It’s Friday. Looking for something to switch up your weekend, or to give you an excuse to relax a little? That’s what the Weekend Reset is for. Each week we’ll pull together five things to get your weekend started. Could be something to read or watch, something to eat or listen to, or even something to do. Enjoy the weekend fellas.
BINGE: What We Do in the Shadows
What We Do in the Shadows is kind of like Friends — if Joey and Chandler and Ross and Rachel and Monica were blood-sucking thousand-year-old vampires. Based on the (fantastic) Taika Waititi movie of the same name, What We Do in the Shadows is a wonderfully off-the-wall deadpan comedy about the trials and tribulations of four vampires who live together as roommates in a flat on Staten Island. Navigating roommate issues can sometimes be tricky…. but it’s even trickier when you and your roommates are immortal and have lived together for thousands of years. Surprisingly warm and optimistic for a show that features a lot of blood, this is one of my favorite comedies on TV right now, a show that’s as much about the nature of friendship as it is about eating people. Streams now on Hulu.
READ: The Force
Don Winslow is one of our finest living crime writers, and I devoured his magnum opus, The Force, in a matter of days when it came out three years ago. Soon to be a movie starring Matt Damon and directed by James Mangold (who also did Ford v. Ferrari and Logan), The Force tells the story of NYPD Detective Denny Malone, a very, very, VERY dirty cop. This is crime drama at its most epic, explosive, and tragic, a book that grabs you by the shoulders and doesn’t let go until you’ve devoured all of it’s 600+ pages.
LISTEN: Letter to You
Few musicians are as good at chronicling the American mood as Bruce Springsteen. Letter to You, the Boss’ twentieth studio album and his first with the E Street Band since 2014, is full of raw and haunting songs full of nostalgia that feels somehow more celebratory than sad. Recorded in four days, with no demos or overdubs, the album’s “live” quality adds dimension and grit to its incredible songwriting. The perfect soundtrack to a road trip or a drive on a crisp fall afternoon.
MAKE: Beef Stew
With snow already falling in some parts of the country, we’re entering the season for warm, filling, hearty meals. And in my book, there are few things more delicious to come home to on a crisp-cold day than a hot bowl of beef stew. There are a lot of ways to do this. For those wanting maximum flavor, the involved but fantastic Serious Eats recipe linked above is the way to go. Want something more simple? Try the New York Times’ recipe here. Or, for something quite different but absolutely fantastic, Milk Street’s Austrian rindsgulasch (behind a paywall, but you can get the recipe free if you enter your email) is like a combination of traditional beef stew and chicken paprikash, and it’s intensely spiced and delicious. Make a pot of it with a side of buttery egg noodles, and you’ll have comfort food in your fridge for days. Photo by yvonne lee harijanto on Unsplash
PLAY: Watch Dogs: Legion
In Watch Dogs: Legion, you are part of DedSec, a hacker group battling against technofacists that have taken over the city of London. Prior Watch Dogs games played sort of like Grand Theft Auto with hacking — but the genius of Legion is that EVERY character in the game is playable. That’s right: random pedestrians, pizza delivery guys, suits on their way to work — all of them can be recruited to your group of hackers fighting The Man. Since everyone has their own set of skills, part of the fun of the game is building a well balanced team of hackers. Out now on PC, Xbox, and Playstation.
About the author: Michael Robin is an LA-based television writer. When he’s not working away on his latest pilot script, you can find him scuba diving, hosting Shabbat dinners, or goofing off with his goldendoodle, Biggie Lebowski.