Welcome once again, dear friends, to the weekend. As is our tradition here at Popverse, we’re helping everyone get into the mood for two days of not-work by sharing what all of us are into, up to, and otherwise thinking about for the next couple of days. The only difference is, this week your regular host Tiffany Babb is elsewhere, so you have to deal with me taking the reins, instead. (Sorry.) Ashley V. Robinson, video producer and host of the fabulous Enter The Popverse, is also absent this week, purely because she needed to catch her breath after attending Magic Con last week and before hitting up Dragcon this week; she'll be back next time.

Anyway, you know the drill by now: keep reading to see what we’re reading (and watching, and listening to), and if you’re feeling suitably inspired, feel free to share what you’re doing in the comment section below. You can also see what Team Popverse really dug in terms of movies, TV, and comics from last year, as well. Who says this isn’t the era of Pompous Popverse Pontificatin’?!?

Chris Arrant (Editor in Chief):

On this Mother's Day weekend, I will be representing family be re-watching all (or most) of the Fast & Furious movies ahead of next week's Fast X. I did it once before for a long-ago MTV News article (RIP MTV News), and now I am doing it once again.

More for pleasure (which almost always turns into fodder for work), I am reading the manga Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead upon the recommendation of a friend in the industry. I had already planned to do this then read the news of the Viz Manga app, which will be carrying this as well, which makes this even easier.

Graeme McMillan (Staff Writer):

This weekend is all about Eurovision for me, I can’t pretend otherwise. I’m a sucker for the always overlong, always over-the-top annual celebration of both pop music and genuinely bizarre cultural references that don’t necessarily make sense to outsiders but sure make for entertaining watching. The final of this year’s event is on Saturday, but as I write this, I’ve already eagerly devoured the first of the two semi-finals to decide the final line-up of Saturday’s competition, and Portugal’s Mimicat is an early favorite around these here parts:

For those in the US wanting to watch for themselves, it’s streaming live on Peacock on Saturday; for everyone else, you’re missing out on things like this:

You remembered what I said about the bizarre cultural references that don’t necessarily parse, right…?

I'm also planning on revisiting some Strontium Dog, one of my favorite British comic strips; it's the 45th anniversary of the character's debut in the first issue of anthology title Starlord (no relation to the Marvel character, whose name is technically two words), and I figure that the best way to mark the occasion is to go back and re-read some of the classic John Wagner/Alan Grant/Carlos Ezquerra stories from the 1980s. For those yet to discover the character: Think The Mandalorian, if it was so, so much cooler.

Illianna Gonzalez-Soto (Marketing Coordinator):

Hey hi hello, I’m making my mini debut to the WAWETW Article and I couldn’t be happier. This weekend, I’ll be on my knees begging Ashley V. Robinson for forgiveness, as I have not finished our buddy read of Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. I’ve just been carrying the book around with me in my bag trying to find the inspo to pick it up again. Ashley is probably already done with Ruin and Rising and is off to meet the Crows. Sorry Ashley, if you’re reading this... ILYSM. Plus, I may bother Veronica on Monday once I’ve finished A Court of Silver Flame because I heard it from VV herself that she has ~thoughts~ about one miss Nesta Archeron.

When it comes to movies and shows, I am so late to the game. Dungeons and Dragons? The Super Mario Bros. Movie? Haven’t seen them yet. After finishing The Mandalorian (YES YES YES YES) I’ve sadly fallen wayside from show watching. Though perhaps I may be feeling in the mood for some Bridgerton Queen Charlotte. Feel free to tweet some show recs to me, I’d love some suggestions (@illiannagsoto). Until next time, sending you all the squeezies in the galaxy.

Tiffany Babb (Deputy Editor):

This weekend, I'm diving back into a collection of one of my favorite critic's work. Robert Warshow died suddenly and very young, so the only collection of his work, The Immediate Experience: Movies, Comics, Theater and Other Aspects of Popular Culture, was published posthumously. Not only was Warshow an incredible and insightful writer and critic, he was also one of the first serious critics to take a look at comics like Krazy Kat and those found in Mad Magazine. I haven't read his work in a while, so I'm really looking forward to reading his thoughts on American pop culture again.

Veronica Valencia (Video Producer):

When I went to the book store a couple of days ago, I picked up a manga, which I haven't done in YEARS! And what is the manga I bought that broke my long streak of buying single volume manga you may ask? Why that story is Choujin X by Sui Ishida! Sui Ishida is a manga artist who is responsible for one of my all time favorite manga (and eventually anime series) Tokyo Ghoul! I loved everything about that story: the characters, the supernatural lore, the horror and dark fantasy elements, the relationships and identity struggles the main characters deals with, it's all so well written and I swear you can feel the art when reading it's that good!

It's been a while since Sui Ishida has come out with another story and so I was stoked to see what new story he's whipped up. He has such a style, and from what I can tell (because I took a little sneak peak before buying) I can already see the elements that made me love Tokyo Ghoul so much represented in this new story. I'm excited to dive more into it this weekend and it's also available digitally so I can just got right on into the next chapters.

What are you checking out this weekend? Comment below, and let us know!

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