ROUND-UP September 3-27, 2019

Hello readers! I just started graduate school, so new reviews (and these round-ups) may be a little less frequent. There will be plenty of reposted content from the last year coming to your inboxes if you've subscribed, though. Please enjoy my thoughts on the new T. Swift and on a small independent film!

• "Taylor Swift's 'Lover' Finds Her at Peak Creativity in a State of Romantic Bliss." PopMatters, September 3, 2019.

""It isn't love / It isn't hate / It's just indifference," Swift tosses off on opener "I Forgot That You Existed". It's a perfect transition from the alternating gloating and resentment of Reputation to the more accepting, laid-back approach on life and relationships that pervades the songs on Lover. It's the perfect combination of polished and casual—the smooth, minimal production contrasts with Swift's voice slipping from singing to speaking mid-line, punctuated with bubbly giggles. The song even concludes with her trailing off at the end of the verse, as if already ready to move on from even thinking about this person she forgot existed. While it's doubtful that we've seen the end of Taylor Swift having a beef with people and subsequently writing about it for the better part of a decade, starting a new record with the sonic equivalent of a freshly-turned page is never a bad idea."

• "“Pause” Gets To The Heart Of A Loveless Marriage." BUST Magazine, September 27, 2019.

"Pause is not an easy or a pleasant film to watch, but it does have individual moments and sequences that are simply transfixing, as well as a strong, well-defined painterly aesthetic. In particular, the frontal shots of the interior of Elpida’s and Costas’ apartment, with its glazed blue, slightly blurred stillness of contemporary realist paintings, are gorgeous even as they describe Elpida’s cage."