Hivemind Times Issue #13

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

Hivemind Times edition #13 comes at a dark time here in America for sure. We are lucky to have this community, and our communities are what we’ll need to lean on in these tough years to come. You guys truly make getting through stuff like this easier and I am forever grateful to have this space to talk about the things we like together.

We got Rozey this week with a special guest playlist, Tony sharing one of his favorite albums of all time, Riley reviewing The Substance, everyone's favorite Cronk update, Grant is starting to stream video games and a few other little gems from yours truly. I love y'all and we will be here with whatever escapism we can provide.

- Riley & Graydon

WEEKLY PLAYLIST

This week’s playlist courtesy of our special guest, Rozey.

MOVIE REVIEW

I Watched The Substance and Unfortunately, I Have Thoughts (3/5)

When we started our How Did It Age? series, Graydon encouraged me to get a Letterboxd account. “It'll be fun and you’ll get more into movies” he said. Since taking this leap onto a new social media platform, I have been criticized, harassed, and laughed out of the room for my opinions. Some commenters have even suggested that I “shouldn’t be allowed to watch movies.” But Graydon was right about one thing: I’m watching more movies than ever before. Unfortunately, I am now afraid to post some reviews on Letterboxd so I have to get my more controversial thoughts out here.

This week, I decided to watch one of the year’s most talked about (and highly praised) films, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. This body horror drama (starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, & Dennis Quaid) largely acts as commentary on aging and beauty standards for women, specifically those who work in show business. I won’t bore you with the entire plot of the movie, but basically there’s a “substance” that creates a younger, “more beautiful” version of whoever takes it. The catch is that the patient must switch with their younger, hotter avatar every 7 days exactly or face the consequences. Demi Moore plays a TV fitness celebrity named Elizabeth Sparkle, who decides to take the substance as her youth is fading. While I think this is truly a brilliant and thrilling premise, I do have mixed reviews of its execution throughout.

This movie is stylish, but is it too stylish? There are plenty of clever tricks here. There’s a consistent graphic language that evokes the sleek materialism of beauty product advertising.  There are bright colors in lonely places, uncomfortably close shots and visceral sounds. Visually, the movie’s most impressive feat is the juxtaposition of flashy commercialism and genuinely sickening body horror - at times making beauty feel disgusting and horror feel beautiful. While I love the aesthetic of this movie, I do think it prioritizes presentation so much that the story suffers.

My main qualms are with the film’s first act, where there are very few instances of back-and-forth dialogue in what feels like a rushed attempt to establish the premise as quickly as possible. This world feels SMALL. I understand that loneliness as a byproduct of fame is a theme here, but there are basically 3 characters and 4 settings in this entire movie. About halfway through, I couldn’t help but feel like this whole story takes place in a hypothetical chamber created only to get a point across. In that way, I found myself comparing it to a good episode of Black Mirror - one with a premise and message so profound, I think it would have benefited from (and deserved) a bigger world with more emotion packed into it.

All of that being said, it's still worth watching for its thrilling final hour. For a movie I didn’t like as much as everyone else did, I found myself thinking about it a lot afterwards. Maybe that’s the point. It was meant to start a conversation, and it did. Mine was with myself, and now it's with all of you instead of the horrible people in my Letterboxd comments. 

- Riley (HivemindRiley on Letterboxd)

ALBUM RECS

One of Tony’s top 5 favorite albums of all time…have a listen!

SPORTS

The Freaking Cleveland Cavaliers Are 9-0 to Start the Year

New coach Kenny Atkinson has broken the NBA record for best start with a new team and holy shit are they fun to watch. Scoring over 130 points in four games already matches last season's total of games with that many buckets.

Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell have seemingly figured it out and have really begun to elevate each other's playstyles, where last year it seemed like they were just trading off who should score. Evan Mobley is the best defender in basketball at the moment and Jarret Allen continues to be one of the most underrated players in the league. 

The supporting cast has stepped up and is really thriving in this new offense too, shout out Sam Merril, Ty Jerome, and Caris Levert (formally known as ‘careless Caris’ - he will no longer be called that).

In light of the terrible Browns, this is the glimmer of hope a boy like me needs. I can’t wait to pop out to a couple games and continue to beat all your favorite teams (:

Viva los Cavs.

- Graydon

CRONK’S UPDATE

The Days are Getting Colder, and the Nights are Growing Longer

By the end of the week, I will reach prestige. Nuketown was great, but the stakeout might be better. The Model L is a true asset to the game. Hardcore Search and Destroy feels calming, almost meditative. It’s getting to a point where Call of Duty is all I think about. The days are merely a daydream until I make it back to the battlestation.

Thanks, everyone.

- Cronk

VIDEO GAMES

Sup Guys, It’s Grant the Resident Hivemind Gamer

I’ve been playing video games competitively (I’m just alright) / watching football since middle school, and have been contemplating streaming for a while now. 

TODAY I’m finally purchasing a gaming / streaming PC.

Currently, the two main games I play are Overwatch 2 and Warframe (still relatively new, but having a blast). However, there are a lot of new games coming out and older video games I haven’t played yet that I would love to try for the first time with the Hivemind community i.e. Baldur's Gate 3, Dark Souls (I’m like ⅛ through Elden Ring, my current computer explodes when I play it), The Last of Us, Witcher 3, God of War, Red Dead 2, a bunch of indie games, etc. (I would also be 100% open to making some sort of poll on which games to play). 

On TOP of streaming video games, I’d love to do live watch along’s of Premier League matches with you guys on weekend mornings (EST). I will keep you guys posted in the upcoming weeks when I get my Twitch stuff figured out and set up. I just wanted to send out a gentle feeler to see if you guys want to watch me suffer live on TV. This may also eventually evolve into making Youtube videos for video games / football but that will be way down the line. Ta-ta!

- Grant

RECIPES

Bean and Ham CrockPot Extravaganza

What you need…

1. A couple smoked ham hocks

2. Tavern or thick cut deli ham

3. Beans - the great northern kind

4. Chicken stock (a couple cups, depends on how much soup you want)

5. Trilogy (carrot, celery, onion all chopped)

6. Collard greens, massaged and chopped up

7. Garlic

8. Salt&Pep

9. Basil

10. Thyme

11. Pork belly fat (optional)

What you’ll do…

Cube up your deli ham and toss that in
Drain your beans and add them in
Add the trilogy
Toss in the collard greens
I threw in some fat from a pork belly I had lying around. Pork and greens are just best buds once they get to playing together.
Add your chicken stock
Add your garlic, salt, pep, basil, and thyme - really all ya need
Finish off with the chicken stock

The longer this cooks and those hocks break down the better this soup gets, minimum 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high to really break down that ham.

I dipped a big bread loaf in and man this broth and soup will save you from whatever dastardly deeds you do over the weekend.

- Graydon

MERCH