Well this summer flew right by didn’t it? I can’t believe it’s Labor Day weekend, crap fall is right around the corner! August has been a fun month and as usual, a great pop culture month! Here’s a few of my favorite things from the month – make sure to share yours in the comments!

Reading

I finally finished City of Mirrors – and it was wonderful. What a great ending to a very cool trilogy, it couldn’t have ended any better. I do wish I’d read all 3 of these books closer together, and this book was LONG and seemed to require more of my attention to details than I remember the other two. Anyway, I highly recommend it!

Then I grabbed Amy Schumer’s Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo new book at Costco and read all but 30 pages in one day. So I’d say it was okay…I LOVED this book. Amy’s about my age and although we’ve lead very different lives, she’s incredibly relatable and obviously hilarious. Her chapter on being an introvert was fantastic!

I also caught up with some comic books last weekend! I’m up to speed on The Walking Dead (I’m excited for this new story line!) and Ms Marvel (fun tie in with the Civil War II story – loved Miles Morales showing up!). And I read the first 5 issues of Black Panther. I’m not sure if I’ll keep with the series in the long run, but it’s going to stay in my subscription box for a while!

Right now I’m in the middle of Before the Fall by Noah Hawley, who is the creator of the Fargo TV series that I love. The book is good so far with a bit of a mystery…

Listening

Jason Derulo “Kiss the Sky” is my song of the summer. I can NOT get enough of it, and after you hear it, you won’t either! Between this and Justin Timberlake’s new song on repeat, I think you know how road trips have been!

As usual Podcasts keep me going. The Nerdist had a great Hostful Goodness episode that made my week. And the interview with astrophysicist Summer Ash was FASCINATING! Mike Birbiglia’s episode was also awesome and so was David Schwimmer surprisingly!

On WTF Marc Maron did a really good interview with Kristin Wiig. She doesn’t interview very often and so it’s fun to hear her open up and talk about growing up and her time at SNL and beyond.

And of course I’m always up to date on The Watch and Keepin’ it 1600. 

Watching

I mean what else did you do in early August but watch Stranger Things? My husband and I don’t do scary movies or horror and when I heard it was Spielberg-ian I was all over it. And then those first 5 minutes were terrifying and I wasn’t sure we’d make it. But with a lot of late afternoon binging we made it and it was SO WORTH IT. If you missed this series yet, stay inside this weekend and watch it! You’re welcome.

Oh Mr Robot – how I was hoping that prison wasn’t real…but it is, and now I think we know who knocked at the door at least. I’m really loving the addition of the FBI this year.

My husband and I finally finished on The Night Of and it’s fantastic. It’s a limited series so you don’t have to worry about sticking with it forever. Pretty dang great. Especially if you were a fan of Serial. That very final scene in John’s apartment was so great…

I finally finished my summer binge of Jane the Virgin. What a great show! It’s very funny and clever and light and easy. If there’s a Gilmore Girls sized hole in your TV viewing heart, this is a good place holder till November 25th.

It’s been a good pop culture month around here – who about you?

Summer is the time of year when I tend to binge watch something on Netflix or sit outside and read. I love the summer. Norm’s loving all the backyard time, we even blew up the inflatable pool for him the other night! July has been a great pop culture month, and I have a full DVR and book stack to prove it. Here’s a few things I’m enjoying this month!

Reading

I’m still reading The City of Mirrors, and still loving it! It’s a big book, although not as long as The Passage (the first of the trilogy) and we’ve had a busy summer where I haven’t had as much sit down and read uninterrupted time lately. Puppy’s will do that.

My birthday was last week and as usual I got a few new books to add to the mix!

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley is a book I can’t wait to read. Hawley created the Fargo adaptation on FX which is a top 5 favorite TV show for me, I’m excited to read his book.

I also got Thug Kitchen Party Grub – the original is easily my favorite cookbook to read. It’s exactly how my brother and I would write recipes to each other.

Speaking of which, I finally got a copy of Chrissy Teigan’s cookbook Cravings – it’s also hilarious and an excellent read – I can’t wait to dive into it.

And, because of course I did, I got The Comic Book Story of Beer, sounds like a perfect book to read on the patio with a cold one.

Watching

Mr Robot. I mean, do I need to say more? Okay sure – I love this show and am so excited it’s back. I can’t wait to find out where the heck Tyrell is – but Dom discovering so easily “where” F Society is, was pretty great at the end of last weeks episode. I don’t know how people stay up and watch it at 10 on a weeknight, I have to watch it early in the evening/late afternoon when I’m alert and focused – there’s so much detail!

Jane the Virgin – I had heard great things about this show and it’s been my summer Netflix binge. It’s very funny and clever and is currently filling the Gilmore Girls sized hole in my  heart. Hurry up November 25th!

UNReal – well this season is not as good as last…WOW. I had so much hope for the show based on Season 1, but wow is it doing its best to disappoint…If you haven’t watched it check out Season 1, and if your DVR is full, it’s OK to skip S2…

I’ve been watching a bit of the conventions and a lot of late night TV recaps. I can’t get enough of Seth Meyers, and Stephen Colbert is on fire!

