My Week in Media: March 19
Everything I read, listened to, and watched
Hello, friends,
Happy weekend! I’ve got this coming week off, and I have a giant pile of books to read and movies to watch and spring is almost here which means I want to go for a million walks and listen to a million podcasts and whatnot and woo boy, I will be so good at retirement if our generation is ever able to retire.
Here’s the media that I engaged with this week!
Reading
Picture Books
Berry Song, by Michaela Goade
This book is SO. BEAUTIFUL. The way that Goade shows how we’re inextricably tied to and dependent on the natural world—because we’re a PART of it, not somehow separate—is just GORGEOUS.
Middle Grade/Chapter Books
What Stays Buried, by Suzanne Young
Speculation, by Nisi Shawl
Young Adult
Threads That Bind, by Kika Hatzopoulou
It’s been a while since I’ve read a YA fantasy novel, and I’m happy(?) to report that this one gave me that push-pull frustration-delight of getting to the end, immediately wanting the next installment, and knowing that it won’t be available for at least another year. GAHHHHH.
Comics, Graphic Novels, and Manga
Unicorn on a Roll, by Dana Simpson
Spy x Family, Volume Two, by Tatsuya Endo
Watching
Television
Doctor Who (Ambassadors of Death, 1970): This season has been so much more ODD than I remember it being? So much of the plotting revolves around, like, BUSINESSING and ADMINISTRATIVE SQUABBLES? Also, whoever was doing the title cards must have been so proud of themselves, this made us bust out laughing every single time:
Poker Face: Like seemingly everyone else on the planet, we adore this show. So, as we tend to do with beloved scripted shows, we’ve been watching them sparingly. We just watched the one with Nick Nolte and World Treasure Luis Guzmán, and A) it might have made me weepy, and B) the little Columbo touches in this show continue to absolutely KILL ME. The title cards and the structure, obviously, but Natasha Lyonne’s mannerisms—particularly what she does with her hands—feel like a nod to Falk, as does her occasional cigar.
Inside Job: Finally watched the very last one. Bereft that it was cancelled. GO KICK ROCKS, ANONYMOUS JERK AT NETFLIX.
Cunk on Earth: This show makes no bones about feeling Some Kind Of Way about capitalism, and I am here for it. I hope we get many more miniseries in which Philomena Cunk explores the world by driving academics up the wall.
Would I Lie To You?: Next to Taskmaster, this is my absolute favorite of the British panel shows that we’ve watched, so when we discovered an as-yet-unwatched season on BritBox, we dropped everything else and have been inhaling them for the last two days. Basic premise: Contestants are given statements to read aloud—sometimes true, sometimes not—and the other team has to figure out if they’re telling the truth or not. Note: Rob Brydon only took over hosting in the third season—I actively disliked the host in the first two seasons, but your mileage may vary.
One of the reasons that I love this one so very, very much is that occasionally—almost once a season at this point—some brilliant casting director brings Chaos Agent Bob Mortimer on and puts him on Lee Mack’s team, which means that David Mitchell has to contend with him, and it just wrecks me:
Movies
Strip Nude for Your Killer
Andrea Bianchi, 1975
this movie, encapsulated: the scene at the pool where a photographer (in a speedo) follows a lady (in a bikini and chunky heels) through the hallways of the building, taking pictures of and talking to her butt the entire time... and then later, when she comments that his camera isn't even clicking, he basically tosses it aside and is like, WELP THEN I GUESS WE SHOULD JUST DO IT IN THE SAUNA
so many boobs, so many kills, great soundtrack, edwige fenech with a cute little haircut
Listening
Art, Culture, and History
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Maintenance Phase
ICYMI
Bad People
You’re Wrong About
Podcast Playlist
Into It
Books & Language
A Way with Words
By the Book
Shedunnit
Thanks so much to the Oscar Buzz guys for bringing this adorablecharmingwonderful moment to my attention, in which Ingrid Bergman responds to winning her third Oscar by saying, “Thank you very much indeed, it’s always very nice to get an Oscar” and then looks so surprised when the audience laughs.
TV/Movies
Again with This
Screen Drafts
How Did This Get Made?
Office Ladies
This Had Oscar Buzz
Audiodramas & Actual Play D&D
Midnight Burger (briefly covered here)
Parkdale Haunt
And now to decide what to read on this, the first day of my week off:
Recommendations, as always, are welcome!
Talk soon,
Leila
We have been very anxiously waiting for them to add the new season of WILTY to BritBox. Thank goodness that they are endlessly rewatch able (and very quotable).
OMG, Taskmaster just might be the best show on television (if I started recounting my favorite moments I'd never stop) and when David Mitchell gets all wound up on WILTY it is comedy gold. (Also, I snort -laughed in bed at the title card for The Ambassadors... OF DEATH!! They should have given the same treatment to The Seeds Of Doom.)