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☺️ Things I Like That You Might Like Too ☺️ (JUNE 2025)
🕑 Added 2025-06-22 13:36:43 +0000 UTCHello!
I realised I haven’t done one of these in ages. So, here’s an update.
Sometimes I get caught in a cycle of the same movies, books, activities, and whatever else. If you also suffer from this, I hope this small collection of recommendations can be of some help.
P.S. These are obviously just things I like and if you don’t like them too, then that’s absolutely a-okay ❤️
✨TV Shows/Movies:✨
Blue Jean (2022):
A beautiful movie from its story to aesthetic. I don’t know about anybody else, but I love when movies don’t look clean. They’re grainy, gritty, the camera shakes and it’s not always in perfect focus. Movies like this pull me-in in such a different way to sleek movies. They’re felt, they’re flawed - it just makes it so much easier to relate to the environment and characters. When everyone looks like they’re using an instagram filter - the disconnect is very present.
Blue Jean is set in 1980’s Tyneside, England. The movie explores homophobia, the insidious nature of bigotry and the beauty of self-acceptance. Beautiful performances, a simple and effective story, great acting and people who look like people. There’s a lot to love here.
I Am Sam (2001):
Sam is a mentally disabled man raising a very able daughter. This movie covers a lot, from mental health, disabilities, relationships and most importantly what it means to be a good parent.
Very necessary warning: this is a crying movie. Whether you’re neurotypical or neurodivergent, the feelings reach out to all.
I know some people feel that neurotypical actors should not play neurodivergent characters. I personally feel that Sean Penn did a wonderful job. A mental handicap, much like autism or ADHD, doesn’t look just one way. There is no one way to be disabled. I felt the movie was sensitive, engaging and honest about how much work it takes to survive a world not built for you.
Squid Game (2021-Present):
Korean dramas are some of the absolute best in the entertainment industry. The acting, the pacing, the length of the series - you really feel that attention to detail and the care that the team of creators put into the final product.
Squid Game follows a group of strangers who are crippled by debt - whether by their own actions or purely by being victims of circumstance - they are buried in financial ruin. Desperate, they enter a series of secret games in order to win a grand monetary prize. The only catch is… if they lose a game, they’re eliminated… forever.
It’s the classic tale of capitalism. Rich people get poor people to dance for money. And then they kill them.
This series is absolutely not just a gimmick. It’s an engaging, thrilling and nuanced look at how money determines and dictates our lives.
The third and final season is about to start next week. If there was ever a time to binge this gem, it is now.
✨Books✨:
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
How do you deal with the day, with shopping, with work, with nosey neighbours and cooking dinner when your son is a teenage shooter?
We Need to Talk About Kevin explores the troubling relationship between Eva and Kevin - mother and son - enemies and co conspirators. This is a difficult read in the sense that it holds a mirror up to the uncomfortable questions inside us.
What if childbirth isn’t amazing? What if we don’t feel a rush of love upon holding our baby? What if we don’t like our son? What if our son doesn’t like us? What if he hurts his siblings? What if you’re imagining it? What if you’re not? What then? Is it your fault? Their fault? If not… then whose fault?
I love a protagonist who is neither loathsome nor particularly likeable. A true shade of grey. If you like fucked up people and impossible situations, this one is for you.
My Dark Vanessa - Kate Elizabeth Russell
A story of loneliness, grooming, and the human desperation to find a love story in all our pain. The novel follows 15 year old Vanessa as she is aggressively pursued by her 45 year old teacher.
The story is nuanced, feeling and painful. You feel Vanessa’s vulnerability, her desperation to make this inappropriate pursuit romantic and consensual. You feel the hole inside her, created by a lacklustre home life, bullying and generally feeling out of place and unwanted. The truth is predators are looking for vulnerable people. They look for the wounded and unloved, for the open and inviting. And I think this book explores the psychology of that brilliantly.
