Phillip Retuta's Blog

The Life and Times of a Filipino-American

By

My Year in Lists: My Favorite Albums of 2020.

With the end of the year approaching, I might as well list some of my favorite albums of 2020. Sure, I don’t have the clout of Pitchfork, AllMusic, or Rolling Stone, and some people will find my musical tastes questionable, but I like what I like. Who are you to judge? This year has easily put everyone in a mood, and music is one way I’m able to cope with everything and everyone — it’s personal.

It’s a shame that I’ve hardly commuted for the majority of the year, since my subway trip to and from work is my optimal time to listen to music. Still, even though I’ve been stuck inside for the last 10 months or so in a nearly empty apartment building, it’s nice to not have neighbors; I can blast music at any hour of the day without a care in the world.

Here are my top 10 favorite albums, in no particular order (the socialist in me hates ranking things):

Gorillaz – Song Machine
For an animated band, it’s fun to see Gorillaz mature and literally age. Their newest album is catchy as hell, with collaborations with Elton John, Beck, Schoolboy Q, Peter Hook of New Order, St. Vincent, and Robert Smith of The Cure.

Gorillaz – “Momentary Bliss”

Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension
A spiritual successor to The Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens’ latest album combines the loneliness and retrospection of Carrie & Lowell and “Mystery of Love” with Radiohead-esque electronic beats.

Sufjan Stevens – “The Ascension”

The Strokes – The New Abnormal
Well, The Strokes are back. A lot of their newest tracks feel very meta/breaking the fourth wall, and their lyrics feel full-grown and ring of post-2000’s and NYC jadedness.

The Strokes – “Ode To The Mets”

Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Speaking of comebacks, Fiona Apple’s newest album has a sense of self-awareness and each lyric contains such unbridled rawness and emotion — especially for these times. I’m not surprised that Fetch The Bolt Cutters is #1 on so many end-of-the-year charts.

Fiona Apple – “Fetch The Bolt Cutters”

Dan Deacon – Mystic Familiar
If you want to feel meditative but dance-y, you can always rely on Dan Deacon. Unlike previous albums, he’s relying on his own vocal talents overlaid onto his quirky electronic beats.

Dan Deacon – “Sat By A Tree”

The Weeknd – After Hours
For a pop album, it’s naturally catchy as fuck. “Blinding Lights” has been played all over, and as an aging hipster averse to all things popular, I still love listening to it.

The Weeknd – “After Hours”

Beyoncé – Black is King
Okay, I know this is a visual album, and my only gripe was the remake Lion King quotes scattered throughout each track. Regardless, I love the art direction for each segment and I enjoy the catchy beats.

Beyoncé – “My Power”

Moses Sumney – græ
A frequent collaborator with Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, Moses Sumney’s sophomore album is so soulful and so personal — it definitely reflects my feelings towards this year.

Moses Sumney – “Virile”

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
An indie darling, Phoebe Bridgers’ newest album definitely lives up to the hype. From her collaboration with Conor Oberst and lyrics about her toxic relationship with Ryan Adams, Punisher is also very deserving to be on a lot of end-of-the-year lists (as well as her Grammy nods).

Phoebe Bridgers – “Kyoto”

Grimes – Miss Anthropocene
Yeah, I love Grimes, and yeah her relationship with Elon Musk is kind of disgusting (just because of who he is), but her fantasy-inspired, video game-loving, dark electronic album is pretty damned good.

Grimes – “IDORU”

And for good measure, here’s a nice laugh of The Pudding’s AI telling me how bad my Spotify is. I loved the analysis:

By

Merry Christmas.

Front of this year’s card.

I hope all of you are enjoying your holiday. After skipping 2019 for obvious reasons, I made my annual Holiday Card with Dusty. Inside the card is a QR code that leads to a music video I made. The cards were limited (hell, print is expensive), and I know a lot of the recipients didn’t bother to scan the code (although I kept telling them to).

So folks, here’s the video and the lyrics to the 2020 Holiday Card:

Mogwai flat noses and Cocaine’s are kittens
Giant dog Iro’s and Nori’s white mittens
Doges who bark when do’orbell rings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream-gingered Butters and gray n’ white Katsu’s
Skooter’s and Skeeter’s and Bowie’s are cuckoo
Wild Rivers who shed with pet hair that clings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cats named Winona and Doggos named Donna
Olive’s who listen to classic Madonna
Silver Sebastian’s and j’oy he brings
These are a few of my favorite things

When Dusty bites
When s’quito’s sting
When I’m feeling sad
I simply recall Nico’s angel wings
And then I don’t feel so bad

Zoey who dozes and Fozzie’s fur yellow
Bright gold Diego’s and old cat Costello
Thug Waffle thawing at times of Spring
These are a few of my favorite things

Fish having babies and pups riding buses
Bulleit’s with kittens and running with Russes
Vi’olette’s cute socks and Lynx play’ing with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Dusty in dresses and old vids of Nico
Mem’ries of D’Arcy and playtime with Pinto
Figaro int’rupting your Zoom Meet-tings
These are a few of my favorite things

When Logan bites
When litter stinks
When you’re Borking mad
I simply remember my fur-avorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

By

The Carlton.

