#8: "a wild, unhinged ride"
Welcome to issue #8 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU - the last issue of my trial run/"beta" period. Thanks for joining me as I experimented with format & content & alla that. I'm about to start promoting the newsletter a little bit, and you should feel free to do the same! I probably won't stop experimenting, of course, so anytime you've got feedback, I'm here for it.
Highlights from Scottoworld
This coming Tuesday, January 11, my debut novel BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES is released! You can join me and my friend K. Brian Neel for a virtual book launch event sponsored by Elliott Bay Book Company. If you happen to order your book through Elliott Bay, I'm likely sneaking over there to sign them prior to release. If you order a physical copy through some other means, we will likely offer bookplates with signatures. (I can't begin to tell you how weird it is to say stuff like that.)
There's a good chance that I'm going to migrate to Twitch after the book launch event and stream a selection of short videos for a while, if that adds any incentive. I have a block that's pretty surreal and zany that I might bust out.
Here's a very positive review of the book from an Australian book blogger. And here's something else that happened:
Trying to be low key in general about my book launch and in general I am instead VERY HIGH KEY about it.
Scottovision
While I sit and squirm waiting for my book to be released, I enjoyed distracting myself by carefully curating this issue's selection of video artifacts:
"Singing In The Rain" (2021) - Directed by Megaforce, a collective of four French directors who've done interesting music videos for the likes of Tame Impala, Metronomy, and Kid Cudi. Their vision for this commercial for Burberry was simple: a dance number to "Singing In The Rain," except replace "Rain" with "Hail" that the dancers have to contend with. The choreography is credited to (LA)HORDE, which reminds me...
"Room With A View" by Rone (2020) - French electronic musician Rone collaborated with (LA)HORDE on a show that ran just before the pandemic (this excerpt is fairly amazing). Featuring the cast of the show (the dancers of the Ballet National de Marseille), and set inside the show's venue (the Théâtre du Chatelêt in Paris), (LA)HORDE directed a gorgeous dance video that is among my top favorites of the past several years. Rone's videos are frequently memorable, and this is no exception.
"Mac and Cheese" (2021) - Checking in with my heroes at Meow Wolf Denver, sure enough here's another super weird short film for your enjoyment, a nostalgic look at the time the sun exploded or something. This clip was created by Alan Resnick, and if you haven't been introduced to Resnick's work, let me continue to correct that for you.
"What Codec Should I Use?" and "May I Please Enter" (2020, 2018) - Alan Resnick is a writer/director who frequently contributes weird and funny stuff to Adult Swim's lineup. Here are two of my favorites. In the first, learn what codec you should use, no really. In the second, the deadpan description reads, "A lonely cowboy attempts to enter a nice house. He is successful."
"The Raft" (2004) - Created by video artist Bill Viola. I can't say much about this intense abstract performance piece without spoiling it, other than you definitely need to be patient through the opening minutes for the magic to really unfold. There's method to it all for sure.
"Follow Me Around" by Radiohead (2021) - In this recent music video, some absolutely impressive drone-flying allows us to invade actor Guy Pearce's privacy to the point of nearly driving him insane. Directed by Us (Chris Barrett and Luke Taylor). Take a quick behind the scenes peek after you've seen it. Speaking of impressive drone-flying...
"At The End Of The Cul-de-Sac" (2017) - The trailer for this piece bills it as "the first short film shot from a drone in a single take." It's the story of a man having a public meltdown in a residential cul-de-sac, and the consequences he must face. Writer/director Paul Trillo explains how it worked in this quick behind the scenes peek. Speaking of shooting in one take...
"Say Something" by Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton (2018) - On the off chance you're not one of the nearly 400,000,000 views this music video's received, check this out: not only is this video shot in one continuous take, but the musicians in the video are performing the track live as well. The location is the Bradbury Building in LA, a spot that's popular with filmmakers; scenes from the original Blade Runner were set there. Directed by Arturo Perez Jr. for La Blogothèque.
"How to open a door" (1979) - If you're wondering how to open a door, this Finnish instructional video's for you. Even if you're comfortable opening doors, you'll appreciate this useful refresher in the subtleties of door opening, with a particular emphasis on the Finnish style of crossing a threshold. Enable subtitles if you don't know Finnish.
Bonus Material
In the stuff to read department:
I just discovered that the Panel Syndicate offers its entire catalogue of comics via "name your price." Founded by renowned comics writer Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Y: The Last Man, Paper Girls), Panel Syndicate is a digital comics distribution platform and content shop. The one I specifically wanted to tell you about is called Barrier, written by Vaughan himself with gorgeous artwork by Marcus Martin. It did get a beautiful oversize print run, but it's also been collected into friendly DRM-free formats for reading on your device of choice. Its description is simply: "An unconventional drama about violence, language and illegal immigration." But also there are space aliens. This is the same creative team that produced The Private Eye, which I can also recommend. Go forth and download.
I was dismayed to learn that A Comprehensive Guide To Navigating Parallel Dimensions is not a real book, just a cleverly designed fake. Look, this is info I need to know.
I'm halfway through There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm and holy moly is it good stuff. The premise: "An antimeme is an idea with self-censoring properties; an idea which, by its intrinsic nature, discourages or prevents people from spreading it." Now imagine monstrous horrors with antimemetic properties, editing themselves out of your memory or worse, and the near-helpless researchers that are trying to contain them. Riveting material here.
Exit Music
Sending you out with a disco-rock cover of an old R.E.M. song. It's !!! (Chk Chk Chk) with their version of "Man In The Moon." The simple vid is shot on the streets, in the parks, and on the ferries of NYC.
I've made a YouTube playlist featuring all the videos I've recommended in this newsletter, minus a couple that are only available on Vimeo; links to those two are provided in the playlist description for reference.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto