Confessions of a Pop Culture Evangelist

I can't stop forcing people to like what I like

Every time I love something I swear I won’t do the thing I always do: Push it on my loved ones until they grow resentful. Instead I’ll lightly suggest it once, then let them watch it on their own time and come to their own conclusion. This will result in more authentic enjoyment, I tell myself. It is the superior path.

Yet regardless of my intentions, I always wind up proselytizing. I’m like a doomsdayer wearing a sandwich board, except instead of saying “The End is Nigh” my board says “If you like Adolescence and The Studio you NEED to watch the German thriller Victoria because it has the one shot thing but it’s also an immersive portrait of Berlin and Franz Rogowski from Passages is in it so it officially counts as bi.” Admittedly I’ve driven several people (including but not limited to my husband) to ignore my recommendations purely out of spite. I am fully aware that I deserve this.

And so, in an effort to preserve my interpersonal relationships, I have decided to threaten my parasocial ones. Below are some TV shows, books, and other media (plus one food) that has kept my mental health afloat for the past few months. It’s bleak out there, and while most content just makes the depression worse, these have somehow done (or will soon do) the opposite for me. The evangelist side of myself can only hope that they do the same for you:

TV

• The Rehearsal 2 - I recently saw a TikTok that said we are lucky to be alive at the same time as Nathan Fielder, calling him one of the greatest comedic minds of all time. Agreed, though I would argue that he’s one of the greatest artists of all time, period. While Nathan for You was firmly comedy (groundbreaking comedy, but still), The Rehearsal Season 2 follows in the cultural-criticism footsteps of The Curse even more than Season 1 did, transcending humor to function as absurdist performance art meets sociological theory meets scientific study. The show doubles as investigative journalism, shedding light on everything from airline safety to Paramount Plus’s antisemitism. Nathan Fielder’s storytelling embodies show-not-tell to a degree that might seem impossible if he hadn’t created this format out of thin air. At the end of each episode, I find myself almost tearing up at the profundity, specifically the sheer amount he manages to convey about humanity in 35 minutes. I watch this weekly on Sunday nights and always deem it more urgent than The Last of Us.

• The Devil’s Plan - I’m sorry if I’ve already pushed this show on you, mostly because I will not stop pushing until I succeed in getting you to watch. The Devil’s Plan is a Korean game show on Netflix, basically the intelligence version of Physical 100: Brilliant minds from all industries compete in strategy games that run the gamut from math to memory to interpersonal politics. Season 2 just dropped and though I’m only halfway through episode one, it already has Justin Min and the world champion of Go (this man beat an AI!!!!). Season 1 blew my mind, picking up momentum halfway through with incredible twists and fascinating strategy. I usually avoid the dubbed version of non-English media, but Season 1 was so complex that I had to watch with both English audio and subtitles turned on. I’m personally invested in getting you to watch this one because I need it to become so popular that they remake it in the US, just so I can apply to be on and get swiftly denied (my kink!!).

• Survivor Season 48 - I never wanted to become a Survivor Person™️ but procrastinating finishing one’s novel makes one do funny things. I started watching after a recommendation from my friend Natasha, which I felt inclined to take given how much I loved her last reality TV suggestion (Love Island, lol). She ostensibly wrote me a curriculum to make it through Survivor’s best seasons in the correct order, and though I haven’t completed this syllabus in its entirety, I *have* seen Heroes & Villains (and most of that cast’s original seasons) as well as Cagayan, which is enough to know that 48 is among the all-time greats. I wept like a baby when Joe hugged Eva, Kyle and Kamilla’s stealthiness continues to astound me, and I haven’t stopped laughing since last week when David stood up at jury (like bro…what??). So glad I got past my arbitrary aversion and became a Survivor Person. Now I wear the title like a badge (or better yet: a necklace 😏).

• Overcompensating - I am so happy for Benito Skinner’s well-deserved success that I found myself beaming while watching him on Late Night this week. Truly can’t wait for this show and his inevitable meteoric rise from “one of the influencers who actually deserves to be famous” to Emmy-winner/household name. (Also kudos to my friend Neek who did the music supervision for this show—I am in awe of you!!)

