Your weekend starts here...
Everything you need to binge over the next two days.
Sorry for the Saturday newsletter! This should have been with you yesterday, but my Friday took a turn when real life debt collectors showed up in my life! It turns out the government doesn’t like it when you work for yourself and forget to pay a $200 ACC bill. Here’s everything I’m going to work my way through this weekend to help me recover. I hope you get time to spend with some of this too. Let’s go…
A Quiet Place Part II
This is the big one, the first sign that cinemas are about to spark back into life again. A Quiet Place was the surprise hit of 2018, a small-budget horror with big ideas all from the mind of John Krasinski. Yes, Jim from The Office. But, as the pandemic unfolded, Part II was delayed three separate times. It’s finally here, but is it any good? Apparently it is! To prepare, you have to watch this clip of Jim surprising cinema-goers finally settling into their seats to watch it. It’s pretty cute. (In theatres now)
Master of None - Season 3
Aziz Ansari disappeared for a while over allegations things got weird when a woman went back to the comedian’s apartment. That’s meant season three of his actually pretty good Netflix comedy Master of None has been long delayed. Here’s the first surprise: Ansari isn’t in it, moving instead behind the camera. The second surprise? Apparently, it’s still pretty good. The story instead shifts to focus on the love story of another couple. Reviews say it’s slow, but the pay off is worth it. (Netflix, from Sunday)
Jorja Smith - Be Right Back
I first heard her at Laneway music festival, her voice floating past the carousel and out across Albert Park, making me instantly turn on my heels and walk towards her. Jorja Smith is a British singer blessed with an absolutely huge set of lungs. Her debut, Lost & Found, was good, but her new EP, Be Right Back, is even better. It’s apparently just a stop-gap release. And she’s still only 23. It’s incredible. Clearly, there’s still a lot to come from her. (Stream it here)
Army of the Dead
Look, it’s been a big week. If you grab a huge bag of popcorn, a full tub of Jelly Tip ice cream and an entire block of Whittakers’ new Hokey Pokey Crunch, then turn Zach Snyder’s stupidly dumb new Netflix movie on for a couple of hours of brainless entertainment, I’m not going to blame you. Sometimes, zombies work for me too. (On Netflix now)
Pickle Darling - Cosmonaut
Delightful. That’s the only word that really sums up Pickle Darling, the Christchurch musician who was profiled excellently by Grant Smithies recently. Their new album Cosmonaut is out now and is a perfect Saturday morning soundtrack. But wait - there’s a tour too! Auckland, July 15, Wine Cellar - I’m so there. (Buy Cosmonaut here)
P!nk - All I Know So Far
Look, I’m not the world’s biggest P!nk fan but I’m absolutely starved of arena tours and no one does them better than her. P!nk did, after all, tour Australia for months, playing 46 shows, including 18 in Melbourne alone. That’s insane. This Amazon Prime Video doco is supposed to be a super intimate, behind-the-scenes look at her life and is on the streaming service now. (You don’t have APV? You should! It’s really good!)