Category: Not Just Books

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: “Great British Bake Off”

Yes, it is that time of year again! Time to sit back and relax and enjoy some cozy baking fun watching others making master pieces you’ll never accomplish yourself and scoff ridiculously when they fail as if you could ever do better. As you can see from the poster, this year there is a new host. You never quite know how new hosts will work out, but Alison Hammond has quickly won me over, bringing a high-energy spunk to the show. Of course, my husband and I have picked our two guesses for the winner, and I’m pleased to say that one of his is already out so I’m that much closer to making a come back from my failure last year! We have exciting lives, if you haven’t noticed.

Podcast: “Talkville”

I’m currently re-watching the last few seasons of “Smallville” as I do every few years it seems. I just don’t have it in me to put myself through the 7 seasons of Lana drama, so I always start on season 8 where Lois becomes a main character. That said, I do sometimes wish there was a way of re-visiting those older episodes without having to commit to the long haul. And luckily for me, there’s a re-watch podcast currently running hosted by Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum which is the perfect fix! I don’t have to actually re-watch the series, but I do get to revisit the show in this way. I do wish the hosts remembered a bit more about their experiences on the set, however, but I think I’m now just spoiled by the super high quality that is “Office Ladies.”

Paramount+ Show: “The Stand”

Yes, I’m late to the game, but when I was looking around for something appropriately creepy for the Halloween season, I figured now was the time! Somehow I remember my mom letting me watch the 90s version of this story way back when I was fairly little. I only have a few memories of the story, but I do remember being fairly creeped out. I also haven’t read the book, so in a lot of ways, this was completely fresh for me. I definitely enjoyed it (as much as you can for a creepy show like this) and thought the acting was phenomenal, especially Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg. The success of a series like this really lives and dies by the performance of this character, and Skarsgard hit it out of the park, as far as I’m concerned.

Kate’s Picks

Netflix Show: “The Fall of the House of Usher”

There of course needed to be some spooky content on my media consumption agenda for the month of October, and we horror fans were blessed with the premiere of Mike Flanagan’s newest (and probably final) Netflix series, “The Fall of the House of Usher”. Flanagan is such a genius because in his mind he basically said ‘what if I combined Edgar Allan Poe with “Succession” and “Dopesick”?’, and from that we get this incredibly dark, disturbing, and bleak series that I just tore through. Meet the Ushers, the family at the head of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, which has come under fire for producing one of the most most addictive and deadly painkillers that has fueled the opioid crisis. As the trial starts, patriarch Roderick Usher’s six unscrupulous children start dying gruesome and perplexing deaths, perhaps because of a mysterious woman Roderick and sister Madeline met on a fateful night decades earlier. All of these new versions of the Poe tales, from “Tell Tale Heart” to “Murders in the Rue Morgue” to “The Black Cat” are SO damn creative. It’s great seeing some of Flanagan’s usual suspects (Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Bruce Greenwood to name but a few), but it’s Flanagan newcomer Mark Hamill as intimidating Usher lawyer Arthur Pymm that really stood out to me. This is such a clever reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, and it ends Flanagan’s Netflix collaborations on a high note.

Max Show: “Our Flag Means Death”

It felt like it took forever for some of my favorite queer pirates to come back, and when “Our Flag Means Death” Season 2 premiered there was much rejoicing in our house. This is one of the shows that my husband and I try to watch together, so we let a few episodes build up so we could binge them once our daughter was asleep for the night. Which led to a lot of impatience on my part because I just wanted to consume any episode as soon as possible. When we left off at the end of Season 1, Captain Stede Bonnet had separated from Blackbeard, leaving the latter heartbroken and then murderous with grief and rage. Now Stede has reconnected with his crew, and finds out that Blackbeard has gone completely crazy and kidnapped Frenchie, Jim, and others to serve under him. Stede hopes for a reconciliation, but Blackbeard may be too far gone. This show is still filled with lots of humor and lots of pathos, and with new characters like Chinese Pirate Queen Zheng Yi Sao and Irish Pirate Anne Bonny we have new faces along with the familiar ones. Interestingly enough, the character who has REALLY stood out for me is Izzy Hands, Blackbeard’s first mate who was portrayed in Season 1 as conniving, but has since gone THROUGH IT and is on a bit of a redemptive arc (and honestly, after seeing how Blackbeard reacted after Stede left, he may have had a point….).

