What’s in Our Queue? ‘Stick Season (Forever)’ and More

I lead a global breaking news team with hubs on three continents. I love podcasts, movies, TV and games, as well as music on vinyl. I’m also working my way through stacks of books that threaten to overflow the apartment.

Here are some things I am enjoying →

Album: ‘Stick Season (Forever)’

I’m a fan of several Gen Z acts, including boygenius, Billie Eilish and the 1975. But lately I’m fond of the 27-year-old songwriter Noah Kahan, whose wistful lyrics about loss and trauma remind me of my own wasted youth. Sad songs always cheer me up. I’m looking forward to seeing him at Madison Square Garden in July.

TV: ‘Sugar’

Mash-ups of detective noir and science fiction go to the top of my list, and that may already be too much of a spoiler for this series starring Colin Farrell as John Sugar, a private eye whose specialty is finding missing people. Interspersed with old movie clips and elevated by an excellent supporting cast, the show kept me guessing.

Film: ‘Collateral’

I missed Michael Mann’s tightly wound thriller when it came out in 2004, probably because I was the father of a toddler at the time, but I stumbled across it on the Criterion Channel and was enthralled. Tom Cruise plays a charming sociopath who both torments and mentors his taxi driver (Jamie Foxx) on a single violent night in Los Angeles.

Podcast: ‘Ten Percent Happier With Dan Harris’

I listen to podcasts during rowing workouts and chores, and this is one of my favorites, probably because I’ve been a Zen practitioner for more than a decade. Harris, a former ABC News reporter, interviews Buddhist scholars, teachers, neuroscientists and meditators from all walks of life. He cuts through the spiritual jargon that sometimes turns off skeptics.

Game: ‘Ticket to Ride: The Board Game’

In the depths of the pandemic, some friends and I started playing the European expansion of this online board game on Zoom calls. We’ve kept it up, and Marmalade Game Studio has recently released a complete update that has greatly improved the playing experience.

Here are some more favorites: