Actually, I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, it’s often because DIL tells me I NEED to watch something she binges as we tend to like similar themes.
Now it’s the new Dynasty on Netflix. I LOVE it. It’s trashy, campy, with often ridiculous plots, but I’m hooked. I never really watched the original Dynasty because I was busy being 1500% MOM to a newborn and didn’t have time. The star of the reboot is most definitely Fallon Carrington, played by Elizabeth Gillies. The surprise is when she first broke out in song. Her voice is beyond amazing and adds another element to outrageous musical episodes. If I were the writers, I’d figure out any way possible to showcase her voice, too.
And then there’s yummy Grant Show as Blake Carrington; I’ve had a secret crush on him for YEARS, ever since he was Jake on Melrose Place.
On Amazon Prime, I’m warming up to Silks, about the dilemmas and problems that modern day barristers have to face and what it means to become a silk. A Silk or Queen’s Counsel is an eminent lawyer who’s appointed by the Queen to be one of “Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law.” . Their gown is made of silk instead of cotton.
Dropping on July 8 is the reboot of one of my all time favorites, Gossip Girl. Based on the bestselling novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, the original show ran from 2007-2012. This extension of the pop culture classic series finds a new generation of entitled New York private school teens introduced to social surveillance nine years after the original blogger’s website went dark. The only sadness for me is that it features all new characters and while I understand, the truth is that NO ONE can replace these originals:
Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, the Queen Bee, Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey, dreamy Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey, and sexy Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass. Top-notch casting for sure.
Of course, I’m also anticipating the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Filming was delayed due to Covid but I think they started up again.
What types of shows do you like or do you not watch anything at all?
Since it’s almost Purim and Passover, this is the PERFECT time for a little JewMom guilt, dontcha think?
First of all, don’t go all hinky on me; I maintain the right to use the term “JewMom” not only affectionately, but proudly, respectfully, and accurately, because I AM a JewMom. Probably the JewMommiest Mommy of them all, to be totes honest with y’all.
ince it’s almost Purim and Passover, this is the PERFECT time for a little JewMom guilt, dontcha think?
I CONFESS (this IS Confessions of a Tugboat Captain’s Wife and I DO confess transgressions and deep dark secrets every once in a while just to keep me honest and to keep you guys on your toes)
So, I CONFESS that I saw “Guilt Trip” three times in the last two weeks. CRZY. Cray. Beyond cray.
Why, you ask? Netflix stuck? TV broke? Dementia? (That description is from my snarky son, Angel Boy, I mean DOCTOR Angel Boy.)
Here’s how it happened. I was baking up a storm, a marathon baking sesh ‘cos my son, DIL, AND tugboat man were all arriving at Casa de Enchanted Seashells virtually within hours of each other, which meant that I had one train station pickup and two airport pickups back to back to back.
While the Ginger + Ginger Cake was in the oven and chocolate chip cookies were cooling on a rack, I poured myself a glass of chard and searched through Netflix for something funny with which to entertain myself while i allowed myself a relaxing moment or two.
On Netflix “Guilt Trip” came up a few times in New Releases and Newly Added and Suggestions for me, but I kept looking for something else, cos the thumbnail pic of Seth Rogan and BarbraStreisand didn’t really call out to me – film marketing companies need to work on their thumbnails! — but then nothing else did either, so I thought I’d give it a try.
I’m so glad I did ‘cos it was an unexpected and sweetly funny surprise. Rogan and Streisand have a great chemistry together; natural, easygoing, playing off each other effortlessly. Road trip films are a tried and true formula; moms and sons is a savory twist to the genre.
I love movies that aren’t full of gratuitous violence, gratuitous sex/nudity, and have happy endings. If you’re like me, you’ll like “Guilt Trip”.
A SHORT SYNOPSIS: As UCLA organic chemist grad and inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime to sell his product, a quick stop at his mom’s house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride.
BEST MOM QUOTE EVER: “If all the little boys in the world were lined up, and I had to just pick only one, I’d choose you… every time.” (Streisand to Rogan)
Every mother and her adult son SHOULD see this film together, whether you’re a Jewish mom like me or not. They are, after all, always our baby boys, no matter their age. Like I tell my son, there are worse things to endure in this world than having a mother who loves him as much as I do.
It is SO funny. I saw a lot of myself in it — the zillion phone calls, screaming out his name at the airport, the son going to school 3,000 miles away from home (we don’t even want to GO THERE) — Angel Boy and I haven’t gone on a road trip together, but it might look pretty much exactly like this one if we did, except for me winning a steak eating contest.
