Ah! We meet again. What a glorious and fortuitous assembly; you, me and this luminous glowing screen. Come closer then, my friends, settle in and let us engage in that most ultimate and rewarding activity, a lethargic action though it may be, it is nevertheless a gnawing hunger from which none may escape, the hunger to consume!
MOVIES
Holy shit, did I not watch any movies this month!? I did watch Venom the Last Dance, but that doesn’t really count as a movie because it was absolutely terrible. Let’s move on to the better stuff I watched this month.
TV
Paradise Season Finale- boy oh boy oh boy! Now that is how you do a season finale. You answer the burning questions, you solve the mysteries and then you add some new mysteries for the next season. All the things are explained and new dramas are laid out. Everything here is damn near perfect and if you haven’t heard by now, Season 2 of Paradise is already greenlit! I could not be happier.
This initial season started with a great premise and was firing on all cylinders right away. Then the season went out with a glorious bang! Look, this is less of a review and more of an exhortation for you to watch this series immediately. It's just so so good.
Crumbs and Morsels -
What happened to the Librarian’s wife? Will she be back next season?
How does one actually survive that kind of gunshot?
Are rich people who have more money than god the new Natzis? I mean in tv shows. AND in real life. Pretty sure the answer is yes.
Severance Season Finale - Maaaaaan this one was a banger. It had ups and downs, zigs and zags and all sorts of twists and turns. And that was just the dance number. Yes, that’s right we went full on Bollywood in this finale. Well not full on, but there were some spectacular moves! This finale paid off big as multiple storylines were wrapped up and many questions were answered. And before you ask, yes goats were involved.
You will see an innie speak to an outie, face to face! You will see mazes navigated in exhilarating and sometimes bloody fashion. And you will also see a new strange and weird Lumon painting. It’s all the ingredients for a harrowing ending that finds our main character Mark Scout's story concluded in a spectacular way while also leaving us wanting more.
There’s so much to unpack here and I leave you to watch all sorts of YouTube videos fully explaining every crumb and morsel this show has given us, but this series is just pure joy and I cannot wait for Season 3.
More Crumbs and Morsels -
Was one of the masks on the four tempers based on Ms Cobel? One sure looked a lot like her.
Thank god they explained what the numbers Macro Data Refinement were refining.
Season 1’s Petey (remember him?) seems like he got off easy! Mark’s journey is torturous.
The Pitt Blood blood and more blood. Type O please. And stat! If you ever considered yourself a fan of ER, or even if you never did you should be watching this show. The premier season of the Pitt has performed like a pro athlete dunking on high school kids. All the good things are here that make a great medical drama, strange unheard of diagnosis, family patient drama, garish wounds and miraculous surgeries, doctor drama, nurse drama, patient drama, rats! It’s all here and it’s glorious.
Noah Wyle is back in the operating room as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, the head attending at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital. He is basically the grown up grizzled version of John Carter from ER with some serious PTSD. This PTSD is the sort of back seat driver for the series and is building up to be a major blow up or meltdown.
Dr. Robby is surrounded by a great supporting cast that are each dealing with their own issues or just causing issues for others, (I’m looking at you Dr. Santos!). All of these great characters are fueled by their frustrated, drunk, rat infested, bad make-up wearing, overdosing, gunshot having, heart string pulling, patients. Like I said it’s all the ingredients for a great medical drama and it’s served up weekly on HBO Max.
Trigger Warning! The most recent episode, “7:00PM” was a bumper car/ rollercoaster ride that felt like watching Uncut Gems while high on an 8ball of cocaine and the whole time really needing to pee. Wowzers!
MUSIC
Little Simz - Little Simz kicked in the door to my consciousness via her fantastic video “Gorilla” off her 2022 album No Thank You. After a bit of research I realized I have been missing out! Simz is an absolutely fantastic rapper and I’ve been sampling her fantastic catalog all this month. She feels simultaneously contemporary and throwback. Her songs are densely packed with thickly accented rhymes often coupled with absolutely infective beats. Some of my faves across her catalog are the aforementioned “Gorilla” “Point and Kill” “Angel” and “Two Worlds Apart”, in truth most of her catalog is highly listenable so ask that all encompassing eye (or ear) in your home to play Little Simz and give your ears some of that sweet stuff.
Also, I was rewarded this month with a stunner of a new video for her song “Flood” which I review below.
MUSIC VIDEOS
Ecca Vandal - “Cruising to Self Soothe” -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pccffwLPRSw
I first heard of Ecca Vandal when I stumbled across her absolute banger video “Bleed to survive”, an ode to the power of women’s periods. The song is full of big chunky metal riffs and Ecca’s unmistakable voice. And the video has some great imagery. Play it!
Little Simz - “Flood” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvrNPiz7rHw
Oily saturated blacks, urgent drum beats contrasting with chinging bells, ritualistic dances and lyrics that sound like elegant tongues spitting curses, this is just a glimpse of the mythological new video by LIttle Simz. Put this song and this video on repeat.
TRAILERS
One thing I love is watching movie trailers. I love the hype. I love the tantalizing energy of a good trailer that makes me sit up and get excited. Here’s a few I enjoyed this month.
Ancestral Visions of the Future - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9iW8l5KgcU&t=8s
This documentary film directed by Lemohang Mosese has some incredibly striking imagery. Not sure where or when it’s showing, but I definitely watched it more than once and more than twice.
Ravens - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxyMpU70UJA
This trailer also has some striking imagery coupled with a great needle drop and is about the celebrated Japanese photographer Masahisa Fukase
The Bondsman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmiGkuMWJ94
This new series with Kevin Bacon looks darkly comedic and hellishly bonkers and I hope it really leans into its premise of a dead bondsman brought back to life to hunt and return demons back to hell.
That’s all for the month my dear consumers. I have reached my limit and must at last unplug from this infernal machine! Please do me a favor and come check on my vitals next month.