This week, a love story got a sequel, another paper house lined up for its big moment, and a Chicago music legend was remembered.
Here’s what NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour the crew was attentive – and what you should check out this weekend.
That of Brian Moylan Vanderpump Rules recaps on Vulture
Vanderpump Rules just had its season finale, and I wanted to shout out Brian Moylan, who does the recaps for Vander Pump For Vulture. Brian’s recaps are hilarious and he analyzes the show and the characters through the lens of: It’s a workplace drama. This season in particular has been focused on how these colleagues will continue to work together after a few of them poison the entire environment. I’m a business journalist, so I love stories about people’s relationships with their work. It’s a work story. In many reality shows, the actors are much more co-workers than friends or romantic partners, but this is often more subtext than text. Vander Pump makes it a text, and then Brian does a wonderful, fun job of talking about it from that angle. -Wailin Wong
The worst Ronin, by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Faith Schaffer
The worst ronin is an awesome new graphic novel. It’s written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Faith Schaffer. It’s the story of a brash young aspiring samurai who teams up with an alcoholic, battle-scarred samurai to fight a demon. There’s this wacky world-building: it seems to take place in feudal Japan, but everyone has a cell phone and they don’t explain it. The book is full of funny and delicious choices like this. It’s YA, so it’s a great gift for a child, or, if You If you want to read a samurai comedy about a farting demon, this is the book for you. -Jordan Morris
Luciano Pavarotti and Céline Dion in a live duet of “I Hate You Then I Love You”
Youtube
I recently had the opportunity to spend time with my family who I don’t see very often and with my uncle-in-law. love Luciano Pavarotti. We ended up watching a plot of Pavarotti and his friends — the series of performances he did in the 1990s and 1990s where he collaborated with various pop stars: The Spice Girls, Stevie Wonder, Liza Minnelli, Barry White, Sheryl Crow. My favorites are Pavarotti and James Brown singing “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” And Pavarotti and Celine Dion singing “I Hate You Then I Love You.” Their voices sound like butter. I loved going down that rabbit hole. It made me appreciate how Pavarotti would collaborate with so many different people. He seemed so happy to do it, and didn’t have that harsh retort like, “Well, I’m a opera singer.” He seemed to love music of all kinds and appreciate artists of all kinds. -Aisha Harris
More recommendations from Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
by Linda Holmes
The beekeeper came out in January, but it’s had some interesting buzz (sorry) recently, so I finally checked it out, and you know what? It’s pretty good! This is a Jason Statham action film in which he plays a vengeful fighter (you’re shocked!) determined to take down the people who scammed his neighbor out of her savings. It’s certainly not a masterpiece of nuance, but there’s something extremely satisfying about seeing the bad guys in a movie like this portrayed as just ordinary, life-ruining idiots. Forget explosions at military installations: this guy will burn down your boring call center. It is available on demand now.
The death of legendary stuntwoman Jeannie Epper brought me back to the documentary this week Stunt Women: The Untold Story of Hollywood, which you can rent or stream in various places, including for free on Tubi. It will tell you the story of Epper and is also a great companion for The guy who falls just in time (which I hope you see in a theater), as both understand the hard work and commitment of stunt performers.
We are preparing to watch a new season of The Bridgerton Chroniclesand since these seasons only come out every two years, you may need a refresher before jumping in. Maybe you’d like to remember where we were the last time we saw all these fancy people?
I am reading The husbands, an inventive comedy-drama from Holly Gramazio. The hook is irresistible: a single woman’s attic suddenly begins to produce husbands for her, and each time one of them goes up there, he is replaced by a new one who comes back down. It’s a conundrum: How do you get a husband you don’t love to go up there so you can find a new one? How do you keep the one you love from going up there so they don’t disappear? I really like it and can’t wait to see where it goes.
Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the web. If you like these suggestions, consider subscribe to our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts And Spotify.
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