I’m still trying to figure out how to feel about Geese. I honestly haven’t listened to enough of their three albums to have any super strong opinions but I did like frontman Cameron Winter’s solo album a lot last year as it fits the whole solo young yearning man package he’s got going for him. He’s an incredible lyricist for his age. And yet I think his fickle voice and moody singing don’t work with his band’s sound very often.

And to compare them to The Strokes, as I’ve seen many do, well, that is just a bridge too far for my millennial ass. To me it seems like they have gained less traction because of their music and more about some sort of online phenomenon. Which also goes with their covers, in earnest and otherwise, and with the accompanying “jokes” on display, like those in their Tiny Desk Concert. It’s the same energy that attracts the kind of horrible fan antics you’ve seen at 100 gecs shows and the like: a thousand people convinced they’re in on some great joke.

The Tiny Desk set itself is fine, the performance of their track “Cobra” is quite lovely for example, but as much as I don’t wanna be an old crank, I really think they just don’t have the tunes to get comparisons like the one above. Ultimately it feels to me they’re a band people are liking because they have been told or feel they should like.

There is something deeply funny to me about winning a Grammy. They really do hand them out like candy. Do yourself a favor and read their reasoning for handing out different awards for albums and records – and please don’t confuse the Best Performance category with Best Song.

As I understand it, the Recording Academy – a peer-driven body of musicians, producers, engineers, and songwriters – has an even more elaborate and complicated process than the Oscars, and campaigning is even more crucial. So it’s kind of funny, considering the illustrious list of winners at this year’s Grammy Awards, that there are bands like The Cure with a 50-year history and no wins.

They were nominated before, mind you – for Wish in 1993 and Bloodflowers in 2001 – but considering their status as a staple of modern music for so long, it’s just another reason not to give a shit about the whole thing. That is, until this year, when they finally won one for Best Alternative Album with Songs of a Lost World. They also took home Best Alternative Performance as a cherry on top.

I guess it’s deserved—especially since this isn’t some career-capping consolation prize. Songs of a Lost World isn’t just an amazing return to form after a long break; it’s also The Cure noisily pushing their sound into their most post-rock-adjacent territory yet.

I did quite enjoy the album, so I’m happy to see them finally get this kind of official recognition. They were also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, which I think is the much bigger deal.

My favorite song on the album is “All I Ever Am,” which 65daysofstatic fittingly remixed for a recent release. I only discovered this version today and honestly prefer this fuzzy take to the original, which leans more heavily on guitars instead of the massive drums featured here in the final mix.

Unfortunately, this version also ends rather abruptly after one of my favorite crescendos of the last few years. There are two minutes of pure gold here, and then it just crashes. Brutal! The band’s touring a few festivals near me in Belgium this summer, and I intend to finally see them live. Hopefully they’ll expand on this version the way they’ve done with “A Forest” in the past, but some live recordings I’ve seen don’t promise much there.

The band couldn’t be there to receive the award as they attended guitarist’s Perry Bamonte’s funeral. Here’s their winning performance, including Bamonte on keyboard, from 2024.

Ich bin ja Letterboxd-User der ersten Stunde und hatte hier vor vielen Jahren auch noch während der Beta-Phase Codes verlost. Auf meinem Account tracke ich jeden Film, den ich sehe. So zum Beispiel heute Avatar: Fire and Ash und gerade will ich noch mit dem Chaos im Kopf etwas länger leben und das sich mal sortieren lassen, vielleicht auch mit einem Rewatch einrenken. Bis dahin existieren diese lose Gedanken in meinem Kopf zu dem Film. Ein richtiger PewCast folgt dazu natürlich noch.

