Posts in What to watch
Burning Man trailer

I’ve been a regular at Burning Man and this short video, called Above the Dust, is the best summation I’ve seen of the event’s energy. Burning Man is primarily a night city, and a leader in light innovation and urban experiences. – KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Best Star Wars so far

The Star Wars series Andor is the best Star Wars so far. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. There are no jokey comedic relief scenes, so it seems aimed squarely at adults rather than kids. You feel for the villains. It has unexpected turns. Also it has the most sophisticated science fiction world-building since DUNE. Twelve episodes on Disney+. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Zen Buddhist jokes

I giggled for an hour watching standup comedian Sheng Wang’s Netflix special, Sweet and Juicy. I love his uplifting and positive style, which is rare in comedy. He cracks jokes about enlightenment, except he is serious. And instead of long buildups to punchlines, he delivers an unending patter of quiet epiphanies. It’s laugh therapy! — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
A modern tragedy

WeCrashed is the 8-part mini-series on Apple TV about the astounding rise and subsequent crash of WeWork, the office sharing company. It’s heavily fictionalized, but nonetheless a gripping drama about the kind of magical belief that is needed to do something big. I was very sympathetic at the beginning. This roller coaster movie is well-done, very convincing, incredibly watchable and all the more compelling because the protagonist, Adam Neumann, is back this week in real life with an even bigger scheme, which another billionaire funded for $350 million at day one. Watch this series to see where the real season 2 might go. — KK

Tollywood megahit movie

I like to keep tabs on the pulse of the two largest countries in the world by watching their hit movies. The latest megahit in India is “RRR” which is the most expensive and highest grossing movie in India to date. It’s a Tollywood mythical superhero action movie, that is naturally very long (3 hours), over-the-top, color saturated, bonkers, ridiculous and bombastic, and suitably interrupted with fabulous song and dance. The despicable evil villains are British Raj colonials set in pre-independence India. It’s a delightful popcorn flick. On Netflix. — KK

Time-shift nature documentary

Take the legendary Planet Earth TV series and marry it to Jurassic Park technology times one million and what you get is the fantastic new nature series narrated by David Attenborough, Prehistoric Planet. It’s about the life of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. It employs state of the art synthetic beings and the latest scientific understanding to depict everyday dino life with stunning veracity and clarity. It genuinely tracks like an intimate nature documentary. Streaming on Apple TV. — KK

Babies 101

The 6-part Netflix series Babies changed my ideas about human babies. Babies are far more smarter and adaptable than they appear. This series uses video from scientific experiments on babies to demonstrate their remarkable intelligence and stunning development. I look at them with renewed wonder now. The series is a remarkable work of science communication. I strongly recommend to any parent or grandparent. — KK

Pirate comedy

Pirates invented early forms of democracy and organizations that were far more “modern” in shape than other work environments in the past. But what if there was a Gentleman Pirate who gave his pirates diversity training, casual Fridays, safe places, suggestion boxes, and encouraged them to express their artistic natures with art projects? That’s the parody of a very funny HBO comedy series “Our Flag Means Death.” The farcical absurdity is just background for a midlife crisis and workplace drama that is witty, heartfelt, refreshing, and touching. I binged all ten episodes in two sittings. — KK

3 minutes of advice

Throughout his career Dan Pink has been a master of distilling actionable advice about all parts of life. He is at peak wisdom in this series of videos that encapsulate an entire book’s-worth of advice into 3 minutes or less. Plus one dad-joke. He calls them Pinkcasts. They are totally worth your 3 minutes. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Science fiction I am watching

I’ve been watching a lot of new streaming science fiction recently. My favorite shows, ranked in order of my enjoyment. — KK

  • Dune (HBO) — Part 1. Perfect in all dimensions. Best world-building since Star Wars.

  • The Expanse (Amazon) — Six seasons of an epic saga, with well-done characters and worlds.

  • For All Mankind (Apple+) — Super fantastic counterfactual history of what if the Russians won the race to the Moon.

  • Westworld (HBO) — Excellent cautionary tale of our relations with human-like robots. Already a classic.

