Category Archives: Hedonism

One of the standout elements of the first season Industry, the HBO drama that documents the high-pressure working environment and pressure-releasing hedonism experienced by a batch of graduates seeking to make their way at London investment bank Pierpoint & Co, was the atmospheric synth soundtrack provided by Canadian electronic music producer Nathan Micay.

Unsurprisingly, Micay was asked back for season two - currently airing on HBO in the US and coming soon to BBC2 in the UK - and hes been telling The Daily Beast how the score has evolved to mirror the development of the characters.

This season, we really had the ability and the confidence to push it, Micay explains. Theres a lot of faster synth arpeggios, if thats even possible, and a lot more bold sound choices.

Micay also revealed that, in contrast to the first season, he didnt shy away from sort of cinematic drums, having cultivated a closer working relationship with showrunners Konrad Kay and Mickey Down.

Following the success of his first Industry score, Micay has written music for a number of other shows, and seems set to work on more in the future. The way we work in the scoring stuff is exactly how I work with my own albums. And it just makes me so happy, he says.

The Industry season 2 score is set for release on streaming services and vinyl soon.

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Nathan Micay on his standout electronic score for Industry season 2: There's a lot of faster synth arpeggios, if that's even possible, and a lot more...

Glastonbury: 50 Years and Counting is driven by the festivals principal curators, Michael and Emily Eavis, and many of the artists who have appeared there between 1970 and 2019 Billie Eilish, Florence Welch, Dua Lipa, Fatboy Slim, Noel Gallagher, Chris Martin and more.

Balancing the driving forces of social conscience and hedonism, Glastonbury has always been both a world apart and a barometer of the state of the nation.

Looking at the hippie days, CND, the contribution of the travellers, dance music, Britpop, The Wall, the impact of television and the first black British solo headliner, this program takes viewers backstage and deep into the archive to reveal the forces that have driven this alternative nation between utopia and dystopia, the greatest night of your life and a muddy field in the middle of nowhere.

This is not a chronological plod through the Festivals evolution but a thematic and story-driven exploration of the peaks and troughs, and the agonies and ecstasies that have shaped Glastonburys 50 years.

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World's greatest music festival depicted in GLASTONBURY: 50 YEARS AND COUNTING - TV Blackbox

LOVING HIGHSMITH

** Patricia Highsmith may have invented Tom Ripley and Strangers on a Train, but she opens this documentary espousing no love for mysteries. Fitting, maybe. Portrayed here, hers was a lifetime of intermittent hope (see: Carol) and overriding tragedy (see: everything else), as she lived out the loneliness, globe-trotting and crippling sexual repression so often found in her novels. With Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones) narrating Highsmiths diary pages and romantic letters in a voice like dry vermouth, were immersed in the authors unrequited longing, most of all for her cruel mothers affection (and for one great love whose identity remains a secret). Director Eva Vitija clearly devoted tremendous effort to interviewing and researching Highsmiths romantic partners, but she lacks the footage necessary to provide narrative fuel. The film inexplicably overemphasizes Highsmiths alienation using Texas rodeo B-roll, and Vitijas sudden yet sparse first-person narration comes off as a last-ditch device to move us through the authors biography. An interview with a Highsmith scholar or two could have added artistic insight without sacrificing intimacy, but instead Loving Highsmith paints itself into a melancholy corner. It fails to understand that while Highsmiths life was sad, it was full. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Living Room.

GIGI & NATE

** While director Nick Hamm deserves credit for making a movie about the issues surrounding the use of service animals, Gigi & Nate is both worthy of celebration and thoroughly unmemorable. Based on a true story (but boasting several differences from real-life events), the film stars Charlie Rowe as Nate Gibson, a teenage boy who becomes stricken with meningitis after a cliff dive during a Fourth of July getaway. Nates condition ultimately results in paralysis, but he finds hope in his companionship with Gigi, a loving capuchin monkey. Unfortunately, the film avoids showing many of the challenges that Nate faces during his rehabilitation and leaves too much of his emotional bonding with Gigi to montage (Hamm focuses much of his attention on the melodrama surrounding a potential law to ban capuchin monkeys as service animals). Aside from some mild cursing, Gigi & Nate is essentially a family movie that makes compelling points but isnt a compelling watch. PG-13. RAY GILL JR. Bridgeport, Cedar Hills, Clackamas, Eastport Plaza, Evergreen Parkway, Hilltop, Lloyd Center.

SALOUM

** If movies were only their premises, Saloum could be one of 2022s finest. When their escape plane starts leaking fuel, a trio of legendary West African mercenaries transporting a Mexican drug lord must pretend to be gold miners while waylaid in a Senegalese village with a haunting secret (sold?). On top of that, director Jean Luc Herbulot shoots the Saloum river delta with spaghetti Western pomp and breadth, while doing a low-budget Tarantino riff as antihero Chaka (Yann Gael) waxes poetic about post-colonialism over a tense, potentially cover-blowing dinner. But just as Herbulots powder keg of a narrative threatens to blow, an unwelcome hesitation creeps in. Action scenes are cheated around at the last possible momentsand a combination of hand-held camerawork, rapid cutting and hazy, colorless CG robs the audience of the cathartic violence and physicality youd expect from a horror-revenge thriller-black hat Western amalgam. Genuine potential, though, is a rare thing. Saloum couldve been this years Bacurau. For now, its best viewed as a glint of first-act promise (and a glimpse of what Herbulot could make with a few more million dollars and a VFX assist). NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Streams beginning Sept. 8 on Shudder.

PETER VON KANT

** Given that Rainer Werner Fassbinders The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant is a signature work of 70s European cinema, a remake isnt a ridiculous idea. But the original certainly deserves a more illuminating interpretation than the one offered here by director Franois Ozon, who also adapted the Fassbinder play Water Drops on Burning Rocks. Whereas Petra embeds with a fashion designer cooped up in her apartment, chronicling her affairs with colleagues and muses, Peter von Kant gender-flips the lovesickness, centering a male film director in 1972 Cologne and the young man he molds into a star. Ozon (Swimming Pool) clearly relishes Peters homebound hedonism: His apartment has deep scarlet walls, a thousand gin-and-tonics, and robes for all seasons. Yet his film adds precious little to Fassbinders, constricting its emotions and meanings with literalism. Casting Fassbinder lookalike Denis Mnochet (Inglourious Basterds) as the titular film director, Peter loudly implies autobiography, even adding an ingnue (Amir Ben Salem, played by Khalil Ben Gharbia) obviously named for real-life Fassbinder lover and actor El Hedi ben Salem. Whats more, Ozons almost madcap storytelling (a sharp contrast with Petras languid ambiguity) creates a knowing soapiness that offers a few argumentative fireworks, but no reason for the audience to engage with the films characters or question their preordained fates. NR. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Cinema 21.

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Your Weekly Roundup of New Movies: Loving Highsmith Paints Itself Into a Melancholy Corner - Willamette Week

Available now on Higher Ground

Stream Zorro HERE

Best known for their quirky and bumpy house-driven vocal tracks, the UK-trio JADED teams up with the rapidly growing, multi-instrumentalist/DJ Carlita for their latest single Zorro, an eclectic soundscape and instant dancefloor heater.

With horns blazing and beats rolling, JADED and Carlita bring us a fun atmosphere perfect for virtually any stage or setting. The pounding beat, subtle cowbell, wobbling synth, and reverberating vocals send us into a frenzy, and its clear that the artists hold nothing back with Zorro.

