February is a great time for Pop Culture- you’ve got awards season in full swing, TV shows returning from winter hiatus, and spring seasons about to start up. It’s also cold and wet outside so staying in with a good book or show is always the right answer. Here’s what I’m loving this month…

Music

The Civil Wars- I love this duo, and when I heard last week they put out an EP of covers, I was all over it. You can quickly guess which one is my favorite I’m sure.

I was just asked to join the Whitworth Forensics Team in Tennessee this year for the International Public Debate Association National Tournament (I went last year in Arkansas you may recall…) this year, it’s at Middle Tennessee State and we have one night in Nashville on the way home. You can’t imagine my excitement- so I’ll be beefing up my singer/songwriter playlists in the next few weeks!

Books

Hyperbole and a Half- My dad gave me this great graphic novel for Christmas, and it’s pretty easy to pick up and read and put down for a week or two. I’m really enjoying it, her drawings are very simple, but the stories about her dog make me laugh REALLY hard.

Visitation Street- I read about this book last summer and picked it up for my Kindle when it was on sale a while back. I’m about a third of the way through- and need to pick it up again, hopefully with a few flights in the next two months I’ll finish it up!

TV

The Walking Dead  is back! Hooray! I am liking the diaspora situation they have going on, but can’t wait for them all to get back together. And so glad to have Carol back, AND Abraham’s Army has finally arrived!

House of Cards- it is SO HARD to not binge watch this show. Holy crap this season is crazy. It was the perfect Valentine’s Day gift – my husband and I watched 3 episodes on the 14th.

The Winter Olympics- okay, so maybe my favorite part is watching Bob Costas battle pink eye, but I LOVE the Olympics. The weather challenges have been fun to watch as well. As an indoor kid, watching people in the cold race down a mountain makes me grateful I’m on the couch.

Justified- I was sad to hear that next season will be their last, but if it will strengthen the story for the next season and a half, I’m all in. The Raylan/Art relationship is one of my favorites on TV.

Sherlock- I finally got caught up on this series and just watched the S3 finale this weekend. I sure didn’t see the twist coming, and Christmas with the Holmes family was one of my new favorite things ever.

The Americans- okay, so it doesn’t return for another week, BUT I rewatched the S1 finale this weekend to get my ready- I can’t wait. This show is SO GREAT. I had watched the finale before, knew how it ended and STILL was stressed out!

Evidently I’m watching a lot of TV lately- what Pop Culture have you been indulging in this month?

Well, January was a great month for Pop Culture I think. We had the Golden Globes with my two favorite ladies, we had the Grammy’s with a couple of very cool performances (Chicago AND Robin Thicke? 33 couples got MARRIED? wow) and I got the nasty cold going around so did some binge watching. Evidently my Pop Culture New Years Resolution was to get caught up to live on some TV shows.

When I get a cold, all I want to do is lay on the couch and watch TV. Last year I read The Revolution Was Televised by Alan Sepinwall and TV critic that I’ve grown to like after reading this book. In the book he discusses 12 shows that revolutionized television. And so I’ve tried to watch a couple of them of them, since I’d only watched 2 of them! The first one I’m watching is Friday Night Lights. I don’t like football, BUT man this show is great. It’s kind of a slow burn show, and great drama and people who really love and care for each other. Everyone needs a Coach Taylor in their life!

Veronica Mars. After I backed the movie on Kickstarter and got my tshirt, I realized I needed to FINISH the series which I’ve owned for years. So, with a few quiet TV weeks to start the year I finally finished the series. It was great, and now I’m REALLY excited for the movie.

Justified. I really like this show, and finally finished Season 3, and when I heard Season 4 was on Amazon Prime, I watched 9 episodes in one sick day…yes, you are jealous. Season 4 was MUCH better than Season 3, and Season 2 will always be one of my favorite seasons of TV EVER. ( the John Lithgow season of Dexter is on that list). I’m now caught up and watching Season 5 live.

Sherlock. I have loved every episode of this show, but for some reason the 90 minute time frame always keeps me from popping in an episode to watch when there’s nothing on TV. I finally watched Season 2 of the show, and WOW it was great. I have Season 3 on the DVR to catch up on hopefully this week. 3 episodes is never enough, but when they’re SO spectacular I’m OK with it.

Up next…Doctor Who (I’m still on the Pond’s eps), Orphan Black, and  Luther.

Books

Super Graphic. I got this book for Christmas and quickly devoured it. It’s infographics on comic book characters. It’s a nerds dream come true. It’s the PERFECT gift for any comic book lover in your life.

Visitation Street. I read about this book in Entertainment Weekly a few months ago. It was $2 on Amazon Kindle a while back so I picked it up, and just started reading it this weekend. So far, so good. I’ll hopefully have a full report next week!

The Walking Dead. Good grief, with the absence of the TV show they doubled up on the comics, and I missed that memo so I’m all out of whack and behind since I have issue 116 and 118, and now it’s up to 120. Yes folks, THESE are my issues in life…

That’s what’s up in my pop culture world to get the year started- how about you? Any pop culture resolutions?