The Olympics may have tried to dominate pop culture this month (how did I get away with not watching ANY curling?) but with a few plane trips I still found time to consume some great pop culture…

Reading

Red Clocks was my January Book of the Month selection and it’s FANTASTIC! I’m not quite finished  but hoping to do so in the next few days. I’m enjoying the storytelling style and not enjoying envisioning what a Mike Pence Presidency would mean for women…

I need to catch up on comics here soon – and was SO SAD to learn this weekend that Hawkeye will be ending it’s run in March. Thanks to social media I tweeted with local comic book author Kelly Thompson and it sounds like there’s more stories to come…

Listening

I picked up Trump, Inc from ProPublica a few weeks ago and it’s fascinating if you like politics as much as you know I do! My VERY favorite thing about the podcast is that the sponsor is a hair club for men type which almost feels like they’re trying to troll the president. The podcast itself is an investigative look into Trump’s business dealings and background. If you like putting ALL the insane pieces of the puzzle together, this will throw another jigsaw puzzle on top of what you’re already working with.

Congrats to Chris Hardwick of Nerdist fame for rebranding his podcast – ID10T! And I caught the first episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and it’s great! His first interview was with his wife (and one of my favorites) Kristen Bell – the bickering at the beginning was awesome.

Watching

Black Panther was everything I wanted it to be and more. It’s my favorite super hero movie and all around bad ass film. You need to see it if you haven’t yet. And if you haven’t yet, it sounds like you may be the only one…

A couple of years ago I read The Girl with All the Gifts and loved the book. I was excited to learn it would be a movie, but it had a really limited release. I was pleased to see it pop up on Amazon a couple of months ago and it’s great! The author also wrote the screenplay which made for a seamless transition and a great film!

In my attempt to see as few Oscar nominated films as possible, I finally watched Get Out last weekend and it’s AWESOME. Holy crap is it good. I don’t like horror films so I stayed away for a very long time. It has some horror elements but if that’s what’s keeping you away, don’t let it. Go watch it. It’s. Great.

The Good Place finished an AMAZING second season that took some giant twists and turns like only this show does. The finale even included Sam Malone…

I also really liked this (super dark) season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I didn’t expect the “twist” but it sure will be interesting to see what they do with the choices they’ve made this season. Also, some amazing music this season…

I finally binged One Mississippi, the Tig Notaro show on Amazon Prime and it was WONDERFUL! Go, watch it now. I promise you’ll love it. If not, that’s on you dude.

This season of Top Chef has been good not great, but we really love Carrie! Jane the Virgin is really fantastic right now, why aren’t you watching it?!? The George Clooney episode of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction was really interesting – I learned a lot about Amal Clooney (way more interesting, sorry George) and what it was like growing up in show biz. The pilot of AP Bio made me laugh a lot – I’m hopeful this is the trend for this much needed comedy. We’re also really liking Waco. I remember when The Branch Davidians event happened but I was in middle school so it’s great to re-watch and learn more about what was really going on.

iZombie, Good Girls and UnREAL all start this week and hopefully I’ll have lots of good things to say about them in the next couple of months.

What are you reading, watching and listening to lately that I should check out?

A new year means new pop culture goals around my house. This year my Goodreads goal is set for 30 (which includes graphic novels as usual) and I am still on the hunt for a Goodreads for TV. Why has no one created this? It’s a million dollar idea I don’t have time to create, but will gladly test it and help make it awesome…

What are your pop culture new years resolutions?

Reading

Hey – I’ve already read a book! My dad gave me Exit West last year and I kept putting it aside. But it showed up on a few end of year lists, so I finally read it. It was a quick read and a very sweet story. It’s about the refugee experience told in a bit of a magical way. I  highly recommend it!

I’ve also caught up on a few comics lately. Ms Marvel continues to be great. The story line with Negan in The Walking Dead was interesting, and I continue to love Hawkeye!

Listening

I really need the new Justin Timberlake album to be more Say Something and less Filthy. I don’t love the first two songs from the album but love Say Something! I also LOVE Chris Stapleton so…I can’t wait for the album release on Friday and for the Super Bowl Half Time Show on Sunday!

Chris Stapleton performed on SNL this weekend and he was GREAT. So great I bought the album while he was still performing. (New fun SNL game – how many musical guests do you know in a month? For January it was just Chris Stapeton…)

My husband and I had a recent date night to see Lovett or Leave It LIVE here in Portland! It is a fun and interactive podcast experience and we had a great time!

The Crooked Conversations interview with Dan Harris about meditation was FANTASTIC! I’ve started to meditate a bit over the past few months and if you’re at all skeptical about meditation, Dan Harris will convince you that you should do it. The episode also took a fascinating turn talking about host Ana Marie Cox’s faith – which was great.

