(upbeat music)
- I'm Elamin Abdelmahmoud, and this is Pop Chat.
Stacy, Shireen, Scaachi,
it is time to drop something in the group chat.
I wanna hear what each of you has been watching
or reading or listened to this week,
something that has been moving you.
Scaachi, you're our guest, so let me start with you.
- I read this book a little while ago.
It's called This is Big by Marisa Meltzer.
It's a really good book.
It's a memoir and an essay collection,
and it's about this woman, like,
going through the motions at Weight Watchers.
It's also a history of Weight Watchers,
and it's also a book about diet industry and body image,
and body positivity, and all that sort of stuff.
It's really good.
It's really hard to find a book about diet and weight
that doesn't either try to give you an answer
to something that is unanswerable,
or crush you under the weight of your own despair.
(Scaachi laughing)
So it's a really good book, it's really well written.
It's really applicable, I think,
to anybody who reads it, so that's mine.
- Lovely. Shireen, what about you?
- Well, you all know that I got into audiobooks,
and I'm loving this particular one written by Arshay Cooper.
It's called A Most Beautiful Thing.
And you might've heard about the movie it was adapted into,
a documentary that was narrated by Common.
So basically Arshay Cooper describes how,
on the West Side of Chicago in the nineties,
he was part of the first all black high school varsity crew.
So rowing crew, they're black oarsmen,
and we're talking about bodies and stuff.
And there's very much this discussion
about the tight unitards that the white lean oarsman wear
vis-a-vis what this crew is doing.
And it's a beautiful story talking about the sport
and essence and what it does for them.
When we think of rowing, we think of tall white people,
but this is a really great juxtaposition.
And I think that, in addition to that,
I've been watching season six
of The Chef's Table, which I totally love,
and I think I'm a little bit behind on it,
but it's really, it's on Netflix.
It's just really beautiful stories about food,
which is my other passion
in addition to problematic footwear and accessories.
(Elamin laughing)
So that's what I'm doing.
- I love it. Stacy, what about you?
- So I also have two, one is this Instagram account
called the Basement Gang, who, they do,
it's three guys, they do these amazing chaotic dance videos.
They're literally like in someone's basement,
they are wearing home clothes, they are having so much fun.
So I love them. It's @basementgang__.
I feel very strongly that you all need to go check it out.
And then I have another one too,
which is, I'm continuing my trend
of recommending wholesome things.
So there's this YA novel that I read recently.
It's called The House in the Cerulean Sea, it's by TJ Klune.
And it is this like, lovely,
like I actually got emotional reading it,
because it's this like, beautiful story
that I think right now in the world,
all I do is like, compromise.
I'm like, oh yes, this person should be
the President of the United States
because he's less bad than that other person.
Or like, oh yes, you know, I can have something
that feels like a real friendship with my friends,
but like, we can't actually be close to one another.
And instead, this book is just all nice.
There's nothing bad or compromising about it.
It's just all lovely.
- Your face just lit up - You should all read it.
- as you said that. - Yes, because I still
am thinking about it.
- And Scaachi started laughing.
- I know, because I feel - That book is my nightmare.
- like those are our, (Stacy laughing)
- Oh, my nightmare. - our contrasting brands here.
- I was like, what is she talking about? Joy?
- First of all, magic, second of all, joy,
what is this? - In this economy?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
- No, this is the time to - In a book, that sounds
- invest in your Joy, Scaachi. - so lovely to escape to.
- It's really nice.
- I think it is nice that you still have serotonin left.
(Elamin laughing)
- I'm hoarding it.
- Trigger, yeah, I think that's impressive.
- Well, someone tweeted us last week and said,
"Elamin, I'd like you to drop something in the group chat."
And I would be delighted to share with the rest of the class
that I've been watching, well, I've watched,
The Trial of the Chicago 7, which is an Aaron Sorkin movie.
It's written directed by Aaron Sorkin.
It is an incredible film about a period
of history that I didn't know a lot about.
So in 1968, there were these protests in Chicago
outside of the Democratic National Convention.
A lot of people got bloodied. The police were blamed.
The police blamed these protesters
for starting the protests.
And Aaron Sorkin does what he does best,
which is speechify shit.
And he did exactly that. It's really dramatic.
It's mostly set in a courtroom.
And that sounds like not exciting to other people,
but to me, I'm like, that is peak Sorkin.
So if you like Aaron Sorkin,
and if you like the sort of rhythmic patterns
with which he sort of sets his movies,
then this one is for you.
I don't appreciate the face
that you're giving me though, Scaachi.
What is that? What's going on there?
- Well I'm married to a white man, so I'm good.
(Elamin laughing)
Like I'm capped, I'm good. I'm good to go.
- Okay. Well, if you're not married to a white man,
definitely watch The Trial of the Chicago 7.
If you are married to a white man,
- That is like joy,
that's like holding joy. (Elamin laughing)
Aaron Sorkin's writing an over-exaggerated,
like, the reality of what he makes mediocre white men do
is fantastic. I like hold joy with that.
- I truly thought you were talking
about the joy of Scaachi making fun of Elamin,
so I was nodding along, (Shireen laughing)
but then I heard the rest of it,
and I was like, oh no, I'm good, too.
- And on that note, thank you to the panelists,
Stacy Lee Kong, Shireen Ahmed,
and special guest Scaachi Koul for joining me today.
Thank you for joining us today on Pop Chat,
the show where we do our best to help make sense
of all the cultural drama blowing up the internet.
I am your host, Elamin Abdelmahmoud.
Why don't we do this again next week?
(upbeat music)