4/22/17

i'm thankful that last night, we watched four episodes of the new season of chewing gum. i'm thankful to have been astounded that the show, which was fantastic last season, is like next level leaps and bounds even better this season. i'm thankful that i violently laughed so much that watching the show was actually slightly painful, but i'm thankful for that kind of joyful pain. i'm thankful for a scene where a character prematurely ejaculates in a swimming pool, which nearly made me suffocate with exuberant cringes. i'm thankful for the incredible physicality of michaela coel's performance, for how her every movement through the frame is impossibly kinetic and powerful, like every muscle in her body is a coiled string about to explode (i'm thankful to be watching this season after reading swing time, which i think gave me a new appreciate for dance and dance-like movement in its loving descriptions of bodies in motion). i'm thankful to be amazed at the combination of that kind of performance with her writing, which is sharp and funny and sad and powerful and real and provocative both conceptually, in terms of the kind of scenes there are, and also on the level of the line and the phrase, in terms of the volumes of giggle-erupting statements and punchlines and mid-scene breathless asides to the camera. i'm thankful that she wrote the whole show herself, every word, and i'm thankful how that immense effort shows in how specific and particular every moment of the show is.

i'm thankful that after that, we watched american honey. i'm thankful that though the movie was perhaps slightly longer than i would have chosen for it to be (especially after watching 4 episodes of another show), it was incredible and i will take incredible at any length. i'm thankful it's what i always wanted a musical to be—i'm thankful for the soundtrack itself and also for the way it's mixed, with throbbing sub bass and hard shelf EQ and washes of reverb, which adds an amazing reality effect and avoids the slick polish of non-diegetic needle drops (i'm thankful for this tumblr, which is similarly "dedicated to the 'from another room' effect: an auditory recreation of music that sounds muffled as though it were playing from another room"). i'm thankful for the intimacy of the performances and the intensity of the sex. i'm thankful for the director, andrea arnold's, ability to find beautiful angles and frames on all the disposable textures of american life. i'm thankful for the moments that verge into pure abstraction—the play of red lights on the window of a van in the rain at night—or tarkovsky-esque time dilation and capturing of the meaning embedded in things captured in real time, a turtle slowly crawling down a ramp into the water at dusk. 

i'm thankful for this exquisite essay from patrick about walking in wales and breath of the wild, which got me to impulse buy a nintendo switch from a third party amazon seller this morning. i'm thankful for this video of black kids playing a prince song, which is still perfect. i'm thankful for this statement by jermaine dupri, which is still beautiful. i'm thankful to appreciate "green light" more after watching the video—i'm thankful for how moving it is how exuberantly lorde dances, especially after how (understandably) restrained and timid her stage presence was when she first started. i'm thankful for the house piano in the chorus and how much more major key her music from the new album is, which makes me really excited for when the whole thing comes out. i'm thankful for the silly selfie-based choreography of "run up" and for the summery vibes and for the simple catchiness of the chorus and for the plasticity of nicki minaj's voice, forever.  i'm thankful for this video of someone wearing a mannequin head dancing ecstatically in various public places to "mask off."