ART AND MEDIA (RE)VIEWS

Type: Film
Title: The VVitch
Director: Robert Eggers
Year: 2015
Tags: [Period Drama][17th Century][Witches][New England][Folk Horror][Dark Fantasy][Horror}
A historically accurate, heavily researched film by one of my favorite directors. If you have the time, please watch this 7.5 hour video essay that details the context of the film.

Type: Film
Title: Posession
Director: Andrzej Żuławski
Year: 1981
Tags: [Horror][Supernatural Horror][Relationship Horror][Germany][1980s]
One of my favorite films. Third re-watch. The miscarriage scene is gutting.

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 823.8
Title: Carmilla
Author: Sheridan Le Fanu, ready by Mary-Ann Dickinson
Publisher, Year: Jeffries-Prendergast-Underhill, 2012
ISBN: 9798368949994
Tags: [Romance][Horror][Gothic][Vampire][Queer]

Type: Film
Title: Poison
Director: Todd Haynes
Year: 1991
Tags: [Queer][Drama][Avante Garde][Horror][Vignettes]
I was about to sit down and write a review when I found this article by Barry Levitt which says it all perfectly. This film follows three vignettes -- Hero, Horror, and Homo -- all of which relate back to the queer experience, particularly how queerness is regarded by others. The film balances the queer experiences of alienating peripheries (i.e., Richie Beacon's story being told only by others), AIDS moral and misinformational panic (e.g., Dr. Grave's contagion), the grotesque taboo (i.e., spit, piss, shit, pus), and yearning and sensuality (e.g., John's hand hovering over Jack's sleeping body). This was a phenomenal queer film that matched the gritty reality of queer lives while nailing down a core message -- homosexuality is beautiful source of pride.[Me and who: "Haynes is gay,[67][68][69] and identifies as irreligious.[70] After living in New York City for more than a decade, Haynes moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2002.[4][71] He has been in a relationship with Bryan O'Keefe, an archival producer, since 2002.[72]"]

Type: Film
Title: Match Point
Director: Woody Allen
Year: 2005
Tags: [Romance][Drama]
I watched this on recommendation from Copacetic who said it had "a lot of tension and a tragic ending". A truly depressing tale of "romance" on the basis of bodies and power and little else.

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 823.8
Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
Publisher, Year: Duke Classics [unabridged audiobook], 2012
ISBN: 9781620114605
Tags: [English Literature][Classic Literature][Fiction][Horror][Vampires][Thriller]
This Gothic horror novel was first published in the UK in 1897 by Irish author Bram Stoker. The audiobook was narrated by Tavia Gilbert and J.P. Guimont. The story is told through a series of letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles set in late 19th century Transylvania (modern-day Romania) and England. I was highly critical of the book for the first half but by the second half I was enthralled by the story. My feelings are quite complicated regarding the writing of women and gender-based expectations though.

Type: Book
Dewey Number: 813.6
Title: The Correspondent
Author: Virginia Evans
Publisher, Year: Crown Publishing Group, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Tags: [Epistolary Fiction][Grief][Geneology][Family][Fiction][Besties Book Club]
This has been a popular book in local bookstores in 2026 and was a hit for book club. It was American author Virginia Evans's first published novel. The story is told through a series of letters between Annapolis, Mayland-based retired lawyer protagonist Sybil Van Antwerp and the relationships that comprise her life. Bones' recommended this book to their MotherBone due to its themes on aging, blindness, and adoption.

Type: Album
Title: Athenaeum, Homebush, Quay and Raab
Artist: The Necks
Year: 2002
Tags: [Avant-Garde Jazz][Ambient]
I listen to these guys every once in a while. Today, this album put me in a meditative state as I was trying to make a list of 50 things that occupied my mind today using my beloved slate gray Zebra Sarasa Clip 05 gel pen on an 8"x8" college lined paper from a black OfficeMax 1 subject notebook manufactured in 2006.

Type: Album
Title: Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings
Artist: Mary Halvorson and Ambrose Akinmusire
Year: 2026
Tags: [Avant-Garde Jazz]
With only two instruments, Akinmusire's trumpet and Halvorson's guitar (and technically vocals on the jarring third? track), the tone of this album made the skin on my back prickle with a sensation akin to anxiety while the emotional feel ranged from numbing blues to contemplative to rocking pleasure (*note: no NSFW content was harmed in the making.

Type: Book
Dewey Number: 813.54
Title: Area X: The Southern Reach Triology
Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Publisher, Year: FSG Originals, 2014
ISBN: 0374261172
Tags: [Fiction][Horror][Fantasy][Sci-Fi][Quests (Expeditions)][Clones][Action and Adventure][Scientific Expeditions]
This print edition contains the first three books in the Southern Reach series -- Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance. The book series follows the scientists and government agencies attempting to understand Area X, a "preternatural" pristine landscape of horrors. According to an article in the Tallahassee Democrat, VanderMeer was inspired by St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge near St. Marks, Florida. The novel explores current issues like climate change through an eerie and well-built world. I really enjoyed the characters and the world-building. However, I wish I had taken a break between books because VanderMeers persistent repetition of certain words and phrases (e.g., "preternatural") which grated on me. Also the sex scenes were so weird to me but maybe that's a me problem. Recommended to me by Tony Pizza.

