Recommends, Patreons of note.
Say, Fall is a busy time of year, isn’t it? Kids back in school, holidays on the horizon, days getting shorter, undead rising from the grave and such. At this point in the year, I find most weekends devoted to football, festivals, and battling the fine-weather-fueled wanderlust. Not to mention diligently trying to hotfoot the short film along and it’s getting there, I promise!
In the meantime, I thought I’d take a minute to curate some recommendations if you’re looking for some new mild obsessions.
If you’re not watching The Good Place already, stop reading right now and go do that. If you are watching, I’ll trust that you will make a point to rewatch the first two seasons. Otherwise maybe we gonna have problems, I dunno.
Maniac on Netflix is a gem. Cary Fukunaga’s sublime expedition through the quagmire of the human psyche brings a sharp, dioramic, polished visual style and struck me as a direct riposte to Noah Hawley’s Legion, which I also adore. I’d seen commentators say that it took an episode or two for the show to find it’s footing, but I was pretty locked in by the end of the first episode. I found Jonah Hill’s performance to be an open wound. Guess I have an affinity for popcorn problems. Love Sally Field and Gabriel Byrne. Justin Theroux never entirely alienated me, but felt like a hysteric Ed Wood character, occasionally channeling Gregory Peck or Ronald Reagan, which was fascinating to watch. And I would def watch six hours of Emma Stone as a drunk half-elf Ranger any day. If you like Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you’re probably game for this. And really, if there are any two guys I want to see duke it out for the crown of hypnagogic cinema, it’s Hawley and Fukunaga.
Better Call Saul is better than Breaking Bad, and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Besides, Guillermo del Toro got my back.
Crunchyroll has an enjoyable short doc called ‘He Was Anime‘ about Green Bay defenseman Mike Daniels Jr. who is a self-described “dork with muscles,” and I was def feeling it. The doc captured anime fandom’s inherent experience of discovery, affirmation, and cultivation of adolescent self-identity. This passion isn’t exclusive to anime of course, but I think is itself elemental to most forms of animation and why I’ve always elevated many forms of animation to high art, even when they might only exist to sell cheap imported toys. So watch more cartoons, they’re good for you.
Now, on to the subject of Patreons. While there are quite a few channels that I watch regularly, I’m pretty selective about tipping creators- mainly, because some garbage kickstarters have burned me in days past. But I like the concept of patronage, and so much great undiscovered content is still out there searching for an audience, so I empathize. Below are two creators that hope can keep doing their thing:
donoteat, specifically his Franklin Youtube series. Really, really, really love this. Anything that calls out Gene Kelly’s protest of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the war crimes of Thomas the Tank engine (and other train nerd porn), and concurrently delivers left-wing nutbar philosophy with Plinkett-style narration over insane-level Cities Skylines American History recreations is brilliant. Because if there’s anything better than actually playing video games, it’s watching dudes on Youtube play video games with clever commentary.
OKs Happy Hour is my other channel of note, which out of all the food/recipe channels I dig on, reminds me the most of college, old roommates and the culinary misadventures that ensued with both. Gabe and Dennis are chill dudes who can put away some liquor, provide entertaining commentary, and prepare mouth-watering severe comestibles and cocktails. The Pasta Bolognese is clutch. They been going hard for over five years at this point, but over the last two I’ve enjoyed watching them suffer for their art, hustle to grow their channel and get crazy with the cheese whiz. I hope they can keep at it, but I fear for their livers.
Also, catch this: