While we do love us some books, believe it not, we do have a life outside of reading. So to highlight our other pop culture interests, on the last Monday of each month, we each will highlight three other “happenings” from the last month. Big events on favorite TV shows, new movies we’ve watched, old movies we’ve “discovered,” etc. Pretty much whatever we found of particular interest outside of the book world during the last month. Share your own favorite things in the comments!
Note: We are going to the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago this coming weekend. So we’re posting our “Not Just Books” post a week earlier than usual so that we can take next Monday to highlight that event.
Serena’s Picks
Apple TV Show: “Slow Horses”
You know, sometimes all it takes to sell you on a concept is a famous name. And show producers know it! My husband and I started watched watching this one based only on our love of Gary Oldman and our mutual appreciation for BBC dramas of any kind. But I think we were both surprised by just how much we enjoyed this spy thriller. All of the acting was superb, and it was also surprisingly funny, something I wasn’t expecting going in. Apple+ is one of those streamers that we subscribe to for soccer game access, but it turns out they have some actually good shows?
TV Show: “The Crowded Room”
I really knew nothing about this show either and was again drawn in by the big name actors headlining it. While Tom Holland is obviously best known for his role as Spiderman, I’ve seen him in a few more serious dramas, and it’s clear that he’s quite talented beyond the superhero stuff. This was a very interesting show. I feel like one of my few superpowers is the ability to quickly predict twists and surprises in shows and books, so I was able to guess this one’s main conceit within the first 15 minutes. But that still made it an interesting experience for sure! If you’re looking for something different to watch, this is definitely a unique show.
Activity: Trivia Mafia
Back in the days before we had kids, Kate and I and our husbands and a few other friends had a weekly trivia night at a local pub. Obviously, this has been out of the cards for some time. But this year, my husband and I decided that now was the time to figure out this whole babysitter thing. So now that we have a great person who comes and watches our boys, we’ve been able to slowly get back out into the world. And one thing we’re doing over the summer is trying out trivia again. Obviously, now being reduced to only the two of us, we don’t do nearly as well. But it’s still fun, for sure!
Kate’s Picks
TV Show: “Empress Ki”
This is a bit of a crazy swerve for me, as I literally stumbled upon a clip from the South Korean historical drama “Empress Ki” on social media during one of my frequent meaningless scrolls. But I was so intrigued by the ornate costuming, the dramatic moment at hand, and the very dramatic but also very compelling acting by the people on the screen, that I went on a hunt to find this show. Ha Ji-won plays Seung-nyang, a Goryeo (a state of Korea during the time period) woman who was sent as a tribute to Yuan (a Mongol controlled state of China) when she was a child. After escaping her captors, she disguised herself as a boy and became a thief and warrior, and eventually finds herself in the court of Ta Hwan, the son of the Yuan Emperor. As Seung-nyang does everything she can to survive, she climbs the ladder, and positions herself as one of Ta Hwan’s consorts, though she still thinks of her first love Wang Yoo, who is in line to be king in Goryeo. This show is soapy, beautiful, and the time, place, and plot has me hooked.
Film: “The Birdcage”
This isn’t a film that is by any means new to me, as I’ve been a fan of the comedy of errors “The Birdcage” for a very long time. But this month our local Alamo Drafthouse had a special screening as one of their ‘brunch’ films, so some friends and I decided to go and see it on the big screen. And for being a movie that is almost thirty years old, it still holds up really well and has numerous laugh out loud moments. Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play long term partners Armand and Albert, who run and are the star of a Miami drag club called The Birdcage. When Armand’s son Val comes home from college and announces that he’s engaged, and his fiancée is the daughter of a far right Senator, he asks Armand to pretend to be straight and conservative to meet the girl’s parents. Hilarity ensues. I still have a VERY hard time dealing with the ungrateful weenie son (how DARE he be SO MEAN to his parents, especially Albert, who is basically his mother?!?!), but Nathan Lane, Robin Williams, and Hank Azaria as flamboyant house keeper Agador always have me in stitches. Seeing in on the big screen with friends and a brunch spread was perfect.
TV Show: “Shiny Happy People”
We’re ending on a bleak and upsetting note, but I would be remiss if I were to leave the docuseries “Shiny Happy People” off my list for June, as Serena and I got together to watch it and binged it all in one distressing night. “Shiny Happy People” is a documentary series that looks into Bill Gothard and the Institute in Basic Life Principles, or IBLP, a fundamentalist Christian organization (though I’d argue cult) that is part of the mainstream consciousness thanks to TLC and the Quiverfull Duggar Family, whose show on TLC put their large family and conservative Christian values on cable TV. They presented themselves as moral and loving and perfect within their Christian led lives. Well, as it turned out their oldest son Josh is a sexual predator, and abused his sisters in childhood with no consequences and whose acts were covered up by his family. And he was eventually sent to prison for violent CSAM. But the docuseries, while using the Duggars as a jumping off point for the hidden violence and abuse, more so examines the IBLP as a cult and movement, and gives platform to numerous survivors who are now speaking out against the horrendous abuses, as well as the group’s ultimate mission to make the United States (and also the world) a society driven by far right Christian values and doctrine. It’s well done and enlightening, but it’s a rough ride.
The Library Ladies 