Distractions for Thanksgiving Break
Cover art for Azealia Banks’ Broke With Expensive Taste. Azealia Banks / Prospect Park
December 7, 2014
After weeks of waiting, the school is finally, mercifully letting us go for a week next Monday to celebrate Thanksgiving. The holiday means food, traveling and family. It’s nice to see everyone, but human interaction gets old fast. We can all expect a week of nonstop well-meaning questions from relatives asking about girlfriends, grades and college hopes.
With this in mind, I give you the definitive list of media for Thanksgiving break including music, books, shows, podcasts, and movies to help you retain your sanity over this (let’s call it interesting) week.
Music is probably the most effective tool to use while relatives are visiting. I suggest locking yourself in your room and blasting Broke With Expensive Taste, Azealia Banks’s first full-length album. You may have heard of her when she relentlessly mocked Iggy Azalea and T.I., and while she is a Twitter nuisance, she really can rap. Gems are easy to find in the 16-track powerhouse. The massive “Chasing Time” has the catchiest hook of the whole album, and, yes, it’s perfect for singing along to while ignoring relatives waiting patiently downstairs. Other tracks to seek out are “Ice Princess,” “Gimme a Chance,” “Desperado,” and “Miss Amor.” Acid rap not your thing? Try Vibes, Theophilus London’s moody, fall-tinted art-rap album. Kanye West makes a very special appearance in “Can’t Stop,” making one of the best musical cameos of 2014. For a more pop-oriented listener, check out the Mockingjay Soundtrack. Lorde and CHVRCHES contribute to an oddly dancy soundtrack to a very dark movie.
For a more engrossing listening experience, try one of the podcasts available free on iTunes. A standout is Serial, the week-by-week story of the 1999 murder of student Hae Min Lee. Through the medium of radio, journalist Sarah Koenig weaves a tapestry of murder and mystery, all around Lee’s ex-boyfriend, Adnan Sayed. It’s a very good show that needs to be listened to in order. After you finish all of the available episodes, download the Slate Spoiler Special, a podcast about Serial, for an in-depth analysis of each week’s episode. Bonus: the murder happened around Baltimore, so the Best Buy where Lee was supposedly murdered is within an hour’s car ride (you’ll understand the obsession after you hear Serial – it’s that great). Another wonderful podcast is The Read, a show hosted by bloggers Kid Fury and Crissle. Each week, they talk about celebrity news, listener questions, and issues in their own lives while managing to make it all hilarious.
Fall is the perfect time for reading a book, especially when you need to take a few hours for yourself. I suggest reading a novel by Haruki Murakami, like 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, or Kafka on the Shore. Murakami’s novels are perfectly weird, blending elements of comedy, sci-fi, and mystery into beautiful works. Favorite topics of the writer are cats and food, so there’s no way to go wrong with one of his books. If comedy is more your style, try Yes Please by comedian Amy Poehler. Poehler’s comedy is fast, subtle, and entertaining, making the book a must-read and a useful companion for shutting yourself off from the outside world.
Of course, Thanksgiving break would not be complete without a movie or two. Sleeper hit Snowpiercer is a story of a class war on a train that holds the last remnants of human life. It’s a zany concept, but Snowpiercer is a poignant movie. Another drama is the delightful Short Term 12, a quiet little indie about a childcare worker (played by the always brilliant Brie Larson) and her struggles with everyday life in the facility. Not in the mood for crying uncontrollably? Watch Django Unchained for an unflinchingly violent movie about Django (Jamie Foxx) trying to buy his wife’s freedom in the Antebellum South. Django is hilarious, trust me.
With this list of the best media for Thanksgiving break, you’ll be able to survive a week of relatives.
