August Pop Culture Round Up

Reading

Last year I saw Amy Poehler and Tina Fey in Portland and their opening act was Zarna Garg. I didn’t know anything about her, but she was hilarious! Somewhere along the way her memoir came out and it was a FABULOUS audiobook. This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir, her story has some incredibly sad parts, but she is such a funny writer you don’t realize it’s as bad as it was till later. If you aren’t sure, check out this week’s Good Hang episode with her…

I also picked up I Hope This Finds You Well which my friend recommended a while back. It took me a minute to get in to it, since I haven’t worked in corporate life for 15 years, but it’s a very funny story, with one of the best author bios I’ve read.

Everyone is reading Everything is Tuberculosis in my world and it was a short audiobook that came through at the right time. If John Green wants to tell me about science, or history, or really anything, I’ll go ahead and listen to it from this point forward. I honestly couldn’t have told you what tuberculosis was before I read the book (yes it’s a treatable disease that is wreaking havoc in third world countries, but WHAT is it?) The book tells the history and challenges of this illness through a relationship that Green has with a young man in Sierre Leone. I really appreciated this book (like/enjoy don’t seem like quite the right words…) I also read The Disaster Tourist on a book list recommendation and I really need someone else to read it so I can talk about it…

Listening

I haven’t listened to more audiobooks this month because I binged Unicorn Girl on my trip to Seattle. Holy CRAP this woman is terrible, and evil and conniving and a liar. The podcast is from the same person who did ScAmanda so if you enjoyed that, you’re in for another good ride (and friends who saw my IG story are agreeing so far!)

The Good Hang episode with Adam Scott was so wonderful. I just started a rewatch and the episode where they meet that Adam talks about, it’s so great… I also just listened to the Aubrey Plaza episode and it was goofy and sweet. Plaza’s husband died by suicide earlier this year and they have a nice conversation the way only Amy can do with her dear friends.

On the music front – my cousin wrote a jazz suite! It’s called Salish Suite and you can find it on iTunes and all the other music places. It’s beautiful and a nice calm work music I am finding.

Watching

We finally jumped on The Pitt bandwagon and I apologize that it took us so long. I am thrilled to see that Carter left Chicago for Pittsburg and continues to serve our country as a fictional ER doc! We had hoped to binge the show but some episodes require a Parks & Rec cleanse after…

I am not a huge Seth Rogan fan, which is why I didn’t jump on The Studio bandwagon at first. The other day I read something about how Rose Byrne is one of the great comedic actresses we don’t give enough credit to. And they are CORRECT. The pilot of Platonic had me laughing SO HARD, I was glad I was in a hotel room and not on the train. I proceeded to binge the entire first season the next day, it’s very fun!

I finished The Gilded Age and wow that stuck the landing of the season… how long do we have to wait for more?!?

I’ve also been to a lot of baseball games this month including a trip to Seattle to see The Mariners! It was a blast to see them play, even if they lost and Cal Raleigh broke his record the next day while we were on the train home.

I also LOVED seeing Seth Meyers perform at the Woodland Park Zoo. It was just a couple of days after his dog Frisbee passed away, so it was sweet to hear him talk about his dog, and his family, and how his daughter is very clearly his favorite child.

As we head to the unofficial end of summer, what pop culture got you through this year? What’s left on your bucket list? What are you looking forward to as we transition to spider season (aka fall)?