Welcome to the Obsessions edition of Extremely Helpful where we look at all the things we’ve been obsessed with this summer.
If this newsletter has a mission statement it is that there are good things out there. I keep reading that people don’t read anymore, tv is dead, movies are dying, and we have collectively lost the ability to pay attention. This newsletter is here to say that there are books worth reading, shows worth watching, movies worth leaving the house for, brilliant people making things on youtube, hilarious people on TikTok, delicious things to eat, and things capable of making you so happy they consume your entire personality.
Sometimes the fun is simply in participating. Reading every book nominated for a prize, finding the perfect bird feeder, making homemade pasta, spending a year cross stitching album covers for a quilt that may or may not get assembled. And that’s what I hope this newsletter celebrates. The making. The doing. The watching. And the joy of talking about it.
Earlier this summer I asked what you were obsessed with, and what a fascinating group of people you turned out to be. I love it here.
I hope you’ll keep adding your obsessions in the comments and come over to the chat to keep the conversation going. It’s the perfect place to ask for recommendations, suggest things you love, and discuss your obsessions. We might as well use this fascinating community to be extremely helpful to each other.
I forgot to ask if I could use your names, and it’s too late for me to ask because I just thought about it right now, so unless you publicly commented I’ll only be using a first initial.
Let’s get into them!
YOUR OBSESSIONS
Gabby George arm workout. It’s 2 weeks long, 5 minutes a day, and I saw visible results. -N
The UK Wicker trailer (with visible basket peen) -TL (This trailer has set the internet on fire.)
Sh*t shoes Imagine a squatty potty, but as a pair of platforms.-S
MPG (Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed on Apple) I can’t stop thinking about it…Book wise, I think you’d enjoy Songs for Other People’s Weddings. -J (He’s right, you will enjoy it!)
So I have been reading the Odyssey to get ready for the movie. It’s pretty great! I also watched Maternal Instinct based on your newsletter. Crazy! -Rob
Maternal Instinct -M (I told y’all. This doc was something else. The Netflix genre of terrible women docs is unbeatable.)
“Loved this newsletter- one of my obsessions:) Also obsessed with quince wide legged linen pants, the Freda Salvador fisherman sandal, Emma Straub’s Substack, and am on the verge of being obsessed with making homemade pasta… I’m also one year into a very elaborate quilt involving cross stitched album covers, album title in appropriate font, and album color scheme Taylor Swift (maybe it will really be sewn together someday) quilt that I’m making. And Noah Kahan, who I am seeing this week. My adhd allows for so many obsessions 👌🏼💁🏻♀️😂” -Megan
I became obsessed with reading all the books nominated for The Women’s Prize for fiction in the UK. Obvs loved The Correspondent/ Heart the Lover but “The Mercy Step” by Marcia Hutchinson really captured my heart. Definitely overlooked and a beautiful read. -Lisa
I love your column (stack, post, essay?) so much. My obsession, truly has been figuring out bird feeders in my back yard in the Chicago burb of Winnetka. I keep going back to the Wild Bird store to get the right seed that pretty songbirds like but that crows don’t, and reconfiguring them so that they have the perfect amount of shade and sun. Obsessed. -Pam
“On the calculation of volume series” Amanda
Iron series on YouTube -K (This made me very sore.)
Save Me. Also on Britbox. 2 seasons, created and lead played by Lennie James. Sooo good. -Kelly
Love Island UK -C
Madonna’s Confessions II video. Specifically, the crotch lasers -JJ
And now, my obsessions of the week.
🚨BIG NEWS
High School Football Player Practices With A Venomous Snake In His Helmet He didn’t notice until after practice. I would literally drop dead if I felt a 2ft long cottonmouth slithering in my helmet. My heart would give out.
“Absolutely Terrifying” Hippo Chases Tour Boat In Botswana Moo Deng: Fury Road
Garbage Parts from an Old SpaceX Rocket Left a Pothole on the Moon That’s one small pothole for man…
Childhood friends discover they’re actually sisters Feels like a good jumping off point for a YA book/show.
An Ai agent hacked into a gym and cancelled people’s pilates class reservations so it’s user could get in. Can I get an agent to hack into people’s calendars and cancel plans for me?
📺 TV WORTH WATCHING
While we are still in the summer doldrums, these are the highlights of what I’ve watched this week.
Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Hulu)
Trust me. Watch episodes 2 and 3 of this season.
Tires S3 (Netflix)
I have a rant about how I think billion dollar corporations asking people to self finance high production content is a pyramid scheme but I’ll save that for now and instead tell you that Shane Gillis is charming on this show and that if you bailed in season 1 you might want to check back in because it’s grown into a tight ensemble comedy.
