Jason Morehead

Production I.G’s animation looks as fantastic as ever, but the story is a convoluted and underwhelming mess that needed more time to develop. My ★★★ review of Kenji Kamiyama’s “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society” (2006): opus.ing/diet/542401

Makeup and Vanity Set’s “Seek” is a captivating ambient album that feels like the antithesis of everything he’s recorded to date, and it reveals some new depths to Matthew Pusti’s music. My full review:

every fawning profile of an AI innovator in the NYT is just a future essay in The Cut about why kids no longer talk to their parents

70 percent of the internet was vulnerable yesterday to very bad security flaws inside a coding language. Turns out, *one volunteer* is mostly responsible for maintaining that code & helping push updates. Yesterday Ondřej Surý saved the internet. So I called him up www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first season of “Stand Alone Complex,” Public Security Section 9’s “2nd Gig” was still a solid mature #anime filled with gripping action and heady dialog. My ★★★½ review of “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig” (2004): opus.ing/diet/540983

A fan build inspired by Daft Punk’s iconic Alive 2007 pyramid stage is becoming an official LEGO set.

I listened to “Sense” this week for the first time in ~15 years, and I could still hum along with the melodies and sing (most of) the lyrics. If that’s not the sign of a good album, then I don’t know what is.

A good word from Susanna Clarke: “There is a danger associated with growing up, of putting aside children’s books. We must be careful lest all we are left with is a world that is very much not alive, a natural world that is mere piles of stuff.”

My reaction to AI in real life: Burn it all with fire. My reaction to AI in sci-fi: We will sing songs and build monuments to your precious memory.

There’s been some commotion, and perhaps even a kerfuffle, re. prominent developers, journalists, and pundits returning to X. Social media platforms rely on our attention for their survival and success. Therefore, we ought to think carefully about where we give our attention.

If you’re an Opus subscriber, then I hope you enjoy this month’s playlist and podcast episode, which highlight some lesser-known slowcore (and slowcore-adjacent) artists, like Pittsburgh’s very own Sleep Experiments.

It’s an unpalatable truth, but Meta, TikTok, and hopefully it goes without saying, X, aren’t sustainable to rely on for political amplification, cultural promotion/marketing or community organizing. It’s long past time for new platforms/means and to move on.

2018’s “Sirimiri” EP from @blackknoll.bsky.social was originally a cassette-only release, but it’s getting reissued on vinyl by the Mexico City-based Umor Rex label. Listen to a highlight here:

30 artists and writers will be exploring the music and mythology of Daft Punk in a special issue of @metalhurlantoff.bsky.social, due out this January.

Fine. Illegal aggression. Fine. War crimes. Fine. Kidnapping children fine. Destroying infrastructure. Fine. Threatening the security of all of Europe. Fine. All of it is fine. As usual with Trump, the criminals are protected, even advocated for. It's the victims who are condemned and abandoned.

I completely understand why many are drawn to the mountains or the oceans. But a recent family trip reminded me that I prefer the #Nebraska prairie. From 2016:

Banger of the year.

That this bot, which posts random stills and clips from the thousands of hours of VHS transfers on archive.org, landed on *this specific frame* feels like finding the monkey at the typewriter that managed to write Hamlet.

“All these years later, in the context of a second Trump presidency, I’m thinking again about Lewis and how his words might reflect our age,” writes @ginadalfonzo.bsky.social.

I’m both intrigued and perplexed by this first trailer for “The Magician’s Nephew.” I wasn’t expecting a Narnia film to look so, well, MCU-ish.

Moore’s prose is incredibly dense and detailed, his descriptions alternating between captivating and more resembling entries in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (RIP). My ★★★ review of Alan Moore’s “The Great When” (2024): opus.ing/diet/541971

Tom Holland is still earnest and likable as the ol’ Webhead, but the film often feels like it’s more concerned biding time until “Avengers: Doomsday” arrives. My ★★★ review of Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” (2026): opus.ing/diet/541935

The ’90s were a heyday for Christian industrial music, thanks to releases by Mortal, Circle of Dust, Under Midnight, etc. One band that never really got a fair shake, however, was Passafist. Thankfully, they’re getting a second chance with an upcoming reissue.

Some days I really Labradford, and today is one of those days.

republicans used to complain about the violence in gangster rap and now they want to livestream an execution

Reminiscent of Penelope Spheeris’s “Decline of Western Civilization” documentaries, Arte’s 30-minute documentary about Tokyo street kids is both sobering and deeply human.

The people in charge of this country want to lead us into barbarism.

Trump's pushing the term "super intelligence" is stupid for many reasons (not least because "superintelligence" was already a term with a specific meaning in semi-technical and policy/philosophical discussions about AI). But now his bullying about it is reaching an Orwellian pitch.

they did the thing

Plenty of enjoyable moments, but the Lady Greyhounds deserved better stories. My ★★★ review of “Ted Lasso,” Season Four (2026): opus.ing/diet/540574

More than ten years after he promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with better, cheaper health insurance After he promised countless times that he would release a plan "in two weeks" After he took over $1 trillion from Medicaid And $500 billion from Medicare HE STILL HAS NO PLAN

The best thing I’ve read to date re. Trump’s statement about Iran destroying American cities. Presidents — and their words — should always be held to a higher standard. Trump failed to meet that standard in Grand Island, and it wasn’t the first time.

Next month, @dominorecordco.bsky.social is releasing an expanded 25th anniversary edition of “Cold House,” the fifth album from Hood, one of my all-time favorite bands.

American Football recently ventured into the SiriusXM studios to perform a stripped down version of @thecure.com’s classic “Boys Don’t Cry,” and threw in a little something extra.

One of the things that gives me the greatest joy right now is listening to my 16yo play guitar and teach themselves new songs. Today, I think my heart grew at least two sizes when I heard the opening notes of “Purple Rain” drift out of their room.

Back in the ’90s, the Flaming Fish community served as one of my chief gateways into the world of Christian industrial and goth music. Revisiting all of these old reviews was a trip down memory lane; I hadn’t thought about bands like Angst, Christian Plumber, or Thymikon in years, if not longer.

On their sophomore album, New York’s Whisper Doll taps into the same winsomeness that made The Cranberries and The Sundays so beloved. My review:

New on Opus: Quick reviews of all of movies, TV series, anime series, etc., that I experienced last month.

Some films can get by on their style alone, and heaven knows this one certainly tries. My ★★½ review of Luc Besson’s ”Subway” (1985): opus.ing/diet/541240

In this weekend’s Opus newsletter: Lunch lady videos, the country’s biggest song, the year’s best board games, Google’s too-personal AI helper, and much more.

If you see this, post a vampire that isn’t Dracula.

This one’s for the weekend crowd. I have an inordinate fondness for ridiculous “B” movie posters, and it doesn’t get much more ridiculous than the poster for 1987’s “Strike Commando,” a “Namsploitation” flick from Italian director Bruno Mattei.

For today's bandcamp Friday #albumoctober post, you should go listen to Club 8, who have been making perfect pop for just ages now club8band.bandcamp.com/album/weeks-... (shout out to @opus.ing for posting about this one)

New on Opus: This month’s streaming picks feature 007, the MCU’s favorite android, the Overlook Hotel, Hans Gruber, France’s greatest thief, and more.

It’s tempting to infer from this image that guys like Ellison don’t actually understand or even watch movies.