#9: mercifully free of disco balls
Welcome to issue #9 of THIS NEWSLETTER CANNOT SAVE YOU, coming to you direct from the halls of my secret sanctum, the Corner Office in the Basement. If you're just joining our program, thanks for dropping by. Feel free to imagine energizing theme music playing for fifteen seconds after you opened this newsletter. Don't fret; I have a license to use that music.
Highlights from Scottoworld
BATTLE OF THE LINGUIST MAGES was released last Tuesday! So very happy to see it out in the world.
If you missed the virtual launch event we did with K. Brian Neel hosting, you can watch a video of the proceedings over on my YouTube channel. If you don't have time for that, you can watch my reading of chapter one from the event. If you don't have time for that, you can watch my Instagram promo of the book, which contains a one-minute excerpt of me reading chapter one. If you don't want to watch any of that business, you can also read all of chapter one over at Nerd Daily.
A couple of interviews with me went live since last I emailed you: one in Civilian Reader, the other in BookPage.
My favorite reviews so far are from book bloggers, betty's biblioteca and Fi's Bibliofiles. The book also received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, a couple of great reviews that are sadly behind paywalls, and a great review from BookPage which included the pullquote: "Battle of the Linguist Mages reads like Noam Chomsky and Judith Butler conceived a metaphorical child while high on LSD and blasting Skrillex in a basement." My work here is finished.
Scottovision
But let us not forget our mission to deliver a lovingly curated selection of video artifacts for your consideration and enjoyment. Who knows what excitement is in store? Read on, gentle reader, read on.
"Everything" by Max Cooper (2022) - The biologist/geneticist-turned-electronic musician Max Cooper has a new album coming out in March, and he's recruited a who's who of video artists to create music videos for every track on the album. The first one dropped earlier this week, a depiction of what appears to be an archetypal human being experiencing all of time and history at once. Or something. Directed by Nick Cobby, who directed several of Max's recent videos, as well as the gorgeous abstract music video "Half Light" by Brecon.
"Halo" (2022) - This video is an excerpt from a currently unreleased immersive project called "Hypnos" produced by Julia Set Lab, whose mission statement is "to blur the boundaries between documentary and art, science and nature, everyday life and dreams." I don't know if it's photography or computer animated or both or what, I just know you stare at it and it's pretty. Directed by Julia Set Lab founder Sandro Bocci.
"MeTube: August sings Carmen 'Habanera'" & "MeTube 2: August sings Carmina Burana" (2013 & 2016) - In these two wild short films, opera singer August Schram sings pieces from the repertoire while his mother instigates all manner of unpredictable hijinks in the background. Written & directed by Daniel Moshel. There's a third one in the series, which pivots to a darker tone if you're up for that sort of thing.
"Until There Was Nothing" (2020) - Director Paul Trillo takes us on a highly psychedelic tour around an increasingly distorted world, while Alan Watts pontificates about nothingness.
"Judgment Bolt" by death's dynamic shroud (2022) - The new track by death's dynamic shroud - an excellent tune that's vaguely reminiscent of the days when rocktronica was a thing - receives a deeply trippy & abstract music video that just keeps unfolding in new directions throughout the entire length of it. If you like the track, they give away their entire catalog over on Bandcamp.
"UMWELT" (2020) - A disturbing & surreal little short film from Jess Johnson & Simon Ward. Anonymous human-like forms trudge endlessly through a labyrinth, unware that their eventual demise lurks around every corner. There is no safety in numbers.
"Vesak" (2021) - Director Ina Chen depicts a futuristic version of the Buddhist festival Vesak: "A monk carries out annual prayer rites at the Quantum Temple. Artifacts that belong to the past and foretell the future swirl overhead in a hyper-fictional topography made up of hill fort homes, geodesic monuments, haunting projections, and gigantic fish."
"Bear" (2011) - Australian stuntman turned director Nash Edgerton created this demented little short film about a surprise that goes horribly wrong. The film screened at Cannes in 2011 but just got a nice cleaned up online release last year.
"Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time" (2020) - Official description of this film: "A former cult member is invited to a journalistic experiment: to hear music for the first time. You won’t believe her reaction." The film screened at Sundance in 2020. Directed by Kristoffer Borgli.
Exit Music
Leaving you with singer/songwriter Rosie Thomas and her cover of Björk's "All Is Full Of Love," which starts as a simple acoustic number and steadily builds to a vocally-driven crescendo. Guest vocals include Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Iron & Wine, and maybe a dozen others.
I've made a YouTube playlist featuring all the videos I've recommended in this newsletter for your convenience. Let's give a big round of applause to non-algorithmic media discovery.
Until next time, I remain your friendly correspondent, thinking of you,
Scotto