Amy Poehler
How to Have the Best Weekend Ever: Scary Movies, Suzi Quatro, + More
What we’ll be listening to, watching, and reading to sate our pop culture needs.
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Welcome to our special Halloween edition, for those too spooked (or, let’s be real, exhausted from the workweek) to don a costume, head to a party, or even go trick-or-treating. We’ve got your pop culture candy right here.
Scary Movie Classics
It’s the perfect weekend to raid the candy bowl (or your kid’s pillowcase stash) and re-watch the scariest femme-centric films cinema has to offer. Bathe in the proverbial pig’s blood of Carrie (Sissy Spacek!), put the lotion in the basket with Silence of the Lambs (Jodie Foster!), and make a deal with the devil so he’ll let you stay up long enough to finish Rosemary’s Baby (Mia Farrow! Plus one of our favorite witches, Minnie Castevet).
Wonder Woman Reading Fest
You could spend the entire weekend turning pages and still not have enough time to get through every excellent book that came out this week. But it’s worth a try. The Woman I Wanted to Be is the new memoir from Diane Von Furstenberg, the creator of the iconic wrap dress and one of fashion’s most refreshing personalities. Get The Secret History of Wonder Woman from New Yorker staffer Jill Lepore’s in-depth look at the feminist icon through William Moulton Marston, the superhero’s creator. Then devour the memoir we’ve all been waiting for: Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. The former SNL star and current Leslie Knope sheds all pretense to tell real stories about her funniest friends (Tina Fey, the Parks & Rec cast) and her split with Will Arnett while dropping those life-lesson Poehlerisms we’ve all come to love. Kathryn Harrison’s Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured, looks at the peasant girl from the 1400s through the lenses of history, myth, and art to providing a whole new appreciation for the controversial heroine.
‘The Girl From Detroit City’ Box Set—Suzi Quatro
You can listen to Taylor Swift all you want (it’s true, “Shake it Off” is really catchy), but Dames dig the girl from Detroit City, Suzi Quatro. With her signature leather jumpsuit, bass-playing badassery, and sassafrass attitude, she was one of the early (only!) female pioneers in the dude-heavy garage scene. This box set spans her 50-year career from her rocker hits of the ’70s to more recent tunes that dabble in country, dance, and the almighty power ballad.
HBO’s Olive Kitteridge Miniseries starring Frances McDormand
Olive Kitteridge, a novel comprising a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Strout set in Maine and intertwined by the titular character, was one of our favorite books of 2008. With Frances McDormand starring as Olive and The Kids Are All Right creator Lisa Cholodenko directing in this HBO miniseries it inspired is destined to be on of our favorite TV experiences of the year. We’re already sad that it’s only four episodes.
‘You Know What to Do’—The Shivas
The third album from this Pacific Northwest garage band is their best one yet, thanks in no small part to K Records’ loveable weirdo Calvin Johnson who produced and released it. The warm fuzz of this lo-fi album fits their ’60s-influenced sound perfectly. And while we love that the foursome swings from surf-steady hooks to happy handclaps, what we appreciate the most is The Shivas’ all-too rare female drummer, Kristin Leonard.
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