Category Archives: Nihilism

Marvel Studios will waste no time in taking full advantage of Phase 4 when the sophomore season of What If...? eventually lands on Disney+. Speaking with Entertainment Weeklyahead of the show's Season 1 finale (streaming today), head writer and executive producerA.C. Bradley teased "hints ofEternalsandShang-Chiand theBlack Widowcharacters" in the next batch of episodes. Production on the second season is already well underway, though Bradley previously stated thata full episode of the animated anthology can take a year or more to complete.

"The fun ofWhat If...?is that we get to explore the entire infinite multiverse, so we try and bounce around as much as we can," Bradley continued during her conversation with EW."I want to play with all these characters, and as much as I love Captain Carter, we've got to share the love. I'm very excited to show new worlds, new heroes."

Season 2 will also take a step back from the first season's tendency for nihilism ("big, let's end the world, let's kill everyone," as Bradley put it)in favor of "character stories and these heroes and showing a different side of them that people don't expect and hopefully they can relate to." Who knows? Maybe Tony Stark will actually catch a break and livefor once.

Bradey went on to stress that What If...? is only meant to be an exercise in...well, exactly what the title says.As such, viewers shouldn't expect any set-up for the wider continuity of the mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"We're not a show that's designed to set upAvengers 5," she said. "It's supposed to be just about entertainment and what these heroes mean to us. When I took the job, one of my rules was let's be free. We're in the multiverse we should be as free as can be and go and run into the wild, into the stories the movies will never do, into the stories the TV shows will never do, and show both Disney and the fans all the possibilities of these characters."

The entire first season of Marvel Studios'What If...? is now available to stream onDisney+. Eternals will close out the MCU's 2021 release docket (at least in terms of strict Disney productions)when it arrives in theaters on Friday, Nov. 5.

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Fresh off that epic finale, What If...? head writer teases Season 2 plans: 'We should be as free as can be' - SYFY WIRE

Over on the video-sharing platform TikTok, videos with the hashtag #samfender have received more than 258m views. There is cameraphone footage of his gigs, clips of his TV interviews and lists of top tier indie bois in which the 27-year-old singer-songwriter seems to rank highly. And there are a wide selection of videos for which the title track of Fenders second album provides a soundtrack. It plays behind montages of holiday snaps, perfunctory visual guides on how to cook a steak sandwich and how to crochet a tote bag and a bafflingly popular video featuring someone mashing up doughnuts with a pestle and mortar.

And why wouldnt Seventeen Going Under provide a soundtrack for happy summer memories and doughnut-based antics? Its propulsive, possessed of a breezy melody and a wordless middle-eight that might have been designed for crowds to woah-oh-oh along to in the huge venues Fender started playing after his 2019 debut album Hypersonic Missiles went gold. Yet it opens with a grim description of numb teenage nihilism (I remember the sickness was for ever, I remember snuff videos) shifts into a rumination on violence, toxic masculinity and mental illness, and concludes with the image of Fenders mother, mired in debt and suffering from fibromyalgia, crying after an unsuccessful application to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Its a useful indicator both of the unique position Fender holds a white twentysomething male singer-songwriter with a mainstream pop audience who is distinct from all the other white twentysomething male singer-songwriters and of the tone of his second album. It isnt a vast musical leap from his debut. Fenders primary influence is still Bruce Springsteen, mostly in soaring-anthems-decorated-with-saxophone mode, although the reflective piano ballad Boss of Racing in the Street or Stolen Car lurks behind closer The Dying Light. And the rhythms of his songs still lean towards clipped and taut, equal parts motorik beat and the Strokes circa Hard to Explain. But it offers a big qualitative jump, particularly lyrically. It pares away its predecessors well-intentioned but clumsy broad-brush politicking and replaces it with sharp details born of personal experience. It shakes off Springsteens lyrical influence, most notably the desire to add romantic, novelistic sheen: theres a potent collision between the stirring air-punch-inducing quality of the music and the bleakness of what Fender has to say.

