Once a month, I share the best of what I’ve been reading, watching, and exploring. Enjoy!
Books
Sonny Boy by Al Pacino. Get the audiobook for this one. Pacino narrates his memoir himself, taking you from his childhood in the South Bronx to the roles that made him a legend. I’ve never listened to an audiobook that felt quite like this. It’s less like someone reading a book to you and more like sitting across from Pacino as he tells you stories from his life, wandering off on tangents, laughing at his own memories, and occasionally forgetting there’s a microphone in front of him.
Films
You Can See Everything (2026). Think you know the Elizabeth Holmes story? I thought I did, too. I’d read Bad Blood and followed the Theranos scandal, but nothing prepared me for this documentary. Shortly before going to prison, Holmes invited a film crew into her home, giving them extraordinary access to her life. What unfolds blurs the line between truth and fiction, and the story somehow keeps getting wilder as it goes along.
See this one in a theater. The audience’s collective gasps, laughter, and disbelief are half the fun. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen in years—even at three hours, I was genuinely disappointed when it ended. The less you know going in, the better.
Do the Right Thing (1989). Spike Lee’s classic takes place over the hottest day of the summer on a single block in Brooklyn, where racial tensions eventually boil over. I watched it recently and couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.
Most movies about race reach for a neat Hollywood ending—a grand reconciliation, or a big speech that magically erases all the tension. This one refuses to do that, and it doesn’t let things end in a total rupture, either. People hurt each other, the damage is real, and yet somehow, they can still talk to each other. Every time I thought I knew where I stood, the film gave me a reason to reconsider.
Personal Shopper (2016). Kristen Stewart plays an American living in Paris who works as a personal shopper for a celebrity while grieving the death of her twin brother. She’s waiting for a sign from him beyond the grave, and what unfolds is part ghost story, part psychological thriller, and something that doesn’t fit neatly into either. Stewart is brilliant, conveying so much with the smallest shifts in her expression.
Music
Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith. Fifty-five years after Aerosmith first came together, I watched Steven Tyler step up to the microphone at the Hollywood Bowl last week and sing the opening lines of Sweet Emotion.
Goosebumps.
The band has kept the same core lineup for more than five decades—a near-miracle in rock ’n’ roll. Tyler’s vocal cords can no longer handle a full set, so they brought in Guns N’ Roses, the Black Crowes, Billy Idol, Heart, and others to take turns playing Aerosmith songs. But nothing quite matched hearing Tyler sing with the band that started it all.
For a few minutes, it felt like time had folded in on itself. Then the song ended, and I found myself wishing I could hear it begin all over again.
Related
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