Ah I have been dreading writing and updating this blog. It’s been over 6 months since I last updated, and a lot has happened. I guess that’s why I haven’t really updated this in so long, as I’ve been incredibly busy and working a lot, and the longer I leave it the larger this post will be. These past 6 months have really flown by, both in a good and very distressing way. I feel like the whole year has been kind of swallowed up. Looking back at 2020 I was updating this blog very frequently, and this year seems to have been totally fucked by various jobs and other commitments. Anyway, as I say a lot has happened. I’ve been making a lot of art, been working on new exciting commissions, got a new job and went on my first physical residency. There’s a lot to get through, so let’s begin.
So let’s start with things I’ve been up to, then move on from there to the future, then films, books and games. One of the major occurrences was having my first solo exhibition in Berlin at Office Impart. I’ve worked with them before a few times, first curatorially, then last year with my video work I Wish I'd Been Born a Balloon. The show was called It’s Always Day One, and ran from the 22nd April - 6th June 2021. It was all about Amazon, it’s warehouse workers and the ongoing automation of work within the conglomerate. To see more photographs, and the full press release, head to my website here - https://www.bobbicknell-knight.com/it-s-always-day-one
It was a weird experience as, due
to covid, I wasn’t able to travel to install the show, or even see it offline
during its run time. It was a weird but exciting feeling, leaving everything up
to the gallery. Most of the work sold too, which is a real first for me, especially
as I felt fairly detached from the show by not being their during its run time.
Overall I was really happy with the outcome, the exhibited works and the sales.
Hopefully I get to work with them again in the future, as it was a really great
experience, although next time I’d love to travel to Berlin.
They also featured my work in this years Art Brussels. Although online, I still count it as my first official art fair, which is fun. They showed a selection of paintings from the past year or so.
Actually another exciting thing, that has really fallen to the back of my mind, was finishing the arts council project with isthisit?. It ended in April, so feels like forever ago now. It ended with a solo show from Keiken, which featured some of their recent video works and gaming experiences, as well as a panel discussion between them, Kumbirai Makumbe and Wade Wallerstein. I think the panel went really well, but I just haven’t had the time to go over the footage and transcribe the whole thing. It’s really silly of me but I’ve felt so overwhelmed recently that some things have truly been forced to the back of my mind at the moment.
Obviously it also finished with the publishing of the book, Networked Future: Online Exhibitions and Digital Hierarchies. I’m really happy with how it turned out, with some really fantastic texts and interviews with the artists I worked with over the course of six months. I learned a lot from this project, mainly things to do with time and having everything – vaguely – sorted before I attempt to begin something else like this again. There were a lot of moving parts, and a lot of different individuals involved, so it did become quite hectic towards the end. Overall though a fantastic experience that I want to do again in the near future. There are still some copies of the book left, around 30 total, so if you’re interested head to https://www.isthisitisthisit.com/networked-futures, shipping worldwide.
I spoke with Dirk Paesmans, one half of the art collective JODI, to Sakrowski, director of panke.gallery, in March. It was an online talk, speaking and going over our online exhibition with Upstream Gallery last year. It was fun to speak to Dirk, and meet Sakrowski, and hope that it’ll lead to some things in the future, although you never know. Link is here to watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgd3IVz5SlE
The solo exhibition in Paris with the billionaires is still happening, although it keeps being pushed back as the curator had to switch galleries. It’s a little complicated, but now the show will be in November for a few weeks at Galerie Sono. I’ve been slowly making the work, and have all 22 paintings now, but need to re-print all of the heads of the billionaires (which there are 6 now) in marble PLA. This references statues, obviously, and how history is regularly altered by the erection of sculptures and statues of people who have done terrible things in the past. Of course there’s been a lot of discussions around statues in the past year and a half, but I feel like this connotation suits really well, and is much more appropriate than simply displaying them as severed heads. I’m still planning to have them in the cooler boxes and stabbed by arrows.
I’ve also been working on a new, very short looping video, for this show too. It features Jeff Bezos’ head, decapitated and placed in the middle of the house of commons in the UK. Blood slowly drips from the head whilst you hear background sounds of anarchy and distress. It’s quite a political piece, obviously, and I’m very happy with how it’s turning out. I just hope it has the same relevance in Paris that it would have in London or elsewhere in the UK.