Web Show: “Dimension 20: Dungeons and Drag Queens”

Recently my high school bestie Blake reached out and asked me if I wanted to join an online Dungeons and Dragons game with him and some of his friends, and while I had never played D and D in my life I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend time with him. But going in with little to no experience was daunting. Luckily, my close friend David is back in town, so our Sunday night LGBTQIA+ media tradition has started up, and he suggested we watch Dimension 20’s “Dungeons and Drag Queens” series, which would give me an amusing crash course! This limited series joins drag queens Jujubee, Bob the Drag Queen, Monet X Change, and Alaska Thunderfuck as they play D and D with Dimension 20/Dropout regular Brennan, and given that they are all amateurs it makes for informative and HILARIOUS content. Brennan is a very supportive and creative dungeon master who is helping these queens go on a quest to the underworld, and it leads to many fantastic moments of triumph and joy… as well as panic and chaos when things go wrong… sometimes because of very bad decision making on the queens’ parts. I don’t know how much I’ve LEARNED, really, but I do know that I haven’t died yet! So thanks, questing queens!

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: “Jack Ryan”

While I really loved the first season, I was not a fan of the second one. I felt like it lost all of the cleverness of the first season, reducing Jack Ryan to every other gung-ho action hero, without the notable intelligence and uncompromising morality that made Ryan stand out from the pack. But while I was on vacation, I watched both the third and the fourth season with my mom, who really enjoyed both. I still thought the third was a bit lacking, but I really enjoyed the fourth and final season. So, if you’re a fan of the show, it’s nice that it went out on a high note at least!

TV Show: “Hijack”

Idris Elba is one of those supremely talented actors where you just look at the films/shows that he’s chosen to do and think…why? Seriously, name the last really high quality thing you’ve seen him in! Not the quality of his acting, which is always good, but the quality of the show/movie on its own! But thankfully, I’m here to report that his latest project was noticeably not cringe-worthy! “Hijack” is at times incredibly suspenseful and it manages to pull off its concept (every hour of the 7 hour flight is one episode of the show) very well. Elba is, of course, very good, but the surrounding cast of characters all hold their own as well. Definitely check this one out if you like action/suspense limited series!

Card game: “Bridge”

I’ve mentioned before that my family is a big card-playing family. We mostly stick to pinochle, but after 20+ years of that, I think we’re all feeling like we’ve mostly mastered it. So on our weekly online card nights, we’ve started to experiment with learning bridge. My mom and aunt (who we often play with) both played bridge a lot when they were younger, so now they’re training the younger generation up. Guess I’m ready and able to embrace my oncoming middle aged years!

Kate’s Picks

TV Show: “Only Murders In The Building”

This cozy mystery show is back and is still filled with all the hijinks that we can only expect from the likes of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. It may seem crazy that this show is still sustainable given that our three podcasters/amateur detectives keep finding themselves in the thick of a murder, but it’s still so fun and charming it doesn’t even matter. After Oliver has tried to relaunch his Broadway career with a brand new show, his main star is murdered the night of the opening performance. Now Charles, Oliver, and Mabel are once again on the case, trying to solve the murder and to put out a new podcast season, WHILE ALSO trying to salvage Oliver’s show by making it into a musical? I still adore the chemistry between the three main players, but then you add in Paul Rudd as the murder victim and Meryl FREAKING Streep as a meek cast mate (and yes, she DOES sing) and you have a delightful new season.

Film: “Renfield”

I didn’t get to this one in the theaters even though I REALLY wanted to see it, so when it was on a flight during my August vacation I was amped to finally watch it. I mean, what’s not to love? A new and original story of Dracula’s henchman Renfield is already great, but casting Nic Cage as the Count himself? BRILLIANT!! Renfield has been working as Dracula’s familiar for centuries, but as time has gone on he’s started to feel like he wants out of this toxic and codependent relationship. When they find themselves in New Orleans, and Renfield is caught up in local crime drama and finds himself on the side of the hero, he really wants to change his purpose. But will the Count let him go? Nicholas Hoult is an enjoyable Renfield, but Cage is SO FUN as Dracula, chewing all the scenery in this funny and weird gore fest.

