What I've Been Watching and Listening To - TV, Music, Movies and Podcasts
I didn’t want to do a March favorites post this month. Mainly because my favorites haven’t changed all that much and I don’t want the posts to become to repetitive. But I did want to talk about what I have been watching and listening to lately. Whether that be podcasts or music or shows on Netflix, because I’ve been enjoying quite a few things lately!
March was actually a pretty good month for both great TV and film but also music. Billie Eilish’s debut album Where Do We Go When We Fall Asleep debuted at the end of March, but I have been bopping to the singles she’s released from it since February. The album as a whole is amazing and it’s mind-boggling to think of how talented and creatively brave Billie is already at the age of only 17. She will be touring this spring and summer and it is my mission to get my hands on tickets when she comes to Chicago in June (the day after my birthday!). I will have no shame bopping along next to the teen set at it. No shame in my game!
The series, A Discovery of Witches dropped on Sundance Now. I know it had already debuted overseas in the UK but Canada and the US are just getting it (it officially debuts on AMC this month. But I couldn’t wait and signed up for Sundance Now just to watch it. I read the books a couple of years ago (the first two anyway) and liked them. I was interested to see what they did with the character and the story. And I was really impressed. The casting is perfect - Matthew Goode as Mathhew Claremont is a dream(boat) and Teresa Palmer is great as Diana Bishop. I sometimes found Diana grating or annoying in the books but Teresa does a great job of leaving the character’s more bothersome characteristics on the sidelines and creates a Diana that you genuinely like and root for. Plus she’s utterly gorgeous and its always nice to watch two beautiful people fall in love onscreen. My plan is to re-read the second book (the first season of the show covers the first book) as well as start the third book before the show returns. Which will be awhile since Teresa Palmer is currently due any day with her third baby!
The Daily has been a podcast that I have listened to on and off for years. I had taken a break from it over the last few months but have recently gotten back into and was reminded of why I liked it so much. Michael Barbaro does a great job in his reporting and the topics are always interesting and well researched. My current fave episode is about Boeing and the shortcuts they took to make the 737 Max 8 and how that led to the two crashes and the planes being grounded.
If you’re looking for a funny, quirky easy to binge show then I highly recommend Santa Clarita Diet. I binge-watched the first two season of the show last year and loved it. The story centers around a suburban couple, Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant who’s lives are turned upside down when the wife becomes a zombie. Crazy premise. Even crazier show. But absolutely hilarious. And with each episode only being 30 minutes long and only 8-9 episodes a season, it’s really easy binge watch. The third season just debuted and I watched the entire thing on a Saturday afternoon while I was sick in bed.
The story of Elizabeth Holmes and her company, Theranos, has been all over the media lately due to multiple shows, documentaries and a podcast about her and the company. If you haven’t heard the story here is a very brief synopsis: A young woman starts a company under the premise that she has created a technology that allows a simply finger prick and small sample of blood to diagnose hundreds of diseases, disorders, etc. She gets the likes of juggernauts like Henry Kissinger to not only be on the board of this company but invest MILLIONS of their own dollars into it. But it was all based on a giant lie. Think of this as the Fyre Festival of the tech/health industry. I have been fascinated by this story mainly because it is so clear that Holmes is a sociopath and yet no one seemed to notice until it was too late. The HBO documentary The Inventor is fantastic and has amazing in-depth interviews with not only former employees but with Holmes herself. There is also a podcast, The Dropout that I have added to my list of podcasts to start listening to.
I mean…Captain Marvel. The film just crossed the billion dark mark in earnings. It is the first female-led superhero film to do so. I loved this film. The action is great and there is no doubt that Carole Danver aka Captain Marvel is a bad ass. But the thing I loved the most is that this was a film about a woman discovering who she is and what she is capable of and it has nothing to do with a romantic relationship. The overwhelming relationship arcs in this film center around friendship. Not only Carole’s friendship with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) but her friendship with her best friend, Maria. I talked about this a bit in my post Six Lessons to Learn From Captain Marvel. I also love how this film was it’s own entity but still set the stage for what’s to come in mine (and a bunch of others’ for sure) most anticipated film of 2019 - Avengers: End Game.
What have you been enjoying lately? What podcasts or shows do you recommend? Let me know in the comments!
