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
Movie: “Project Hail Mary”
Like everyone this month it seems, I dutifully left my house and booked a ticket to see what feels like the only true blockbuster of a film that’s come out in oh, I don’t know, years at this point! Ok, I joke. But it does seem like it’s been quite some time since there’s been a movie that has been so widely enjoyed. I didn’t get around to seeing this until it had been out in theaters for three weeks, and even then, my evening showing on a Thursday night was a packed house! I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen that! And the movie was well worth all of these sales. There was adventure, there was humor, there was heart. But most of all, it was an optimistic film with a central message about the need for true connection. In many ways, I feel like it’s the sort of movie that hit at just the right time. But even besides that, it was just a great movie-going experience, and I highly recommend a theater showing if you can swing it!
TV Show: “Top Chef”
Fall is for “Bake Off” and spring is for “Top Chef!” It’s a nice little tradition for my husband and to watch together: two shows where we can judge contestants as they create dishes we have zero chance of making ourselves! “Why, why would you try to do a soup for a quickfire? There’s not enough time to develop the flavors!” We definitely sound like we know what we’re talking about, and that’s all that matters. In this season in particular, we’ve spent a lot of time criticizing the one contestant whose arm seems to be more injured when she’s doing poorly or doesn’t want to do a quickfire but then magically repairs itself for the challenges where she feels more confident!
Video Game: “Eternal Strands”
This was a fun little palatte cleanser of a game between my obsessive “Baldur’s Gate 3” runs and my continued effot to work myself up to trying “Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader.” This was a much more manageable length, around 35 hours, and had a very fun game play loop. Most of all, I loved fighting the giant constructs and the various unique approaches you had to take to defeat each one. The voice acting was also incredible throughout, and by the end, I was quite attached to everyone in this odd little group. If you’re looking for a fun, fairly straightforward action game, this is a nice option to consider!
Kate’s Picks
Netflix Show: “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen”
It’s been a bit since I’ve watched a horror TV show that completely pulled me in and left me going WHAT ON EARTH DID I JUST WATCH. It’s been awhile since Mike Flanagan created a ghost story for Netflix, but if you have been missing that or something along those vibes, look no further than “Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen”, because this show MESSED WITH ME. Rachel is a woman who is going to meet her fiancé Nicky’s family for the first time, with their remote cabin setting being the spot for their small wedding that weekend. But things are very strange at the house and with the family, with people acting weird, and an overwhelming sense of dread that Rachel can’t shake. To make matters worse, the family lore of a creature in the woods makes Rachel all the more nervous. But things are even more horrifying than she realizes as family curses and secrets start to come out of the woodwork. This show kept me on edge basically the whole time, with crazy reveals, incredibly unsettling imagery, and a great cast who all seem unhinged.
TV Show: “Deadloch”
As mentioned last month, “Deadloch” Season 2 dropped and now I am back with another entry focusing on this darkly funny Australian murder mystery! Dulcie and Eddie have left the small Tasmanian town and have headed for the mainland when Eddie wants to follow up on the death of her detective partner. But they don’t stay in Darwin long, because some body parts in the mouth of a crocodile in the small town of Barra Creek brings them there to investigate… And brings up the fact that Eddie has a past and connection to the community that she was hiding from Dulcie. And this time it’s involving crocs, feuding tourist companies, and MORE body parts washing ashore. Dulcie and Eddie still have great chemistry, and the mystery this time around is just as engaging and complex. We also have some new supporting characters, as well as some familiar faces (really happy to see Abby has returned and is fully into forensics, and wow, Cath is actually really fun this season after being wholly insufferable last time around!), and it’s still super funny, super queer, and kept me on my toes. I don’t know if we’re going to get more seasons after this one, but if it’s the end, it ended on a high note.
TV Show: “Dark Winds”
Another procedural on my list, though I was waiting awhile for “Dark Winds” to come back after season three, especially since we left on a bit of a cliffhanger (Emma left Joe!! NOOO!). And now “Dark Winds” is back, which means Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee are back on the case. In Season four they are looking for a missing Navajo girl, who ran away from a Catholic boarding school and then vanished, last seen with a young man with a criminal past. Their search takes them to Los Angeles, where they get tangled up in the seedy underbelly of the crime world, as well as become targets of a meticulous killer. Meanwhile Joe is still reeling from Emma leaving him, and Bernadette has newly rejoined the Navajo Tribal Police after leaving her position with the border patrol, though her relationship with Chee is still new and growing, and the thought of a workplace romance feels complicated. I’m so glad this show is back, as I absolutely love Leaphorn and Chee, and still love how Indigenous perspective centered it is.
The Library Ladies 