• very much enjoyed it being a Return of the Jedi closer of A Trilogy, also didn’t mind its direct sequelness. ROTJ is my favorite Star War because it’s weird, it’s unwieldy and BIG and the same goes for Fire and Ash but ROTJ also makes vast, bold strides and finishes things off in a exhilarating manner while also introducing new stuff all the time. even its retreads are exhilarating because it aims for more than just “bigger” which leads me to
• NOT ENOUGH NEW STUFF! There is no visual revelation in the way The Way of Water broke new ground. That’s partly due to its nature as one script split in two, yet it’s never advertised that way. It’s at its most serial here, for better and worse. The Wind Traders are cool and then immediately tossed aside. Not enough time is spent on their wonders. The same goes for Varang’s group, whose backstory needed grand visuals to mask their lack of inherent motivation, to explain their viciousness against other Na’vi.
• The overwhelming beauty of paradisiacal Pandora never fails; the same goes for the abundance of ever-so-cool action shots of people getting crushed, eaten, maimed, burned, etc. It’s so much, and it never gets boring. It’s an action feast of ultimate creativity.
• not enough RDA stuff. Give me an intercom scene with Earth HQ, another spaceship scene, any shot of Earth, Edie Falco having a line – even just ONE LINE – about some kind of climate disaster killing her family. Give them some kind of motivation beyond pithy statements about wealth and aging. Make it a little more interesting from their perspective as well. Explain why Bridgehead produces so much smoke. Why did they abandon the unobtanium plotline altogether? Is it just about whale brain juice at this point? This is an area in deep need of more worldbuilding.
• Liked Lo’ak in TWOW, here his pubescent perkiness becomes annoying. Your mileage may vary but it’s just one too many times the same dynamic. There is a shocking scene involving him that feels deeply underdeveloped and it’s unaddressed in a way that doesn’t sit right with me.
• LOVED Payakan and no shade to our feminist tulkun icon but too often he feels like the center of attention without being present, or being present without also being the center of attention if that makes sense. He’s my guy, you can’t relegate him to the side like that. I guess I’ll make TOO MANY TULKUN my family’s problem at Christmas dinner.
• much of its Big Third Act Fight is a straight copy of what came before. It’s supposed to feel bigger as the ships get bigger and previous Big Kills now easily string together but it very quickly becomes meaningless and too weightless (pun not intended but it fits I guess. Where was this vortex in TWOW? Where did it come from?)
• There is enough good stuff here to keep you enjoyed throughout but this the first time where I didn’t want to spend more time on Pandora, where I glanced at my watch more than once and felt its runtime. Worst of all: I was kinda glad when it ended. Not where it ended though. Lots of good stuff with Spider here for sure, Jakesully and Quaritch’s identity and transhumanist themes in that specific dynamic are wonderfully interwoven, it’s good simply good writing. It’s weird, it’s complex, it’s on another level when it comes to modern blockbusters. But all these plotlines needed a punchier end and since the film ends on the acceptance of Spider in that big way, that didn’t feel right, or at least not enough.
• really don’t like how these films begin and end but it’s where the Big Jim energy is most apparent. He’s a master for the uninitiated but too much is left undefinied, unambiguous for fans like me. I think you could argue that this is what comics are for. An Expanded Universe of Waste for nerds. Okay, but what James Cameron understands so well is that these kinds of movies need to go away for a while, let the story so far set in, and naturally create a demand for more. Whenever it may come back, there will be more to discover, sure. But my point is that this specific timeframe despite its insane runtime is underdeveloped in certain aspects.
• I assume this will grow on me with repeated viewings. But even with limited expectations and a frame of reference via twitter (it being a direct sequel, more TWOW basically) I kinda left the theater disappointed and that hurts.
• Avatar is tummy kino and I‘m not afraid to say it.

Peacemaker‘s second season premiered this week and with it came yet another performance of hilarious dance choreography. And the critics sure are loving it! “The ability of the actors to keep a straight face through the whole thing is nothing short of amazing,” YouTube-commenter StaggerOmega is raving. OvspP praises showrunner James Gunn’s love for the craft: “They did a full new dance in choreography for both seasons! That’s a commitment.” The man simply has outdone himself. And stanzer09 agrees: ” After watching this about 50 times, I’ve decided I like this opening more than the first season’s.”

I mean, you really gotta hand it to Mr. Gunn. He’s a man of the people, giving fans exactly what they want. It’s like he’s saying through the screen: “Look, it’s the superheroes from my brutal show – but they are dancing! Usually they are violent and punching each other BUT HERE THEY ARE DANCING! Isn’t that funny?!”

Gen X’s refusal to take anything seriously – and, most importantly, themselves – is why they failed as a generation. See, I’m not against dancing or subversion of genre expectations and I don’t want to shit on people’s joy. I honestly couldn’t care less about Peacemaker, the character. Superhero shows often glorify violence; Peacemaker, the show, acknowledges that but also breaks it down with absurdity, showing that these characters can be silly, vulnerable, and humanized in unexpected ways.

But that’s been James Gunn’s one-trick pony for more than a decade at this point and it elevated him to superstar status. The only man to be (fully, and righteously) uncancelled! Superman’s going for broke monologue about his humanity was high school slam poetry coded cringe. I know that you could just write this off as one filmmaker’s cynic ramblings in superhero slop but this is one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood right now making decisions about mainstream cinema, which is to be consumed by millions. And I think this really fucking sucks.