The end product is both commercial big choruses, sticky melodies and an arresting portrayal of life in his home town, North Shields, as little England rips itself to pieces, in the words of The Leveller. The whole thing simmers with a compelling anger, which boils over both on the disarmingly pretty Paradigms no one should feel like this and Aye, a song that inhabits white working-class disillusionment: The woke kids are just dickheads. The beat feels less hypnotic than unrelenting, the melody is scraped away to a monotone and as it reaches its climax Fenders voice takes on the keening quality of John Lydon: Im not a fucking patriot any more Im not a fucking liberal any more, Im not a fucking anything or anyone.

Elsewhere, his gaze shifts inwards. Theres been surfeit of self-examination in pop over recent years, but Fenders approach is too acute and unsparing to be dismissed as millennial solipsism. Mantra takes that traditional second album standby, the prematurely jaded fame-isnt-all-its-cracked-up-to-be whinge and turns it on its head, concerning itself not with the unedifying sound of a pop star complaining about being a pop star but the self-loathing of impostor syndrome. Spit of You deals with father-son relations in bleakly moving terms, where qualms about an inherited bad temper and an inability to communicate are undercut by the sight of his dad kissing the body of his grandmother in a chapel of rest: One day, thatll be your forehead Im kissing.

It goes without saying that this is not the usual stuff currently served up to lovers of top tier indie bois: in 2021, what you might call mainstream alternative rock still sells in album chart-topping quantities, small as they are, but it seems moribund and faceless, a placeholder for people who either missed out on Britpop or wish it was still with us. Seventeen Going Under feels urgent, incisive and brave when it would have been easier for Fender to deck out his festival-ready, TikTok-able melodies with something notably blander and less pointed. Instead, Seventeen Going Under is an album rooted in 2021 that, in spirit at least, seems to look back 40-something years, to the brief early 80s period when Top of the Pops played host to the Specials and the Jam. The result is really powerful.

Khruangbin - One to Remember (Forget Me Nots Dub)The closer from Khruangbins remix album: a ray of autumn sunshine, with a vague hint of the old Patrice Rushen hit referenced in the remixs title.

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Sam Fender: Seventeen Going Under review music that punches the air and the gut - The Guardian

Summer 2021 was a time of immense growth and connection for me. The memories made during this time are burned with the music of Earl Sweatshirt and Mac Miller.

For Earl Sweatshirt, his music took inspiration from hip-hop producers such as J Dilla, Madlib and The Alchemist. The sound of crackling, Lo-fi samples, backed by a smooth downbeat buoys Earls lyrics regarding depression and morbid lyrics highlighting the nihilism and darkness present in his soul while recording.

It plays on a knell-like loop, steeping in sorrow and rumination typical of one cursed with frustration and dissipation. Theres a bite and fidelity in his cadence, the mark of a skilled and melodic artist and a buried yearning for life and light.

Muffle my pain and muzzle my brain upReally, Im just makin sure my promise is keptChuck a deuce if you know its the end

Riding on the Interstate 190 east at night, rapidly passing by the street lights and neon lights while Cold Summers played ignited a stream of consciousness that tapped into the dharma of depression and solitude.

This is from Some Rap Songs, Earls 23 minute album expressing grief, self-doubt and eventual path to healing.

For Mac Miller, his style incorporated the playful A Tribe Called Quest, the party going Beastie Boys, and the charismatically eclectic Outkast. Smooth beats, combined with a jazzy backing bring Macs testimonies on addiction and fame a new frame of reference.

In a smoke-filled, dimly-lit room, the fluidity of Macs lyrics wraps the brain like smoke smolders wood. Theres a youthful confidence, emboldened by the love of life, yet trapped by the shambles of the world.

Everybody wanna jump in, but Im old schoolLone wolf, take em on solo, yeahI dont need nobody (I dont need nobody!)I dont need to be nobody (I dont need to be nobody!)

