Staff Picks

Talk to me long enough and you will learn that my absolute favorite musician is Peter Gabriel. He can be a difficult artist to be a fan of since he releases such little new music these days. In fact, he hasn’t had a proper album release since 2002 with the release of Up. Much like George R.R. Martin, it seems like every year there is a rumor that this is the year we will get the new album. 

2023 is the year I/O will actually happen for real it seems, and even though I adore his music, I have mixed feelings. I may have overstated that he hasn’t released new music in 20 years. There have been new albums of covers, and greatest hits, and music, written for films, but none have had the quality of his main body of work. Admittedly, I’ve been quite disappointed with these releases so with a true album being finally released I’m feeling anxious to hear if a new studio album has the quality I know and love, or if, like many other rockers of his era, his creative genius has merely peaked and I’m left holding him to an unrealistic standard.

In this era of the music industry, Peter Gabriel has also decided to experiment with how this next album will be released and once again I find myself having mixed feelings. He will be releasing one track each month on the full moon. No longer bound to the need to release a physical product, he can easily accomplish this by making a new song available on streaming platforms each month. I support the artistic vision here, but I grew up loving whole albums as a work of art, so it does feel a little bit of a let down that I’ll be getting the music piecemeal and will be robbed of the experience of delving into the music in my preferred fashion. 

So far he has released two tracks, and unexpectedly, he seems to be releasing two different versions of each track: a bright side mix, and a dark side mix. Analyzing why one is dark and the other is bright has been quite intriguing. In general, the music has been of a better quality than what has been released in the past two decades–so that is a relief. I do have some nitpicky quibbles, but I think it probably stems from my irritation that I have to wait a month in between tracks. Having waited so long for new music from him it is hard not to be overly critical.

Any other Peter Gabriel fans out there? If you haven’t heard either of these new tracks off of I/O, Peter Gabriel has made them readily available on YouTube. I’d love to hear anyone else’s reactions to his latest project, or, similarly, if you have thoughts on your reaction to a long awaited release from one of your favorite artists. 

-Ben

After creating cultural touchstones like The West Wing and A Few Good Men (and cult favorites like Sports Night) Aaron Sorkin focused his attention on book-to-film adaptations. Specifically, books that seemed difficult or impossible to adapt into motion pictures. After defying the odds, and winning accolades, with his adaptations of both Moneyball, The Social Network, and Steve Jobs, Sorkin tried his hand at another book adaptation, Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boy’s Club, My High-Stakes Adventure In The World of Underground Poker.

The resulting adaptation, which Sorkin also directed, serves as both an expose of the grey-market world of big-money poker games, as well as a fascinating character study of the woman at the center of the film, Molly Bloom. Sorkin loves telling stories about a mind at work and Bloom is no exception. Whatever expectations you may have regarding her or underground poker, prepare to have them upended. That Bloom not only survived her adventures but also wrote them down in a compelling memoir is revealing, but by no means does that spoil this story.

I’m a Sorkin fan, so take what I write with an industrial-sized grain of salt, but I think this, his directorial debut, is well worth a watch. Best of all: we have a DVD available in our collection to check out for free!

-Mike

I often find myself thinking about bias in the media we consume. This ends up being a thorny topic because when you really delve into things you have to grapple with the fact that all media and information is constructed by humans. Even the most well intentioned human has their own biases whether they recognize it or not. You and I are not immune from this fact either. For example, I believe the Beatles are the best band in Pop/Rock music history. Because of that believe, it is really hard for me to accept information trying to teach me otherwise.

The ideal that many of us strive for is to consume information that is free from bias. If everything has a bias though, what do we do? Having come to the conclusion that everything has some level of bias makes me less concerned with the question of “does it have a bias?” and more “what does it do to keep its own bias in check?” There are many tactics you as the reader can use to assess this, but I promised one simple way.

Here is one tip to add to your information assessment quiver: Ask yourself if the author’s goal is to explain a topic or convince you of something that they believe.

If they do appear to be trying to convince you of something, this is where I take pause and start to read more skeptically. It doesn’t necessarily mean stop reading, but it does mean you should put on your thinking cap and start thinking critically about the information. It is then up to you the reader to decide to keep reading or begin to ask more questions about the author and what their bias might be here.

Just one tip of many!

-Ben

PS – Here is a bonus quick tip. Ask what your own biases are. We often fall into the trap of being less critical of information that doesn’t conflict with our own held beliefs.