Ah and I also made a new video for Daata x The Bass in Miami. Titled We’ve Been Here Before it’s my first 4K video work, using only footage created for the project, so no found footage or visuals utilising video games. It was the first time I’ve properly worked with animators for a project, and since then have been working with more. It’s really exciting and enables me to create work that I’ve either always wanted to make or haven’t had the funds to do so. Here’s a little about the new film, that concerns the boundaries between public and private space, forgotten histories, simulated worlds and apocalyptic futures. The work presents a series of digital replicas of real-life, physical spaces, virtually duplicated in architectural simulation software, alongside several 3D models of contemporary technologies that have been heavily eroded.
The three locations explored in the film are the headquarters of GCHQ, a government organisation responsible for digitally surveilling people in the UK and abroad; the headquarters of the social media website Facebook in Menlo Park, California and Fisher Island, Miami, a barrier island which has the highest per capita income of any place in the United States, and will be one of the first locations in the US to be swallowed by rising sea levels.
These visual elements are accompanied by an ominous computer-generated voiceover speaking about a fictionalised future where the coming climate crisis has forced the global oceans to rise, with human beings escaping into mountainous regions and digital worlds. Here’s a link to watch the work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3aNQOf5b4c
Over this time I’ve also been interviewed a few times, about isthisit? and my practice. I spoke to Moogz at FAD Magazine in May, about isthisit? and my show in Berlin - https://fadmagazine.com/2021/05/07/isthisit/
I also spoke to Matteo Lupetti for Artribune. We spoke for quite a while, but sadly our conversation was heavily reduced and edited. It’s to be expected, but obviously you’d always prefer for everything to be included. Read it here in Italian, or let Google translate it for you - https://www.artribune.com/progettazione/new-media/2021/06/isthisit-galleria-online-bob-bicknell-knight/
And finally I spoke to my good friend Pietra Galli for Coeval, an online based magazine. It was nice to speak with Pietra as we’ve known each other for years (we studied together at uni), although sadly the interview was a bit rushed. I always like doing interviews, but it’s nice to take the time to fully digest questions and answers, but it wasn’t her fault and this is usually the way so what can you do. Read it here - https://www.coeval-magazine.com/coeval/bob-bicknell-knight
I worked with Petra Szemán again for a solo show of sorts in Bologna, Italy, called Sky Above, Voice Within. They basically have access to a screen in Bologna that faces the street, 24/7, so from the 14th June – 11th July you could see a 24 hour video series of Szemán’s, where you saw the avatar Yourself sitting and standing beside a lake in the video game Skyrim. It was a really beautiful, subtle project, that I was really happy to work with Petra on. There are a few photos from the project, but they’re not very good, so we’re just waiting to get some good ones before posting about it further. Here’s a link to the full press release - https://docdro.id/9iMrXd5
I’ve also been in lots of group shows, one at anonymous gallery in New York curated by Offsite Project, another at Assembly House in Norwich and at Gnome House in Walthamstow. I was in an Internet Yami-Ichi market in Ljubljana and had a screening of my new video in Miami. Upcoming group shows include In Crystalized Time in Seattle at Museum of Museums, Drava Art Biennale 2021 in Croatia, Proyector Festival in Madrid, Soft Agitators in Berlin and a screening of one of my videos in Southend at Focal Point Gallery.
I guess one of the most important, and most recent, things that I’ve done is a residency in Sweden, called Hybrida. It was a hybrid residency occurring over an 8 week period, split between 6 weeks online and 2 weeks in Sweden. I had a really fantastic time in Sweden, and learned a lot about residencies, how they work, the do’s and dont’s, alongside meeting some really fantastic and lovely people. During the residency I was working on my studio view project, making new studio view mock ups to be painted and a series of 3D printed sculptures of paint tubes that I’d 3D scanned. Go here for some photographs, and a little text about the work - https://www.bobbicknell-knight.com/hybrida
Whilst there I really bonded with two of the artists, Mary Furniss and Faysal Mroueh. Faysal makes digital works, both in VR and interactive video games, whilst Mary does lots of drawing, painting and some sculpture. It was really lovely to meet Mary in particular, who was both super lovely and a fantastic artist. We shared a studio, alongside spending most of the two weeks together hanging out, going on walks and helping each other on our different projects. All in all Mary made the experience really great for me, and it definitely wouldn’t have been the same without meeting her.
