Taste is the last thing that can't be automated.
one take · September 2026
The care that makes me pick one album over another is the same care that makes a screen feel right. Neither can be generated; both can be trained.
Usthad HotelA grandson, a grandfather and a Kozhikode hotel. The one about cooking with love.
Ice MerchantsA father and son parachute down from their cliff house to sell ice. Eight wordless minutes.
AftersunA father and daughter on a cheap Turkish holiday, and everything unsaid between them.
Past LivesTwo childhood friends, twenty-four years, and the life that did not happen.
SuccessionRich people failing upward, written meaner than anything else on television.
True DetectiveSeason one. Two detectives, seventeen years, and Louisiana doing the rest.
Arrested DevelopmentThe Bluths. Still the densest joke-per-minute writing on any show.
Widow's BayNew, strange, and worth the gamble.
KalamantinaSaint Levant and Marwan Moussa trading verses in Arabic and English, neither changing gear to do it.
Tidal WaveTom Misch's guitar and Yussef Dayes' drums, each refusing to be the other's backing track.
Floated ByPeter Cat Recording Co., out of Delhi, sounding like a hotel lounge band from a decade that never happened.
Raisins Under the SunYussef Dayes playing live at Joshua Tree, with the desert left in.