And we’re already one month into 2019 – wow that was fast! I started off the year with a week in Hawaii on a girls trip. It was restful and exactly what I needed. And it included reading TWO books, so I’m feeling pretty good about my pop culture goals for 2019 (30 books!) Here’s what’s keeping me sane this winter…

Reading

On vacation I read Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and Hillbilly Elegy. Why yes, those are completely different books. I loved Eleanor Oliphant – she’s not a character you see a lot of in books, and the story was great. Watching this completely broken person try to reinvent herself was wonderful. I have already shared my copy with a friend.

Hillbilly Elegy should be required reading for Americans. If you aren’t sure why we are where we are today in this country, this book can help. I didn’t know much about the story till I started reading it. The authors memoir of growing up in Appalachia and the life and advantages and disadvantages he had were fascinating. He also makes great observations and some recommendations for what we can do as a country to fix systemic problems in education, healthcare and human decency. I will gladly lend you my copy of this book, just ask!

I returned from vacation with lofty reading goals (I packed 6 books and only read 4) and instead picked up The Power at Costco based on an awesome recommendation by one of my clients. I just started reading it and it’s SO GOOD.

Listening

On vacation my friend recommended the second season of Slow Burn about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. I was alive when it happened but was in college and not paying attention to politics. It is GREAT.

I still keep up on Pod Save America, The Daily and if I miss it, I’ll listen to The Rachel Maddow Show. I feel like there’s something else I listened to I’m forgetting to tell you about…

Watching

On the plane ride home I finally watched Crazy Rich Asians and it was just as fun and sweet as everyone said. If you haven’t watched it yet, get on it, it does not disappoint. Also, now I want to go to Singapore…

The season finale of The Good Place was sweet and lovely and that show is just about perfect. You should be watching it.

I am also loving Crazy Ex Girlfriend and have no idea how they’ll wrap up the series. I thought it was almost done but this season has 18 episodes, not 13 like the previous two, so there’s time to properly wrap this up.

This season of Schitts Creek is fantastic so far. Moira’s self involved-ness puts mine to shame. This season of Top Chef has been super fun and now I want to go to Kentucky and drink bourbon. I’m so glad that Brooklyn 99 is back! The honeymoon episode was genius and Andre Braugher is the perfect actor.

A few years back I read The Passage and now it’s a TV show. I watched the pilot and wasn’t in love with it, but I’ll give it a few more episodes to see. The book was SO detailed I’m curious how they’ll pull off a few things.

What pop culture is keeping you sane and warm this winter?

‘Tis the Season to consume pop culture! The holidays means festive movies, time to catch up on TV shows, binge new things with family and maybe even read. (maybe). Here’s a few things that have kept me jolly this season…

Reading

I finally caught up with Ms. Marvel and as G. Willow Wilsons run with Kamala wraps up I am sad to see her go, but excited for what the new writer has in store for Kamala.

I also caught up on Nancy Drew – a great comic series by one of my favorite writers, Kelly Thompson (also a Portland author – huzzah!). This take on Nancy Drew was really fun and brought her original sensibility and smarts to the 21st Century. Bonus – yay the Hardy Boys!

I head to a warm location for a week of vacation shortly and can’t WAIT to overload my suitcase with books to FINALLY get caught up!

Listening

December was the month of listening to a lot of crazy and new podcasts. A few weeks back my friend texted me about The Dream. And I devoured it in a week. The Dream is about networking marketing/direct sales/MLM/pyramid schemes – whatever you want to call them. I happen to have a lot of friends who are involved to varying degrees of success with this business model and this podcast was fascinating. The show is very one sided, but still I found it fascinating!

Then I read about Unerased which is a short podcast series (4 eps) about Conversion Therapy. It’s a topic I knew a little about but have been fascinated by how terrible it is. The final episode tells an incredible story…

Somehow I discovered Standoff, another short podcast series about Ruby Ridge. Earlier this year I watched a limited series about David Koresh and the Waco standoff. They start by referencing what happened at Ruby Ridge. I went to college in Spokane so was familiar with the white supremacy community but didn’t really know the details. This series told a story I knew bits and pieces of but finally learned a whole lot more, and what it means for us in 2018 and beyond.

