Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Book Review)

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is Mindy Kaling’s first memoir dated back to 2011. In it, she talks about her upbringing and how she got into comedy, as well as other experiences she’s had along the way. It’s a quick read that will keep you interested, even if you don’t know all the pop culture references. Kaling makes this feel like more of a conversation than a novel.

I devoured this book in a matter of hours. I couldn’t set it down. I’ve been watching a lot of The Office lately and I’ve watched The Mindy Project in the past, mixed with my hidden love of memoirs, this was a hit for me.

I would give this a solid 4/5 stars.

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What I’m Watching

I’ve been so into the World Cup this month and now that it’s over, I feel so incomplete. I really do love watching soccer. Even if all my favorite teams lost (Spain, Nigeria, and Portugal). France’s victory was quite something. Croatia definitely made their mark, though. Who doesn’t love an underdog?

I don’t have a show review this week but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching Netflix. I started watching the show Marlon. I’ve been wanting to check it out for a while but I didn’t have cable when it came out last year. Season one is currently on Netflix so I watched it and it definitely gave me some My Wife and Kids vibes. I have Xfinity now so I’m going to start watching season two. It’s a pretty funny show and Marlon Wayans is great. His hour long comedy special “Woke-ish” is also on Netflix and it is absolutely hilarious.

I just started watching Kim’s Convenience yesterday. It’s a really cute sitcom about a Korean-Canadian family. Mr. Kim runs the convenience store and his daughter Janet is a photographer in art school. Mr. and Mrs. Kim’s relationship is very interesting. Their son Jung is estranged and works at a car rental agency. I’ve seen a couple episodes so far and I think I’ll continue watching it.

As far as TV goes, I’ve been watching a lot of The Loud House on Xfinity On Demand. It’s one of my favorites as far as the newer cartoons go and it’s honestly really good. The premise is interesting, the show is really funny, and there’s always a lesson at the end. It has everything I loved about my favorite cartoons growing up.

I haven’t liked a lot of the new shows coming out on Disney Channel, but Stuck in the Middle is really good. Harley is the middle child of the Diaz family. Being stuck in the middle of six other siblings isn’t easy but Harley’s inventions often help save the day. I love how the main character is so into STEM. Her inventions are pretty creative.

Craig of the Creek is a new show on Cartoon Network that I’m absolutely loving. It’s a show about a black boy who has adventures with his friends down at the Creek near his home. The characters on the show are great and I love the family dynamic. It’s another one of those shows the always has a lesson at the end.

All in all, I’m loving the diversity I’m seeing in a lot of these newer shows. Not every new show is the best, but that doesn’t mean that they’re all bad either.

Mini Book Haul

I recently went thrift shopping for the first time with my best friend. I never knew how great the deals were on books. We went to Goodwill and then The World of Thrift, it was great. I didn’t spend more than a total of $9 on these books which is a steal. Full reviews coming soon.

The books I purchased were:

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

I’ve been hearing great things about this book for years now. I never read it back in my middle grade days so why not now?

Mindy Kaling has lived many lives: the obedient child of immigrant professionals, a timid chubster afraid of her own bike, a Ben Affleck–impersonating Off-Broadway performer and playwright, and, finally, a comedy writer and actress prone to starting fights with her friends and coworkers with the sentence “Can I just say one last thing about this, and then I swear I’ll shut up about it?”

I have been watching a ton of The Office lately so when I saw this, I just couldn’t resist.

A boy with extraordinary powers. An army of deadly monsters. An epic battle for the future of peculiardom.

The adventure that began with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and continued in Hollow City comes to a thrilling conclusion with Library of Souls.

I read books one and two a few years ago and I’m excited to continue this adventure. My Review of Hollow City

A funny, often poignant tale of boy meets girl with a twist: what if one of them couldn’t stop slipping in and out of time? Highly original and imaginative, this debut novel raises questions about life, love, and the effects of time on relationships.

I have committed a terrible bibliographic sin. I watched the movie long before getting the book. For this, I must right my wrong. Even if I have to go through 500 pages to do it.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Show Review)

This show is absolutely absurd… in the best way possible! It’s like The Office times Parks and Recreation on steroids. If you enjoyed Ellie Kemper as Erin, the quirky receptionist of the later seasons of The Office, you’ll love seeing her in this lead role.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is about a woman who’s been rescued from the cult of a crazy reverend. Kimmy has spent the past fifteen years trapped in an underground bunker with the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne and three other woman kidnapped under the false premise of an apocalypse.

After these women are rescued from the bunker, their story goes viral and they are deemed the Mole Women. They go on talk shows to tell their story. When asked what they will be doing now that they are back in the real world, Kimmy decides that she will be heading to New York to restart her life.

I’ve been seeing this show pop up on my Netflix suggestions for months now and after finishing The Office, I decided to give it a chance. The premise originally seemed a bit too weird for me but I’ve found it to really work for the show. Every episode works to capture my attention. I’ve gone through all four seasons in a matter of two weeks.

*Spoilers Ahead*

I can relate to Kimmy’s unending positivity so much. She looks on the bright side of absolutely everything, even when she loses thousands of dollars from her purple Jansport in a nightclub on the very first episode. She has been affected in more ways than one from being trapped in that bunker. I could not believe that that marriage was legal!

I know I’m supposed to hate the Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne for all the awful stuff he did to Kimmy, Cyndee, Gretchen, and Maria, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy his kooky personality. The man is completely insane and it’s hilarious. He somehow nearly convinced the court to release him because the man Cyndee described had a beard *gasp* as if he hadn’t just shaved his.

Titus is flamboyant in the most hilarious way. He is a *struggling* actor. His relationship with Mikey really kept me interested. That Lemonade episode was honestly wonderful. I knew he was overreacting but I was totally all the way there for that outfit and bat.

Kimmy’s relationships were super interesting. I definitely miss Dong but Daveed Diggs character, Refrigerator, was wonderful. Him wanting to be a reverend really helped us realize just how far the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was going for Kimmy.

*Theory*

I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I have been speculating about this show. We all know that Kimmy  has a vivid imagination, it’s part of what kept her alive all those years in the bunker. But, what if she escaped the bunker without escaping her head. I know it’s a long shot, but what if Kimmy had a mental breakdown after she was released and she never actually went to New York. Eh, just something to think about.

And now I present: Titus Andromedon