London-based Jaded comprised of Nari, Jordan, and Teo has cultivated a sound informed by a broad sonic palette and bound together by friendship, camaraderie, serious musicianship, and party vibes. Its honest, captivating, and refreshing electronic music from a tight-knit trio full of

boundless talent and creativity. Jadeds sound is primed for the dance floor, it incorporates the energy of London city; vibrant, multicultural, and truly global. With Jaded you get the raw unvarnished version of each member, and you can hear this in their music. Its made for those who want to dance and immerse themselves in the uninhibited hedonism of the club scene. With their sights set on a complete takeover of the dance floor, and support from Diplo, Claptone and John Summit, among others, Jadeds ambitions include the launch ofa record label, alongside their debut album, and plans to tour the USA for the first time.

Carlita has been turning heads and for a very good reason. Now based out of New York City, the Turkish-Italian artist is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist who is part of the undergrounds most elite circles. Shes renowned for playing unique stages internationally; from Burning Man to Teslas Giga Factory opening and more. This summer, shes turned up the heat with her project by getting her hands in numerous impressive ventures. Earlier this month, her official remix of RFS DU SOLs track See You Again was released as a part of their SURRENDER REMIXES album, alongside remixing artists like Adriatique, Colyn, Dom Dolla, and more. Coming up, on September 5th, Carlita will be traveling to the mythical Cinecitt Studios in Rome, Italy, to film an esteemed Cercle Set. The Cinecitt Studios, often called La fabbrica dei sogni ( Dream Factory) will be the backdrop to her performance. Over 3,000 films have been shot at Cinecitt in its 80+ year history and at least 51 of them have won Academy Awards. Next, coinciding with New York Fashion Week, Carlita will present her own multisensory high-fashion concept party called Senza Fine on September 9. The party aims to blur the boundaries between genres of music, people, design, and experience attendees will be immersed in a boundless celebration of the senses through the use of colored haze, lighting, fragrance, and curation of architectural design. Tickets are available here.

Zorro is out now on Higher Ground stream here

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UK-trio JADED teams up with multi-instrumentalist/DJ Carlita on 'Zorro' - Raver Mag.

As Flux Gourmet hits cinema screens, we've cooked up some more cinematic recommendations for those with very strong stomachs

In which drag icon Divine eats real dog poo from the ground to prove how disgusting she can be. Its not big and its not clever, but it is one of the most famous scenes in underground cinema. John Waters, your crown as the king of trash remains untarnished.

A cause clbre of its time, Marco Ferreris 1973 satire is the age-old tale of rich aristocrats and their prostitute pals who retreat to the countryside and gorge themselves to death with a feast of chicken legs, orgies and mash. A darkly funny and gruelling examination of decadences logical endpoint.

Franois Rabelais would be proud of Monty Pythons Mr Creosote sequence, a gleeful celebration of vomit and viscera. Creosote is a rotund upper-class grotesque who loves food and throwing up on his inferiors. His waiter in an upmarket restaurant overfeeds the glutton to literal bursting point, watching as his greedy guts explode over well-dressed patrons.

Jan vankmajers food phobia is well documented, and its ever-present in one of his few feature-lengths, turning a pleasant meal between family members into a series of deeply unpleasant close-ups as food is shovelled into mouths like innards into a threshing machine.

Vera Chytilovs anarchic 1966 comedy-drama uses fine dining and food consumption for plenty of subversive fun, from satirising the rich to meditating on hedonism. But the films finest sequence finds its female leads chopping phallically shaped foodstuffs to mock their expectant male lovers. Youll never look at a cucumber the same way again.

Flux Gourmet is in cinemas from Friday 30 September.

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Box office gross: 5 films that find horror in fine cuisine - The List

A good origin story is hard to come by these days, but Evanora: Unlimiteds entry into music is one of biblical proportions. The Oakland-born artist, real name Orion Ohana, wasnt born in a manger, though he did spend his infant years, from as early as six months old, sleeping in a dog bed behind the speakers of a jungle rave. Born to DJ and producer parents, it was during this time that he would adopt his first nickname, House Pet, which would later become his first producer alias. At six years old, he was already producing remixes of childrens song The Cat Came Back on Ableton, though it wouldnt be for another decade until Ohanas journey really gets started.

