Rec. #889: Convenience Store Woman

What: Nearly every review of Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman mentions that it's difficult to describe, so I won't. I will say that your mileage may vary with this one. 

For example, they say: "uncanny and depraved" (The New Yorker) and "sublimely weird" (The Guardian). I say: very relatable, richly distilled slice of one woman's interior life.

Representative quote: "Before me now was a human male, mindlessly hoping that one of the same species was going to breed."

How to get it: This slim novel, the first of Murata's to be translated into English, is everywhere. It is both popular and critically acclaimed.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Convenience Store Woman was part of List #96: Things to Read from 2020 That You Might Have Missed While Sitting in the Abyss.

Rec. #888: The Basic Ball (A Black Lady Sketch Show)

 

What: A Black Lady Sketch Show is very descriptively and accurately named, with glorious series regulars Robin Thede, Quinta Brunson, Gabrielle Dennis, and Ashley Nicole Black. This sketch, also accurately named, is one of the show's best.

Representative quote: "I'm looking for sadness. I'm looking for Eeyore in Dior. Oh, she is serving you a whole nap!"

How to get it: If you, like me, are someone whose budget does not run to HBO dollars, rest assured that much of the show's content is currently up on YouTube.

Connection to previous Wreckage: See more of Ashley Nicole Black, as featured on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Rec. #417.

Rec. #887/Streaming Suggestion of the Week #50: Murder, She Wrote

 

Stream what: Ah, Murder, She Wrote. Angela Lansbury in small-town Maine is as close as the U.S. has come to delivering the Golden Age-style murder mystery coziness usually seen in English villages.

Stream why: Did you realize that, especially in season 1, every single male character vaguely over the age of 45 spends the episode thirsting after our heroine? This is exactly as it should be.

Stream where: Peacock

Image source: https://mythirdparent.tumblr.com/post/173527130987/only-a-few-left-of-this-incredible-murder-she

Rec. #886/Streaming Suggestion of the Week #49: Never Have I Ever

 

Stream what: Never Have I Ever is about Devi, a high school girl determined to come back swinging after a couple of truly awful years. 

Stream why: It's exactly the sort of coming-of-age story we've been missing. These characters (wildly interesting nerd girls!) actually remind me of real-life teenagers I knew from my real-life teenage life.

Representative quotes: 

"We are smart. And idiots are banging all the time. We can learn how to do it, too."

"I'm a goddamn delight! I should punch you in the Adam's apple for saying that."

"No cocaine for me, thanks. I'm good."

Stream where: Netflix

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #48: Away We Go

 

Stream what: Soon-to-be new parents Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) embark on a road trip, looking for somewhere to settle.

Stream why: The cast is bonkers. Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamilton, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Messina, Paul Schneider, etc. etc.

The performances from Rudolph and Lynskey are particularly jaw-dropping standouts.

Stream where: Peacock (another one, I know -- but it's free)

Connection to previous Wreckage: Away We Go was Rec. #83.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #47: This Way Up

 

Stream what: Aisling Bea, Sharon Hogan, and Aasif Mandvi are all skilled comedic actors who can also go achingly, soul-deep dark. They need that full scope in This Way Up.

Bea herself created This Way Up, a story of Áine after a breakdown, and provides generously for others in Áine's orbit as well. 

Stream why: Season one, with its superlative acting and writing, deserved way more attention than it got. I'm absolutely thrilled it's been renewed for a second season.

Stream where: Hulu

Connection to previous Wreckage: This Way Up was Rec. #831. Even more connections there, if you follow the trail ...

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #46: Russian Doll

 

Stream what: In a world where time is a flat circle and yesterdaytodaytomorrow is a labyrinthine hall of mirrors where death is ... everywhere, Nadia tries to figure out what the hell is going on. Timely.

Stream why: Creators Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler, and Leslye Headland successfully make existential dread funny. It's so good. So, so, so good. 

Stream where: Netflix

See also: Russian Doll was Rec. #775 and was the reason for the glories of Rec. #812. It also made it to the Best of 2019 as the "Best Worst Day."

