Friday Favorites 7.14.23

Hey guys! I've been gone for about a month... but I want to try to be a little more consistent with the blog and a little more balanced with my writin... so I'm going to try to write for an hour or so a day... and I'll still post my Boston blogs- and I've done some fun things in Philly lately so I'm going to talk about those too.

Amazon Prime just released 3 new shows that I've watched and I totally love... so let me give a brief synopsis of all 3.

The Horrors of Delores Roach follows Delores Roach- played by Justina Mechado who I loved on Dancing with The Stars- after she gets out of Prison which her boyfriend basically just got her to go to jail for his crimes... and the city is very different after 16 years. One thing that's practically the same is the Empanada store she always went to in Washington Heights- which is where she lives. And the guy that used to own it died and recently gave it to his son or grandson... I kind of forget- but he owns the store and he's in love with Delores so he lets her stay with him and he wants her to be successful so he allows her to do massages in her room. She's doing really well until she's discovered by the landlord- played by Mark Maron who wants to shut her down for giving unlicensed massages. And she ends up killing him and her friend makes him into Empanadas that end up being amazing and... we've got a Sweeney Todd situation. I think I've watched 4 episodes so far and it's really addicting. I think this one might be the easiest for anyone to get into and it's really suspenseful.

The one I find myself liking the most at the current moment is Swarm- written by Donald Glover. This follows a girl that is obsessed with a singer named Nijah- who is Beyoncé. Any similarities in this show to real people are intentional- it says that in the opening... so when I say it's Beyoncé- it is 100% Beyoncé. I don't really want to say too much about this... but its a slasher following an anti hero I guess. I'd say this one might be the darkest.

And the lightest and the one that I feel like will end up being the most underrated is I'm a Virgo- which follows a teenage Giant- or maybe a young adult giant. This one was created by Boots Riley who also created Sorry To Bother You... and if you know the ending of that movie... this is similar in tone. It's fantastical realism, we see the ways our main character struggles to fit in as a Giant in a somewhat abusive household... and we see him making friends and leaving the house for the first time and doing regular things. It's really a good show. I love this one.

I also like The Crowded Room on Apple TV Plus- it's not the best movie in the whole world... but I still have fun watching it. It has a twist I guess... but it's a very obvious twist and if you google the true story its based on... you'll know it right away... but the title also kind of gives it away. I don't think Tom Holland is the best actor in the world, I don't think they're using Amanda Seyfried as well as she could be used... but I think this is a watchable show nonetheless and I enjoy watching it every week.

I also recently watched the new Indiana Jones Movie- I might do a review of that and Elemental since I'm seeing them in theaters a little late to do a full review on... but yeah. I loved Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny and now I'm watching the original series because I've never seen any of them before.

Speaking of seeing the original series- I watched all the Mission Impossible Movies- except the one that just came out- I'm seeing that on Sunday so expect a review on Monday. I'm excited. I love spy movies and these are good. I might do a ranking on the mission impossible movies soon... let me know what you think.

I also went to Eastern State Pennitentiary in Philadelphia recently with my boyfriend and some of his friends. That was a fun place to visit and a really great tour. My library has free passes for the daytime tour- and it's really interesting to see everything and hear the stories. Al Capone stayed there and they have his cell basically restored to look how it did while he was staying there. It wasn't that luxurious- but he had some more stuff than most prisoners. I would like to do a nighttime tour of this and go during Halloween as well when they have a haunted house... it was a cool place. And I've been liking Philly in general lately- I've been 3 times this year so far it isn't very far from where my boyfriend lives- so its kind of nice to just pop on the train and go. It's a lot easier than New York.

That is everything! I hope you guys like this favorites! I will be doing a lot of movie reviews since I'm seeing Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day... and I've been seeing a lot of movies lately and have a funny story about something that happened at the movies... so yeah.

Bye!

-Shannon