10 Things: lists within lists
My recommendations for what to watch, do, read, listen to, and cook this week.
Autumn is in full swing, my friends, and so is the shift from salads to baked things; from high-tempo pop music to gauzy folk; from sitting outside watching clouds to lying on a couch watching movies. My recommendations shall change accordingly.
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“Groundhog Day”-style movies
So, I watched “Meet Cute” on Peacock because it called itself a romantic comedy and I can’t stop myself from watching any new romantic comedy that is produced. (I hate them, as a rule, but I also LOVE THEM AS A RULE.) And plus, this one had Pete Davidson, and PLUS, it had a “Groundhog Day”-style twist. (Which means that basically the plot is a person living the same day over and over again.) Ultimately, though, this particular “Groundhog Day”-type movie was a let-down. It depicted a pretty emotionally abusive relationship and was laissez faire about suicide (but not in a cute way, like in the OG “Groundhog Day”). It wanted to be fun, but was ultimately sludgy. I did want to watch it all the way through, though, because I wanted to know what would happen, as is often the case with this kind of movie — a real asset, I think. Here are three “Groundhog Day”-style movies that do work:
“12 Dates of Christmas.”
I’m not sure how you feel about the genre of made-for-TV Christmas movies, but I think you SHOULD feel love for them. I sure do. And this is one of my favorites: I watch it every year. It is a basic “Groundhog Day,” but it has Christmas in it, and the protagonist is a woman. She is blonde. It has a happy ending. (“The Mistle-Tones” is a better movie in this genre, but it is hard to find now, and it is not related in any way to “Groundhog Day.”)
“Palm Springs.”
This SNL Leading Guy (Andy Samberg) vehicle (which takes place at a wedding) is, in contrast to “Meet Cute,” a lot of fun. Fun all the way through. The two main characters have chemistry, many of the jokes land, and it feels like the modern send-off of “GD” that we all deserve.
“Groundhog Day.”
I watch this every year (Groundhog Day is my favorite holiday), and last year I had my students watch it in Journalism class (because Bill Murray plays a journalist and I’m a good teacher), and I asked them how they felt it aged. Personally, I see a lot to find offensive in this movie in 2022, but the kids actually liked it a lot. They thought that Bill Murray’s character underwent an important transformation and ultimately became a person worthy of Andy Macdowell’s character. I think men shouldn’t be given literally tens of thousands of chances to become NOT ASSHOLES, but this movie remains amusing.
Ron Funches
Luke got really into Ron Funches' podcast (“Gettin’ Better With Ron Funches”) this week and now wants to listen to it all the time. I haven’t listened to it, but we watched his standup special on Netflix, and I thought it was quite charming. Luke said it was “just OK,” but he is EFFUSIVE about the podcast. So I’ll recommend both, with the caveat that I am mostly pleased that this excellent comedian is from Portland.
Stuffed squash
This year I bought some winter squash seeds. I guess I just wanted to know what it would be like to have squash vines. It was overwhelming, actually: they grew all summer, all over the place, and took over everything, and fired off seemingly endless orange flowers for months. Then, at last, these little orange squashes came. I didn’t know when we were supposed to pick them, but we went for it last week – we took down four. We cooked stuffed squash, which I’d never made before, and I learned there’s sort of a formula. Here is how we made ours:
Cut the squashes (like acorn) in half, take out the seeds, and roast them, face down, for 30 minutes in the oven at 450 degrees.
Cook brown rice.
Sauté vegetables. (We went with carrots, celery, onions, peas, peppers, and kale.)
Get out the soyrizo.
Combine the rice, the veg, and the protein in one bowl, with some chopped nuts (pecans!), then pack it in the cooked squashes.
Put them back in the oven for another 20 minutes.
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