I finally read a book! I was on quite the dry spell this winter and I am SO happy to say I read a book – and I read it in 3 days which is really fast for me. YAY ME. Here’s what I read, plus my other favorite pop culture distractions this month…

Reading

I read The Family Upstairs last weekend. It’s a book I heard about a few months ago from Entertainment Weekly (I think that’s where I heard about it…) it’s about a woman who inherits a large home in London on her 25th birthday. She was adopted and she finally discovers who her birth family is. It has two of my favorite topics – adoption AND cults. It was a fun quick read!

I also caught up on some comics while we were at the coast earlier this month. Brian K. Vaughn did a stand alone The Walking Dead comic called The Alien that was a quick read. It was good, not great, but did tie in well to the story as a whole. I also finished Kelly Thompson’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, it was cute but not amazing (which she often is -I read most of her comics).

I’m 150 pages into The Starless Sea. I really like the current day story but it alternates with a book (one chapter about a person in the present, the next about a book they have) that is a SLOG to get through. I was talking with a librarian last week and she agreed that it’s a really hard read. I trust the author (she wrote The Night Circus which I LOVED) but man alive is it a challenge to read…

Listening

Justin Timberlake and SZA just came out with a new single for the Trolls: World Tour soundtrack and I am here for it all spring and summer…

I am really enjoying the latest single from the Jonas Brothers – What a Man Gotta Do. I never expected to be a Jonas Brothers fan but here we are. Also – if you missed the Seth & the Jonas Brothers go day drinking last month on Late Night it was worth the time. And has my new favorite musical rhyme. Please let me know what you think it is after you watch.

I’m listening to 30 for 30 – The Spy who Signed Me and it is a really weird story and mostly is a great reminder that female athletes are paid TERRIBLY and we need to stop that.

I’m enjoying (when their audio is level) Capitolizing which is a very niche podcast – it’s 2 Oregon State Senators who recap what’s going on in the capitol each week. I just discovered it and it’s nice to get some inside scoop. I’m also listening to a LOT of Politics Now and Think Out Loud as Oregon is in the midst of our 35 day short session and the Republicans walked out (seriously – they left the state and bragged about their tickets to somewhere warm…) on Monday so there’s a LOT to keep up with.

And I was ON a podcast this month! Digital Marketing Masters had me on their pod to talk about email marketing for small business owners. We also talked about HillHub and the Hillsboro Chambers Small Business & Entrepreneurs Council. It was fun and worth a listen if you miss the sound of my voice.

Watching

I finally started watching The Outsider on HBO and it is SO GOOD. The PI is an amazing actor and the story is so creepy – I can’t watch it late at night I’ve discovered. I also watched the pilot of Locke & Key which is based on a comic book series by Joe Hill (Stephen King’s son – also Stephen King wrote the book The Outsider is based on) and it was super fun. More family oriented in its mystery but I enjoyed the pilot and will binge the rest soon.

I watched the pilot of Briarpatch and enjoyed it, now to keep going. I didn’t love the pilot for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist but my friend emailed me about it a month ago when the pilot aired and so I decided to try the next couple of episodes. I’m caught up (through ep 3) and I have to say – I am really liking it! I tried the pilot of High Fidelity (on Hulu) and couldn’t get into it. I like the movie and Zoe Kravitz though, if you continue to watch and like it please let me know!

This final season of Schitts Creek is so great. I need a case of Moira Rose please…

While at the coast my husband and I finally watched The Battered Bastards of Baseball which is about the Portland Mavericks – an independent baseball team in the late 70’s. It is a crazy fun story. If you live in the region you should watch it. And if you like baseball and live anywhere in the world you should watch it. They had their own dog ball boy, this team was so great…

A couple of weeks ago I recorded Date Night (yes the Tina Fey/Steve Carrell movie) and it holds up. It was the perfect Valentine’s Day movie my husband and I discovered. Speaking of older movies – last weekend I finally watched The Campaign (from 2012 with Will Ferrell) and it is ridiculous and hilarious and was a perfect Friday night movie with friends.

Okay, I think that was enough pop culture for one month. What kept you entertained and distracted from politics and coronavirus free this month?

Well January certainly flew by! Back into routines and back to work means some consistency which I needed. I continue to be in a reading slump. I had lunch with a friend this week and we talked about reading slumps, they’re real and it sucks. I then went to Powell’s and picked up a couple new books and then stopped at the comic book shop to pick up my box and realized it’s been QUITE a while since I caught up on comics. Next weekend we’re sneaking out of town with the pups and I am hopeful that I can get some reading done. I’m also hoping that the weather isn’t too crazy so the pups can play on the beach! Through this wet and cold January I did find a few things to help get me through…

Reading

I started The Starless Sea, the new Erin Morgenstern. It’s good and you have to pay attention so it was not a good end of the day flight to California read earlier this month. I think it’ll be a perfect stormy weekend at the coast read…

Earlier this month we had dinner with a friend who was in town from DC. He’s been consciously eating less meat and then sent me this article which lead to THIS article which was super helpful.