Now 22, Ohana is part of a younger generation of artists taking over the global underground with his nihilistic take on rave music. Having garnered a reputation as one of the internets cool kids, he currently has no permanent address, instead travelling from city to city, scene to scene, like a modern-day troubadour for the information age. Often spotted with blood running down his face, his fashion taste sits somewhere in between a mediaeval peasant, eurotrash and an extra in a slasher film. The aesthetic feeds into his provocative live shows, which combine hardcore, punk and rap with a raucous on-stage persona thats so engrossing that when he climbs down onto the dancefloor, its not uncommon to see audiences encircle him, intently watching his every move.

For Ohana, Evanora: Unlimited isnt so much an artist alias as it is an ideology, or cinematic world. Inside this world are recurring characters, one of them being Marjorie W.C Sinclair, the artists randomly word-generated rapper alias though in reality, can be heard playing everything from Jay Sean techno remixes to reggaeton tunes. Marjorie is anything thats not Evanora, Ohana confirms. Its like how Akira isnt actually a person in the film, but an unseen zeitgeist, and then Tetsuo is the archetype who finds the power and then goes insane on an infinite quest.

Listening to Evanoras music is a disorientating experience. Whether its screeching industrial production on Lustful Expanse or the slightly spaced-out guitar on recent single Age of Information, theres a ketamic dissociation to the songs that feels bittersweet, akin to looking at the past through a fogged-up window pane. I feel like Im not the best at words in person, so I try to make up for that in music, he says. With mentions of canola oil and broken memories, it taps into a generational zeitgeist, where youthful hedonism and online discourse rub against feelings of alienation. Sometimes I have intended meaning in my art, but for the majority of the time it's subliminal and the meaning is added later.

The music videos, usually self-directed and made up of archival footage from nights out and intimate moments with friends, also embody this breaking down of innocence. As if plucked from the dark recesses of old Tumblr, theyre intentionally dark and, at times, include uncomfortable shots of blood-soaked faces, strangulations and assault rifles. In Eldest Sister, a row of television screens flash sporadically and invoke surveillance state-grade paranoia. I feel like Im not in control of any of it at all, he says. Even when I have an idea for my videos, they end up being completely different. But they always end up perfect in the sense that I couldnt imagine them to be any different.

His latest release 22nd Chances under his Marjorie alias features 15 tracks, written during Ohanas travels. Delivered in Marjories instantly recognisable, monotone style, the tracks are hyperactive and disjointed, with sun-soaked samples and euphoric anecdotes of misadventures spent crossing Europe. He concludes, Im on this infinite quest to find out what is just me and myself, like I dont know what it is yet.

22nd Chances is out now

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Evanora: Unlimited is making hedonistic music for the Information Age - Dazed

Olivia Wilde remembers driving to Palm Springs for the first time 20 years ago, taking in the Midcentury Modern architecture, the palm trees, the lush golf courses and the flowing fountains, a verdant city plopped in the middle of a desert. Every time the native New Yorker looked out the window, the same thought ran through her head: If we settled Mars, this is what it would look like.

It felt like the ultimate expression of mans dominance and power, Wilde says over the phone, taking a walk around New York. Its so beautiful, but its also a really strange place. If not for all the creature comforts that man has created, you would die very quickly out here. And its the desert, so its spooky. I recall thinking that someday we have to make a horror movie out there.

That day has arrived with Dont Worry Darling, opening in theaters Sept. 23 after world premiering next week at the Venice Film Festival, a psychological thriller about a couple (Florence Pugh and Harry Styles) living in a utopian desert community called the Victory Project. Its a place where men leave in the mornings in their vintage Corvettes and Pontiacs for mysterious jobs while the women stay home, make the beds, scrub the bathtubs and cook up a pot roast for dinner. The ethos, in the words of the communitys leader, Frank (Chris Pine), is all about mining pure, unbridled potential. That and hedonism. The women must keep the liquor cabinets fully stocked too.