Tags: Book
Dewey Number: 601
Title: Analog
Author: Robert Hassan
Publisher, Year: MIT Press, 2022
ISBN: 9780262544498
Tags: [Analog Systems][Anthropology][Automation][Computers][Digital Systems][Electrical Systems][Human-Technological Systems][Philosophy]
This book explores humanity's shift from analog to digital technology and how this impacts the way we think and exist. Hassan, professor of Media and Communication at the University of Melbourne, draws heavily on Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan to assert that technology and humans experience a co-evolution whereby one influences the other. Hassan focuses on major technological inventions (e.g., written language, printing press, Jacquard loom) to introduce the reader to major theories and thinkers in this area of study. This text made me crave more theory, more history, and more understanding of human-technology interactions.

Type: Film
Title: Sorry to Bother You
Director: Boots Riley
Year: 2018
Tags: [Dark Comedy][Fantasy][Satire][Workplace Drama]

Type: Book
Dewey Number: 833.912
Title: Metamorphosis
Author: Franz Kafka
Publisher, Year: Naxos Audiobooks, 2003
ISBN: 9789626342862
Tags: [Besties Book Club][Classic Fiction][Fantasy][Fiction][Novella]
Read by Martin Jarvis with an excellent narration. Oh to be a disgusting bug hated by all who must go to work!

Type: Book
Dewey Number: 823.914
Title: Foster
Author: Claire Keegan
Publisher, Year: HighBridge, 2022
ISBN: 9780802160157
Tags: [Besties Book Club][Fiction][Short Story][Ireland][Coming of Age]

Type: Film
Title: Redline
Director: Takeshi Koike
Year: 2009
Tags: [Anime][Sci-Fi][Action][Racing]
I had the pleasure of watching this at the Sie in Denver and it blew me away. Katie and I now describe our lives in two distinct eras: B.R. (Before Redline) and A.R. (After Redline). This was truly perfect from animation to storyline, script, sound, acting, color, etc. It’s like Grand Theft Auto meets But I’m A Cheerleader and is set in space.

Type: Film
Title: Remarkably Bright Creatures
Director: Olivia Newman
Year: 2026
Tags: [Comedy][Drama]

Type: Film
Title: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2
Director: Bill Condon
Year: 2012
Tags: [Teen][Drama][Fantasy][Romance][Vampires]

Type: Film
Title: Weapons
Director: Zach Cregger
Year: 2025
Tags: [Dark Comedy][Horror][Folk][Supernatural][Witch]

Type: Film
Title: Cabaret
Director: Bob Fosse
Year: 1972
Tags: [Period Piece][Tragedy][Drama][Romance][Musical]

Type: Film
Title: The Shining
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Year: 1980
Tags: [Horror][Psychological][Supernatural][Drama][Colorado]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 891.733
Title: Anna Karenina
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Publisher, Year: Penguin Classics, 2004
ISBN: 0143035002
Tags: [Classic Literature][Russian Literature]
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Type: Film
Title: BlackBerry
Director: Matt Johnson
Year: 2023
Tags: [Docudrama][Workplace Drama][Period Piece][Biography][Canadian]

Type: Film
Title: Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
Director: James Signorelli
Year: 1988
Tags: [Comedy][Horror]

Type: Film
Title: The Naked Gun
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Year: 2025
Tags: [Comedy][Parody][Slapstick][Action][Detective]

Type: Film
Title: Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie
Director: Matt Johnson
Year: 2025
Tags: [Comedy][Time Travel][Sci-Fi][Mockumentary][Power of Friendship]

Type: Film
Title: The Devil Wears Prada 2
Director: David Frankel
Year: 2026
Tags: [Comedy][Workplace Drama][Drama][Satire]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 306.8508664
Title: The Argonauts
Author: Maggie Nelson
Publisher, Year: Graywold Press, 2016
ISBN: 1555977359
Tags: [LGBTQ+][Memoir][Queer Theory]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 306.7601
Title: Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
Author: Jose Esteban Munoz
Publisher, Year: 2009
ISBN: 0814757286
Tags: [Critical Theory][LGBTQ+][Queer Theory]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 813.54
Title: Babel-17
Author: Samuel R. Delaney
Publisher, Year: Open Road Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy, 1966
ISBN: 978-1480461840
Tags: [Sci-Fi][Besties Book Club]

Type: Film
Title: How to Survive a Plague
Director: David France
Year: 2012
Tags: [Documentary][AIDS][Queer][History]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 305.3
Title: Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
Author: Judith Butler
Publisher, Year: Routledge, 2006
ISBN: 9780415389556
Tags: [Queer Theory][Feminism]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 895.636
Title: Convenience Store Woman
Author: Sayaka Murata
Publisher, Year: Grove Press, 2016
ISBN: 978-0802165800
Tags: [Fiction][Besties Book Club]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 813.6
Title: The House in the Cerulean Sea
Author: TJ Klune
Publisher, Year: Tor Books, 2020
ISBN: 1250217288
Tags: [Fiction][LGBTQ+]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 813.6
Title: Up From The Sea
Author: Leza Lowitz
Publisher, Year: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2016
ISBN: 0553534742
Tags: [Poetry]

Type: Book
Dewy Number: 616.8521206
Title: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: Bessel van der Kolk
Publisher, Year: Pengion Books, 2015
ISBN: 0143127748
Tags: [Trauma][Mental Health]

Type: Film
Title: Queer Genius
Director: Catherine Pancake
Year: 2019
Tags: [Documentary][Queer][Biography]

Type: Film
Title: Framing Lesbian Fashion
Director: Karen Everett
Year: 1992
Tags: [Documentary][Queer][Fashion][History]