Bo Burnham: Inside (2021)

My latest Thanksgiving tradition is to watch Inside by Bo Burnham (available on Netflix) every year around the holiday. I have the soundtrack, too - which I like to listen to - but there's a lot you don't get unless you watch the feature. Not just the visuals, but shorter snippets and spoken sketches, too. You should definitely watch it first, in its entirety, to get the full effect. Then you can sample its tracks piecemeal, as your inspiration dictates, with knowledge of how it all fits into context.

My experience sharing it so far is that this comedy special is divisive (so it's okay if you hate it - you wouldn't be the first), but honestly I think it's brilliant. I don't know what that says about me - I might be biased, as somebody who has lived as a hikikomori (shut-in). But I think it's the best thing to have come from the pandemic.

I worry that it might be heavily dated, but having lived through that period, it's like a time capsule. And though it's a comedy, what it attempts to make light of are some very serious issues. In addition to evoking that sense of isolation and anxiety we all experienced throughout 2020, it addresses mental health awareness, and also life in the early 21st century, learning to operate as nodes in a digital society (itself spurred on by the physical distancing we experienced during COVID).

Subjects broached include social justice (especially navigating that minefield as a conscientious yet privileged white guy), climate change ("you say the whole world's ending - honey, it already did"), Instagram culture ("is this heaven, or is it just a white woman's Instagram?"), video chatting ("I'll waste my time, Facetiming with my mom"), sexting ("it isn't sex, it's the next best thing"), generational shifts... all with a self-deferential humor that nevertheless does not erase the significant weight of these issues (the impact of which is visible as Bo's mental state deteriorates throughout the piece).

There isn't really any part of it that I don't like. And I enjoy how the whole thing is tied together by the concept of being trapped inside ("tryna be funny and stuck in a room") - for a period of time that just keeps dragging on longer and longer ("it'll stop any day now") - and trying to maintain your sanity while using the not-very-promising gift of being a comedian to try to address the collapse of modern civilization ("should I be joking at a time like this?"). It's not really rock music, but I consider it a rock opera (a comedy opera?).

Anyway, I've boiled it down to my top three favorite songs, that work best out of context of the rest of the piece, just to give you a taste of what it's about. Here they are (in the order they occur in the special):

How The World Works
Welcome To The Internet
That Funny Feeling

And, for the holiday*, here's an extra video - my favorite song from the Inside Outtakes (also worth watching):

The Chicken

*I know, it's the wrong type of poultry, but oh well...

Love Neil Young

I started this list as a playful jab at Neil Young's exhaustingly prolific discography, but the reality turned out to be even more outrageous than the parody. So now, in celebration of Neil's birthday, I present to you the top 30 Neil Young songs with the word "love" in their title. XD

As a disclaimer, although I like grouping songs by theme, I don't enjoy ranking them. But I made an exception in this case. Just know that the rankings are a general estimation. Thirty songs is a lot to put in order from best to worst (especially when some of them are over 10 minutes long).

Also, I'm focused more on song composition than particulars of a performance - so live versions have been ignored (except where, as in some instances, a studio recording is not available).

Top 30 Neil Young Songs With The Word "Love" In Their Title

1. Love And Only Love & Love To Burn [Ragged Glory, 1990]
Comments: Tied for first, because I sampled 31 songs and didn't want to have to chuck one off the bottom of the list. But also because I have a hard time picking one over the other - they're just both so good. Love And Only Love has a great, uplifting chorus ("love and only love will endure"), but of the two, I can play Love To Burn on guitar. Regardless, they're both top tier Crazy Horse jams from Neil's 1990 comeback album, Ragged Glory. They're not just great Neil Young songs with "love" in their title, but great Neil Young songs period.

2. When You Dance I Can Really Love [After The Gold Rush, 1970]
Comments: Originally released on Neil's third album, After The Gold Rush (incorrectly titled with "You" instead of "I"), the reach of this classic was amplified (literally) when Crazy Horse performed it on the Rust Never Sleeps tour in 1979. An ode to dance floor romance, it's hard not to listen to it without singing along and swaying to the rhythm.

