Now Playing: December 2023

Our December edition of Now Playing features documentaries, mockumentaries, paranormal research, and cooking disasters, all from our contributors!

Kelley Hudson

When I work I typically watch documentaries or art-related interviews. A few weeks ago I came across a small doc about Laurie Lipton done by the Atlantic that I very much enjoyed and have probably watched a dozen times now.

I also watched the newly added Daliland and very much enjoyed it. It was an interesting take on the end and very beginnings of Dali's life and his relationship with Gala. Would recommend for art lovers. 

Musically I've been listening to a lot of Still Woozy and Tame Impala, they get me going on those mornings when I just don't want to paint.  

J. Marcelo Borromeo

This year, I decided to run through the filmography of Antoinette Jadaone, and one movie I’d really like to spotlight is her 2011 debut Six Degrees of Separation from Lilia Cuntapay. It’s a stellar mockumentary about the Philippines’ greatest horror movie bit player—Lilia Cuntapay—and the way her extremely prolific body of work rubs against her lack of industry recognition. Sadly, Lilia passed in 2016, but thanks to this film and her legacy, she lives on in my heart forever!

Michael Bird

In the 1960s, the Soviet Union believed the U.S. was investing heavily in psychic warfare, so created paranormal research hubs to accelerate a 'psychic arms race'. Lately, I've been watching videos of telekinesis and psychic experiments from the USSR, and psychics still active in Russia, who remain influential. They are employed by politicians to perform black magic, and are now a propaganda weapon used by Russian State TV against President Zelensky of Ukraine. 

 Sunwoo Jeong

Recently, I binged a Japanese anime called "Spy x Family". (I think it's based on an eponymous manga.) In one episode, the mother, who is secretly an assassin and is also a horrible cook, tries to take a cooking lesson and accidentally chops up the entire cutting board in an attempt to chop up the meat on it. The sheer ludicrousness of the scene made me wheeze with laughter for an entire minute.