In these times that seem like some prologue to an upcoming dystopian blockbuster movie release what is it that we are all spending our last days doing? Consuming mass amounts of media no doubt. Join me once again as I detail all the things I’ve read, watched, played, listened to or simply mused about.
Movies/TV
The bingeing commences at consistent pace? Perhaps. Maybe. In actuality I haven’t spent much more time watching tv than normal. Maybe. Regardless here’s what has numbed my brain and tickled my fancy.
Still keeping up with Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison of Homeland. It’s amazing how season three of this series makes Carrie an absolute monster so far (I’m halfway through) when she’s already proven to be batshit crazy.
Better Call Saul is still enthralling in every single way. If you’re not watching it, you’re not even playing.
Tiger King. I watched the first episode and it was a great intro for absolute berserker ludicrousness, but I just don’t need to see it. Shoulder shrug emoji.
I have fallen off of Counterpart as it was moving at a pace that felt like I was sleepwalking. I want to get back to it, but I’m not sure if I will.
Started watching Devs and I am very very into it! Bring on Nick Offerman’s weird hair and an absolutely sinister killer Zach Grenier (Ed Norton’s boss in Fight Club).
Re-watched World War Z under the guise of “research”. I still really dig this movie.
Dived into the Clone Wars animated series as a recommendation from a friend. It’s good background tv with great animation. Growing up with the movies makes it easy to keep up with what’s going on. Episodes are a little over 20 minutes so after a couple of hours I feel like I’ve really accomplished a lot!
Absolutely gobbled up Netflix’s Next In Fashion. If you’re a Project Runway fan then you’ll be down with this new fashion series with Tan France from Queer Eye. Or maybe you’ll never be able to let go of the OG’s Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn. Agh! It seems you’ll miss them even more since some quick googling revealed to me that the most recent season doesn’t feature either of them. Ah, perhaps the end of days are truly upon us. Ah well, it seems we must all “Carry on”.
Westworld Season Three so far is fire! Also, I hate Aaron Paul’s hair.
Books/Comics
Continuing my binge of all things Emily St. John Mandel I finished the Lola Quartet. This is the third of her five books. It is as enthralling as her previous books that I’ve read and though I know the hook in her writing; disparate people seemingly unconnected eventually all connect in someway, her stories are no less enjoyable. Her characters are drawn as if pulled from one of your mother’s best recipes and they feel no less real and familiar.
I have also finished a couple of books from Marvel comics, Black Bolt TPB 1 and 2. The writing by Detroit born Saladin Ahmed is a solid tale on a character I found intriguing, but knew little about. Ahmed delivers a bingeable tale about a king that is broken down and built up again and learns the perils of those he rules over. The art by Christian Ward is solid and fluid, but suffers from an overly dark color pallet throughout. Also, he draws an absolutely hilarious Lockjaw. The first trade is a good series highly worth the read, while the follow up isn’t as revelatory as the first it is still quite interesting and adds more layers to the Black Bolt the Midnight King.
Music
In these time I’ve been falling back on many an old favorite, but some new faves have filled my ears as well. Bat For Lashes album “Lost Girls” delivers Natasha Khan’s familiar sound and shows some growth in the addition of a bit of pop to her dark mythical tales. This isn’t to say she’s abandoned what got her to the dance, but she has perhaps returned to her high school reunion older and wiser and more worldly. The opening track, “Kids in the Dark” would fit nicely in a Stranger Things montage and this song softly welcomed me tothe rest of the album. The closing track, “Mountains” starts out as an 8-bit game soundtrack before opening into a sprawling meditative anthem on lost love.
Having said that I recently gave her 2009 album “Two Suns” a listen and found it more of a comfort to me in these times. “Daniel” was a standout track on this album for me. A pulsing driving tone permeates the track and the lyrics declare a fairy tale of love and loss.
As I said earlier I’ve fallen back on some old favorites so I’ve had the Hamilton soundtrack on many a spin on my hard drive. Its songs give a kick to some of the monotony while also pushing me to get busy on some of new piece of art. “I’m not throwing away my shot!”
“Ill Communication” by the Beastie Boys has also brought me much joy lately.
Other standout tracks for me: Broken Arrow from Tori Amos’ “Native Invader” drips in with a trippy wah wah opening riff that sticks in your ear, “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.) by Jim James is a song that I just can’t get enough of and it gets a listen at least twice a day lately, another quite fine opening track is Finona Apple’s “Every Single Night”.
I also grabbed the two new Nine Inch Nails free albums, but haven’t spent much time with them.
Games
I downloaded Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and it is fun! Other than that it’s still mainly Mario Kart, but I did get back to Mario Odyssey for a bit. Also, I dusted off my PS3, literally, and played some Black Ops online with some friends. Nothings changed, I’m still terrible at it, but it was fun to hang with some friends via the PS network.
Random Bits
I’ve been super motivated lately and have finished two paintings in the past three weeks. I haven’t done that since college! Speaking of things not done since college, I ran 3.5 miles recently. Twice. Phew!
That’s all for now.
Please, please be safe out there. Tell your friends and family you love them. Then, tell them again. Hug your pets, wash your hands and stay 6 feet the hell away from me.