276 - black mirror ⬛🔲
a guide to a mirror most black!
Hey there, !
BLACK MIRROR Season 7 has come out and it's a great return to form imho. Not that it was necessarily bad in the intervening seasons but the new episodes have given me some of the nostalgic feels of me having watched it ages ago and what I fell in love with, and served as a wonderful reminder to get the creative juices flowing for other projects as well (I mean...a choose your own adventure will hopefully be starting on this newsletter soon...!)
The premise of Black Mirror is the exploration of technology's side-effects in society, or on people (the black mirror referring to the 'black mirror' screens of tv's, phones and monitors that surround us). Each season is a series of independent stories that explore this in some way - some more focused on tech, some more focused on character, but all on really interesting conflicts.
Since they're mostly independent, I thought it would be good to do some recommendations of specific episodes if you haven't watched the series, with some...tasting notes, perhaps. If you have seen these, then I'm keen to hear your thoughts about them too!
Here's a few different lists curated based on what you might care about:
"It's scary and I'm scared of watching scary things" - one of the most common refrains I've heard about Black Mirror, especially as the endings are often depressing af and turn to the more tragic side of things. If that's the case, then try these episodes:
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Hang the DJ (Season 4 Episode 4) - what if you knew how long your relationship would last for? Would you fight for it, or resign yourself to your fate?
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San Junipero (Season 3 Episode 4) - how do you make an ultimate choice about your consciousness living forever? (note: this episode won 2 Emmy's and is one of the most universally loved episodes of Black Mirror)
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Hotel Reverie (Season 7 Episode 3) - a movie that is being 'recreated' through a simulation - what happens when the ai wakes up?
"I wanna watch some weird shit" - Black Mirror is probably best known for some extremely 'out there' episodes of tv, which definitely defy norms of what's nice to watch.
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The National Anthem (Season 1 Episode 1) - just as an fyi, this is not very technology-driven, and the rest of the series does not follow along this kind of path, but you want some weird stuff? Here you go - a princess is captured in London, and the ransom requires the prime minister to sacrifice himself in a very public way.
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Striking Vipers (Season 5 Episode 1) - again, a weird storyline, but a very interesting watch; people experiencing fighting games as an escape...but what else are they escaping from in their life?
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USS Callister (Season 4 Episode 1) - kinda a Star Trek knock-off, but it won 4 Emmy's and is the only episode that's had a direct sequel so far! A really screwed up look into how technology can empower techies in, well, pretty bad ways. Very humorous as an episode too though!
"The cool tech episodes" - the ones that have inventive uses of technology (in my opinion) and are able to give some really interesting points of view
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Nosedive (Season 3 Episode 1) - you might have heard of this one, but it's about a world where people rate other people. A bit on the nose in terms of what it's trying to comment on, but the use of the tech was very interesting, especially as it came out around the time when we first started hearing about China's social credit score system.
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The Entire History of You (Season 1 Episode 3) - this one was one of my favourite episodes that got me hooked on the whole concept of Black Mirror; a near-future scenario where your memories are recorded and can be played back at any time.
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Be Right Back (Season 2 Episode 1) - as depressing as this one becomes, it's a really interesting early look at what might happen if a person's social media could be cobbled together to become a consciousness. Grief is a recurring theme for Black Mirror and this one is no exception.
"Gimme the horror" - genre-bending from sci-fi and speculative fiction, blending in some horror tropes and situations. Some fun, some campy, some scary. Choose at your risk:
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Playtest (Season 3 Episode 2) - a VR horror simulation that is personalised to you. How freaky can it get!?
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Black Museum (Season 4 Episode 6) - this episode makes a lot oof references to previous storylines, but can still be watched on its own. It's creepy, it's scary, but has a very satisfying ending.
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Demon 79 (Season 6 Episode 5) - a campy storyline about a demon who forces a woman to make 3 sacrifices in 3 days to save the world. Many horror tropes, but in actual fact a really fun time.
Vince's favourites - 'nuff said; I love anything that's a bit more sci-fi but taps into showing the humanity of the characters. Good storytelling goes without saying :D
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Beyond the Sea (Season 6 Episode 3) - this one stayed with me for a while. Two astronauts who can transfer their consciousness' back down to Earth clone bodies...when unfortunately one of theirs gets destroyed. The character work in this episode was insanely good, and coupled with the tech implications of it - an absolutely brilliant watch.
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Fifteen Million Merits (Season 1 Episode 2) - one of the first I ever watched (obviously), but also one that stayed lodged in my brain; the story pinwheeled every which way and I loved experiencing every minute of it.
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Eulogy (Season 7 Episode 5) - one from the most recent season...a guided walk through a person's memories of an ex-girlfriend (that they could not remember the face of). This one I absolutely loved due to Paul Giamatti's performance, as well as the core heart of the story which was coming to terms with regret and missed opportunities. The humanity and connection was so understandable and clear, yet never overtly stated. One of my favs from the latest season.
Other honorable mentions:
- Bandersnatch - if you have Netflix, it's a really cool 'choose your own adventure' episode that leads you down the path of a game programmer trying to code a game. Sounds boring, was very inventive and I don't think I've seen anything like it since?
- Joan is Awful (Season 6 Episode 1) - extremely meta episode, great performances :D What if Netflix personalised tv shows to your life? SPECIFICALLY, your life.
Chat soon :)
📋Today's Question
✔️Real Life Recommendations
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Ilza Cafe - wonderful little Japanese brunch/lunch cafe in Box Hill South; has a lot of udons, and dons, and sandos that you'd expect, but made brilliantly. I had some beef intercostal don which was very flavourful and very umami. Highly recommended!
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Can highly recommend both Paul Williams and Tom Cashman, the two Taskmaster assistants for NZ and AU respectively - both their shows are incredible and very funny. Paul has a more personal, musical set, and Tom's got a fun powerpoint presentation on observations and weird ways he thinks about life. Perfect assistant comedy.
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Intentionally making close friends - I loved reading this, because it was so well-written, full of practical advice, and a level of clearness in explanation that implies a high level of believability. I know it sounds silly to read an article on how to make friends but this is the kind of post I would have wanted to write!
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Old Vintage Computing Research: The April Fools joke that might have got me fired - this was a fun read of university level pranks on early age computers.
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Middle-Aged Man Trading Cards Go Viral in Rural Japan Town - one of my favourite articles from this week; imagine cracking packs for old men in your town!! SUCH A FUN IDEA.