of my three favorite TV channels at the moment, with commercials, without a phone or laptop to distract me from the TV screen. Check out my favorite versions of the trend here!
In more futuristic news, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company, Blue Origin, is launching its first crewed flight next month. And, the soon-to-be-former Amazon CEO will be on it. As CNN put it, he will be “the first of the billionaire space tycoons to experience a ride aboard the rocket technology that he's poured millions into developing”. Bezos is taking his brother with him, along with the lucky (and wealthy) winner of an auction that’s currently going on, which is currently set at $2.8 million. The whole flight will take just 11 minutes, going up to 68 miles above the Earth.
And finally, I have an educational TikTok for you all today! Sean Szolek-Van Valkenburgh, who prides himself on reading all terms and conditions he comes across, breaks down TikTok’s new privacy policy. One of the more alarming takeaways is the fact that the company is most likely collecting faceprint and voiceprint data from its users. And on a lighter note, if you’re still down to use the app, creator Jasmine Deyanna explains a unique bird ritual that she discovered from a nature documentary, in the most hilarious way.
—Darlene Kenney, Digital Strategist
Film
Even though I haven’t actually seen IN THE HEIGHTS (trailer here) yet, I feel VERY confident recommending it as your must-watch film of the weekend. Based on Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical and directed by the immensely talented Jon M. Chu, it’s a love letter to the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City and the families who have lived there for generations. The film grapples with issues like gentrification and immigration policy, but it’s primarily a feel-good celebration of the immigrant and first-generation American experience, and the power of following your dreams. The music will be stuck in your head for weeks (which is a good thing, I promise!)
—Julia Hammer, Director of Production
I did catch IN THE HEIGHTS at an early screening a couple weeks ago, and it’s killing me that I haven’t been able to gush about it with anyone until now. I’m not ashamed to say that I started cry-laughing during the first number and didn’t stop until the post-credit scene (yes, you should definitely hang through the credits for a treat). I can’t explain the overflow of emotions I felt, seeing the all-Latinx cast bursting into the streets of Washington Heights in song and dance. I strongly recommend watching this one in a theater, if you feel comfortable with it. It’s exactly what the theatrical experience is made for, IMO—sharing laughs and tears with a community around you. Go enjoy it!
—Shuyu Cao, Executive Assistant
[WATCH HERE]
TV
After a four-year hiatus, MASTER OF NONE (trailer here) returned with a stunning Season 3 that focuses on Denise (played by Lena Waithe, who’s also a writer on the show), a supporting character in the previous two seasons. A radically progressive departure from its previous seasons starring Aziz Ansari, which had much more of a comedic undertone, Season 3 follows the relationship of Denise and her wife Alicia (played by Naomi Ackie) in a breathtakingly intimate examination. A nod to classic arthouse cinema, this season is beautifully filmed in a 4:30 aspect ratio, and doesn’t shy away from long, wide and static shots. I found myself swept up in the nuanced writing, the powerful performances, and the introspective depiction of love. So if you want to check out something gorgeous that gets you in your feelings after, go watch on Netflix!
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
My favorite gentleman thief has returned for the second part of Season 1 of LUPIN, so I will be binging all of it in one evening (tonight), as I had done with the entirety of the first (disappointingly short) half. I remember watching it during the height of the pandemic—a time when it was extremely satisfying to watch the suave and cool Omar Sy slip out of the trickiest situations with dazzling style and ease. But in part 2, will this laid-back and calm man take a more offensive stance as he pursues his enemy with the added pressure of keeping his family safe and together?
—Shuyu Cao, Executive Assistant
Theater
Heather Christian is one of the coolest composer/performers working in musical theater today. And for the rest of the month, you can catch a film adaptation of her “musical séance” ANIMAL WISDOM. I know it sounds hyperbolic, but this piece is truly the coolest thing I have watched during the entire pandemic. Christian performs a fusion of blues, gospel, and folk music as she walks the audience through her family's history of talking with ghosts. She talks about the ghosts that have most profoundly impacted her life, often channeling them in her performance. It's a spooky, thrilling, and inspiring performance that is unlike anything I've ever seen. If you’re going to watch only one piece of digital theatre this month (or even this year), I really recommend you make it this one!