We’ve applied to a couple of different opportunities together, so will hopefully work together again in the future. I’m also travelling back to Stockholm in September to do a micro residency of sorts, both to hang out and work together again on future projects. Yeah, I think the whole two weeks was a really special experience that I won’t forget for some time. It’s made me want to do more residencies.
What else have I been working on? I’m still working on the new Amazon video commission, which is now commissioned by Quote—Unquote, a platform based in Bucharest, alongside the European Regional Development fund and Urban Innovative Actions. It’s now a 24 minute video, with each minute representing one hour of a given day. The animated video slowly rotates around a 3D model of a real life Amazon warehouse facility, with trucks coming and going and a day/night cycle. Then there’s going to be ambient sounds in the background, alongside people speaking about their experiences working for Amazon. It’s all slowly coming together, and should be finished by the end of August. It will launch in Cluj, Romania in October, and then be a part of another thing in Bucharest in late October. They’ve invited me to fly out for both openings, which would be exciting, although I’m still working out whether I’ll actually be able to attend, as my September is going to be hellishly busy now.
I’m also working on another video commission for Petra, whose curating their own arts council funded project, which will launch on isthisit? and Offsite Project in the new year. I’m still very much in the early stages of creating the new work, thinking about digital avatars and online anonymity. I think that would fit well within my studio view project, but more about gaming communities and living a digital life. Either way I need to think about this more over the next few weeks/months.
Alongside the show in Paris I’m also working on another solo show that’ll launch this year in Brno in the Czech Republic. Its focus will be on the Boston Dynamics dogs that I’ve now been obsessed by for the past few years. I’m finally making 3D printed sculptures of them, and then subsequently rusting them too, as if they’re relics from the past. The whole show will be like a museum, with speculative futures considering what the dogs were used for in the past. It’s still being worked out, but should be a really exciting show. It’s curated by Offsite Project who I’ve worked with a few times before and are really great curators who truly engage in their projects.
Another thing that’s finally coming up is the curated show in Brussels, Algorithmic Bias, which will (hopefully) be opening in late September. It’s still not fully sorted out, but it’s getting there and I’m excited for it to finally happen. It feels like forever ago that I travelled to Brussels to check out the space.
So yeah, it’s a really busy few months ahead. It’s exciting but slightly daunting. It’s the most I’ve travelled for my art, especially over the next few months. It’s annoying that this is all happening during covid, but exciting nonetheless. As always I’ve been applying to a lot of things, but have slowed down a little since May. This was mostly due to the fact that I got a new job working 25 hours a week for a community arts festival here in London. Initially it was for 6 months, but this week I made the decision to quit early as I feel like my own art projects over the next few months should really take priority, especially as they’re actually really important big (and paid!) opportunities for me and my work. It’s the first time since graduating that I’ve had a full, 5 day a week job, and it’s really drained me. Working as an art handler definitely fucked me up, but that was only max 3 days a week and didn’t consume me as much as this job has. It’s been really great to learn about community art projects, and to work with such a lovely group of people (which is very rare for me), but I felt that I was doing a disservice to the work I was doing for them and myself by continuing. Also after spending two weeks in Sweden focusing entirely on my practice it just felt the right thing to do. Either way, it’s been an interesting 4 or so months that I’ll continue to learn from.
Is that it for art? I think maybe it is, although I’m definitely missing or forgetting things that have happened. 6 months is a long time… So let’s now move on to shows I’ve been to. Happily it’s a fairly short list as I’ve really neglected going to shows, both during covid and whilst spending so much of my time in this job. So in no particular order, let’s begin with Matthew Barney’s solo exhibition Redoubt at Hayward Gallery. The whole show focused around an almost 3 hour long feature film, featuring hunting in the woods, copper etchings and subtle dance movements. It was about wolf hunting and other things, but in reality no one is going to watch a 3 hour film in a gallery. Alongside the film was some monumental copper sculptures, made from casting a series of trees that had been meshed with various large military weaponry. These were bold and intricate, positioned alongside lots of small copper etchings of trees and things. It was a good show, but really asked a lot of the audience.