YouTube Show: “I Like To Watch”

If it’s a Not Just Books post, it’s pretty likely there is going to be some kind of drag content on my list, and this month it’s the meta web series “I Like To Watch”, a show in which drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zomolodchikova watch Netflix programming and comment and banter about it. Pretty straight forward. I tore through a bunch of these over a few days because they were so addictive and hilarious, in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind of way with Trixie and Katya delivering lots of commentary and candid moments. From Christmas love stories to Netflix series to the newest “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (linked above, as it had me rolling with laughter), these two just keep the laughs up and are sometimes taken completely by surprise. Also, consider watching it with subtitles because whenever they cackle and howl with laughter, the descriptions are FANTASTIC.

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.

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: “Succession”

I’ve resisted watching this show for quite awhile. I don’t love shows where it’s hard to find a character to like. My husband only got me to watch “Breaking Bad” after convincing me that Jesse was a character you could like throughout the show. But, while I have struggled to outright like any of the characters in this show, there’s no denying the quality. The writing, the acting, the ongoing tension. All top notch. I also was happy to wait to start watching until the final season was already showing so that I wouldn’t have to wait long for the inevitably horribly tragic conclusion. I never would have guessed from the beginning, but at this point…I’m kind of rooting for Roman??

Netflix Movie: “The Gray Man”

In an opposite situation, I had to convince my husband to watch this movie with me due to his ridiculous dislike of Ryan Gosling. I know, right? He’s crazy. But I was able to sucker him in with a preview that contained a sufficiently campy villain in Chris Evans. I really liked this movie, though. It was action-packed, funny at times, and surprisingly heart-warming at others. You can tell that both lead actors are just enjoying the heck out of their roles, especially Evans. If you enjoy fairly straight-forward action movies, this is definitely one to check out!

Movie: “Dungeon and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves”

I was fairly skeptical about this movie when I first heard about it. Obviously, the premise is a hard sell after the abysmal attempt at making a D&D movie several years ago. But then a few things began to work in its favor: Chris Pines is always awesome, the trailer looked genuinely hilarious, and a favorite reviewer of mine highly recommended it. And, yep, he was right! This was a blast of a movie! In many ways, it’s everything that the Marvel movies seem to have lost. It doesn’t take itself seriously, it commits to its premise, and it made wise use of its excellent casting. In many ways, I think it’s similar to “Pirates of the Caribbean” where many viewers are initially skeptical due to the weak source material. But like that movie, this one is well worth the watch, especially for fans of fantasy who enjoy a great mix of action and comedy!

Kate’s Picks

Film: “Smile”

This was a much delayed watch, as I wasn’t totally comfortable going to see it in the theater when it came out, and then Terror Tuesday wanted to wait for the entire group to be present to watch it as we heard it was wild. And when we finally sat down to watch “Smile”, we all lost our collective minds in the group chat. Wild is an understatement. Rose is a mental health therapist assigned to an emergency clinic, and one day sees a patient named Laura. Laura witnessed a professor kill himself in a horrible way, and says she is being stalked by an otherworldly being that follows her around and smiles at her, and then she has a complete breakdown and kills herself in the room in front of Rose. While smiling in a grotesque manner. Then Rose starts to see things, including people she knows smiling at her and driving her into emotional turmoil. Rose has to try and solve what happened to her, before she falls victim to the same fate. THIS MOVIE IS BONKERS. COMPLETELY BONKERS. There were so many moments where I was laughing hysterically because it was so fucked up, and we all decided that it was the most fucked up but fun movie we had all watched together (“Barbarian” was close, but I didn’t enjoy “Barbarian” and I REALLY enjoyed this one).

