#5: "I dig your groovy tunes, man"
Welcome to issue #5 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU, the newsletter that received an infuriating zero Grammy nominations despite having the best year of its career.
BETA READERS: We have reached the milestone for SURVEY #1, in which you have the opportunity to provide me with feedback about how this newsletter is or isn't working for you. It's a simple survey, all questions are optional, I'm not collecting email addresses, and you needn't have read all or even most of the issues to participate. "Beta reader" is anyone who is currently subscribed, by the way, but no one is obligated to respond. I'm planning to be "out of beta" as of issue #9, which gives me a few issues to try to implement any changes that might be indicated by the feedback I receive.
To reinforce the value of your feedback, I have included the following image of a man generating video feedback.
(Pictured above: "feedback")
Highlights from Scottoworld
Above we see one of the primary genres of publicity photos for books, which is called the Book Stack. Advance review copies of my upcoming novel, BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES, look pretty good in the mix. Publishers obviously get a lot of mileage out of this approach (in the photos above, all the books are published by Tor.com), but readers also do Book Stacks, mostly to show off their TBR (“to be read”) pile it seems. I’ll hopefully have some reader pics to choose from when the book is officially out.
Library Journal gave BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES a very nice review, which unfortunately is behind a paywall. But their summary verdict was: “The inventiveness and intensity of Moore’s storytelling perfectly blends Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Readers who enjoy gaming will find the novel accessible and appealing.” You can learn more about the book over at scenic Scottoweb, and if the stars align, perhaps a preorder is in your future.
If you are the type of person who might attend a virtual book launch event, I’m having one on January 11th, details to come. Expect hijinks.
On a completely unrelated note, you can now stream my hit single “The Day The Dog Went Supernova” on Spotify (and other services). Don’t be fooled by the 2021 release date; I have it on reliable authority the track was recorded in 1998; also, this song was not actually a hit single. (The so-called “cover art” was auto-generated.) That reminds me, I recorded a track called “Words” in the fateful summer of 1992, which I recently lip-synced on Tik Tok for no apparent reason. (Don’t fret, I will run out of little historical treats like this soon enough, at which point all of this newsletter’s links will safely direct you to proper content professionals.)
Speaking of proper content professionals…
Scottovision, pt 1
Here are a few interesting short film artifacts you might consider:
“Next Floor” (2008) - With the new Dune movie relatively fresh on everyone’s mind, why not take a look at this mind-blowing short film directed by Denis Villeneuve. I had no idea what I was about to see when I put it on, and was stupefied, alarmed, and amazed by it to varying degrees. If you’d prefer a description before seeing it, though, here’s a great one from the creators: “During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with cavalier servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. In this absurd and grotesque universe, an unexpected sequence of events undermines the endless symphony of abundance.”
“Sea Fudge” (2021) - If you watch only one short film about harvesting sea fudge in your entire life, let it be this one. Brought to you by the Sea Fudge Guild of the Greater Immensity (aka Meow Wolf Denver).
“Rabbit” (2005) - Directed & animated by Run Wrake. I saw this in a digital media film festival back when it came out, and I can tell you it’s just as unsettling now as it ever was. Wikipedia’s droll description: “Rabbit tells a morality tale about the dangers of greed through a Dick and Jane art style.” Yes, come for the Dick and Jane art style, and stay for the supernatural idol that should never have been awakened. Wrake came to prominence when his student films were run on MTV’s Liquid Television, and he wound up directing music videos and tour visuals for U2 and Howie B, but Rabbit is considered his most notable work. A playlist of his other works is here, including the film he created with Howie B after his lung cancer diagnosis in 2011, Down With The Dawn. He passed away in 2012.
“EP02” (2021) - A dance film directed & choreographed by Franka Marlene Foth. Often dance films cross your path accompanied by helpful artist statements that might contextualize what you’ll see, but the description for this one was unique: the piece is simply about itself. “EP02 channels the simplicity of a setting explored through the purity of movement. The focus of the dance lies in the sensation of dance, choreography, and appearance of the performers, who are dressed in Ottolinger.” Oh, well maybe it’s also about marketing some clothes. Anyway, good stuff.