Also at Hayward was Igshaan Adams’ Kicking Dust. It featured a lot of weaving and imagery of maps, but ultimately was a little disappointing, especially the large clouds of twine and dust which populated the gallery.
Next up was a duo show between Mary Stephenson and Grace Pailthorpe at Bosse and Baum titled Fertile Spoon. It was a really coherent, well curated show, bridging the gap between two artists who were born almost 100 years apart, all about human psychology and surrealism.
John Akomfrah’s solo exhibition The Unintended Beauty of Disaster at Lisson Gallery was good. There were some truly beautiful scenes in the 50-minute film, subtle moments showing family albums immersed under large bodies of water. Yeah, it was a good show, although the 2D based works weren’t as enticing.
Matyáš Chochola’s solo exhibition The Alchemist at Gossamer Fog was fun, lots of relics, lots of glass, lots of metal. It felt a bit like a workshop, paused for the exhibition. Crystals, supernatural powers and the past.
Emma Stern’s solo exhibition Revenge Body at Carl Kostyál was interesting. I’ve worked with Emma a few times in the past, but have weirdly never seen her paintings in person, so this was a first for me. I like the work, avatars that Emma has found or altered from digital spaces, and the paintings are good. The exhibition just felt a little sterile for Emma and her work, although I guess most commercial shows do? I’m sure my own shows fall into that same category. I dunno, it just felt a little muted.
Bloomberg New Contemporaries at South London Gallery was, as always, a disappointment. There were some standouts, as always, but the majority were just a little lost in the mass of works. They always take on way too many people. I’m a fan of Rene Matić and Maria Mahfooz already, but had the pleasure of watching videos by Chen Si-zuo (https://vimeo.com/428477876) and Sangbum Ahn (https://vimeo.com/487674640).
Stewart Cliff’s solo exhibition Metro at Xxijra Hii Gallery was subtle. Wood blocks with imprints of images.
I’m sure I saw a few more things, but also maybe not. I also saw a lot of community based shows whilst I was working for the arts festival during its three week run in early July, from mechanised robots to a group of schoolchildren thinking about their future jobs by sowing together a massive quilt. Either way, let’s move onto games, books, TV shows and films, beginning with Bliss, a terrible sci-fi film with Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek. Truly disappointing and not worth speaking about.
I kind of enjoyed Save Yourselves!, a film about a young couple who go for a weekend away, turn off all their devices and log off. Meanwhile cute and fluffy aliens invade so they completely miss the news and are very much oblivious for the first half of the film. Yeah, it was a bit of fun.
I quite liked Devil May Care, a new cartoon that features the devil in hell hiring a social media coordinator to make hell a better place to live. It’s very funny and well done.
Sputnik, a Russian made film about an alien from space, was interesting, although as it moved towards the end of the film I quickly realised that the entire film felt like a bit of Russian propaganda. The end of the film sees the Russian military coming in to save the day. Obviously it’s the same thing in American action films, but I guess I’m a lot more aware of the oppressive government in Russia and how, if you had witnessed an alien kill multiple humans, the Russian government would not be letting you live to tell anyone about it. Cool alien though.
I quite liked Soulmates, an anthology series about how, in the future, science will be able to match you with your soulmate, from anywhere in the world. The concept is ripped straight out of an episode of Black Mirror, but overall it was done quite well, exploring how different people manoeuvre through this new world. I would recommend it for sure.
The third film in this series, To All the Boys: Always and Forever, was great. As always it was a very lovely PG experience, Lara Jean experiencing high school.
The Framing Britney Spears mini documentary from The New York Times was an interesting insight into Spears and the ongoing conservatorship. As always gaining insight into the lives of celebrities is always exciting.
I really loved The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl, an animated film about a young woman in Kyoto, navigating through an incredibly surreal evening. It’s a really amazing film, with so much weirdness and hilarity. I would highly recommend it.
The same director, Masaaki Yuasa, also made a truly awe inspiring anime called Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!. It’s a beautiful show featuring three schoolgirls who start their own anime club at school, so it’s basically an anime about anime. It really makes you want to create and is truly inspiring. Its also based in this very peculiar but fantastic city, with lots of different levels and hundreds of canals. It’s a really beautiful tv series that I could not recommend enough. Truly, if you watch anything from this list, watch this.
