Justin Sayles

Nov 26, 2024 | theringer.com | Justin Sayles

Getty Images/Ringer illustration Yacht rock makes me think of hardcore pornography, and not simply because of the facial hair and cocaine-fueled excess. When I consider the soft-rock genre and what defines it, I immediately think of the Potter Stewart doctrine: “I know it when I see it.”Such is the case when dealing with musical genres with loose definitions. A few years back, we went through this with emo, and right now, our friends over at Bandsplain are dealing with this with Britpop.

Oct 23, 2024 | theringer.com | Justin Sayles |Rob Arthur

The great directors tend to have their great muses: Scorsese has the mob, Leone had the American West, De Palma has Hitchcock. For Sean Baker, his greatest artistic muse is the world’s oldest profession. Or, perhaps more accurately: sex work in all its many forms. This isn’t an entirely new observation, nor is it meant to be reductive. Baker’s work—which includes Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket—is dripping with empathy for its characters.

Sep 20, 2024 | theringer.com | Justin Sayles |Wosny Lambre

HBO Justin Sayles and Wosny Lambre waddle through Gotham to recap the series premiere of The Penguin. They discuss their relationship to modern superheroes on-screen, where the Batman spinoff series fits within the crime drama genre, and Colin Farrell’s performance underneath all of the prosthetics (2:00). Along the way, they talk about Oz taking Victor Aguilar under his wing and how their partnership parallels early episodes of The Sopranos (18:27).

Sep 9, 2024 | theringer.com | Justin Sayles |Jodi Walker

HBO Justin Sayles and Jodi Walker create a monkey island to recap Chimp Crazy, a four-part HBO docuseries. They start by discussing the complicated nature of its virality, Alan Cumming’s major role in the search for Tonka the missing chimp, and PETA’s heavy involvement in the case (3:12). Along the way, they talk about the eccentricity of Tonia Haddix and her story (17:14).

Sep 8, 2024 | theringer.com | Justin Sayles

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images Admit it: You could’ve imagined Drake doing this first. Aubrey Graham is practically built for the Super Bowl halftime show. His live performances have always felt Vegas-adjacent, and his catalog is massive, diverse, catchy, and largely inoffensive. Factor in his popularity—76 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone—and Drake seems like everything the NFL would want for the second Sunday in February.