“Reneepoptosis“ (2018) - This film, directed & animated by Renee Zhan, won the Jury Award for Best Animated Short at the 2019 Sundance Festival. Its description: “As three Renees go on a quest to find God, who is also Renee, they discover all the great joys, trials, and mysteries of being Renee.” Zhan says that as a filmmaker, she is “primarily interested in exploring issues of the body, nature, and sexuality - all things beautiful, ugly, and squishy,” and Reneepoptosis is her flagship film to date (although she’s posted a trailer for a new work so hopefully we’ll see that soon). Sundance posted a clip of Zhan offering a little bit more insight into the meaning of this film if you’re intrigued to know more..
“Eer“ (2021) - Kristoffer Borgli is a Norwegian director & writer who moved to LA, landing on the radar with a series of short films that are all demented and excellent. NOWNESS describes his latest short, Eer, as being “full of the wry comedy, sardonic reasoning, and deadpan delivery that audiences have come to relish in Borgli’s work.” Borgli depicts a version of Los Angeles in which fake health crazes and weird fads are sweeping the city, to surreal and often bloody effect. Borgli himself describes the film as simply “based on real events” and leaves it at that. The film co-stars Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development).
(Pictured above: the Zarach transparent TV, circa 1969. Zarach was a chain of luxury shops catering to the ultrarich; probably less than a hundred of this model were made, and very few are known to exist today. One auctioneer claims that its “transparent amethyst perspex design, showing the workings of the TV… would later inspire Jonathan Ive to design the original iMac.”)
Recently on FYPWDB
Longtime readers no doubt recall my steadily growing interest in people posing with disco balls. What began as a mere glimmer of an idea in this very newsletter a month ago is now a cultural hub called Fuck Yeah Posing With Disco Balls, with ones if not fives or tens of drive-by viewers who get lured in whenever I post celebrities posing with disco balls. (Here’s Madonna! Here’s Daft Punk! Here’s Harry Styles! Here’s Daft Punk again!)
Now that my attention is attuned to this arena, I’ve spotted some interesting stuff. For instance, a production company called Thousand Deep recently produced an interactive installation called Light Leaks. What they did was, see, they piled a bunch of disco balls in the center of a big room, and then they uh, projected a bunch of lights at them. Oh sure, you might be thinking, that’s just the obvious thing to do if you have a pile of disco balls, but see, these folks got fancy about it:
Instead of projecting directly onto surfaces of a room like in typical projection mapping, artists Kyle McDonald & Jonas Jongejan aim millions of light pixels at the disco balls in an extremely precise way down to the millimeter. The resulting reflections off the disco balls become transforming and immersive patterns on every surface of the room. The artists accomplish this feat by conducting hundreds of light scans to capture the volumetric position of every pixel being projected. They then combine this data with a 3D model of the room to design evocative scenes of light patterns: what could be a glistening forest at night, a field of stars, and wherever else the viewer’s imagination drifts.
All this fanciness enabled some top notch posing with disco balls. See for yourself: here’s a promo video for the event, and you can see snapshots from the event here and here. In a just world, this would inspire heroic feats of competition until a veritable tower of disco balls rose unto the heavens with space lasers reflecting off it from all sides. But there is no justice here.
Meanwhile, FYPWDB also recently featured a model named Nicky, in a photograph entitled “Nicky - Has a Big Bowl of Fruity Pebbles on a Disco Ball Encircled By His Favorite Shoes, Posters, Beauty Products & Cereals in The Business Corner of His Bedroom at His Mom’s House.jpg.“ So I’m covering the whole spectrum here as you can see.
Scottovision, pt 2
This week they announced the nominees for this year’s Grammy Awards, and of the six nominated music videos, I’ve only seen one - “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X. I hadn’t even heard of one of the six primary artists let alone seen the video. Anyway, here are six music videos that were not nominated for a Grammy.
“Count On Me” by Brockhampton (2021) - Speaking of Lil Nas X, he and Dominic Fike star in this video as a couple who head out into the woods to drop acid and get freaky. And behold, a little freakiness ensues. Directed by Kevin Abstract and Dan Streit.
