PICTURESTART 5/29/20 PICTURESTART 5/29/20

05/29/20

This Week: Protests over George Floyd’s death spread nationwide. We suggest taking a look at this list of resources if you are looking for a way to help.

TRENDS THIS WEEK

☞ YouTube: Rosalía & Travis Scott - TKN
☞ Letterboxd: T he Lovebirds
☞ TikTok: #maincharacter
☞ Spotify: Rockstar - DaBaby
☞ Netflix: Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
☞ Twitter: #DragRace

LIFE & CULTURE

In celebration of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) month, PBS has curated a three-part series about the history of Asians in the United States. Tracing back to as early as 1945, this docu series explores a breadth of American history: railroad construction, activism on school campuses, and Asian American’s first footprints in Hollywood…

Yesterday, Sundance Institute hosted a super inspiring webinar with Brit Marling, co-creator, writer and star of The OA. Tomorrow, don’t miss their half-day Virtual Documentary Filmmaking Session. More information here.

Brittney Spears released her first music release in four years (!!!) with her new single MOOD RING. Lil Yachty dropped his new 19-track album today as well, titled LIL BOAT 3.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Tik Tok: @tylietollestrup

If you’re going to follow a dance account, why waste time with your typical aspiring #influencer when you can watch a giant teddy bear do the damn thing to the Savage remix? While the mystery dancer known as Charminbear shows serious skill regardless of attire, their inventive style blows all non-fluffy counterparts out of the water.

Two Toks that brought me joy this week:this accurate depiction of 2020&this dude who’s clearly mastered WFH.

COMEDY

Hannah Gadsby is back with her Netflix special DOUGLAS, her follow-up to the searing NANETTE. The entire set is meticulously crafted (she even lays out her entire plan for the special at the top of the hour) and results in an immensely rewarding viewing experience. More crowd-pleasing than her previous special, but just as immediate and necessary.

VIDEO GAME

SAI Developed by Mutiny
It's a third person action game exploring Celtic folklore and deforestation. Set in a magical forest, players will discover an environment damaged and destroyed by onslaughts of machines. These metallic creatures wreck their way through the land to get to the core of its magic, the Heart Tree. Though its presence is now but a lost memory, the machines remain, determined to find this all powerful entity. As a Druid, protector of the natural world, you must explore this beautiful realm, harness the power that still lingers here, and uncover its dark past. Stop the machines. Protect the land. Save the forest.

There’s not much to go off of with this one, but its graphics and the environmental message behind it make it worth the cheap price. The simplicity of the premise sinks its teeths into you.

COMIC

KING OF NOWHERE by Maxwell Prince

Lovable drunken lowlife Denis awakens on the outskirts of a mysterious village called Nowhere, home to a friendly populace of deformed, mutated, just-left-of-normal citizens-and he has no memory of how he got there. * But just when Denis starts to regain his memories, his past catches up to him… literally. * What at first seems like merely a bad trip quickly heightens into a drama of mistaken identities, small-town conspiracy, and high-stakes fantasy fulfillment.

The premise behind this one is super fun and has a workplace comedy feel to it. The characters are interesting, and it feels like a fun new take on OZ or ALICE stories. I’ll keep reading and report back.

THEATRE

Until May 31st you can stream the Goodman Theatre’s production of Jocelyn Bioh’s hilarious play SCHOOL GIRLS: OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY. SCHOOL GIRLS takes place at the most exclusive all-female boarding school in Ghana, where the social status quo is disrupted by the arrival of a new student from America. The play is a biting sendup of the high school comedies we all know and love and a wonderful quarantine watch. Link here.

PODCAST

THE MISSIONARY is a podcast about a young missionary named Renee Bach who left her comfortable life in America to start a malnutrition program in rural Uganda. Folks back home and in Uganda praised her as a model missionary -- an example of the healing power of God’s message. But a decade later she’s accused of masquerading as a doctor and rumored to have killed hundreds of children in her unlicensed clinic. How did Renee Bach end up here? Is she a case of good intentions gone wrong...or a predator posing as a saint? This is an interesting look at the “white savior” trope.

If you want more information: article about the podcast here.
For additional coverage on the story: New Yorker article here.

SHORT FILMS

A PLACE TO STAY by Charlie Polinger is a story of a man (Andy) who discovers that his lover (Gordon) is living a double life with a wife and kids. He invites himself over to their house for dinner and what ensues is a tense and taut look at being LGBTQ in 1950s Kansas City. When you think of sexuality, your first thought isn't 1950s Kansas City. Charlie uses the setting well as a backdrop but never let's it overshadow the story he is trying to tell. The film is really well paced and the narrative is gripping. Definite recommend.

Be kind, stay healthy, and as always, stay creative. ツ

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PICTURESTART 5/22/20 PICTURESTART 5/22/20

05/22/20

TRENDS THIS WEEK

☞ YouTube: Machine Gun Kelly
☞ Letterboxd: Scoob
☞ TikTok: #TikTokGraduation
☞ Spotify: Rockstar - DaBaby
☞ Goodreads: Where The Crawdads Sing
☞ Twitter: #TheSynderCut

LIFE & CULTURE

Check out Nuyorican Poets Cafe’s virtual live events for a soulful hour of poetry reading. Every Thursday, the lovely actress, playwright, and poet Caridad de la Luz hosts an open mic that is free to those who want to either read an original or listen in.

Since early March, a private Facebook group titled simply “A group where we all pretend to be ants in an ant colony” has amassed over 1.8 million members. The premise is as bizarre as it is self-explanatory: People join the group and act like ants. That’s it. That’s the whole idea. Read more here for a scientist’s perspective on the virtual ant community.