City: Duluth, Minnesota

If someone were to ask me what my favorite places to visit were, Duluth, Minnesota would almost certainly be top five. I love this port city on the shore of Lake Superior, and I love that it’s only about two and a half hours away from where I live, as it makes it very easy to get there with minimal fuss. And this April I was able to visit my happy place not just once, but twice. The first was a girls trip with some college friends, and the second was a solo vacation for emotional recharging after a long winter. I love being on the lake, I love the local breweries and restaurants, I love the unique attractions, and I love that I can drive up the North Shore and see a lot of gorgeous landscapes and nature scenes, whether it’s the lake or forests or rivers and waterfalls. And the waterfalls and rivers were especially breathtaking this month given the insane amount of snow the state got this winter. Very few places can center me like Duluth can, and I really loved my time there this April, whether with friends or on my own.

Web Show: “The Pit Stop”

So perhaps you noticed that “RuPaul’s Drag Race” didn’t make my Not Just Books picks this year. It’s not that I didn’t like it. Well, I liked the winner and the runner up, both quite a bit. But there were some weird production things going on this season that made it a frustrating watch, so even though I was happy with how it shook out in the end with my two faves coming in first and second, I did spend a lot of time frustrated. But never fear, for I do have some drag content, and it is “Drag Race” adjacent! “The Pit Stop” is a web show that recaps episodes of “Drag Race” and “Drag Race All Stars”, with commentary from a consistent host and a guest drag queen (and Nicole Byer on occasion). I’ve been mainly watching seasons that are hosted by Trixie Mattel and Bob the Drag Queen, as they are the funniest hosts, and they have great banter and chemistry with basically all of their guests. It’s also a great way to revisit past seasons that I didn’t really care for (cough season 13) and to breathe new energy into them. It was especially funny watching Violet Chachki and Trixie tear the Bag Ball episode apart. So many bad looks on the runway.

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: “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania”

I have mixed feelings about this movie. On one hand, I went to it the third weekend it was out, so I was well aware that it wasn’t being reviewed well and was generally underperforming. And, yeah, I can see why. But it’s also not as bad as I was expecting. There’s just no denying the strength Paul Rudd as an actor who you just like to watch. But even more impressive was Jonathan Majors’ villain, Kang the Conqueror. I had already seen Majors portray a variation on this character in the show “Loki” but we really got to see his strengths here. However, I was a bit disappointed with how his character was dealt with in the final bit of the movie. I also have to say that I’m getting a bit tired of the “brilliant teenage girl” character who, what do you know, also becomes a super hero. Look, I know that the typical hero characters are also very often similar men with similar histories. But the very fact that we want to add more diversity (of all sorts of the word) to the hero line up doesn’t mean we should just add another single note character, even if it’s different than the usual 20-something cocky man. Young women can come in all sorts, too, with different strengths! They don’t all have to be quippy science girls. It’s verging on the Marvel universe answering trope to the “manic pixie dream girl.” But anyway, that’s a super subjective recent pet peeve of mine, and not really a testament to the movie as a whole.

Netflix Movie: “Your Place or Mine”

I had just been noting (whining) to my husband the other day that I felt there was a distinct lack in the romantic comedy business. I grew up in the 80s/90s/ early 2000s when there was a real boom in this genre and I think I got kind of spoiled that that’s how it just always was. But honestly, before watching this movie, I can’t tell you the last new romcom movie I’ve seen! And this one really hit the spot. It hit a lot of the same notes I get when I read Emily Henry, particularly in this movie’s case, her book “People You Meet on Vacation.” I also have to say that I haven’t seen Aston Kutcher in anything for quite some time and I think he’s definitely one of those cases where he’s gotten better looking with age. Damn those men and their aging into even better looks!

Movie: “Titanic”

Technically, I saw this back in February but I wasn’t able to slot it into our post for that month. I love this movie and I will fight you over it. Especially all of the people my age who seem to have forgotten (willfully so) that they probably saw it in the theater three times when it originally came out. So for me it was a no brainer that I was going to take advantage of the one week that it was being re-released to the big screen for its 25th anniversary (one year late, technically, due to, what else, Covid). I also dragged my husband with me who had never seen the movie before and who was one of those individuals who was making it a point of pride never to see it at all. Well, I remember warning him early when we were dating that he probably wasn’t going to make it on that goal if we stayed together. And low and behold, I pulled the “Valentine’s Day” card and he ended up with his butt in a seat, not only watching the movie but paying for the privilege. Really not much else to say about this movie that hasn’t already been said a million times!

