NEAT

It’s so much easier to obsess with the internet. If you like something a lot—a band, an athlete, a particular vegetable because you’re weird and play favorites with produce but it’s 2014, and there are communities for everything including parsnips, so shut up—there exists nearly endless amounts of content regarding that thing. It is easy as parsnip pie to go from simply liking something to becoming the foremost expert in it.

This has been the case with me and the movie Her. I saw it on New Years Eve. I left the theater buzzing with the electricity that only great art is capable of sparking inside you, and now, nearly a full month later, I have a search history on Her that stacks higher than Theodore Twombly’s pants. (Sorry for the spoiler. They wear pants in this movie. There are also ten thousand articles about the pants in this movie.)

I considered writing about why this movie struck me so much, or how every single member of the creative and tech communities should see it and dedicate time to at least one deep conversation with somebody about its themes. But there are already smarter, more trustworthy people than me saying that, so you should just go read how they articulate it. Or even simpler, just take my word for it.

For those of you who have seen Her and care for my obsessor’s starter kit, I present you with a collection of roughly 10-4,400 links to get you started on your path toward a Spike Jonze restraining order. See you on the message boards!

• Beginning with audio, NPR’s Science Friday dedicated a program to the speculative science and the philosophy entwined with it. One of my favorite pieces of media on this subject.

• Terry Gross interviewed Joaquin Phoenix on Fresh Air, but they spend more time talking about The Master.

• A good interview with Spike Jonze from All Things Considered, where the writer/director tries to ramp his charmingness up to 11.

• This is embedded at the top of the post, but for context, it is a press conference with the film’s creator and stars from the NY Film Festival where it was screened for one of the very first times.

• Fast Company wrote about the unique technological depiction of a not-so-distant future.

• Krisen Wiig and Bill Hader lend their voices to the movie’s funniest scene.

• The Atlantic called it the best film of the year, and the piece explaining its rationale dives into the role philosopher Alan Watts plays in the film.

• A profile of Jonze in the New York Times delves into why he made the film and how he approached it as a director/filmmaker (a good read for those who ever find themselves behind a camera).

• The New Republic called it the “scariest film of 2013,” displaying the range of responses to this movie from uplifting and hopeful to frightening and depressing.

• Inspired by the film, an ad product a video series called Creators Project asks artists for their take on love in the modern age.

• More Spike! Vulture wrote a long, illuminating profile of the director that provides more of his filmmaking history and contextualizes Her within Jonze’s entire career trajectory. (Also good for behind-the-camera people.)

• One of the film’s greatest achievements is the harmony struck between the content of the story and the physical look of the universe it takes place in. The LA Times interviewed production designer K.K. Barrett who helped shape that vision.

• Your obligatory high waisted pants article…

• Then an interview with costume designer Casey Storm that kindly avoids talking about the pants for 600 words.

• Now delving into the territory for more ultra-nerds, there’s some real good technical geekery in this Hitfix interview with cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema.

• And finally, the music. Spike Jonze talked with indiewire about creating the film’s musical backdrop with Arcade Fire.