• Your Friends And Neighbors - The best (aka the only) scripted show about rich people that is currently on TV. It’s no White Lotus and is mediocre at best—the majority of supporting characters are too attractive to be believable, and that intro sequence may be one of the worst of all time. But watching rich people be rich is indulgent thus this show is still a helpful aide when trying to disassociate, and until Season 3 of Severance drops or Alfonso Cuarón develops another Disclaimer, that’s all we can really ask for from Apple TV.

• Disclaimer - Speaking of Disclaimer, watch Disclaimer. Yes, the whole thing.

• Dope Thief - Actually this is also on Apple TV and is indeed very good!! Directed by Ridley Scott, Brian Tyree Henry’s performance hits all the octaves, and Wagner Moura is so watchable that I’m ready to attempt Narcos again. (I’m also in awe of my friend Danielle Dupre who did the mix for this—it’s noticeably excellent, as all her work always is.)

Movies

• Friendship - I haven’t seen this yet because it just came out, but the trailer alone has made life worth living, giving all of us something to look forward to. Tim Robinson is on his own Nathan Fielder-esque trajectory, and we can only hope that someday HBO throws a similarly sized bucket of money in his direction while giving him complete creative control. In the meantime this feels like as close as we’ll get, and a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes suggests it’s probably close enough. I can’t wait to watch this and then quote it insufferably for the next three months.

• Josie & The Pussycats - I’m due for my annual rewatch of this, The Greatest Film Of All Time (and also The Movie That Made Me Gay). Biting satire, a thorough critique of consumerism, Alan Cumming and Parker Posey, Rachel Leigh Cook giving Elisha-Cuthbert-Bring-It-On energy, plus a soundtrack that walked so Paramore could run.

• I Am Not A Witch - A 2017 film by Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni that I also have not seen yet, but it’s this month’s pick for my friends’ Film Club, which happens to be an activity that brings me joy. I plan to watch next weekend. Join me?

Books

• Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte - Believe the hype. A novel-in-stories collection that encapsulates modernity with internet fast wit and scathing, too-real characters—you will see yourself in them and then hate yourself for it (but, like, in a good way). I will think about the story “Ahegao” weekly for the rest of my life, and if I have to suffer like this, so should you.

• Sky Daddy by Kate Folk - Moby Dick but about a girl who is erotically obsessed with planes. Perfect and incredibly weird, proving that those two things are not mutually exclusive.

• Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive - This one comes out May 27, but I had the privilege of reading the ARC. A love story anchored in one woman’s end-of-life party at her queer retirement home, this book unfolds like a movie: Beautiful characters, laced with humor, sweet but not saccharine. Though the backdrop was a world destroyed by climate change, it still left me feeling optimistic that maybe queer love will, in fact, save us someday.

Food

• Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar - It has come to my attention that not everyone is aware of this cheese??? Unexpected Cheddar is aptly named, as it is unexpectedly delightful, unexpectedly the favorite of every charcuterie board, unexpectedly everything you want Dubliner to be. I can vouch for it in every form of matter: Block, shredded, and spreadable. A staple in my cart and in my cheese drawer.

Apps

• HexaSort - I consider myself a mobile game connoisseur, so believe me when I say this one is fire. (Transparently I did pay $9.99 for a month of No Ads and as pathetic as that is I do not regret it.)

• ReelShort - This one actually *does* make me depressed, but I’m adding it here because I need to talk about it and I’m too embarrassed to bring it up in therapy. Perhaps you’ve come across ReelShort’s ads—I got sucked in after watching a ten-minute soap opera unfold on TikTok. Ten-minute retention is no joke, so I clicked the CTA under the guise of doing anthropological and industry research, but then found myself unable to leave. Essentially this app contains 70-minute soap operas cut into 90-second chunks, wherein the drama gets cranked up to 11 before ending with a cliffhanger. After you watch a certain amount of the shorts you have to pay or watch ads to see the next few, or wait until the next day for access to more. The whole thing is scammy and gross, but the acting and writing are often so bad they’re actually The Room-level incredible (or at least thinking this helps me justify watching). I also recently discovered that several of the shows (such as “How to Tame a Silver Fox” or “Submitting to my Ex’s Dad” lmao) are actually just soft core porn. Support sex workers!!

If I succeed in getting you to watch/read/consume any of the above, please circle back and let me know! It means far more to me than it should. 💚