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September Pop Culture Round Up

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With less than 40 days to the election, I don’t know about you but I can’t focus on much besides reality TV and a few podcasts. I did manage to read a book this month, and found some time to decompress with some beautiful people behaving badly…Oh and saw Green Day with my husband on a school night!

Reading

I don’t have a ton of extra time right now, and I can’t focus on much these days but I did find a bit of time over Labor Day to enjoy some time in the backyard reading a book. Very Bad Company was a perfect end of summer read if you like bad people behaving badly. A corporate retreat in Miami leaves one of the executive team members of a tech startup found dead. Each chapter is from a different employee’s point of view which is a story writing style that I often find I enjoy. It was clever, fun, and a great weekend distraction.

Listening

Leah Sottile, my favorite journalist, has a new podcast out called Hush produced by OPB. It’s about a man in Salem, Oregon who was wrongfully sentenced for a murder in the 90’s and then magically had his sentence over turned and he was released a couple of years ago. It has some great twists and turns so far!

At the end of September Think Out Loud did a series on Hanford. You may remember I read The Cassandra this summer which takes place during the height of the Manhattan Project at Hanford, and with my husband’s family from the area I am always fascinating by this. Each interview is about something different, from the past to the present and the future of the region. Speaking of, my incredible grandfather (in-law, but he was absolutely the best grandpa I ever had!) passed away earlier this month at 100 years old. He worked at Hanford until he retired and then he lead tours of the B Reactor for years. I am sad I never got to take a tour with him.

I’m still loving The Wirecutter Show, and the new host of What A Day, although they’re futzing with the format and I hope the settle on it soon. Also, if you liked the Scamanda podcast I recommended a year or two ago, I didn’t realize it was becoming a show on ABC/Hulu until I saw the trailer on You Tube the other day!

Watching

What’s better than the return of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City? A lot of things, but it’s making me happy to have these good time girls back on my TV. I binged right through The Perfect Couple on Netflix a couple of weeks ago and loved all the twists and turns, it was exactly the kind of weekend “beautiful people behaving bad” story I needed.

Multiple people recommended Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter and holy cow it did NOT disappoint. I don’t always love true crime, but this one goes in so many twists and turns you couldn’t have expected. It’s only 2 episodes (about 90 min each) – it was perfect for a plane ride distraction over the weekend.

I finally started Only Murders in the Building and the abundance of riches in the guest stars is ridiculous, and exactly why this show is so fun. I also started English Teacher and I did not expect it to be as hilarious and raunchy as it is – highly recommend (if that’s your thing.)

What pop culture is keeping you going this month? Anything coming up soon that you’re excited for? I’m hoping to watch Nobody Wants This and Will & Harper in the next couple of weeks, and I’m excited to read the new Rumaan Alam and Lianne Moriarty after November 5th, oh and the 50th season of SNL!

August Pop Culture Round Up

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I’m not going to lie, between politics, the Olympics, and baseball – my pop culture consumption this month is a little off. Did anyone else have a big let down when the Olympics were over and we no longer had a combined FUN thing to talk about? The Olympics are exactly what we needed this summer… Oh, and the Foo Fighters.

Reading

Between The Olympics and Politics this month, I couldn’t get into an audiobook so my reading goal is behind further than I’d like it to be (but also expected for this year with everything going on!) I did finish reading The Cassandra which I really liked! If you watched Oppenheimer and wanted to learn more about the Northwest connection at Hanford, this book is a good historical fiction place to start. My husband is from the Tri-Cities and many family members have worked at Hanford over the years so it was especially interesting for me.
I picked up a rom com book a while back, You, Again and read it over a couple of weekends. It was fine, but about 100 pages too long and the leading characters were not redeemable enough to make it worth while. I have a couple of library books on the end table, we’ll see if I can get into one this holiday weekend before they’re due!

Listening

Two years ago my husband and I had tickets to see the Foo Fighters in Seattle, and then Taylor Hawkins died and the tour was cancelled. We FINALLY had the chance to see this bucket list concert at Providence Park and it was INCREDIBLE. I am mad it took so long to finally see them but Dave Grohl can do no wrong and that show was 3 hours of rock and roll.

I have been mildly obsessed with Wirecutter from the New York Times for years now, and they JUST started a podcast which I am super excited about. The first episode is about laundry, and I may finally read that owners manual from when we got a new washer a few years back.

Of course I’ve been listening to a LOT of political podcasts, from The Daily, to What a Day, to Think Out Loud, to Pod Save America, there’s been a lot going on! However, I am super excited that one of my favorite journalists, Leah Sotille has a new podcast launching in September and the first episode previewed on The Evergreen this week. The podcast is called Hush and it’s about a man who was on death row in Salem, Oregon and then was released from jail for the crime he didn’t commit. I do love some local true crime…

Watching

Liked I mentioned, it was all things Olympics and then it wasn’t. Luckily baseball returned so my evenings have been spent at the ballpark or in campaign meetings/events, so my TV habits have been pretty self soothing – a lot of Veep and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With Glen Powell doing a bunch of interviews for Twisters (which I still need to see) a few people brought up Everybody Wants Some a movie he was in a few years back. So, one Saturday night we watched it, and it was great! It’s by Richard Linklater who did Dazed and Confused and it is absolutely the 80’s college version of that, but with a baseball team. It’s hard not to like Glen Powell…

I’ve decided to stock pile Bad Monkey and the new season of Bel-Air to binge, and I’m really excited that Only Murders in the Building is back! Hopefully that gets me through September, along with a new season or two of some Housewives (NYC & SLC I think?)

Alright, I hope your summer pop culture was more extensive than mine – what have you been reading, watching and listening to while on vacations and road trips?

July Pop Culture Round Up

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July arrived with hot weather in Oregon, a 4th of July parade, two trips to the Oregon Coast, a birthday, and then the Olympics arrived. It’s been a jam packed pop culture month – Here’s what’s kept me sane…

Reading

Two trips to the coast and warmer weather means I head outdoors (a bit less with all that extra free time these days) and get distracted in a book. The Husbands was by far the best book I read this month, it is such a clever story and very funny. I finished three audiobooks this month and my favorite was Coming Home by Brittney Griner. It was an incredible story of being arrested in Russia but also coming back home and the re-entry for both Griner and her wife. It makes me even happier that they have a new baby and that we get to cheer her on at the Olympics!

Listening

I finally discovered Chappel Roan, and I too am H-O-T-T-O-G-O and you’re welcome that it’s now stuck in your head rent free like it has been in mine this month. There’s also a new Lake Street Dive album out and it is (as usual) fantastic. I am so mad at myself for not getting tickets for their concert in August.

As a reader, I enjoyed the Sunday Special episode of The Daily from July 21st on their 100 best books of the century (so far), if you haven’t gone through the list I highly recommend it, and this conversation about the list. Like many Americans these past few weeks, I’ve been glued to news podcasts about the presidential campaigns.

Watching

On a trip to the Oregon Coast for the 4th of July (fireworks and Norm do not mix) we binged a mix of shows… BBQ Showdown was good comfort watching with low stakes and Michelle Buteau was a super fun host. I also unplugged with the latest season of Bridgerton which was the soapy ridiculousness I needed. And of course we watched The Bear, an amazing show that has funny moment, but isn’t a comedy and the Emmys need to stop that. Wow this season was again fantastic, and the through line of one incredible restaurant closing and more Olivia Coleman, it deserves all the awards it wins, even if they’re in the wrong category. And, as a big food nerd, I loved all the cameos this season!

Now it’s Olympic season and like the rest of the world we’re glued to the TV day and night! And if you haven’t seen this yet, you’re welcome…