By John Tustin
That is right! I am writing “Things to Stream under Quarantine #2: (Why are we still here?)” Sadly we are still living in Quarantine. The coronavirus is still a huge problem in the United States, and there really is no end in sight. Moreover, there may potentially be a second civil war. (Also, Adam Sandler has made another movie.) However, despite these unfortunate circumstances, we all need something to watch or listen to as distraction or simply for fun. So, once again I will recommend things that you might enjoy. You may or may not have heard about them before, but it doesn’t matter. I believe that these are all great pieces of entertainment that people should check out, whether they are already well-known or not. In general, I will be covering anime, music, movies, and tv shows.
The Boondocks (2005-2014): You probably know of The Boondocks, or at least have heard about it. Although on the surface it looks like an anime, it is in fact a Western cartoon that ran on Adult Swim from 2005-2014. I f****** love this show. It truly is one of the funniest tv shows ever created. I guarantee that every episode will have you laughing (except for the season 4 episodes, since that season was mediocre). However, this show isn’t limited to comedy in the least. It offers amazing political commentary, satirizing all types of people (really, nobody is safe). But, it mainly features commentary on Black America and race. It honestly doesn’t matter what you typically like, you’ll like The Boondocks a lot. However, I’d like you to keep in mind that one of the main points of the show is that all the characters have problems and that you shouldn’t try to model yourself after any of them. Most of the featured characters are supposed to be stereotypes (I’m looking at you, Riley profile pics on twitter). Please, do yourself a favor and watch this show.
Ocean’s 11 Trilogy (2001, 2004, 2007): YES! I am talking about the greatest trilogy of heist movies ever made. I am not talking about the original Ocean’s 11 movie, that starred Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin. I am talking about the more widely known reboot from 2001. However, like the original, the Ocean’s 11 trilogy managed to get big names in the movie, and I mean big names. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac, and Don Cheadle all star in this movie. Also keep in mind that Julia Roberts plays an important character in this trilogy ;). These movies are extremely entertaining to watch. Best part is, there are 3 of them! They are great action movies, full of suspense and charming characters that gel well together on screen. The secret ingredient is how much chemistry this cast generates as a perfectly balanced team of experienced con men. I’m not going to pretend that these films are deep, challenging masterpieces on par with Taxi Driver, yet these movies are simply too much pure fun to ignore.
Taxi Driver (1976): Now that I mentioned it, I gotta talk about Taxi Driver. Taxi Driver is a character study of the fictional character, Travis Bickle played by Robert De Niro (I mean it’s not a Scorsese movie without De Niro). Travis is a mentally ill and unstable man who suffers from Insomnia, so he becomes a taxi driver (duh). You watch as Travis increasingly detaches himself from reality as he fosters the idea of “cleaning up the filth of the city”. This movie is a dramatic psychological thriller, and is considered one of Hollywood’s best movies.
Django Unchained (2012) and Inglourious Basterds(2009): This one is going to be a double whammy. These movies have no continuity between each other, but seeing as they are both written and directed by famous director, Quentin Tarantino I thought I’d group them together. in my opinion, Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds are both excellent films. Django tells the story of a freed slave working as a bounty hunter to get his wife back. Inglorious takes the classic Tarantino road of multiple narratives, but basically it’s “Nazis in Paris, but also there’s American Nazi Hunters”. The real reason I grouped these two movies together is because Tarantino movies all have the same feel to them. It’s like, while watching one, you immediately know “yep that one-foot-fetishist director made this”. I could really bring up all of the Tarantino movies, but I feel like these two are a lot “lighter” than his other ones, and easier to get into. If you like longer, dialogue-driven movies then I recommend these, as well as any other Tarantino movies. However if you are reluctant to watch a Tarintino movie because you’ve heard controversial things about him, still watch his films. He really is not very great as a person, but as a movie-maker, he gets the job done.