3. Standing In The Light Of Love [Toast, 2001*] (*first released in 2022)
Comments: From a shelved turn-of-the-millennium Crazy Horse project (a contemporary to Are You Passionate?, which featured Neil's tribute song to 9/11, Let's Roll) that only managed to reach the light of day a couple of years ago. It's short, but it's heavy, with a strong riff, and a chorus that sticks with you.

4. She Showed Me Love [Colorado, 2019]
Comments: A relatively big investment with its 13-minute runtime, despite hailing from an album only five years old (from an artist that hit it big over ten times that long ago), this sounds like a classic extended Crazy Horse jam. The lyrics aren't afraid (as Neil never is) to broach the subject of environmental activism, but the delivery is softer than in some other songs. For an old white guy, Neil is doing more than his part to ensure that we HAVE a planet for our children to live on (if only that were enough).

5. Peace And Love [Mirror Ball, 1995]
Comments: In 1995, Neil Young swapped out his backing band Crazy Horse to record an album with Pearl Jam - an appropriate collaboration for the man who has been dubbed "the Godfather of Grunge". This song starts out with moderate energy, but picks up intensity, and is raised by the novelty of hearing Eddie Vedder singing on a Neil Young song.

6. A New Day For Love [The Monsanto Years, 2015]
Comments: Don't let the quirky opening fool you - once the guitar kicks in, this song rocks. Not having been previously acquainted with Neil's "Monsanto Years" - featuring the band Promise of the Real - I was pleasantly surprised by how good the two tracks I sampled were.

7. Gateway Of Love [Toast, 2001*] (*first released in 2022)
Comments: Our second entry from Toast, the turn-of-the-millennium Crazy Horse album that almost never was. This track is another extended jam. I feel like it has the vibe of Broken Arrow-era Crazy Horse. That album (from 1996) was good, but didn't really spawn any standout hits. Although I remember the accompanying live album from that tour being pretty tight.

8. Don't Take Your Love Away From Me [Bluenote Cafe, 2015]
Comments: My research indicates that this song was written for Everybody's Rockin', Neil's '80s experiment in rockabilly - but issues with the label prevented its inclusion. Which is unfortunate, because I like it. I actually have two versions. One was included on a compilation of '80s material titled Lucky 13, released in 1993. But I prefer the version from Bluenote Cafe, a live album released in 2015 that was recorded on tour for This Note's For You in 1987-88.

9. Act Of Love [Mirror Ball, 1995]
Comments: Interestingly, in more than one case I've encountered Neil Young albums that include two different songs with the word "love" in their title. This is another track from Neil's collaboration with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball, and it's a straight-up, no-nonsense rocker.

10. People Want To Hear About Love [The Monsanto Years, 2015]
Comments: More of a rant than an anthem, I feel like this is the kind of stuff that guy that begrudgingly bought my Living With War t-shirt in a yard sale (he liked that it was Army green) meant when he said he wished Neil would just shut up. I, on the other hand, am on board with Neil's political and environmental activism. As Neil sang on A New Day For Love, "it's a bad day to do nothing."

11. Lookin' For A Love [Zuma, 1975]
Comments: Apart from Cortez The Killer (which is choice), Zuma is a mid-range Crazy Horse album from the mid-'70s, and this is a mid-range slow tempo rocker. Not bad, not necessarily great, either. But it's easy to sing and bounce along to.

12. Lotta Love [Comes A Time, 1978]
Comments: Before we get to the bottom half of this list, I just want to point out that a song doesn't have to be a hard rocker for me to like it - but when it comes to this softer fare, there's a good way and a bad way to do it. Not too much country, a good beat, fun lyrics to sing along to, and Neil's voice in prime condition? I can dig it.

13. Love In Mind [Time Fades Away, 1973]
Comments: Part of Neil's "ditch" trilogy of albums, which he recorded in the aftermath of the success that Harvest brought (along with the singles Heart of Gold and Old Man), and the last to be released on CD, Time Fades Away features this track, a moody piano ballad. It's short, but I like the somber mood that it creates.

14. Razor Love [Silver & Gold, 2000]
Comments: On the surface, this gentle acoustic ballad (that introduces the "greedy hand") wouldn't seem to be my kind of song, but for some reason I like it. It's pretty. I'm not even sure what exactly a "razor love" is (other than that it "cuts clean through"), but it's just a really intriguing image.

