Sidebar: (Dumpster) Fire Edition

Indigo Girls, Cozy Mysteries, and Digital Chaos: What’s Worth Your Time This Week

Sidebar!

Weekly Entertainment Picks: Must-Watch Shows, Essential Reads, and Top Podcasts

This is my weekly roundup of links and recommendations. If we talked IRL, I’d likely derail our entire conversation with “Sidebar, have you read | watched | listened | deep dived on this?”

I will be at giving a talk on all things American Girl on Saturday, January 25th at Minnesota Historical Society. Come say hi!

This week has been tough with the fires in LA, political grandstanding about the fires, misinformation about the fires and their spread, Mark Zuck going full “free speech” and “no homo,” and the nation bidding farewell to a president who actually seemed like a kind person. I am going to share a mix of fun and interesting things (per usual), not because I’m unaware of any of this, but because I am trying to stay sane in insane times.

Have you watched?

Over the holiday break, I watched a LOT of things. Here are some of my faves:

Conclave (Peacock). Now, Catholic culture is not it for me most days. Something about the homophobia, transphobia, guilt, etc. etc. HOWEVER, I did read Pope Joan growing up, and let me just say this movie about men scheming to be named the next pope is for all my fellow Pope Joan heads out there. #ifykyk

It’s Only Life After All (Kanopy). This documentary about the Indigo Girls made me cry, and not just because it reminded me of when my straight friend Sophie and I went to a Lilith Fair reboot during college and she so sincerely asked me during the Indigo Girls’ set, “do you think they’re gay?” She was so happy to see them, and I was genuinely so happy to watch this documentary. Both Amy and Emily documented a lot of their musical careers with home movies, or by keeping archival images or concert posters, so there is a treasure trove of images, sounds, and artifacts to draw on to tell their story. The most compelling piece of it, hwoever, is the interviews they both offer throughout about the development of their friendship, music, and lives. I was so genuinely moved to hear them talk about internalized homophobia and how it reared its ugly head at different moments in their lives (relatable content). It’s also maddening to hear how music critics dismissed their work in reviews that read today as clear misogyny and homophobia (no one would accuse Bob Dylan or Timmy Chalamet of pretension, for example).

Shetland (Britbox) I am loving the new season of this cozy mystery that follows two women as they solve murders on Shetland, a small island with a high crime ratio.

The Bridge (Kanopy). I just realized I have access to Kanopy, which means I can finally watch this much discussed mystery series from Sweden from a few years ago. A body is found on the exact line separating Copenhagan and Sweden on a bridge. That is where the mystery begins, and woo, boy, does it have TWISTS.