Given it is Thanksgiving for us American folk, this one seemed too obvious to pass up…

Recent Pop Culture Moments I Am Thankful For

This man will have played every important Black American over the next ten years. (vulture.com)

The humanity of MARSHALL- Given the larger than life stature of US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall the temptation to deliver a larger than like typical biopic must have been tremendous. Instead this movie focuses on, largely, on a single case as it unfolds in Bridgeport, Connecticut in the 1940s during Marshall’s time as an NAACP attorney. And yet it probably reveals more about Marshall’s past, present (in the movie timeline), and future then one of those big sweeping self-aggrandizing typical biopic.

Korg (and damn near everything else) in THOR RAGNAROK- The most fun I’ve had at the movies in the fall for sure.

Pedro Pascal becoming the lead of NARCOS- I liked Season 1 and 2 of NARCOS but even with that being true, something about moving Pascal from #2 on the call sheet to #1 has made the show even better and considering how good Wagner Moura was as Pablo Escobar, that is saying something.

STRANGER THINGS 2 finds a way to stand up to the original, tighter more focused story-telling- I love STRANGER THINGS and I also loved STRANGER THINGS 2 and would argue that while the thrill of the new is not as present (as stands to reason, THINGS 2 might be better than its predecessor because it tells its story (with the exception of that infamous episode) in a more focused manner than leads to a lot less feeling of wheel spinning in this installment.

I wonder if I could pull off this look. (consequenceofsound.com)

Women vocalists (and often singer-songwriters) just crushing it- St. Vincent, Ke$ha, Taylor Swift and a couple I know I’m forgetting all just delivered over the past few months. I’m a sucker for women vocalists and these women released albums that, minus a bum track here or there, were all killer from moment one.

THE RUNAWAYS is a TV show that exists- One of my favorite comic series of all-time, as a TV show, and it is good? We live in incredible times indeed.

These handsome guys. (flophousepodcast.com)

The Flop House- My favorite podcast. The best movie podcast out there. Never fails to make me lose it with laughter multiple times an episode. Throw in Tony Ochre’s animations of some of the best Flop digressions and they provide me double delights.

Superman and Cyborg share a laugh in JUSTICE LEAGUE- I won’t spoil the joke or the action around it, but there is a moment in the climax of the film that involves Supes and Cyborg flat on their backs laughing and joking. It is not only a great moment but points to a human, inspiring Superman that need not feel like a throwback to Christopher Reeve’s (admittedly incredible) take on the character.

The 25th Anniversary Edition of R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People- My favorite album from my favorite band in a spiffy new edition. How can I not be happy?

The scene in PUNISHER where Micro’s daughter meets Frank, not “Pete” for the first time- It lasts all of 2 minutes but the child actor does a wonderful job being both drawn to this man she knew as a family friend and she now knows is a multiple murderer and Frank’s desire to maintain that brief familial bond while admitting to her—and to himself really—that that just is no longer possible.

Two of the funniest people on TV. (theatlantic.com)

THE GOOD PLACE- More like the Great Place, amirite?