Current thoughts about Kimetsu Academy during covid lockdown:
- Uzui will always do face cam and he’s always got the beach green screen, he calls it an art
- One of Rengoku’s classes is entirely skipped because Tanjiro did face cam whilst cooking at the family bakery and everyone wanted to see him bake the best fucking cake you’ve ever seen
- Inosuke skips every class cuz he doesn’t know how to join on his phone
- Giyuu at first has no face calm and sounds all scratchy and laggy, after like a week he just stops
- Everyone is envious of Shinobu’s very meticulously aesthetic bedroom
- Himejima’s lessons are constantly interrupted by either his cats or his kids
- Sanemi’s voice scares the kids into learning reguardless of whether he’s through a screen…. the concequences of not doing homework will catch up to you
- Nezuko is constantly eating through class no matter how much she’s told not too, especially if she’s in the bakery (she sneaks desserts sometimes)
- Tanjiro and Nezuko are also interrupted by their siblings
2020 really was the only year past the 70s where Companies could have these signs around and no one gave a shit bc we were too paranoid about the virus.
This is perhaps the most Pandemic Lockdown of all concert videos. Am I a pretentious indie-head who only deigned to listen to this in 2020 because I was losing my mind and knew about the involvment of various Dessners from The National in the record, and because Sufjan Stevens’ The Ascension was still months away? Yes. Did I drink an entire bottle of rosé while listening to it and grudgingly admit to myself that I liked it? Yes. And what better way to capture that tenuous moment of transition midway through lockdown than with this moment: some performers are together in an isolated location, others “Skype in” as it were. It’s minimalist in all regards. The camerawork isn’t terribly interesting, but I suppose there are only so many ways you can shoot a studio. Early tracks are stripped to the bone in a way almost pushing beyond simplicity, though the overall performance of the album does gain a greater degree of textural variety and interest as it goes along. It’s a fine document of a fine album and a bit of a snapshot of a time we’d probably all rather forget on some level or other.
What’s more interesting to me is how I felt ever more like some sort of anthropologist while watching the film. Co-producer Jack Antonoff reads as the coolest middle schooler in his wardrobe and try-hard attitude, though by midway through I just wanted to bully him or something. Aaron Dessner, meanwhile, was introverted and the picture of impeccable musicianship—every once in a while the camera seems to gasp at him effortlessly and efficiently ripping out fingerstyle riffs while Antonoff frantically strums away on the other side of the room. The fireside chats were a thing of beauty even just in terms of watching where the wine bottle wandered and whose glass had a different level than in an earlier snippet. It’s a little goofy and weird, everyone extremely complimentary, but at the end of it all, the musical synergy is there. If nothing else, there are subtle casts to Swift’s gaze which indicate just how personal this is, even beyond lyrical jabs. If she’s got a bit of a mask on in interviews it slips away some in performance. Unless this is just another intentional layer. Let’s over-analyze the piece.
THE RULES
PICK ONE
Select either LOCKDOWN, PANDEMIC, or QUARANTINE and sip whenever that is mentioned.
SIP
A track begins.
The camera seems shocked at Dessner's musicianship.
Every time someone at the fireside chat takes a drink.
Exterior drone shot of Long Pond Studio.
BIG DRINK
William Bowery is mentioned or credited.
Jack, a 'bit' has to be funny for it to be a 'bit'.
Eddie Redmayne tells The Big Issue how he jumped into his roles in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and The Good Nurse, in a creative burst. (Photo by #AriMichelson for @Netflix)