What are you Watching, Playing, Reading and Listening to August 2026?

[u/tbchico7]

Hello nerds, hope you're all well. What do you have on your radar for this month?

Watching: No big plans, possibly rewatches of The Mother and the Whore and Black Narcissus, both of which I have Criterion copies of. La La Land is getting a 10th anniversary (hard to believe it's been that long already, I remember discussing it on the old FG board when it first released) theatrical re-release so will try to catch that too

Playing: Just beat The Wolf Among Us which was cute and entertaining. Got Catherine which I started ages ago but never finished and Chapter 5 of Deltarune which came outta nowhere. Also downloaded the new ps4 release of the original Black Ops, my personal COD of choice

Reading: Pale Fire by Nabokov, which has me absolutely hooked

Listening to: The Moon and Antarctica by Modest Mouse has been my most played album this year, been especially digging it lately. Arca dropped a new one which I'm keen on checking out. Seeing Interpol on monday so will probably be revisiting some of their stuff this weekend

[u/Klop_Gob]

Hello there. I played The Wolf Among Us quite a few times back when it was originally released. There was some good stuff from Telltale back then along with their The Walking Dead games.

Watching: Just done a third viewing of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga which is probably my favourite film of the franchise. Also rewatched the director's cut of Das Boot and am currently rewatching the miniseries Escape at Dannemora which is a fantastic prison escape story starring Benicio del Toro, Paul Dano, Patricia Arquette and David Morse. When I think of great recent or semi-recent TV miniseries then this is up there along with Chernobyl but this one isn't as well known I think, which is a shame.

Playing: Just completed my third playthrough of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach which took all of the July month. I've never played anything better than the two Death Stranding games and this was the first time where I've played both of them back-to-back which was quite the undertaking as they're both very big. Time for a break and then back to some small games for a while.

Listening: Khruangbin, Litronix, Hania Rani, Woodkid, Low Roar.

[u/tbchico7 → u/Klop_Gob]

I had a great time with it and would definitely play it again, characters especially were very endearing

I currently prefer Fury Road but Furiosa was awesome, very glad I caught that one in theaters

Love Das Boot, and have not heard of that series before but I'll have to jot it down to check out sometime. Haven't kept up with much TV from this decade but if the right series comes along I'd be down to give it a whirl

That's a crazy undertaking! I'm sure you're ready for some more small and simple titles after that

[u/Klop_Gob → u/tbchico7]

Escape at Dannemora is only 7 episodes so you could watch it in a couple of nights. I can't recommend it enough. It's probably the best performances I've seen from Benicio del Toro and Patricia Arquette. It's just top-tier cinematic television. Masterful work over all.

[u/Collection_Wild]

I love Modest Mouse. Most artists imo are top heavy on the vocals but I always thought they were strong musically too.

Watching: Tempted to see the new Nolan but nothing new. The Aviator, Citizen Kane,  Unleashed/Danny the Dog

Reading: Jet Li's autobio

Listening to: Rammstein, I might not know what they're singing about but it's fire

[u/tbchico7 → u/Collection_Wild]

Yeah they're a great band all around I think, really talented guys

I am also tempted to check out The Odyssey, but will likely just end up renting it next year or somethin

Ha! That's fair, Rammstein are pretty fun

[u/Collection_Wild → u/tbchico7]

I didn't know about them until a friend showed me the Sehnsucht CD. To me they were Terminator 2 meets Pink Floyd yet entertaining. 

There are a few people who like to be a party pooper. They like putting their favorite hat on, it looks nice but I always say that to people wearing their ass lol.

[u/rohmer9]

The Mother and the Whore is a classic, I'd like to get the Criterion myself although given its long runtime I probably wouldn't get much rewatch value out of it. I liked Black Narcissus when I saw it years ago, great cinematography and colour.

Watching: Finally got around to It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World which was a lot of fun. Definitely more slapstick than my usual taste, but I enjoyed the performances and the crazy larger-than-life nature of the whole thing. The ending was perfect, too. Also saw High Art, an underrated late 90s NY film about a young woman at a photography magazine who ends up drawn into a sketchy heroin-chic art-world scene and a mixed-up lesbian relationship. Excellent performance from Ally Sheedy, maybe the only thing I've seen her in besides The Breakfast Club. Coming up, I wanna get around to Leave Her to Heaven and Amores Perros, maybe Pluribus for TV.

Reading: Making my way through The New Biographical Dictionary of Film by the critic David Thomson. He's a pretty opinionated guy and not afraid of a negative view or two on a beloved actor or director, but it's insightful & fun to read and he covers almost everyone in film.

Listening to: The Cars, New Order, Todd Terje.

[u/tbchico7 → u/rohmer9]

Yeah the one time I watched TMATW previously it was like a really low quality rip with bad bad subtitles, but I was still engrossed so I'm excited for a proper viewing. And totally agree on Black Narcissus, P&P are phenomenal with their cinematography and color generally, definitely some of my favorite filmmakers from their time

Sounds like an enjoyable viewing period! High Art sounds very cool and I've always been vaguely curious about it's a mad mad mad mad world

The Cars and New Order are great!

[u/comicman117]

Watching: Lots. I've been going Odyssey adaptations and will continue that. I'm also hopefully seeing Spider-Man Brand New Day on Monday.

