Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week.

Photo by guille pozzi on Unsplash

With the missing submersible and the boat-sinking Orcas, the ocean has been getting quite a bit of media attention lately. Plus, with summer vacation and beach weather upon us, now is the perfect time to talk about the ocean and all of its (intriguingly terrifying) wonders. This weekend’s recs will catch you up on the latest ocean-related news and get you ready for the beach.

If you have 3 minutes and 40 seconds…and aren’t afraid of sharks, watch this video of a woman who has befriended a group of sharks by removing hooks from their mouths.

If you have 7 minutes…and want to learn about a newly popular behavior for Orcas, read this article. It might be a game to them, but it sure feels like sweet revenge against humans.

If you have 10 minutes…and are planning on swimming in the ocean, watch this video on what to do if you get caught in a rip current. Although sharks and jellyfish might seem scarier, rips are actually the most probable threat you will face while swimming in the ocean, and knowing how to get out of one could save your life.

Bonus: watch this video to learn how to spot rip currents. Sometimes water that seems “calmer” is actually more dangerous.

If you have 15 minutes…and (somehow) haven’t heard about the submersible tragically lost on an expedition to the Titanic wreckage, read this article. As of now, the submersible has not been found, and its oxygen supply has run out.

If you have 1 hour and 30 minutes…and want to watch the documentary that ruined Sea World, watch Blackfish. As a kid obsessed with Free Willy and Orcas, this documentary was, personally, one of the most infuriating things I’ve ever watched.

My recent trip to Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach in Oregon

If you have 2 hours and 10 minutes…and want to watch the film that made hundreds of kids afraid of the ocean, watch Jaws (available in Falvey’s DVD Collection for those on campus). Despite it being nearly 50 years old, its masterful suspense still holds up today.

If you have 2 hours and 15 minutes…and love Disney, watch The Little Mermaid live action remake in theaters. Even if Disney movies aren’t quite your thing, Halle Bailey’s voice is absolutely breathtaking.

If you have 6 hours…and like memoirs, read James Nestor’s Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves, available through inter-library loan. This book explores the extreme sport of freediving, where people dive (quite deep) into the ocean without any scuba equipment.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.