Now This
-
“Here Comes the Night Time” – Arcade Fire
Good night š
-
Exit 8 (2026)
Liminal spaces, often empty, sterile, fluorescent-lit rooms and hallways, represent places of in-between, of transition, or on the threshold of one state of being to another, and seem to be a growing theme in movies, especially with the recent A24 release Backrooms (2026) which solely focuses on these places. Increasingly, viewers want to take a deep look into these spaces and process the eeriness. Often, these are rooms or hallways that we pass through quickly, without giving them much thought, but when the Lost Man (played by Kazunari Ninomiya, known from 2006’s Letters from Iwo Jima) gets stuck in a subway station, he realizes he must take a closer look…
-
“Power and Glory” – Phil Ochs
American music I love ā¤ļøš¤š
-
“American Music” – Violent Femmes
And yes, I do like American music… happy 4th! š„
-
“Love Plus One” – Haircut 100
Released in 1982, “Love Plus One” was a single from the album Pelican West from Haircut One Hundred. The band was formed in Beckingham, LondonĀ in 1980 by singer-songwriter and guitarist Nick Heyward and bassist Les Nemes. The song “Love Plus One” is known for being one of the great one hit wonders of the 80s, even landing at 90 in VH1’sĀ 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s. I haven’t done an inventory of my favorite one hit wonders of the 80s, but I have a feeling it would be much higher on my list, because “Love Plus One” is such an 80s gem, and to me, this song and…
-
Seven Samurai (1954)
Often hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, Seven Samurai (äøäŗŗć®ä¾, Shichinin no Samurai) is writer and director Akira Kurosawa’s tale of a village aimed to defend themselves from marauding bandits. Based on an account from the Edo period of samuraiĀ defending a farming village from bandits, Seven Samurai takes place in a mountain village of farmers in the year 1586. When farmers overhear a gang planning to raid their village once their crops are ready, they take the matter to the village elder, Gisaku, who suggests hiring samurai who will take food as payment. Thus begins their quest to find seven samurai who can protect their village.…
-
“On Your Mind” by FKA twigs (feat. Lil Yachty)
FKA twigs just released a video for “On Your Mind” featuring a rooftop dance battle complete with a full cast of dancers. The video was directed by Jordan Hemingway with choreography by Ebony Williams. āIt never ceases to amaze me how pain can manifest into the hardest and most euphoric sonics,ā twigs writes about the song. āI think making songs like this keeps me on my toes and reminds me that I am not in control.ā
-
Music to Create To: Nicolas Jaar’s BBC Essential Mix 2012
As I spend more time practicing with oil pastels, I’ve been looking for good music to create to, typically going for something moody or something with a good flow. But this week I’ve been going back to something that has both, one of my favorite Nicolas Jaar mixes, the BBC Essential Mix from 2012. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone mix music as masterfully as Nicolas Jaar does, it’s done so well and the music is so good that it just sounds close to perfection. Hear the mix below or on SoundCloud here.
-
Drive My Car (2021)
After YÅ«suke Kafuku’s wife dies, he must navigate his way through a world without her. The movie starts two years prior to this, where we are introduced to the couple in the opening scene of Drive My Car, where actor and director YÅ«suke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and his wife Oto (Reika Kirishima), a screenwriterĀ who brainstorms story ideas with her husband during the afterglow of sex. At this time in his life, YÅ«suke performs in a multilingual theater production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and the film switches between scenes in the play and the complications building in YÅ«suke’s real life, touching on parallels between the two. Two years later,…
-
“Morning Has Broken” by Cat Stevens and Eleanor Farjeon
The song “Morning Has Broken” was based on a traditional Scottish GaelicĀ tune called “Bunessan,” a song named for the village ofĀ BunessanĀ on theĀ Isle of Mull. It was then set to lyrics by authorĀ Eleanor Farjeon, who was known for writing children’s stories, poetry, plays, and more. This version, with Farjeon’s lyrics, was first published as a hymn in 1931 in the second edition of the hymnal Songs of Praise. However, it was this cover by Cat Stevens, recorded in 1971, that brought much wider recognition to the song.