Actually, we did something similar when I flew to Goettingen, Germany to visit him for his junior year abroad at the University of Goettingen when he was at UCSD. We spent a week together traveling around Germany. I had an amazing time, even though we got stuck in a blizzard, and even if I was prolly a bit annoying. OK, maybe a LOT annoying, but still, to spend time like that with my Angel Boy was priceless. Spending the night at the airport in Frankfurt is still something that makes us laugh.
Aside: In the film, there’s a LOT of blatant product placement from Kmart to Costco to QVC, but it wasn’t too distracting and i had to admire the chutzpah.
The second viewing was with Angel Boy and DIL. I think DIL probably enjoyed it more than my son; he cringed a bit during some of the scenes of Rogan with Streisand that we thought were HILARIOUS. I think it all hit a bit too close to home at certain moments, LOL. And yes, I too have purchased underwear for my adult son. I confess…
DIL thought that UCLA as Rogan character’s school and the UCLA sweatshirt was “art mimicking life” and perhaps a SIGN FROM THE UNIVERSE because Angel Boy recently interviewed for a teaching job there (fingers crossed!) and because all I wear are t-shirts and sweatshirts from the universities my son has attended. Right now I’m sporting a “Someone at Yale loves me” t-shirt under a “Yale Mom” sweatshirt. I am SUCH a cliche, I know, I know.
And i’m drinking out of a Yale/Hello Kitty water bottle. Pathetic, right? I know.
The third viewing was with my tugboat man and I know he liked it mainly ‘cos he didn’t fall asleep once, ha ha!
I hope I’ve “guilt tripped” you into seeing it, too, and I hope you like it as much as we did.
I totes recommend “Guilt Trip” (2012) I give it 5 Louboutins out of 5
{Spoiler alert if you haven’t read the book yet. Save this post for another time so you can share your thoughts with me.}
I read it. Twice. I read it all the way through really fast like I do and then I read it again to allow the flavor of certain phrases and thoughts to mellow and grow.
I loved it. I hated it.
The ending didn’t change the second time I read it, and for that I am really, really upset! The last scene is forever indelibly etched in my brain.
I was rooting for both of the major characters. I wanted Paloma to find her power as an intelligent and witty young girl and want to live, and I urged Renee to realize how brilliant she was and how she deserved love, and that even in our fifties, we can feel special.
What I didn’t expect was the end. I never saw it coming, just like Renee never saw the drycleaner’s van before it hit her. And that’s it. No hospital, no recovery, no happy conclusion with all the loose ends tied up in a pretty pink polka dot bow. I like my stories delivered to me with happily ever afters. I don’t like to fall in love with a character who feels like a real person and then have her torn away from me!
Paloma contemplated suicide, but will blossom like the camellias Renee grew. Renee died the moment she found a reason to live.
It was released as a film, “The Hedgehog” in 2011. It’s on Netflix and I’ll watch it tomorrow, ‘cos tonight’s “Downton Abbey“. It’s not like I don’t know how it ENDS!
FINAL THOUGHTS: I loved it. I hated it. It was totally worth reading. Twice. What did YOU think?
Parts of the following synopsis is partly from The New York Times By CARYN JAMES and is partly by me.
By Muriel Barbery and translated by Alison Anderson, “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” was a best seller in France and several other countries. The novel’s two narrators alternate chapters, but the book is dominated by Renée, a widowed concierge in her 50s who calls herself “short, ugly and plump,” a self-consciously stereotypical working-class nobody. She is also an autodidact — “a permanent traitor to my archetype,” as she drolly puts it — who takes refuge in aesthetics and ideas but thinks life will be easier if she never lets her knowledge show.
Her unlikely counterpart is Paloma, a precocious 12-year-old whose family lives in the fashionable building Renée cares for. Paloma believes the world is so meaningless that she plans to commit suicide when she turns 13.
Renée’s story is addressed to no one, while Paloma’s takes the form of a notebook crammed with what she labels “profound thoughts.” Both create eloquent little essays on time, beauty and the meaning of life, Renée with erudition and Paloma with adolescent brio.
Both skewer the class-conscious people in the building: Paloma observes the inanity of her parents and her sister while Renée knows that such supposedly bright lights never see past the net shopping bag she carries, its epicurean food hidden beneath turnips. Both appreciate beauty. What Renée calls “a suspension of time that is the sign of a great illumination,” Paloma experiences while watching a rosebud fall.
The sharp-eyed Paloma guesses that Renée has “the same simple refinement as the hedgehog,” quills on the outside but “fiercely solitary — and terribly elegant” within. The lives of both characters perk up when the rich, mysterious, charmingly attentive Mr. Ozu moves into the building. Not only does he completely renovate his apartment, he does virtually the same to Renee, bringing her new clothes, a new friendship, and a raison d’etre.
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 