Day 70 of self-isolation.

To alleviate some boredom, I’ve been drawing a lot lately with the intention of animating my sketches. I wanted to create a little character doing The Carlton, but since it has no neck or visible torso, it’s just doing a weird dance — and I followed the frames exactly. It’s still cute, nonetheless.

Here’s the original:

via GIPHY

And here’s mine:

By

Keeping Myself Busy During A Pandemic: Making Dog Videos.

Day 53 of self-isolation.

Living by yourself during a pandemic and being furloughed can prove to be mentally and emotionally taxing, but I’ve found ways to combat cabin fever and subdue any feelings of anxiety.

I’ve been making stuff.

Whenever I’m down or feeling alone, I’ve tapped into my creativity to relieve any sense of boredom or desolation. The action of making something and producing a piece of art brings me joy, and it let’s me escape from the fact that there’s no one to talk to or hang out with. That’s always been the case even before the pandemic, but during these times it feels more germane. I’ve been cooking and baking a lot, trying to create my own recipes and sharing the photos. I’ve been gardening so that I have herbs and vegetables for these recipes, and when society reopens I have a nice backyard space I can host people in. Of course, both of these hobbies are dependent on whether or not I want to gain more weight or — in the case of gardening — relies if the weather is suitable, so I’ve turned to an old hobby: making dog videos.

Sure, it’s been a year since Nico passed, but I have a lot of footage I’ve taken over the years, leading up to her death. Life thereafter and work became so busy (not to mention allowing myself a time to grieve), so the ideas I had only remained ideas. Fortunately, with all the free-time forced onto me and the lingering sense of boredom, I’ve picked up these projects again. Making videos and generating beautiful or funny things have kept me sane, giving me something to do during those waking hours of idleness and silence. They also make me cherish the time and the memories I had with Nico. What’s better, it’s been cheap: I have the footage, I have the skills, and I have the software, so I haven’t spent anything to create new movies (well, I did buy some tracing paper from Amazon, but that’s for an animation I’ll be making later).

So here are some videos I’ve been working on for Nico’s still active Instagram page. I haven’t released all of them yet (I’m staggering them, week by week), so I guess you can call these exclusives.

I truly want to make more videos (and take pet photos again), but considering that I’m furloughed (ie, money is tight) and our socially-distanced circumstances, I can’t adopt a dog right now. I promised myself that I would give myself a year after Nico passed when I’d open my heart and my home to another pet, but then COVID-19 happened, my paycheck getting reduced in half happened. So I’ve been asking friends with pets and friends themselves to submit videos to me: dogs and cats just sitting in front of the camera, maybe some bark, some humans doing a little bit of acting or light stunt work. Just to keep myself preoccupied and sane, I have to keep creating more content. I feel if I stop, I think I’ll fall back into my own head again, overcome by loneliness, boredom, and financial anxiety. If you want to help, read and fill out this Google Spreadsheet (it’s essentially a call sheet for pet and human talent), and then email/text me some videos.

Click here to view the Google Sheet.

God knows how long this pandemic and lock-down will last, but we each need to keep ourselves busy and sane. I found my way, have you?

By

Drawin’ and Animatin’.

Day 37 of self-isolation.

One of the few blessings of being confined to my apartment and working from home is that I’m able to pickup and resume some old projects and ideas. For instance, I’ve been drawing again.

I can’t recall the last time I picked up a pencil and a pen, but it feels good to sketch. It may have been years since I’ve drawn something, so as I was inking some sketches for a video project I want to work on, my hands (and thus lines) were a little shaky. Still, there’s a sense of therapy just to create something outside of a computer screen.

What I’m currently drawing right now is for a long postponed Nico video, which would include a few animations. I shot footage before Nico passed, but as I was coping with her death and life got too busy, I put off the project. With everything at a weird standstill now, resuming this and other projects is keeping me sane. Ironically, I do need to find or record little, high-pitched screams.

Stay tuned!