6.28.26 my jarona

This month was pretty light in terms of stuff I'd engaged with, though there's still some fascinating things worth discussing, so let's start with the most important one:

Without spoiling too much, I would say that this chapter kind of slowed down the momentum of the game's story a tad bit and some of the humor didn't feel as fresh and natural as it did in previous chapters. I still enjoyed it overall for the character development on display, the unique gameplay styles that it experimented with and several new characters providing a good of amount of psychological intrigue. While this chapter wasn't directly about Kris, I was able to pick up on enough subtle details and subtext surrounding them that I might make an addendum to my initial Kris analysis eventually. Stay tuned for that maybe!

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This album doesn't have as much of the ethereal art pop that I liked from CLEARING, but I did enjoy the bright and cheesy 80s synthpop vibes that Hyd incorporates into their sound this time around. This dramatic shift in their style really speaks to how they were just as influenced by that sort of expressive pop music as SOPHIE was, whose death and the aftermath of it was a primary lyrical focus for this record.

Fav Tracks: Angel, Grounded, Physical Stuff, Makeover, Watch You Cry

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I honestly expected myself to like this album more considering how it was heavily inspired by new jack swing, though the mixing often feels like it doesn't prioritize its chord progressions enough to have that much of an impact for me. I guess I'm too used to mixes of dance music that pull you into their sonic world rather than ones that are more focused on being percussive, though that could change as I broaden my palette.

Fav Tracks: Junk Band, Rip Swan, Sip Flavored Air, Trauma John, Don't Cry It's Only Music

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Since I've been meaning to get more into funk and R&B, I've been looking for albums that have a certain lush vibe to them that are also very danceable. While the general sound of this record is very consistent, it's also very understated in a way that I think adds a lot of tender atmosphere to the general experience. I'll definitely get into more R&B soon!

Fav Tracks: Forget Me Nots, Number Ones, Breakout!, Remind Me, (She Will) Take You Down to Love

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Nowadays, music biopics have a bad rep for essentially being summaries of a musician's career without any specific perspective or angle added to them to make them interesting. Fortunately, this film's portrayal of Mozart feels very fresh in how it calls attention to his irreverent personality, allowing it to contrast with his ubiquitous musical talent. I think that Amadeus stands above most other music biopics in that Mozart is an old enough musician to not have his life as obsessively documented as many modern musicians, so it feels much fresher to recount his life on film as a result.

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I was motivated to watch this because I was fascinated by its horror-musical premise, though I was ultimately disappointed by how unpleasantly inconsistent the tone and pacing was to the point where it was hard for me to be really engaged by its plot by the end. Despite me being wowed by its mix of practical and digital effects, everything happening felt so disconnected from each other that I really couldn't get into it...

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This starts out as a pretty interesting character study of two sisters torn apart by fame, but as it goes on, its horror mainly seems to stem from how abusive Jane can be to her disabled sister Blanche. While the ending portrays them both as being in the wrong for treating each other poorly, it still feels unfair how much of the film consists of Jane being the real abusive one. She kicks a wheelchair user to the ground for Christ's sake!

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I know a lot of people are calling this film corny, but I liked the way that it demonstrated how empathy influences people through its supernatural depiction of the concept pushed to its furthest psychic extreme. Despite this, I did find it strange how the presence of aliens with such transcendent powers could only be disclosed through the use of traditional news outlets, but I guess Spielberg has that much faith in humanity that our flawed systems could amount to something truly important one day. I don't know if I fully believe that, but it's nice to at least be reminded of our capacity for empathy despite being stuck in these systems. Emily Blunt was awesome here too!

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That's all for this month! And by the way: I'm gonna start hosting a biweekly radio show next Monday at 1PM EST! Click here to stream it...