It's our favorite time of the year on the sports calendar: March Madness. But even if wall-to-wall inspiring sports content isn't your jam, we've got plenty of other great stuff for you -- including our first ever fan submission!
March Madness
Could we have led off this week’s Friday Five with anything else? It’s one of our favorite times of the year, as the sports calendar gets super chaotic, primarily due to March Madness. We love it so much, we made a whole Moodboard out of it. From buzzer beaters to Cinderellas, glory to heartbreak, it’s always awesome, and always packed with drama. The NCAA Tournaments officially kicked off this week, and these first four days are always a frenzy of basketball action. Could we see Baylor repeat as champions? Who is the first big-time team to get upset? All these questions will soon be answered, and as huge sports fans (and sports bettors) we couldn’t be more excited.
Minx
After a long first day of watching college basketball, we’ll likely be tuning in to HBO for a little cooldown. That’s because Jake Johnson is back in a starring TV role, and we’re pretty pumped about it. Minx has a really fun premise, set around the porn industry in seedy 1970s Los Angeles, which has already provided the backdrop to some of our favorites over the years. Aside from Johnson, it looks like Ophelia Lovibond could be in line for a breakout role as the star, and the rest of the cast is peppered with funny TV role players. HBO’s comedy slate is already loaded, and based on the trailers, it looks like they’ve got another hit on their hands. The wardrobes and music should be great, just adding to an already killer vibe, and should be another excellent weekly watch to add to our rotation.
CODA
If you’re looking for more heartwarming programming, you should go check out the one-time Sundance darling that is picking up steam in the Best Picture race: CODA. After breaking the record for the largest sale in Sundance history, CODA disappeared a bit after debuting on Apple TV+. But once awards season started, the film began raking in trophies, and the buzz built up once again. It’s a touching drama about a child of a deaf family, complete with great music and plenty of laughs. Just like last year’s Sound of Metal, CODA has an incredibly interesting sound design that plays around with silence quite a bit, really throwing the audience into the world of the characters. Troy Katsur could become the first deaf Best Actor winner, and the film has the chance to bring in a few Oscars when the ceremony rolls around in a few weeks. Regardless of how many awards it brings home, CODA is a pretty inspirational coming-of-age story that also features an incredible amount of artistry, and we highly recommend checking it out.
Bust Down
If one comedy wasn’t enough for you, we also have another one we’ve been vibing with this week, Chris Redd’s Bust Down. Now on Peacock, Bust Down is a great sitcom starring four incredibly funny stand-ups, led by Saturday Night Live breakout Redd. He’s been one of our favorite comic performers the last few years, between Popstar and a number of digital shorts on SNL, so it’s really cool to see him hit his stride as a creator. The show is a workplace/buddy comedy about four low-level casino employees, and while it might feel like a pretty standard logline, Bust Down is definitely a bit of a change for an NBC sitcom. There are some traditional beats and themes, but with a twist, and some more vulgarity – which probably explains how it ended up on Peacock. Six episodes have already been released, so if you need a little change-of-pace binge during the crazy sports weekend, you don’t have to look any further.
Lastlings - First Contact
Our music selection this week is an exciting one, because it is our first ever follower submission for the Friday Five! Lastlings’ album First Contact is a super chill, slow burn electric album that has been the soundtrack for our work week. It is great background music in the best possible way, and we say that as high praise. The album has a great flow that lets you really get into the rhythm of not just the music, but whatever you happen to be working on, too. But it’s not just great for working. You can listen to it while relaxing, hanging out with friends, or just generally unwinding. “Last Breath” really stands out amongst the tracklist, especially with its upbeat intro, but we are digging the whole thing front-to-back. It just has an interesting, different sound from what we’ve been listening to, which we really appreciate. We love getting introduced to new music (or really anything new that can inspire us creatively), so don’t be afraid to shoot us any recommendations – you never know, you might end up in the next Five!