Your Creative Calendar: 69 Things To See, Hear, And Read This August

The revolving door employment at the White House has made for some seriously compelling reality TV this summer. Things got particularly heated over these past 10 days, during which we lost original cast members Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus, along with special guest star Anthony Scaramucci. These are indeed heady times. However, the fact that the events that would make the greatest TV show ever on Earth 2 if only they weren’t actually happening here on Earth 1–that only makes most Americans appreciate the counter-programming offered by movies and TV shows. This August has no shortage of late summer highlights, including the long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and, well, the less long-awaited adaptation of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes. Read on to sort out your next few weekends of pop culture escapism.

Movies In Theaters

• Kidnap, opens August 4.
• The Dark Tower, opens August 4.
• Detroit, opens August 4.
• Wind River, opens August 4.
• Annabelle: Creation, opens August 4.
• Step, premieres August 4.
• The Glass Castle, opens August 11.
• The Only Living Boy in New York, opens August 11.
• Good Time, opens August 11.
• Ingrid Goes West, opens August 11.
• The Trip to Spain, opens August 11.
• The Hitman’s Bodyguard, opens August 11.
• Logan Lucky, opens August 18.
• Marjorie Prime, opens August 18.
• Patti Cake$, opens August 18.
• Polaroid, opens August 25.

Movies To Watch At Home

• Maz Jobrani: Immigrant, premieres August 1st on Netflix.
• Columbus, premieres August 4.
• Fun Mom Dinner, premieres August 4.
• Open Water 3: Cage Dive, premieres August 11.
• Whose Streets?, premieres August 11.
• Gook, premieres August 18.
• Tulip Fever, premieres August 25.
• Death Note, premieres August 25.

Albums You Should Hear

• Randy Newman – Dark Matter, out on August 4.
• Frankie Rose – Cage Tropical, out on August 11.
• Kesha – Rainbow, out on August 11.
• Oneohtrix Point Never – The Good Time [OST], out on August 11.
• Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins, out on August 18.
• Loretta Lynn – Wouldn’t It Be Great, out on August 18.
• Rainer Maria – S/T, out on August 18.
• UNKLE – The Road Part 1, out on August 18.
• EMA – Exile In The Outer Ring, out on August 25.
• Iron & Wine – Beast Epic, out on August 25.
• Liars – TFCF (Themes From Crying Fountain), out on August 25.
• Queens of the Stone Age – Villains, out on August 25.
• The War on Drugs – A Deeper Understanding, out on August 25.
• Widowspeak – Expect The Best, out on August 25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9z61w60pG0

Things To Watch On Your TV Or Your Computer

• Manhunt: Unabomber, premieres August 1st on Discovery.
• Baroness Von Sketch Show, premieres August 2nd on IFC.
• The Lowe Files, premieres August 2nd on A&E.
• The Sinner, premieres August 2nd on USA.
• The Chris Gethard Show, premieres August 3rd on truTV.
• The Guest Book, premieres August 3rd on TBS.
• What Would Diplo Do?, premieres August 3rd on Viceland.
• Comrade Detective, premieres August 4th on Amazon.
• Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, premieres August 4th on Netflix.
• Carpool Karaoke, premieres August 8th.
• Difficult People, premieres August 8th on Hulu.
• Mr. Mercedes, premieres August 9th on DirecTV/AT&T.
• Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update,premieres August 9th on NBC.
• Atypical, premieres August 11th on Netflix.
• Get Shorty, premieres August 13th on Epix.
• Marlon, premieres August 16th on NBC.
• Marvel’s The Defenders, premieres August 18th on Netflix.
• Halt and Catch, premieres August 19th on AMC.
• Episodes, premieres August 19th on Showtime.
• South Park, premieres August 23rd on Comedy Central.
• There’s… Johnny!, premieres August 24th on Seeso.
• Disjointed, premieres August 25th on Netflix.
• The Tick, premieres August 25th on Amazon.
• MTV Video Music Awards, premieres August 27th on MTV.

Books To Read

• Black Panther Vol. 1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, out on August 15.
• How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat, out on August 15.
• Depression & Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim, out on August August 22.
• Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo , out on August 22.
• The Burning Girl by Claire Messud, out on August 29.
• Basic Witches: How to Summon Success, Banish Drama, and Raise Hell with Your Coven by Jaya Saxena and Jess Zimmerman, out on August 29.

[Photo Mash Up: Maja Saphir for Fast Company; Source Photos: Glass Castles: Jake Giles Netter, courtesy of Lionsgate;  Death Note: James Dittiger, courtesy of Netflix; Gook: Melly Lee, courtesy of Birthday Soup Films;  Sinner: Brownie Harris, courtesy of USA Network; Carpool Karaoke: courtesy of Apple; Step, Whose Streets?: Autumn Lin Photography, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures]