MATTEO BITTANTI

MENTAL NOTE: FAKE ACCOUNTS BY LAUREN OYLER (2021)

The opening paragraph of Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts perfectly captures the zeitgeist (even if the novel is set in 2015): Also: See also: JENNY OFFILL'S WEATHER Read more →

MENTAL NOTE: WEATHER BY JENNY OFFILL (2020)

I don't have a "favorite novel" of 2020, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that: a) I don't read enough fiction to begin with; b) I don't keep track of books I have read throughout the year with the same neurotic meticulousness that I apply to other cultural... Read more →

CHART: MY FAVORITE PODCASTS OF THE YEAR (NOT RANKED)

"I’ll admit that I have occasionally been gripped by false memories as a result of podcasts — been briefly sure that I’d seen a TV show I’d never watched, or convinced that it was a friend, not a professional producer, who told me some great anecdote. But on the whole,... Read more →

CHART: MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2020

The year of neo-neo-realism: Possessor, Vivarium, The Platform, The Chambermaid, Eastern, The Audition, Perfect Nanny perfectly mirror the state of the world in 2020: pervasive corporate crimes, Darwinian struggles, conspicuous consumption, widespread cannibalism, widening inequality, family feuds, children murdering each other, adults murdering children, children murdering adults, irreversible climate damage,... Read more →

CHART: MY FAVORITE TV SERIES OF 2020

I love John Wilson. We were so lucky to show Road to Magnasanti, his amazing short about New York City turning into SimCity at the Milan Machinima Festival in 2018. Unsurprisingly, his latest project, How to do With John Wilson is pure genius. It reminds me of unclassifiable, highly original,... Read more →