Hello. I was going to throw together a bit of a ramble about Netflix’s newest price hike here in the UK, and how I feel like its value proposition is falling apart as it throws content at the wall and sees what sticks, but it all kind of… fell apart.
The last month has been weird, honestly, and at times it’s been difficult to string together a cohesive thought. Some of the news I’ve had has been good, some of it bad, and all of it has gotten in the way of being able to push out something good. I might turn some of it into #content in the future, I may not. We’ll see.
So here’s the deal: this edition of Good Screen is all Good Content. Think of it as a diary of cool things I’ve been consuming over the last month, while my brain has resembled a pile of scrambled eggs. I hope if you’re also not having a great time right now this can lighten the load a bit for you — and until next time, take care.
Good Content
Watch
Ted Lasso, Apple TV+’s critically-acclaimed sort-of-football comedy, is probably my new favourite comfort show. It’s not really about football, though; as quickly as I can, it’s about a group of people with Himbo Energy becoming better versions of themselves, or being better in touch with their feelings. It’s warm as much as it is funny, and it’s all the better for it.
Servant of the People, a (very funny) Ukranian political satire that — for absolutely no reason at all — has its first season up with subtitles on All 4. The guy who stars in it’s this little known guy called Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Dunno if you’ve heard of him, but keep an eye out — I reckon he’ll go quite far.
Finally, if you have a Disney+ subscription and you need a comfort blanket, everything from about the third to the ninth season of The Simpsons remains the series’ finest hour. If you grew up with the show, you’ll probably also know some of the lines in a way that makes you smile.
Play
Heardle is one of those ten-a-penny Wordle clones you’ve probably seen where the object is to guess a song instead of a word. As someone who likes to try and be a human Shazam it’s quickly become my favourite thing to do, and I had my first proper laugh in a while when it went with Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up on April Fool’s Day.
Read
Emma Garland’s piece for Dazed about the accepted mediocrity of most of British life, simply called Things Could Be Good. Allow me to sell you on it by just giving you a taste:
There is this assumption, particularly among the British middle and upper classes, that things exist to serve the individual. The shop better have the thing they want or they’re going to go sicko mode, hospitality workers are punching bags for a bad day, coastal Wales exists exclusively as a holiday destination. There is a lack of real connection to anything, which imbues society with an austere and passionless vibe. Under these conditions, it is very hard to embrace life in all its granular detail – the smell of wet coats inside a bar as the rain drums down onto the pavement – as Eve Babitz does so affectionately. Though that’s not to say we shouldn’t try. In early summer, London feels like the best city on earth. Everyone walks around in open-toe sandals inhaling bus fumes and feeling very Money Supermarket as the sun bounces off the Shard and into their eyes. It is possible to make that feeling, if not the weather, a daily reality.
Listen
Hey, I made you a playlist. In it are some tunes by Wet Leg, Yard Act, Daði Freyr, and some others. I hope you like it.