The Friday Five: Things on My Mind

Here is what I have been reading, watching, and thinking about recently.

  1. I read this article, and I laughed out loud.
  2. We watched Belfast while we were in Ireland, and we loved it.
  3. I listened to and watched this video and smiled.
  4. I watched Inventing Anna over the course of a week or so. I liked it. I remember when the story of this fake con-artist socialite originally made the news. As far as acting goes, Julia Garner (as Anna Delvey) and Anna Chlumsky (as Vivienne Kent) were great.
  5. I’ve also watched Pam & Tommy. Oh dear.
  6. I watched half of the Super Bowl, including the half-time show. Like many others, I enjoyed the show. Dr. Dre was my favourite. I polled my students about who their favourite performers were, and most of them liked Snoop Dogg and Kendrick Lamar. I knew very little about Kendrick Lamar, but my students have taught me quite a bit about him this week, which made me do additional research. Did you know Lamar won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his album DAMN.? I didn’t. I have since watched many videos and read many of his lyrics. As I was brainstorming ideas about how to incorporate his writing into my course, I learned that Drs. Christopher Driscoll, Anthony Pinn, and Monica Miller edited the first academic book about him and even developed a course focused on his work at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. I’ve just accessed the book from the university library, and I’m interested in seeing what it covers. Going down the Kendrick Lamar rabbit hole of research wasn’t what I was expecting to do after watching the Super Bowl!
  7. I bought and read Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly after spotting it on Cup of Jo. I laughed out loud reading these very short stories.
  8. This evening clutch made me smile.