Rec. #885/Streaming Suggestion of the Week #45: Pretend It's a City

Stream what: With this docuseries, Martin Scorsese tricks the notoriously writer's-blocked wit Fran Lebowitz into writing more essays. Just ... verbally.

Stream why: I am always, always interested in what Fran Lebowitz has to say, even on those occasions when I don't agree with her completely. (Oddly, I think I am less reverent about Great Artists -- capital "g," capital "a" -- than she is.)

(That said, I think she is 100% right about a lot of things. Like telling Spike Lee he's wrong about sports.)

Representative quotes:

"I'm now too old to die young."

"I have two main activities in life: smoking and plotting revenge."

"She wants to know if there's a suffocating political correctness, and my answer is I'm breathing fine."

Stream where: Netflix

Connections to previous Wreckage: I've covered her books (Rec. #188: Metropolitan Life, Quote for These Times #5, Rec. #347: Social Studies) and her previous Scorsese doc, Public Speaking (List #61: Unpretty Women and Their Cities).

And also: I said this on Twitter already, but I stand by it: "Ideally, Pretend It's a City should have included an episode where Fran Lebowitz and @nlyonne chat while browsing through racks of coats."

Rec. #884/Streaming Suggestion of the Week #44: What the Constitution Means to Me

 

Stream what: I was supposed to see a performance of What the Constitution Means to Me in Chicago on March 14 last year. That didn't happen.

I am therefore even more grateful that this live filmed production of Heidi Schreck's play exists. I knew it would be good, but I didn't quite expect it to be this amazing, riled up, live-wire tour de force.

Stream why: Schreck has been performing the show for 10 years. It just keeps being essential viewing as it asks a crucial question --- "Is it all broken?"

Stream where: Amazon Prime

Fun fact: This filmed production was directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). Can't wait to see what she does next.

Rec. #883: David Tennant Does a Podcast with Stacey Abrams

 

What: David Tennant interviewed Stacey Abrams on his podcast earlier this year and it was excellent. Perhaps relevant to our collective interests right now??

How to get it: Grab David Tennant Does a Podcast With ... wherever you get your podcasts. It's had two very good seasons so far. (The Olivia Colman episode is still the best.)

Connections to previous Wreckage: In Rec. #785, I explained how this podcast overcomes two General Truths of Podcasting. In Rec. #847, I graced it with a "Best of 2019" title.

Rec. #882: Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine

 

What: Natasha Lyonne directs Sarah Cooper (more than a lip-syncer!) and an all-star supporting cast (Aubrey Plaza, Marisa Tomei, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Winona Ryder, Helen Mirren, Megan Thee Stallion, etc etc etc) through a surrealist narrative adventure.

How to get it: Stream on Netflix.

List #96: Things to Read from 2020 that You Might Have Missed While Sitting in the Abyss

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata

I probably shouldn't remark on how relatable I found this.

Culture Warlords, Talia Lavin (see also List #93)

Lavin catfishes white supremacists.

Giant Days (the end), John Allison and Max Sarin (see also Rec. #711)

The much-beloved long-running series finally winds up as our heroines graduate.

Gravity Is the Thing, Jaclyn Moriarty (see also Rec. #235)

Kind of a cheat (published in 2019), but at least the paperback edition was published this year.

Hiding in Plain Sight, Sarah Kendzior (see also List #93)

It's no surprise that Kendzior, who has been consistently right about our broken democracy for more than four years, has another book where she's right a lot. But, bonus, it's also very beautifully written!

I Like to Watch, Emily Nussbaum (see also List #93)

TV! She like to watch TV!

Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why, Alexandra Petri (see also List #93)

If you're going to reflect back on the past four years, this is definitely the way to do it.

Solutions and Other Problems, Allie Brosh (see also Rec. #801)

Brosh breaks our hearts all over again.

Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino (see also List #93)

Essays on the way we live now.

