03/05/21
This week: Secret societies, pornography, gender-bending theater, and more.TRENDS THIS WEEK
☞ YouTube: St. Vincent - Pay Your Way In Pain
☞ Letterboxd: NOMADLAND
☞ TikTok: #WhenWomenWin
☞ Spotify: drivers license - Olivia Rodrigo
☞ Netflix: GINNY & GEORGIA
☞ Twitter: #WandaVisionFinale
Life & Culture
It’s March...again. On the one hand, that means we’re coming upon one year of Covid-19 lockdowns in the US. But on the other hand, it also means we get to spend the month honoring and celebrating the women who have shaped history in known and unknown ways. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ll be highlighting exclusively female-identifying voices and stories in today’s edition of PS Weekly.
In big-release day news, our entire office is aflutter with COMING 2 AMERICA, new Drake music, and RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON, all debuting last night and today.
And every Wednesday, you can find a #TinyHistoryLesson on @picturestart on Instagram, telling the story of a woman who shaped history—who you might not have heard about.
But first, a few TikTok recommendations. This video describes how one woman in the 1800s unknowingly inspired a classic early 2000s song, and this video inadvertently markets Amazon’s Alexa speaker better than any actual ad ever could. Unless it’s secretly sponsored...in which case, I can’t say I’d be surprised.
—Darlene Kenney, Marketing Assistant
I’ve been following @nifty_gateway on Instagram for a while now. Initially, I only did it because I thought “ooh cool digital art—love the aesthetics''. I had no idea what the account actually was or what it meant that it was a “marketplace” … until I saw that Grimes sold $6 million worth of NFT through this account. The highest bid was for her video/music piece DEATH OF THE OLD—which sold for $388,938. If you’re totally confused by what NFT is, and why people are paying for ownership of art that only exists digitally, well, you’re not alone. NFT stands for “Non-fungible token,” which more or less means tokens that are unique and cannot be replaced with something else. This article does a pretty decent job explaining the concept, so I’m not going to attempt it. Because I have a word count limit here, after all.
But to me, this is a good reminder of how the digital realm is very much its own space—where people “exist" with their own unique digital identities, connections, and now ownership of “properties.” Also, just another chance to celebrate Grimes’ success—go off queen. Make that $$$.
—Mimi Li, Development Assistant
Film
In honor of Women’s History Month, I’m guest writing this week’s film section to recommend Ninja Thyberg’s PLEASURE, an intimate film about a newcomer on the L.A. porn scene. I saw PLEASURE at Sundance in January and truly have not stopped thinking about it since (and not just because it has to do with porn and is extremely graphic).
PLEASURE is everything I could want in a movie. It’s as powerful as it is disturbing, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, and as stylistic as it is substantive. Every directorial choice furthers the narrative and deepens the audience's understanding of the characters and themes. Especially the way Thyberg pairs classical music with mirrors, different lenses, and social media to explore gender/sexual performativity. But ultimately, the graciousness of Thyberg’s direction, particularly in the moments of tenderness that punctuate the violence, make it a must-see.
—Lucy Putnam, Creative Exec
TV
This week, I would be remiss to recommend anything other than ALLEN V. FARROW, the searing HBO documentary series that doubles as a welcome addition to the nation’s conversation on the media’s treatment of women *cough* *cough* Free Britney *cough* and an excellent follow-up to filmmaking trio Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering, and Amy Herdy’s prior credit, ON THE RECORD. Regardless of what you already know—or think you know—about the domestic lives of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, I can guarantee you will be shook from the first episode.
—Kauveh Khozein Carrera, Creative Exec
Music
What better way to celebrate women in music than highlighting a new single from Charli XCX, the future of pop music herself? After teasing a The 1975 collaboration for years, they’ve finally delivered the first single from a new supergroup they’ve formed with No Rome: “Spinning.” It’s a propulsive, euphoric electropop track that’ll have you dancing around the kitchen or bopping in the car with the windows down as we head toward sunnier, longer days. Also on the horizon is ALONE TOGETHER, a documentary capturing the fan-centered creative process behind Charli’s career-defining album, HOW I’M FEELING NOW, which was conceived, recorded and released over five weeks last spring at the height of quarantine. The doc will close out SXSW later this month.
tl;dr: It’s Charli XCX’s world and we’re just living in it.
—Neal Mulani, Development Assistant
Theater
EMILIA is an Olivier Award-winning play about the Elizabethan theater, in which men famously played both the male and female roles. In Morgan Lloyd Malcolm's play, a cast of female actors play those men playing female roles—and while it’s very funny, it’s also more than just a spoof. Written, directed, designed, and produced by women, EMILIA is an examination and sendup of the rigid gender roles of Elizabethan times and the (ahem) parallels to our modern world as well. The titular Emilia Lanier was an acclaimed poet who was later overshadowed (and maybe plagiarized) by Shakespeare, her on-and-off lover. The play is streaming through the end of March, so you have plenty of time to check it out!
—Julia Hammer, Creative Exec
Book
My non-work-related reading this week was Leigh Bardugo’s hit NINTH HOUSE, a fantasy novel set in the exclusive world of Yale’s secret societies. The book proposes the idea that secret societies like Skull & Bones actually conduct magical rituals every month to facilitate the success of their alumni (a spell to inspire writers’ next tomes; reading the intestines of a corpse to predict the stock market… the usual). The magic Bardugo has created is incredibly specific and inventive; it made the entire book feel much more grounded, even as ghosts and demons began to appear. I’d definitely recommend the book for both fantasy-lovers and conspiracy theory / secret society-lover—something for everyone!
—Julia Hammer, Creative Exec
Podcast
After a brief hiatus, in honor of Women’s History Month, I am back to recommend my favorite podcast of all time: THE GREAT WOMEN ARTISTS. While not necessarily new, I couldn’t let the opportunity to recommend this podcast pass. In each episode, art historian and curator Katy Hesse, interviews artists on their career or famous art luminaries on the female artists who have had the greatest impact on their lives. It is an exceptional exploration of creativity, passion, and of course powerful women throughout history. Although you can start with any episode, this interview with Joanna Moorhead on Leonora Carrington has really stuck with me.
—Lucy Putnam, Creative Exec
Short Film
To commemorate two years since the release of Solange’s WHEN I GET HOME, Criterion Channel has added a director’s cut of the short film that accompanied the album. Clocking in at just over 40 minutes long, this cut wouldn’t technically qualify as a short under Academy rules… but I’m not in the Academy, so I’m including it here! Experimenting with imagery and style—cowboy/Western, retrofuturism, an animated coliseum populated by dancing digital figurines—Solange feels out the relationships between her hometown of Houston, her past, and her future. The full film is also available on Apple Music, and you can find excerpts of select songs on YouTube (definitely watch “Things I Imagined / Down with the Clique” and “Binz”).
—Nolan Russell, Executive Assistant
