Movies
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I, Tonya
Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U. S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
- No, but do you have an ideal of how society should function?
- I don’t know. You remember that movie about Tonya Harding that came out?
- I think it was I, Tonya?
- Yeah. There’s a scene where she’s not getting scored correctly because they don’t think she represents what America is.
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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Anakin Skywalker, a young slave strong with the Force, is discovered on Tatooine. Meanwhile, the evil Sith have returned, enacting their plot for revenge against the Jedi.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
- Star Trek or Star Wars?
- Donald: Yeah. Star Wars. If only for its influential value. Huge impact on my life.
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City of God
Buscapé was raised in a very violent environment. Despite the feeling that all odds were against him, he finds out that life can be seen with other eyes...
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American Gangster
Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Have you ever seen American Gangster? You know Bumpy, the guy at the start who has a heart attack? My grandpa used to work with him, he was his right-hand man in real life. They ran numbers together. Those guys had this drive to go out and make something of themselves by any means necessary. So I look at all of them, and I wonder why does it stop with me, and I realize that it's because I have so many options available.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
That movie is brilliant - it's funny, very interesting and it has got good values.
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The 400 Blows
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
It's a very snobby, geeky lyric but it has my favourite things in it: one of my favourite movies (The 400 Blows) and a double entendre (Truffaut and "true-faux", as in fake).
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5
movies
5 Desert Island Movies
Donald Glover picks 5 movies he'd watch (again and again) on a desert island.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Donald Glover picks 5 movies he'd watch (again and again) on a desert island.
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The Counselor
A lawyer finds himself in far over his head when he attempts to get involved in drug trafficking.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
The Atlanta staff writers’ text-message group is named “Team Bolito,” after a mechanical weapon featured in Ridley Scott’s 2013 The Counselor. Glover says the writers became “super-obsessed” with a clip in which Brad Pitt’s character succumbs to the bolito, and they “watched it every day, probably three times a day.” He predicts, “[The Counselor] will probably become a classic.”
Books
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Kierkegaard: a Collection of Critical Essays
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Are you reading books right now?
Yeah, I'm really into Kierkegaard shit right now.
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination. Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Can you recommend a good book? I have an obsession with books about kids with Asperger's syndrome. I like the way they think - it suits me. The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon is great.
That and [Jonathan Safran Foer's] Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close - they're on a separate bookshelf. They don't understand what the other books are saying by their facial expressions, but they're perfectly lined-up.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Over ten million copies sold'Outstanding...a stunningly good read' Observer'Mark Haddon's portrayal of an emotionally dissociated mind is a superb achievement... Wise and bleakly funny' Ian McEwan The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon is great.
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Future Shock
"The best study of our times that I know. . . . Of all the books that I have read in the last 20 years, it is by far the one that has taught me the most."--Le Figaro Future Shock is about the present. Future Shock is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations--even our patterns of friendship and love. Future Shock vividly describes the emerging global civilization: tomorrow's family life, the rise of new businesses, subcultures, life-styles, and human relationships--all of them temporary. Future Shock illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless clichés about today. Future Shock will intrigue, provoke, frighten, encourage, and, above all, change everyone who reads it. Praise for Future Shock "Explosive . . . brilliantly formulated."--The Wall Street Journal "A spectacular outcrop of a formidable, organized intellectual effort."--Manchester Guardian "Revealing, exciting, encouraging, brilliant."--The Christian Science Monitor "Immensely readable."--Newsweek "Alvin Toffler has sent something of a shock-wave through Western society."--London Daily Express "To the elite . . . who often get committed to age-old institutions or material goals alone, let Toffler's Future Shock be a lesson and a warning."--The Times of India
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Future Shock, the 1970 book by futurist Alvin Toffler, is “very pertinent right now,” Glover says. “It talks about how we haven’t, as human beings, studied how adaptable we are to getting information faster and faster . . . . [Toffler] predicted the Internet before the Internet happened.”
TV Shows
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Abbott Elementary
In this workplace comedy, a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — are brought together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible public servants may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
What are your favorite shows right now?
How To with John Wilson and Abbott Elementary.
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How To with John Wilson
In a uniquely hilarious odyssey of self-discovery and cultural observation, documentary filmmaker and self-described “anxious New Yorker” John Wilson covertly and obsessively films the lives of his fellow New Yorkers while attempting to give everyday advice on relatable topics. The awkward contradictions of modern life are eased by Wilson’s candid, unpolished commentary. Building upon Wilson’s previously released “how to” short films, each episode takes wildly unexpected turns but is grounded in John’s refreshing honesty.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
What are your favorite shows right now?
How To with John Wilson and Abbott Elementary.
