Last month was rough y’all. I already expounded on all the reasons why in my monthly recap post, so I won’t rehash too much here, suffice to say that distance learning and hitting my mental wall really took a toll on me in September. As such, I hardly posted anything on Instagram, but I did share a few photo updates, so I’ll include them here in case you aren’t following me on the IG (which you totes should).
One of the things I am missing most in quarantine life is being able to go see live theater. Even if I wouldn’t be attending tons of shows, it’s rare for me to go more than a couple months without seeing anything. And just knowing Broadway is dark for almost another year breaks my heart. So I shared some of the ways you can capture a tiny slice of the magic of theater at home.
I really, sincerely hope this doesn’t need to be reiterated any more at this point, but voting in this year’s election is essential. This is probably the most important election of the country’s recent history (maybe ever), and given Trump’s inability to commit to a peaceful transition, it’s important to vote as early as you can. Many states are already in the process of voting, so now is a great time to make a plan!
So depending on just how long you’ve been following this blog, you might not know how much I despise Tinkerbell. For a variety of reasons, but in a nutshell, she tried to murder Wendy, is the epitome of my least favorite trope (the crazy ex-girlfriend), and then she somehow became a major symbol for Disneyland and the Disney company. Boo. However, the rest of this mug was so stinking cute I had to have it.
I have barely left my house in the past six months, only going to the dentist for a root canal and the occasional trip to my mom’s. But when I saw these ears, I knew I had to bite the bullet and venture out. I took my first trip in months to Downtown Disney, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts and experiences on it soon. But these ears are probably my new favorites, so in general, it was worth it.
So yeah, despite September being an overall really tough month, there were some highlights. Here’s hoping for a brighter October!
So yeah, I saw the trailer for Emily in Paris (on Netflix) and immediately was on board. And yeah, I binged all ten episodes over the course of one day. And sure, the show is super cute and charming. But no, it doesn’t bring anything new or different to the table. It’s basically what you get if you take the finale episodes of Sex and the City, throw in some Devil Wears Prada, and make the whole thing clearly written by a man who is definitely not a millennial. All but two episodes were directed by men, most of the episodes were written by men (and it shows). What could have been a really interesting and thoughtful take on millennial women in the workforce remains a fluffy romp with a hot chef and designer clothes. Which isn’t always a bad thing.
Alright. So basic plot. Emily (Lily Collins) is in marketing, living in Chicago, about to get a promotion because her boss is being sent to Paris and Emily is going to move up the chain into her boss’s old position. Except her boss gets pregnant and can’t go to Paris. Don’t ask me why, I’m pretty sure they have babies in Paris, but whatevs. So Emily moves to Paris, deciding to do the long distance thing with her very bland boyfriend. She starts her new job where everyone hates her because she’s young and cheerful and American (and also doesn’t speak a word of French). She moves into an old apartment and meets her hot neighbor Gabriel (Lucas Bravo). As she struggles to find her way in Paris, she makes two new friends, one a nanny named Mindy (Ashley Park) and another a gallery owner named Camille (Camille Razat). Boyfriend dumps her, she’s starts flirting with Gabriel, only to find out Gabriel and Camille are dating. Surprise! Along the way, Emily comes up with randomly brilliant ideas at work, flirts a lot, has a lot of sex, and somehow becomes an influencer. There’s a cliffhanger at the end of the season so I won’t say too much, but honestly you could probably figure it out anyway because it’s not all that unique.
Okay, so I think one of the things that drew me into this show was of course, Paris. I don’t know about you, but I am dying to leave my house. I would travel to some podunk town in the middle of Texas if it meant not having to be in my house right now. So to spend these ten episodes in Paris was a breath of fresh air I desperately needed. Honestly, that’s just good timing on the part of this show because I think we all need a little escape right now. I also enjoyed most of the side characters. And by that I mean Lucas Bravo, who is super hot and has an amazing accent. Emily is also surrounded by the typical chick flick cohorts, the stern boss, the gay coworker, the bubbly best friend. Nothing new there, but I liked everyone’s performances (for the most part).
Emily herself definitely gives off some Carrie Bradshaw vibes. Meaning, she is not super likeable, but because Lily Collins is charming, she gets away with being low-key awful. I mean, the girl doesn’t bother to learn a word of French before moving to Paris. She sleeps with a client after judging her boss for also sleeping with a client (Emily is totally a Charlotte in that she comes off judgey about sex but then sleeps with a lot of people). And she commits one of my least favorite sins: kissing her friend’s boyfriend. I seriously hate that storyline. Don’t kiss your friend’s boyfriend. Is this a thing women still do? Granted, I totally did it (I know, I know…if it helps, I still feel guilty), but I thought the younger generation of women were treating each other better these days.
