Wondering what to do with your upcoming free time? Good thing we have some suggestions for what you should be watching, playing, reading, listening to, etc.
Lauren’s Book Pick: This Is How You Lose the Time War – In a future where the time travel rules and means in which pen pals send letters to each other make about as much sense to me as the ability of one of the two authors, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, to write “so fast so furious” in a sentence with any level of seriousness, two timeline manipulators play a game of cat and cat as they try to move the varying worlds towards their sides’ end (whose means of existences also escape me a bit, if I’m being honest. Looking at you, Garden, you unknowable bitch). The “wait, what?” of this book is strong as you get thrown into the deep end immediately, and the writing capabilities of the authors as they wax poetic in their highly imaginative, world building prose far exceeds my “I love lamp” reading comprehension levels at times, but one thing that never escapes me is the yearning that comes with any good enemies to something far less adversarial story arc as Red and Blue find a connection in their one-upmanship, and their hunger for more grows far past the simple jabs of competitive braggarts as they develop a need to impress the other as they manipulate the threads of time in their favor and away from the other. They find an understanding in each other with each new letter that makes it hard to put this quick read down, and when it matters most the time travel works. Ooo boy does it ever.
Ben’s (Made-for-TV) Movie Pick: South Park: Post Covid – The first South Park “movie” since 1999’s Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is yet another smart, funny, and entertaining outing for the titular town’s citizens. The two-part event opens after the Covid pandemic finally ends, and follows Stan, Kyle, and the other children of South Park as they mourn a mutual loss. Then, they uncover secrets surrounding that loss, which may be connected to the origins of the coronavirus itself. It pokes fun at both ends of our divided nation, the rise of subscription-based services, creates plenty of hilarious situations regarding the main cast’s growth and maturity (or lack thereof) since Covid, and more with the whip smart satire the long-running franchise is known for. Post Covid most likely won’t win over any new South Park fans, but it’s certainly a sign to those who already love classic adult animated sitcom that the minds behind it are as brilliant as ever, and still have plenty of material to work with.
Ben’s Podcast Pick: The Always Sunny Podcast – The Always Sunny Podcast is helmed by three of the stars and writers of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney (Mac) Charlie Day (Charlie) and Glenn Howerton (Dennis). That hosting talent alone was enough to get me listening. Each episode of the series focuses on an episode of their hit TV show – or at least is meant to – but the conversation often veers into stories about the cast and crew, or whatever else is on Rob, Charlie, or Glenn’s mind at the time. They discuss what they’ve learned from their long careers in television, what they’d do differently in older episodes with what they know now, parking lot shenanigans, and much more, and their unrehearsed banter is closer in comedic quality to that of their characters’ written lines than you might expect.
So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!
And while you’re here, be sure to check some of the site’s other recent content:
- Zac’s very specific thoughts on The Batman
- Ben’s love letter to Nic Cage.
Middle of the Row 