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[TV stills from Portlandia, Broadway Video]

The final season of Portlandia starts this week and from the anxiety-provoking “Did You Read It?” sketch to the recurring feminist bookstore segments (RIP Women and Women First), the show is steeped in literary references and a culture of book worm-ery. Today, we’re showcasing the fictional literary references in the show – books that the writers room at Portlandia created just for us. Zip up your fleece and hop on your bike. Because we’re heading to Portland.

Today, we raise a glass to the younger brothers in pop culture. The overlooked second children. The “aren’t you related to _____?” of the world. They’ve been compared to their siblings their entire lives and there’s nothing we can do about that. Except celebrate them.

Photo by Wilfried Santer on Unsplash

It’s Jacob Grimm’s birthday on January 4 and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate. And while we’re not cramming 233 candles on a cake – we tried, they wouldn’t fit – we are partying it up with the unusual fairy tale adaptations Grimm and his contemporaries inspired. So, happy birthday, Jacob Grimm. We’ll be over here by the punch bowl hanging out with Hans Christian Andersen and your brother Wilhelm.

[Movie still from Beauty and the Beast, Walt Disney Pictures]

It’s no secret that reading completes us. Studies have shown that reading fiction increases our capacity for empathy, reduces stress levels, and might just help us live a little longer. For 2018, we’re challenging you to reach outside your reading comfort zone – and we’ve come up with a few ideas to get you started. Think of us as your bookish guides on this literary quest.

[TV still from The Good Place, Fremulon]

Holy mother forking shirt balls. The Good Place is back on January 4. The November 4 episode about Derek – remember Derek? – feels like it happened a lifetime ago, so we’re here to catch you up on the literary references from the first season and a half of the show. Surprise! They’re all philosophy texts. We hope you’ve kept up with your reading. You know how Chidi can get.

Caution: spoilers abound!

[Movie still from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Lucasfilms and Walt Disney Pictures]

It's December again, which means of all things going on, the most important is a new Star Wars movie. There's also some holiday which is rumored to be right around the corner, but that takes a close second to the continued stories of the Skywalker family. We wanted to take a look at some other pop culture characters who are the last of their kind.