Welcome to Culture Hound, InsideHook’s deep dive into the month’s most important pop-culture happenings.
WATCH: The Big Sick
Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) pines for his girlfriend in a coma in this indie drama, which wowed at festivals — and then got picked up by Amazon for a whopping $12 million. (June 23)
GO: The 17th Annual Bicycle Film Festival
Fest Founder Brendt Barbur started the Bicycle Film Festival when he was hit by a bus while riding in NYC. Turning a negative experience into a positive one, the Bicycle Film
STREAM: GLOW
A wrestling drama-comedy based on the real-life exploits of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling circa the 1980s. Starring Alison Brie — the Community actress who is also (fact) a national treasure — it’s a mishmash of sparkly costumes, copious drug
VISIT: ICP’s Magnum Manifesto
Continuing their year dedicated to social change, this photo collection curated by Clément Chéroux examines the second half of the 20th century through the lenses of 75 masters. Expect jubilation, vertigo, laughter, violence and moments of pure magic frozen in time. (5/26 – 9/5)
READ: Peak Performance
An Olympic coach and a former McKinsey consultant turned science writer demystifies the ideas behind peak human performance, be it athletic, artistic or academic (turns out they all share the same processes). If you’re a lifehacking fan or watch a lot of TED Talks, this is for you. (June 6)
ENJOY: Blood Drive
A cross-country death race (“in the distant future of 1999”) where cars run on human blood? Sign us up for Syfy’s cheesy grindhouse depravity. (June 14)
TRIP OUT: Park Avenue Armory Presents Hansel And Gretel
Jacques Herzog, Pierre de
REMEMBER: Your favorite albums
It’s a good month for digging deep into your musical past. Bob Marley’s new box set of Exodus (June 2) includes son Ziggy’s “restatement” of the original record, with previously unheard mixes and recordings. U2 revisits The Joshua Tree (June 2) for its 30th anniversary, which features 25 previously unreleased tracks and a hardcover photography book by the Edge. The late great Prince sees his musical nadir Purple Rain (June 23) re-released with a whopping 26 unreleased tracks (including “We Can Fuck” and “Wonderful Ass,”
LISTEN: Our monthly Spotify playlist
Thirty new songs this month, including big returns (LCD Soundsystem, Broken Social Scene, Roger Waters) and soon-to-be-big newcomers (Aldous Harding, The Dirty Nil, The Big Moon).
PERUSE: Visceral
New from
And don’t
This article was featured in the InsideHook NY newsletter. Sign up now for more from all five boroughs.