5AM StoryTalk Coffee Reading: Issue 9
5AM StoryTalk Coffee Reading: Issue 9
A compilation of new and older arts-related articles that you might've missed
On the first Friday of every month, I share a list of arts-related articles (and occasionally podcasts) I’ve recently read that I think you might find illuminating/challenging/inspiring, too. I don’t necessarily agree with everything in each article/episode, but I don’t need to entirely agree with something to think it’s worthy of my time - and, when it comes to art, I encourage you to embrace the same philosophy.
Today’s links come to you in three different sections: Screen; Page, Music & Fine Art; Arts Culture & Industry. It’s capped off with some recommendations about arts newsletters to read here on Substack.
Thanks for being part of this arts conversation!
Cole
SCREEN
The Virus Inside Your TV
By Isaac Butler; Slate
In the 1990s, a group of radical artists smuggled political messages into Melrose Place. Not everyone found it funny.
This is easily one of the craziest, most inspiring things I’ve read about art in a very, very long time.
The Enduring Strangeness of Nicolas Cage
By Isaac Butler; The New Yorker
The actor’s performance in “Dream Scenario” seems crafted to remind viewers that he’s more than a meme.
Nicolas Cage and John Carpenter are cinema’s most studious eccentrics
By Hannah Ongley, Nicolas Cage, and John Carpenter; Document
For Document’s Winter/Resort 2023 issue, the horror master and the movie star expound on a possible curriculum for the apocryphal Nicolas Cage University.
The Thing Oral History: The Cast & Crew’s Definitive History of John Carpenter’s Masterpiece
By Josh Weiss; SYFY
John Carpenter knows who was really the Thing at the end of the movie ... but four decades later, he's still not telling.
Wim Wenders’s Cinema of Sincerity
By Nathan Taylor Pemberton; The New Yorker
The auteur behind “Anselm” and “Perfect Days” on his complicated relationship to his native Germany, a new project he’s been nursing for years, and the beauty of sharing mixtapes.
‘Shaft’? We’re Talking About Gordon Parks … and We Can Dig It
By Maurice Berger; The New York Times
A look at how the photographer translated his humanistic view of urban crime to the silver screen.
Be sure to also read the Gordon Parks article I share in the next section.
Inside the Surreal Universe of Poor Things
By Rachel Davies; Architectural Digest
Director Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film starring Emma Stone is a breathtaking feat of set design.
‘2001: A Space Odyssey’: Kubrick’s Pioneering Achievement As One of the Most Significant Films Ever Made
By Sven Mikulec; Cinephilia & Beyond
How a New Hit Action Movie Explains Our Politics of Indifference
By Emily St. James; Politico
John Wick underscores how we’ve become desensitized to mass shootings and massive death in the modern world.
How Mark Duplass Fights the Sadness
By Michael Shulman; The New Yorker
Since childhood, the filmmaker and “Morning Show” actor has dealt with the ups and downs of depression - a struggle he calls “the Woog.” Now he’s sharing what he’s learned.
‘Rebel Moon — Part One: A Child of Fire’ Review: ‘Seven Samurai’ Meets ‘Star Wars’ in Zack Snyder’s Dreadful Netflix Epic
By David Ehrlich; IndieWire
Zack Snyder's long-gestating space opera turns out to be his worst movie so far.
I’m not one to waste much time on negative art criticism — it typically doesn’t add anything to my life — but this review of Zack Snyder’s REBEL MOON: PART ONE - A CHILD OF FIRE is a bit of art in and of itself. I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t share this as a commentary on it or Snyder.
The bizarre Dracula film that saw him meet the hippies
By David Barnett; BBC
Fifty years ago, Dracula AD 1972 saw the Count wreak havoc in swinging 1970s London – and was roundly derided by critics. But it changed the template for the iconic bloodsucker, writes David Barnett.
Well, technically fifty-one years ago. This article is from 2022.
PAGE, MUSIC & FINE ART
‘Like brushing my teeth’: how Michiru Aoyama writes, records and releases an album every day
By Rob Fitzpatrick; The Guardian
For two years, the Kyoto musician has risen at five, watched football, then made an eight-track album of super-deep ambient music – while fitting in a two-hour walk. And 200,000 fans are listening.
Ralph Ellison and Gordon Parks’s Joint Harlem Vision
By Vinson Cunningham; The New Yorker
Jane Austen, Taylor Swift and Women's Words
By
;This is a wonderful read. It’s so good, in fact, it sent me down an Elif Shafak rabbit hole.
David Bowie would have failed in today’s cut-throat music industry, says Nile Rodgers
By Lanre Bakare; The Guardian
Chic frontman said no label would give the artist time to produce a global hit record after early career struggles.
Submit or Surrender?
By
; Agent of Weird: Exploring the Write FantasticWhy do I resist my own writing advice?
I’m a big fan of Alec Worley’s Substack.
The guy who sued Amazon for infringing on his Lord of the Rings fanfic takes a massive L, now owes $134,000 to the Tolkien Estate
By Andy Chalk; PC Gamer
Author Demetrious Polychron wanted $250 million for infringement of his book The Fellowship of the King.
The hubris on display here is almost as epic as the ridiculous pen name used by the author in question - Demetrious Polychron.
BookTok Is Turning Books into Commodities
By
;On the Dampening of Art & Literature on TikTok.
ARTS CULTURE & INDUSTRY
2023 Was the Year Companies Found Out
Corporations making themselves look stupid and outright evil was a running theme throughout the year, as was the public's visible anger at their antics.
By Justin Carter; Gizmodo
Major Studios’ Pledges to Hire More Female Filmmakers and People of Color Were ‘Performative,’ Study Finds
By Brent Lang; Variety
Cinerama Dome Now Planning To Reopen In 2025
By Anthony D'Alessandro; Deadline
Grand Illusions of Hollywood 2023
By
;Goodbye storied studios, magical CEOs and our Yellow Brick Road.
‘Oppenheimer’ 4K Blu-rays Sold Out in One Week. So Why Are Retailers Pulling Physical Media Off of Their Shelves?
By Todd Gilchrist; Variety
“It’s unheard of. In the past decade, I can’t think of another title that caused that type of fervor."
It’s almost as if…physical media isn’t dead.
The Hollywood Sign Turns 100
By Chris Nichols; Los Angeles Magazine
Initially built as a marketing gimmick, the iconic landmark celebrates one century of encouraging hope and opportunity.
Anti-Trust Hurdles Awaiting ‘Warnermount’
By
;Consider: FOUR major deals just fell apart in the last two weeks after being challenged.
SUBSTACK RECOMMENDATIONS
I enjoy reading the following Substack newsletters about art. Maybe you will, too. I try to change these up every “reading list”, so there is always something new here.
In the Writing Burrow by
Milkfed Dispatches by Kelly Sue DeConnick& Matt Fraction
LegalDispatch by Marc Guggenheim
Unmapped Storylands by
So Here’s a Thing by Michael Marshall Smith
Little Things by
Hope For Film by Ted Hope
1979 Semi-Finalist by Kelly Thompson
Thin Ice by Christopher Derrick
Agent of Weird: Exploring the Write Fantastic by Alec Worley
If this article added anything to your life but you’re not up for a paid subscription, please consider buying me a “coffee” so I can keep as much of this newsletter free as possible for the dreamers who couldn’t afford it otherwise.
The monthly reading list is one of my favorite parts of your substack, thanks for sharing
Thank you for the shoutout! <3 a great compilation of articles!