Commentary

Everybody knows that when you make a mixtape, you gotta kick it off with a killer track, to grab attention . The organizers of last winter’s Sundance Film Festival realized this too, and opened their festival with a banger: Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) .

Every story and review of Zola seems to understandably lead with the movie’s genesis, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so here I will do the same: You want to hear a story about how me and this b**** here fell out? It's kind of long, but it's full of suspense.

Are you an out of work historian? I have some good news for you. Bungie, the developer of the video game series Destiny , is looking to hire a historian. But the events this historian will be chronicling will not be those of the production of the game, but of the events that have happened in the world of the game itself.

Karen Tucker’s novel, Bewilderness , is a powerful read. Set in rural North Carolina, the book explores drug addiction through the story of Irene and her friend Lucille, or Luce. Irene leads the reader through their world: through her present, through her memories, and even through her Reddit conversations. The book isn’t so much a wild ride as it is a consciousness-inducing downward spiral.

Someone I’ve always wished I’d seen more from is Victor Nunez. He’s made just a handful of films, but two of them were among the very best of the 1990s. He has a style that’s as gentle and patient as I think I’ve ever seen, with a generosity that’s remarkable and rare.

Today’s moviegoers are savvy enough that filmmakers have to know they’re going to pick up on similarities between new movies and what’s come out in years past. It’s certainly fine to tread familiar ground, this is mostly unavoidable, but a writer or director at least needs to be aware that people are going to recognize when you’re using or playing off an old idea.

It’s time for a change. Next Best Thing was intended to be a limited-run commentary focused on ways to stay connected digitally during stay-at-home orders. It will continue on, but as a public service announcement about local events, and we’re calling it Next Up . So, next up is Wichita City Pride this Thursday at Naftzger Park. The all ages festival goes from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. with artists, musicians and performers from Wichita’s queer community. The following day, June 25, brings a collaborative event to the Brickyard in Old Town. Starting at 6:00 p.m., From The Brickyard With Love features musician Rudy Love Jr. and family, plus DJ Carbon. Art in the Alley, a multi-artist show, will take place at the same time. On Saturday, June 26, you can head back to Naftzger Park for LUNAFEST . Presented by Girls on the Run Heart of Kansas, it’s a one-night festival of films featuring strong women, recommended for ages 10 and up. Tickets are at girlsontherunks.org. And here’s a preview of July

When writing her novel, Songs in Ursa Major , Emma Brodie was inspired when she learned about the relationship between Joni Mitchell and James Taylor.

I knew I wanted to read Death in Her Hands , Ottessa Moshfegh’s newest novel, before I knew anything about it. Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation was one of the best books I read in 2019 —a darkly comic novel about a young woman’s extended hibernation with a battery of prescription meds—and I couldn’t wait to see what the author would do next.

The merger between Manhattan & Queens County in 1898 was known as The Great Mistake. It’s also the title of a new novel by Jonathan Lee. This work of historical fiction focuses on the life of Andrew Haswell Green, mastermind behind The Great Mistake of 1898, but also Central Park, the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, and so much more.

Every year, game companies announce what will be coming up for the next year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, popularly known as E3. This year, it’s an all-online event. E3 for this year ended yesterday, and there were a lot of announcements.

Freddy Otash is in Purgatory. Literally… literarily. In James Ellroy’s novel, Widespread Panic , the corrupt cop turned sleazy private eye is in Purgatory expiating his sins when he is offered a fast-track to Heaven. All he has to do is write a tell-all.

Over the years, I’ve come to place less importance on subtlety in art. There was a time when I saw it almost as a virtue unto itself-- I felt like if you were entirely explicit about your message, that was somehow less good than if you found an elegant way to get your idea across without making it totally obvious.

How’s this for a pitch—three guys sort of like the conspiracy-minded, tech-savvy trio from The X-Files known as the “Lone Gunmen” team up with a guy sort of like Liam Neeson in the Taken franchise, and they all set out to take revenge on a biker gang they hold responsible for the death of the wife of the Neeson-type character. Can’t miss, right?

First up this time is Carnival of the Animals , presented by Ballet Wichita. The free, family-friendly production is described as a “colorful journey through the animal kingdom.” It’s Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at Naftzger Park, so firm up your plans now. For the remainder of June, two big celebrations are underway: Pride Month and Juneteenth.

258 weeks. That number has probably changed since I spoke with author Jennifer Weiner, but at the time of this interview, 258 weeks was the amount of time that her books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. That makes up nearly a quarter of her entire career that began 20 years ago with her debut, Good In Bed . Her latest book is That Summer , the second book in what she’s calling her “beach trilogy.” It’s a beach read, but not in the traditional sense, as it tackles sexual assault and the #MeToo movement. I recently spoke with Jennifer Weiner about all the things. Here’s our conversation. That Summer by Jennifer Weiner was published by Atria Books. Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita. If you like this podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts . Engineers: Mark Statzer and Torin Andersen Editor: Lu Anne Stephens Producer: Haley Crowson Follow Beth Golay on Twitter @BethGolay .

I took a road trip recently—a long road trip—and downloaded a few audiobooks to pass the time. One was The Push , a debut novel by Ashley Audrain. And oh. My. Gosh.

After Ross Benes left Nebraska for New York, he saw with greater clarity the rural-urban divide overtaking the national conversation. I recently spoke with Benes about his book, Rural Rebellion , in which he explores Nebraska’s shifting political landscape to better understand what’s plaguing America while coming to terms with his own past and present.

The New York Times had an article recently about how because American movie release dates keep getting pushed further and further back, there’s been a mini-Renaissance in Australia regarding Aussie-made movies, which apparently don’t typically do well in their home country. Leading that charge is a dandy contemporary noir called The Dry , which is already one of the all-time top Australian-made movies at the Australian box office.

For more than three decades, Japan has been a leader - the leader, in a lot of respects - in the global video game industry. Names like Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were the only names in video games for years, and even since Microsoft joined, Japanese companies still dominate the market. But of course these companies didn’t just emerge out of nothing, and Matt Alt’s book Pure Invention is a history of how Japanese pop culture exports shaped our culture, too.