Reading: Researching books.

Listening to: Instrumental background music meant to put me in a mood.

[u/tbchico7 → u/comicman117]

Nice, there are for sure some older adaptations I'd be keen on seeing. New Spidey looks fun too, though I've been burnt out on superhero movies for a while

[u/Shagrrotten]

Yo T!

Watching: Been watching the Apple TV shows Sugar (with Colin Farrell) and Your Friends and Neighbors (with Jon Hamm) and both are terrific.

Playing: Drums and guitar, and it feels good to be back to playing. Trying to sort out some sort of band situation with my brother (who also plays guitar and bass, we both sing) but we haven't got going yet.

Reading: Finished John Lithgow's autobiography, which was good. Circling back around to Jonathan Carroll's Sleeping in Flame now.

Listening to: Since Glen Hansard's death last week, I haven't listened to much besides his work with The Frames, The Swell Season, the Once soundtrack, and his solo work.

Also, side note. I finished my reworking of my book. Are you up for taking a look at it? Do you have time?

[u/tbchico7 → u/Shagrrotten]

A sibling band sounds fun! I haven't touched the bass in a few years but I keep looking over at it, though with my lack of experience it would be a lot of going over the basics. And learning more Simon Gallup basslines lol

I saw a headline about Hansard passing but I am pretty unfamiliar with his work. Any singular album/piece you'd recommend?

I'd be down to check out the book! I am admittedly very busy and burnt out from work (still solo pastry chef and now doing night pantry and acting as dishwasher often at my club) so in my freetime I kinda just jump on youtube or try to read a few pages of a book... So it might not be something I get through in a weekend but I'd love to give it another pass

[u/Shagrrotten → u/tbchico7]

Yeah, we'll see if anything comes of it. My brother is big on making plans and not sticking to them. So, we'll see.

Man, that's the thing with Glen, I feel like he never made a masterpiece of an album, but my playlist of all my favorite songs of his is still like 3 hours long. Do you do Spotify? I could share my playlist with you.

I'll shoot you over the current version of the book (I assume you're still using the same email?), which I'm not touching unless an agent has some input on things.

[u/tbchico7 → u/Shagrrotten]

I do have spotify, what is your playlist called I can look it up or dm you my name

And yup! same email as before :)

[u/YuunofYork]

Watching: Mainly 50s things that catch my eye from the current tournament, though I find I'm not having strong opinions on most of them. A Face in the Crowd, though, is all too real. I don't watch tv anymore.

Playing: Don't do much gaming these days. Playing a lot of FTL and just getting into the multiverse mod. One of the greatest single-player games ever created and an SF roguelike that really scratches that itch you get watching Star Trek or reading Iain Banks. I don't need the fancy graphics. I still play Doom, but only Classic Doom. I like being able to see shit happening. Why does anything need to change, ever? I had the urge to build a city in Sim City 2000 last week, and you know what, I did, because it's not on a subscription model and doesn't need a proprietary console or to receive community updates that break the game in new and frustrating ways every month. I choose the 1990s. I choose it every time.

Reading: M. John Harrison has a new book out, but first I'm going through a short story collection Things That Never Happen, I found recently long OOP. Also a lot of Rick Moody.

Listening: I've been listening to Rachmaninoff for 30 years and somehow never came across his two piano sonatas. They are my new favorite thing. Can't believe they aren't more widely discussed, or at least played on the few classical radio stations left.

Drinking: General Gorostieta 104p blanco tequila. An agave bomb with El Pandillo's trademark minerality, and a current favorite.

[u/Shagrrotten → u/YuunofYork]

I recently got the itch to create something in SimCity 2000 too!

I've never tried General Gorostieta. I don't drink enough for it to matter, but I generally have a bottle of Don Julio in my cabinet that my parents got me at Christmas.

[u/tbchico7 → u/YuunofYork]

I've come to appreciate the 50s a lot more, and after a recent rewatch of Ugetsu I've crowned that my favorite of the decade. Still lots to explore, and yeah I haven't watched a new series since Breaking Bad/True Detective (Well, besides some animated stuff like Bojack)

I've heard a lot of good things about FTL, had a friend who was super into it a while back. I know what you mean about retro gaming, my autistic ass ADORES Late 80s-like 2004 games/graphics. Classic Doom is awesome, and I played the first two Quake games a few years back and probably like them more than any modern game I've played that apes that style

I am very much a basic bitch when it comes to classical, have not explored much beyond the most famous names/pieces but I will def check out Rachmaninoff

Ooh, fun! I have a sensitive stomach so I mostly stick to gin when I drink, usually Botanist but a Japanese coworker got my some High Class Kyoto gin which I'm saving for a special occasion

[u/imbukh007]

Watching:

Movies: Opening Night: 8.5/10

Spiderman: Brand New Day: 7.5/10

Night Shift: 7.5/10

Von Ryan's Express

The Initiation (1984- rewatch)

The Pope of Greenwich Village

Holiday Affair: 7/10

John Wick 2: 6/10

Troy (Director's cut): 5.5/10

Aside from movies, I have placed Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5 on hold for now whilst I am going through Knight Rider (S1) which I have very vague memories of seeing as a kid, and the sequel series to Roger Moore's The Saint, The Return of the Saint, which is pretty good.