As the song goes, Its the good life if youre one of the men nuzzling your submissive wife over a bacon and eggs breakfast. Otherwise, to use another line from the same Sinatra song, You hide all the sadness you feel. The tension between the colonys seductive glamour and the level of control it imposes on the women who live there (imagine the most draconian HOA and you get the idea) gradually becomes exposed as Pughs character begins to question her surroundings over the course of the films two-hour running time.

Palm Springs stands in for the otherworldly setting of the Victory Project in Dont Worry Darling, an elite community with some dark secrets.

(Merrick Morton/Warner Bros. Pictures)

There was a moment when Dont Worry Darling might not have happened in Palm Springs. Wilde, writer Katie Silberman and production designer Katie Byron, the trio who collaborated on Wildes directorial debut, the acclaimed 2019 teen comedy Booksmart, had embarked on an early road trip to the desert to start scouting locations. It was July 2020, hotter than hell and the beginning of the pandemic, which made the Victory Projects life of revolving dinner parties feel like a complete fantasy. Taking in all the butterfly rooflines of communities like Canyon View Estates, they were certain they had found the movies setting.

But because of COVID, Wilde says, very reasonable powers that be suggested moving the production to New Zealand to save money. Wilde understood the logic but resisted, believing that, on a subconscious level, Palm Springs connected to what she calls the patriarchal masculinity that was essential to the story she was telling.

For me, New Zealand is this ecological gem thats evidence of natures power, Wilde says, and feels connected to Mother Nature and femininity. I think if I made a sequel about the matriarchy, New Zealand would be a reasonable place to go because its a place where you go to be humbled by nature. Thats the opposite of what the character Frank wants. He wants people to feel that nature is humbled in their presence, that man has molded nature to his will.

Chris Pine as Frank, the charismatic leader of the Victory Project, in Dont Worry Darling.

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

The location for Franks home was vitally important, and Wilde lucked out in securing the Kaufmann Desert House, a marvel of Modernism, a home made from glass, steel and Utah stone, epitomizing the indoor-outdoor Southern California lifestyle aesthetic. The home, built in 1946 to the designs of Richard Neutra, has been immortalized in photographs, including Slim Aarons Poolside Gossip, a shot that, coincidentally, Wilde had pinned to her wall while she was developing Dont Worry Darling.

To have that image on the wall and then be able to crawl inside it felt like that scene in Mary Poppins when they jump into the chalk drawings on the sidewalk, Wilde says.

The movie makes use of a couple of other Palm Springs landmarks, the City Hall and the Visitors Center, both designed by renowned architect Albert Frey. But for another key location, the building that stands in as the Victory Projects mysterious headquarters (employees only!), the films location manager, Chris Baugh, ventured a couple of hours north to the Mojave Desert community of Newberry Springs. There, atop a 150-foot cinder cone, sits a building known as the Volcano House, a saucer-like structure that appears to have materialized from another planet or dimension.

The Volcano House in Newberry Springs serves at the setting for the Victory Project headquarters in Dont Worry Darling.

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

We got shivers down our spines when we first saw it, Byron says. Adds cinematographer Matthew Libatique: It just feels like it melts into the landscape. Its a trek to get out there, but when everyone saw it, they knew: This is it. This is what the Victory Projects headquarters would look like.

The triumph associated with the communitys name appears to be confined, as the films trailer hints, to a small slice of the population. And yet, Wilde says, its easy to be seduced by iconography of the midcentury, Rat Pack era, which is why she hoped to keep Dont Worry Darling from being didactic in its depiction of its patriarchal world.

Filming at the Kaufmann Desert House as the films community gathers for a speech from Frank (Chris Pine).