News of the World, a film about Tom Hanks travelling across middle America reading the news, was painfully boring. What happened Paul Greengrass?
I enjoyed Spaceship Earth, a documentary about a group of people who built a small ecosystem, living in it for a year in America in 1991. It was an interesting conceit, and obviously the politics of it is the most enticing aspect of the project.
I’m a big fan of Rosamund Pike, I think she’s fantastic in so many things, and I feel like she really delivered in I Care a Lot. Pike is a legal guardian who bleeds the elderly dry, slowly siphoning off funds until they eventually die with nothing. Throughout she’s smoking on a vape, and it feels like that’s the perfect prop for her.
Ah Outside the Wire was so crap and predictable. Not good.
Now for some odd reason I never watched Waterworld, supposedly the worst film ever. I can confirm it is quite bad, although to say it’s the worst film ever is quite harsh.
Another older one, Me, Myself & Irene. Jim Carrey being ludicrous.
Tig N' Seek was a bit too basic for me, a cartoon about an 8 year old and his gadget building cat. Not interested.
The Abyss, another older film, was fine. I spent a lot of time researching whether or not I should watch the directors cut or not. Lots of forums were really trying to sell the directors cut (an extra hour or so of crap) and fortunately I chose to watch the original. It’s the most obvious and painful film I’ve seen for a while, although some people online feel that the original is far too obscure and subtle, which I found truly hilarious. Yeah, maybe great when it came out 30 years ago, but now it’s total trash.
I enjoyed playing Pikuniku, a little puzzle game about a strange land that is being occupied by a wealthy figure, paying all of its inhabitants with useless coins. Sound familiar? It was fun, although very basic in gameplay.
Driveways, a film about a young boy helping his mum clean out his late aunts house, was truly heart wrenching. It was a really beautiful film, about the relationship between the young boy and an old grandpa who lives next door. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I cried at the end.
Now, after watching New Girl as a teenager after school and never finishing it, for some years a friend of mine has been trying to persuade me to watch the whole thing. Well, I finally did, and can safely say that it is a solid 7/10. It’s not amazing, but is worth watching if you just want to watch something after a long day at school. Perfect for 15-year-old me.
I quite liked Behind Her Eyes, a creepy show that I won’t spoil with any story details. It’s a good, solid show, that I would happily recommend.
Project Power felt like a lower quality version of Limitless, although maybe I just liked the idea of limitless when I watched it as a teenager, and I now realise that there will probably never be a magic pill that can activate 100% of your brain?
Even though Moxie was made for teenagers, I still really enjoyed it and thought it was a solid film, 16-year-old anarchy.
I liked Millennium Actress, a fluidly moving film which sees a man interviewing an elderly actress, where they move through both her films and her life. It’s beautifully done, and more than a bit confusing.
Coming 2 America was really terrible. I much preferred the first one, and feel they should have kept it at that.
I enjoyed Greenland for what it was, a trashy end of the world film with Gerard Butler at the helm.
Babyteeth was quite a bleak, but very funny, film about an ill teenager who falls in love with a drug dealer. I’m a big fan of Ben Mendelsohn, and of Eliza Scanlen who gives a fantastic performance. I’d definitely recommend this film, pulling you apart at the seams.
I watched Yes Day for some unknown reason. Literally the worst film on this long list.
I really liked Raya and the Last Dragon, a new Disney film about a warrior named Raya and her hilarious dragon companion. Very good and very funny.
It's a Sin was quite a painful show, dramatizing the AIDS crisis, mainly in the UK and London. It was a terrifying but incredibly well made window into the past.
I was quite surprised by Resident Alien, a story about an alien who crash lands on Earth and begins to impersonate a man, living and working as a doctor in Colorado. It’s both hilarious and quite serious at the same time. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something light but great.
The Flight Attendant was fun, about a flight attendant who wakes up next to a dead person after a night of drinking. She flees the scene, and it kind of spirals out of control from there. A fun, quite quick, watch.
I thoroughly enjoyed Invincible, a new animation about superheroes. It’s beautifully gritty and incredibly violent, so feels a lot more realistic than many PG superhero style TV shows and films. It’s a very enjoyable experience and I look forward to season 2.