15. Only Love Can Break Your Heart [After The Gold Rush, 1970]
Comments: From After The Gold Rush, it's not nearly as good as When You Dance I Can Really Love, but I do like the lyrics. They're fun to sing along to. There's not much else going on in this song, but that's something. If you like the sentiment, I recommend you listen to Miley Cyrus on Mark Ronson's Nothing Breaks Like A Heart.

16. Love Is A Rose [Decade, 1977]
Comments: Recorded in 1974 for an album (Homegrown) that went unreleased until 2020, this song was compiled on Neil Young's Decade compilation in '77. Linda Ronstadt scored a hit with her country version of it. It's not the kind of song I'd usually go for, but I have a soft spot for it. It's a catchy little ditty, and I like the lyrics.

17. Love And War [Le Noise, 2010]
Comments: For an album titled Le Noise, you'd expect it to be more energetic. Instead, it's slow and somber. I like the sentiment of this song, though - although it could be described as "mopey", who among us hasn't known the feeling of trying to speak out, and having it just fall flat? I know I have...

18. Look Out For My Love [Comes A Time, 1978]
Comments: Although not scoring as high as the other song from Comes A Time on this list, I don't dislike it. I really think Neil's voice was sounding great on this album. I can't believe this is where I stopped buying his albums chronologically, especially because it's the final link connecting his prime material to Rust Never Sleeps, after which follows the experimental '80s period (where all but the diehard fans could be excused for dropping off).

19. Quit (Don't Say You Love Me) [Are You Passionate?, 2002]
Comments: From the album Neil intriguingly recorded with Booker T. and the MGs, during a time when he was reportedy going through some problems with his marriage. This song doesn't break ground, but it's got a nice, slow shuffle, with a good groove. And I like the guitar lead sprinkled throughout.

20. Sign Of Love [Le Noise, 2010]
Comments: There are songs on this list that I like more than you'd expect, and then there are others that I'd have expected to like more. I like the sound of the feedback on Le Noise - especially compared side by side to some of these other songs, but overall I just feel middling about it. I don't think the vocal effects are doing this song any favors.

21. Fool For Your Love [Bluenote Cafe, 2015]
Comments: Our second track from the Bluenote Cafe live album recorded in the '80s on tour for This Note's For You. Obviously, from its placement on this list, it's not as good as the other one. Not enough guitar, too much brass, a wooden backbeat...

22. Little Thing Called Love [Trans, 1983]
Comments: I'm sure it has its defenders, but Trans (as in Transformer Man, not transgender - unfortunately) is probably one of the most universally panned of Neil's questionable genre experiments in the '80s. The only thing that redeems this song is the slight edge to the guitar, and that it's got a pretty catchy chorus.

23. Train Of Love [Sleeps With Angels, 1994]
Comments: Dedicated to Kurt Cobain after his unfortunate suicide, you'd think this album would be like a Tonight's The Night for the '90s. Although there are a couple of memorable tracks (this isn't one of them), it kind of occupies a limbo space in my mind - despite featuring Crazy Horse.

24. Will To Love [American Stars 'N Bars, 1977]
Comments: I don't hate this track on principle (from the album that brought us Like A Hurricane), but every time it starts playing, my first instinct is to hit "skip". It's just a slog. For a song that's seven minutes long, there's no development. Being an acoustic song, it lacks the energy and the fire of Neil's electric jams. There aren't a lot of acoustic songs that can keep my interest for that long.

25. Love Earth [World Record, 2022]
Comments: I think there's a pattern, where I like Neil's rockers, but not so much his piano ballads - especially the ones that feature country flare. You know, for a singer that's put off a lot of listeners, I was never bothered by Neil's "shakey" voice - in his younger years. But now that he's getting older, the "grampa" voice doesn't do it for me.

26. I've Loved Her So Long [Neil Young, 1968]
Comments: On Neil's solo debut album, I don't think he'd quite developed his sound independent of his work with Buffalo Springfield yet (that wouldn't happen until he recruited Crazy Horse for his second album). With a choir and symphony, and Neil's voice at its shakiest, this definitely isn't one of his best tracks.

27. Hold On To Your Love [Trans, 1983]
Comments: The other track from Trans that made this list had the benefit of at least sounding superficially like a rock song. This song suffers from too much synthesizer - like something you might hear on the merry-go-round at the carnival. I give it a pass.

