September meant the arrival of The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s long awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale and I devoured it. September also means the Emmys and return of fall TV and a change in the weather so more time inside to consume pop culture. Here’s what I’ve loved…

Reading

The Testaments – I have been excited about this book since I finished The Handmaid’s Tale years ago, I always wanted to know more about the story and the world of Gilead. It did NOT disappoint.

I also finished Life Will be the Death of Me from Chelsea Handler and really liked it. If you’ve been turned off by her in the past, maybe give this a shot. She’s changed.

Bored and Brilliant is very thoughtful and realistic and manageable. I was nervous that it would be a lot of phone use shaming. It’s not. It’s all about being aware of your relationship with technology. You may not have an issue with it, or you may want to change something. I haven’t been able to bring myself to remove apps from my phone, BUT I have turned off more notifications and that’s helping a lot of my constant jumping at my phone.

Listening

I was chatting with a friend the other day and shared my love of cults. He suggested I check out the first season of Uncover Escaping NXIVM. Holy bananas is this story crazy. And recent. And scary. And a cult. If you love a good cult story as much as I do, make sure to check out this season. I devoured it in less than a week.

I’m still listening to a lot of Lizzo and The Rolling Stones. Speaking of Lizzo, make sure to watch her Tiny Desk Concert… and it’s time to catch up on the latest Black Keys album since we’re going to their concert in November!

Watching

Watching the Emmys this weekend made me realize just how many GREAT shows have ended this year. Veep, Game of Thrones, Jane the Virgin, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend…

I finally jumped on The Great British Baking Show bandwagon. I get it. It’s lovely and fun and calm. I talked about it in my latest newsletter so hopefully you already know how much I love it.

I decided to rewatch the latest season of The Good Place in advance of the final (sniff…) season starting this week. I love this show and am so glad they aren’t going to play it out to death, but I will miss it a lot…

I’m still enjoying The Righteous Gemstones, it’s SUCH A great series, even if I have occasional PTSD moments from growing up in a tight knit church community. I know I’m supposed to like Fleabag but I can’t get into it – am I alone here?

I watched Late Night over the weekend and it was good-not-great. I’m glad I waited for it on Amazon. I felt it had the reverse Apatow problem (his movies are 45 minutes too long). It took an HOUR to get into the real meat of the story. I wish it had been done in 20-30 minutes so we could get to more of the fun.

New series this fall I’m getting excited for include…The Politician, Perfect Harmony, The Morning Show, Stumptown, Watchmen and Nancy Drew…

What shows and pop culture are you excited for this fall?

August meant vacation and traveling for me – which is GREAT when it comes to my pop culture consumption. I read a bunch and caught up on some TV and went to the best concert of my life. Oh, and Norm turned 4 and Cliff is sleeping longer through the night. Everyone wins! Here’s what I was loving this month…

Reading

A Gentleman in Moscow – Enough people raved about this book that I snagged it at the library for my vacation. It was an incredibly lovely story and although I didn’t know much about it, that was okay.

Recursion – I really loved Blake Crouch’s last book, Dark Matter so when his new book came out and the library had it? I snagged it! I haven’t read a book in a day in a very long time, but Recursion was just that much fun. If you liked Dark Matter you’ll like this, and if you like modern technology overreaching – you’ll love it. Also – it had the WEIRDEST (non spoiler) twist when the author of A Gentleman in Moscow was a character name in the book…

Persepolis – Years ago my dad told me I should read the book, and I didn’t. Then I got a copy for my birthday from my brother & sister in law and I finally read it on vacation. It was such a great story about a woman growing up in Iran (and Europe) in the 70’s and 80’s. A story and time period I feel I should learn more about.

I read the final issue of The Walking Dead and it was a perfect wrap up to the series. I was shocked, like we all were, to learn the series was ending so abruptly – but I was starting to wonder how many more big bads they could run into. A very fitting ending.

I’m currently reading Bored to Brilliant which is the Hillsboro Reads book this fall. I’m trying to savor it and only read one chapter at a time – which when a puppy is around is harder to do than you’d think! I also picked up Life Will be the Death of Me, the latest Chelsea Handler book about how the 2016 election lead her to finally go to therapy and what she learned. I’m really liking the story.

I also read the NYT story about Jason Kander and his comeback after dropping out of the 2018 Mayoral race to deal with his PTSD. If you haven’t read it yet, here you go.

