I have great taste in summer: Movies, music, books, vibes

My summer watchlist, playlist, reading list, & activities

Just like HAIM, I’m a summer girl. It makes no sense that I am. My hair gets frizzy, I’m susceptible to razor burn, and I live in a city without regular access to a beach house, boat, or pool.

Growing up, my dad used to complain about all the time my brother and I spent inside during summer. “I left on my bike in the morning and didn’t come home until the sun went down,” he told us. Okay dad, well you’re the one who hooked us up with a cable package of over 200 channels, including Nickelodeon GAS (Games and Sports) that ran Legends of the Hidden Temple and Figure It Out all day every day. I can’t just go play hopscotch after watching the Blue Barracudas do their thing.

Nowadays, get me outside all summer long. I want days spent at Rockaway Beach, nighttime drinks on a rooftop, and long cabin weekends with friends. We should be like France and take the month of August off. I can never recreate the youthful experience of absolutely no responsibility for three months straight. I have to pay rent. So this is the media I consume to get as close to recapturing that magic as possible.

What to watch, listen to, read, and do all summer

Movies

Jaws

Streaming on: Peacock

Duh. Happy 50th birthday to the greatest summer film ever made, and one of my Letterboxd top four. Jaws is America. It’s Fourth of July, small town bureaucracy, our willingness to value capitalism over human life, and that masculine pride of "only I can fix this". Roy Scheider was hot though, huh.

The Linklater of your choice

Linklater is my favorite director because his movies make my heart ache in the best way. They make me all wistful.

Here are your best Linklater options for summer:

• Before Sunrise. The first film in the greatest trilogy ever made. A summer fling in Vienna! Not currently streaming but that’s fine because you NEED to own a physical copy anyway.

• Dazed and Confused. Best beginning of summer movie. It’s streaming on Prime.

• Everybody Wants Some!! Best end of summer movie. Higher highs than Dazed. Star-making Glen Powell performance. Also on Prime.

The Parent Trap

Streaming on: Disney+

Imagine being Hallie/Annie and returning to school in the fall trying to summarize what happened to you over the break. Sets the bar pretty high for what could take place at summer camp. I would settle for swimming in the lake, attempting fencing, and eating peanut butter with Oreos. And I would totally book the Isolation Cabin on Airbnb.

Diabolical plan by the parents to split them up that way, yeah yeah. Don’t care. Perfect movie. The twins practicing the handshake at golden hour on the dock while The Lovin' Spoonful plays is pure dopamine.

Summer Catch

Streaming on: Nowhere for free, which is a crime! It should always be available during the summer.

You know the name of this Substack is somewhat tongue in cheek, right? I’m fully aware this movie is garbage. The jokes have not aged well, but some nights, a shitty ‘90s teen comedy set on Cape Cod hits the spot. Freddie Prinze Jr. plays a blue-collar baseball player who falls for rich girl Jessica Biel (her character is named TENLEY PARRISH). Supporting cast includes our princess Brittany Murphy and Matthew Lillard, who I have a soft spot for.

Class Action Park

Streaming on: HBO Max

Super entertaining and shocking doc about an unhinged New Jersey water park called Action Park that was open in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The perfect summer lens into the Gen X childhood and surprisingly rewatchable.

A Bigger Splash

Streaming on: Prime with a Cinemax free trial (set a reminder to cancel it!)

A slow-simmering summer thriller that’s very European (but I assume less European than the original French film it's based on?). It’s a Luca Guadagnino movie, so of course it’s gorgeous. Tilda Swinton plays a rock star on vocal rest, Ralph Fiennes is at his juiciest, and Dakota Johnson is blonde. Worth it for the stunning scenery of the Italian island Pantelleria, and Ralph dancing to The Rolling Stones.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Streaming on: Prime, Paramount+, Hulu

Okay so half of these movies take place during an Italian summer, which automatically adds 1-2 stars to my rating. Supposedly Leo was first offered the Ripley role, but Matt Damon is perfectly cast. Jude Law looks like a golden god. As usual, Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show. I love Cate Blanchett, I love Gwyneth. They don’t make them like this anymore.

Fuck Harvey Weinstein forever, but when a movie starts with that old Miramax logo, you know you’re in for something good.