Kate’s Picks

Netflix Show: “You”

While the TV show version of my beloved “You” books has REALLY diverted from the literary threads and storylines, I’m not that mad about it. For one reason, it means that I get to be in suspense and on pins and needles regarding the mysteries and thrills that the show unravels. For another, Penn Badgley is such a good Joe, as he gets the darkness, intensity, and the black humor that comes with the character. We are at Season 4, split into two parts, and I’m still hooked. After killing his psychopath wife Love and trying to follow Marienne, who fled to Paris, Joe has found himself in London, with a new identity and a new job working as an English professor at a prestigious University. He finds himself drawn to Kate, a cold art gallery owner who runs with a posh, upper class circle of friends. After attending a party at a social club with Kate’s lover, Joe gets trashed, and when he wakes up in his apartment he finds Kate’s lover, dead, with no memory of what happened. Now he has to figure out if he killed the man. And if not, who did. Oh Joe. Still getting up to nonsense.

Film: “We Have A Ghost”

I really love Christopher Landon’s comedic and heartfelt horror movies. Whether it’s the “Happy Death Day” films or “Freaky”, I like the humor and heart that he brings to very well done slasher films. Enter “We Have A Ghost”, Landon’s newest film that is his usual quirky and emotional takes to a haunted house story. And David Harbour is in it as the ghost! When a family moves into a dilapidated old house, angsty teenager Kevin goes up to the attic to investigate a strange sound, and finds “Ernest”, a ghost in a bowling shirt who can’t speak and can’t remember who he is. Kevin wants to help Ernest, while his father sees dollar signs after a video of Ernest goes viral. But when more and more attention comes upon Ernest, a top secret government group takes notice, and wants to take Ernest back to a lab. David Harbour always delights, but I’ve loved Jahi Winston ever since he was on the criminally underrated (and cruelly cancelled) “Everything Sucks”, and their chemistry is fantastic. And yes, like with the “Happy Death Day” films, I totally cried.

Film: “Scream VI”

We slasher fans are so blessed in that the “Scream” franchise has basically been consistently pretty okay to great (yes, I would put “Scream 3” as pretty okay, sue me), and my Terror Tuesday friends and I were hoping that “Scream VI” would continue that trend. I’m very happy to report that it did, and our field trip excursion to the Alamo Drafthouse to see it on the big screen was the best way to experience it. A year after the events in “Scream 5”, Sam and Tara Carpenter have moved to New York City with the Meeks Martin twins, Tara wanting to move on to college and Sam wanting to protect her sister. But then a new Ghostface has started killing people, and is planting masks with the DNA of former Ghostface killers at the scene. Sam is the number one suspect thanks to Internet rumor, and the sisters and the twins team up with Gale Weathers and Kirby “Scream 4” Reed to figure out who is behind it this time. And while I’m sad that Neve Campbell wasn’t going to be compensated at the amount she should have been and declined to come back because of it, I’m also happy that poor Sidney Prescott just got to take a goddamn breather this time around. LEAVE SIDNEY ALONE! SHE’S BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH!!

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

Film: “Leave No Trace”

Honestly, I wouldn’t have watched this if my husband hadn’t made me. I took one look at the preview on Netflix and knew that tears would be involved. On the other hand, Ben Foster is a massively talented actor and I don’t know if I’ve ever disliked a movie he was in. Well, indeed, this was a fairly sad movie, but not without hope. It follows the story of a war veteran with PTSD who is homeless and living in a park with his daughter. When they are discovered and brought in by social services, the two struggle to adapt to life in the real world. This movie tackles a lot of very complicated issues and why there are no easy answers to homelessness, support for veterans with PTSD, and what constitutes good care for a child. For all of the more grim aspects, the bound between father and daughter is so clearly at the center of the movie, that it’s impossible not to feel drawn in to their challenging situation.

