07/03/20
This Week: Happy 4th of July!
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: Binging With Babish Special
☞ Letterboxd: The Vast of Night
☞ TikTok: #FlashBack
☞ Spotify: Introspection - UMI
☞ Netflix: Dark
☞ Twitter: Beavis and Butt-head Reboot
LIFE & CULTURE
Say hello to the brand new class of Academy members. Zendaya, Awkwafina, Lulu Wang, Beanie Feldstein, Olivia Wilde, Florence Pugh, Lakeith Stanfield, and Ari Aster are all among the total of 819 artist and executives that are invited to vote on next year's Oscars! Heckyess! - The Hollywood Reporter
Top music composers that previously worked on blockbuster films have turned their talents to the world of video games. As the medium becomes more and more popular, composing the music for games has become more and more lucrative. Danny Kelleher, Founder of Laced Records, said "It feels like video game music is finally receiving the praise and mainstream recognition it deserves, and this is helping to attract more composers to the medium." Read more about the shift at Wired.
Beyoncé announced this week that she will be releasing a new visual album on July 31, titled Black Is King, on Disney Plus. The album is based on songs from The Lion King: The Gift and is written, directed, and executive produced by Beyoncé herself.
COMEDY
Search Party is back for Season 3 - now on HBO Max! The delightfully sardonic show still centers on a group of entitled, millennial quasi (or maybe actual?) sociopaths and we can’t get enough of it. Congrats to Sarah-Violet Bliss And Charles Rogers for another sick season!
VIDEO GAMES
The talk of the gaming world this week is without a doubt, Naughty Dog’s long awaited sequel, THE LAST OF US PART 2.
While I haven't had a chance to play through the entire game (literally my only plans for the 4th Holiday), it’s received rave reviews from critics and promises an engaging tale. The story continues with Ellie who sets out on a quest of revenge after experiencing a devastating loss. Although the clicker-infested world feels surreal in the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, this has me incredibly excited for Craig Mazin’s adaptation of the property that’s in active development at HBO.
THEATRE
On July 8th The Public Theater will digitally debut THE LINE, a new docu-drama play derived from interviews with New York City medical first responders during the Covid-19 pandemic. The play’s creators Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen set out to “present a fundamental redefinition of what it means to protect and serve, examining the fault lines in our system through the words of the brave people who show up every day to care for us all.” Link to watch here.
PODCAST
A botched police investigation, missing evidence, and a wrongful conviction in a city plagued with more than a hundred unsolved missing and murdered cases. Uncover: Dead Wrong takes us through the twisting, almost unbelievable story of Glen Assoun, who spent more than 17 years in prison for the murder of Brenda Way, a crime he did not commit. How did institutions fail him — and who really killed Brenda?
SHORT FILM
Netflix released HOMEMADE this week. An anthology of 17 short films from various world filmmakers. I highly recommend watching them all as they all have something different to bring to the table but below are a few that I found special!
Ladj Ly’s short. This is a spiritual successor to Ladj’s feature LES MISERABLES. It follows the character Buzz (Ladj’s son Al-Hassan) as he flies his drone over Clichy-Montfermeil outside of Paris.
Pablo Larrain’s short. A sweet short showcasing a man in a nursing home professing his love to a woman who got away. But there is a twist….
Ana Lily Amipour’s short. Showcases Ana as she rides around an empty Los Angeles on her bicycle. Narrated with equal parts chilling/poetic/hopeful narration by Cate Blanchett (soon to be in our BORDERLANDS!).
