☀️ No Post on Sundays: October 2022
Happy Halloween eve. Hope you’ve been enjoying this year’s spooky season and are ready for turkeys to take over the next month. There’s a lot of stuff we’d love to share that just won’t fit in our usual Thursday newsletter. Some of that stuff is here. Read on for a special collection of podcast, book, and miscellaneous other recs from your trusty Double Take duo.
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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Jenni: If you’re in the market for a rom com, I watched Wedding Season on Netflix last week (as I made copious amounts of pumpkin bread), and it really hit the low-stakes, cutesy spot. Were some plot points a little contrived? Sure. Was there a healthy dose of too-saccharine speeches? C’mon, It’s a romcom. Very cute though!
Jess: I’ve mentioned this in the podcast, but I’ve been watching a bunch of spooky/scary movies this month to celebrate the season. The goal was to watch 30 movies, but life got a little bit in the way of that; in the end, I watched 17. My favorite re-watch this season was Coco, and my favorite new watch was Ready or Not.
Not a spooky movie, but I saw Black Adam in theaters and found it to be quite disappointing. It was overstuffed with action scenes and characters that were underdeveloped. I’m not too surprised since DC is really hit or miss.
Jenni: The Heavyweight podcast has been a favorite of mine since a friend introduced it to me back in 2018. The latest season does not disappoint! Heavyweight is hosted and produced by humorist Jonathan Goldstein, who helps people try to resolve a moment from their past that they wish they could change. It’s a little bit like a Nathan Fielder show, except everything is 5x less awkward, and you wonder far less whether or not the host is a psychopath.
Jess: What else but Taylor Swift’s new album, Midnights. I was initially a bit skeptical, but it’s really grown on me. I’m particularly fond of “You’re On Your Own, Kid” and “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve.”
I’ve also been listening to Noah Kahan’s new album, Stick Season, which is the perfect soundtrack for this weather.
Jenni: Finally finished The Idiot by Elif Batuman and liked it a lot, but it definitely made me a little ~depresso~. So, instead of picking up her next book right away, I turned toward some light non-fiction about “mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance” (Endure) and a high fantasy romance that started off great, but lost me in the last quarter (Daughter of No Worlds). Yesterday, I also tripped into a bookstore and accidentally bought She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan, which I’m very excited to start.
Jess: I have read a string of disappointing books this month. I gave 3 stars to Behind Closed Doors, Jar of Hearts, and Goodnight Beautiful. 2 stars to These Women and The Flatshare. And a dismal 1 star for both The Good Girl and The Wild One. I’m halfway through my next book club pick, The Paris Library, so hopefully that one turns things around.
Jenni: Everything apple — I went apple picking last weekend and now have about 40 recipes I need to try in order to use them all up. This Apple Dutch Baby claims it’s a breakfast but is definitely actually a delicious comfort desert. Next on my list are these Apple Potato Latkes.
Jess: I am at Penn State this weekend for a game and wanted to bring baked goods to the tailgate, so I tried a new recipe: Loaded Oreo Cookies. The recipe, from Broma Bakery, wasn’t anything special but the cookies turned out to be tasty. I tried another recipe of theirs, Cheesecake Swirled Pumpkin Bars, and they were an utter disaster.
Jenni: In my journey to get back into running, I bought the Garmin Forerunner 55 watch, and now I’m obsessed with checking in on my heart rate and stress levels. It’s very possible this has made me more anxious, but I’m choosing to call it self actualization?
Jess: I’ve heard great things about Abercrombie’s jeans, especially the “Curve Love” line, which is designed with more room in the hip area. Unfortunately their sizing is allllll over the place. I bought 9 pairs of various sizes and colors in 2 different styles, since I wasn’t sure of my size there, and only one pair worked out. I like their jeans but it was a miserable experience.