Summer of Sam

Streaming on: There are some full uploads on YouTube

Not a perfect movie, not even close. The talking dog stuff is crazy. If you want a summer classic from Spike, Do the Right Thing is right there. But Summer of Sam just hits for me, especially the Studio 54 scenes! The heat and paranoia of an NYC summer with a serial killer on the loose. Incredible disco soundtrack, plus Baba O’Riley. It’s like Spike doing Scorsese.

Call Me by Your Name

Streaming on: Paramount+, Prime

Italian summer, coming of age, a problematic relationship, the food, and an emotionally intelligent father. This movie is so beautiful it hurts. I didn’t see the Gary Oldman Churchill movie he won an Oscar for, but Timmy was robbed! I loved this movie so much when it came out, I considered getting a peach tattoo (I have zero tattoos and have never wanted any). Thank god I didn’t, still highly recommend CMBYN.

Dirty Dancing

Streaming on: Peacock

I’ve been to the Catskills, it wasn’t as sexy as in this movie. Idk a better end sequence to a film than Patrick Swayze reappearing to say, “I always do the last dance of the season. This year somebody told me not to.” I’ve probably seen this 50 times. Baby Houseman is the reason I bought white Keds for the summer.

A reminder why access to safe and legal abortions is crucial!!

Adventureland

Streaming on: Isn’t currently, but worth renting!!

Adventureland was mis-marketed when it came out. The studio tried to position it like a raunchy teen comedy à la Superbad. Adventureland is nothing like that but it’s a masterpiece. It’s an introspective, bittersweet, coming-of-age period piece. Not unlike Almost Famous! Ryan Reynolds is well-cast as a douchebag.

Honorable mentions

• Both Mamma Mias. I look forward to the rumored third film starring Sabrina Carpenter.

• Now and Then. Girlhood!

• My Girl. A somewhat traumatic rite of passage.

• Wet Hot American Summer. "You taste like a burger. I don't like you anymore."

• EuroTrip. Best pope movie tied with Conclave, best teen sex comedy.

• High School Musical 2. Not my favorite HSM but it’s got bops.

• Music Box: Woodstock 99. The HBO doc about Woodstock ‘99, not the Netflix one.

• No Hard Feelings. Underrated!!

• Midsommar. Nonstop horrors, with the weak, shitty boyfriend being the most horrifying of all.

• Rewatching only the last five minutes of Stand By Me to cry a little (“I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?").

Music

I basically listen to the same music every summer, with a few new releases thrown in. I need a collection of songs that make me feel like I’m on a boat, or at least driving with the windows down while I’m schlepping a mile on foot to the downtown Brooklyn Trader Joe’s because that’s my nearest Trader Joe’s and I must eat Dutch Griddle Cakes each morning.

You’ll love this playlist if you’re around my age and have my exact (great) taste! It’s got everything: funk, '00s pop girls, Japanese punk, yacht rock, indie, a lot of Sade, even some Kid Rock 😬.

Shows

Summer is not the time of year to binge a prestige show, in my opinion. That’s for when the sun sets at 5 pm. You’re not going to watch like, The Wire, in July. You need something fluffier. I’ve recommended a different Dominic West show below.

Bug Juice

Streaming on: Fucking nowhere goddamnit, but this TikTok account has long clips.

Who remembers Bug Juice? Now this is a show I watched inside all summer. For a lot of us, it was our intro to reality TV. Cammie was the coolest girl ever. I was sooo invested in Stephanie and Connor’s relationship.

Whenever I rewatch clips, I'm struck by their emotional intelligence. Could I articulate my feelings that well at that age? Could I be vulnerable on camera? There’s something about summer camp that gives a youth group vibe, meaning people cry all the time, but I never went to a proper (non-sports) sleepaway camp and I’m still jealous to this day.

Sex and the City’s “Boy, Interrupted” episode (season 6, episode 10)

Streaming on: HBO Max

This is the heatwave episode where Samantha pretends to be Annabelle Bronstein to gain Soho House pool access. With a cameo by Ginger Spice! Like I said, pools in New York aren’t easy to come by. I’d do a lot more than fake a British accent to get my float on.