On the DVR but not yet watched: Preacher (I finally watched the pilot the other day – gonna give it another episode to make a call), The Night Of, Orphan Black (yes, I disappoint myself, don’t worry), and The Jim Gaffigan Show (which is very funny and you can watch it with parents/kids/grandparents – super SFW).

On the Netflix Queue – Stranger Things (I know!), Daredevil S2 (yeah, I got behind on this one, crap! – but holy Luke Cage and Defenders teaser!) Maybe Bloodline S2…

Listening

I can’t stop listening to Keepin it 1600, they are on fire for the conventions and I’m loving it!

You can hear my voice on the July 14th episode of the Turn Knowledge to Profit podcast, and on the July 8th episode of the Know Like and Trust Show podcast! It’s okay to miss my voice, I miss yours too!

I started listening to Beervana’s podcast – he’s a local beer guy, wrote a book and has a podcast all about beer. I like that they have a news segment at the beginning of episodes, and their Oregon Beerfest episode has helped me figure out what I’ll be drinking…July is awesome.

So, what have your pop culture obsessions been lately? Share them in the comments!

I don’t know about you but June just blew right by – work has been crazy this month (in a good way!). Luckily I had some sunny evenings and weekends to get caught up on my pop culture!

Reading

I finally finished Fellside! It’s very different from The Girl with All the Gifts – I really enjoyed Fellside and wish I’d read it faster. There’s a ton of characters and they do all come together but I set it down too often and forgot about it. But if you’re looking for a good summer mystery/wait is this real? kind of story – I’d recommend it!

I blew through The Sound of Gravel after post apocalyptic stories, books about polygamist cults are probably my most-read genre. This is a memoir I’d heard about when it came out, the woman who wrote it now live in Oregon. It’s a really sad story about a girl growing up in a polygamist cult in Mexico and traveling between the US and Mexico. I wish the story had spent more time on what happened after her escape (she evidently raised her younger siblings- not a spoiler, it’s on the jacket cover!), but it was a good book if you like the genre.

I finally caught up on my comics the other day, my current comic shop is closing so back to my old shop (with better deliverability). I’m excited for where The Walking Dead comics are headed with this new war, and Ms. Marvel is heading into the Civil War universe which I’m excited to see. I also really enjoyed the first issue of Han Solo, which I wasn’t sure if I would.

And I finally started City of Mirrors! I’m just a few pages in, I was worried that I wouldn’t remember where the story left off since I read The Twelve & The Passage when they came out, and they’ve done a good job so far of reminding you what happened without making you feel like an idiot. Hopefully I’ll have some good time to read over the holiday weekend!

Watching

The Americans finished their 4th season and it was incredible (obviously) – and I am so curious where they will take it next season, a lot of great opportunities await! This is a show I will continue to tell you you should watch. It’s my favorite show and I love the family dynamics most of all.

Game of Thrones – Welp, lesson learned, Norm will NEVER miss a meal. What an amazing finale! I can’t believe we got the R+L=J reveal! And holy green slime, that was a pretty crazy opening 20 minutes. And Tyrion becoming Hand of the Queen was such a sweet moment, even if Dany is an idiot for leaving Daario in Meereen.

UnReal – This show is so fantastic and soapy but really good. If you haven’t watched it go rewatch the first season and get caught up. You’re welcome.

I finished House of Cards finally. It was a good show and okay that it’s over, this season fizzled out.

This spring I started Gilmore Girls on Netflix, and I finished it last week. The show holds up and is such a sweet and funny show, if you’ve never watched it, or need something light and fun to watch this summer, Netflix has all 7 seasons ready for you. And evidently I finished just in time since the new Gilmore Girls: Seasons comes out on July 1st! I thought I’d have to wait till the fall or winter, hooray!

Orange is the New Black is back and I am LOVING it! I think Lori Petty deserves all the awards for what a fabulous job she’s doing this season. More drones please!

Listening

I’ve been enjoying Ask Me Another lately – the trivia is fun when stuck in traffic as a go to distraction. But, I continue to wait for Thursday early afternoon when Keepin’ it 1600 arrives in my phone. I get excited when I have Thursday meetings so I know I can listen to the pod, it just gets better each week as this election intensifies. I’ve been bummed that The Watch isn’t doing an audio version of their Game of Thrones recap podcast as they did back at Grantland. But they do cover a few points from GoT each week on the pod which I appreciate. The Nerdist recently had a couple hostful goodness eps – I wish they were released once they did them, they were talking about the Oscars a couple weeks ago, which just felt too dated. But great to hear the sister wives on the show when available. And there was a really interesting interview with Chuck Lorre and Mayim Bialik that I’d recommend to folks!

Okay – that’s it for the moment, as we head into the holiday weekend – what’s on your pop culture to do list?