Hi! Happy Sunday. Thanks, as always, for opening this email and taking the time to read it. Let’s jump right in.
🎧 A couple of months ago on Wanna Hear Something Weird? we covered the Queen Mary (episode titled “The Very Scary Queen Mary”), the haunted ship with a wealth of stories from people who have experienced strange things onboard. A recent episode of Spooked, one of my longtime favorite ghostly podcasts, features a story of a visitor to the Queen Mary (in the episode called “Hellavator” from April 12, starting around the 17-minute mark). Spooked focuses on paranormal experiences recounted by those who experienced the strange events, making for a very compelling listen.
📚 Yesterday was Indie Bookstore Day and the weather was nice-ish, as good of an excuse as any to take a walk to a bookstore and buy a book. I picked up The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels and have been devouring it ever since. The story revolves around a true crime writer who is tasked with writing a book about an old cult case. The narrative unfolds through emails, transcripts, and text messages—a style of book that I loved as a kid, so it scratches a nostalgic itch for me. It’s been ages since I’ve read something that I find this difficult to put down!
📸 I’m going to call these next two recommendations “very good and very devastating” because they are both incredibly compelling to watch, although the subject matter is, frankly, brutal. We saw Civil War this week, starring Kirsten Dunst. She plays a war photographer who is part of a team of journalists covering a civil war in a near-future America. Based on that premise alone, you can see how this is not light fare. I went into this movie knowing very little, and it has stuck with me.
🦌 Next up in my “very good and very devastating” recommendation series is Baby Reindeer on Netflix. This is another one that I went into with limited knowledge but found myself completely engrossed. The series focuses on Richard, a man who works in a pub and, in an act of kindness, offers an upset woman who enters the pub a complimentary cup of tea. She quickly develops an unhealthy obsession with him. The series takes unexpected turns, and many parts are difficult to watch. The intensity is only amplified by the fact that the creator/star of the show is telling his own story—a remarkable feat.
🧳 How about we move on to something a bit lighter? Conan O’Brien recently released his new travel series on Max called Conan O’Brien Must Go and it’s a treat for those who appreciate seeing this wacky man letting loose and interacting with unsuspecting locals. He spends time with fans he previously connected with on his podcast. A standout moment is when he goes rock climbing with a fan in Thailand, where she absolutely roasts him multiple times and you can tell how tickled he is by it (as seen in the trailer). Plus, if you haven’t yet seen his recent Hot Ones interview, it perfectly captures his unhinged and hilarious commitment to comedy.
🐾 Ginger of the Week:
Thanks for reading!
Laura