What upcoming 2013 entertainment are you most anticipating?

Welcome back to AVQ&A, where we throw out a question for discussion among the staff and readers. Consider this a prompt to compare notes on your interface with pop culture, to reveal your embarrassing tastes and experiences, and to ponder how our diverse lives all led us to convene here together. Got a question you’d like us and the readers to answer? Email us at [email protected].
This week’s question: What upcoming 2013 entertainment are you most anticipating?
Scott Von Doviak
My answer to this question will always be: “Is there a new Coen Brothers movie?” Even though I’ve skipped most of the big summer behemoths this year, I still feel like I’ve been pummeled into submission by superheroes, monsters, and giant robots. That’s why it’s such a relief to realize that on or around December 20, I’ll be seated in a theater watching Inside Llewyn Davis, the first Coen Brothers movie in three long years. Set in the New York folk scene of the early 1960s, the film centers on a fictional singer/songwriter (played by relative unknown Oscar Isaac) who may bear some coincidental resemblance to the Coens’ Minnesota homeboy Bob Dylan. It’s a fertile milieu for another one of the brothers’ immersive, off-kilter explorations of a subculture, and judging from the trailers so far, Manhattan will not be reduced to smoking rubble by the end of the movie.
Rowan Kaiser
My emotional connection to new music seems to decrease the older I get, with very few exceptions. Happily, the exceptional Janelle Monáe is releasing her second full-length album, The Electric Lady, this September. From the moment I first saw her after following Big Boi’s links to his guest spot in the “Tightrope” video, I've been mesmerized by Monáe’s combination of style and creativity. Her first album had a marvelous combination of that Southern hip-hop with Prince-style musical experimentation and a science fiction concept that reminded me of David Bowie at his best. That variety seems to still be on display in the first two singles, particularly the joyous “Dance Apocalyptic,” which has me feeling quite confident that my excitement for The Electric Lady is entirely justified.
Evan Rytlewski
Though fans know better than to hold their breath, this fall could potentially see new albums from two of modern soul’s most notorious recluses. Should it ever see daylight, D’Angelo’s James River will make the bigger headlines—its “neo-soul J.D. Salinger finishes his own Chinese Democracy” narrative is too much for any music writer to resist—but the one I’m most looking forward to is the one most likely to actually hit shelves: Maxwell’s blackSUMMERS’night, the second installment in a trilogy the singer is in no apparent rush to complete. Like his albums, which reveal themselves slowly, Maxwell has never been one to trumpet his own greatness, but make no mistake about it: He is one of the greats, and 2009’s inaugural installment in his Black trilogy was his most beautifully intricate work yet. That album took him eight years to complete, but it was worth the wait. I’m betting its sequel will be too.
Mike Vago
Like a lot of fans of the show, I have mixed feelings about Boardwalk Empire. The Prohibition-era gangster drama isn’t top-tier TV on the order of Breaking Bad or Mad Men. But the pleasures of the show are far from guilty, as the acting and dialogue are superb, and it’s just fun to watch Steve Buscemi’s Nucky Thompson rub shoulders with the likes of Lucky Luciano and Al Capone. Not to mention the show’s breakout supporting players, Michael Shannon and Danny Huston. It isn’t a show I thought I’d anticipate highly, just something pretty good to watch until Game Of Thrones comes back. But then I stumbled onto actor Michael Kenneth Williams’ Instagram feed, where he was posting pictures of himself in period costume alongside Jeffrey Wright, and damn if my heart wasn't pumping in anticipation of a new season of Boardwalk. Wright seems poised to fill the villain-of-the-year slot held by Bobby Cannavale last year, and will be joined by Ron Livingston and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Who needs thematic depth when you’ve got that cast, tommy guns, and a shipment of hooch coming in on the docks at midnight?
Jason Heller
It’s been three years since The Body’s sophomore album, All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood, was released. Since then the experimental Providence outfit has been busy with compilations, collaborations, and EPs. Nothing beats a sprawling, immersive, cohesively conceived full-length from The Body, though—and I’m about to get my wish on October 15, when Thrill Jockey unleashes the group’s third album, Christs, Redeemers. From what I’ve heard so far, it’s a horrifying yet transcendent evolution for the band, one that feels as suffocating as it does liberating; amid tribal rhythms and hymnal atmosphere is an agonizing stretch toward oblivion that dilates consciousness and deflowers the flesh.
Ryan McGee
I’m going to cheat a little here and go with the next generation of videogame consoles. Both Sony and Microsoft have new systems coming out this year, in the respective forms of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One. Personally, I’m less interested in specific games for each system and more curious about how they will (or won’t) expand our current notions of online interactivity. As someone who primarily uses his current console for non-gaming services such as Hulu and Netflix, I want to see what these new systems offer in terms of community for more than just big multiplayer sessions in Halo or Call Of Duty. The technological leap between this generation and the next won’t be as pronounced as the one we experienced a half-decade ago. But the way we conceive of these consoles has radically changed in the era of smartphones, tablets, and other devices vying for our attention. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can’t just be about gaming. They are the potential centers of our electronic entertainment universes. And they can’t get here soon enough.
Sonia Saraiya
My pick for the rest of 2013 is Homeland’s third season, which has a lot riding on it. The second season ended on a strange note, following a plot twist that may have very well taken the show off the rails. I’m not quite sure about it myself, but if nothing else, I admire its bold-faced ambition—which is why I want to see how Homeland resolves what it started in season two. The first few episodes of season three could make season two’s ending look like a coup de grace or a total flop. That’s a lot for one show to try to accomplish. But if anyone could make it work, it’s the daring writers and talented cast of Homeland, who have made one of the best series on television in a season of many other bright stars. I’ve become more invested in Carrie Mathison than nearly any other character on television, which means I am already counting down the days to September 29.