PopaHALLics #169 "Raise Your Voice"

PopaHALLics #169 "Raise Your Voice"

It's time to speak up: Ted Lasso for AFC Richmond's new female soccer team; the "Ride or Die" friends for reach other; a son of 1960s radicals for himself; even a killer robot for herself (itself?). And we talk protest songs too.

Streaming:

• "Ted Lasso," Apple TV. Once again Ted (Jason Sudeikis) returns across the pond to coach soccer in Richmond, this time for the new women's team. Returning are Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca), Juno Temple (Keeley), Brett Goldstein (Roy), and Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard), with Tanya Reynolds as the assistant coach passed over for the head job.
• "The Trouble with Jessica," YouTube. In this 2023 dark comedy, a couple (Shirley Henderson and Alan Tudyk) trying to sell their home hold a dinner party. The night turns into mayhem due to an uninvited guest (Indira Varma).
• "Ride or Die," Prime. Best friends Debbie (Octavia Spenser) and Judith (Hannah Waddingham) have secrets from each other in this action comedy series. Debbie hasn't read the book for her book club; Judith is an assassin.
• "Three," Kanopy. Kai''s bad day turns worse when a stranger (Eric Roberts) in a bar prophesies he will die in three days. Caleb Ruminer and Anna Grace Barlow star in this 2026 rom-com movie that veers from serious to whimsical.
• "Companion," HBO Max. In this 2025 sci-fi thriller,  a weekend getaway at a remote cabin turns deadly thanks to the erratic behavior of a guest—who discovers she's a robot. Starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid.
• "Sneakers," streaming. In this high-tech caper, a team of renegade hackers is hired to retrieve an elusive black box. Starring Robert Redford, Sydney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, and David Strathairn.

Books:

• "Dangerous, Dirty, Violent and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground," by Zayd Ayers Dohrn. This 2026 memoir explores his childhood as the son of Weather Underground leaders, examining his parents' radical history on the run and the emotional toll of political extremism.
• "A Monster Calls," by David Ness and Siobhan Dowd. In this 2011 award-winning dark fantasy for young readers, a monster visits a boy in denial about his mother's terminal cancer. Ness wrote the book from an idea by Dowd, who died of cancer before she could start it.

Music:

Steve seeing protest singer Jesse Wells in concert inspired our PopaHALLics #169 Playlist (Protest), with protest songs old and new. We also include music by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, an old Kate favorite that she recently rediscovered.