28. Don't Forget Love [Barn, 2021]
Comments: The first time I listened to Neil's first post-COVID album, the dominant impression was, "damn, he's getting old." In my head I was thinking, this could be the last album he ever records (thankfully, it wasn't). Even in his old age, Neil can still rock out - as evidenced by some of the other songs on this album - but this one is far too gentle for my tastes.

29. The Ways Of Love [Freedom, 1989]
Comments: From the album that brought us Rockin' In The Free World, with pedal steel guitar and harmonies courtesy of Linda Ronstadt, this acoustic ditty - which sounds halfway between Harvest and Harvest Moon - is far too light and countrified for my tastes.

30. For The Love Of Man [Psychedelic Pill, 2012]
Comments: A mostly forgettable track from 2012's otherwise memorable album, Psychedelic Pill - which was Crazy Horse's big resurgence post-2003's Greendale (which covers both times I've seen them live). With a slow shuffle, it's like a melodic funeral dirge.

Now, can you list 30 songs with the word "love" in their title by one of your favorite musical artists? I bet you can't. :-p

Evil Dead Rise (2023) & Bone Tomahawk (2015)

Apparently, there's a new Evil Dead movie out. I saw it on Netflix, so I figured I'd give it a watch. If you know me, you know I'll never quit a movie once I've started it. Never. But I couldn't finish this one. I didn't even make it to the halfway point before I completely lost interest. Honestly, typing my thoughts out seems like more fun than watching the rest of this movie (it's still playing in the background). Although I'm an honest reviewer, I like to give creators the benefit of the doubt, because I know how hard it is to tell a story, and pour your heart out onto the page (or screen). I may be a critic, but I don't enjoy being critical. But this movie is worthless. I can't believe it has so many favorable reviews on IMDb. Somebody paid a lot of money to generate hype.

When they filmed an Evil Dead remake in 2013, I loved it. I'm not that hard to please. I thought this movie would follow in its footsteps, be some kind of a sequel. But it's just a hollow cash grab. The characters are uninteresting. The writing is nonexistent. The original Evil Dead had ridiculous gore effects just for their own sake - and it worked, because it was legitimately entertaining, and didn't take itself too seriously. This movie can't even hide the fact that it's contriving situations that make no logical or emotional sense just for some cheap freakouts. It's like the director is constantly bashing you over the head saying, "you're watching a movie, remember?", instead of letting you get engrossed in it. Maybe he should have directed a carnival ride instead of a piece of cinema.

It has all the hallmarks of bad modern horror: unsympathetic characters, jump scares punctuated by an obnoxious soundtrack, gross-out in favor of constructing atmosphere. Even the cute little girl that's a cliche in these kind of movies has an unnecessary lisp (we get it, she's a kid) and an inexplicable British accent. Don't be tricked by the halfway decent-looking cold open, because it's just misdirection; after the title card, the movie swerves and spends the rest of its runtime in some dingy apartment (shot with a blue filter), featuring completely unrelated characters.

The only thing this movie has going for it (and I'll give it that, though it's not much) is the look of the Necronomicon - including the artwork inside its pages. I'd love to have a recreation of it to display on my bookshelf. But it's a cool prop that deserves to be in a better movie. It's not worth sitting through this drudgefest just to see a few glimpses of it. This movie doesn't work as a standalone horror film, and it's even worse in connection to the Evil Dead franchise.

Okay, I'm watching the climax now, and it's a little bit interesting. It's weird how the characters look better drenched in blood. But it's not worth torturing yourself for 75 minutes just for a semi-decent payoff. And the homages to earlier Evil Dead films are falling flat. If the filmmakers wanted audiences to enjoy the ending, they should have stuck it at the end of a better movie. There's no excuse for this.

By contrast - and I feel bad mentioning these two titles in the same breath, but it serves as an effective counterpoint - I just watched Bone Tomahawk last night, and it was amazing. As a novel fusion of the horror and Western genres, it already starts with an intriguing premise. But what makes it so great is the writing. The characters are interesting. Their dialogue is smart, and entertaining. Most of the movie is just setup to a final encounter with a group of cannibalistic savages on the Western frontier, but the movie would be hardly less interesting if it had just been the setup, without any payoff. That's how you do it.

