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

Alan:

Hello Heroes!

July. It’s been an absolute blast furnace outside, but that’s okay, I’ve been stuck inside prepping things, and shooting the show! Thank goodness for air conditioning! Now I just need to get some solar panels so I don’t feel (as) bad about destroying the planet for my own personal comfort! Hooray! Everything is bad somehow!

What I’m reading!

• The Fifties - by David Halberstam. An absolutely fascinating book about an absolutely wild decade that usually gets rendered as Greasers and Poodle skirts! Conformity! McCarthyism! Big Cars! Well, it turns out, that was only some of what made the '50s weird.

• Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions - by Ed Zwick. Yep, it’s a Hollywood autobiography. But it's by one of my favorite directors, so I had to check it out. Perfect listening when driving around Utah searching for filming locations for a certain short film!

• Fourth Wing - by Rebecca Yarros. Honestly, as I was going along, it was fine. I was digging the fantasy stuff, and the world was interesting, and pretty competently written. I was annoyed with the characters and their vague horniness, but whatever, it’s new adult lit, gotta be a bit horny and a bit immature? I figured it would be kinda vaguely-horny-but-ultimately-chaste. Then that scene happened. NOT chaste. Makes me question why Hollywood avoids the sexy, if this is the bestselling book in ages. 🤷🏼‍♂️

What I’m watching!

• Fallout. I really like the games and love the universe. What if Mad Max, but goofy and 1950s? The show is absolutely nailing the tone, and it’s really fun so far. I’m only halfway through though, so no spoilers please.  

What I’m playing!

• NCAA College Football 2025 - This is so much more complicated than the College Football games of my youth (last one I played a lot of was 2008? Maybe 2005?) Like, it feels like I need a master’s degree in just playing this game. But hey, I’m willing to put in some work to get my Alma Mater our first natty since 1984.

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

Jono:

Hey all! How has your month been? Recently watched both TWISTER (1996) and the brand-new TWISTERS. The first is better for cheesy fun, the second is the better thriller. It's legit scary with charming characters, but there's nothing as stupidly satisfying as flying cows, driving through a house, or Phillip Seymour Hoffman going all in on a bit part.

A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE was nail-bitingly intense, but it was the simple tender moments of a blossoming friendship between Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn that leaves the strongest impression. 

DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE ended up being a surprisingly sweet love letter to the Fox era of Marvel movies. Very vulgar, very funny, sometimes uninspired (but very often the opposite), with just enough pathos to hold it all together. It's chaotic but it's crazy amounts of fun.

I've been reading HOLY ENVY, a book about a university religion professor who abandons her Christianity, for a time, as she falls in love with Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. She ultimately circles back to her faith but brings everything she loves about the other religions with her. Specifically it's about theology, but in a broader sense it models a beautiful way forward for perspective-taking and building bridges between disparate people and groups without sacrificing individuality. 

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