10/02/20
TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: Borat Sequel Trailer
☞ Letterboxd: One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
☞ TikTok: #dayinmylife
☞ Spotify: Don’t Stop - Megan Thee Stallion
☞ Netflix: American Murder
☞ Twitter: Trump Tests Positive
LIFE + CULTURE
The digital world was flooded with content this week about the presidential debate, and right now, Trump’s positive COVID-19 test. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, and I’m sure you’re probably sick of hearing it, but we all gotta vote this year! Snapchat had a study come out this week showing that 85% of Gen Zers believe that young people have the power to change things in this country and 82% say this pandemic made them realize that political leaders’ decisions impact the everyday lives of people. I found these stats super inspiring and powerful, and knowing that there are 23 million eligible Gen Z voters this year, it gives me some hope for our generation and our future.
Guess what the top sought-after skill in potential employees during the COVID era is... According to LinkedIin, it’s effective communication. “As our interactions become more complex, the need for higher-level communication skills becomes more obvious and essential.” 🗣🗣🗣 I hear you!!! Keep talkin’, folks.
A quarter of US adults get their news from YouTube, according to a recent study. And only 23% of those views are actually on “established news organizations”, like CNN or Fox’s YouTube channel. Another interesting takeaway from the report is that 48% of YouTube news-watchers said they’re looking for information and facts only on YouTube, while 51% said they are primarily looking for opinions and commentary.
Among Us is the newest app craze that has been making its way through Gen Z this past month. Launched by a team of three developers in 2018, Among Us features up to 10 players in a room who are either assigned to be crew members or impostors. The crew members work to complete a set of tasks (short mini-games) while the impostors try to kill all of the crew members without being suspected by their fellow players. The game -- which i must report is pretty addicting -- has, of course, resulted in many internet memes. It’s a cool way to hangout with friends in this socially distanced world we’re now living in.
PRODUCTION UPDATE
New York City is gearing up to have 40 or more productions underway by the end of the year. This would bring it back to pre-COVID-19 levels which is great news for the city whose local economy needs a boost. Some projects that are ramping back up include: THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, SUCCESSION, POWER BOOK II: GHOST, CITY ON A HILL, BLUE BLOODS and BULL. However, concerns still linger as the city is seeing new clusters of COVID-19 and the shaky future of its tax incentive which was rolled back to 25% in April. More HERE.
FILM
Of all the movies coming out this fall, the one that really might get me to brave a movie theater is Sofia Coppola’s latest, ON THE ROCKS, which comes out this weekend (and on Apple TV+ on October 23rd). The film stars Bill Murray and Rashida Jones as a father and daughter who team up to snoop on the daughter’s husband (Marlon Wayans) who she thinks might be having an affair. The trailer is laugh-out-loud funny and with this creative team, we’re sure the movie will be, too!
VIDEO GAME
Sad you won’t be able to experience a haunted house this year? No fear (or a lot of it). I’m playing this 4-player Steam video game PHASMOPHOBIA for a good scare. Think Ghostbusters meet Paranormal Activity. A ghost is haunting the dark abandoned house and it’s up to you and your friends to use the ghost hunting tools to gather move clues. Check out this tutorial to get a sense of the game or watch Pokimane stream her first-time experience in this world.
THEATRE
For one weekend only, your favorite Gen Z brat pack members will be assembling for a performance of a new Zoom play called THE PARTY HOP by Natalie Margolin. The star-studded cast includes Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, Ayo Edibiri, Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, and Catherine Cohen. We know literally nothing else about it (other than this legendary poster) but we will SEE YOU THERE!
BOOK
Throughout quarantine, I’ve taken to picking up some of the smallest books on my bookshelf purely because I know I can finish the slim volumes in one or two sittings. Recently, that led me to Yoko Tawada’s delightful novel THE EMISSARY, published in the original Japanese in 2014 and translated into English in 2018. The novel imagines a future in which Japan (like many countries) has totally shut itself off from the rest of the world. As a result, the rest of Japanese society has begun to deteriorate: the young are incredibly feeble and sickly; very few crops can be grown; even language itself has begun to waste away, as they can no longer use any words originating from or related to the rest of the world. All this is to say, it’s quite a bleak book, but also incredibly quirky and whimsical at times, like all of Tawada’s work. Plus: only 140 pages!
COMIC
INKBLOT by Rusty Gladd, & Emma Kubert -- Third-generation comic artist EMMA KUBERT partners with up-and-coming creator RUSTY GLADD to deliver a high-fantasy epic! This new ongoing series follows a powerful sorceress attempting to correct her greatest mistake—the creation of a magical cat that can travel through time, space, and reality. The cat threatens to unravel the fabric of the universe, doesn’t care, and just won’t listen!
This is a great new comic that feels like THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA meets WILFRED. The first issue sets up an interesting world that feels familiar to the universe of Norse mythology. Our hero, known only as Seeker, chases an impish (but cute) cat that appears out of nowhere when she spills her magical inks. This is a great prep for the creepiest month of the year!
PODCAST
APPEARANCES is a “fiction” podcast from Radiotopia & Mermaid Palace. Created by the immensely talented Sharon Mashihi (The Heart), Appearances is an audio fiction about an Iranian American woman, the family she carries around in her head, and the family she wants to have. Sharon voice-acts all the characters in one family, the depth of the love, pain, and struggle is felt with a visceral, profound compassion at every turn. This is a one woman show pushing the boundaries of the form.
SHORT FILM
à la fin… by Nicolas Lichtle. There have been plenty of think pieces on how it’s been to live during quarantine but never have I seen a visual representation that captures the nuances of both the positives and negatives of what living during these past six months quite like this short. The animation is wholly original and the different sequences really had me in my feelings. I chuckled and almost cried. Check this one out.
