arts // no. 10 theotherpress.ca Driving through August » A playlist with songs representing a day in August Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor A holds a special power in the year. It’s the ultimate juxtaposition month being the end of summer, while also representing new beginnings. Certain situations and feelings occur more in August: breakups before life gets hectic again with back-to-school season, a final chance for a summer romance, dread towards the sneaking-up summers end, the joy of still having another month to mess around under the sticky sun, and so on. Here’s a playlist that travels along these events and feelings throughout a day in August: Morning You just woke up and it’s already sunny outside. Enjoy it while it lasts, because a 7am wakeup call in four months will look like the dead of night. You have work. Despite being tired, you turn your music on and get ready for the day on hype mode. “I Feel Alive?” - COIN If there’s any way to wake up in a good mood, it’s knowing how fantastic being alive is. When youre truly in that mind state, nothing feels better than just screaming “I FEEL ALIVE!” and as COIN continues, “we're okay, yeah we're okay!” “Work Bitch” - Britney Spears “You want a Lamborghini? / Sip martinis? / Look hot ina bikini? You better work, bitch!” When Britney tells you what to do, you listen. Lunch Ah, a break. As you mindlessly scroll your feeds on an outdoor patio, you hear a familiar text ding. Oh, youre getting broken up with! Luckily, if anything, he beat you to it. Moving forward—damn, this banh mi is amazing. Let’s listen to some harder music instead of thinking about that mess. “Sound of Where'd U Go” - Illenium, Said The Sky, 1788-L “No, don’t come find me, I won't be here waiting / I so can do it alone / Youre not worth staying.” Well isn’t that the mood right now. With one of the hardest drops, this song is the best to represent your current internal workings. “oops!” — Yung Gravy Their loss. Time to turn up on the patio deck. You're going to be doing inconspicuous footwork your whole walk back to work with this one. Who cares about anything—seriously. Let’s just vibe. Afternoon Now, you're not exactly sad as you finish up your work, but something’s happening. Feelings... who needs ‘em? “Superposition” — Young the Giant “Why don't we collide the spaces that divide us? I want you to want me,” yeah... it’s okay to mope a little. “Miracle, Baby” - Nothing But Thieves They say be careful what you wish for, and you may have a lot of wishes stacked up right now. Take it from Nothing But Thieves, “You need a miracle, baby / But I wouldn't wait too long / It’s not gonna save ya.” Dinner Over it. It’s refreshing to be back in the world as a strong and independent person, and youre excited to find yourself again. Spices are floating in the air, and your windows are open. You can save the leftovers for tomorrow. “Woman” - Kesha “Tm a motherfuckin’ woman! Baby, alright! I don’t need a man if he holds me too tight,” that’s real. This song is all-around fun-loving and inspirational at the same time. Even Kesha starts laughing midway through the second verse. “6PM In New York” - Drake What more is there to say besides, “Oh, you gotta love it, oh, you got—oh, you gotta love it.” Evening Taking a walk with your dog and thinking about how grateful you are that youre alive and it’s the perfect temperature of warm with a cool breeze, and of how beautiful the sky is as the sun sets. How you did good at work today, and you have beach plans with friends tomorrow. How your'e free and ready to have a hot girl summer. “Lemonade” - Internet Money, Gunna, Don Toliver, NAV This song just makes me feel good. Don't know what they put in there, but it’s a guaranteed good time. Photo by Sonam Kaloti “Look at the Sky” - Porter Robinson This one has a bright outlook on the future, with the chorus singing, “Look at the sky, I'm still here / I'll be alive next year / I can make something good.” A perfect way to end off any day: hopeful for a new start and great tomorrow. August days are meant to be enjoyed, especially after the last year and a half. People are getting vaccinated and come September we should be back in full swing. Things are looking up and there's nothing that should keep you from looking up, too. In defense of ‘Fear Street’s’ supernatural killers trying to murder LGBTQ+ characters » Why Netflix’s new horror trilogy feels groundbreaking and refreshing Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager was concernedly young the first time I ever watched a horror movie. Every summer, my parents would offload me and my brothers at our grandparents’ house for a week, where the Gibb boys would commandeer the basement and live our best ’gos child lives. There's an eight-year age gap between my oldest brother and me, so I was always more of a tagalong to their visions—which often included bringing a VCR to my grandparents’ place so we could watch as many movies as our impressionable eyeballs could handle. It was in my grandparents’ basement that I witnessed my first horror movie, Jason Goes to Hell. | couldn't have been older than seven or eight, and all I remember was seeing some sexy teens get murdered while getting sexy together ina tent. However, that movie launched me into a life-long adoration for horror movies and similarly, horror books. Enter the Fear Street books, the young-adult horror series considered scarier than Goosebumps but for readers OX or ‘5 BY 85 "3 Gh cw ee PH Oo" . ES og at not-quite old enough for the likes of Stephen King. Yes, author R.L. Stine’s other horror series Goosebumps remains the unequivocally essential reading for young readers looking to dabble their toes in the genre, but it was the Fear Street series that really embraced horror. Goosebumps loved its fake-outs and ambiguous scares while the latter never shied away from killing off characters. (In a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Stine even confirmed “Nobody ever dies in Goosebumps.”) The film adaptations of these series continue this parallel, with the 2015 Goosebumps movie rated PG and the Fear Street films all boasting an R-rating. Released across three weeks this past July, the Fear Street trilogy has been relatively well-received (their Rotten Tomatoes scores range between 83 and 92 percent, which is especially impressive considering the genre) but these films are even more noteworthy because of the love story at the centre of it between high school students Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch). Deena is openly a lesbian, while Sam starts the series off in a heterosexual relationship with someone else, and while Fear Street initially plays with this classic “one person’s out, one person’s closeted” trope, we quickly get the impression that Sam and Deena are endgame material. It feels weird, praising a film for having supernatural murderers continuously chasing a lesbian couple and their friends, but it’s representation in a genre that has been sorely lacking LGBTQ+ characters in the past. Upon viewing Fear Street and realizing how groundbreaking it felt, I tried racking my brain over what other horror films were centred around an LGBTQ+ romance and couldn't think of one. Internet searches produced articles like “7 most iconic LGBT+ character in horror movies,” but the only arguably iconic one to appear on these lists is Rocky Horror Picture Show’s Frank-N-Furter (portrayed by Tim Curry). Fear Street's lesbian couple at the centre of the bloodbath shouldn't feel so innovative, and yet it does. I long for the day when mad serial killers can stalk people of all genders and orientations, but until then, I'll take what Fear Street has to offer.