(Merrick Morton/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Theres a recklessness to the debauchery that feels almost aspirational to us today, Wilde says, Because it feels like a world without consequence. Id be lying if I said I didnt find it really compelling and alluring. I didnt want to make a preachy feminist parable that depicts men as villains. I think the film is about our collective complicity in this futuristic infrastructure that objectifies women.

And what I found so interesting was the complicity in myself, she continues. That feeling of, Oh, Im all about new-wave feminism and smash the patriarchy. But here I am loving this era and you can use the Rat Pack as an example of it that was really horrendous for women. That tension between knowing somethings wrong but still being very seduced by it is where the movie sits. I want the audience to be tugged back and forth between those emotions.

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How 'Don't Worry Darling' Palm Springs locations add to thrills - Los Angeles Times

In the late 1970s, punk morphed into post-punk, something more streamlined, durable and, dare I say, more absorbing. The rambunctious, unrefined energy of the Sex Pistols had made way for a sound that now welcomed instrumental talent, insightful lyricism and, in many cases, dark introspection. Where punk was associated with a youthful outcry soaked in hedonism and anti-establishment aggression, post-punk often addressed more personal emotions. This was certainly the case for The Cure and Joy Division, two of Britains most revered exponents of the movement.

Joy Division shoved to the forefront of the Manchester scene in September 1978 after they performed Shadowplay on Whats On, a popular feature on the regional television programme Granada Reports. This was followed in June 1979 by the release of their seminal debut album, Unknown Pleasures, which saw the band take a further step toward national acclaim.

Around this time, The Cures frontman Robert Smith first caught wind of the Manchester outfit, and he seemed rather fond of them. In a 2013 interview with Paraguays Radio Urbana, Smith remembered inviting Joy Division to play a gig with them in the capital. In 1980, we did a thing in London at the Marquee Club, Smith said. We picked the four bands we wanted to play with us, and Joy Division were one of those bandsI heard [songs from] Unknown Pleasures on the radio on John Peel, and they were just fantastic.

He added: They were the best thing Id seen not ever, because Id seen Bowie and the Stones but they were of that generation of bands which is my generation of bands, they were so powerfulthat was our best show that year, I think, we went on after them and we had to really we had to try hard to match what they did its a shame about Ian Curtis its like Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobainpeople that good come around far too infrequently.

After Joy Division singer Ian Curtis tragic suicide in May 1980, the remaining members of Joy Division formed New Order with the addition of Gillian Gilbert. While The Cure were tacitly impressed by their peers continued work over the 80s, a rift had opened up between the two groups. Speaking to Radio Urbana in 2013, Smith addressed their differences with New Order, explaining that the issue was centralised around their bassist, Peter Hook.

In his 2012 memoir, Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division, Hook made some controversial comments about The Cure, claiming that they had sold out a bit. This sparked conjecture in online forums as fans pointed with hand-cupped grins at New Orders ostensible lack of judgement during the infamous Blue Monday reimagination for a Sunkist commercial in the United States.

Addressing the petty feud with Hook, Smith told Radio Urbana: Although the Cure and New Orderwe come from the same age and everything, but Peter Hook always had a real big problem with us because our bassist Simon Gallup was so much better looking and the better bass playerI think Peter was so jealous he could never get over it, and he stopped the rest of them from being friendly

In 2007, Hook announced that he and frontman Bernard Sumner were disbanding New Order to work on separate endeavours. However, Sumner and the rest of the group decided to continue, leading to an uncomfortable few years of squabbling over music rights.

Continuing in his conversation with Radio Urbana, Smith described a healthier relationship with New Order since Hook left the band. Weve bumped into them over the years, and since [Hook] hes left, weve played with New Order a few times in the last summer, and its so nice to be able to chat with them, you know, to talk with them because Ive always loved New Order I think theyre one of the best bands they also have a fantastic back catalogue, and they like us, its so nice to say to Bernard [Sumner] I like your band, and he says I like yours as well and its taken an awful long time to say hello again to them. Theyre a good example of a band that gets better as they get older. They were fantastic when we played with them last year, and were playing again with them this year at a couple of festivals.

