Well if you didn’t think you needed a dose of pop culture distraction before…
I hope you are doing well, staying safe and washing your hands CONSTANTLY. I am so grateful for the distractions of pop culture right now. From reading outside while the dogs run around to insane Netflix docuseries and podcasts on my dog walks, we will get through this social distancing with great pop culture. Instead of 3 more reasons to do some marketing tasks during COVID-19 in my March newsletter I gave a Top 10 list of my favorite pop culture distractions. If you missed it, check out my list here. (Also you should subscribe to my newsletter if you don’t already!) If you already blew through my first set of recommendations, here’s a few more to get you started on another month of stay home stay safe.
Reading
I am finally making strides with The Starless Sea and will finish it before I’m out of quarantine! I tend to read outside when the weather is nice and since the sun returns soon, I am hopeful I’ll finish this book!
I was chatting with a friend last week and she mentioned we should start a pandemic book club. Since we were messaging through Instagram we decided to make it an Instagram book club. I had a stack of books to read so sent her my stack and she picked one that sounded interesting to her and so now about 10 of my friends from all walks of life are going to read Inheritance by Dani Shapiro for a book club. If you’re on Instagram message me (@ejcase) to join the club!
I am of course reading a lot of news every day as well, and trying to focus on the news specifically in Oregon and Hillsboro/Washington County. And by the evening I try to unplug from social media so I can sleep at night.
Listening
God Bless Podcasts. And the new Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga songs!
When I mentioned Inheritance was my pandemic book club pick, a friend messaged and asked if I listen to her podcast – Family Secrets. I do now! Holy crap it’s great! I’ve only listened to two episodes but it’s crazy and exactly the kind of thing I love.
I had mentioned sports podcasts in my newsletter and I finally listened to an episode of Hall of Shame. It’s fun – two friends talking about some crazy sports story from history. I recommend it if you like sports or really ridiculous stories.
Watching
In response to my March newsletter a friend responded and asked if I have watched McMillion$ on HBO yet. I saw it when it first came out and thought it might be better binged. I was right – this show is crazy. It’s all about how the McDonald’s monopoly games were rigged! It’s was GREAT!
The other day an ad came across my Twitter feed for Tiger King on Netflix. It checks all my favorite boxes – docuseries, cults, polygamy. It is AMAZING. I am so sad it’s only 7 episodes. Just when you think it’s unbelievable they cut to the local tv news clip confirming it. If you haven’t watched it yet, jump on it so you know what the rest of us are talking about.
This weekend I vegged out and finally watched Booksmart on Hulu. It’s about 2 “booksmart” girls on their last night of high school who finally go to a party and do all the wild things they never did in high school. I had tears rolling down my eyes I was laughing so hard. Olivia Wilde directed it and there’s a variety of SNL and other fun adults in the movie.
I am so thankful for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – it’s the exact kind of light hearted show we need right now. I find at this time that watching really deep and heavy TV is hard. I’m glad we finished The Outsider and The Morning Show when we did. They’re too heavy for quarantine (for me anyway).
My friend suggested Self Made on Netflix which will be up shortly in our queue. And I may finally finish Locke & Key. A friend also mentioned that they finally got Hulu and finished Veronica Mars. If you never watched this series, this would be a GREAT time to watch a young snarky Kristin Bell as amateur PI show. I promise.
What pandemic pop culture is helping to get you through everything going on right now?
I had a meeting the other day with another small business owner. They mentioned that they have a few potential clients that could come through and then their next few weeks would be really busy so they weren’t really looking for new clients right now.
This morning I was thrilled (please note the dripping sarcasm) to see that Mailchimp has decided to completely restructure their billing and their plan offerings. The good news if you already have an account – you’re safe. But if you need to move to a paid plan (which based on what your automation and list needs are, you might) you are going to probably pay more. I’ve seen a few changes to marketing technology lately and I wanted to share 3 marketing changes that you may want to check in on for your business.