And there’s that same feeling of being out of touch with reality. Like when we all watch SATC and wonder how the hell Carrie pays for anything. That exists here too, it just presents itself in different ways. For example, when Emily first arrives in Paris, we see her open her Instagram account. She has 25 followers. She is a social media/marketing coordinator who looks like Lily Collins. On no planet does a woman like that have 25 followers. And then she goes from 25 followers to 20,000 in a matter of weeks (days?) which is not a thing that happens. They veer off into influencer land for only an episode or two (thank god), but they manage to get the whole thing entirely wrong. Does no one consult with influencers before writing an influencer?
The show has the bones to be something really cool and different, but honestly, the first season is just a regurgitated version of every chick flick we’ve seen before. And yeah, I watched it and enjoyed it and will totally watch the next season and might even watch the first one again, but it’s a shame it didn’t meet it’s full potential.
Not going to lie, about thirty minutes into this movie this was my thought: Seriously lacking toxic masculinity and white male fragility and religious fanaticism in your life these days? The Devil All the Time might be the movie for you!! Clearly no one is lacking in any of those things because they are literally all around us all the time. And it definitely affected my initial reaction as I watched. But I stuck with it, and in the end, the performances made this one worth watching.
I don’t know about anyone else out there, but I really hit a wall in September. I don’t know if it was the first full month of distance learning, or the sixth month of quarantine, or the looming anxiety about Matt going back to work, but it was a tough month for me all around. I struggled a lot. So far October is faring slightly better, but also, not really. The one bright spot is I finally managed to get my heartburn under control (turns out drinking 3-4 cans of sparkling water a day isn’t great for the esophagus) and therefore I can drink wine again! Hooray for the little victories. I hate to dredge up the bleh past, but here’s what went down in September:
On the goals front: I actually did remarkably well on my goals for this month. The only one I didn’t hit was getting outside to walk more often, which really isn’t even my fault as half the month we had record breaking heat and the other half the air was so filled with smoke we couldn’t even open our windows. So not my fault for missing that one!
On the writing front: I managed to finish the second, slightly revised draft of my latest book, which is now off with the powers that be (aka my agent) for more notes and probably a few more rounds of revisions. It feels weird to be so far into this draft after just a couple of months when my Pitch Wars book took literally years to get done, but I guess that’s one of the benefits of having awesome mentors-they made me an overall better writer! I feel good about where this one is going, so that’s a win.
On the reading front: I read fifteen books in September, which might be a quarantine low. Despite having some really awesome reads last month, I really struggled to get into anything (which you know if you read my book blog Coffee Books Wine Repeat). I even had to go back to some favorites for rereads just to be able to get through a full book, which is obviously not like me.
On the movie front: Good god do I miss going to the movies. Still not stepping foot in a theater anytime soon, but I sure as fuck miss it. In September, we were treated to a new mediocre rom com via Netflix, Love Guaranteed. I was into the premise of Unpregnant, though the execution fell a little short for me. And I was very excited to see my boyfriend Richard Madden’s several years old film The Take finally make its way to Netflix. It was better than I expected. We’re heading into holiday movie season and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for some good ones.
On the self care front: Yeah other than being able to drink wine again and watching a lot of Housewives, I got nothing. Distance learning is…a lot. Even though it’s just a few hours a day, and I am lucky enough to have Matt home for play breaks most days, it’s still incredibly draining and leaving me with very little energy to do anything else. So yeah. Probably should step up the self care this month.
The first week of October has brought enough turmoil to last most countries eight years, so here’s hoping we make it to November.
So fair warning here, this is probably not the best movie to sit down and watch late at night. Not because it’s bad, just because it’s super character driven and there is very little plot. This is the kind of film you need to be in the right mood for, and I think I would have enjoyed it a little more were I in the right head space. That being said, even if it wasn’t a barrel of laughs and excitement, it was still extremely well done.
So the evolution of this post (in my brain) has been an interesting one. It’s been on my to write list for a really long time, and I finally felt like I had my thoughts gathered enough to be able to write it this week. I put it on my checklist for Tuesday, mentally planning out all the points I wanted to make. In short: Opening the parks is a bad idea. And for the most part, I still think that. However, on Tuesday, I went to Downtown Disney for the first time since they reopened, and honestly, I left feeling a lot better about the possibility of the parks reopening. And then hours later we saw the news that Disney is going to be laying off thousands of cast members. And I started rethinking everything again, and having lots more *feelings* about the subject.
Okay, so The Take has low key been on my radar for a long time because it stars my boyfriend Richard Madden, but it hasn’t ever been available in the US for streaming (as far as I know), so imagine my surprise when I was scrolling through Netflix looking for a movie to review, and saw The Take on their top ten trending list. Well, decision made. And, I think I discovered something last night when I was watching: I’m more into action movies than I would have thought. Maybe it’s the times, but I legit enjoyed watching this movie, and not just for the eye candy.
