annie
How To Have the Best Weekend Ever: Holiday Movies + ‘Homeland’ Ends
What we’ll be listening to, watching, and reading to sate our pop culture needs.
This article was made possible because of the generous support of DAME members. We urgently need your help to keep publishing. Will you contribute just $5 a month to support our journalism?
If you need us, we’ll be bundled up at home enjoying all of these winter riches.
Holiday Movie Marathon
Break out the eggnog and fire up the Yule log, then hit the couch for a holiday movie marathon. We’ve got the obvious ones on deck (Elf, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation), but we’re going classic (It’s a Wonderful Life) and nostalgic (Charlie Brown’s anti-corporate Christmas rant in A Charlie Brown Christmas is everything) too.
‘Black Messiah’— D’Angelo
Oh, D’Angelo (*fans self*). It’s hard not to get hot and bothered listening to this new record from the king of pure sex music himself. Especially since he’s been keeping us waiting for 14 years (Voodoo came out in 2000!). But in addition to bringing us buttery, soulful R&B, Black Messiah has a current of unrest running through it—D’Angelo even pushed its release date up in the wake of Eric Garner and Michael Brown’s deaths and their aftermaths. A beautiful album for these ugly times.
‘Homeland’ Season Finale
We suffered through quite a bit of crazy with Homeland, but with its season-4 finale airing Sunday, the show is back at peak performance. It’s been a slow burn but after last week’s powerful surprise, we can’t wait to see where the season, finally driven by Carrie’s story—and which drew us into this series in the first place—ends. Nice save!
‘Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina’ by Misty Copeland
Misty Copeland was an anxious 13-year-old living in a dismal motel room with her five siblings when she discovered ballet. She grew up to become the only African-American soloist dancing with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. Her memoir, now out in paperback, tells her story, one whose power and elegance matches her onstage talent.
‘The Pinkprint’—Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj has been making tongues and fingers wag since her debut album came out in 2010, but with “Anaconda” she took it all to new heights. This week she dropped that single’s sprawling 22-track album, The Pinkprint, unleashing her defiant brand of feminism on the rap world. Love her or hate her, we’ll all be talking about it.
‘Annie’
In 1982 we fell in love with the little freckled orphan girl and her sweet dog Sandy. So we were pretty psyched when our favorite pre-adolescent actress Quvenzhané Wallis was cast in the remake’s titular role. Yes, it’s got a 24 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. But we can’t help but want to see this star-studded extravaganza (is it wrong to love Cameron Diaz, too?) for ourselves.
Before you go, we hope you’ll consider supporting DAME’s journalism.
Today, just tiny number of corporations and billionaire owners are in control the news we watch and read. That influence shapes our culture and our understanding of the world. But at DAME, we serve as a counterbalance by doing things differently. We’re reader funded, which means our only agenda is to serve our readers. No both sides, no false equivalencies, no billionaire interests. Just our mission to publish the information and reporting that help you navigate the most complex issues we face.
But to keep publishing, stay independent and paywall free for all, we urgently need more support. During our Spring Membership drive, we hope you’ll join the community helping to build a more equitable media landscape with a monthly membership of just $5.00 per month or one-time gift in any amount.