Solar Recommends 🎬🍿🎧 [February 2024]

Hello, my celestials! 💖

I'm a bit late this time, but I come here tonight with some good picks though (well, I hope... at least I'd like to think they are haha 🙈). Anyway, hope that you find those useful and maybe even pick up something for yourself to enjoy 😌✨

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✨🎧 Music:

Here's what I was listening to last month (romantic mood this time, kind of):

60s 🎶 Nat King Cole - L-O-V-E

70s 🎶 Dalida, Alain Delon - Paroles, paroles

80s 🎶 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill

90s 🎶 R.E.M. - Losing My Religion

00s 🎶 Diana Krall - The Look Of Love

10s 🎶 Felix Jaehn ft. Jasmine Thompson - Ain't Nobody 

20s 🎶 Sabrina Claudio - Problem With You

✨🎞 Movie:

Another month of weird movies that I did not even plan on watching but somehow still did 🙈 And I can't be the only one suffering here, so now I'm sharing them with you haha (Okay, they're not that bad, just a bit weird. Still better than boring predictable ones, right?)

"Fingernails" (2023) - sci-fi/romance.

"Anna and Ryan have found true love, and it's proven by a controversial new technology. There's just one problem, as Anna still isn't sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute and meets Amir."

Basically, it's some utopian world romance movie where lovers are supposed to pass a test to find out how compatible they truly are. The only thing needed for this test is... their fingernails. Told you, a bit coo-coo this time around 🙃

"Brad's Status" (2017) - comedy/thriller.

"Brad Sloan has a satisfying career and a comfortable life in suburban California, but it's not quite what he imagined during his glory days in college. Sloan keeps comparing his life with those of his four college friends, wondering what it would be like to have their well-paying and glamorous jobs. When circumstances force Brad to reconnect with his buddies, he soon begins to question whether he has failed, or is in some ways the most successful of them all."

Who knew I'd ever say that watching Ben Stiller experiencing on-screen existential crisis would be one of the highlights of my month... but here I am haha. There's something about his innate comedic aura that's making the dramatic tone of the movie even more vivid and simply brilliant. I genuinely enjoyed this movie and had a good laugh since I actually found so many things pretty relatable. Which is a bit scary though, since I’m certainly not in my 40s atm 😅 

✨👂 ASMR:

Let me tell you, this man right here - Mattastic ASMR - is insane 🤭 In the best way though! 

At first, I thought it was a joke, a meme of some sort... but it's not! I discovered a whole new subgenre, I guess? And to be honest with you, I personally don't even know how any human being can come up with such cool, fresh and unique ideas… and I'm a creator myself! So yes, I think you should definitely check out his channel. Even if you're not a fan of such "experimental" ASMR concepts, I think it's still a super fun watch. Here are some other videos to check out:

[ASMR] This is fine. (Positive affirmations for very fine times 😅)

[ASMR] Binaural Smaug (This guy is sooo talented 😩)

God of War ASMR | Kratos Helps You Sleep, BOY... (Told you, simply brilliant)

ASMR from 1997: "The Sounds of Nature with Dr. Matt" - A Lo-Fi Role Play (super fun concept and vintage camera aesthetic)

ASMR | Mike Ehrmantraut Demands That You Go to Sleep 

✨🎬 TV series:

"White Lotus" (2021) - 2 seasons (and I believe there will be another one soon)

"An all-star cast head to a resort and unleash their worst, most privileged impulses. The series is a sharp social satire following the exploits of various guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose stay becomes affected by their various dysfunctions. A week in the life of vacationers is unravelled as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. With each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel's cheerful employees, and the idyllic locale itself."

Super late to this party, I know. This show has been sooo hyped up and I only got to it now (funny enough, I finally gave into it only after watching SNL parody skit haha). Well, not sure I can recommend it for the story alone tbh. I genuinely think the cast is great though. However, the star and focal point of the show (well, quite literally) for me personally was the visual side of it all. Paired with great, almost hypnotic music, the ambience has been simply magical. Makes you want to pack your things and go travel there asap 😩 I think it's a decent pick if you want something to play in the background, especially since the storytelling is very slow, with sprinkles of some truly deep conversations (or even single lines at times) only being there every once in a while.  

✨🎙 Podcast:

Not necessarily a specific recommendation this time around, but more like a general one. I personally think that Zane Lowe is one of the best interviewers in the music scene nowadays. Had his interview with Jennifer Lopez on while I was cleaning around, totally not excepting anything profound... and wow. This might seem silly, I know, just how deep some conversation with a pop star can get, right? But that's exactly what I mean, it seems like Zane got that rare skill where he can turn any conversation so that it becomes a thoughtful and truly deep and genuine one. Needless to say, don't think I ever felt this hopeful and inspired after a cleaning session before 😆👌 

✨🤪 Fun:

The only fun I got to offer this time around is just a couple more SNL skits. Yes, again 🙈 Will try my best to remember of something else next time. These are quite funny though:

The Black Lotus (this one is literally what made me want to finally watch the series haha)

HBO Mario Kart Trailer 

Pizza Business

Fran and Freba 

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Obviously, these are just things that I like, and if for some reason you don’t like them too... that’s absolutely okay. We're all different and it's beautiful 💖 If you feel like checking any of those out and talking to me about it, I'd love that, really. But you don't even have to discuss those with me or anyone else at all. Even the fact that you can find something here that might interest you is more than enough for me to make it worth sharing 🫂

If you feel like recommending something you've recently found/watched/listened to, please feel free to do that in the comments below. I'd love to check it out if you do!

Love,

Solar ✨💫