Can’t wait to melt into our beds when we get home

Starting this Friday (or perhaps starting already, if you’re lucky), you have an entire month to sleep, procrastinate, and sleep more, to recuperate from this crushing semester and prepare for the spring. In the interests of Columbia students taking advantage of the Netflix subscriptions that have been lying unused for the past few weeks, Bwog has compiled a list of our top recommendations for what you should watch, read, and listen to over this winter break.

Watch:

  • The Crown (Netflix): one Bwogger’s English colloquium professor mentioned this show in class, and because she takes that professor’s recommendation on pretty much everything, she started watching it after her exam yesterday. It’s pretty compelling, and the music is gorgeous.
  • Riverdale (season one is on Netflix, season two is on Netflix in certain countries, not including the US; both seasons are on the CW) : really good for wasting your brainpower and feeling really stupid, which is necessary after finals.
  • The Great British Baking Show: the best and most positive/wholesome cooking show on Netflix.
  • Bojack Horseman (Netflix): Lots of people have been referencing it, but it’s worth a watch on its own merit. It’s really sarcastic and funny while also being poignant and, to be completely honest, a total mindfuck.
  • Pride (movie): Tells the story of a group of gay guys and lesbians in 1980s Britain who start supporting a town of Welsh miners on strike. A really heartwarming movie, with some great funny parts.
  • Dear White People (Netflix): only 10 30-minute episodes so it’s really easy to binge. It’s well-acted, super cinematic, and engages some really pertinent issues head-on.
  • Galavant: only two seasons of a fun musical comedy that honestly deserved better.
  • The Magicians: Now that you’re in college, you’ve graduated from fantasies of magical boarding school to magical undergrad. This is Syfy’s only redeemable show, about the magical Ivy League (???), in case you needed to be validated by going to an Ivy when your relatives ask you what you’ve accomplished so far.
  • Lost: While it may seem like a knockoff Castaway, or that passé show from the 2000’s, Lost is a must-see. Amazingly interconnected story lines. You’ll get addicted to it, but it’s 6 seasons each containing at least 17 45 minute episodes, so good luck finishing over break.
  • Brooklyn Nine Nine: Rosa Diaz is bi. You don’t need any more reason to watch this show (although we could give you about a hundred more).

Read:

  • Moby Dick: will make you feel better about the L’s you took during finals.
  • Hillbilly Elegy, by J. D. Vance: One Bwogger stayed up till 2:30 am reading this when she intended to go to bed at 1. If you wonder how anyone could possibly vote for Trump, read it.
  • A Wrinkle in Time: probably even better than you remember it being when you read it as a kid, and the reread will help you get hyped for the movie coming out in March!
  • The Paper Menagerie and other Short Stories by Ken Liu: incredibly well-written, mostly sci-fi fantasy but not just medieval Europe with some magic thrown over it
  • The Martian by Andy Weir: the most fun one Bwogger has had when reading a book this year.
  • Beauty Queens by Libba Bray: Lord of the Flies but with beauty pageant contestants. It’s got a diverse cast and it’s really funny while also taking a satirical look at corporate culture and femininity
  • All the readings you didn’t do over the semester for your humanities courses. (Just kidding.)

Listen to:

  • The Adventure Zone: a podcast in which three brothers and their father play Dungeons and Dragons together. Features a better long-game story line than you’ll find in most other fantasy series, some excellent LGBTQA+ representation, and a truly impressive amount of poop jokes.
  • Wolf 359: a sci-fi radio drama with a fun, talented cast of characters and also it takes place in space. It’s ending this week so you can also listen to the whole story in one go.
  • Homecoming: a super-engaging and relatively short thriller, currently with 2 seasons. It also has a really talented cast (including Oscar Isaac)

Cute cat living our dreams via publicdomainpictures.net