slush city
"i don't think they're here for the milkshakes"
Here we go again...
One of my new favorite activities lately has been watching movies and rating/cataloguing on Letterboxd (samcohentv if you feel like following ;)), it was my personal scrolling substitute for the month of January as I weened myself entirely off of Instagram. While others took to a dry January, I chose to take a break from IG- and in that break I realized it was really negatively impacting my brain. This is not at all a plea for everyone to leave IG… I know folks have built their livelihoods on there, how people financially support themselves, how gofundme’s are able to get out the word so quick, how we stay connected to friends and family who live on opposite sides of the country or in other countries, for activism purposes, the list goes on. All I’m realizing for myself lately is, the app has hindered my willingness to put myself out there and talk/make real connections with other humans, makes me self conscious, and of course, Mark Suckerberg going full on Nazi, even his lawyer quit. If they made the Bluesky version of IG, I’m there. I joined Bluesky (@samcohentv) to stay engaged, and I’m very curious to see if the Free Our Feeds campaign takes off, I love the idea of locking down some of these apps so that they can’t be bought by billionaires and us, the people, owning our own damn data. All in all, I still want to see you, yr pets, yr babies, yr life, etc. Send me photos! I’m on signal and discord as well, send me a message if you wanna hangout <3
Debut, Björk, 1993.
I don’t know what happened but I put this album on one day last month and I couldn’t stop listening to it, it just, hit. I admittedly didn’t give Björk a real listen until my early 30’s (even though I went to a Björk themed party where everyone dressed up in a different era of Björk when I was 28, I was way more familiar with the looks and her more popular songs). Big Time Sensuality and Crying have helped me get into a more creative groove.
Was so sad to hear about David Lynch passing a few weeks ago. Watching Twin Peaks for the first time with Michelle at Mulberry St. was such a memorable time in my life. It was one of the strangest things I’d ever watched up until that point and couldn’t get enough of it. Fire Walk With Me is probably the scariest, most haunting movie I’ve ever seen. Last year I finally watched Eraserhead (which I loved) and Mulholland Drive (my personal Lynch fav). I know his work meant a lot to so many people, I found the shrine in front of Bob’s Big Boy by his fans to be so moving <3
Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet, 1975.
Props to the crew for this sweat job on Pacino, it was so convincing, he seemed genuinely stressed for the entirety of the film!! This movie was solid, funny, dramatic, I immediately wanted to re-watch it once it was over…loosely based off a true story about a couple of armed men who attempt to rob a bank in Brooklyn but things go awry and it turns into a hostage situation. As the movie carries on Sonny’s motivation behind the robbery (Pacino) is revealed and that is to pay for his girlfriend’s gender affirming surgery. I really want to get around to finding and reading more in depth analysis of this film because it seems to linger on some anti-establishment messaging (hell yeah).
In the studio…
I’ve been trying to mess around in z space in after effects lately. Here’s a little experiment I did while also applying red giant universe effects.
And then I went down a YT Motion XP tutorial hole creating tunnels, psychologically I guess that’s where I am at right now lol… added my own little flare to each one with a new color palette and some more Maxon RG Universe Effects. Lookin to level up my skills while also staying sharp.
I didn’t do too much studio/creative work as I’d have liked to in January but I’m trying to make up for it this month. I did read more than I normally do though. I got this great book about cinematography from the library (that I might buy because I’m really enjoying it/find it very useful) called shot by shot. Really fascinating to read about the intentional placement that goes into framing with actors to create an intimate mood or one with more tension between the characters.
And on a personal note…
My grandmother passed away in July of last year. Juan and I flew out for her funeral in August and my aunt gifted me her wedding and honeymoon scrap book and I was completely blown away. For their honeymoon, my grandparents drove across the U.S. making stops at national parks while also spending time in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and possibly more (these places are just what I have a record of). Shirley collected all the menus from restaurants they ate at in Los Angeles and San Francisco, here are some of them below, the prices are just, so wild. My 16 year old niece was next to me when I was flipping through it and she exclaimed “55 dollars?!” I chuckled and replied “no, CENTS!” and her jaw dropped.
Places to give yr $ to…
Noname Book Club (a link to their patreon- a Black owned business that connects community members living inside and outside carceral facilities with radical books, memberships range anywhere from $1-$10 a month!)
2025 LA Wildfires Gofundme List (Google sheet to links of various gofundme’s from folks who lost their homes in the recent devastating LA wildfires. So many of these goals have not been met yet)
The Okra Project (Black Trans led mutual aid, programs ranging from utility assistance to rides and meals, to mental health access)
Well we did it, we made it through the year that is January and half of February…I’ll be back next month with some more work in progress to share, stay safe out there <3
Loved all of this! We rewatched Mulholland Drive @ Cinema 21 last night :-) Keep up the motion work!!!
💞 so much timeless love for that Björk album! Get together & watch Cornucopia soon?