Last month, a blog post slightly shook the internet — or at least the YouTube cinema criticism corner of the internet, which probably amounts to about 40%. The post was by two people: Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos. And it reported the demise of their YouTube video essay series that, I would argue, reinvented the video essay for the modern age. (more…)

There ought to be a German compound word for ‘an artist working primarily in popular music, but for whom their music videos, album art, clothes, iconography and general sense of style are almost as important’.

‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ comes close, although that describes the art itself, not the artist. Anyway, if there isn’t a German word, there’s definitely an Icelandic one: Björk. But others include Madonna, Prince, Lady Gaga, Janelle Monae… and Canadian musician, songwriter, record producer and visual artist Grimes. (more…)

If you were to approach me (and you wouldn’t, but if you did) and say you wanted to make a video with you rapping in a park surrounded by 20 of your mates, I would tell you not to do it. And that’s not a reflection on your rapping skills. I mean, you might be terrible, but that’s not the point. Even if you were really good. I would tell you it’s a really bad idea. (more…)

Long overdue recommendation here. Anyone who’s looked at my social media over the last year or more will notice one name cropping up again and again: Simone Giertz. The Shitty Robot Queen. (more…)

Every once in a while I stumble on this spine-tinglingly good version of Gordon Lightfoot’s Song For A Winter’s Night again, recorded by Sarah McLachlan (Jesus!) over 20 years ago. It did the rounds of film and TV in the mid 90s, and even though I think I never actually had a copy of it, it’s just one of those songs you only need to hear once to have it lodged in your brain… pretty much for ever, really.

Current Favourite Part:
The beginning, the end, and the bit in the middle.

I’m basically pinching this as a recommendation, in which Patrick Willems, whose YouTube channel is great (check out ‘What if Wes Anderson Directed X-Men?’), gives some great suggestions on comic books for anyone who, like me, has hardly read any since childhood, but has meant to have another look and see if there’s anything you might like. This video does seem like a really good place to start.

Current Favourite Recommendation:
Bitch Planet.