Also, I'd like to state for the record that my List #66 (aka "Follow These Women on Twitter") pretty much became my List #93 (aka "These Women Have Books Now"). 

So I clearly have my finger on the pulse of ... something. And it'd be great if someone would be into paying me for that.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #43: Lady Bird

Stream what: Writer-director Greta Gerwig shows us a year in the life of one high schooler in the early 2000s.

Stream why: Lady Bird manages to be fresh and relatable and authentic and funny and sad all at the same time.

Stream where: Amazon Prime and Kanopy.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Lady Bird was Rec. #673.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #42: Green Wing

Stream what: This lightly surreal British comedy takes place in a hospital, but absolutely no attention whatsoever is paid to patients. The humor is all about the characters' personal lives, not their jobs.

Stream why: It's hilarious and it's bizarre and sometimes that's just what you need.

Stream where: Amazon Prime

Connections to previous Wreckage: Green Wing was Rec. #110. Also, Olivia Colman is in it (Rec. #759)! (John Oliver also has a tiny, tiny role in the first episode.)

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #41: Take Me to the World

Stream what: This 90th-birthday celebration for living legend Stephen Sondheim is two-and-a-half hours of taped-ahead-streamed-live theater magnificence.

(And unlike the actual live stream from April 26, this video doesn't start with one hour of technical problems.)

Stream why: Remember real, identifiable emotions that weren't "nameless dread"?? Feel them all here!

There is so much good, amazing stuff. The highest highlights for me personally are Katrina Lenk's "Johanna"; Alexander Gemignani's "Buddy's Blues"; Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh, and Thom Sesma's "Someone in a Tree"; and, of course, Christine Baranski, Meryl Streep, and Audra McDonald's "The Ladies Who Lunch."

Stream where: YouTube. And donate to ASTEP if you can.



Connections from previous Wreckage: For more Sondheim, see also Rec. #99: Company, Rec. #215: The Last of Sheila, Rec. #511: The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, and Rec. #557: Sondheim Lyrics on Twitter.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #40: Heathers

Stream what: In the cult classic black comedy Heathers, main character Veronica Sawyer notes that "my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count," which is a fairly accurate summary of the whole film.

Stream why: The dialogue is endlessly quotable, and the themes and plot remain relevant in new and horrifying ways.

Stream where: Amazon Prime and Hulu.

Heathers was Rec. #160.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #39: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee

Stream what: Like many other late-night hosts, Samantha Bee has found a way to continue with her show.

Unlike the men, however, Bee is not sitting in her living room or office. Oh no! She has taken her blazers to the woods and has been presenting produced segments from outside a woodshed.

Stream why: Samantha Bee is great. She should get more press for being great. She's great.

Stream where: It's all on YouTube!


See also: List #63, Rec. #664, Rec. #739, etc.

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #38: The Big Sick

Stream what: The Big Sick is a based-on-real-life story written by the people who lived it, Emily Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It's funny and sad and well written and well acted. Plus, Holly Hunter!

Stream why: Did you not see when I said "Holly Hunter!"? Also, the character Emily gets a great, underrated scene where she says, "I love it when men test me on my taste."

Stream where: Amazon Prime

Rec. #881: Quote from a Fictional Character #105

"I see everyone's point of view, which is very confusing. Seeing everyone's point of view is like mixing your drinks."

--- Annie, Doctors of Philosophy,

Muriel Spark, 1962

(See List #58)

Rec. #880: Marian Keyes on YouTube

What: Author Marian Keyes is a delight and her vlogs on YouTube are like chatting with a friend. 

A friend who is gratifyingly annoyed by daylight and warm weather, who reads loads and loads of books, who doesn't ignore that the world is a mess, who nevertheless delights in shiny things, and who speaks with a really great Irish accent.

Representative quote: "F-ing clocks! Isn't it awful? It's just not nice, it's really upsetting, all that fecking light going on at 4 in the morning."

How to get it: Visit her YouTube channel.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Marian Keyes also has a monthly newsletter that is extremely charming (Rec. #418).