VIDEO | A growing set of YouTube videos created by now ex-Evergreen State College professor Bret Weinstein turns the focus from the political insurrection of this year's protests at Evergreen to the subject matter that Weinstein taught as an evolutionary biology teacher at the college. THE EVOLUTIONIST offers a glimpse into the mind of a divisive figure who proves to be an intelligent — however unconventional — thinker and scientist. Other than deconstructing his regional celebrity, these videos provide an honest, thoughtful evolutionary perspective on topics such as sympathy and empathy, explored in an accessible yet nuanced way.
ALBUM | King Krule, the spindly, ginger-haired, 23-year-old crooner from South London, continues to make tough jazz and darkwave gems that serve to widen the chasm between him and that other redheaded baritone, Rick Astley, on THE OOZ, released last month. King Krule, aka Archy Ivan Marshall, evokes some drippy, Lynchian vibes on "Dum Surfer," then establishes further distance in the excessively chill "Czech One." He goes wandering through familiar themes on this, his third studio album, but trudges through the deeply textured haunting displaying less resistance, more comfortable with it than on his previous two albums. There's a lot of ground to cover here, with one genre-bending track leading to the next, but it's warm and solitary, and hard to leave.
COMEDY | A comedian to watch in 2017, JOEL KIM BOOSTER flippantly relays his experiences growing up, adopted from Korea by evangelical parents in the Midwest. Being culturally isolated in the Midwest is a consistent theme of his, as he quips, " I literally knew I was gay before I knew I was Asian." Now based in Brooklyn, he's been working the comedy circuit and was recently featured on Conan, performing his organic and anecdotal comedy. He seems to be finding his voice and learning how to work an audience; let's hope his new surroundings provide him with the material to keep the laughter going. ♦