Elon Musk has been all over headlines these past few months, and next week will be no different. Space X, in partnership with NASA, will launch its first manned rocket into orbit Wednesday, May 27th. This will also be the first passenger space flight from the US in a decade. Check out the livestream onNASA’S website.

SOCIAL MEDIA

TikTok: @flakeysalt

With most households exponentially increasing their kitchen use, if you’re looking for an entertaining yet helpful cooking feed the hyperactive and rambunctious Joshua Weissman offers a nice array of technique tips and effective recipes to up your culinary game.

IG: @jtfirstman

Jordan’s niche impressions are spot on. Highlights include, “this is my impression of banana bread’s publicist” and “this is my impression of all the clothes people are not wearing right now.”

Two Toks that brought me joy this week:The absolute precision this family hasandthis stylish lil reptile.

The funniest show on television is WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS on FX (and on Hulu the day after). Season 2 is even better than the first - Mark Hamill guest-starred this week as “Jim the Vampire” and the whole episode had me in stitches. I love dramedies that have ample social commentary as much as the next sap (and recommend BETTER THINGS for this sort of fix) - but this show shines for being one of the few high-concept, completely apolitical, flat-out hysterical comedies on air.

VIDEO GAME

MANEATER Developed by Tripwire Interactive
Experience the ultimate power fantasy as the apex predator of the seas - a terrifying SHARK! Maneater is a single player, open world action RPG (ShaRkPG) where YOU are the shark. Starting as a small shark pup you are tasked with surviving the harsh world while eating your way up the ecosystem. To do this you will explore a large and varied open world encountering diverse enemies - both human and wildlife. Find the right resources and you can grow and evolve far beyond what nature intended, allowing the player to tailor the shark to their play style. This is fortunate, because to get revenge on the cruel fisherman that dismembered you will take evolving into a massive shark, an apex predator of legends. Eat. Explore. Evolve

To be completely honest, I haven’t played this one, but that’s simply because it was released today (Fri 5/22/20)! That said, I’m so pumped for it because it has the open world fun and comedic tone of a GTA sandbox mixed with the excitement that comes with anything having to do with sharks. I can't wait to play this over the long weekend but if it delivers, there could be a popcorn, tongue-in-cheek, DEADPOOLesque shark movie as a possible adaptation.

COMIC

YEAR ZERO by Ben Percy and Ramon Rosanas

A Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist - five survivors of a horrific global epidemic who must draw upon their unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead. Year Zero wrestles with the weighty moral and theological questions posed by the pandemic and investigates its cause and possible cure.

I love anything having to do with zombies and while I know THE WALKING DEAD universe makes anything in this space difficult to stand out, the fact that this new series feels inspired by recent events has me curious about where the story could go. It’s more human focused and feels closer toTHE LEFTOVERS than anything else.

Cells at Work! CODE BLACK by Shigemitsu Harada Issei Hatsuyoshiya Akane Shimizu

In this new spinoff of the hit manga Cells at Work!, a newbie Red Blood Cell is one of 37 trillion working to keep this body running. But something’s wrong! Stress hormones keep yelling at him to go faster. The blood vessels are crusted over with cholesterol. Ulcers, fatty liver, trouble (ahem) downstairs … It’s hard for a cell to keep working when every day is a CODE BLACK!

The manga and anime Cells at Work! showed you what happens when a young, healthy body gets in trouble … but what if the body wasn’t so young, and was never very healthy? This new take stars a fresh-faced Red Blood Cell and his friend, the buxom White Blood Cell, as they struggle to keep themselves and their world together through alcoholism, smoking, erectile dysfunction, athlete’s foot, gout … it’s literal body horror! Whoever this guy is, he’s lucky his cells can’t go on strike!

I read the first chapter of this manga and I’m intrigued. It’s very OSMOSIS JONES in concept, but more grounded and with less comedy. The original series reads a bit more like an episode of the Magic School Bus at times but this new one is dark and deals with a body experiencing some serious health issues. I’ll finish the volume and report back.

THEATRE

You can catch the Young Vic’s 2014 production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE through Thursday 5/28! Directed by Benedict Andrews and starring Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby (can you say power duo?!), the production was a smash hit when it appeared on the West End. Link HERE.

PODCAST

FOREST 404 is a BBC podcast set in the 24th century, after a data crash called The Cataclysm. Pan, our protagonist, is a young woman with a job sorting and deleting old sound files that survived the crash. She uncovers a set of sound recordings from the early 21st century that haunt her. They are recordings of rainforests – places which no longer exist – and Pan feels compelled to hunt down the truth about how the forests of the old world died. All the time she is pursued by the agents of the new world’s ruling power. Full review of FOREST 44 here.

Additionally, each episode is accompanied by a talk about the issues explored on that podcast as well as a soundscape. Finally the soundtrack to the podcast is by Bonobo The best part is that the remake rights are still available.

SHORT FILMS

TINGLE MONSTERS is one of the first ASMR horror short films. Dee is a YouTube vlogger whose live stream quickly spins out of control when online threats meet her in real life. Director Alexandra Serio wanted to show how online harassment is disproportionately directed at women and how verbal harassment is often a precursor to physical harm. Serio’s handle on the ASRM medium is effective and immersive for the audience, but doesn’t detract from her message. The verdict: chilling.

PITCH BLACK PANACEA is a surreal short about two characters who embark on a journey to fix their lazy eyes. The catch is that they are placed in a completely pitch black home for 10 days. What follows is a journey into the minds of our two leads through vivid and hallucinatory animation. It’s unique, haunting and exciting. Writer/director Tom Hardiman is one to keep an eye on. The verdict: you thought your quarantine was tough...

Be kind, stay healthy, and as always, stay creative. ツ

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