[+] 07 May 2024

Well, well, well, we have a jam-packed issue with some stuff that I think is pretty important for you to check out. I've removed the paywall for this one and shot it out to the whole list. If you have no interest in these types of e-mails, I promise these free previews will be few and far between (please don't unsubscribe 😝). The last thing I want to do is inundate you with unwanted e-mails.

But if you dig it... consider upgrading and getting these in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday (with other fun things occasionally as well!)

They also aren't usually this long either. I went a bit overboard... Plus, we've got a new banner coming from Daniel Jurman soon too!

Let's get on with it!

Caitlin’s Clark’s WNBA Debut to Stream on Disney+

The game, which will see Clark’s Indiana Fever face off against the Connecticut Sun, is set for May 14, and will be the first (non-animated) live sports event on Disney+.

The Hollywood ReporterAlex Weprin

On May 14, Clark’s Indiana Fever will face off against the Connecticut Sun, and the Phoenix Mercury will face the Las Vegas Aces. Both games will stream on Disney+, the company says, and will also be available on ESPN+, and on ESPN2.

This is more of am ESPN+ tile kind of thing than sports coming to Disney+ given how integrated Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ are. Still, it's important to keep visibility on Caitlin Clark and women's basketball while there's some hype. Hopefully it can build into something meaningful. If eyeballs come, networks will pay for the rights, and the women will get paid more.

Cindy Lee’s ‘Diamond Jubilee’ Is A Gift Worth Savoring | Defector

Sometimes listening to music is an attempt to return to the source of a feeling. For a while now, I’ve been convinced of the notion that you only ever experience any given feeling once. Each is distinct, specific to the time, place, and state of mind in which you have it and while you may […]

Defector homeNicholas Russell

“CD1” and “CD2” each contain 16 tracks captured through the pleasant mist of a phonograph, but every song functions as its own formal musical capsule—jaunty numbers reminiscent of doo-wop or psychedelic rock or DIY bedroom indie sometimes melting into stark, fragmented sonic tone poems. The cumulative effect of sitting with Diamond Jubilee, and it is a record deserving of at least one uninterrupted listen, is akin to floating through the very antecedents of rock n’ roll. A radio station is one useful evocation, though more often the record has the feeling of a rigorous and lovingly conceived mixtape made up of crate diggers' gems. 

I've been meaning to write about this Cindy Lee record for awhile now. I missed it when it was initially released and then it seemed to be all the rage on the Internet. Do yourself a favor and check it out on YouTube or GeoCities. Because it is great. Streamers be damned!

Furiosa First Reactions Say “It’s No ‘Fury Road’” But Still “Stunning” — World of Reel

No doubt worried about current box-office projections, which have it opening at around $35 million, last night Warner Bros decided to orchestrate a special screening of George Miller’s “Furiosa.”

World of ReelJordan Ruimy

Now, I wouldn’t take early social media reactions as gospel, but there seems to be real hope now that “Furiosa” will deliver. The response from last night’s screening was positive. The critics who tweeted something out last night include IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz, and The Atlantic’s Esther Zuckerman.

Furisoa is being called a visual stunner with “ferocious, wild and unrelenting” action and a story that “spans decades,” with strong performances from the two leads.

I knew this would be great. I was listening to The Town talk about "who asked for this sequel?" I did!!! Just look at the trailer. Stunning. And I know Hemsworth is already a star from Thor, but I think this is going to put him on the map post-Marvel (although he wants to do another Thor...)

Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz’s Dying Inside Free Comic Book Day First Look

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein, and Lisa Sterle have a graphic novel to preview, Dying Inside, from Vault Comics.

Bleeding Cool NewsRich Johnston

Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, Hannah Klein, and Lisa Sterle have a graphic novel to preview, Dying Inside, from Vault Comics.

Say what you will about Pete Wentz doing a comic... but I'm intrigued. He is the primary lyricist for FOB and writes some really poetic stuff if you can get past the weird metaphors (which I can). Vault has also been doing some cool stuff as of late.

Dropout’s newest game show asks who wants to be a... thousandaire?

‘Thousandaires’ premieres later this month

PolygonSusana Polo

It's just really fun to see Dropout continue to experiment and do new, fun things. I have a sub, but I don't really watch it given the content glut plus running foofaraw, but maybe I should start covering them a bit here.

