GO GARLAND!
Kids at Garfield Elementary School were mentored by local artists Susan Webber, Daniel Lopez and Sara Conybeer and garnered a SAGA grant to create a mural in the Garland District's Art Alley. The final result is a wonderfully colorful addition to the hip strip of street art (and includes a person riding a shark!), so drop by and give it a look when you can. (DAN NAILEN)
QUEST FOR COMEDY
If you see humor in Apple TV Plus's Mythic Quest that reminds you of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, creators Rob McElhenney, Megan Ganz and Charlie Day all came from the long-running FX hit. Mythic Quest is focused on an egomaniac named Ian Grimm, a video game creator played by McElhenney, whose vision forces everyone else — most often creative partner Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) — to go to ridiculous lengths to please him. But while It's Always Sunny revels in its lead characters tormenting and dismissing those around them, Mythic Quest finds comedy exploring how everyone else deals with that kind of toxicity in an office environment. By doing so, Mythic Quest is able to mix in just a little bit of humanity with the laughs. (WILSON CRISCIONE)
THE REMIX
Michael Azerrad published a brilliant book 20 years ago called Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991. He methodically illustrated the vibrant music rarely heard on the radio or seen on TV, basing each chapter on a band like Mission of Burma, Minor Threat or The Minutemen. Now the And Introducing podcast, dedicated to books about music, is doing a deep dive into Azerrad's tome with a special series called We Pod Econo, available on various platforms. Hosts Chris Wade and Molly O'Brien welcome music writers, comedians and fellow music geeks for gloriously nerdy music chats that run up to two hours, and it's pretty damn entertaining. (DAN NAILEN)
WANT TO PLAY A GAME?
My most recent sojourn to a movie theater was for Spiral, the ninth(!) entry in the seemingly never-ending Saw franchise. I was never a fan, but I'm making up for all that time when big screens were dark, so it's perhaps not surprising I thought Spiral was pretty lame. Chris Rock stars as a troubled cop investigating a copycat of the engineering serial killer Jigsaw, whose diabolical booby traps are targeting the most crooked members of his precinct. The script flirts with commentary about police corruption but never quite says anything potent, and it's all wrapped up in a laughably predictable mystery. (NATHAN WEINBENDER)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
There's noteworthy new music arriving in stores and online May 28. To wit:
DMX, Exodus. His first posthumous release (yes, I'm guessing there's more DMX in the vaults).
Black Midi, Cavalcade. The Brit rock crew's video for "John L" is one tripped-out production, go YouTube it.
k.d. lang, makeover. lang might not be the first name you think of when you think of dance remixes. Well, think again! (DAN NAILEN)