I thought Seaspiracy was a good documentary for informing me more about the fishing industry, and how bad fishing (and specifically over-fishing) is for the environment, but the filmmaker felt like a total wanker.
Boss Level was truly terrible, I am not a fan of Frank Grillo and regret the time I wasted watching this film. Never-ending death loop, incredibly tedious and un-fun.
I thought Crisis was fine, illegal drug trafficking linked with legal drug trafficking, sadly nothing we’ve not seen before. I do like Gary Oldman, but he wasn’t enough to make this film more than average.
I truly hated the people involved in Marriage or Mortgage, a reality TV show about people who are presented with their dream wedding or their dream house, and have to choose to go with one or the other. So many people decided to go with wedding, which, although it didn’t surprise me, made me pretty distressed about how people see wedding days as so important. A truly awful show that I did enjoy in a painful way.
Judas and the Black Messiah was both fantastic and a bit of a painful watch, an FBI informant whose forced to infiltrate the Black Panthers to gather intelligence. It’s sad, totally fucked and a must watch. Daniel Kaluuya is great in everything he does.
I was incredibly surprised to fall in love with Formula 1: Drive to Survive, a Netflix docuseries about Formula One. Now I’ve never watched Formula One, hate everything to do with organised sport, but found myself really enjoying this show. I didn’t really care about the racing to be honest, even though it was fun to watch cars go very fast around a racetrack. The thing that really drew me in was the politics, how the teams choose their drivers, how drivers switch between teams, how to act as an incredibly well-paid public figure whose also only 21 years old. It’s a very good show that I would definitely recommend.
I loved all four seasons of Bron/Broen, a fantastic Danish/Swedish drama about killings that occur on or around the bridge which connects the two countries, between Malmo and Copenhagen. It’s a fantastic show, with Sofia Helin portraying the fantastic Saga Norén, a female police officer whose truly amazing and oblivious to social norms. I’m sure many have seen it by now, but if not do watch. Don’t watch the terrible American or British remakes, both of which look truly terrible.
The documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, was fun, looking into the person behind the college admissions scandal in the US. I kind of enjoyed how it had been dramatized, following actors playing out scenes that had been pieced together from recorded telephone calls. It was good.
Two Distant Strangers was truly terrible and painfully overt in its messaging.
For some reason I’d never seen Casablanca. It has not aged well.
I enjoyed Nobody and am a huge fan of Bob Odenkirk in general. It was fun and enjoyable for it’s 90 minute run time.
Arlo the Alligator Boy was an enjoyable animated TV movie, with the alligator boy trying to find his father in the big city. Pretty weird and quite sad, but overall a really good time.
Elliott from Earth, an animation about a boy and his mum being transported into space, was lovely.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Another classic that I apparently missed in my youth.
I tried to watch Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, an anime about supernatural beings, set in 19th century England. I really enjoyed the first few episodes, although when it came to the fight scenes (which, like Naruto, last forever) I just couldn’t continue. I am so done with fight scenes that go on for hours in anime.
Amazing Interiors was a fun Netflix show about “normal” looking houses having wild insides. As always I enjoy seeing the inside of people’s houses.
I was pleasantly surprised by The Mitchells vs the Machines, an animated film about a family that goes up against an angry AI. It feels like a lovingly made film, with a good plot and well-made characters.
For some time I’ve been watching The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, an anime about a dormitory of “weird” people who go to an arts high school in Japan. I both loved and hated this show, full of painfully annoying characters and impassioned speeches. Stand out moments include creating a AR game that the whole school participates in, with lows being a 13 year old girl being a world famous painter, although I guess that’s how a lot of anime is; more than a bit unrealistic.
Next was average, killer AIs, etc.
I had a good time with Mare of Easttown, about a detective in a small town investigating a murder. It felt very gritty and tired, with Kate Winslet being truly fantastic. Some really tense moments that didn’t outstay their welcome, alongside some great twists and turns along the way.
Black Bear with Audrey Plaza was pretty fantastic, a beautifully meta and clever film about film making. It’s really fantastic and a film that I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in what happens behind the camera.
I found Motherland to be incredibly funny, a comedy series about a group of mostly middle class mums (and one dad) navigating through life, caring for their kid(s) whilst trying to carve out some time for themselves.
