#86: "enthusiasm through these internet tubes"
Welcome to issue #86 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU. You know, friends, my great-great-granduncle Angus founded the spiritual predecessor to this newsletter back in 1851. Angus made his first fortune running a gambling riverboat up and down the Mississippi River, and to promote his enterprise, he published a broadsheet that was distributed across nearly the entire ragtag fleet of riverboats in operation at the time.
It was called THIS NEWS-PAPER WILL NOT SAVE YOU AND IN FACT WOULD MURDER YOU FOR TWO PENNIES.
Known far and wide for its unsavory journalism, its salacious gossip, and its infamous page four riverboat floozies, the paper lasted eighty-five issues before Angus set his own printing press on fire while high on a cough syrup that he’d concocted, containing alcohol, morphine, chloroform, and belladonna - a formula that would eventually be copied and marketed to the public as “vitamin water.”
As we release issue #86 into the wild - one more issue than ol’ great-great-granduncle Angus managed to publish - we tip our hat to that irascible old pioneer. While Angus would not be pleased to learn that history swallowed him up without so much as a Wikipedia page to commemorate him, at least here, in an email newsletter that will itself someday vanish without a trace, we can temporarily keep the boiler lit.
Okay, enough bullshit, let’s get started.
Scottovision
“Pubert Jimbob” (2024) - A man is lured into a surreal night on the town in this dark animated short film from Quirijn Dees. The dreamlike atmosphere is penetrated by some unnaturally sharp moments, but somehow Pubert Jimbob keeps himself above the fray if not out of trouble.
“Billions / The Wolf / Wonder” (2026) - The new EP by indie band half•alive is accompanied by three music videos that stitch together into one experience, showcasing the band - now down to a duo after their drummer left the group - alongside a pair of dancers to give us a complex, choreographed tour of the rat race, in a certainly more compelling form than the actual experience. Dance has always been a part of the band’s presentation layer, to the point where choreographers have been mistaken for band members, so the dancing here is no mere afterthought; it’s always worth taking a look at the latest half•alive video.
“Bear” (2011) - Stuntman and director Nash Edgerton delivered this tale of a surprise birthday treat that goes off the rails. It’s the middle film of a trilogy of short films (you can watch them in any order) and this is the one I saw first, so I’m sharing it here out of affection. After watching this, you might also enjoy this behind the scenes clip. And if you’re so inclined, Spider is also available for your viewing enjoyment; Shark seems to be unavailable on free sites.
“Bass Mosaic” (2026) - Electronic musician Max Cooper continues his unparalleled run of excellent abstract music videos with this piece by visual artist Catmac. It’s an installment in Cooper’s Feeling Is Structure A/V project, an album with accompanying videos for each track; per Catmac, the theme of this one was “to create a dark, brutalist environment — an imposing architectural space that gradually transforms and evolves alongside the music.”
“Spanish Chica” (2026) - DJ/producer duo Mëstiza released this dance film promoting their album Spanish Chica, blending “traditional Spanish influences with Arabic inspiration and avant-garde electronic music.” Flamenco is the core language here, and the filmmaker writes, “Flamenco and Spanish folklore are living cultures. Rather than treating tradition as nostalgia, I wanted to explore it as something alive, evolving, and continuously transforming through new influences and generations.” Directed by Jaime Dezcallar, choreographed by Carmen Beltrán.
“Stairs” (2026) - Official description: “A newly engaged woman's life rapidly unravels after she becomes addicted to throwing herself down flights of stairs.” A deeply unsettling portrait, this veers beyond addiction, and while it’s hard to watch on occasion, it’s also fascinating. Written and directed by Riley Donigan.
“Sticky Notes” (2026) - Using only the iPhone Notes app and a synthesized voiceover, this animated short film tells the story of someone who discovers thousands of hand-drawn images on an iPhone that they’ve bought secondhand, giving them an intimate look at another person’s life in mid-collapse. Directed by Trim Lamba.
“The Scent of Beetroot and the People who Live Forever” (2026) - You see, a mad scientist invents an immortality potion, but it makes you mutate, and not everyone is keen on this arrangement. If I could force more enthusiasm through these internet tubes about this particular animated short film, believe me I would; I loved this weird look at a society that’s basically lost its collective mind. Directed and animated by Maren Wiese and Petra Stipetić.
“Rick On The Roof” (2025) - This documentary short film follows a man in Wales who becomes an unlikely hero to his neighborhood; after being evicted (unfairly in his opinion) from his home, he protests by moving to the roof of the house and living there for literal years. I admire Rick even if I don’t fully understand the compunction; this happened before the internet, for god’s sake, so what’s he doing up there all that time? Unreal. Directed by Isaac Atkin-Mayne.
“Not Efficient Penguin Donut Factory” (2025) - Self-explanatory.
Exit Music
Sending you out this issue with Tycho’s annual Burning Man sunrise set, called Transformation. It’s a largely downtempo affair for most of its runtime, before segueing into an upbeat dance conclusion. I’ve always wanted to hear one of these sets in person, but the likelihood of me attending the festival again is very slim; I’m not a hater, I just gave up camping on general principle.
Here's the YouTube playlist with (most of) this issue's recos. Please enjoy responsibly.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto
Scotto Moore is the author of WILD MASSIVE, BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES, and YOUR FAVORITE BAND CANNOT SAVE YOU.
See also:
Star Trek But It’s An Unhinged Foreign Film
The Architecture Of A Psychedelic Collapse
and
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