The Affair

Streaming on: Paramount+

Adultery set against a Montauk summer. This show eventually went off the rails, but those first few seasons are addicting. Each episode showed the same events from both the male and female perspective. It’s elevated trash and that’s enough for me. Plus, it has the rare theme song I never skip.

Jersey Shore

Streaming on: Paramount+

Jersey Shore is a rich, toxic text. It’s full of misogyny, slut-shaming, verbal abuse, substance abuse, and people wearing their outside shoes in bed 🤮. So tell me why it’s my comfort watch year-round, including summer.

The summer episodes of Real Housewives of New York

Streaming on: Peacock

I love how old seasons of RHONY would always start at the end of summer in the Hamptons. Tennis, horseback riding, and Ramona saying things like “I think you’re making a mountain out of a holemill.”

The Summer I Turned Pretty

Streaming on: Prime

A show for teens that’s perfectly enjoyable for this adult woman. I can’t stand how they call the main character Belly (short for Isabel) and how she’s so indecisive and she makes this other family basically her entire identity (don’t forget she also plays volleyball). But it’s so watchable! I saw a tweet that said “The Summer I Turned Pretty is just a Taylor Swift money laundering scheme.” True. Why does every episode include a minimum of two Taylor songs. I’m not necessarily complaining.

Fleishman is in Trouble

Streaming on: Hulu, Disney+

I enjoyed the book, but a well-done limited series adaptation? Sorry, I’ll always take that instead. It’s about a newly separated early-40s Jesse Eisenberg who’s navigating dating apps for the first time, when his ex-wife disappears. But not in a true crime way. Set in summer in New York. That Lizzy Caplan finale montage changed my life: “You are right now as young as you will ever be. And now. And now.” Profound and funny and human.

Books

• The Guest. Couldn’t put this down, but with a Goodreads score of 3.28, maybe people hate it. It’s about a 22-year-old sugar baby (?) escort (?) in the Hamptons with no money and nowhere to go. The tension builds and builds. Liked it way more than Cline’s other novel, The Girls.

• Alright, Alright, Alright: The Oral History of Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused. The behind-the-scenes story about the summer they filmed Dazed and Confused. A breezy, gossipy read. Oral histories are ideal for summer, easy to pick up and put down if you can’t commit to reading every day.

• Tom Lake. This is one you have to do on audio. The story itself is wonderful, but Meryl Streep’s narration is so warm and comforting. It’s about a woman telling her daughters about a relationship she had in her 20s with a famous actor. Much of it takes place on a cherry orchard in Northern Michigan summer.

• Did I Ever Tell You? I read this last summer on the beach, which was perfect because it will make you cry and you can hide your tears under sunglasses. It’s the memoir of a woman whose mother died when she was only eight, but left her with a chest of letters and gifts for every birthday and milestone.

• The God of the Woods. If you want a slow burn thriller set at summer camp with a great ending. It's long, with sooo many characters but ultimately worth the investment.

Vibes

Wearing

• I got Castañer espadrilles for $32 on The Outnet ($150 retail). I haven’t worn them yet and I’m not even sure I’m an espadrille person, but once I learn how to tie them properly, it might be over for you bitches. Also wearing my Baby Houseman white Keds.

• These headbands from Amazon. If you see me this summer, I’ll be wearing one of these. Makes life so much easier. Feels a little retro. Surely you can get similar or better ones somewhere more ethical than Amazon.

• My Reformation linen pants I got for $60 on Poshmark over the winter. I wear them every other day.

Coping

• A rechargeable handheld fan like this one

• Freezing my water bottle before I head out into a 95-degree day

• The Supergoop setting powder I use on my scalp that doubles as dry shampoo and sunscreen

Enjoying

• Reading outside on our balcony

• Making snack plates with produce from the Prospect Park farmer’s market

• Riding the ferry instead of the subway whenever possible!

• Rockaway Beach, drinking nutcrackers, trying to avoid sharks

• Wimbledon starts tomorrow!

• Wrapping up summer at the US Open

• A baseball game! I’m going to a Brooklyn Cyclones game today

• Ice cream walks

• Rooftop bars, boat bars

• Going to a concert! I neeeeed to snag Rilo Kiley tickets.

• Patio or sidewalk seating at restaurants, praying no rats scurry by

HAGS!!