You have to know that I don't have anything against the horror genre (I wouldn't have published hundreds of reviews of horror movies if I didn't love horror), but when the genre becomes synonymous with pornography - cheap smut with only one simple purpose - it does itself a great disservice. The writing in Bone Tomahawk was so good, it attracted a higher caliber of actors, including Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, and David Arquette (I didn't recognize Richard Jenkins, but he was phenomenal in this, too). This is the vision I see for horror - like a more sophisticated form of erotica, a respected art form that's technically proficient while still delivering the thrills audiences crave. I implore you, don't waste your time watching Evil Dead Rise. Elevate your palate and watch Bone Tomahawk instead. That's the kind of project that deserves our support as horror-loving movie fans.

Leave The World Behind (2023)

Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke join Mahershala Ali (with a cameo by Kevin Bacon) in a beach vacation rental to square off against the apparent end of the world, when a cyberterrorist attack that targets navigation systems and hamstrings communications grinds the country to a (literal) screeching halt.

With a bit of a quirky style, and a small but memorable supporting cast, I found this movie to be very enjoyable. Even, surprisingly, a little bit funny - as I have a wry sense of humor. With themes that are very topical to the current state of our country, it definitely gets your imagination running.

Some have complained about the ending, but I thought it was perfect. (You hear me, people - perfect! If you changed a single thing about that ending, it would disrupt the narrative and thematic cohesion of the story. Which is why you don't let amateurs write scripts). If you like apocalyptic cinema, I give it a solid recommendation.

AMC's The Terror (2018)

Now available on Netflix, AMC's The Terror was an unexpectedly good find. Billed as an anthology series, you can take the first season on its own (I've heard not great things about the second). It's an adaptation in 10 episodes - each about an hour long - of a fictionalized account of John Franklin's mid-19th century naval expedition in the Arctic, in search of a Northwest Passage over the top of Canada. Harsh environmental conditions mixed with hubris, exacerbated by a steadily growing sickness of the body and mind, as well as the presence of a vengeful polar bear-like creature tied to native folklore, all ensure the expedition's tragic outcome. Gripping, heartfelt, and imaginative, it was a harrowing journey from start to finish. I recommend it highly.

Aliens Among Us?

Coming hot on the heels of the latest installment in the Alien series (Alien: Romulus) is a new TV series slated for release next year, titled Alien: Earth. I'm holding out hope that it will be good, but making the choice to do a prequel set on Earth doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. It's the same mistake that the Alien vs. Predator movies made. Setting such an early precedent for the presence of xenomorphs on Earth not only undermines the considerable effort to which The Company will later go to procure a specimen at the edge of the galaxy, but also effectively neutralizes the tension created in the original movies, built around the urgent need to keep this threat from reaching our home planet.

"If those things get back here, that will be all. Then you can just kiss it goodbye."
- Ripley, from Aliens

Certainly, you could write a script that keeps the action quarantined, where the monster is eradicated and nobody lives to tell the tale (or at least, nobody believes them). I don't doubt that this strategy would keep production costs down. But why write yourself into a corner, when there are still stories to be adapted that take place in the aftermath of the encounter on LV-426 - when the aliens not only eventually reach Earth, but completely colonize it? Imagine a post-apocalyptic landscape with xenomorphs instead of zombies or marauders! Or, if you'd really prefer to fill in holes, instead of continuing the story, I'm dying to see a depiction of Newt's harrowing ordeal, from the time that Burke orders her parents to investigate the derelict ship, through her survival as the aliens take over Hadley's Hope, until the space marines finally show up. You'd have to find an exceptionally talented young actress to do it, but I've seen a few over the years that could have pulled it off.

This comic is a good start, but it kind of glosses over the best part
in favor of retelling Aliens from Newt's perspective (partly).

Regardless of whether or not you preserve the timeline's continuity, bringing the xenomorphs onto a 21st century Earth erodes their mystique. I'll tell you why. Although I did not dislike Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, they've basically established as canon (as clear as I can figure) that the xenomorphs are an artificially-engineered biological weapon. Speculating from a scientific perspective, this is interesting, but not as captivating in my opinion as the alternate hypothesis that our encounter with these creatures essentially functions as an interstellar equivalent of the fatal mistake that Tolkien's dwarves made when they dug the mines of Moria.