As the sun beams through the sky, cracking in between the clouds, the sweet and laze guitar licks of Jet Fuel put me in a place of contemplation and listlessness.

This is from Macs album Swimming, a 40-minute album covering heartbreak, growth and hope.

Theres a feeling of a void in my heart seeing these artists move forward from this subject matter. This is the ultimate hope as new perspectives bring positive change.

The association with this music and their personalities makes it like the feeling of a child moving away from home.

Today, Earl is a father with a new found purpose and responsibility that he never had before. Im anticipating his new material covering his new life.

Mac Miller passed away in 2018. He remained stuck, and ultimately a victim of youthful melancholy.

The lesson learned this summer from this duo; the meaningful moments that make life beautiful dont come easy.

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The ballad of Earl Sweatshirt and Mac Miller - The Record

Randy Weeks

Published on October 6th, 2021 | by Randy Weeks

Genu flecked. It was only the slightest of flecks, but she had forgotten that in the presence of these gargantuan fleckers, even the slightest misstep in faux flecking would bring down the cumulative ire of true flecking fleckers, flecking far and wide. It suddenly came to him: he was totally flecked no matter which direction he took.

Not everyone drinks from the same fountain. Im a much better sinner than I am a saint. Aint it a ditch?! Ill pull your mythical underwear over you storied head. Youre the sous chef of love. Gender euphoria. A butterfly still has the same heart as it did when it was a caterpillar. Shes been acting half betterin a Mississippi way. Homostupidus. Unfiltered disappointment. Will you be the one who has the dates you were born and died with a hyphen in between on your tombstone and that hyphen was your life? Conversationis interruptus. Bootyism. Id rather go to the dentist than fool with my Etsy. Its not primitive unless you stink. Grab life by the beaver nuggets. Narstatistic. Not going in my grave without my uterus. Polipop religion. Our calling to be is an invitation to participate with the Divine. In frequently. I eat and I know things. Do you know anyone who has some inertia I could snort right up my nostril? Heliogasms. Youll smother in a Yeti chest. Co-pathetic. I am a well-known schmuck. Ambisextrious. Mindfully Pentecostal. People thought Jesus was blasphemous too. Dudesplain. Denialism: Denial of my nihilism. She talks like a Gatling gun. Its expensive to be poor. Dont abuse someone elses generosity. The Universe has done heard that crap. A cake is more a cake when youve dropped it on the floor. They say Im dying, but who aint? My mother taught me how to throw up using a pen. She always knew how to help out. Ive had a lot of dreams, but I never had a plan. Salt Lake City: home of the Stepford lesbians. I could photoshop that out. But Im only going to marry you a little bit. God is whatever pulls your face out of the dirt. (Gilbert) When people show you who they are, believe them the first time (Maya Angelou) If the kazoo fits, blow it. When we are killed the past is killed. When kids are killed the future dies. Theres no life without the future. (Hold the Dark movie) Academic goosebumps. You heard me better than I heard myself. Everybody needs to be able to hiccup without judgment. Even our worst mistakes dont separate us from humanity (Wes Moore) What must it be like to have a Jesus palette? My left ear is not right. I cant write a song like anyone but me. I looked like everything youd lost. (JM) Close fetched. Do I have ringlets yet? Wheres the corndog? I can play in that arena. Youre a big ole ball of good. When Im sober Im a stand up human being. Obeast. Analyze, anal eyes. Fishing for compassion. Lack of judgment is my spiritual gift. Slumming with my Cheetos. Watusi woosie. I do my best work in the dark. Everybody wants to feed me Jesus. Stronger than eight rows of onions. (Gene Chisik) Faux chivalry. Cognitive dissidents. Id rather flirt with failure than not dance with my joy. (Wes Moore) Inverted reality. I dont do this but look at what I did. If they goal is losing, theyre winning. I feel like he didnt give me enough cherries. Maybe I will, maybe I wont. Maybe I did, maybe I dont. Ask my neurons. (LG) Every dress is a Sazerac dress. Theres a snail in it now. Concentrating on a bauble. He knows its time to leave but he cant figure it out. He needed to learn to let her be her own donut. There are some things you wish you didnt feel, but you do. My brain never let me agree to this. (LG) Ive been coming to this Balcony for 25 years and it always felt sturdy to me. (LB)

and thats the view from The Balcony.

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, and a singer-songwriter. He may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.

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Tags: City Grocery, notes in my phone, Randy Weeks, the view from the balcony

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The View From The Balcony: Notes in My Phone IV - The Local Voice

With one song from 1975, John Cale summed up the attitude to which the High 70s aspire: Dirty-Ass Rock 'N' Roll. Then as now, that attitude isnt the same thing as the sound of dirty-ass rock n roll, which since Cales song came out has varied from the Ramones to the White Stripes.

Glitter Boxis a debut album, but the L.A. trios members are more weathered than those previously mentioned bands were at their starts: the man calling himself Princess Frank is a multi-instrumentalist whos played with if not in David Bowies band and who still gets down with Fishbones Angelo Moore, while guitarist L J Scott met frontman Chris Williams when both worked for Oprah Winfrey.

Williams displays his vocal influences as if theyre his favorite tour t-shirt and black leather jacket: Bowie as he was transitioning from glam archness to rock artfulness, Jim Morrison in his more lucid moments, Iggy Pop in his final phase as the Stooges lightning rod, and Iggy Pop when Bowie helped him Lust for Life.

The jacket and shirt fit well enough: on the opening, title track, a snaky bassline helps Williams swagger through observations about a hot-mess scenester; on We Have Nothing, he and vaguely New Wave keyboards sink into nihilism as well as Marilyn Manson ever did; and on Secrets, back-alley chords lend him the right kind of bragging furtiveness.

Still, Williams tends to wear the attitude more than inhabit it, and with lesser songsAstro Van, a sub-Weezer tale of vehicle-as-home, or Freak House, which could pass for a dull parody of the Velvet Undergrounds Venus in Furshe cant summon strange magic nearly so often as his idols could.

Plus, the production, by Gram Rabbits Ethan Allen, never puts sufficient dirty-ass into this rock n roll. Because, again, attitude isnt the same as sound, and the High 70s dont fully capture any variation on the sound.

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Glitter Box By The High 70s - Shepherd Express

With the wild-card games in the rearview mirror and the ALDS about to start, the MLB postseason is officially underway. Will the Giants be able to extend their regular-season dominance into the playoffs? Will the Rays complete their transformation into an AL powerhouse? Will the Brewers pitching staff prove to be an unstoppable force in the NL bracket? And which low-seeded teams are poised to make a run? The Ringers MLB staffers make their playoff picks below.

Michael Baumann: The American League playoff field is steady at the top. All three of Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Houston look fairly evenly matched, with each team having different combinations of strengths and weaknesses. The Rays have incredible lineup depth but an inexperienced starting rotation. The White Sox have the ALs best pitching staff and a paradigm-shifting Luis Robert, but Carlos Rodn is having trouble staying healthy, Jos Abreu is battling illness, and the team lilted aimlessly to the division title down the stretch. The Astros have five good starting pitchers, plus Zack Greinke, but nobody is as good as Justin Verlander or Gerrit Cole were two years ago. How much will that matter? Ive got the Rays coming out on top of this game of rock-paper-scissors, but its anyones guess.

But why Milwaukee in the NL? The Brewers are a game under .500 since September 1, their offense is one of the weaker groups in the playoffs, and they just lost their second-best reliever in a wall-punching incidentwhich, in addition to the obvious on-field impact, is ominous. But at the risk of provoking the Braves into going full Moses Malone, the Brewers have by far the easiest path to the LCS of any division winner. And the pitching staff, even without Devin Williams, is the scariest in baseball. (You think Milwaukees going to miss Williams? How much more are the Dodgers going to miss Clayton Kershaw?)

This is the Brewers fourth straight postseason appearance, and from top to bottom this is the best roster theyve brought to October in that span. Craig Counsell, who is for my money the best tactician of the remaining managers, took this team to within a game of the World Series three years ago. Now he can set and forget Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta for five or six innings a game. Plus, with all the attention the NL West teams have gotten this year, I felt like going with a slightly unorthodox pick. Surely Zach wont pick the Brewers as well.

Zach Kram: A year after both no. 1 seeds reached the World Seriesin a 16-team field, no less!it feels like were due for more upsets in 2021. Is that impulse in any way based on data or analytics? Of course not. But in best-of-five or best-of-seven baseball series, concepts of data and analytics dont often apply.

So in lieu of any confident predictions, give me two pitching staffs that could go an entire month throwing exclusively terrific pitchers in important moments. Both the Brewers and White Sox boast an incredible top trio in the rotation, a sneakily excellent fourth option, and the best closer in their respective leagues. Chicago has a better offensecheck out Roberts slash line this yearbut a more difficult playoff path; Milwaukee should coast to the NLCS before facing whichever team survives the Giants-Dodgers slugfest.

There are glitzier, more glamorous options for a World Series matchup, but real pitching nerds would appreciate this battle for I-94. Counsells strategic acumen holds the tiebreak in my mind; I trust his ability to maximize matchups and manage Milwaukee to the first championship in franchise history, just months after the Bucks won the NBA trophy. If this prediction comes to pass, a new Wisconsin city will deserve the moniker of Titletown.

Bobby Wagner: I dont know exactly when it happened, but at some point during the past four seasons of producing The Ringer MLB Show, my colleagues have convinced me to shed my desire to narrativize October and give in to the nihilism that is choosing the team you think is the best, all else be damned. Well, I think the Dodgers are the best team.

There are a number of reasons it would be really weird for the Dodgers to win the World Series this year. Despite winning 106 games, they didnt win their division, and thus had to use their hired-gun ace in the wild card instead of Game 1 of the NLDS. They just lost one of baseballs most underrated offensive stars in Max Muncy, who provided L.A. unrivaled lineup depth and is known for working countless good at-bats in October.

But the primary reason youll hear people say they dont believe in the Dodgers is that there hasnt been a repeat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees. You mean the evil-empire, big-market behemoth that leveraged cutting-edge player development into a homegrown core and bolstered it with commensurate spending and splashy trades at every opportunity? Who does that remind you of in 2021? Oops, I think I just started narrativizing again.

Claire McNear: Do I believe that metropolitan areas can, suddenly and en masse, be seized by the spirit of victory? That the success of one local sporting franchise can immediately inspire another? That there is, in other words, a place such as Champa Bay()? Well. On the one hand, no. On the other? So much of the joy of any sportbut especially the grumbly, jinx-y, fickle, curse-laden sport of baseballis in magical thinking, and fall is hardly the time to start being reasonable.

There are plenty of real reasons to think the Rays might make it to their second consecutive World Series this year and thathaving once again found the Dodgers there, in what would be L.A.s fourth Fall Classic in five yearsthings would come up Tampa Bay this time. The 100-win Rays had the best record in the American League this season, achieved with a surprisingly noisy offense, the arrival of top MLB prospect Wander Franco, and a full season of last falls breakout postseason star, Randy Arozarena. The Dodgers might have the better regular-season record, but they were never supposed to have to work this hard to make it into October. Sure, theyve made off with the Nationals crown jewels (OK, most of them), but after a season-long battle for control of the NL Westan unsuccessful one, at thata little fatigue is bound to creep in.

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The Ringer Staffs 2021 MLB Playoff Predictions - The Ringer

The MBTA was overrun by Gen Z-ers in Doc Martens, ripped tights, and TikTok-esque money piece highlights last weekend as thousands made their way to Bostons Leader Bank Pavilion for two nights of sold-out Phoebe Bridgers shows on Sept. 26 and 27.

