>> Heated Rivalry (2025-)
sometimes you just need a good dose of yaoi cocaine. the show is very enjoyable and well crafted, a solid 8/10 and a very fun evening. my relationship to it is extremely complicated, given that 1) they filmed it in my city, on my campus, inside my favourite cafe, and near the town where i grew up... if they tried to film it any closer to me it'd be fucking colonoscopy footage bro. i hate when people from toronto talk about cottage country, i certainly dont want to see californian fujoshis talking about chirping and "going to the cottage". and 2) i am unironically a hockey league abolitionist, hockey specifically fosters extreme sexual violence unlike any other sport. i grew up in a hockey town, i've seen the headlines, i want the junior leagues abolished and nhl dismantled. so like, yay hollanov and all that, fictional gay hockey is better and more enjoyable than real hockey, but never lose sight of the fact that real-life hockey institutions should be interrogated, abolished, and replaced with the PWHL.

>> Angel's Egg (1985), directed by Mamoru Oshii [4K restoration]
the first time i saw this movie it was immediately after my edible started kicking in and it was a truly spiritual experience. i was pleasantly surprised that i found it equally engrossing seeing it sober in a theater. it's definitely not for everyone, but for me it creates an atmosphere so powerfully beautiful and terrifying that i sat rapt in silence the entire time, letting it wash over me like a beautiful dream.

>> Lifewasters, directed by vewn
fantastically edited and heartwrenchingly evocative short film about the cruelty of the "lolcow" phenomenon. vewn's style is electric, and here the contrast between the surreal internet rot versus the quiet, sad real world is used to great effect. big warning for flashing images.