“Starbeam (Extended Mix by Shocklee)” by William Orbit (2021) - Speaking of Grammys, multiple Grammy-winner William Orbit is back after a seven-year hiatus with a surprise EP on the esteemed deep house label Anjunadeep. I became a fan of Orbit’s after nicking his 1990 album Strange Cargo II from the radio station I worked at in college (stealing CDs = OG file-sharing) and lost track of him after Madonna’s 1998 Ray of Light album, as he ascended into ever loftier circles as a producer for Blur, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, etc. Turns out his hiatus was nearly a tragic one, but he’s back in action, with an excellent melodic track and pleasingly psychedelic visuals as accompaniment.
“Dreamland” by Glass Animals (2020) - Glass Animals was nominated for a Grammy this year in the Best New Artist category, even though their first record came out in 2014 (you might know their track “Gooey“) and their second appeared in 2018 (short-listed for the Mercury Prize). This video was not nominated, however. It was shot and released in spring of 2020, and is one of the most charming of the many music videos I saw that appeared in response to pandemic lockdowns around the world. Directed by Colin Read.
“PoW!” by FEMM (2016) - FEMM is said to stand for Far East Mention Mannequins, and this Japanese dance-pop duo is described as “mannequins with emotions.” They can rap and dance, but they can’t talk, as an interview on MTV Germany awkwardly demonstrates. This video didn’t grab me at all the first time I saw it, but once I understood the set-up better, I wound up binging their whole video catalog recently (as you do) and this became my favorite of their output. Directed by Midori Kawano.
“Spectre” by Para One (2021) - This is actually a trilogy of videos about an apparent scientific experiment in a home brew laboratory: “Shin Sekai” and “Alpes” show us the first two subjects, and “Sundial” shows us the volatile third. They’re each hooked up to gear that can apparently interpret and display very crude versions of the subconscious images that swirl in their minds while they sleep. Think of these music videos as more of an extended meditation when viewed in series; the music is reminiscent of Boards of Canada, there’s no narrative or action to speak of, but you definitely go places. Directed by William Laboury.
“The Joker” by Fatboy Slim featuring Bootsy Collins (2010) - I only learned this recently: apparently Fatboy Slim and Bootsy Collins recorded a cover of a Steve Miller Band song?? Then they released a video for it starring a flock of adorable kittens??? Ahh, but the result: magic!! Directed by Jon Watts, who would go on to direct the small independent film Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Exit Music
In case you’re considering taking SURVEY #1, I thought I’d end this issue with a review of what I intended to accomplish with this newsletter.
The pandemic amplified my introversion, which is a very minor problem to have all things considered. During the general lockdowns and my own extended lockdown thereafter, I managed to be very productive, writing two books, rewriting a third, and finishing a screenplay revision. To recharge my brain for new creative activities, I used hobby time to broaden the scope of media that I was absorbing, to go deeper in some areas than I expected, and for a long while I had the depressing feeling that this was a dead end endeavor. It’s the scourge of ingrained capitalism that demands even my so-called luxury time has to feel productive in some way, but there it is.
As I kept up with other author newsletters, I realized I didn’t yet and might not ever have a career that could fill a regular newsletter with personal updates, not when I’m only publishing (if I’m lucky) once a year. I’m not experienced enough to write a craft-focused newsletter and several really good ones are already out there. But other newsletters that I enjoy - the particular favorite for me here is Web Curios - offered inspiration and structure, pointing me toward the current format of media recommendations as the main event and a few personal updates along the way. I’m curious to know what you think so far.
Sending out media recommendations to beta readers, even if nearly all of you are friends, is no substitute for personal connection, of course. I’m slowly negotiating my way back to reality on that front. In the meantime, I hope you stick around for more episodes of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU. We’re still just in the prototype stage here.
Sending you off with a track that I like to close downtempo sets with. It’s a glorious cover of a James Blake tune:
“The Wilhelm Scream” by The Bamboos featuring Megan Washington
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto