🎽 my fashion sense is a little whack

s3e8: ‌a dictator, a bright gloom, a monospaced despair, and some sand

I mean, what else could you possibly want in a week of entertainment. If all you take away today is what’s in the ToC, I’ve done my job. Also… testing out a little visual element for the ToC… let me know what you think…

While I don’t really do a lot of “writing” myself in this newsletter, I’m working on an essay for the weekend edition. If you enjoyed my interview with Adam, are the type to listen to albums, and like the style of music we cover here in sonic vibrations and willful listening, you might enjoy it. That’s probably a week or two away still though. For now, lets get to the week.

New Shows

📺 Shōgun S1 (Hulu) — 27 Feb

Shogun was my number six most anticipated show of 2024. I think I may have even had it on my list for 2023 before it was pushed back. Early reviews are looking quite good as well.

📺 The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin S1 (Apple) — 29 Feb

Getting strong Our Flag Means Death vibes from this one. Maybe even a Dickinson meets One Piece kind of thing going on? But British. I’m hoping it delivers on all of those comparisons, because if it does, it’ll be sneaky good.

📺 The Regime S1 (HBO) — 3 March

Speaking of most anticipated shows, this was number two for me! Kate Winslet’s last foray in an HBO limited series, Mare of Easttown, was superb, and I expect much the same here. The Regime was created by Will Tracy who wrote The Menu and is going to pen the next Yorgos Lanthimos/Emma Stone flick. Don’t miss this one.

Mini-Review

The Vince Staples Show (Netflix) S1

• Finished all five episodes of this mini-series starring the titular rapper, Vince Staples, this past weekend.
• This show sits in a weird void of being something I think I enjoyed, but it’s hard to recommend.
• Each episode is a surreal vignette in the day of the life of Vince and while nothing is laugh out loud funny, the sense of humor gelled with me.
• The show got better with each episode, but the first episode still does a good job of showing you what you’ll get throughout the entire season if you feel like giving it a shot.

 3/5

The Schedule

Days based on streaming availability for the majority of people

Tuesday

• Death and Other Details (Hulu) 1:8
• Constellation (Apple) 1:4

Wednesday

• The New Look (Apple) 1:5
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney) 3:4
• Shōgun (Hulu) 1:1-2

Thursday

• Feud (Hulu/FX) 2:6
• The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (Apple) 1:1-2

Friday

• Masters of the Air (Apple) 1:7

Sunday

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) 12:5
• Last Week Tonight (HBO) 11:3
• The Regime (HBO) 1:1

Release of the Week

💽 GLOOM DIVISION by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

This is my first time listening to idkWHY and it struck a pretty strong chord with me. Definitely a strong 70’s and 80’s thing going on here, which is typically not my vibe, but it works here. There’s an operatic indie pop sensibility that works. I get whiffs of a funk-infused Cobra Starship, without being quite as overtly boistrous.

Favorite Track: WHAT LOVE?

Runner-Ups

💽 Looking Past Red Flags by Sitting on Stacy

Some fun modern day pop-punk. There’s not really a lot going on with the instrumentation with the exception of some fun, basic guitar riffs that help elevate the summery pop-punk vocals and lyrics reminiscent of Phantom Planet meets Lit with a sprinking of Sublime’s reggae-tinged guitar and some ska horns at times.

Favorite Track: I Need a Nap

💽 Yours Until the War is Over by Amigo the Devil

I thought this was going to be something special. The first half read a lot like Tom Waits, briging a dark, jazzy, grumbliness, meets John Prine, and his folksy storytelling, combined with a tiny hint of spanish guitar flickering in the background. The second half ended up being more straight folksy, which resulted in the overall record falling a bit flat for me. But those first couple of tracks…

Favorite Track: It’s All Gone

Other Releases

• 💽 The Past is Still Alive by Hurray for the Riff Raff
• 💽 1 2 3 4 by Modern English
• 💽 Head Body Connector by Psymon Spine
• 💽 Mercy by Remo Drive
• 💽 Zero Grace by Liam Bailey
• 💽 Loss of Life by MGMT
• 💽 Daniel by Real Estate
• 💽 Love to You, Mate by Colouring
• 💽 When it Touches the Heart, Everything Resolves by Hungover
• 💽 Filthy Underneath by Nadine Shah

Bits and Bobs

• 🎶 Like a Ribbon by John Glacier
• 🎶 little vice by Cavetown
• 🎶 Fantasies by Bombay Bicycle Club

No new #1’s this week…

the best

📕 W0rldtr33 (Image) #8

James Tynion IV is back with his first issue since the announcement of his Tiny Onion production company. w0rldtr33 has me captivated more than any of his previous books—it almost feels like a culmination of a lot of that stuff—technology, conspiracy, a group of friends coming together with crazy stakes and of course, a James stand-in.

📗 Rare Flavours (Boom) #4

Anything Ram V does is worth reading. It’s such a delight to get stories that are clearly not American. V does such a great job at putting you in India without making you feel like a foreigner trying to pick up the pieces.

📘 Phantom Road (Image) #9

Jeff Lemire is the unsung hero of comics—and this feels like a pretty under-the-radar book for him, which is surprising given Gabriel Walta is drawing the heck out of it.

📙 Newburn (Image) #15

And finally, the penultimate issue of Newburn from Chip Zdarsky and Jacob Pillips. I was really hoping this would be a book where they’d drop issues for years to come, but it doesn’t appear that will be the case… Still a great book, that will collect beautifully.

the rest

• Ice Cream Man (Image) #38
• Monstress (Image) #49
• Duke (Skybound) #3
• The Ribbon Queen (AWA) #8
• Godzilla: War for Humanity (IDW) #4
• Crashdown (Whatnot) #2
• Undiscovered COuntry (Image) #28

the big two

• Detective Comics (DC) #1082
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold (DC) #10
• Avengers: Twilight (Marvel) #3
• The Immortal Thor (Marvel) #7
• Wolverine (Marvel) #44

🎥 Dune: Part Two

Early reviews seem positive, if not too dissimilar from Part One. I love the first installment, but it felt like half a movie. I have a feeling this will come across the same. That’s all pretty dissapointing, but at least I’ll be seeing this one on the big screen.

🎥 Problemista

I’m not familiar with Julio Torres or his work on Los Espookys, but anyone who comes out swinging like this in their first feature debut deserves a look. Torres is not only writing, directing, and starring in this, but he somehow got Tilda Swinton too.

🎥 Spaceman (Netflix)

I was pretty excited by the prospect of this film as Sandler seems to be taking bigger swings when working outside the Sandler Comedy Circus. Reviews seem to be middling, but this sounds like a pretty out-there, serious role without much humour at all. That probably explains some of the reviews so if you go in expecting a dour time with zero laughs, maybe it’ll work.

While last week’s Release of the Week, PRATTS & PAIN by Royal Otis was excellent, regretfully, we did not spend enough time talking up LAFANDAR by Heems & Lapgan. If I were forced to choose my favorite, I’m honestly not sure which I’d go with. If you only skimmed the rest section of last weeks sonic vibrations, do yourself a favor and give LAFANDAR a proper listen. I promise it will be worth your time.

I feel like I’m finally finding a pretty good groove with these issues lately. Took me long enough.

foofaraw[+] is likely going to be officially launched next week. If you enjoy the newsletter and want a way to support these media guides and friday contributors, that’ll be the best way and it’ll get you three issues (T-TR) of links with analysis and commentary around media and entertainment.

I’m also working on some new stuff to make that support even more valuable so keep an eye out.

Stay sane,

—humdrum

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