Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: June 2024 (Patreon)

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

June. If you’re in California, it’s gloomy. Which is ironically fitting. Cause I was in California half this month almost. Vacation with the family, then a trip to Hollywood for the premiere of Inside Out 2! Absolutely wild. Hard to believe this is my life!

What I’m reading!

• Spielberg: The First Ten Years - by Laurent Bouzereau. This guy has been Spielberg’s on-set documentarian since A.I. and did several retrospectives of his films before that. This guy may know more about Steven Spielberg than any person on earth, but he’s not particularly critical. This book is just one long gush session (admittedly about probably the greatest filmmaker in history). Still, I got a lot out of it, and it’s loaded with images and BTS stuff I hadn’t seen before. So that was worth the price of admission.

• The Emotional Lives of Teenagers - by Dr. Lisa Damour. What?! Alan is reading a psychology book? Isn’t that Jono’s job? Yes, but I’m also raising a teen (soon to be three... Heaven help me) and Dr. Damour was the “teen psychology consultant” on Inside Out 2. Just doing movie homework guys, the world hasn’t ended. I’ll get back to fictional nonsense next month (I think I’m gonna read Fourth Wing. Who doesn’t want slightly horny fantasy dragon-riding?)

What I’m watching!

• Slow Horses Series 2. I’m way behind, but it’s a super-fun spy-thriller-comedy with great performances, phenomenal writing, surprising dramatic depth, and one of the all-time great Gary Oldmans. So yeah. Trying to get caught up since I think Series 4 just came out? 

What I’m playing!

• Return to Monkey Island - A 30-year-later sequel to some really fun adventure games from my very early youth. What’s not to love? Cartoony pirates? Cartoony Voodoo magics? Cartoony cartoon sidekicks? Incredible pun-based humor? If you don’t love these things… That’s fine. We don’t all have to like the same things! You do you, man. I’m gonna keep playing point-and-click adventure games, cause I’m too old to enjoy Souls-likes.

Watch Movies! (And television, and read books, and play video games)

Jono:

Hey all! The summer is already flying by too fast, if you ask me! Still, I've been enjoying the summer films, especially Inside Out 2! Wowza, what a film! I've seen it 2.33 times (the 0.33 was at Pixar, then again at the premiere, then again with my family last week) and it speaks to me so profoundly. Can't wait to do a full episode on it!

I've been devouring Bridgerton S3 and Gilmore Girls, then balancing that lovely estrogen with a viewing of the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings films.

As far as reading, I'm really enjoying It Didn't Start With You by Mark Wolynn, which is about the epigenetics and neuroscience of intergenerational trauma. What I love most is that he keeps it grounded in the human experience, taking what could be a dry and intellectual (read: boring) subject for me and turning it into something practical, emotional, and real. 

I'm a BIG fan of anything that makes the abstract more relatable and applicable. It's the entire backbone of our channel.

What about you lovely folks? What have you been watching and reading this month?