Podcast: “The Office Ladies”

Needing something lighthearted here in the doldrums of winter, I turned to one of my favorite shows, “The Office,” for probably the millionth re-watch of my life. But this time I’ve went even further! About two seasons in to my re-watch, I suddenly remembered someone mentioning at Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer (Angela and Pam) had started up a re-watch podcast a bit ago. So now not only am I re-watching the show, but I’m listing to lengthy podcasts episodes about each episode of said show. It may be an unhealthy obsession, but it’s all so homely and nice.

Netflix Show: “Murderville”

I don’t know why we turned this one on when we did. Perhaps just lingering nostalgia for the heyday of “Arrested Developments” early seasons. But either way, we did and we had no idea what we were getting into. Essentially, Will Arnett plays a detective who must solve a mystery with some guest star. The catch is that the guest star is given no scrip. So what follows is a ridiculous series of events where Arnett is making the guest star (football players, comedians, actors, etc.) do increasingly embarrassing and ridiculous things and then at the end, the guest has to announce who committed the murder. There were definitely stronger episodes than others (it lived or died on the abilities of the guests), but there were several times where I was laughing so hard I couldn’t catch my breath. Definitely been quite a while since I’ve had that happen! If you like kind wacky improv comedy, this is probably worth checking out!

Kate’s Picks

TV Show: “The White Lotus Season 2”

I technically watched this back in January, just binged it over the course of a day. But I made my husband watch it with me this month, as we are going to the destination wedding of a childhood friend at an all inclusive resort in Mexico in March, and I know I will be making all the references and he needs to know what I’m talking about. I didn’t really like Season 1, but for whatever reason Season 2 really worked for me. It follows a week at the Sicily location of The White Lotus Resort, as sex, manipulations, scheming, and death befall a number of guests on their vacations. The cast is stuffed with a lot of people that I like, like F. Murray Abraham, Aubrey Plaza, and of COURSE Jennifer freaking Coolidge, and the dark humor and slow building suspense of something being wrong is a great combination. Watching it a second time knowing what is going on was VERY fun. And again, Jennifer FREAKING Coolidge. She’s just so funny. And godDAMN, that theme song is SO CATCHY.

Film: “Willow”

Somehow I got through my childhood and early adult life without ever seeing “Willow”, the 1980s fantasy film about a burgeoning sorcerer who is trying to protect a baby girl who is prophesied to be the downfall of an evil queen. When I told two of my good friends that I hadn’t seen it, it became top of the list for the next movie night. And I really, really loved it. As mentioned, Willow is a young man living with his family in a quiet community, hoping to become a sorcerer some day. One day a baby girl floats in a basket to their town, and it soon becomes clear that this baby is being pursued by evil forces who want to take her. Willow goes on a journey to get the baby, Elora Danan, to safety, and meets up with others who end up joining the quest. Warwick Davis is so sweet and noble as Willow, and I LOVED seeing a very young Val Kilmer as caddish mercenary Madmartigan. Next on the list for me is watching the follow up series on Disney+!

Podcast: “Dateline”

So this has a bit of a connection to “The White Lotus”, as one of the characters (oh I wish I had the same unbotheredness of Daphne!) made mention that she watched ‘a lot of “Dateline”.’ To which I said to myself ‘I should check out the “Dateline” podcast! And I’ve been enjoying it, as it is pretty much audio versions of various “Dateline” shows, which means that they are generally stand alone and have some audio clips outside of the narrator. The true crime podcasts I gravitate to mostly have a bit of a dark humor bent to them, but this one is definitely serious in nature. Though that said, that isn’t to say that it’s devoid of over the top and somewhat dramatic moments. Specifically when Keith Morrison is behind the voice. That said, it’s Dateline, so you know that the research is going to be pretty good. It’s just a nice change from the other podcasts I listen to, and it covers many cases that I’ve never even heard of, or in the moment cases. It’s just a nice one to add to my listening rotation when doing chores, school pick up and drop off, and errands.