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Echoes Review: A Fascinating Story Gets Undermined by a Thirst for Twists
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 1 finale of Echoes, “Falls.”] The Pitch: What if two adult identical twins swapped places every year, unbeknownst to everyone in their lives? Such is the premise of Netflix’s Echoes, a show that opens on a shrewd and successful author named Gina (Michelle Monaghan), who lives an exceedingly normal life in an austere Los Angeles mansion with her doting therapist husband, Charlie (Daniel Sunjata). Living in Mount Echo, a modest farm town halfway across the country, is Gina’s identical twin sister, Leni, a ranch owner with a hearty southern drawl and permanently braided hair. Every year on their birthday, Gina and Leni switch places for a year, unbeknownst to anyone else: From their accents to their devoted husbands to Leni’s ...
How to Buy An AR-15
“So you got an AR!” says a gunned-up colleague named Curtis. We’re care-workers doing a morning shift in a supported-living facility, and my news puts a spring in his step. “Congratulations,” Curtis says. “Matt, you are becoming American. Gotta assault rifle; all you gotta do now is get fat.” “Cheers, mate,” I say, wiping down a countertop and thinking how inconceivable this was before I moved to Oregon from Australia, where rampage-esque firearms were outlawed and taken (with compensation) from existing owners way back in 1996. Curtis, a hell of a great care-worker but not someone I know well, is the chattiest with me he’s ever been. We’re bonding. “So, Matt,” he says. “Why’d you buy an AR? For shits and giggles?” “Pretty much, but it was a panic-purchase,” I say. “Biden was going on abou...
House of the Dragon Review: A Beautifully-Made History Lesson From an Ugly Fictional World
The Pitch: Perhaps you are a carbon-based life form with an Internet connection and/or cable TV subscription, and thus are aware of the existence of a little show called Game of Thrones, which for a few years there was pretty dang popular. Well, here’s some more of it! Specifically, here is House of the Dragon, HBO’s prequel/spinoff that does not involve Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, but does hope to capture the imagination of an ever-fickle viewing public. To that end, we return to King’s Landing 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen (House of the Dragon is very specific on this point), where Daenerys’ ancestors still hold the very familiar-looking Iron Throne. Though we begin with the line of succession in flux, as a ruler without heirs has to make a choice...
NCT’S JAEHYUN on Sharing “New Sides” of Himself on Solo Debut Single “Forever Only”: Exclusive
“When I was in Milan and had some free time, I got to enjoy drinking coffee at a café and took some walks around at nighttime,” recalls JAEHYUN, one of the members of SM Entertainment’s supergroup NCT. “I got so much inspiration from just being in those moments and in that space.” It’s this introspective energy that comes through on JAEHYUN’s new single, “Forever Only,” his debut solo release. NCT is one of the largest K-pop groups ever, and the largest working today (with a whopping 23 members!), operating on a relatively unique structure in which the group is split into different sub-units, showcasing various members in different combinations. JAEHYUN is a member of Seoul-based unit NCT 127, which features a total of ten members. It’s a lot of moving parts within the already demanding ro...
The 3rd Annual Renegade Burn: Trolling Run Amok or Playa-fied Revolution?
After a long two years, Burning Man is finally returning. For some of us, not a moment too soon. The pandemic brought us all a lot of challenges, grief and some growth. It allowed us to slow down and work on ourselves. What it didn’t give us is Burning Man, so— coronavirus be damned—a mob approximated by some to be around 20,000 people descended on the Black Rock Desert without any oversight by the government or Burning Man Project— twice. They didn’t even have porta potties. What perhaps surprised people most was the sheer success of the undertaking. Without established roadways it didn’t even appear to be a city, but ingress and egress (a process that usually takes half a day if it goes well under the BMP) was a casual, breezy process of about 30 minutes. Scott London The official Burnin...
Isaac Fitzgerald on Being a ‘Dirtbag’
Alexander Chee’s blurb on the back of Isaac Fitzgerald’s recently published bestselling memoir, Dirtbag, Massachusetts, reads: “He’s a ringleader for the circus in the House of Love.” And after reading this book, I think most people would agree that Isaac Fitzgerald is certainly at least that, and then some. Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a memoir-in-essays about how a lost soul with a diamond heart manages to figure out — after a series of jet-fueled, drug-addled escapades — how to put together a life out of all the pieces left in the wreckage of his past. That past spans living in the Catholic Worker’s homeless shelter in Boston, to living and working in the bars of San Francisco at the onset of the AIDS pandemic, to acting in a few porn flicks, and to round things out, Fitzgerald spent time ...