My Brilliant Career (Netflix)
Rural Australia, the 1900s. Sybylla wants to be a writer, but every other person in her life needs her to get married. But, like an Aussie Pride and Prejudice, she falls in love despite herself.
Ultimate Girls Trip (Peacock)
The OGs of every Real Housewife franchise travel across America to visit all the cities, and all the characters, that have created a 20 year, 2000 episode juggernaut.
Lanterns (HBOMax)
And speaking of frenemies on a road trip: I did not know one single thing about Green Lantern going in and you don’t need to to enjoy this (inter-galactic) buddy cop investigation set in Nebraska that starts on Sunday.
One Hundred Years of Solitude S2 (Netflix)
A cursed family, magical realism, a literal banana republic, and other disasters large and small.
My Life with the Walter Boys S3 (Netflix)
Here’s what you missed: Jackie’s parents die, she moves from NY to a ranch and falls into a love triangle with the titular brothers. This season: street racing, rodeo, love triangle, community center that needs money, and decisions that need to be made.
Hard Knocks: Seattle Seahawks (Netflix)
This show has been on for over 20 years so you’re forgiven for forgetting how groundbreaking and compelling it is. This very likable and diva-free Seattle Seahawks team, coming off a Super Bowl win, will remind you what a machine a team has to be to win.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
The most straightforward Star Trek-y of all the new Trek offshoots. Episodic, optimistic, and all the things you want from a show like this.
STILL WATCHING
Married at First Sight We’re coming up on decision day though TBH I thought they were all going to break up at the last couples counseling session. FYI Shawn is promoting a new book about finding love but also apologizing for his “wifely duties” comment. Please, someone tell Adam and Mecca that they need to go to The Hoffman Process. They are repeating their parents’ patterns. And Courtney, girl, if you were any more self-sabotaging you’d be Rhaenyra from House of the Dragon.
Lioness I love thinking about how little Nicole Kidman had to shoot while still appearing in every episode, mostly on the phone. What do we think? A couple of days? A week?
Monsters of God We’ve met chimp people, and tiger people, but I think reptile people may be the a breed all of their own.
Ted Lasso You really can’t help but like the guy.
IF YOU CAN ONLY WATCH ONE
Furious If you don’t believe me this has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and is the number one show worldwide on Hulu/Disney+.
🎬MOVIES WORTH SEEING
IN THEATERS
The End of Oak Street Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor play parents whose suburban street is transported to prehistoric times. Jurassic Park cul-de-sac.
Late Fame Willem Dafoe is a forgotten poet who gets rediscovered by a group of young artists including Greta Lee.
STREAMING
Maddie’s Secret John Early plays a wellness influencer whose life is much less healthy than what she portrays online. Kate Berlant, Kristen Johnston, and Vanessa Bayer are all in it so the cast alone is worth the $9 to stream this.
Don’t Say Good Luck (Netflix) Sunny Sandler, Adam’s daughter, lands the lead in the school musical just as her Mother’s cancer returns. It’s sweet. You’ll cry.
Girls like Girls (Peacock) Hayley Kiyoko built an entire Intellectual property universe. She turned her 2015 viral hit song into a book, and then into this movie.
The Invite, Minions and Monsters, and Jackass are all VOD. It’ll be a few more weeks before they’re on streaming.
📚 BOOKS WORTH READING
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver A once famous writer with 7 years of writer’s block decides the life of a vulnerable young drug addict could be exactly what she needs for her career. So she does what she has to do.
🎧 PODCASTS WORTH HEARING
Manifesto Dan Taberski, the guy who made Missing Richard Simmons, is trying to take back the manifesto from the crackpots, the politicians, and the creeps. He looks at the people who wrote manifestos, and why they wrote them.
📱RABBIT HOLES
A question I find myself thinking about way too often: Would Spider-Man’s webs work in real life?
A video of Mr Beast dancing to a russian song is now the most reposted video in TikTok history with over 250M views, 10M reposts, and 32M likes.
Errands on instagram is a very low key watch about people doing errands. And it got a NY Times write up!
It’s #BamaRush season however our time with this glorious trend may be over. The girls that are serious about rushing a good house are not documenting their experience this year. The ones that are posting are mostly out-of-towners using this to try and build a following. The sororities see them as “not in it for the right reasons” so we probably won’t be seeing any more Kylans. It was fun while it lasted. (Once again Town and Country with the scoop on college life.)
One could say these out of towners are LARPing as southern sorority girls. This article says All of Gen Z is LARP-ing, which means Live Action Role Playing, or as previous generations would called them: fake. posers, phonies, or wannabes.
