PREVIEW PICKS
Willie Nelson and Third Ward Insta Takeover are top choices.
1. ShortsTV
The people who bring us the annual presentation of the Oscar-nominated short subjects are now broadening their canvas with ShortsTV, an online cinema series showcasing a different set of the globe’s best short films every two weeks. The feature-length compilations will be available to rent on demand for three days (at a cost of $7.99) through the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston portal. The first release, “One Small Step,” is a family-friendly compilation of animated shorts that includes “Bear Story” and “Gopher Broke.” Begins July 8.
Where: onesmallstep.vhx.tv/ products/ one-small-step-4-themuseum-of-fine-arts-houston Cary Darling
2. ‘Toast of London’
This is the latest in my ongoing series about funny TV shows I’d inexplicably missed for years. My quarantine TV journey led to “Toast of London,” which superficially and visually looks like a staid British sitcom (admittedly, still better than a staid American sitcom) with cheap sets and wonderfully nasty banter. The show operates well as a joke machine, but it also picks at notions of aging and celebrity driven largely by the way actor/ writer Matt Berry applies his incredible voice to comic ends while poking fun at, well, aging and celebrity. Where: Streaming on Netflix Andrew Dansby
3. Willie Nelson
Texas icon Willie Nelson has put out well over 100 albums of music, but those who keep close tallies call “First Rose of Spring” his 70th studio album. Which is a conservative number, but our beloved troubadour operates by different measurements and systems of time than we do. It’s not his best, and not nearly his worst, made fully worthwhile by his take on “Yesterday When I Was Young,” the Charles Aznavour classic that draws country singers like a bug zapper. But Willie’s take has age and experience and is a revelation. Much of the rest of the record is quite lovely, too. Where: Music retailers and streaming services Andrew Dansby
4. Third Ward Insta Takeover
Jamal Cyrus (@jamal.cyrus) and Phillip Pyle II (@pippyle2) will have a Blaffer Art Museum live exhibit at some point. For now, they have taken over the museum’s Instagram page to present a collaborative digital project, sharing their research into historical African American protests and reflections on life in Houston’s Third Ward. The takeover kicked off last Monday with a vintage image of black and white protesters beside a bus, holding a banner into which Cyrus and Pyle Photoshopped an announcement of their project with the words “If not now, when!” The important cast of community leaders highlighted so far includes Gene Lock, Carroll Parrott Blue and Lee Otis Johnson. It’s fun, informative and, indeed, right on time. Where: Instagram: @blafferartmuseum Molly Glentzer
5.‘ Ju-On: Origins’
The Japanese horror franchise “The Grudge” has produced more than a dozen movies, with another on the way (at some point) starring John Cho. But before that, Netflix debuts “JuOn: Origins,” a six-episode, TV adaptation that follows multiple characters connected by the cursed house. Don’t watch alone. Or do, if that makes it scarier. Where: Friday on Netflix Joey Guerra