—Julia Hammer, Director of Production
Book
Sinéad O’Connor is making a return to the public eye, with her memoir REMEMBERINGS, published last week, and new music to be released later this year. And I honestly could not be more excited. O’Connor provides her own perspective on her life and career, including the fame that came with the success of “Nothing Compares 2 U” and the vitriol she faced after her SNL performance and the incident with the photograph of the pope. Like FRAMING BRITNEY SPEARS, O’Connor’s book offers a chance for us to reassess the way we’ve treated female pop stars in the past—especially in the media. If you want to try a sample (that will undoubtedly make you rethink what you think you know about O’Connor) before committing to the whole book, this recent New York Times profile should do the trick.
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
Short Film:
I was lucky enough to catch a special screening of KISS OF THE RABBIT GOD two years ago, and I can’t stop thinking about it. This beautiful short, written and directed by Andrew Thomas Huang, is a confession and a love letter to the queer Asian community. It blurs the line of fantasy and reality as it portrays an ordinary restaurant worker’s extraordinary sexual awakening. Andrew looked to his own Chinese heritage as an inspiration for this gorgeous film—the legend that inspired this fictional narrative short is the story of Tu’er Shen 兔儿神 (The Rabbit God), a Qing dynasty mythical god who was a Fujianese soldier executed for professing his love to another man, but ordained as the patron deity of gay love after the ruler of the underworld decided that his crime was one of love. At a time when Asian queerness receives little visibility on screen and Asian male bodies are constantly stigamized or devalued, Andrew set out to portray a story that, in his own words, “enriched our collective imagination of what queer Asian male love, sex and intimacy could aspire to be.”
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
Filmmaker
HACKS has been the talk of the town, so I wanted to give a special shoutout to Desiree Akhavan, a PS fave who directed a few episodes of the show. She’s the creator of The Bisexual, an inspiring take on female sexuality that’s also a total riot, defying all narrative expectations of what a queer female story looks like in 2018. Imagine that a lesbian, in a loving relationship, decides to break up with her girlfriend so that she can date men. This wasn’t Desiree’s coming out story, but it was inspired by the uncomfortable feeling of in-betweeness that she experienced when she came out bisexual. I also loved her witty coming-of-age film, THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST where Chloë Grace Moretz plays a gay teen forced to attend gay conversion-therapy camp. In a world where teenagers are so tightly defined by the boxes adults create for them, the teens in this film are equal parts hilarious and gut-wrenchingly vulnerable.
--Shuyu Cao, Executive Assistant
I first watched Andrew Ahn’s work when I saw his stunning short DOL (FIRST BIRTHDAY), which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and won Grand Jury Award Outstanding Narrative Short Film at Outfest. This subtle and beautiful short follows a closeted Korean-American who goes home to attend his nephew’s ‘Dol’ (first birthday), and finds himself yearning for a life just out of reach. In his own words, Andrew made this film as a way to come out to his parents, as he cast his real family in the short and had to show the finished film to them afterward. Following Dol, Andrew directed his feature debut SPA NIGHT, which was an official selection of 2016 Sundance’s Film Festival. This sensual and gorgeously filmed narrative feature follows a young Korean-American (played by Joe Seo) who works to reconcile his sexual desires with his obligations to his immigrant family, as he navigates the underground world of gay hookups in Korean spas in LA. Andrew has also directed episodes of FX’s PRIDE, HBO Max’s GENERA+ION and Netflix’s GENTEFIED. Oh, and did I mention I also just found out we went to the same college? What more could you possibly need by way of a strong recommendation to check out his work?
—MImi Li
