Monthly Recommendations #1: Nicola Coughlan's TV Takeover and Sabrina Carpenter's Latest Single
"Please Please Please" enjoy this list of things I watched, read, and listened to in June.
Welcome to the very first Monthly Reccomendations, a column that may be renamed to something much better and far less basic in the future!
I want to see if I can keep up with the podcasts, long-form articles, books, and TV shows I enjoy or find thought-provoking every month. I’m so good at forgetting to circle back to read an article I saved on Twitter. Also, as someone who writes about TV daily, I somehow forget every show I’ve watched as soon as the season ends. I want to get better at remembering the things I like, and this newsletter is all about those things that spark joy. So, in an effort to lean into the joy and jog my memory, here are some of my favorite pop culture bits from June 2024.
What to Watch:
House of the Dragon Season 1 (Max)
I’ve never watched Game of Thrones. I know some of the plot’s big swings because I exist online. I was a bit shocked that House of the Dragon came along and piqued my interest. I love dragons and stories with complicated families, so I tried it and thoroughly enjoyed it (I’m only halfway through the season!). I’m also so lucky to have a friend (Thank you, Lizzie!) who answers every question I have about every inconsequential detail.
The HOTD cast doing Buzzfeed’s puppy interview
I can’t stop thinking about the House of the Dragon press tour. The banners for Team Green and Team Black on notable buildings (The Empire State Building!) around the world? That’s wild! The promotional rollout is so incredible to me that I’ve been debating writing a post about it. I’ve been reading and watching every interview with this talented cast who cares so deeply about their characters.
I’m trying (and failing, for the most part) to fix my attention span by watching less TikToks and more long-form content. I really like Sally Darr’s editing style.
Big Mood Season 1 (Tubi) and Bridgerton Season 3 (Netflix)
It’s Nicola Coughlan’s world, and we’re just living in it! From Big Mood, a profoundly funny, intimate, and unflinching story about mental health and friendship, to Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington’s friends-to-lovers romance on Bridgerton, Nicola Coughlan is showing her range as a performer. She’s actually incredible, and I will watch her in everything forever.
Jonathan Groff’s Tony Awards Acceptance Speech!!!
I couldn’t be happier for Jonathan Groff. Really, truly. His speech made me WEEP. My entire Twitter timeline was overjoyed for him with this win, and it’s so hard for people to agree with each other about anything on that website.
What to Read:
Clara for Hmm That’s Interesting writing about why so many of us can’t stop fawning over Emily Henry’s romance books.
I have yet to venture into the Emily Henry phenomenon. (I know, I know!) Beach Read is staring at me on my bookshelf, just waiting for me to fall head over heels in love with the romance and Henry’s way of writing it. Maybe this summer is the perfect time to finally (hopefully) understand all of the hype.
Alicia Gilstorf’s review of Am I Okay? for Cool Girl Critiques
It is enough to make some of us who are struggling through the many shades of adulthood, including our sexuality, cry. And I did cry several times throughout this film. Not because the dialogue is super profound or because Lucy’s story is particularly tragic. But at points, her mundane experience reflects the frustrations of this situation with such accuracy and honesty that it strikes a chord.
Vulture’s profile of House of the Dragon’s Tom Glynn-Carney: Is This Your King? written by Roxana Hadadi:
The playlist he made for Aegon (he makes one for all his characters) helps get him in the right mercurial mind-set, he tells me at Rough Trade. It includes some contemplative classical and punk rock like the Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, and the Sex Pistols — “Ironically,” he says with a smile, “fuck-the-patriarchy, fuck-the-monarchy stuff.” In his own life, Glynn-Carney makes “lyrically driven, quite folky” music, citing Tame Impala, Bon Iver, and, of course, Garvey as influences. He grabs a copy of Jeff Buckley’s Grace because he’s worn down his current edition from listening to it so much. He treats Chet Baker’s 1959 album Chet gently, like a holy object, when he tells me he’d love to play the cool jazz musician in a biopic one day. “There she is,” he says, as if greeting an old friend, when he sees Patti Smith’s Radio Ethiopia. “Anyone who says they don’t like music, you can’t trust them. Bodies under the floorboards, isn’t it?” he says.
Why Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” Still Resonates So Deeply written by Gissane Sophia for Marvelous Geeks
One of the best parts of this newsletter is having a new space to shout about my friends’ talent and share their work. I shared my friend Alicia’s review above. Now, I’m sharing one of my favorite essays my friend Gissane has ever written. Through the lens of Billie Eilish’s Grammy-winning song “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, Gissane captures the emotions of trying to sustain creativity when robots are actively working against human voices.
Bridgerton Introduced a Queer Black Woman — Of Course People Are Mad by Alanna Bennett for Refinery29
If Bridgerton's aim is to reinvent the period drama, to "reflect the world we live in today," as Van Dusen put it during the show's first season, then the mission is not complete without major queer characters allowed to live out major queer love stories.
What to Listen to:
Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” and her cover of Chappell Roan’s “Good Luck, Babe!”
I’ve been a fan of Sabrina Carpenter for years. It’s been a thrill to watch her career skyrocket (“Nonsense!” “Espresso!” The Eras Tour with Taylor Swift!) after seeing her talent on Girl Meets World and in songs like “Almost Love” and “Fast Times.”
This podcast is my happy place. I revisit episodes like it’s comfort TV. I’ve listened to this specific episode at least three times this month. I’m also sure that I look SO strange when I listen to How Did This Get Made? in public. I can’t help but laugh so hard that I end up doubled over with tears streaming down my face.
I have to credit Angourie Rice’s podcast all about stories for inspiring me to read more. The Community Library sounds like sitting in a cozy room with your favorite people, mugs of your favorite drinks in hand, talking about the stories you love. It reminds me to take the pressure out of reading and enjoy it more.
What did you watch, read, and listen to in June?
💌 Shelby
I want to let you, my readers, know I plan to introduce a paid subscription to this newsletter later this summer. With the current state of entertainment journalism, it’s imperative that writers are valued, which is one of the reasons why I like the uplifting community on Substack. I’d greatly appreciate it if you want to pledge a subscription now. I will sprinkle in reminders as the paid subscription’s launch gets closer.