From a fans perspective, its difficult to see two bands from a similar region of the musical spectrum enter petty feuds. Its even more difficult to know who or what was to blame, with only fragments of the story from potentially biased sources. We cant be certain of any jealousy between Hook and Gallup, but if it did exist, could it have been the sole factor?

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Robert Smith on why The Cure couldnt get along with New Order - Far Out Magazine

In his early years, Andreas Maler was a brilliant academic with a particular affinity for all things linguistic and legislative.

The people of Basel thought of him as a sort of Latinist prodigy, although he soon became more prodigal than prodigious, leaning ever further into the insatiable hedonism that inspired his art. It isnt until the year 1518, when his friend Brother Piero is accused of murder, that he must finally recall his studies but at what cost, and to what end?

This is the version of Maler that I built for my demo of Pentiment at Gamescom 2022, although there are a lot of customization options to play around with.

You have to play as Maler, but you can texture his personality, academic background, and travel history to your liking. Is he a logician or an occultist? A theologian or a medicinal practitioner? A drunkard visiting Bavaria from Flanders, or a virtuosic artist from Renaissance Italy? A philosopher whose head is often buried in books, or a different kind of optimistic nihilist who has earned the prestigious title of rapscallion from all those he tries to inculcate, but instead infuriates? You get the gist.

The official trailer for Obsidian Entertainments Pentiment.

Like any good RPG, Pentiment prides itself on its ability to provide different experiences for different people. Thats partly why it simply feels like an Obsidian game despite the lack of spiders, Super Mutants, or sadly underappreciated systems like those of the criminally underrated Alpha Protocol (Im not bitter, I swear).

This extends beyond the deep RPG systems at the heart of Pentiment. Given that my Maler was a know-it-all hedonist with little regard for the world around him, it would be easy for my demo to have been extraordinarily silly. In some ways, it was. From exclamations of Fuck the church! to lads pulling sickies from the fields, there is a sort of chaotic humor to Pentiment that keeps it energized even throughout its slower sections.

But then there are also instances in which the game deals with state repossession, abuses of institutional power, and the gross disparity in the distribution of wealth. It is at times like these that it becomes clear this is well and truly an Obsidian game, especially when you are able to use your chosen background to interact with and respond to these themes in unexpected and fascinating ways.

For example, during the demo, we were allowed to play through one of three quests. I decided to help a widow named Ottilia, who had recently lost her husband. When you first meet her, she is cold, bitter, and relentlessly rude although after you help her with a bunch of chores, she warms up to you.

At this point, you will be given the option to steal a branch of abbey-owned firewood for her. This is a criminal offense, which a Maler skilled in Imperial Law will be all too aware of. You can still proceed with the crime, allowing you to recognize fairness over arbitrary rules designed to maintain class divides. Once you lock in your choice to snap the piece of wood, a prompt appears on the screen: This will be remembered. Even minor actions can beget major consequences, but the beauty of Pentiment is that it veils what you can and cant get away with. This isnt necessarily new, of course, but it's the level of refinement the game aspires to and supersedes that makes it special.

Speaking of refinement, perhaps the most impressive aspect of Pentiment is its commitment to not just a coherent art style, but emphatic art direction. On one hand, theres a gorgeous storybook quality to the UI that not only makes it intuitive and easy to navigate, but it also heightens the games authenticity while at the same time increasing the number of mechanisms through which said authenticity can be even further heightened.

For example, you will likely notice that Pentiment incorporates a variety of medieval fonts but what might be less obvious is that the textboxes are populated in accordance with how said fonts would have been written in the 16th century. Beyond that, following hyperlinked words will not just provide a pop-up explanation, but yank the perspective back to a sort of bookish view, where a hand with a long, spindly index finger will point to the explanation in question. It is not just a unique art style, but a case of highly functional and authentic art direction. There are very few games that compare.

