It’s that time again, kids, the October Culture Review! I have been having a great time this month watching some spooky content, including a ridiculous late-night horror from 2010 inexplicably starring Damien from Mean Girls as a flag waving redneck! (Details of which can be provided upon request!) Otherwise, I have been loving watching the leaves change colour, having an excuse to put a gingerbread syrup in my coffee and generally working Autumn for all it is worth!
Of course there has been time for some TV and some books but as I am currently on tour, that has meant more time in the car with music and podcasts `and sometimes just a little bit of quiet ’cause life for everyone is a little non-stop right now.
Anyway, I hope everyone is keeping well, enjoying the change of the season and gearing up for a little bit more hunkering down in the months to come. Read on to see what I have been loving this month!
Film and TV
You, Streaming on Netflix
Joe Goldberg, the creepiest protagonist on screen is back and just in time for Halloween too! Season 3 brings more ill-fated obsession, bloodshed and of course, a basement with that glass cage. You isn’t comfortable viewing and every series seems to get more extreme and convoluted. Following directly on from the end of Season 2, Joe (Penn Badgley) and his wife Love (Victoria Pedretti) are living in Californian suburbia but their suburban life is far from charmed with nosy locals, parenting politics and marital problems pushing them both back to the edge. Before the end of the first episode an innocent neighbour has already been killed in one of Love’s jealous rages after Joe misinterprets light flirtation as full on passionate obsession (classic Joe!). The series continues in a similar vein with Love killing with no plan, just vibes, and Joe (in his opinion) just trying to navigate the course of true love as he tries to find the one.
The whole cast turn in fantastic performances bringing fragility and insecurity to even the most demonic of characters which is what makes the show work. As the body count goes up so does your desire to binge the entire season and find out if this time they’re going to get caught and athleisure wear has never looked so sinister!
You is currently streaming on Netflix.
Squid Game, Streaming on Netflix
It feels like I watched this months ago rather than only a few weeks ago and that is because this show has absolutely dominated pop culture since it was released on Netflix in September. The Korean drama has launched its stars into the western stratosphere and already fan theories are rife for what might be coming up for Season 2. I loved Lee Jong-jae as protagonist, Seong Gi-hun, his character progression is perfectly demonstrated in his smiling player’s photo at the start of the games and the searing, beaten close ups we see as we follow him through a series of childhood games that now have life and death consequences. The sets look like a toy box, scaled up to adult size, in one case the set is literally a giant playground, but the colours and the textures of the surroundings are in complete contrast to the brutality of the games themselves. The show talks about debt, gambling, capitalism and the distribution of wealth and the games themselves will leave you gripping the arms of the sofa in terror and suspense.
Squid Game is currently streaming on Netflix.
Paris Is Burning Deleted Scenes, YouTube
Paris Is Burning released in 1990 and directed by Jennie Livingston is held up as a landmark piece of queer cinema and documentary, documenting the New York ballroom scene in the late 80’s and exploring the world of houses and queer families. The legacy left behind by the queens and trans people of colour that formed these houses and the ballroom community went on to inspire shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose but the documentary footage is where you get the true insight into the sights and sounds of New York in that period. Paris Is Burning was available on Netflix a few years ago and I watched it almost on repeat. I was completely wrapped up in the people featured and their stories. I did a lot of researching, watched lots of where are they now videos and wanting more insight and more time wrapped up in that world.
So you can imagine my delight when I discovered a whole 1 hour and 51 minute video of deleted scenes from the documentary on YouTube! There are whole story strands that were edited out of the theatrical release, more talking heads from the house mothers and key legendary children and just further insight and time spent with the subjects of the documentary. It has brought me a lot of joy and comfort this month and anyone who is a fan of Paris Is Burning will love this beautiful piece of buried treasure.
Watch it here.
Books
Beautiful World Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Sally Rooney is everywhere right now! Following the success of her first novel Conversations With Friends and then the red-hot starry success that was Normal People, Sally Rooney’s third novel, Beautiful World Where Are You was heavily anticipated. The novel explores similar themes to the first two, Rooney examines love, friendship and sex and how these things can be interchangeable within relationships. Outside of the plot there is discussion around the state of the world politically and environmentally and what this means for all our futures.
Sally Rooney’s stripped back style makes for easy reading, this book has more description than her previous two but as always the dialogue paints clear pictures of her characters and the dynamics between them. The central characters in the novel are cerebral and spend a lot of time percolating in emails but when we are in the action the plot moves quickly and the characters are regularly dropped into new locations or situations for us to enjoy.
Podcasts
Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware. Series 12
Table Manners is back for another series and with covid restrictions eased for the moment the guests are back in Lennie’s kitchen and digging in to some of the gorgeous recipes from the Table Manners cookbook (something I cannot wait to get my hands on!). This series kicks off with the iconic Stanley Tucci talking all things Meryl Streep, martinis and classic Italian cooking. Tucci has a new food memoir out, Taste, another book that I will be adding to my ever-growing reading list and the sheer love and reverence that Tucci has for food is palpable in every sentence. Tom Daley’s episode is also brilliant, he is so warm and surprisingly candid and the series just comes to life with everyone sat around a table sharing a meal together.
Music
Dreams, The Cranberries
You know when you have a song in your head but have no idea what it is called so you have to google some random lyrics or the rogue place you heard the song playing… yeah that was this. Unable to get any answers after googling ‘Irish woah song’, I put in ‘songs from Derry Girls‘ (which I have been re-watching on my lunch breaks recently) and there it was! It is pensive, moody and wishful and literally sounds like the ’90s wrapped up in one grungy track.
I ended up reading the whole of lead singer, Delores O’Riordan’s, Wikipedia page and it is an epic but unfortunately tragic journey. ‘Zombie’ is probably The Cranberries most famous hit, but ‘Dreams’ just pips it for me, maybe because I love a wistful lyric with a heavy guitar.
Midnight Culture 