Listening

I am glad that The Wilderness is back for a new season. It was helpful as we gear up for the 2020 election to hear directly from voters who are undecided and independent and vote for both parties based on what’s going on.

Over the holidays Think Outloud (an OPB Podcast) had an amazing story. They spent a week in Wheeler County Oregon (a very rural county) and interviewed people and learned about the area. It was FASCINATING. I still find myself thinking about the pastor who gives free haircuts, and who’s also the mayor. If you live in Oregon (or not) this is a great story.

I have appreciated The Daily hosting The Latest to keep us up to date on what is actually happening each day during the Impeachment trial. I don’t have time to watch everything so a quick recap has been VERY handy.

Watching

Thanks to Obama’s recommendation of Fleabag Season 2 I finally watched the whole series (2 seasons, 6 30 min episodes each) and it was AMAZING. I had tried the first two episodes a year or so ago when everyone raved about it and I didn’t like it. BUT I was watching it while also on my iPad so it was on me for not paying attention. What an incredibly smart and hilarious show. WOW. #hotpriestforever

I finally finished watching The Family on Netflix. It was a fascinating look at how one faith based organization could permeate throughout Washington DC. There’s people from the Northwest that I knew the names of growing up that were involved in the group which gave it a weird personal interest to me.

Instead of reading on my flight back from San Diego I finally watched Ali Wong’s Hard Knock Wife special on Netflix. I should probably apologize to everyone else on the flight for laughing SO HARD. Holy crap that special is great. I love her.

I am THRILLED that Schitt’s Creek is back and sad it’s the final season. But man it’s firing on all cylinders. I am SO sad that The Good Place is over (almost, as I write this…) I rewatched the pilot in anticipation of the final episode and am excited for how they will wrap this all up. Such a great show…

As we wrap up another year AND another decade (woah!) I seem to have spent the month binging shows (and holiday movies) like comfort food and not reading at all (again…). How do you survive the holiday season? Reading? Movies? Games? Baby Yoda? Here’s a few things that helped me make it through the month…

Watching

I jumped on The Mandalorian and loved Baby Yoda like we all did. The series was a great story and a well done addition to the Star Wars universe I think! Plus a few GREAT cameos along the way.

I devoured The Marvelous Mrs Maisel Season 3 in just a couple of days. It was just the right kind of pop culture comfort I needed. I thought the travel pieces were GREAT for the series, and Joel parenting but everyone questioning a MAN taking care of his kids while the wife was on the road was awesome. I liked S2 better than this season but still really liked it and the addition of Sterling K. Brown!

This season of The Crown told so many stories I didn’t know about. From the Welsh coal mining town horror story to Prince Charles’ time in Wales and his relationship with Camela Parker Bowles, I appreciated learning more about some stories I didn’t know! Plus, I really love Olivia Colman!

So far I have seen The Rise of Skywalker twice in the theaters. I loved it. It was a great ending to the series. Feel free to complain about it elsewhere. As a lifelong fan of the series I am satisfied with this and will not nit pick at it just for the sake of complaining (the reason I stopped listening to The Watch a year or so ago…)

While my dad was here visiting for the holidays we ended up watching Long Shot the movie with Seth Rogan and Charlize Theron as a presidential candidate. It was HILARIOUS. All 3 of us laughed a ton and thought it was one of the funnier movies we’ve seen in a while. Pro tip – it’s on HBO GO currently.

Based on Obama’s 2019 Movie list I also decided to try Fleabag again. I’m not sure why it didn’t hit me the first time but I am IN IT this time around and hope to have caught up by the end of the holiday weekend. Next up is The Watchmen which I meant to watch when it first came out but sounds like I’m lucky to have waited to binge…

(Not) Reading

I’ve been terrible at reading this month – but I did get a few new books for Christmas I’m excited about. November (Vol 1) by Matt Fraction, a local Portland comic author is something I’m excited about. My dad got me a graphic novel version of RBG’s life – Becoming RBG which I’m excited about! I also got The Starless Sea, the new Erin Morgenstern – she wrote The Night Circus, one of my favorite books of the past decade. My in-laws sent me Caucasia – which I had heard about but haven’t seen many reviews of – have any of you read it/loved it/heard of it? So, my book list is back up to a healthy level and now I just need to MAKE time to read in 2020.

Listening

I finally caved and have been binging Dolly Parton’s America and it is SO DAMN GOOD. Trust me. I didn’t grow up listening to Dolly Parton but man alive I am glad she’s in our world.

I was ON a podcast this month – my friend Jen over at Women Conquer Business had me on to talk about local politics, small business marketing and mostly Parks & Rec. It was a SUPER fun interview and if you miss the sound of my voice, you’ll likely enjoy this…

I will renew my 2020 Goodreads Goal to read 30 books, although I only made it to 23 this year. What pop culture goals do you have for 2020? More TV? Less Podcasts? Trying something new? I can’t wait for what the next year has in store for pop culture!