What to Watch August 2021

August is shining like a new dime when it comes to good options on streaming and TV! Some big things are dropping, like The Suicide Squad, Cruella (finally included at no additional fee for Disney Plus subscribers), Nine Perfect Strangers (based on the excellent book by Liane Moriarty), and The Chair (starring Sandra Oh, so that's an automatic watch). 

But I'm really revved up for some shows that aren't as well known, like season 2 of the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks on Paramount Plus, season 2 of Five Bedrooms (if you haven't heard of this Peacock show plucked from Australia, give it a go!), and season 2 of the hilarious New Zealand import Wellington Paranormal (S2 is coming to the CW, while S1 can be found on HBO Max). 

Shit, Actually by Lindy West

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Movie reviews, actually. The most famous being the one about the inexplicably popular Love, Actually. Though as I think of it, I guess the popularity is understandable to a degree, because the film has a lot of famous faces, switches between storylines giving it a fast pace, and shimmers with the semblance of having heart (that it doesn't really have at all if you pay attention). When you peel away the flimsy top layer, the movie really *is* shit, actually! 

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Guest List is a real page-turner, pulling the reader along through chapter after chapter laden with foreboding and foreshadowing of something fearful to come.

The chapters swap between characters and time (moving from shortly before the wedding to the wedding night itself), slowly introducing you to the main players and their internal thoughts and motivations. It was a lot of fun, even with several improbable factors. Not the least of which being that someone invested in creating a wedding venue at a site with the inhospitable location and weather of that sinister small island, strewn with bogs that can swallow a person up faster than quicksand in an old Western movie. Besides the risk of weather woes and the possibility of rough waters, you also only have lodging for a few guests on the island itself, which requires the shuttle by boat of drunk guests — in the dark — back to the mainland after a long evening of wild dancing and open bars (not a great proposition even if you don't factor in stormy conditions, but so much worse when the weather rages). It made me think of Castaway 2000, a British reality show set on a remote Scottish island where the frequently rough seas meant you couldn't just hop a boat and leave anytime you wanted, you had to defer to the untamable force of the sea. 

Townie by Neel Patel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Narrator: Alexandra Gray
Runtime: 38 minutes

The short story Townie is shared through the eyes of Bridgette as she wanders through a life and town she's unhappily stuck in. She makes a friend who is everything she herself would like to be. Secrets are shared, and ... well, let's just say you won't see where this one is heading.

It's an OK story, not fantastic, but worth the time it took to listen. It might inspire you to ponder friendship and trust (among other things). It might even be a good conversation starter with a friend or book club, one that would lead down many roads.

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