The View Was Exhausting
On the goofiest show on TV, books about fake celebrity relationships and mining my own experiences
One of my favorite pastimes is being completely dialed in to the goofiest show on TV (complimentary). Sometimes those shows are canceled (like hulu’s maggie, a show about a 30-something psychic in LA) and sometimes they pop off (diplomat season 3 where you at).
Right now, the goofiest show on TV is Paradise on Hulu starring James Marsden (frankly i feel like we do not talk enough about how cute he is) as the President of the United States and Sterling K. Brown (who i have bumped into twice irl, once in a trader joe’s and once on a flight to chicago) as the head of his secret service. I think it’s better if I don’t say anything else about it except that the twist in episode one is so fun, I was just like…. LET’S! GO!
There are three episodes out now, the rest will drop weekly. I will be impressed if they answer all the questions we’re asking by the finale — sadly, the season will only be 8 episodes (i firmly believe that the sweet spot between 22 and 8 is 12).
This, btw, is a recommendation.
Some Things—
sometimes my duolingo exercises make me feel like that time in paris when a waiter asked in french where i was from, and when i told him i was from LA he went into what seemed like a great story that i could interpret the vibe of, if not the content, that ended with him communicating that people tell him he looks like robert de niro, and i said, “oui! oui!”
i’m very much in my sex and the city era, by which i mean over the weekend i made a martini with gin and pepperoncini juice and it was, in a word, good
my dentist’s husband (also a dentist… i would love to know their story, like did they meet in dental school?? why does it feel like doctor couples are more prevalent than dentist couples) did my post-cleaning check up yesterday and told me that i had nice teeth! a compliment i did not know i needed but am happy to have received
another of elin hilderbrand’s books has gotten the greenlight for adaptation! the five star weekend will drop on peacock at some point in the near future and star jennifer garner as a grieving food blogger who invites a friend from each stage of her life to a fabulous (and drama fueled) weekend on nantucket – it’s gonna make for great tv, folks!!!
speaking of jennifer garner… did we know she and scott foley were married from 2000-2004??? i somehow just found out this week (also i’m like 82% sure i saw scott foley being driven in a suburban by a masked PA in malibu once)
What I’m Reading
My brother is currently reading a book by Nathanael West, a dead white guy who I am unfamiliar with. This is not to say I know the entire dead white guy cannon, but I know a lot of them even if I haven’t read them. For many reasons (including the fact that i had a horrible high school english teacher the year we did american lit), when I studied literature, my focus was on the Brits. What makes it astounding that I don’t know this American anyway is that he was BFFs with F. Scott Fitzgerald (who i am generally obsessed with) during his Hollywood years.
The day after Fitz died of a heart attack, Nathaniel West died in a car accident… spooky.
After the dentist, I popped by my favorite Free Little Library. I had nothing to donate this time (a sign that i really need to start making my way through my physical book stacks…) but I found a book that was recommended to me by a friend (hi, ilana) after we read A Novel Obsession (you would not believe how often i have googled the author in vain to search for news about her next book).
The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements & Onjuli Datta - Movie star Whitman Tagore and millionaire playboy Leo Milanowski have had an on-again, off-again relationship that has captured the ardent attention of the public and the press for years. As a woman of color, Win faces more scrutiny than most A-list actresses, but with the help of her publicist, she’s carefully crafted her persona. Part of that persona is Leo. Whenever Win takes a hit in the tabloids, she calls Leo for a paparazzi-friendly outing. While they pretend to be in love for the cameras, they have a real friendship — and sizzling chemistry.
After her latest splashy breakup, Leo joins Win in Saint Tropez for what appears to be a steamy week of romance, but Leo is keeping a secret that threatens their sparkling narrative, and there’s also the pesky matter of their real feelings…
Leo had accelerated her career like nothing else, and she liked him, very much. She did not want to ruin everything by loving him.
This had a little bit of The Idea of You about it in the way it’s sectioned by location, dripping with glamour and fraught with feeling. Aside from my beloved fake dating trope, it also features that classic romance problem where we all know how the characters feel, but for reasons, they find it hard to communicate that to each other. This is always frustrating… but here, it’s done in a way that like, makes me ache (complimentary).
The “title in the text” drop is so early I feel like I can share it—
At this time of year, the Cote d’Azur was a smooth wash of jewel tones, the deep, smoky blue of seaside air, the ocean spread out like a glossy carpet, the honeycomb of cliffs and pastel-painted houses high above the tangle of greenery. The sand was pale and silvery, warm to the touch when Win kicked off her heels, even as dusk caught fire across the water and the sun began to set. The view was exhausting.
First Comes Love by Emily Griffin - I finished this book about the precarious relationship between single, seemingly carefree eldest sister, Jodie, and her uptight, younger sister Meredith, who appears to have the perfect family. Fifteen years after they lost their brother, Jodie contemplates whether she’s ready to have a baby on her own, and Meredith begins to question her relationship with her husband. Both of them are still holding tightly to their grief, but instead of it bringing them closer together, it’s created a wedge between them.
I enjoyed reading this, but I never got over my dislike for the characters (and the way they treat each other), which is pretty rare for me!
What I’m Writing
What I meant was, Novel 3 is going to be told through two points of view, which I am excited about! The next question is am I going to write them in first or third person (leaning third). Though I guess that’s not actually the next question I should be asking. What is this thing about??? Is a better one to start considering.
Much like Novel 2, Novel 3 is forming out of my own experiences — the genesis of the idea is based on a trip I took several years ago to Hawaii where I got to stay at a five star hotel for free while my roommate (hi, charlotte) was working.
The beginnings of Novel 3 have been alive in my Notes app for at least a year, and lately I’ve been adding more bullet points as I’ve started to sink into the idea of starting something new. I’ve even found myself leaning out of bed for my phone in the middle of the night to write snippets of dialogue between some of the characters. An excellent sign!
The protagonists are cousins, I think. They’re not particularly close, but they’re both not in a great mental place so they find themselves leaning on one another. And! They’re in Hawaii! It’s gonna be fun. Hopefully. As always, we will see…
Separately (or maybe relatedly, i haven’t decided), I have started mining my journal for inspiration. This is something I also did for Novel 2. I think because I wrote the entries, I have a right to use the material as I see fit, but part of me is also like… is this a betrayal of the old me? To steal her words and her feelings in the hopes that they beef up my fiction (who am i, f. scott fitzgerald)??
But, honestly, when I’m not actively working on something, I channel that energy into my journal and sometimes I flip to a page and I’m like… uhm! okay girl! You wrote this for you?? This is solid.
Anyway… the answer is, I feel comfortable at this moment taking from real life to enrich my creative one. Like, whatever!!!
A sample line from my journal:
Everything is too new, slightly dirty, dried out and brown. The air isn’t clean enough — in London I breathed so easily and carelessly. It’s too bright and the sky isn’t blue enough, or the fact that it’s overexposed lessons its power — or the layer of smog prevents it from revealing itself completely
(^this drama queen was so upset coming back to LA after visiting london for the first time in 9 years — LA i am sorry, i do love you)
That’s all from me this week! Stay tuned.
I really enjoyed the View Was Exhausting!!