TV
The
Mindy Project – I have become a devoted fan
of Mindy Kaling's hilarious and adorable sitcom. Kaling plays an Ob/Gyn in a
workplace-as-family setup filled with quirky characters and ridiculous
situations. That may sound typical of modern comedies, but I find a lot of my
laughs (and, yes, cries) in unexpected moments. Unexpected for me, that is, but
well-timed and carefully written by Kaling and her team. A friend recently
compared The Mindy Project to Scrubs, and while I don't deny the parallels (doctors,
silly situations, romance, and heartfelt moments), I'm not sure that I agree.
Whereas Scrubs, an excellent show
in its own right (the early seasons, anyway), focused on 20-somethings just
starting to make a place for themselves in the world, The Mindy
Project is about mostly-30-somethings who
are already midstream in life. Even in the midst of the quirkiness and
only-on-TV antics, there's an undercurrent of recognizing what it means to be
an adult, whether you feel old enough for it or not.
Books
Is
Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling – I found this part-memoir,
part-humorous essay, and part-advice book to be funny, engaging, and more than
a little jealousy-inducing as a writer. Like a friend telling you her best
stories, Kaling writes about her path from sensitive, chubby kid to successful
Hollywood writer, a path paved with equal parts talent, hard work, and great
timing.
And
speaking of friends, I also discovered that Kaling and I could be great
friends. I don't mean that in a stalker-ish way. I just think that if Mindy
(may I call you Mindy?) and I were to actually meet, we would bond over our
shared experiences of growing up in Massachusetts with
academic-achievement-oriented immigrant parents who fully support and encourage
us without completely understanding what we plan to do. Of course it's good
when friends bring something unique to their relationship. Mindy would totally
rock the shopping/fashion knowledge in our friendship because I'm an
embarrassment in that arena, while I could throw around hilarious and
informative stories about raising children. But most of all, though I'm a touch
older than Mindy, I think I have a lot to learn from her. In the book, Mindy
shares some of her most embarrassing moments. Whether she's talking about break-ups with boyfriends,
unsuccessful auditions, fights with her Office boss Greg
Daniels, or having a dress size bigger than 0 in Hollywood, it is often both painful and hilarious. As someone who grew up terribly afraid of
embarrassment, I find it freeing to read how Mindy could stumble through each embarrassing moment and still end up okay. More than okay, in fact, because she can accept it, embrace it, and then
write the hell out of it.
P.S. I totally agree with Mindy that men should have chest
hair and comedy roasts are terrible.
P.P.S. Mindy, call me!
