Hot Takes: Guilty pleasures and summer vibes

Attack on Titan anime. Photo / AnimeLab

Try

After a recent trip to Japan I've been diving into the world of anime - and I can't lie, it's my new guilty pleasure. You can pick your genre from romantic comedy to magical fantasy - there's a very popular anime about a high school swim team while others are darker and bloodier than any Hollywood horror and definitely not for kids. Is it weird to sit around watching cartoons at my age? Probably but I'm not sorry. If you want to give it a go, check out streaming service AnimeLab. I'm currently streaming Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia and Stein's Gate.

Laugh

Speaking of guilty pleasures, How Did This Get Made? asks that very question of the films we love to hate, and the podcast's hosts - a panel of awesome comedians - try to find us all an answer. The League's Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas, and Grace and Frankie scene-stealer June Diane Raphael deep dive into the likes of The Room, Wild Wild West, Lake Placid and Con-Air. They also bring in a host of famous, funny guests including Alison Brie, Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Peretti, and they even got James Franco, Seth Rogen and Tommy Wiseau to pick apart The Disaster Artist.

Binge

I've recently booked a trip with my mother, so Travels With My Father really speaks to me. The hilarious Jack Whitehall teams up with his "daddy" Michael for a travel show unlike any other, in which father and son's travel styles totally clash. The great thing about this is you get the lad's view of a destination as well as a more cultural one, and in between you get some cringey Brit comedy and some really heartwarming father/son moments to boot. You also get Winston. You'll know why this matters when you see it.

Listen

Jorja Smith released her stellar debut album Lost and Found in June and was recently announced on this summer's Laneway Festival line-up. As a result, I've been jamming her album on repeat for the last few weeks. Her voice is stunning and her style is somewhere between SZA and Lauryn Hill, which is saying something. Even when she strains it sounds good, the breaks in her voice and her earthy head voice make for soulful listening and she sings about everything from love to inequality in the dreamiest way. Perfect summer vibes.