"Too deep we delved there, and woke the nameless fear."
- Glóin, from The Fellowship of the Ring

If you've ever read Wait But Why's discussion of The Fermi Paradox, you'll be familiar with the concept I am describing. This paradox can be summarized by a simple question: if space is filled with stars, then why is the night sky so dark? Or, more to the point, is there anybody out there? In the vast expanse of the cosmos, shouldn't there be other intelligent lifeforms? Then what's with all the radio silence? Well, one possible explanation is that other beings are smart enough to keep their mouths shut - they don't want to announce their presence, because they know what's out there, and they're afraid it will find them!

As the premise for a cosmic horror story, I love this idea. Rather than a bio weapon, I'd prefer to think of the xenomorphs as an eldritch abomination lurking at the edges of the universe (or at least our galaxy). As our technology advances, and we begin to probe further into the depths of space, searching for more resources to deplete, we may - if we are not careful - encounter this denizen of chaos, birthed from the void, that strikes terror into the hearts of men. Not only does it put our individual lives in jeopardy, it poses an existential threat to our entire species. But if you toss it into our metaphorical backyard without lasting consequence too many times, it begins to lose its teeth (or inner jaws).

While we're on the topic of missteps in the ongoing Alien saga, I have to bring up one of Alien: Resurrection's many sins, because Alien: Romulus veered in the same direction toward its end; it's the only significant criticism I have for that movie. I can understand The Company's desire (however misguided) to harness the xenomorph as a weapon, but creating an alien-human hybrid? What is this, The X-Files? (There's even a black oil involved in the alien's lifecycle now!). The reason this plot point bothers me (aside from the fact that it deviates the monster from H.R. Giger's inspired design) is because it violates the original conception of the xenomorph - as I understood it in my youth - as a parasitic organism that takes on properties of its host. In other words, the typical xenomorph we're used to seeing in these movies is already the "human form" of the alien!

That's why, in Alien 3, when the creature hatched from a dog, it had more canine characteristics. It's the conceptual basis for the entire line of Alien toys that I collected as a child - which featured bull aliens, snake aliens, gorilla aliens, etc. Part of what makes the xenomorph the "perfect organism" is that it assimilates the genetic code of its host, picking out the most adaptable traits. I guess we saw a little bit of this evolution in Prometheus and its sequel. But if bio-engineered, it's more of a Frankenstein's monster run amok, than a naturally occuring phenomenon - like a cosmic storm, that cannot be effectively fought, only sought shelter from. All that said, I was able to enjoy AvP: Requiem, despite essentially being a suburban slasher set in the unremarkable year of 2004. So all hope is not yet lost!

Alien: Romulus (2024)

I just saw the new Alien movie today, and it was good. Very much a return to form. Effectively paid homage to the classics, melding elements from the original films, while gently innovating to keep the film feeling relevant and not simply redundant, but without being too jarring to the mythos. I like that they kept the "working class sci-fi" perspective, and it was interesting to explore in a new way the prejudice against synthetics. Andy was a great character, giving the filmmakers an opportunity to convey the grey area involved with making difficult moral choices. At the right times, he managed to be intimidating while still remaining sympathetic.

I lost a little bit of interest in the climax, where the inspiration from Alien: Resurrection was strongest. And since you can't help making comparisons to earlier films, I was distracted by the disparity of wardrobe in the final, post-bedtime arc. It makes you wonder how a movie that relies on body horror, and whose creative vision was guided by an artist who shocked the world by marrying sex with death, can be so gymnophobic. We have to watch the xenomorph crawling out of what, by all accounts, appears to be an alien vagina (actually, that was pretty cool), but we don't get to see the female lead in her skivvies? What kind of dystopian future are we living in?

But, that's a pretty superficial complaint. Overall, I enjoyed the movie very much.

Zharth's Music Log is reborn!

For those who don't know or don't remember, in 2007-2008 I hosted a "music log" on my website. Every week for a whole year, I picked a theme, and then each day of the week I posted a classic rock or blues song that relates to that theme. It was a fun way to celebrate my love of music, and satisfy my creative and organizational mind, similar to what I used to do as a college radio DJ.