Listening

I finally got on board with Lizzo. Apologies for taking so long.

This past weekend my husband and I flew to Phoenix (yes in August, yes on purpose) to see The Rolling Stones. It was the best concert of my life. Mick Jagger is 76 years old and his energy was making ME tired just watching him – he’s amazing. I’m so glad we got to see them while they’re still alive (although Keith Richards will out live us all I’m convinced).

On vacation I listened to the 2nd season of Bundyville which was really interesting. I went to college in Northeastern Washington so learning more about the white supremacy history in the region was really interesting. Some of it I knew, and a lot of it I didn’t realize was going on. It was also interesting in how it relates to the current political climate.

Watching

On vacation I finished up the new season of Veronica Mars. I have some strong opinions about it and am happy to discuss. If you haven’t watched it yet GET ON IT, it’s great and very fun and I would be happy for the show to pop up forever.

I finished the latest season of The Handmaids Tale and liked how the season wrapped up and the way it moved forward. I was curious how this season would go but they put together a great story line. I especially liked Aunt Lydia’s flashback episode.

We watched Jurassic Kingdom on vacation. Catching it for free on HBO was the right way to consume that movie. It was fun, but not worth paying for.

I am SO SAD that Jane the Virgin is over, but it wrapped up really well and I loved it. I will miss this show…

I’m slowly making my way through S2 of Mindhunter. It’s starting out strong, I’m savoring it, AND it’s hard to watch too many at a time.

The Righteous Gemstones is a new series about a televangelist family on HBO and it is BRILLIANT. I am so happy this series exists and can’t wait for Sunday nights to watch it. It just started so you aren’t too late to get on the bandwagon with me.

Alright – what pop culture is keeping you entertained as we come to the end of summer?

What a whirlwind month! Adding a new member to the family along with a lot of house guests meant my pop culture consumption was VARIED this month. Between a puppy and attending a lot of Hillsboro Hops games – here’s what helped keep me sane with puppy sleep deprivation in July.

Reading

I finished Nine Perfect Strangers the latest Liane Moriarty. I really liked it! I read the first chapter a couple months ago and put it aside but a friend encouraged me to keep going and I’m so glad she did. I loved the storytelling style.

We’re going on vacation next week and I have a large stack of books I need to pair down. Expect a lot of book and graphic novel recommendations next month.

Listening

I really enjoy OPB Politics Now as I’ve talked about before. And they just teased Bundyville which was FASCINATING. Especially because it’s focused on the Pacific Northwest and the white supremacist movement here.

I haven’t been listening to as many podcasts this month but I did discover The Argument, another New York Times podcast and I like how they provide a more balanced view than a lot of political podcasts.

On a constant rotation is My Type by Saint Motel – a client mentioned the song in her newsletter and it is a perfect summer ear worm.

Watching

So the whole point of Big Little Lies Season 2 was to get Meryl an Emmy right? I mean, the season was fine but having read the book I didn’t need a second season…

I’m really enjoying and trying to slowly consume the new Veronica Mars season on Hulu. Cliff has kept me from getting to really pay attention to The Handmaid’s Tale but I am enjoying (that’s the wrong word…) this season. I’m also trying to slowly savor the latest season of Queer Eye – the 2nd episode (Disabled but Not Really) was so damn good.

I’m not ready to say goodbye to Jane the Virgin…

Obviously the addition of Cliff demands a rewatch of Cheers. It’s about the right amount of show between potty breaks (but not always…)

I watched the first two episodes of Blown Away and it did not… I like glass blowing but the show doesn’t give you enough relationship between the artists or much background on them – that it’s hard to really care who wins or goes home.

Live Theater

When your friends 14 year old daughter is in a one time only performance of “The Chilling Adventures of Riverdale” a Sabrina/Riverdale mashup musical (YES!) you get to the show. It was exactly what you would expect from a junior high summer musical theater camp. Complete with about 1/3 of the kids knowing how to project so a PRETTY quite rendition of Do You Believe in Magic.

I had a great date with my husband to see Bag & Baggage’s performance of Much Ado About Nothing. I am sorry I didn’t see it earlier to get everyone to a show – it was INCREDIBLE. The theater does at least one Shakespeare a year but they always do an adaptation and this version included Benedict and Bertram (not Beatrice) and it was EPIC and lots of house music and dancing. Yup. It was great.