Bite your piano

Hey guys,

Some new things:

1. Cristobal Ascencio digitally messing up memories.
   

2. Thanks to a recent trip to the latest Tokyo teamLab exhibit (on the same day that I finally spotted demented taxidermy in real life --

   

   ), I'm pondering some new possibilities.
   
   Screen content is now beyond-saturated. Wonder and awe are increasingly rare to come by.
   
   Immersive experiences are a place for rarer gems. Their audience is limited to a physical location, but it's that exclusivity that retains its grandeur. And judging by the long line to get in to Tokyo's Planets, it's clear that audience can be large and likely captivated enough to spread the word. If these experiences can continue to incorporate a range of other media, AND include more complex narrative storytelling... hm...
   

3. Some years ago, when I started to consider fleshing out my "social profile", I was told to make a mood board of what I could see myself posting.
   

4. All the existing piano pieces in The Fabelmans are ones that Spielberg's mother actually played. John Williams builds off the piano and ends what's likely his final collaboration with the director on a gentle and deep note.
   
   Also, bite your piano.
   
   The film itself is funny and reflective and analytical and raw, opening up family dynamics he's only hinted at before. I do wish he had a more resonant, less cliched little Sammy. But the high school version played by Gabriel LaBelle is great.
   
   I'll admit the trailer is not only weak, but misleading -- and this seems to be a trend.
   
   This one's okay. But it does make The Menu seem a little standard. I saw it before seeing this trailer. All I knew going in was it involved a restaurant, a chef, some strangeness, and some thrills.  And the real thrill was my surprise at the experience.  What if the trailer had -- instead of simply hitting home "thriller" -- found a way to also capture the Buñuel in it, the dark humor, and the parody elements? I probably would've recommended it much sooner.
   
   Someone's gonna have to do a double feature: The Menu and Triangle of Sadness -- haven't laughed harder in a while.
   

5. Let's start thinking about the flip side to reversing aging. In the mean time, you can get close.  Or Harrison Ford can get close.
   

6. Can't go wrong with Lucas Imbiriba and Bohemian Rhapsody 
   

7. Single take ads -- like this, and this, and this -- were once upon a time a thrill. My work colleagues and I would gather around and marvel at them. Do people still do that at ad agencies? Feels like now we just nod along, chalk it up technology and budget and manpower being able to do anything, and that's it. (Long takes are now everywhere in film, sometimes for no great reason.)
   
   But this one still stands out to me -- among other OK Go videos -- because it's only part of the puzzle. The real catch is how so much is squeezed into a few seconds, so much that it's unnoticeable unless you play it slow. Mind-blowing concept and execution.

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Chris