After the series concluded in July of 2008, I added a handful of extra themes as they came to me. I call this the Redux. Then there was a long break, and in 2018 I added the first new theme in six years. It was meant to be the conclusion of the Redux and the final theme. But thinking about the music log again, and also sharing it with a friend, got my creative juices flowing, and I started working on a new series of themes.

Over the past six years, those themes have been stewing in my head. I put a lot of groundwork down on them in 2021, before turning my attention to other things. But early this year, I began to feel inspired, and I decided it was finally time to launch the "third season" of Zharth's Music Log - which I refer to as Threedux. I've been publishing themes low key since February, and have already filled out two new "quarters" (a quarter year's worth of weeks, or 13 themes), when combined with Redux.

I thought that would be the end once and for all. But since I've been polishing and finalizing these themes, I've been coming up with new ones left and right, which I am now working on. I think that I will comfortably be able to fill out a full second year (added to the original run), with 26 more themes than what I have currently published. After that, I plan to stop, but who can say what the future will bring? (The longer I go, the harder it is to avoid repeating songs). But until then, there'll be lots of music to (re-)discover as the weeks go by!

See all the themes at zharth.net/zml.

Split (2016) & Glass (2019)

I remember being hesitant to see this movie when it came out. Not because of the controversial reputation of its director (M. Night Shyamalan has had some hits and some misses, but I respect his talent and creativity), but because dissociative identity disorder is such a tricky subject, that hasn't had the best representation in the past. But here, James McAvoy sells it (keeping in mind that this is fiction, not a psychological documentary). And Anya Taylor-Joy is radiant as always.

I really liked how M. Night effectively turned what is, on its surface, a horror movie about three girls who are abducted by a maniac with a split personality into (ending spoilers!) an origin story for a new supervillain in the Unbreakable universe. I thought that was really clever. The only thing I could have done without is the lazy molestation back story. But other than that, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to watching Glass next.

---

I'm not the biggest fan of conventional superhero movies. It makes me sound like a hipster, but the MCU doesn't thrill me - and that was true even before they began to bore the public with a never-ending stream of cookie-cutter blockbusters. I prefer movies that deconstruct the concept of superheros. I liked Kick-Ass, and I liked The Watchmen. It wasn't, "what would a world with superheros be like", it was "what would superheros be like in the real world we inhabit?" I think that's why Batman is my favorite conventional superhero - he doesn't even have superpowers, just a lot of money. Well, that and the gothic atmosphere. But that's what I liked about Unbreakable. What if a real person, in the real world, found out he was indestructible?

Split was good because it functioned well as a horror movie, while also expanding the universe of Unbreakable by adding a crucial new element. Going into Glass, I was hoping to see what M. Night Shyamalan's take on a "conventional" superhero movie would look like. Instead, it spends entirely too much time trying to convince us (itself?) that these superheroes/villains are just delusional. I mean, it's an interesting concept - one of my favorite episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the controversial one that successfully argued the posibillity that Buffy was a mental patient and everything was going on in her head. I suppose it could have made for an interesting movie if I wasn't hoping for something different.

Knowing that it's almost certainly part of M. Night's M.O. to bait and switch the audience prevents you from committing to the conceit (it's not one of his more successful deceptions). At this point in the trilogy, I've already signed on to these characters being actual superheros - let them loose! For a filmmaker who has made unpredictability his signature, perhaps the biggest twist of all would have been to do something conventional for a change. And that's what I wanted to see. But, even if I didn't love it, I'll still give M. Night credit for trying to be original. When you chew somebody up and spit them out just for going out on a limb and falling, it discourages them from daring to do it again. And that leads to an industry that runs on stale predictability.

Joker (2019)

Just watched this movie and it was *chef's kiss*. I got chills watching the Joker come to life right before my very eyes, over the course of two, riveting hours. So excited to learn that there's a sequel coming later this year - what great timing!

What I love best about this movie is how it takes a cartoon villain, turns it into a believable (and sympathetic, to a point) real life villain, without losing the style or spirit of that character. Watching the riots, in the back of my head I'm picturing Tim Burton's jesters cartwheeling through the streets and I'm thinking, that could totally be a cartoonified version of the realistic events we're seeing in this movie. It's uncanny. And so satisfying to watch the different pieces click together until finally we witness the birth of the Joker. I think the filmmakers hit a bullseye with this one.