My Favorite Things: May Edition
My Favorite Things” is a monthly segment where I share my personal and current favorites in seasonal products, health & beauty, food, decor, movies, TV, and more. Hope you enjoy these personal picks!
TV
Chasing Life With Sanjay Gupta
Synopsis: Dr. Sanjay Gupta travels around the world to find where people live longer, happier and more functional lives than anywhere else on the planet.
I always love shows that show different perspective of topics from different shows, so this one caught my eye. It’s filmed liked a travel documentary show, but each episode goes in-depth about the country Gupta travels to and how their traditions, foods, etc help those citizens well-being. It’s thought-provoking and interesting.
Love Rerun
Synopsis: Sayaka Minami works as a designer for a company. She is 30-years-old, single and has not had any love experience due to her 15 year unrequited love for Ryosuke Sagisawa. They have been friends since they were kids. One day, Sayaka wakes up and a strange man is in front of her. She panics and the man introduces herself as Shohei Machida. He works as a salesman at the same company as Sayaka. He tells her that they are in a relationship and live together. Sayaka lost her memory for 3 months.
I’m halfway through this show and I’m enjoying it so much! It’s been a long time since I watched a J-Drama and I want to get back to watching them on regular basis. At first glance it seems like this show is focusing on looks as the main character makes a huge shift in her outward appearance due to an event that triggers her change. It’s actually a story about falling in love and self-love. We see through various flashbacks how Sayaka has struggled with self-confidence all her life and how she gradually shifts into a more forward person who is passionate about her career and finding what she wants in life.
Daily Show With Trevor Noah
Synopsis: Trevor Noah and The World’s Fakest News Team tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and pop culture.
I’ve seen clips for the Daily Show numerous times on social media, but never really took the time to watch it. I’ve been recording it on my DVR and I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this show all this time. It’s funny and gives me highlights of what’s happening in the daily news. I also enjoy the smaller segments where they interview various people and the variety of skits they create. I especially like to watch the behind the scenes specials on social media.
Love Playlist Season 2
Synopsis: Seven university students learn the hard way that romance and relationships aren’t always easy. Being in love is tough, but friends can get through anything together.
This show is easily becoming one of my favorite web dramas. I love the OST, acting, variety of characters, and the high production value. I think what really makes this show is the chemistry between the actors and their ability to convey each character’s emotions. Season Two is still somewhat fluffy, but hits some complex emotions. There are love triangles, friendships that become strained, and unrequited love. I’m looking forward to how the series continues in Season 3!
Movies
Aladdin
Synopsis: Aladdin is a lovable street urchin who meets Princess Jasmine, the beautiful daughter of the sultan of Agrabah. While visiting her exotic palace, Aladdin stumbles upon a magic oil lamp that unleashes a powerful, wisecracking, larger-than-life genie. As Aladdin and the genie start to become friends, they must soon embark on a dangerous mission to stop the evil sorcerer Jafar from overthrowing young Jasmine’s kingdom.
So many thoughts about this movie! Aladdin is my top favorite Disney movies, but I tried to watch it with realistic expectations. I liked that their were new tracks and they changed up some of the original songs. I felt that Jasmine got a more prominent role in this version, which I appreciated (she gets her own solo song!). The cinematography and costumes were top notch as well. It’s not the best Disney live-action remake, but I still felt like there is a lot that fans of the original movie will enjoy.
Music
Hello Tutoril by Zion T feat. Seulgi (Red Velvet)
I love Zion T’s smooth vocals and this is one of my favorite collaboration tracks with him. The album ZZZ that this is featured on is so good! Hello Tutorial has jazzy percussion that is easy on the ears. This is a cute song where the duo sing about the act of falling in love.
Lately I’ve been listening to a ton of music from the 90s and 2000s. It’s given me so much nostalgia. I love this song because of the groups smooth vocals, but also because of it’s catchy dance beat. It always gets me dancing.
Podcasts
Synopsis: With an uncanny knack for taking serious topics (racism, rape culture, sexism, police brutality, etc.) and with humor, making them relatable and interesting, she combines intellectual wit, irreverent silliness and a pop culture obsession to create her unique style of smart funny content for the stage and screens.
Small Doses is a light-hearted podcast that tackles a variety of topics such as race, books, feminism, pop culture, and more. Even though the topics can be on the heavy side, Seales humor and wit makes it easy to listen to. It’s funny while also digging deep to discuss the roots/problems within each topics. I like how smart, fun, and thought-provoking this podcast is!
*This post is in no way sponsored
What are some of your favorite things from May? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
THIS BLOG claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.
Small Doses sounds wonderful! I love a smart pop culture podcast, and this seems like it would be perfect for me. Any specific episodes you’d recommend? I think I’ll give it a try with my coffee tomorrow morning.
I’ve started with the newer episodes and am working my way through older episodes. I recommend the “reading” episodes with Levar Burton!
I like the Idea of Jasmine getting her own song! I’m not sure I’ll watch this one – but I love Will Smith, so maybe – it’s cool that they’re updating it though. That podcast sounds great: I’ll look it up and add it to my list. I also really enjoy the NYT podcast “Still Processing”, which is sometimes funny and always smart, but not always bookish (and I think it’s only every second week, so they don’t cover all the pop culture stuff either).
I understand. I was a bit weary of Will Smith playing the genie, but he did a decent job. And thanks for the podcast recommendation, I’m always looking for new shows to listen to.