Weird week! More on that later. Let’s get into it.
Tenet
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to say that a Christopher Nolan movie can be considered “lost,” but it certainly feels like Tenet never quite got the reception, appreciation, or understanding it deserved. Released in the heart of the pandemic — perhaps as a slightly half-baked attempt to convince the public we could have some level of normality — Tenet is the cinematic equivalent of Nolan saying, “let’s do a silly one,” a just-go-with-it-we’re-here-for-just-the-vibes-and-visuals of a movie that’s a Bond riff. In celebration of Dune: Part Two's release next week (more on that later), Warner Bros. is putting Tenet back in a handful of theaters this weekend. Chances are that tickets are gone, but if they aren’t, I’d strongly recommend it, even if you might need an explainer to understand what’s happening (don’t worry, I’ve got you covered).
I’ve revisited Tenet a few times at home, and it just doesn’t play the same way as when Jordan and I saw it at a drive-in during the middle of COVID, even if we couldn’t understand it thanks to some tricky audio, so I’m keen to finally see it in a theater if for no other reason than just to appreciate the sheer scale of accomplishment of what Nolan achieves. There are a handful of sequences that continually make me wonder how the director pulled them off, and I’m keen to experience the film as intended.
Pocket Analogue
I’m going to do some handwringing about the state of the media industry at the end of this, but many of those same anxieties over the loss of work also extend to how I feel about physical media. I’ve spent a lot of time since COVID (sidebar: I didn’t intend for this to become such a pandemic-heavy edition) buying physical copies of the movies I love or ones I want to ensure I have access to moving forward. All of this to say, I’m also starting to feel the same way about video games, which led me to snag a Pocket Analogue last December. Basically an Apple-ifed version of a Gameboy, the device can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games without any emulation (although, you can shift into piracy if you want to get your Blackbeard on). I’ve only played it in short stints, but revisiting the old Mega Man Battle Network games is proving to be a blast as I find them just as engaging now as I did twenty (!) years ago. While I don’t think I’ll accumulate a retro gaming library as extensive or as expansive as some, it’s nice to have copies of the handful of titles I’ve got a strong affinity for so I can revisit them accordingly on such a well-executed and thought-out device.
Helldivers 2
Speaking of games, I think we’re in an interesting cycle with the gaming industry. Much like movies, video games are in a cycle where most of the calendar is dotted with triple-A “blockbuster” releases (the next installment of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII remake just hit this week, for example), leaving a bit of wiggle room for indie titles to break through if they’re well-executed. This is precisely what happened with Helldivers 2. Riffing on the satire of things like Starship Troopers, gamers step into the nameless shoes of Helldiver troopers tasked with saving the galaxy in the name of democracy, which is an excuse to drop into massive maps and fight dangerous robots and bugs. Inherently disposable, a Helldiver can die in quick order if overwhelmed, especially on harder difficulties, which makes playing in squads critical to the gameplay.
What stands out is how the core gameplay loop lends itself to all sorts of unique narrative situations. I saw a video on TikTok of a guy who couldn’t call down for reinforcements, which meant if he died, it would be the end of the mission, thanks to a radio tower that jammed communications between the field and the ship. In his last life, he snuck through the battlefield, hid from an enemy robot, and found the perfect opening to toss a grenade, blow up the tower, and bring back his squadmate. That kind of free-flowing narrative is what I love about games like this. It’s not always as cinematic or dynamic as that example — but it can be — and that’s a large portion of why Helldivers seems to be all over my social media feeds this week.
Drive to Survive Season 6
I haven’t dug into the latest season of Netflix’s hit Formula One documentary series yet, but judging by the clips already circulating online, it looks like Drive to Survive is serving up another juicy set of episodes. What I love about DTS is how gossipy it is. I can’t remember who described it as The Real Housewives of F1 — but that’s kind of the show in a nutshell? I love it.
Grady’s Cold Brew
I’ve found it difficult to make cold brew at home that I find to match that of what I can get at a coffee shop until I did some digging on Amazon last year for Grady’s Cold Brew. Started by a former GQ staffer, I’d read about the brand — as it turns out — on GQ, but for a while, I couldn’t find anywhere that sold it outside of NYC. One way or another, I stumbled back onto the Grady’s site at some point in the last year and a half or so and snagged the brand’s “spouch” kit from Amazon, which comes with a handful of bean bags and a zip-lock bag with a spout for easy pouring. The quality is excellent, and having an all-in-one, one-and-done solution makes it easy to make a tasty cold brew.
What a week to be in media!!! For those unaware, BuzzFeed sold Complex to, basically, turn it into Mr. Porter for streetwear, laying off my editor in the process — the last thing she edited was this Dune: Part Two review. The next day, Vice announced they were shutting down the website. On Friday morning, WAMU shut down DCist. It's a bad week in a bad month in what’s looking like it’s going to be a bad year!
Complex, Vice, and DCist are just the latest in a handful of sites that have seen massive layoffs since the start of 2024. There are now fewer and fewer places for folks to pitch to or write for, which leads me to believe that the future of news or reporting or coverage is all going to be Substack-based? Which has its ethical issues? Can everyone afford to spend $100 a month on like 15 different subscriptions?
I, nor anyone, frankly, seems to have the answer. It just feels like everything is bad and falling apart. What a note to end this newsletter on. I don’t know. I think I’ve tried to avoid saying that the sky is falling, but when you feel enough raindrops on your head, you have to acknowledge that there’s a storm rolling through.
See you next time.
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