Siân Heder to Adapt Bestseller ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow’

Siân Heder will direct the adaptation of bestselling novel ‘Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.’

IndieWireSamantha Bergeson

“Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” will be written by Mark Bomback, who penned the script based off a draft penned by author Zevin. The novelist will serve as an executive producer on the Paramount Pictures release.

I have the book and have been dying to read it, but even picking up a book, any book, as of late has been tough for me with all the stuff I'm trying to do here, with my day job, with some independent consulting, and the desire to read more magazines.

Anyways... exciting to see this get adapted. Heder's first movie, was an Oscar winner, but I had zero interest since it looked like it came from ABC Family. Hopefully she truly has the Oscar type chops to do magic with this script.

Confirmed: Netflix Scrapped David Lynch’s ‘Unrecorded Night’ Right Before it Was About to Shoot — World of Reel

It’s been seven years since David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return” changed the cultural landscape forever, but, more importantly, signaled the return of a true master. However, Lynch hasn’t directed anything since then.

World of ReelJordan Ruimy

In 2019, Lynch got back to work with a mysterious new project titled “Wisteria/Unrecorded Night". There was a rumor hinting that Lynch was partnering with Netflix for this one. Lynch veterans Naomi Watts and Laura Dern had even been spotted attending a meeting at Netflix headquarters with Lynch.

This was a COVID shut down, but still, why do they have to keep doing my guy Lynch like this?!?!

First this, then they pass on his animated show idea... at least he has some ideas for a Twin Peaks S4... which probably won't ever get made either... I'm really hoping we get one more splash from him while he's still kicking...

Bob Iger Details “Reduced” Marvel Output: “At Most” Three Films Per Year, Two Series

The Disney CEO explained his plans to reduce Marvel Studios’ output on the company’s earnings call.

The Hollywood ReporterAlex Weprin

The future of Marvel has been a hot-button topic for Disney, with the past few films underperforming. By reducing both film and TV output, Iger is suggesting that the company plans to make the films more of an event, rather than a quarterly obligation.

This doesn't really feel like reduced output to me... Let's go back to one show and two movies and see how things go? If you want people to miss you, you have to actually leave for a bit!

Hey, Disney Almost Broke Even from Streaming

Disney almost broke even from its streaming business from January to March 2024, when Disney+ added 6.3 million subscribers.

IndieWireTony Maglio

After an October 2023 price hike, the core Disney+ service lost 1.3 million subscribers. Not this time. From January-March 2024, it added 6.3 million subscribers — and its ARPU (average revenue per user) increased by 44 cents. Disney+ now has 117.6 million subs, not counting Disney+ Hotstar. More than half of those are outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Almost... 🙄🤣

Marvel Now Approving Series For Ten Issues At A Time

Talking to ICV2, Marvel Comics President Dan Buckley has clarified a change in Marvel Comics publishing decision-making.

Bleeding Cool NewsRich Johnston

I'm not going to say there won't be limited series, but I am at the moment approving some series for 10 issues at a time, not 4 or 5. Hopefully, I can get to 15 or 20. That is the intent. Because, to be honest, it's a lot of work on our editorial staff, too, to restart books all the time.

This is great news for the comic book world. Stories are already hampered by page count, but hopefully this will give creatives some room to really build out a story and get readers to trust in series' again too.

Netflix Acquires U.S. Rights to Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn’s Indie Series ‘Penelope’

The streamer will serve as the U.S. distributor to the independently financed and produced young-adult series co-written by Duplass and director Eslyn and executive produced by Jay Duplass and Shuli Harel.

The Hollywood ReporterAbbey White

Penelope, the pandemic-written, independently financed and produced young-adult series from co-creators Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn, has landed a distributor.  Netflix acquired U.S. rights to the series’ eight-episode first season, the duo announced Sunday while appearing at SeriesFest.

I feel like it's been forever since I've seen a Duplass joint. While this is YA, I bet it still delivers a quality story through it's eight episodes.

Government mutant team X-FACTOR returns in new ongoing series

Marvel has announced a new X-FACTOR ongoing series by writer Mark Russell and artist Bob Quinn arriving this August.

The BeatTaimur Dar

Today the publisher announced details for a new X-Factor ongoing series from writer Mark Russell and artist Bob Quinn. The first issue will feature a cover by Greg Land.