Minari was beautifully painful, the slow downfall of the American dream. Steven Yeun is universally great.
I Hate Suzie was fantastic, Billie Piper being truly great at portraying an actress whose phone gets hacked and has her life subsequently blown to pieces. As I’m of a certain age, Billie Piper has, for the most part, always been affiliated with Doctor Who in my mind. This show made me see her differently, how great an actress she is, and has made me want to pursue more of her work. Really great TV.
I enjoyed Halston whilst it was there, and am always a fan of Ewan McGregor. I do like learning about people/things I wasn’t aware of before, and it was a well told story.
Q: Into the Storm was a great documentary series about QAnon, 8chan and the rise of conspiracy theories. I already knew a fair amount of what was in there, but even so I thoroughly enjoyed it. For anyone who doesn’t know anything about QAnon, this is a great place to get all the information.
I think I watched the first few episodes of Devils and just couldn’t continue, boring banker TV show.
Over the Moon was a cute animated film about a girl building her own spaceship to meet a moon goddess. It’s very lovely and a sweet watch.
On the other hand, Apples, was pretty wonderful. A film about a pandemic that’s causing sudden amnesia. The main character Aris is enrolled in a recovery programme that’s designed to help unclaimed patients build a new identity. Basically he’s set lots of experiences that he then has to document with an instant camera. It’s a really great film that’s very sad.
The Underground Railroad was quite the watch, especially in the first few episodes, just so much pain and distress. It was beautifully shot, with some really subtle interjecting scenes of cotton fields throughout. Yeah, just a really hard watch. It was fantastic and important, but be prepared to be incredibly upset, angry and pained.
Breeders was similar to Motherland, another TV series set in London about parents dealing with young children. Breeders focuses on one family though, not many, and is a little more close to the bone than Motherland, alongside being a bit more dramatic. I enjoyed it, and am excited for the next season. There was one episode which had me howling at the screen, featuring a young boy whose obsessed with coffee. He brings a load of different plastic baggies into the house, which the mum thinks is probably drugs, but instead they spend the whole afternoon reviewing 10 different coffee types. Just fantastic.
I’ve spoken before about falling in love with Anders Thomas Jensen’s films, so I was bound to love Riders of Justice. Like in all of Jensen’s films, this was a dark comedy, featuring Mads Mikkelsen being truly fantastic. As I’ve said before, just watch all of his films, they’re all amazing and hilarious. Finding his films has been a true highlight of 2021.
I was disappointed with Shiva Baby, a short film about a college student running into her sugar daddy at a Jewish funeral. I think there’s a lot to say about it but I really can’t be bothered. I think I just wanted more.
On the other hand We Are Lady Parts was a fantastic comedy series about an all-female Muslim punk band. It’s very PG but still incredibly funny, with very well fleshed out characters and a lovely plot. I hope there’s a second season.
Time, a short series featuring Sean Bean as an older man going to prison for hitting someone with his car, was pretty brutal. Yet again another show that makes you never want to go to prison. And who doesn’t love Stephen Graham?
Extraction was fine, and killed a few hours.
I liked the idea of Bluey, but I feel like it’s not quite a children’s cartoon that is also suitable for adults.
Now I really liked Dollface, focusing on a woman who just broke up with a long-term boyfriend. She then tries to get back in touch with old friends and engaging with old experiences. The show is full of very absurd, fantastic moments, that make it very funny and well worth the watch.
Feel Good was good, a comedy drama about a comedian trying to get her life under control. Yeah, it was good, but not great.
I was a bit weirded out by Rare Beasts, another Billie Piper focused experience. Her character was great but the story was deeply distressing. The man she starts to fall in love with is just a truly bad person and it made me a bit too uncomfortable although, obviously, this was the point.
Undergods, a film of distressing, apocalyptic like vignettes, was quite good, in a maddening way. It was very good but very weird, just on the cusp of being great.
I liked Wish Dragon, it was very lovely and funny. Well worth a watch for those who fantasise about gaining a dragon that can grant you wishes. John Cho is always great.
The Owl House is a fair animated show, about a teenager being drawn into a magical world where she becomes a witch. I don’t think I’d recommend it as there are far better shows out there that focus on magic and witches, like Summer Camp Island.
Premium Rush was fun, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike courier whipping through New York City. Dull but fun.