The indie icons nationwide tour has come more than a year after the release of her pandemic-made sophomore album Punisher and features dark electro-pop trio MUNA as the opening act. (The band is signed to Bridgers Saddest Factory Records.)

Bridgers is known for her intoxicating juxtaposition of wrenching lyrics (songs like Graceland Too and Savior Complex stand out as obvious examples) and air of welcome irreverence in her delivery. The Sept. 27 Boston show was a testament to that duality, with Bridgers expertly toeing the line between heartbreaking and energizing. Decked out in a fittingly skeleton-inspired beaded crop top, slacks, and a black blazer, she exemplified that contrast from the very beginning. When she walked out to the Black Eyed Peas 2009 banger I Gotta Feeling (she said she once unironically put it on a playlist for her crush), she mediated it by immediately breaking out into Motion Sickness, a gutting rebuke of a past abusive lover couched in a sparkling, upbeat melody.

Though Bridgers isnt alone in juxtaposing sad lyrics with a glittery exterior artists like Maggie Rogers and Brockhampton come to mind as others she weaponizes that juxtaposition with unprecedented precision to create a perfectly calibrated emotional experience. For the deceptively cheery songs like Kyoto, Bridgers whipped out a black BC Rich Warlock electric guitar for added metal flair. Her band, too, wore skeleton onesies, a stark contrast with the storybook-inspired visuals that played behind them. At other moments, the stage resembled a starry night sky, mimicking the glitter that coated Bridgers other guitar, a black acoustic one. Trumpeter JJ Kirkpatrick was a standout on stage, adding stunning embellishments to Bridgers songs in an arrangement reminiscent of her November Copycat Killer EP.

After so much time spent away from the stage, the performance had an added energy, refreshing and urgent as Bridgers reminisced about shows past. This is insane, Bridgers said of playing at the pavilion. We played a venue here on my first record tour where the backstage was the bathroom, so this is insane. At another point, she shared about a past Boston concert she had had with her band boygenius, where a random man started berating her and bandmate Julien Baker. Anyway, it was really mean and its so cool to come back and have the opposite fucking experience, she said.

Despite the relatively slow pace of the show she is, in fact, a singer-songwriter the audience was captivated throughout, as evidenced by the feverish screams that punctuated each song. When she sang you couldnt have stuck your tongue down the throat of somebody who loves you more, a particularly gripping lyric from Moon Song, the venue shook as the audience sang along. Its really cool to get that kind of reaction out of, like, some folk music, she said at one point.

Songs like Scott Street and Georgia were highlights. Im a little embarrassed of the melodrama she said of Scott Streets soaring climax before starting an especially powerful performance of it. But it was I Know the End, her closing song, that really brought the house down. Facilitated by the songs irresistible build towards an epic climax, Bridgers was at her most powerful, captivating the audience in soaring guitar solos and vocals as a house burned down on the stage behind her.

Bridgers encore was a cover of Bo Burnhams That Funny Feeling from his experimental comedy project Inside, a track shes played at every stop on her tour so far and which she recently released on Bandcamp to raise money for Texas abortion funds. Paired with the television static on the screen behind her, the encore felt especially apocalyptic. With cutting lyrics about the generally depressing and near-apocalyptic state of the world A gift shop at the gun range, a mass shooting at the mall, she sang at one point the song made for a delightfully tense and eerie end to the night, fitting for Bridgers own brand of aestheticized nihilism.Staff writer Sofia Andrade can be reached at sofia.andrade@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bySofiaAndrade.

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Phoebe Bridgers Concert Review: An Irreverent and Debilitating Performance | Arts - Harvard Crimson

Asked what her dissertation is about, Bari answers: Its about how nothing matters. Not even love? Whatever you choose, sooner or later it will end in grief. All righty then!