Fans of the X-Men spinoff title are well aware the X-Factor team concept has changed over the years. Originally a team of “mutant hunters” who in actuality train mutants to control their powers and reintegrate into society, X-Factor eventually became a government sanctioned team. Eventually in the early aughts the team returned to its investigation roots as a detective agency. In this new X-Factor ongoing series, the team will be co-led by Angel and Havok and include recruits like Pyro, Frenzy, Feral.

Including this to spotlight Mark Russell. He is one of those writers who does his own thing and really doesn't seem to give a damn about the corporate overlords. He consistently does his own anti-capitalist, socially conscious stories so it'll be amazing to see what he does within the X-office on X-Factor.

🎬 Trailers

This actually looks stunning...

📔 Reviews

Kamasi Washington: Fearless Movement

Read Andy Cush’s review of the album.

PitchforkCondé Nast

Sam Gendel / Sam Wilkes: The Doober

Read Dash Lewis’ review of the album.

PitchforkCondé Nast

Turtles All the Way Down movie review (2024) | Roger Ebert

Turtles All the Way Down is the opposite of tired, certain to find an audience in its targeted teens and tweens as well as delight the minds and hearts of those who may suspect themselves too old for it.

Roger EbertPeyton Robinson

Unfrosted movie review & film summary (2024) | Roger Ebert

Handsomely produced. Completely empty. Barely a laugh in sight.

Roger EbertMatt Zoller Seitz

🦕 More

AI manga translation start-up Orange gets $20 million in funding

AI-translation start-up promises to make more manga available in English than ever, and do it faster and cheaper too... but what’s the catch?

The BeatDeb Aoki

Ghostface Killah Enlists Nas, Raekwon, Method Man, and More for New Album

Set the Tone, the Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s formal follow-up to 2019’s Ghostface Killahs also has guest spots from Remy Ma, Fat Joe, Sheek Louch, and others

PitchforkCondé Nast

James Cameron and Ari Emanuel back Skydance bid for Paramount

Endorsements from Hollywood’s biggest names come as Sony and Apollo push rival $26bn offer

Mike Flanagan to Direct ‘Exorcist: Deceiver’ — World of Reel

Last night, Jeff Sneider had this exclusive. Mike Flanagan, who recently wrapped his 11th feature, “The Life of Chuck,” is going to direct the next two ‘Exorcist’ films, including “Exorcist: Deceiver.”

World of ReelJordan Ruimy

Julia Ducournau (‘Titane’) Set to Direct New Film, ‘Alpha’ — World of Reel

It turns out Julia Ducournau’s next film will be “Alpha.” The cast includes Golshifteh Farahani (“Paterson”) as well as César award-winning Tahar Rahim (“A Prophet”).

World of ReelJordan Ruimy

The animated sci-fi mystery Mars Express aims high and lands among the stars

The French animated film represents sci-fi storytelling at its best

PolygonToussaint Egan

EC Comics is coming back - here’s why it’s important that anthologies are returning to American comics.

Is it finally time for anthologies to make their rightful return to the American market?

PopverseChloe Maveal

Joseph Kosinski’s F1 Movie, Starring Brad Pitt, Has A $300+ Million Budget — World of Reel

Joseph Kosinski’s F1 movie, tentatively titled “Apex,” is continuing to film at Formula One events. Fresh off “Top Gun: Maverick,” Kosinski’s film stars Brad Pitt and is being produced by Apple.

World of ReelJordan Ruimy

Inventory Management Roguelite RPG Megaloot Revealed

Ravenage Games has a new inventory management game on the way unlike others you’ve played as Megaloot will be released sometime this year.

Bleeding Cool NewsGavin Sheehan

Marvel Wants Comics Buyers Coming In Every Wednesday Again

Marvel President Dan Buckley said “We have to find a way to get people in the habit of going to the stores more”

Bleeding Cool NewsRich Johnston

Soccer Mommy to Play New Songs at Intimate Solo Concerts

Sophie Allison will ditch the backing band for shows in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Nashville in the spring

PitchforkCondé Nast

Drake’s Security Guard Shot Outside Rapper’s Toronto Home Amid Kendrick Lamar Beef

Toronto police are investigating a drive-by incident that left a man seriously injured and in the hospital.

The Hollywood ReporterEtan Vlessing