It’s been a short and very busy month, so not a lot of ground to cover.

Film

Possession (1981) - dir. Andrzej Żulawski

If there’s one thing I always love, it’s a horror movie disguised as a relationship drama. And if there’s one thing I’m always skeptical about, it’s national symbols of tragedy being used to undercut relationships (my mixed feelings on Hiroshima mon Amour are certainly in the minority, but just an example). Possession masterfully executes both, a monster lurking just beyond the Berlin wall as the nuclear family faces annihilation. I also revisited Wings of Desire recently, one of my favorite films, so the Berlin wall as a symbol is very fresh in my mind. Both films perfectly utilize the physical symbol of division as an emotional one that transcends time, love, and space.

Magic Mike XXL (2015) - dir. Gregory Jacobs

I watched all three Magic Mike films to prep for Soderbergh’s return to the franchise with Last Dance, and had a fantastic time. XXL is my favorite of the bunch, a road trip musical about learning to continue to love your passion while letting old things die.

Music

GZA - Liquid Swords (1995)

I’ve been slowly making my way through the Wu-Tang chronology including the individual members’ solo albums, and Liquid Swords has been my favorite so far. Due to RZA producing nearly every album in this initial wave of Wu-Tang records, its a contest for which MC rides his production the most consistently, and GZA surfs the wave with perfect poise.

Parannoul - After the Magic (2023)

At times lo-fi and at times explosive, this shoegaze album feels like a long journey into the unknown, the footsteps of something new arriving underscored by echoing wails.

Young Fathers - Heavy Heavy (2023)

It’s difficult to describe exactly what Heavy Heavy is from a genre perspective, a dilemma that fans of trio Young Fathers should be familiar with. Heavy Heavy has the group leaning on more melodic deliveries, rarely rapping, and often letting instrumentals overpower their voices altogether to create stunning crescendos.

Free Breakfast for Children - Free Breakfast for Children (2023)

A rap supergroup founded on Black liberation from rappers across Philadelphia, Baltimore and Brooklyn and led by hot up and comer Ghais Guevara, the debut project of Free Breakfast for Children is a sample laden declaration of purpose. This mixtape is currently only available on Bandcamp, due to its sampling of modern tracks like Jay-Z’s “4:44” (Four 44’s), Drake’s “Jimmy Cooks” (Who Let Jimmy Cook?), and Denzel Curry’s “Walkin” (Strollin). I’ve seen a lot of reactions to Ghais’s music focus on his hyper online sampling practices and stop there, but the gimmick of riffing on such popular beats is so secondary to the lyricism you can almost forget the brazenness of the production choices. For fans of Ghais like myself he delivers verses in spades, but don’t discount the many voices and skilled verses all throughout. A major improvement from Guevara’s last project There Will Be No Super-Slave, which I already really liked, thanks to its focus and collaborative spirit.

TV

New Girl - Seasons 1-4 (2011-2015)

Mile a minute laughs filled with millennial malaise, my favorite thing about New Girl is the aimlessness of the four characters which starts to subside in the third season as we see them pursuing new relationships, careers, etc.

Seinfeld - Season 6 (1994-1995)

Been slowly making my way through the seminal sitcom chronologically after watching bits and pieces of it for a few years, and while Season 6 doesn’t reach the heights of the NBC saga that makes up a lot of Season 4, it has some of the best individual episodes of the show thus far.