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!
Serena’s Picks
TV Show: “Justified: City Primeval”
This has been out for a while, and I’ll be honest, I’ve been delaying watching it. On one hand, “Justified” was a near perfect show as far as I’m concerned with a perfect ending (something so rare in television these days) and I was seriously concerned that any sequel would ruin that. On the other hand, it could be amazing and I’d want to savor it! Well, I reached a low point of things to watch recently, so it was finally time! And I’ve really been enjoying it! I think the show made a lot of great choices, especially moving the setting to a new location. In this way, this show can exist without directly impacting the first series in any true way. I also was pleased to see that Raylin Givens remained true to the original character, without the writers feeling the need to tinker overly much. Doesn’t hurt when you have an actor like Timothy Oliphant who doesn’t seem to have aged at all in the meantime…
Video Game: “Dragon Age: The Veilguard”
I’ve had a mixed experience with the “Dragon Age” franchise. I loved some of the games but also struggled with others. I think the lore and history of this world is amazing, but it seems as if it’s been harder and harder for games to match everything together as the series has progressed. And so far (I haven’t completed it yet) this one has been a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I have no problem with the changes to art style. I think the more cartoony look can work really well (you avoid the uncanny valley issue that is often found when games try to hard for the “realistic” look) and the settings and imagery are by far the strongest aspects of the game. It’s just a beautiful game to walk through. I also think the actual game play is pretty good. That said, the writing…oh, the writing! It’s not helped that “Baldur’s Gate 3” came out only a year ago and is a masterwork as far as writing goes, but I think this one would be tough either way. Basic plot points are repeated ad nauseum and, for an RPG, your character is given very little choice in how they respond to most situations. You, in theory, usually have three version of dialogue to pick from. But in reality, it’s almost exactly the same answer in every case. My expectations were probably too high, but I also think that for a game that’s been in the works for 10 years, this one was incredibly poorly written. Which is unfortunate, because a lot of the rest of it was great!
Documentary: “Touching the Void”
Yep, it’s that time again! Time to revisit the horrifying world of climbing documentaries! I blame this one fully on my husband. I walked into the den one night and he had this already pulled up. I’d heard about this story back in 2003 when this movie first came out, but I hadn’t actually watched it. The documentary follows two climbers who end up in a disastrous situation when they are descending a peak and one of them breaks his leg and the other ends up having to make a horrible life or death decision. The only thing that saves these documentaries is that you’re hearing the story while it’s being interspersed with interviews with the individuals involved, reassuring you that everyone makes it out alive in the end.
Kate’s Picks
Hulu Show: “Only Murders In The Building”
If October is for the Spooky Season, I always try to devote November to leaning fully into the coziness of autumn as it slowly (or in the more likely Minnesota scenario of not so slowly) transitions into winter. And what better way to do that than with one of the coziest mystery shows around, “Only Murders in the Building”! Perhaps one would think that Charles, Oliver, and Mabel’s antics of solving murders whilst having hijinks in their NYC West Side high rise would get stale, but with the amazing trio of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez that is not the case! This time around they are trying to solve the tragic murder of Charles’s stunt double Sazz, who was shot in Charles’s apartment. Why are there so many murders in this building? It doesn’t really matter. I still highly enjoy this show. Extra points for Eva Longoria acting as herself preparing to play Mabel in the motion picture of their hit podcast. She was hilarious.
Video Game: “Disney Dreamlight Valley”
Though I’ve been diving into “Stardew Valley” again due to the new update (I can have a black cat now!), I also wanted to seek out another chill video game to cozy up to this past month. I had heard about “Dreamlight Valley” online, and decided that now was as good a time as any to give it a go! It’s basically “Animal Crossing” and “Stardew” in general plot and gameplay, but your neighbors and friends are Disney characters! You are tasked with helping rebuild Dreamlight Valley, a home to many Disney friends that has been cast under a spell by a force known as the Forgetting. As you help rebuild the community, you make friends along the way. You can grow crops, build things, make friends, cook recipes. It’s all very cottage core, and has helped lower my blood pressure in times of angst and anxiety. I also like seeing what friends I’m going to make next (waiting not so patiently for Belle and Moana to arrive because that feels like the ultimate power clique to me).
Film: “The Witch”
But sometimes instead of cozy I just need to lean into some good old fashioned rage. And given how much rage I was feeling at the beginning of the month after the election, where do I turn but to one of my FAVORITE feminine rage films, “The Witch”. A friend from college came over the weekend after the election to watch a horror movie, as we try to watch horror movies once every month or so, and I said ‘you bring the hotdish, and I will provide ‘The Witch’. That will be cathartic!” And was it ever. In Puritan New England an exiled family (after the patriarch enrages the community with his pride) goes into the wilderness to make their own life. But when eldest daughter Thomasin is watching baby brother Samuel, he suddenly disappears without a trace. As more tragedy befalls them, Thomasin’s family starts to believe that a witch has cursed them, and that Thomasin herself is to blame. I love this movie and have loved this movie, as it’s less about the witch of the wood, and more about the demonization and marginalization of a young woman by her zealous family. I feel that in my bones at the moment.
The Library Ladies 