I love The Daily and the recent episode where they interviewed Tonya Harding was fabulous. Listen to this podcast regularly, it’ll make you smarter and better informed about a lot of stories going under the radar these days.

Watching

Now that the Oscar noms are out, my need to get to a theater a few times over the next month has increased! But in the mean time, I’m keeping the DVR busy…

The Good Place is such a fantastic show and this second season has taken it places I would have assumed were final season level. The guest appearances these past two episodes were wonderful, and when Ted Danson got upset and cried? Brilliant.

I really enjoyed The Runaways on Hulu. It’s such a clever superhero concept. A group of kids who discover their parents are super villains. PLUS – there’s a cult, and we all know I love a cult!

I also started watching One Mississippi on Amazon. It’s very funny and I have loved Tig Notaro for a long time, I have no excuse for why it’s taken me so long to get with it.

This season of Top  Chef is good but not my favorite. But Restaurant Wars will always be fun to watch…

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction is fantastic. I love David Letterman, he’s a family favorite. Letting Dave talk long form to people on topics that are of interest to him  is exactly what he should be doing. The Obama episode was fantastic.

Jane the Virgin finally returned after an AMAZING winter finale and I am so happy! Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is going “off the rails” with the surrogate thing but I trust the writers that the chaos will be contained.

What are you reading, watching and listening to that you’ve enjoyed this month?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a Star Wars fan isn’t it? I don’t know about you but I’ve see The Last Jedi twice so far and it lived up to the hype! Besides Star Wars it’s been a good month for pop culture diversions, here’s a few of my favorites…

Reading

Sadly I haven’t read much except Entertainment Weekly and Year End Lists this month. I’m hoping to get one more book in by the end of the year, and my comics are over flowing right now…

I have started getting Brian Stelter’s nightly newsletter – Reliable Sources. He does a great job of recapping the news so I don’t have to watch it. He also throws in some good pop culture and Hollywood news which I always appreciate.

Listening

I saw Billy Joel again this year! He is SUCH a fun concert and I had a great time (as I did when I saw him in 2016). Everyone sings way too loud (or maybe that’s just me) along with him and a great time is had by all. If you get the chance, go see him!

I signed up for Cards Against Humanity Saves America this year, their holiday “gift” is always amazing. The give away a ton of money and do some good stuff. BONUS – you get really inappropriate new CAH cards. This year because of all the bad news out there they started The Good News Podcast. It lives up to the promise each episode. Very clever, and very short. A good post- The Daily listen.

I’m almost done with Young Charlie. Between Young Charlie and The Watch they’re my mental health check’s from listening to too many political podcasts. We have a holiday road trip this weekend and I’m excited to finally check out Origins – which is all about the Origins of a TV show or program. Their first season was about Curb Your Enthusiasm (which I didn’t watch so didn’t listen to) but this season is about ESPN. I think my husband may be interested in this one too…

A friend of mine also suggested Oh No Ross & Carrie – where they try a bunch of different things, including religion. I’m looking forward to checking it out, especially their Scientology episodes…

Watching

Tis the season to catch up on a lot of binge worthy shows on TV and on streaming…

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) is a really fun show you should watch over the holidays. It’s clever and funny and the same creator of Gilmore Girls. However it’s made for streaming not TV, so there will be swearing (and “brief nudity”- your mother’s been warned)

I am LOVING The Runaways (Hulu). It’s a Marvel comic series about a group of normal kids in LA who discover their parents are super villains. It’s AWESOME. The creators of the show also did The OC and Gossip Girl – so it’s beautiful people in beautiful settings doing not so beautiful things. BONUS: There’s a religious cult – my favorite!

If you haven’t watched Mindhunter (Netflix) yet – get on it. It was AMAZING. I really really enjoyed it.

We watched the Jeremiah Tower episode of Anthony Bourdain and it was incredible! As a big food nerd I was shocked that I didn’t know this story at ALL. He has led a crazy life with some incredible twists and turns. Don’t watch on an empty stomach…

Top Chef is back!!! The perfect winter show to keep you hungry and happy during a dark cold winter. I’m not sure who’s taking home top prize but I’m rooting for the gal from Alaska!

I’m taking the last week of the year off and plan to finally finish this season of Mr. Robot and s2 of  The Crown. I watched the pilot of Godless and it was OK, I might come back to it because it’s showing up on some end of year lists…

I of course saw Star Wars The Last Jedi and loved it. It was LONG and I was disappointed that the Master Codebreaker wasn’t who they teased it was…But SO DANG GREAT.