The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for movies, music and more
By JONAH BERMAN — arts@theaggie.org
Song: “Automatic Love” by Nourished by Time (2025)
Baltimore native Marcus Brown, who performs under the stage name Nourished by Time, has been diligently crafting his idiosyncratic mix of R&B and pop for years. After switching to XL Recordings from an underground label in 2024, Brown has further refined his sound, resulting in one of the best breakthroughs from any artist this year.
In his stunning new album “The Passionate Ones,” Brown lyrically oscillates between discussions of labor, romance and community. As the sole performer, producer and mixer, Brown makes great use of synthesizers, percussion and piano to create a vibe all his own. If everything was right in the world, the recording’s opening track, “Automatic Love,” would be a certified automatic hit; the slow buildup which begins the song, culminating in Brown’s declaration of devotion to his unnamed lover, is a piece of pure catharsis. While this album is one of the year’s best, it has remained criminally underrated, failing to chart in the United States.
Book: “The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
Ursula K. Le Guin was a true original in the literary world. Over her nearly 60 years as a writer, she published 23 novels and dozens more short stories, establishing herself as a unique voice whose oeuvre of science fiction stories differentiated itself from anything else in the genre.
“The Dispossessed” chronicles physicist Shevek as he travels from the politically-anarchist planet of Anarres to the wealthier and rigidly-hierarchical planet of Urras. The language that Le Guin uses to describe these worlds is superbly vivid and engaging. However, Le Guin’s work remains immortal not because of the worlds she built with her pen, but because of the way her stories mirror our own human follies. Shevek’s shock and dismay at customs which both Urras citizens and readers could find commonplace forces us to question the norms we take for granted, and proactively work towards improving ourselves and the societies we live in. Only the greatest of prose masters possess the power to do that.
Movie: “Phantom of the Paradise” dir. Brian De Palma (1974)
If you’re going to watch one mid-1970s rock musical with a cult following this Halloween, make it “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975). But, if you want to watch two, you’ll have a rollicking good time with Brian De Palma’s absurd and mildly ridiculous “Phantom of the Paradise.” Paul Williams stars as villainous record executive Swan, constructor of the titular Paradise mansion and thief of songwriter Winslow Leach’s music. Williams also composes the film’s soundtrack, which is full of great tunes that get stuck in your head for days afterward. Some may argue that the film stretches itself too thin by attempting to simultaneously adapt elements of “Faust,” “The Phantom of the Opera” (1910), “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1880) and “Psycho” (1960). However, these critics are allergic to fun. I urge you to suspend your disbelief for 90 minutes, revel in this film’s glam-rock glory and sigh as you wonder why so few films contain a character named “Beef.”
TV Show: “The Day Today” by Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci (1994)
Although “The Day Today” only aired for a month, its jokes are so timeless that it remains, along with Mr. Bean and Boris Johnson, one of Britain’s premier comedic achievements. Fans of wry satire will surely delight in its style, which comments on a variety of topics within mid-90s British society, along with a healthy amount of time allotted to making fun of Americans. Chris Morris stars as the creatively-named newscaster Chris Morris, who leads an ensemble of oddballs over the series’ six episodes. The show’s dark comedic style is in many ways analogous to current satirical “news outlets” like The Onion, which publish profoundly absurd headlines that nonetheless offer a glimmer of truth. “The Day Today,” however, remains in a league of its own — with farcical yet ingenious writing that makes me want to forgive the United Kingdom for the culinary disaster that is mushy peas.
Written by: Jonah Berman—arts@theaggie.org
