[MEDIA-LOG-002]
terminal\user\jem\media\music
Recently added to Boys in the Walls
- Lovin’ You by Minnie Riperton
- The Giver by Chappell Roan
- The Only Thing by Sufjan Stevens
- Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens
- All of Me Wants All of You by Sufjan Stevens
- Should Have Known Better by Sufjan Stevens
- Death with Dignity by Sufjan Stevens
- Futile Devices by Sufjan Stevens
- The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! by Sufjan Stevens
- Casimir Pulaski Day by Sufjan Stevens
- Chicago by Sufjan Stevens
- Jacksonville by Sufjan Stevens
- Come On! Feel the Illinoise! (Part I: The World’s Columbian Exposition Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream) by Sufjan Stevens
- John Wayne Gacy, Jr. by Sufjan Stevens
- Concerning the UFO sighting near Highland, Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
- To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens
- Give Yourself A Try by The 1975
- Use Somebody by Kings of Leon
- Staring at the Sun by TV On The Radio
- I Was Young When I Left Home by Bob Dylan
First-time listens (albums)
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
His shortest and easily his best. Please listen to it.The Age of Adz by Sufjan Stevens
Not my fave but an engaging insight into Soof’s more electronic and experimental tendencies. Also eye (or ear?) opening to hear the original non-remixed version of Futile Devices so of course it’s my favourite track.Illinois by Sufjan Stevens
It’s always a pleasant joy to come back to an artist you've fallen in love with, even more so when they so eloquently distil your feelings of melancholy into sound. Obviously, there is gorgeous poetry spilling out of Soof but I won’t ever forget hearing him for the first time in CMBYN. I’ve loved going through his discography while tracking his evolution as a songwriter and listening to his occasional forays into purely instrumental tracks has been a real highlight (as far as they go Enjoy Your Rabbit is such a fun concept album but I’ll admit his nearly five LP’s worth of instrumental tracks in Convocations about grieving his father has pushed my attention span to its near limits). Anyway, Illinois is probably his most fun or fun-sounding (?). I say that knowing one of the best tracks is about that one serial rapist clown from the 70s that murdered and hid young boys in his crawl space. I say it’s one of the best tracks because of how beautifully it juxtaposes Soof’s pillowy vocals with the tragic origins of a true textbook image monster that permanently marked a dark legend in the titular state’s lore. It can be a challenging listen but that’s why I love it. It illuminates a light on our morals and capacity for evil and the fact we are the same species as an individual capable of so much harm is terrifying to me. Fantastic album.
Album Recommendation
- Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
terminal\user\jem\media\films-tv
Films
- National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)
- Mickey 17 (2025)
TV
Invincible (2021-), S3:E08
Animation budget be damned (although they spent it all on the last two episodes and it shows), the writing continues to surprise me. With how exciting it is to watch when it ramps up, as well as how the show fine-tunes world-ending stakes while paying off themes and plot threads introduced as far back as the first season. Not all b-plots are made equal and not all episodes reach the heights of say the Powerplex episode but I’d argue at a base level that they’re always in service of moving characters and relationships forward. I will admit nothing makes the one-on-one conversations (which are at times incredibly crucial to certain characters and their development) more dull to sit through than the complete lack of sound design in these scenes and only these scenes. They must love leaving the room tone track a little lower because goddamn there is so much dead air in this show sometimes and I can’t believe it still happens like clockwork. Despite that, it’s some top-shelf capeshit that has its moments and I’ll always be endeared to Mark as a character for his indomitable spirit (and half-Asian superhero representation wherever I can get it). We should all aspire to be Invincible not in name but in sharing his sheer force of willpower.Daredevil: Born Again (2025), S1:E03
I’ll hold most of my judgement until it’s over because I do think the show is taking its sweet time to justify its own tone and existence but I cannot get over how much it feels (and literally looks) like a pale imitation of the original. Sure I’m open to being convinced by the overflowing excess of new blood that are all just remixed amalgams of better characters that have come and gone but that aside it all comes off as a curling of a monkey paw.Better Call Saul (2015-2022), S2:E04
Absolute cinema. It so clearly has the DNA of Breaking Bad in its presentation and writing and it feels so effortless, which likely means it took an invisible, herculean effort, which makes me appreciate it even more. I need to get my ass up and fucking work (watch the damn thing).
terminal\user\jem\media\games
Currently Playing
- The Last of Us Part 2 (2022)
I’ll have more words for when I finish it but for now, I’ll say this: while I’ve never experienced full-blown crying at any movie or piece of art (not in the hypermasculine “nothing makes me cry” way), the furthest I ever get is welling up. To me, it’s an honour I don’t bestow lightly but I got to feel it again with this game for a third time. Relishing the prospect of being hurt all over again!
terminal\user\jem\media\reading
Comics
- Uncanny X-Men (1963), Issues #134-#136