TV Show: 'Disenchantment' Season 3

"Wow, Robby, what a unique and indie pick you have for me this week, it's the show that pops up when I open Netflix. Oh, and it's made by the creators of The Simpsons? Yeah, they need lots of attention, I don't know how they'll advertise, must be low budget, they only made the most successful cartoon of all time". I know, I know. But it's really good, ok? Far too often fantasy falls strictly into a white man's perspective, with rampant sexist and racist themes to boot. But Disenchantment is different. Way different.

If you remember my anime article from last week, you'll remember I recommended One Punch Man because of its diversion of the superhero trope. Disenchantment is a satirical diversion of fantasy. Contrary to the typical approach to setting, which glorifies medieval Europe as some sort of high society, Disenchantment really goes into how gross it really was. There's a collector once a week for plague dead, the sanitation is disgusting, the medical advice is appalling, and it's all hilarious. The King is not noble and valiant, he's fat and lazy. And our princess, Tiabeanie herself, is not some helpless maiden at the top of a tower. She's a kickass alcoholic with buck teeth and a demon pal (voiced by Eric Andre), who literally turns her handsome prince into a pig.

Bringing modern societal conventions into the archaic medieval era along with the subversions and satirization of the genres shortcomings, Disenchantmentis the perfect comedy for the fantasy fan.

Movie: 'The Last Black Man in San Francisco'

Having one of the more successful festival runs of 2019 and now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, The Last Black Man in San Francisco is the story of Jimmie Fails and his best friend Mont trying to reclaim the blackness of San Francisco no one even remembers. They squat in and completely renovate the house of his grandfather, which has since been abandoned.

Watch as Jimmie's loyalty to his friends and community is tested by the hammer of gentrification in this film with cinematography that will make you audibly gasp. This was also the feature film of the Bates Film Festival my sophomore year there, shout out Professor Cavallero.

Album: 'IDK & FRIENDS 2 (Basketball County Soundtrack)

God, I love IDK. Hailing from PG County, which, if you don't know, is dubbed Basketball County because of the countless NBA players that hail from there, IDK delivers a deeply unique and catchy, 808-heavy style that makes you want to punch someone in the face as much as you want to dance. I absolutely love to see people from my city do well, and Professor IDK is one of the best to come out the DMV in a long time.

This mixtape, a sequel to the 2018 mixtapeIDK and Friends :), is just as fun and experimental as the first one. The title is just like it sounds. It is IDK, it is his friends, and they are making fun music. With features from A$AP Ferg, Denzel Curry, PnB Rock, Juicy J, XanMan, Rico Nasty, Alex Vaughn, Ronny J, and way, way more, it's absolutely worth your time to check this album out. While you're at it, check out his debut 2019 album Is He Real?because it's even better. Whenever we get out of this virus-based hellscape, put 24 on next time you have aux. Trust me.

Video Game: 'Inmost'

Look, I'll be honest, I've been played Valhalla for the last month, so I dug into my history for this one. I'm not recommending the billion dollar blockbuster game to you, Ubisoft doesn't need my help. Plus, with their weird save system that made me lose twenty hours of gameplay, I feel like they owe me something. I had to do four story arcs all over again because you guys want to be special and have your own cloud save system. But I digress.

Inmost is an action-adventure platform indie released by Lithuanian developer Hidden Layer Games. The summary of this game on the Nintendo e-shop states that it's meant to be played all at once, for 3-5 hours, alone, on a rainy night. I couldn't agree more. People always say story games are like movies, but it's far more literal with Inmost. With a surreal, melancholy setting that reminds me of Hollow Knight, this story follows three characters, with all their stories interconnected to a mysterious creature that feeds on pain.

Not the best indie I've ever played, but certainly up there, Inmost should receive your attention. Plus, at a $10 price point and a five hour playtime, what do you have to lose? That's a Big Mac meal plus nuggets.