Hopefully, there are no people inside that bonfire.Obsidian

Its also worthwhile to acknowledge the fact that it doesnt opt for style at the cost of accessibility. Despite its clear love for fonts and conviction for historical accuracy, Pentiment offers an alternative suite of more legible fonts at the beginning of the game, instantly allowing you to choose an easier-to-read version. And even in this instance, Pentiment reaches an impressive level of verisimilitude thanks to factors like a well-researched proprietary card game, the implementation of canonical hours, and an excellent codex system, among many other minor yet highly significant and detail-oriented elements of the game.

Pentiment is certainly niche when compared to something like Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, or the upcoming Avowed. But that doesnt stop it from meeting the quality that has become synonymous with Obsidian Entertainment over the last 19 years.

If this game isnt on your radar, it should be not least because it lets you steal from avaricious misers to help old ladies who understand the inherent evils of institutional power. Hell yeah.

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'Pentiment' is a work of peerless brilliance - Inverse

Atlantas Lil Babys hunger is so potent its like his tapeworms have tapeworms. The former dope boy hustled his way from scrappy mixtape phenom to venerable Grammy winner. The urgency in his lithe delivery makes every one of his songs even the loose, turn-up joints feel like a motivational come-up credo. Amid all the hedonism of 2018s Drip Too Hard, theres a relentless and energizing focus on nonstop grinding. And 2020s The Bigger Picture, which addressed police brutality in the wake of the brutal murder of George Floyd, turned a dark chapter in American history into a fruitful opportunity for raising awareness, leaving listeners activated and inspired. Naturally, the excellent documentary, Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby (which premiered on Amazon last Friday) gives us an intimate and gripping glimpse of one of raps brightest young stars.

The film opens with a scene depicting Lil Baby starting his day in a dressing-room trailer on the morning of his performance at the 2021 Grammys. As he laces up his Jordans and dons his jewelry, the first words out of his mouth are I dreamed about this shit as a kid Imma be a real millionaire. Youre immediately won over by his chutzpah: While most of us are groggily refreshing the snooze button, Lil Baby is already up talking about the sacrifices that come with being a boss and providing for his loved ones.

Indeed, for all his gritty street allure, Lil Baby radiates a sense of compassion that makes him seem all the more relatable. This is expressed early in the film in a brief vignette that shows him on one of his rare days off, at home with his kids. And when he confesses, between scenes of him and his son, Jason, playing outside, I could fuck up, and he could be like me, its clear that family comes first to him: He wants to be a good father for his kids, if only because he never had one growing up. Its affectionate moments like these that stand out and endear you to Lil Baby, whom filmmaker Karam Gill does a great job of humanizing.

After some wistful reminiscences from his mother intercut with footage from old family videos a historian from the University of Atlanta helps provide context for the Atlanta that shaped the artist born Dominique Armani Jones. In 1990, just four years before he was born, the city, in preparation for the 1996 Olympics, set up a special task force (to ostensibly safeguard its citizens) that waged war on African Americans. Also, there were cuts in the federal housing budget that left poor residents displaced. Lil Baby, whose family faced eviction, were reminded, started moving weight.

Quality Control CEO Pierre Pee Thomas, in an illuminating segment in the documentary, talks about how he remembers seeing Lil Baby in the trap house during his time in the underworld. Thomas, who left the streets and wanted to provide opportunities for disenfranchised youth, affirms that the 27-year-olds charm made him want to sign him instantly. The film details how Lil Baby diligently parlayed his corner-tested hustles into a passion for music.

All this fascinating backstory builds to the films climax on the night of the biggest performance of Lil Babys career the very event we see him preparing for at the beginning. With his whole community behind him, and now the world, Lil Baby is joyously basking in his moment. The hunger and persistence have paid off in a major way. Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby makes us feel thrilled to witness his unbelievable journey.

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Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby Is All About Unstoppable Charisma and Real Compassion - Rolling Stone