✨Music:✨
GERM - Kate Nash
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Tony Christie
Mickey - Toni Basil
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Little Lies - Fleetwood Mac
Cornflower Blue - Flower Face
Frictionless Wipe - OCT
Man on the Moon - R.E.M
Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode, Daniel Miller, Phil Legg
Virginia - Boys Go to Jupiter
Shadow of a Man - Lady Gaga
✨Activities:✨
Change What You Can:
There are some things you can’t change. You can’t change where you were born, your blood type, your allergies, the traffic, your bigoted distant relatives, what’s happening in the Middle East, if your government is going to add some new bollocks-y legislation.
There’s just a lot you can’t change. And often that can feel really disheartening.
But that’s why it’s important to change what you can. I’ve recently lost 15 pounds. I’ve been overweight for the last year or so and it’s been dragging me down.
I’ve gained and lost weight all my life. I have a poor relationship with food, binge eating and body dysmorphia. I never really know what I look like - and I either deprive or binge when it comes to eating. I go through good patches and then really bad patches. It’s something I have to work on everyday. But for the last year, I deemed it unimportant.
But the thing is, my eating habits are about me. And I am important. And so, I’ve been really conscious about looking after myself and slowly the weight has come off and I’m practicing much healthier habits.
I’m not suggesting everyone should lose weight. I’m just saying that you can take control of some things. And I think that’s encouraging.
I’m also making an effort to actually watch and read things lately. I have a bad habit of just mindlessly scrolling and I find it hard to apply real concentration. But lately, I’ve been reading more and actually finishing movies in one sitting. And I think it’s these little things that add up, in the end.
Anyway, my fundamental point is look after yourself and don’t surrender because of the things you can’t change - focus on what you can.
Comments
Wilt Fang
Hey Tea, I dont know how much you read high fantasy, but if you're looking for suggestion I have two: The Ranger's Apprentice is a series of books written for young adults by John Flannegan. It centers around a boy named Will, who is orphaned and trying to find his way in his world. The series touches on some very deep topics like love, loss, and addiction, and is very well written with humor, tragedy, strength, and emotional scenes all present. The Tales of Drizzt is a collection of series written by R.A. Salvatore that (mostly) follows Drizzt Do'Urden, a drow elf in the world of the Forgotten Realms (the primary setting of Dungeons and Dragons). There are literal tens of books about Drizzt and the people surrounding him that touch on all manners of topics in all manners of ways. Both are two of my favorite series to read and honestly the Drizzt books got me through some hard times in my life. I definitely plan to watch some of the stuff you listed and I'll see if the library has any of the books! Thanks for your time, and I hope you have a great day!
Arerral
Thank you for the list. I love it when people share the thing they like and insights into their lives REM, Depeche Mode and Fleetwood Mac are all mainstays of my formative years. I recently lost 20 lbs. Back in Oct 2023 I had Congestive Heart Failure and was unable to go to the gym for ~18 months (that is where I found the extra weight). I'm fine now, the underlying issue wasn't physically my heart, it has been corrected and safeguards are in place to help prevent it from happening again. I was able to start back in the gym at the end of March and I have lost the weight since then.
DeadCole24
Personal Jesus is a classic song!
Sean Dickey
It's been almost four years, and I still haven't seen squid games lol
Justin Chery
I really liked "We Need To Talk About Kevin"
TeacupAudio
I love 'The Glory'. It was so good to see a story where the take away isn't 'no, revenge is bad'.
Gabriel
If you like Korean dramas I highly recommend, 'The Glory'. It's about a girl that gets horrifically bullied in school and then dedicates the next 18 years of her life to getting revenge. It's vaguely reminiscent of the count of Monte Cristo.
Soul Helper
If you need a recommendation, check out Shadow Slave on Web novel, its a super solid piece of fiction that you can take your time reading, since it's still updating
CurrentlyEatingPies
I like the Petey Kay cover of Amarillo.
Finnish The Finnish
Gonna have To give I am sam a try. Sounds compelling
Phoenix Brave Hideki
Thank you Tea for the recommendations and advice will definitely give these a try!