Spin Me Round Serves Up An Amusing but Messy Slice of Dark Comedy: Review
The Pitch: Amber (Alison Brie) runs the Bakersfield outpost of Tuscany Grove, a popular Olive Garden-adjacent family eatery chain. Great at her job but yearning for something more, Amber gets the opportunity of a lifetime when her boss (Lil Rel Howery) selects her for an all-expenses-paid work retreat to Italy. Amber’s excitement is doubled when her best friend Emily (Ego Nwodim) suggests a tantalizing possibility during her time in Europe: What if she falls in love? On the trip, she meets a group of other lucky Tuscany Grove managers, including the nosy Deb (Molly Shannon), the arrogant Fran (Tim Heidecker), and the friendly Dana (Zach Woods). Most notably, she’s introduced to Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola), the chain’s wealthy, handsome owner. Nick immediately takes a liking to Amber ...
Arab Hip-Hop Artists from the Gulf to Look Out For
Looking into the Arab world, there has been a constant and gradual rise in artists taking the hip-hop route. From North Africa to the Middle East talents are steadily exploring global sounds to match their capabilities and artistry within the region. Music from Arab hip-hop artists range amongst influences from trap, cloud-rap and dancehall to reggaeton and traditional Arabic music. The fusion of various sounds and ever-evolving genre come together to create the raw, underground flavors of Arabic hip-hop. Just this year, the IFPI confirmed that the Middle East and North Africa is the fastest growing music region in the world. Young talents are building themselves from the ground up to establish a local music industry to make history. Hypebeast breaks down different areas within the Middle ...
Omah Lay Is a Budding Vanguard of Afrobeats
With all eyes and ears on the global meteoric rise of Afrobeats, many are tuning into the work of budding vanguard Omah Lay. The Nigerian artist recently followed up his 2020 EP What Have We Done with his official debut album Boy Alone, which saw his introspective storytelling, mesmerizing vocals and infectious rhythms come to life even more. Hailing from Port Harcourt, the Afrobeats phenom already had music coursing through his veins having witnessed his grandfather play percussion for the revered highlife artist Celestine Ukwu. Lay then dabbled in rap and hip-hop before firmly planting his feet in what he claims he knows best: Afrobeats. With his own take on the undertones of R&B, reggae, trap and West African musical influences, the 25-year-old star is steadily becoming a ...
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Tatiana Maslany “Can’t Wrap [Her] Head Around the Idea” of Becoming ‘She-Hulk’
While Tatiana Maslany‘s She-Hulk isn’t the first female superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to receive her own Disney+ series, she definitely sets herself aside from all that have come before her. Aside from being a seven-foot giant with the superstrength to throw trucks around, Jennifer Walters is also an attorney at law by day, serving justice on either side of the fence. The playful balance of the show between these two personas in her life makes for a perfect backdrop for tackling contemporary social issues, though without trying too hard to the point of preaching, thanks to the series’ playful and comedic tone. With She-Hulk, you can have fun but also take a few lessons home with you. Speaking to Hypebeast about her MCU debut, turning green and mean, and her time with fant...
Robert De Niro’s 10 Best Performances
Top Performances is a recurring feature in which we definitively handpick the very best performances from an iconic actor or actress. This has been updated on the occasion of Robert De Niro’s birthday. It’s not that we’d ever refer to many of Robert De Niro’s best roles as “vulnerable” in and of themselves. The legendary actor is one of the all-time great performers of tough guys, in their many forms, and there’s a ferocity to many of his early turns that’s gone nearly unparalleled in the years since. Yet one of the significant aspects of De Niro’s genius as an actor is the way in which he’s been able to build a long career out of playing on the earlier performances he’s delivered, whether it’s in adding new shades to the plethora of gangsters and fallen icons he’s portrayed for Martin Sco...
Inside Grass Lands, the Largest Cannabis Experience In a U.S. Music Festival to Date
Music producers, artists, and event organizers often talk about how they smoke the competition, but few pull it off quite like Outside Lands. Last weekend, Grass Lands celebrated its fourth year at the Bay Area fest. In that time, the experience has expanded with more partners and offerings, but the best part is festival-goers are able to purchase and enjoy their cannabis freely in a fully compliant zone for smoking. Alive Coverage Now in its 14th iteration, Outside Lands Festival is no stranger to pushing the envelope, but few can assemble the cavalcade of top-shelf cannabis partners who make Grass Lands such a potent festival experience. For instance, Traditional, who is known largely as the godfather of OG growers through most of California, was there with discounted buds in a variety o...
