BOOK

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

When I was fourteen, I lived and breathed Twilight. I won a Twilight themed scavenger hunt at my local bookstore. I went to see the first movie on opening weekend, twice. And I threw a Twilight themed party with my friends, complete with a red chocolate fountain (because you know, vampires drink blood). The books are not great; you know that, I know that, the whole world knows that. BUT, sometimes you just want to read a book that makes you feel fourteen again. A book that’s unabashedly romantic, full of stupid teenagers doing incredibly stupid things. Plus, the books aren’t so bad if you just pretend Breaking Dawn doesn’t exist. #TeamJacob (we are currently in a fight about this)

FILMS

Classic: Dr. Strangelove (Crackle)

I’ve seen this film at least five times and I didn’t even go to film school. While made almost 60 years ago, Dr. Strangelove is incredibly relevant and the jokes/characters still hold up. It is a dark political comedy satirizing Cold War fears of nuclear conflict. We are left to laugh and wonder at how easily an unhinged Air Force General could start a nuclear war by subverting the nuclear chain of command. Sounds almost… too close to home…

Drama: Bad Education (HBO Go)

Bad Education is about a superintendent who embezzled $11 million from their school district. When I started this movie, I thought, “Woah, did this movie take place in my school district? It sounds so familiar.” But I later realized, nope, there’s just countless amounts of these scandals across the country. The acting is great of course with Huge Jackman, Ray Romano, Allison Janney, Alex Wolff and the one and only Jimmy Tatro.

Drama: Lion (Vudu)

I can’t express enough how much I love this movie. From the heartfelt story to the great acting (and of course Dev Patel), it is an emotional rollercoaster. When five-year-old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of miles across India, he must learn how to survive alone in Kolkata. This is the feel good movie you need right now, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Genre: Requiem for a Dream (HBO Go)

Every time I watch this, and yes I’ve seen it several times, I find something new to appreciate. Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly play heroin addicted lovers who find themselves down two different, yet equally deteriorating paths, paralleled by his mother (Ellen Burstyn). Burstyn’s desire to return to a past version of herself for a TV appearance transforms her into a woman paralyzed by her own unattainable standards of beauty. I rewatched this with a friend last week and after telling his mom about it, she now believes I’m the antichrist. Maybe we’ll watch a more tame Aranofsky film this week.

TV SERIES

Mrs. America (Hulu)

I could watch Rose Byrne portray Gloria Steinem for DAYS. Starring Cate Blanchet, the series portrays the complicated life of Phyllis Schlafly, the woman who led a grassroots campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment (or as my mom calls her, the devil). The cast is INCREDIBLE and the various storylines are woven together beautifully. If you haven’t already started watching, get going – episode 5 drops tomorrow.

Undone (Amazon Prime)

If you’ve never watched anything with rotoscope animation, please let this be the first. It is such a captivating trip to watch Rosa Salazar spiral through schizophrenia as she tries to unearth the death of her father, Bob Odenkirk, which may not have been an accident, but a very targeted murder. Only eight 20min episodes, easily binge-able. Not saying I did binge this in one sitting…also not saying I didn’t. I had to rewatch immediately after to catch anything I missed.

PODCASTS

Bad On Paper

Last week, my favorite podcast host, Vanessa Zoltan (of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text) recommended this podcast and I can’t stop listening. Grace Atwood and Becca Freeman host a virtual book club that offers up one book a month. In between, they’re joined by guests like Stacey Abrams, Taylor Lorenz, and Alisha Ramos to talk about everything from politics to self-care to internet culture.