Thank the Lord – summer has finally arrived in Oregon (along with some EPIC unexpected allergies!). I wasn’t sure it would ever arrive, and on the summer solstice it officially showed up, phew! Now that I can sit outside and read more (my preferred location for reading besides a beach) I’m ready to kick things into gear. June has been a CRAZY pop culture month for me, let’s get to it…
Live Theater
If you caught my newsletter then you know that my dad and I took an amazing trip to New York City to see The Music Man on Broadway with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. It was AMAZING. We loved it. It was everything we had hoped for and more. If you have a chance to go to New York during its run, no matter who is in the cast, GO.
We had decided to wait till we arrived in New York to get an idea of what else people were talking about and what was jumping out at us. We ended up doing a double feature on Saturday. A matinee of The Book of Mormon and then we saw MacBeth with Daniel Craig (yes, 007 – who evidently looked my dad in the eyes TWICE – or so he claims). This was my third time seeing The Book of Mormon and surprisingly it was dad’s first. It was GREAT, and the audience was a blast too. MacBeth was DARK and moody and fabulous.
Our final show was Funny Girl with Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch. It was one of my grandma’s favorite musicals so my dad suggested we go check it out. I knew nothing about the show and not a ton of the music, but I thought Beanie did great at making it her own, and the cast was fabulous!
Four shows, 48 hours. It was amazing.
Reading
Thankfully an airplane ride was what I needed to finally read The Sea of Tranquility, which is the latest Emily St. John Mandel and it was PERFECT. If you have read The Glass Hotel you’ll enjoy it more I think, but you’ll be ok if you don’t. More importantly, if you can read it in one sitting (or flight, or afternoon…) DO THAT. I had about 50 pages left when we landed so the next day while dad took a nap I went to a restaurant across the street had a glass of wine and finished it.
I also listened to Where the Deer and the Antelope Play which is surprisingly my first Nick Offerman book! I love Nick’s voice so the audio was the only way to go on this one for me. I appreciated his thoughts on National Parks and being good stewards of the environment. A good road trip book this summer…
I just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sings which my dad (and a million others) have recommended. It’s as great as everyone says, and I would love to discuss that ending please.
Currently on audiobook, I have Kal Penn’s memoir, You Can’t Be Serious and am thoroughly enjoying it so far!
Listening
I really like the journalist Leah Sottile and am super excited for her new book When the Moon Turns to Blood which I need to pickup ASAP. After the attempted terrorism attack of a Pride Parade in Idaho I decided I needed to listen to Bundyville season 2 finally. I think I started it at some point, but a re-listen/finish was needed. If you’re struggling with how much hate there is in this country, Leah is an excellent author to help explain why.
The Offline episode about kids screen time was fascinating as someone without children, BUT an aunt who has many friends struggling with this issue.
Also, why am I just now discovering Harry Styles? Harrys House is an excellent album to work to people… And Beyonce’s new drop is PERFECT.
Watching
June is evidently my month to finish up TV series that I started but had to stop for one reason or another. Baseball season makes my TV viewing a little more challenging. My husband and I are STILL working our way through Ozark…I promise we’ll finish it soon. We aren’t quitters…
The Wonder Years finished a great first season – if you’re looking for a fun family show this summer, it’s just like the show we grew up with, but with Don Cheadle, which makes it even better. I finally started the latest season of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on the flight home from New York and it was another fun season. This season of Top Chef was as usual, excellent. I was fascinated that they finished the season in Tucson which is not a food city I would have thought of, and now I may need to take a trip (in winter obviously…)
I also finished the second season of Upload on the flight and it’s another great show that in peak TV can easily be over looked. It doesn’t help that Amazon Prime is such a pain to find shows on. Find it, watch it, enjoy The Office easter eggs…The hammerhead worm in the final episode of Our Great National Parks haunts my dreams, but this was such a lovely series. We finished it while my dad was here and he texted my brother (with two boys 5 & almost 3) that they should watch it. Fun for kids of ALL ages.
Hacks second season was excellent and putting them onto a tour bus was so so great. I can’t wait to see what next season brings. I Love That for You was such a weird little series that I liked the characters and the shopping channel workplace shenanigans but the star is definitely the least likeable, and Jenifer Lewis is wonderful as always. Speaking of second seasons, Girls5Eva really needs to have more episodes please. Each season goes by way too fast with such great jokes – I mean, The Property Brothers record label? COME ON, Tina Fey is brilliant.
I am loving Ms Marvel on and finished up Obi-Wan Kenobi this past weekend (thanks allergies for keeping me inside!) Obi-Wan was really really great. The kid who plays Leia was awesome and that is all I’ll say till you watch it. The latest season of Rutherford Falls is wonderful and it fills that Parks & Recreation hole in my pop culture heart each season.
Besides live theater I finally went to a movie theater for the first time since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (yes, December 2019…) to see Top Gun: Maverick and it was PERFECT. Surprisingly excellent. My husband and I decided to rewatch Top Gun the night before which was a smart move but not necessary. Watch Maverick on the largest screen you can, it’s worth it!
What pop culture are you consuming this summer? What are you excited for that’s arriving in July (besides my birthday!)?
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