2
THE OPENING ACT
MARCH 9�16, 2022
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What we’re into
‘HOW TO WITH
JOHN WILSON’
I
’m not sure how to describe
the HBO television series “How
To with John Wilson,” but if I’m
going to recommend it, I’ll give it
my best shot.
Before each season, fi lmmaker
John Wilson captures thousands
of hours of public life in New York
City. He then whittles those hours
down to a small series of half-
hour episodes organized around
a seemingly instructional theme:
“How to Improve Your Memory”
or “How to Throw Out Batteries.”
But this isn’t a series of
mundane tutorials you might
Google in a pinch. Instead each
episode plays out like a visual
essay, Wilson’s thoughts and
musings acting as a soundtrack
to a montage of the streets and
homes of New York. It turns
out living in a dense urban area
with nearly 9 million souls lends
itself well to commenting on
the absurdities and inanities of
everyday life.
But what really sets apart
“How To” is Wilson’s willingness
to pull the thread of each theme
as far as it will go. In “How to Im-
imdb.com
prove Your Memory,” he travels
to Ketchum, Idaho, to attend a
conference on The Mandela Ef-
fect, a series of falsely remem-
bered facts that some people
mistakenly attribute to alternate
realities.
Wilson meets plenty of odd
RAISING THE CURTAIN
ON THIS WEEK’S ISSUE
people in his journeys, but he’s
never cruel. Wilson’s presence
is awkward but insistent, and he
sometimes brings out genuine
emotion from his subjects. “How
To with John Wilson” is fascinat-
ed with people and that means
it’s equal turns hilarious, dra-
matic, shocking and poignant.
I’m not sure I’ve done a good
job selling the show, and “How
To” is not going to be every-
one’s cup of tea. But in a world
where mainstream entertain-
ment is rigidly dictated by a
handful of studios, something
as strange and humane as “How
To” is worthy of celebration.
— ANTONIO SIERRA, REPORTER,
EAST OREGONIAN
Lisa Britton
Go! Editor
editor@goeasternoregon.com
541-406-5274
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New releases
‘LOVE SUX,’
AVRIL LAVIGNE
A
vril Lavigne is known for
being a pillar of pop-punk
in the early 2000s, who paved
her own path in the male domi-
nated alt-rock world. It’s been
almost 20 years since her debut
Mountain Eagle. It publishes
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album, “Let Go,” was released
in the summer of 2002. But the
Grammy Award-nominated artist
is reminding everyone that she
is still the master of the genre in
her seventh album, “Love Sux.”
This new album transports
us back to those days when
teen angst was palpable and
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alt-rock was playing on your
MySpace page.
Lavigne is not trying to ap-
pease anyone. Many of the
tracks on the album explore an
edge to pop-punk that’s not
typical to mainstream Top 40
radio. Electric guitars are blast-
ing through almost every track.
The fi rst song, “Cannonball,” you
hear feedback amp and an elec-
tric guitar, then she sings, “Like
a ticking time bomb I’m about to
explode.”
You can hear the punk-rock
sounds all over the album, the
power chords and loud riff s. But
Lavigne is still very much a pop
star in all the best ways. “Bite
Me,” “Love Sux” and “Love It
When You Hate Me” with black-
bear lean into the alternative
rock vibe, but they still have
catchy addictive pop hooks.
