What to Watch & Read
Christmas Watchlist
Despite their shared topic, many directors have succeeded in making unique Christmas movies. Some find originality in their premises, such as Christmas Holiday, a film noir, or The Three Godfathers, a Western retelling of the nativity story. Others take the premise of the holiday to imagine new scenes for pop culture figures such as The Bradys from The Brady Bunch and Mickey Mouse and his friends. The following list is a wonderland of ten of the most unique Christmas films ever created. [read more]
Nostalgic Stories for Parents and Kids
Parents and children bond in many ways, such as when adults pass on their favorite childhood cartoons to their children. But the opposite can also be true. These four child-friendly books will teach children about adult interests and topics, such as Seinfeld, The Office, Ernest Hemingway, and the Warring States period in Japan. [read more]
Video Game Adaptations
Now two decades into the 21st century, video games remain a very popular form of entertainment, but they haven’t entirely replaced their predecessors. Writers of graphic novels, novels, and movies have turned to adapting video games with success. Below you can find a play-by-play of some of the most successful adaptations. [read more]
Painters and Paintings
In this gallery of painters and paintings, ten titles tell colorful stories of painters and the stories of people found in paintings, such as Salvador Dalí’s drawings for a Disney movie, a looted Da Vinci, and a former professional football player’s transition into art. These works will allow you to frame a discussion about art. [read more]
Writers’ Lives
We discover our favorite writers through the works they’ve written, and we cherish them without knowing much about them. What can we learn about their lives? Have their works been influenced by them? These seven realistic and fictional stories can help you better understand writers’ lives, as they tell the stories of writers from a point of view outside the author’s. [read more]
Culinary Adventure
You are about to be taken on a culinary adventure through sea, land, and air. My three book recommendations will satisfy your appetite for a good read! [read more]
Expiring Experiences
Many cultural touchstones exist, seemingly defining society, until they fade into distant memories. The materials I am recommending showcase expiring experiences from pop culture. How many old things will you recognize, or how many will you start to get to know? [read more]
Shakespeare on the Screen
Shakespeare adapted and reconceived existing works to make his own plays, and there have been countless adaptations of William Shakespeare’s works across the world, with several inventive versions released in the twenty-first century. Some of the following titles are modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, while other titles imagine the life of the man who wrote them. Check out the following titles to see your television become a version of Shakespeare’s stage. [read more]
European Fairytales, Folktales, and Fables
These six picture books are all based on European fairytales, folktales, and fables. These stories are different than European tales like The Brothers Grimm. All of these stories are from a variety of European countries. There is even an original fable from Poland. [read more]
Manga and Comic Books, Reimagined
Many Americans are aware of characters such as Archie and Batman. These characters have soared from pages in books into the American consciousness. But have you seen these types of heroes shaped in a new way? Today you will see manga and comic books, reimagined. These six stories are all unique to an American audience. They also bring a level of familiarity as they all feature characters famous in America. These stories are also quite self-contained. Whether reading from left to right or vice-versa, I hope you enjoy these familiar foreign stories. [read more]