Physical Comics to Read: 0 (126/146)
Digital Comics to Read: 0 (435/435)
Trades/Graphic Novels to Read: 1 (4/6)
Books to Read: 5 (100/108)
Movies to Watch: 4 (181/196)
TV Shows to Watch: 0 (36/39)
TV Seasons to Watch: 0 (63/66)
Podcast Episodes to Listen to: 78

Back to work and then back to school means just being exhausted for days upon days. And it’s overwhelming sometimes. Still, I was very happy about how the summer went. I’d put together a to-do list with color-coded Post-Its and would move from the “to do” to the “done” boxes. And what’s great? Keeping that commitment throughout the summer and seeing the pile of notes in that “done” box makes me feel accomplished and (if I may say) impressed with myself.

So I’m going into September, a month that is half-summer and half-fall. Last week, it was mild and comfortable; today it’s been oppressively humid and thunderstorms are rolling through. And the work has piled up.

Here’s two “bests” from August …

Clickbait. A Netflix show from 2019 where Zoe Kazan plays the sister to Adrien Grenier, who has been kidnapped and made part of a viral video that says he abuses women, killed one, and will die if the video hits 5 million views. I’m not through the entire show, but am enjoying it so far. It’s got a good storytelling catch in that each of the episodes focuses on one of the characters and we see events from multiple points of view while the stories move forward. Plus, the performances are quality. There’s eight episodes, so it’s an easy watch.

Accountable by Dashka Slater. A book about the true story of a racist Instagram account set up by students at a high school in California, how it was discovered, and the effects it had on both the perpetrators and the victims. Slater is the author of the also-excellent The 57 Bus, and she weaves storytelling and journalism into this book really well. The interviews with people involved are honest and honestly reported and she makes it engaging for a younger audience. It’s one that I honestly think teenage boys should read. Really, anyone should.