However, when Bari begins to experience severe headaches, followed by seizures, the world suddenly takes on a cheerier aspect, especially after Mike (Barlow Adamson), who makes art out of garbage, enters the picture. Bari eventually has to make a very big decision. Essentially, she has to decide whether to say yes or no to life, but in her case theres nothing simple about the definition of life.

The problem is that before arriving at that crossroads, Be Here Now spins its wheels far too long for a one-act play that runs a bit under 90 minutes.

As demonstrated in her Out of Sterno (presented at Gloucester Stage Company in 2015) and The Last Schwartz (at Gloucester Stage in 2016), playwright Laufer has a fondness for eccentrics. But in Be Here Now she overestimates the charm of three of her four characters.

The scene that follows the yoga session drags, partly because Laufer lets it run on almost to the point of tedium, and partly because neither Richert nor director Courtney OConnor has quite figured out how to make Baris unremitting gloom and misanthropy dramatically compelling.

The upshot is that the rest of Be Here Now is a matter of climbing out of that dramaturgical hole. It more or less manages to do so, thanks to a quickening of the plays central dilemma and a jolt of adrenaline delivered by Adamson as the seemingly laid-back, more-than-meets-the-eye Mike. As usual with this consummate pro, Adamson gives the role exactly what it needs: no more, no less.

Speaking of reliable pros: Scenic designer Janie E. Howland, whose aesthetic discernment has enriched numerous Lyric Stage productions, has created a streamlined, Bauhaus-tinged set consisting of a geometric array of moveable benches and shelving and chairs, some of which seem to be floating in space. Howlands design artfully suggests Baris disengagement from a world she sees largely in abstract terms.

While working on her thesis, Bari is working at a fulfillment center in a small town in upstate New York, wrapping and shipping ceramic objects ostensibly from the Himalayas, actually made in China. Her coworkers are gruff but kind-hearted Patty (Shani Farrell), who is middle-aged, like Bari, and a big believer in astrology as a guide to compatibility, and Pattys ingenuous 20-year-old niece, Luanne (Katherine C. Shaver), whos drawn into sexting with a new boyfriend.

Class tensions lurk around the edges. The nihilism of Bari, who presumably will be back in the comfortable precincts of academia ere long, seems awfully self-indulgent when compared with the uncertainty faced by her blue-collar colleagues, especially when Bari gloomily predicts: Were all going to be replaced by robots. But those tensions are not fruitfully explored.

Things start to pick up when Mike, who only travels by bicycle, and Bari go on a blind date. When Bari tells him that she teaches nihilism, Mike asks: Isnt that a teenage thing?

At first it seems like nothing more than a smart-aleck remark aimed at puncturing Baris pretensions. But she will soon learn that Mike has significant intellectual credentials of his own and a tragic past. Glib posturing when it comes to life and its meaning is something he cant afford.

BE HERE NOW

Play by Deborah Zoe Laufer. Directed by Courtney OConnor. Presented by Lyric Stage Company of Boston. Through Oct. 17. Tickets $25-$75. 617-585-5678, http://www.lyricstage.com

Don Aucoin can be reached at donald.aucoin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeAucoin.

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Life as a yes-or-no proposition in Lyric Stage's 'Be Here Now' - The Boston Globe

Ted Lasso, which premiered in Aug. 2020, garnered 20 Emmy nominations after its first season on Apple TV+ and won seven, including Outstanding Comedy Series. The innocent, charismatic American soccer coach played by Jason Sudeikis won the hearts of millions of viewers as he stumbled through England and coached a team in the English Premier League, AFC Richmond, armed with only his whistle and his motto: Believe. Featuring loveable characters such as bad boy football star Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), internet influencer Keeley Jones (Juno Temple), and kit-man Nathan Shelley (Nick Mohammed), the show had all the keys to a fun situational comedy, with strong recurring jokes and opportunities to laugh at good-old Ted Lasso and his antics.

However, the writers took the show in a different direction in Season Two.

