What's Making Me Happy This Week

or: Reading, Watching, Listening

Reading

Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted. I watched The Mary Tyler Moore show as a kid. I like reading behind the scenes stuff about pop culturey things. This book seemed like a good bet when I read about it in Entertainment Weekly and promptly preordered it. I started it on my trip back to My Old Stomping Ground, but didn't really devote much time to it until Memorial Day Weekend--and I finished it in a couple of days. Reading about the show and how it portrayed women in a way that had never been done and how women contributed to the show was interesting. But this is the thing: As a little girl, I never saw Mary Richards as someone to look up to. Why? Because it always seemed like the only thing she was concerned about was on making other people happy. That's it. And she cried all the time. Neither of these things impressed me when I was a kid. So reading about the development of the show and how Mary was perceived by society and how she did empower many women was interesting. If I had been older and closer to Mary Richard's age and single and had people asking me when I was going to get married, have kids (which I did experience when I was that age; now people have stopped asking), etc., I'd probably see the show in a different light. As a kid without those preconceived notions of what women were supposed to do or be, Mary Richards didn't seem all that independent. Looking at it now, I see her becoming independent and successful and having a full life without all the things society said she was supposed to have. The book discusses the development of the show, but also focuses on the people behind it, including how women rose through the ranks as writers--a first. Recommended, for sure.

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. I started this shortly after it came out, but honestly, I'm having a hard time getting into it. I adore David Sedaris, but this book feels kind of been there, done that.

Watching

I'm watching the same worthless crap I always have.

So You Think You Can Dance. Some seasons I watch this show when it's on, some seasons I don't. This season I am.

Newlyweds: The First Year. I find this show utterly fascinating. But I have to say that John and Kathryn are an uncomfortably awkward couple to watch.

Mad Men. It's on, I'm watching it. It's more uneven than past seasons, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying it. And that one scene with Pete Campbell smoking pot with Janis Joplin playing the show out? Awesome.

Before Sunrise/Before Sunset/Before Midnight. I was talking to a friend about the Before movies and how they are films I assume everyone my age has seen. I saw Before Sunset on TV a few years after it came out. I remember hearing about it and thinking it sounded good, but I never saw it. When it was on TV I almost missed a company event, I was so wrapped up in the film. While living in Ye Olde College Town, some friends and I watched them both. In preparation for the major release of Before Midnight, I watched them both over Memorial Day weekend. Twice. God, they are good. I saw Before Midnight last night after avoiding any and all press about it. So good. Just so damn good. But I'm not even going to try to explain why. Just go read Linda Holmes' summary over at NPR's MonkeySee.

Speaking of NPR, watch this:



I am such an NPR geek that my favorite parts are the cameos. Ari Shapiro is a favorite since he's an NPR hottie. And Carl Kasell in the elevator because he's Carl Kasell.

Listening

Honestly, the things I am listening to other than my iPod on shuffle are Big Star's Third/Sister Love and They Might Be Giants' Flood. Big Star because of this, and TMBG because somewhere along the line their album Flood was deleted from my iTunes. I still have the CD but it's in storage and I am too lazy to dig it out. So while I was in My Old Stomping Ground, D and I went through each others iTune library to swap songs (as is the norm for us) and he gave me a copy of Flood. (Actually, I lost everything from They Might Be Giants (three or four albums, total, but Flood was missing the most.)