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995): This is my favorite TV show/series, ever. Evangelion follows Shinji Ikari, a 14 year old boy who has to pilot a giant robot (called an Eva) to defeat giant monsters called Angels. While on the surface Evangelion might seem like just some mecha anime with the monster of the week formula, it is much more than that. This anime is truly not like anything else. Without spoiling anything, the only thing I will say is that you should pay attention to the many sub-themes woven into the plot, and not take anything at face value while watching this. This is an extremely mature show, so much so that the voice actor for Misato (a character in the show) cried while reading the script for the final episode. Aside from the psychological and philosophical realizations that the show shares, the show also holds up a mirror to the audience themselves, revealing truths that they might not know. After watching Neon Genesis Evangelion you have to watch the feature film The End Of Evangelion, which also serves as an ending for the show. The actual ending made for the show’s original run is complementary to the movie. Evangelion has inspired subsequent rebuild movies that are a reimagining of the show and the original movie. After 9 years a final rebuild movie is coming out in January 2021, which is something I am really looking forward to. One thing to note, is that the creator hates almost all of the Evangelion fans, because they perpetually do what he was warning them against. After watching Evangelion remember to give yourself a big “Congratulations!”.
My Brother, My Brother, and Me (2010-present): After listening to all of the episodes of the SuperMegaCast I had an itch I just couldn’t scratch. I just NEEDED another podcast to listen to, and I am happy to say that I found it. Run by the McElroy brothers, MBMBAM (abbreviation used) is an “advice show for the modern era”. Despite starting in 2010 and having over 500 episodes, MBMBAM is seemingly timeless. There has never really been a point where I thought the humor was dated in the least. I also think this is a great starter podcast for anybody who wants to get into them.
Clerks (1994): Ah yes the acclaimed indie film Clerks. We follow Dante, a clerk at a convenience store who is forced to go to work on his day off. Uhhh… yeah nothing life changing really happens to Dante, it’s just kinda the average day for him, and that’s part of the appeal. Unlike many other comedy movies that we see today that focus purely on the absurdism and shock factor of specific events, Clerks relies more on us, the audience, relating to Dante as a straight man (not sexually, I mean comedically). Clerks simply rolls with whatever happens, as it happens. Clerks lets Dante deal with typical events realistically. Because he lives this convenience store life every day, he’s not going to act like he was just randomly placed in this situation the way other movies do. This is also another dialogue-driven movie that hinges on its character interactions (all things that I love in a movie). I will mention that because this is an indie film and the actors are either amateurs or friends of the creator/director, the acting isn’t the best. It’s also important to note that Clerks was made with only $27,575! That’s about 0.04% of the budget for Hubie Halloween (a bad movie that no one should watch). Watch Clerks it’s a classic. You also get some philosophical introspection as well, which is well done.
Discover Weekly: If you use Spotify, you’ll have a playlist called your Discover Weekly. This playlist updates/resets every week, putting songs that Spotify (or their interactive algorithm) believes that you would like. And I gotta say, it’s a mixed bag. One week I’ll like 3 songs for every 4 of them, and other weeks the songs will just be absolute garbage. I have no idea what algorithm they use, but it must be bi-polar or something. It really is crazy, the quality of the songs they recommend, and how it will vary so wildly every week. It’s never 50/50, it’s always straight trash one week to gold the next. Despite this I still think that it’s worth checking out every week. I think it’s a net gain for yourself, and some of the things they recommend can become one of your favorite songs.
Anime in General: I simply watched too many Animes recently, so I am going to list 10 of the best ones I saw . . . in no particular order.
- Soul Eater
- Konosuba
- Re: Zero
- Magical Girl Sempai
- Prison School
- Kill la Kill (watched before quarantine)
- Death Note
- Attack On Titan
- Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out
- Demon Slayer
Anyway, all these are just some examples of media that have given me real enjoyment, and that I think others might like as well. Remember that all of these vary in maturity rating, so research that on your own if you’re not comfortable with R-rated things. Remember to wear your mask and to stay safe!