The Filtered Excellence: August 23, 2020
Bob Geldof once asked us, “Where is the filtered excellence!?” It’s right here. Once a week we take a break from comedy to bring you this week’s picks of the best things to watch, the most interesting things to do, great things to try, the best picks to read, our favorite things to listen to and more.
WATCH THIS
Three by Bill Gunn. Bill Gunn was a dynamic playwright, novelist, actor and film director who came out of the same New York City acting collective that produced James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Eartha Kitt. An Emmy winner for the NBC drama Johnnas, Gunn’s film breakthrough came when he wrote the screenplay for Hal Ashby’s first film, The Landlord. But when Gunn passed away in 1989, but work as a filmmaker had been largely under appreciated. It wasn’t until Spike Lee remade Gunn’s 1973 underground classic, Ganja & Hess (under the title Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus) that sparked a renewed interest in his work. Now The Criterion Channel is streaming three films that showed Gunn’s still timely takes on race, class and the Black experience in the United States. Ganja & Hess is included, along with the Harry Belafonte-produced The Angel Levine, and Personal Problems, a two part, three hour film that originally aired on public television. Gunn’s death happened just as the next wave of Black filmmakers were about to make their impact, but this look back reminds us how he left his mark on their work and film as a whole. Three By Bill Gunn is available now on The Criterion Channel.
High Score. This new 6-part docu-series looks at the history of video games and how it evolved into a multi-billion dollar, international phenomenon. Narrated by Charles Martinet and directed by William Acks, France Costello and Sam Lacroix, it quickly moves from the invention of the game Space Invaders, the rise of outlets such as Atari, Nintendo, and Sega Genesis; to the immense popularity of games such as Dungeons & Dragons, and Doom. It also shows how gaming went from arcades to TVs, then the computer and handheld devices. The series also gives extensive time to the designers who helped pushed the medium from basic graphics to incredible real life simulations, and the gamers who have taken the level of play to hardcore status. It’s a fun look at an industry that has been entertaining kids and adults for over 45 years. High Score is available now on Netflix.
Infinite Canvas. In 2018, Apple and The New Museum commissioned seven artists from all over the world to take part in an art experience using augmented reality – which changes the appearance of physical art thru computer generated effects – as the medium. Photographer Ryan McGinley traveled to Berlin, Beijing, Chicago, New York City, Zurich, and Stockholm to interview the artists for this new Apple + documentary. Nick Cave, Nathalie Djurberg, Hans Berg, Cao Fei, Carsten Holler, Pipilotti Reist, and John Giorno (who passed away during post production) all discuss how augmented reality art has presented new challenges, but also heightened their sensibilities. To see how these creatives answer to the challenges is enlightening and informative. A fascinating look the new step in the artistic evolution. Infinite Canvas is available now on Apple +.
LISTEN TO THIS
Rosemary by Karolina Rose. The pandemic slowed down the release of Karolina Rose‘s follow up to her 2019 EP Invicta, but it hasn’t hampered her personal and artistic growth. Whether it’s the high energy optimism of Greytopia, a more dramatic reading of Shakira’s ‘Obesssion’, biting, pinpoint kiss-offs (White Lies), or the powerful, heart wrenching ode sexual assault survivors (Runaway Angels), Karolina taps into the emotional impacts behind each song to an astonishing effect. This is dark pop with purpose with Karolina leading the charge to take the genre to the next level. Rosemary by Karolina Rose is available now through all major streaming services.
Eleanor Rigby/The World Is A Ghetto by Merging Traffic. In addition to being a world class, in demand drummer, composer and songwriter, Deantoni Parks also runs his own label, Humani Machina Records. Merging Traffic was a legendary psychedelic jazz fusion band out of Indianapolis that had a run of critically acclaimed of releases in the 1970s. Parks was able to secure this previously unreleased track fuses The Beatles ‘Eleanor Rigby’ with ‘The World Is A Ghetto’ by War and eerily taps into the confusion and isolation happening right now. The musicianship is incredible and one hopes that more of Merging Traffic’s work will see a digital release. Eleanor Rigby/The World Is A Ghetto by Merging Traffic is available now on Bandcamp, Apple Music, and all major streaming services.
DO THIS
Wear A Mask.
Practice Social Distancing.
Wash Your Hands.
Stay safe.
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Earl Douglas is a writer/photographer based in New York City. A frequent contributor to The Interrobang, Earl is also Executive Director for the New York chapter of The Black Rock Coalition. Earl worked in radio for nearly two decades at WNEW-FM and XM Satellite Radio, which included being the on-air producer for Carol Miller, Scott Muni and Ron & Fez, and a contributor to Opie & Anthony. Earl has also independently published a number of books including Black Rock Volume 1, Urban Abyss, Mobile Uploads, and For Shimmy. His latest project is the photojournalism magazine PRAXIS, which is available exclusively through Blurb.com.
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