With the introduction of sports psychologist Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles) in the season premiere, the focus of the plot turned from a silly American abroad to the complexities of mental health and the desire to belong in todays fragmented world. Originally brought in to help player Danny Rojas (Cristo Fernndez) recover from the trauma of accidentally killing a dog with a penalty kick, Dr. Sharon has played an increasingly large role in each episode. Following his traumatic divorce, Lassos distrust of therapists forces a tension with Dr. Sharon and the players who benefit from her assistance. These tensions build to a climax in the eighth episode in which Dr. Sharons bike crash and a physical altercation between Jamie Tartt and his abusive father prompt Lasso to reveal a traumatic childhood event.

Although his crumbling marriage and isolation in London developed Lassos character in the first season, this climax reveals a new Ted, one who is completely unrecognizable from the goofy Kansan in the first season. While the old Ted is compelling for the sake of a comedy series, the new Ted brings a beautifully human truth to the table: [pain][CAPS] can lurk within seemingly endless joy. Many times, one finds the wish to bring joy to others precisely from within this pain.

Additionally, Dr. Sharons development as a psychiatrist facing her own mental struggles creates a level of nuance not often found in therapist roles on television. She is neither the all-knowing doctor nor a character introduced solely to guide Ted in the right direction, but her symbiotic relationship with the ever-developing Ted shows that coaches and psychiatrists face the same problems as everyone else.

And what better place to tackle the complex theme of mental health struggles than a transatlantic comedy series about soccer? Seriously it works.

Film and television often tackle mental health in a variety of ways, from teenage drug abuse in Euphoria to sardonic nihilism in BoJack Horseman, but rarely do we see athletes at the forefront of our discussions of mental health. Do athletes not struggle in silence like the rest of us? Representation in all sectors of our world is pivotal in creating a society in which people are not afraid to discuss the issues they are facing. If anything, sports is an area [in which][WHERE] mental health should be prioritized. Competitive attitudes, rigorous training, and overarching perceptions of masculinity can place unnecessary burdens on athletes, ones which they are not comfortable to share with teammates or coaches. Recently, American superstar and Chelsea midfielder Christian Pulisic opened up about his mental health and revealed he has been seeing a psychiatrist in London to deal with the isolation of living alone in a foreign country. I felt like if I were to talk about the way I felt that I was weak or something like that, he said to CBS Sports.

Ted Lasso is tackling this stigma in its sophomore season, all the while analyzing the complexities of family, friendships, and coaching soccer in a new country. One biscuit at a time, Ted continues to spread his revolution of kindness and show that, indeed, football is life.

New episodes of Tes Lasso are released on Fridays on Apple TV+.

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Is your car a Ferrari 312?Photo: Getty (Getty Images)

Is it human nature to want to talk trash about everything in sight? It seems like it, at least in this era of consistent nihilism. But I want to turn the tables. I want to know what you think is the coolest thing about your car.

This doesnt have to be some big, impressive feat. You dont need to have done some crazy engine swap for this feature to count. Ill take anything that makes you happy every time you climb into your car.

When I think of my Mazda 2, my favorite thing about that small beast is the fact that it came out a year before infotainment screens were included on just about every trim of every car. Some people really love poking around in their apps via car touchscreen, and I cant fault them for it. I do enjoy that feature on the press cars Ive driven. But when it comes to my own daily driver, I like the simplicity of an analog dashboard.

And when I think of the Suburban, well that thing is a beast. I love the fact that its unwieldy and ridiculous. I love that you have to haul the third row of seats out with nothing but brute strength, and I love the fact that you could straight up live out of the back of it if worse came to worst. Theres more space in the back of this thing than a $1,400-a-month apartment in New York City.

Now, I turn the question over to you fine readers of Jalopnik dot com. What do you love about your car? What makes you happy every time you get behind the wheel? Whats that one feature you love flexing on your friends with, even if its something as simple as your remote start? I want to know.

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What's The Coolest Thing About Your Car? - Jalopnik