I thought Zenimation was quite a beautiful series, collating and grouping together lots of different clips from Disney films. Each 10 minute episode focuses on a different element, from water to the rainforest. They’re very beautiful, subtle moments, that are nice to fall asleep to, focusing purely on the background sounds and the visuals.
Coded Bias was great, about AI, fascial recognition software and the bias that’s being implemented into technologies that will soon control our lives.
One of my favourite TV shows that I managed to watch over the previous 6 months was Six Feet Under, an amazing series about a family that runs a funeral home in LA. It’s a really great series that improves as the seasons go on. The ending may be the best thing I’ve seen for some time, making me sob uncontrollably for about 10 minutes.
I liked Luca, a Pixar film about two young boys, who are also sea monsters, and their quest to win a vespa. It was very lovely, a simply sweet film.
I’m a fan of Alan Partridge, so really enjoyed This Time with Alan Partridge, seeing Alan as a bit of a washed-up radio presenter turned TV host. Funny, as always.
Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens was fine, and fairly funny at times. I think the title is potentially a little too “does what it says on the tin” though.
I kind of hated Bo Burnham: Make Happy, the kind of stand up I hate; highly rehearsed. I didn’t find the jokes, him or the set ups funny at all, a huge disappointment.
I like stories about pyramid schemes, so On Becoming a God in Central Florida, a series about Kirsten Dunst moving her way up a multi-level marketing scheme, was music to my ears. It was a fun, slightly wild, ride.
City of Ghosts, a very cute kids animated show about a group of kids who interview people in LA about their encounters with various ghosts, was beautiful. It’s very much a children’s show, but it was beautiful in its simplicity.
The Tomorrow War was crap, although I do like Yvonne Strahovski.
I had a great time playing It Takes Two, a fantastic new game directed by Josef Fares, who previously directed A Way Out and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (a game that I forced my entire family to play and which brought me to tears). Like A Way Out, It Takes Two is a two player game, made to be played by two players preferably in the same room. It focuses on a mother and father who are about to get a divorce, and their daughter who, distressed after hearing the news, runs up to her room and wishes for them to get back together. Her tears fall onto these makeshift dolls of her parents, “magic” happens and the parents then turn into the dolls. You as the player then navigate through various worlds, both in and around the house. Each level focuses on a different location, be it the garden shed or the attic, and are all truly unique and really well made experiences. If you have a partner or close friend, I would highly recommend playing this game together. It’s really fun gameplay, with a fine enough story. There’s also a Spanish love book which comes alive, so there’s really something for everyone.
I liked A Quiet Place Part II, especially the beginning which pulls us back to day one of the apocalypse. It was definitely enjoyable, pushing us to hate the young son even more than we already did.
I came across Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet and was actually quite surprised at how lovely some of the episodes were. It’s a comedy series about a video game developer, the struggles and distress. Over the course of two seasons we’re shown the different characters, it’s fun enough, but there’s one episode in season 1 that is truly beautiful and very much disconnected from the entire series. The episode focuses on an entire new cast of people, seeing the rise and fall of a young woman’s video game vision. How, over the years, her original idea is co-opted and tainted by corporations and money. It’s a truly beautiful episode and makes you kind of want the whole series to be like that; a serious drama, rather than a foolish comedy. I would recommend that single episode to anyone as it truly works as a standalone entity, season 1, episode 5, A Dark Quiet Death.
I liked In the Earth, a new film by Ben Wheatley, about a scientist and park scout venturing into an unknown, mystical forest. It was an enjoyable, slightly creepy, experience.
The final piece of content I consumed was Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler, a novel about a woman who discovers that her boyfriend is running a conspiracy theory Instagram account. She then leaves America and heads to Berlin, where she recreates herself 100 times over. I won’t say anything more because it may spoil it, but it was definitely a fun read, with the protagonist taking on different personalities and roles throughout.
Aaaand I think that might be it,
although as always I seem to forget what I’ve done or things I’ve seen when I
leave this blog un-updated for long periods. In the next few months I’m going
to be working quite a lot on my own things, making the new videos, travelling
lots and hopefully making some exciting new artworks along the way. I’ll try
and update this again next month, but who knows, maybe it’ll be another 6
months until I get around to it.