People got mad at Hank Green for using Ai. He apologized but didn’t say he would stop using it, instead he said the level of dopamine he’s been getting from using LLMs is unhealthy and that he would scale back. He sounds like Danny on The Valley reunion talking about his relationship with alcohol.
People are Ghosting Long Term Relationships, Some Don’t Regret It. I bet they don’t. “Dean, 37, blocked his girlfriend of four years on her phone and social media one afternoon while she was at work, and felt “like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I no longer had to bear her energy.” Yikes.
Who’s Babies Are These? This story about triplets born via surrogate who weren’t picked up has broken containment.
Beware of DIY Cosmetic Injectables This seems like a pretty obvious extension of the DIY peptide injections. As someone who’s lived through both bad botox and bad filler, don’t inject yourself. It’s not worth it.
A true crime producer posed as an heiress, and then stole 30 million But she has a great story to sell now…
If you watched the Idaho Murders documentary series on Netflix you know it never gets into motive. Here’s a start on the why he might have done it.
The 5 people who have saved the most lives in the world
TO DO
Train Jazz, every station is a different note
🛒 THINGS WORTH BUYING
Continuing on the theme from last week, more good merch: Tate’s Bake Shop Classic Sweatshirt, and Vintage NPR ringer tee
This section has been light the past couple of months because I’ve been trying not to shop and to use the stuff I don’t wear in my closet instead. However, sometimes I can’t help it.
I buy a COS cashmere sweater every year. For the past 3 years I’ve gotten the oversized Men’s one that fits like The Row Ophelia. This year I got this one that looks like The Row Pato Cashmere Sweater. If you prefer color there’s this blue cardigan which looks great with some washed black jeans. But if you haven’t heard purple is the *the* color this fall. Not for me, due to my unfortunate coloring, but for those of you who do have contrast. They have early access right now for men’s and women’s cashmere.
Sometimes, animal print is a neutral. Like these zebra flats that are the same shape as the Loro Piana Rebecca flats I love.
I bought this Gap oversized half-zip in Camel Tan that looks like the $6k Matthieu Blazy Chanel one.
🍕FOOD WORTH EATING
The Viral Sprite iced tea This recipe seems to be everywhere on instagram and TikTok. My .02 cents: use 4 tea bags and let it sit for longer.
Cacio e Pepe scrambled eggs. These are delicious
Also easy and delicious? This “2 Michelin Star” 4 ingredient pasta recipe
Fruit Crumbles Do you have fruit about to go bag, or frozen fruit, or fruit you don’t know what to do with? Make a crumble. Unless it’s bananas—then make banana bread or freeze for smoothies
For your last summer travels, this is a cute hostess gift: Levain cookies and glasses for dunking them in milk.
$100 hot dogs sold out
Let Me and a Food Scientist Sample the Abandoned Fish Sauce Terrorizing a Small Canadian Town The smell is so bad the townspeople literally move out for the summer.
The mushroom behind “tiny people” hallucinations has been identified. They’re called Lilliputian hallucinations and they’ve been happening to people thousands of miles apart for decades.
This Pizza Hut post has everyone in their feelings. It’s a good ad. it made me want a personal pan pizza. A thing I haven’t thought about in 15 years.
✅ EXTREMELY HELPFUL TIP OF THE WEEK
A good styling tip for tucking in oversized button down shirts
How to cleanly separate the oil out of your ground beef
🔚 AND FINALLY
Trying to catch up with your friend at the nail salon
👋 BEFORE YOU GO
Thank you for being here. Thank you for reading, liking, commenting, restacking, posting about the newsletter, telling your friends and recommending me to strangers. It sounds like such a cliché to say it means more to me than you know, but it really does.
When I started Extremely Helpful, the idea was simple: let my wasted time save yours. But the best part has become all of you telling me what I’ve missed, reporting back when you try something, answering each other’s questions and introducing the rest of us to the thing currently consuming your free time and personality. This is becoming a very useful group community with unusually good taste.
So please keep adding your obsessions in the comments, and come over to the chat to keep the conversation going. Ask for a recommendation. Answer someone else’s question. Tell us about the book, workout, bird feeder, TV show, recipe or wildly specific hobby you cannot stop talking about. The more specific, the better.
If everyone brings one good thing, we can make this the most Extremely Helpful corner of the internet.
And if you know someone whose obsessions we need to hear about, forward this to them and invite them to join us.
I loved the instrumentals behind Bridgerton series and now have gone down the rabbit hole with Vitamin String Quartet on Spotify. Im really into playing their songs from the 90s while doing a Le Puzz jigsaw puzzle. The best!
MOO DENG:FURY ROAD
Put it in the Smithsonian