Hi there,
I was too tired to write this yesterday, so I figured I'd send this during the peak Sunday scaries. Enjoy!
Watch
Jury Duty (Amazon) is one of the funniest shows of the year, if not the last few years. It's a hidden camera show in which a guy thinks he's on a jury, but every single person involved is an actor. The acting and improvisation is incredible — it takes skill to fully stay in character and not break — and the unsuspecting victim is surprisingly sweet and kind. I found myself gasping with laughter at most of the episodes and weeping through the last one.
And if you want to get in some cleansing weeping, the new season of Queer Eye is out and it’s very good.
Read
The Wager is a nonfiction book that reads like fiction. It's the incredible tale of an English crew that shipwrecked in Patagonia in the 1700s and incredibly, some of them survived. It starts out a little bit slow, but once the voyage gets going it moves pretty quickly. I learned a lot about British marine forces (it's honestly incredible they were an empire), Patagonia, and more than I would have liked to know about scurvy.
See the full list of recommendations here.
Follow
Vinny Thomas is a hilarious comedian who often posts short, laugh-out-loud bits on Instagram and TikTok. Here are a few of my favorites.
Do
Normal Gossip is a really fun podcast that tells other people's gossip stories second or third-hand, and explores what gossip really means. It's produced by a journalist I've followed for a long time who I'm a big fan of, and it's creative, sweet, and engrossing. That said, it's not for everyone — my husband once walked in while I was listening, made a face, and said, “What is that?” — but if you like storytelling, it's really enjoyable. I like to listen to it while I cook.
Until next time,
Rachel