  • Ascension (Amazon) — Plenty of unexpected plot twists in story of 100-year ship to the stars.

  • Silent Sea (Netflix) — Korean drama on Moon base.

  • Station Eleven (HBO) — What if mostly actors survive a dystopia? Odd, perplexing, slow, but in a good way.

  • Book of Boba Fett (Disney+) — Continuation of the Mandalorian space western, with shoot outs.

  • Altered Carbon (Netflix) — Unlikely scenario, but rich, fun exploration of downloading personalities.

  • Wandavision (Disney+) — Part of the Marvel universe. Amusing premise and very creative meta levels and format.

  • Foundation (Apple+) — Based on classic book. Liked the beginning but I couldn’t finish it because it became too implausible.

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Incredible feel-good documentary

You may remember the story of the Thai boys stranded in a deep cave years ago. There was an international effort to get them out that lasted weeks. But the story of how they actually rescued the kids is so unbelievable, so amazing, so insane, and so crazy that it is definitely worth watching The Rescue, the thrilling National Geographic documentary about this unlikely feat. The heroes of The Rescue are unexpected and unlikely themselves. I call this the best documentary of the year. (Streaming on Disney+) — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Excellent movie

5 stars for the new movie DUNE. It’s the most exquisite world building (worlding) I’ve seen since Star Wars. Crisp, inventive, plausible and coherent. The soundtrack and cinematic style are appropriate to the world. The story is forceful and mythical. I want more. After you watched it once, but before you watch it again, this long Max Read annotation will fill you in on the Dune book/movie references. I watched it streamed on HBO, but it would be worth seeing it in a theater. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Optimistic energy future

One of the reasons I am relentlessly optimistic is that our capacity for innovation is greater than we think. Inventor Saul Griffith lays out a very optimistic plan whereby we can accomplish half of our climate goals simply by electrifying everything. Instead of burning carbon, we can use solar, wind, water, and nuclear to make electrons. Electric vehicles, stoves, furnaces, motors — all currently doable — are far more efficient than oxidizing carbon and bring compounding benefits. Griffith explains all in this readable and comprehensive new book, Electrify: An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. It is an important vision because it is feasible. — KK

Bingeable suspense drama

It’s gory, with mindless cartoon violence, but it is also full of surprises, great drama, and the pleasures of the unexpected. My wife and I binged the entire first season in 5 days. It’s that good. I am speaking of the Korean thriller/drama/horror series, Squid Game, on Netflix. (You have the option of dubbed or subtitled. We went with dubbed.) — KK

Video Poem

The Diamond is a gem of a short 16-minute documentary. Utterly brilliant. People come to shift though the dirt in crater looking for rough diamonds, but what are they really hunting for? Bigger things. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
What to watch

When I am wondering what’s new and good to watch on the streaming services, I go to the Variety magazine’s “what to watch” page, which is updated weekly. They cover new and recommended shows on the major streaming platforms. I can usually find one new one that interests me. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Modern farming series

Jeremy Clarkson is a larger-than-life British TV celebrity. He writes bombastic newspaper columns, hosts game shows, and for decades has been the star of automobile stunt shows such as Top Gear and Grand Auto. Recently he retired to his 1,000-acre farm in England, which he is trying to farm himself. Naturally, he’s made a reality-tv show about it. Clarkson’s Farm streams on Amazon, and despite being a scripted reality-tv show, I have been bingeing the 8-part first season because it offers a deep and detailed examination of what modern farming is all about. Hint: there are a lot of machines and gear involved. Clarkson’s Farm is entertaining because it is all about showing off how ignorant Clarkson is, how he keeps screwing up, losing money, getting in his own way, having to learn from locals much more experienced, and how complex modern farming life is. The show is good. — KK

What to watchClaudia Dawson
Best video shorts

Short videos are an emerging art form. With the advent of phone cameras and free editing software they are within reach of almost any maker. One of my favorite seats to see the best art video shorts is to go to the Vimeo Staff Picks. They go through an ocean of new creations and curate the best video shorts. — KK