Watching

Thanks to a sick day I watched the entire 2nd season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And I loved it. I liked the first season but didn’t binge it. I think this is a binge series. You don’t need to watch them all in a day, but the more consistent you are I think it may lead to additional enjoyment.

I loved the mid-season finale of The Good Place and D’Arcy Carden deserves EVERY award for “Janet.” WOW.

The new Ellen Degeneres Netflix special is AWESOME. Perfect for the whole family (yes, grandma will laugh at Back that Ass Up) and very very funny. I hope she continues to tour and do more specials. The John Mulaney Kid Gorgeous special was also GREAT if you’re looking for another good comedy special.

Holiday Watching

Every year I watch White Christmas which I can almost completely recite. Friends may have not been aware of that on a recent viewing.

I always make sure to watch A Muppet Family Christmas – which you can only find on You Tube and A Muppet Christmas Carol. Both make my annual holiday must list.

This year while watching Love Actually I discovered that I actually don’t like the movie. I like the Pointer Sisters dance scene and that’s about it. These are the hot takes you come for, I know.

I also really enjoyed the Schitts Creek Christmas Special. The Paul Schaffer cameo was just what every holiday party needs!

Finally, I kept the John Legend & Chrissy Tiegen Christmas Special on repeat this year. It was so great. It had every 90’s TV trope and I LOVED IT!

What pop culture is keeping you sane this holiday season?

I hope your fall is going well! A road trip to Eastern Washington for Thanksgiving meant some great podcast catch up this month and the stormy dark nights mean a lot of DVR catch up and binging some new shows. I didn’t read any books or comics this past month which is BAD. I did get my friend elected to city council so that counts for something right? Hopefully December will include some down time to read and catch up. I have a few books on my wish list so need to make some time to READ!

Listening

My husband and I binged Bagman by Rachel Maddow on our trip to his family for Thanksgiving. It is a CRAZY story about Spyro Agnew that I didn’t know. I didn’t know much about Agnew and this story is fantastic, and crazy. It’s only 7 episodes total so perfect for a holiday road trip…

Nike has a new podcast called The Fenom Effect and the first episode with Abby Wombach was INCREDIBLE. I had no idea how much she did off the field for soccer players. She’s badass.

The Michelle Obama interview of Two Dope Queens was really great and got me excited for her book! And David Axelrod’s Axe Files interview with President Obama was also great. Am I the only one who thought Obama was getting annoyed when Axe would cut him off? Maybe it was just me getting annoyed he wouldn’t let the President finish talking.

I am still enjoying this season of Serial even if it infuriates me most of the time. The Daily‘s recent episode on asylum seekers was a must listen.

I also procured tickets to see The Rolling Stones next spring so they will be in heavy rotation over the next few months (along with Justin Timberlake who’s concert was rescheduled to February!)

Watching

Julia Louis Dreyfus received the Mark Twain Prize for Humor this year and it was incredible. Find it, watch it, get your ab workout in. She is so amazing and hilarious and we are lucky to have her.

I watched Homecoming on Amazon this month and it was really good. Weird, but good. It had the weirdness of Mr. Robot but in 30 minute increments, which is what we needed for Mr. Robot.

I also finished The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina which was fun. I will watch anything with Kiernan Shipka as I mentioned last month, and while it could improve in some spots it was enjoyable and a good escapist show this season.

In way overdue shows – I finally caught up and finished Westworld. And I remembered why I stopped watching half way through the season. That season finale could have easily been a series finale, and there’s a strong chance I will treat it as such.

I watched about 30 seconds of Dogs on Netflix and decided I didn’t want to spend the next 6 hours crying, so quickly turned that off. I am excited for the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the return of Runaways on Hulu!

What’s been keeping you sane as daylight savings is over? How do you make time to read more in your life these days?