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Lost
Stripped of everything, the survivors of a horrific plane crash must work together to stay alive. But the island holds many secrets.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
I used to eat those and have a (now discontinued) Coke Black and watch Lost. Some of the happiest hours of my life.
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Rick and Morty: The Anime
Rick and Morty anime spin-off adapting themes and events of the main series while also standing on its own as an original work.
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World Star TV
Chris Powell and a panel of comedians provide commentary to clips found on "World Star Hip Hop." Also: original sketches; and man-on-the-street segments.
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Naked and Afraid
What happens when you put two complete strangers - sans clothes - in some of the most extreme environments on Earth? Each male-female duo is left with no food, no water, no clothes, and only one survival item each as they attempt to survive on their own.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
In America most of the time I watched Naked and Afraid.
What's that?
- You haven't seen it? - Oh, it's the best.
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Gogglebox
Gogglebox is an entertaining television review programme in which some of Britain's most opinionated and avid telly viewers comment freely on the best and worst television shows of the past week, from the comfort of their sofas.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
When I was here most of the time I watched Gogglebox, I loved that so much!
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Killing Eve
A security consultant hunts for a ruthless assassin. Equally obsessed with each other, they go head to head in an epic game of cat-and-mouse.
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Fleabag
Fleabag is thrown roughly up against the walls of contemporary London, sleeping with anyone who dares to stand too close, squeezing money from wherever she can, rejecting anyone who tries to help her, and keeping up her bravado throughout.
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
I went to work the next day and I told all my writers to watch the show, cuz I thought I honestly was like this is incredible. It's like it's new to me. It's not easy to surprise us anymore as an audience. We're not innocent, you know, like like an apathetic teenager we have endless opportunities and resources, and endless chances to see something special.
But we've become more and more bored by the nature of our due to our endless access to content. It's rare and in really exciting to see something that feels new, and Phoebe has a unique expression for every emotion that leads you to from like discomfort to sympathy, to laughing out loud with the slightest shift of a glance into the camera lens.
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American Dad!
The series focuses on an eccentric motley crew that is the Smith family and their three housemates: Father, husband, and breadwinner Stan Smith; his better half housewife, Francine Smith; their college-aged daughter, Hayley Smith; and their high-school-aged son, Steve Smith. Outside of the Smith family, there are three additional main characters, including Hayley's boyfriend turned husband, Jeff Fischer; the family's man-in-a-goldfish-body pet, Klaus; and most notably the family's zany alien, Roger, who is "full of masquerades, brazenness, and shocking antics."
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
I'm probably going to get in trouble for this but American Dad is one of my favourite shows. It gets very dark in places but the jokes are there.
Music
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Thriller Studio album by Michael Jackson
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
The greatest album, ever?
Donald: Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
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Marvin Gaye
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
“All you really want to do is make something that stands the test of time,” he said. “That’s all that matters. I like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. That’s everyday music. That’s music that people just put on and they’re like, ‘Man, this song makes me feel good. This song, it helps me get through the day.’”
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Erykah Badu
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
I like Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill and Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. That’s everyday music. That’s music that people just put on and they’re like, ‘Man, this song makes me feel good. This song, it helps me get through the day.’
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LCD Soundsystem
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
LCD was amazing. I cried, honestly.
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Kiss from a Rose
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
What's your karaoke song?
"Kiss From A Rose". At the beginning, people know the intro and react [starts singing the melody]: "Bada-ba-ba-ba-ba-bada-ba..." You're never alone by the time you have to sing the "Baby!" which is the hard part because it gets high.
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Songs In The Key Of Life
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Lastly, he’d have to bring a Stevie Wonder record. Glover performed Superstition onstage with the music legend at Los Angeles’ Peppermint Club recently.
“I have to choose wisely,” he mutters before blurting, “Songs in the Key of Life.”
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When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
He’d also bring with him a Fiona Apple record.
“Tidal,” he says. “No, no, no, you know what, Fiona Apple, When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts…”
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Goods
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Cheetos Flamin' Hot Crunchy
Cheetos Flamin' Hot Crunchy
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
Essential to life: coffee, vodka, cigarettes, chocolate, or…?
Donald: Flaming Hot Cheetos.
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Betty Crocker Fruit Gushers, Strawberry Splash and Tropical, 0.9 Ounce (Pack Of 42)
Good source of Vitamin C
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Donald Glover
Actor, Musician
- I had more money than all my friends, but I felt like-- you know, you don't spend it well.
- What were you spending it on?
- Can I be honest?
- Yeah.
- Like, Gushers. I wasn't allowed--I wasn't allowed to have candy as a kid, so I was like, I'm ballin'.