Devouring Books: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

"According to the CDC, cigarettes kill over 435,000 people a year in the United States. Most of us in Danbury were locked away for trading in illegal drugs. The annual death toll of illegal drug addicts, according to the same government study? Seventeen thousand."

So, some of you guys might have heard of this little TV show on Netflix called Orange is the New Black that I might have already watched twice this year even though I've NEVER done that with anything before. I say 'might have' because I know that I haven't reviewed the TV show, but how do you sum up THE BEST THING EVER in one blog post? You don't even try, that's how. Ah well, maybe on the next viewing (or maybe you just watch it and we discuss it and everything's awesome? Yeah, that one).

So anyway. Said best thing ever started its life as a book, and I had the good fortune of having Hanna as my ninja book swapper a couple of months ago and SOMEHOW she knew that I wanted this book reaaaaaally badly*, and just like that, it was mine. Somehow I managed to hold off reading it for even this long (probably a tiny bit of apprehension involved there), but as with all books, its time came and, you know, I read it.

So, the deal: Piper Kerman is an upstanding member of society with a slightly dodgy past, where she carried drug money for her girlfriend-at-the-time, but also enjoyed the high life of having a lot of (drug) money. Obviously, Kerman got found out about 10 years later, took a plea bargain and spent a year of her life in prison, where she found out things about herself and life that she would never have otherwise had the opportunity to learn. Not that, you know, prison is a good thing or anything. Apart from for self-discovery, I guess.

I'm not going to go on and on about the differences between this and the TV show because those things have been documented elsewhere (I would give you links, but... you can google as well as I can! I.e. Lazy.) but the main difference to my eyes is that the book is a lot less dramatic. And I don't mean that in a bad way, either towards the show or the book. It's just that, in real life things are often less dramatic than they are on TV, but in this one case, this doesn't detract from either version of events- the things that happen on the show are perfect for the show, and the things that actually happened are interesting or informative or eye-opening in their own way. What this really means is, so so many of the day-to-day details have been clearly transferred from the book to the show, and a lot of basic characters have been preserved, but events were definitely a lot less DRAMATIC on a daily basis in reality.

Like, as far as I know, no chicken

But this book, I like it a lot. Overly dramatic it may not be, but an excellent chronicle of a woman pulled out of her normal life and plunked into one where she gets no say over anything she does, but also where she comes to admit that yeah, what she did was wrong and why shouldn't she be punished for it? I definitely got a sense of Kerman overcoming her own idea of herself to understand that, actually, she wasn't untouchable and that she had earned her place in prison just as much as any of the other women in there. And I liked that.

I also liked Kerman's critique of the prison system. I know that she's a big supporter of prison reform, and that's really clear in her book, and she argues for it so effectively that you don't even really realise that's what she's doing. In fact, she's not- just by saying what she sees, and pointing things out about are kind of self-evident in their badness, it sort of makes you go 'hmm... Prison's not that great then?'** Added to which, stats like the one I quoted above are used sparingly and so effectively, that you start to go 'wow, maybe imprisoning people who are basically non-violent because their offence has anything whatsoever to do with drugs IS kind of insane...' But, then again, I already believed this so it was kind of an easy sell for me...

So basically. As long as you don't come to this book expecting it to be exactly like the TV programme, then you won't leave it disappointed that it's not exactly like the TV programme. Instead, you'll get a really interesting, really informative and just generally really real account of one woman's experience of prison, and won't even feel the tiniest bit cheated that the majority of the ladydrama didn't actually happen. And then, to celebrate reading this, you should probably watch the show again about 3 more times. Just because.

*As a testament to her excellent choosing skills, I have read both the books she sent me already AND eaten all the chocolate. She's the best.
**Because obviously I thought it was before... NOPE.

Devouring TV: Parks and Recreation OR My growing acceptance of Adam Scott, and my undying love for Leslie Knope

I finished watching all the Parks and Recreation there is to see about a week ago, and now my life is so empty and sad. My history with the show went something like this: Watched the first season (of six episodes)- wasn't really impressed. BBC4 started showing the first two seasons earlier this year, so I watched Season Two and it was basically THE BEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN EVER EVER, so that was pretty awesome. Then, twas a long long wait from the end of Parks and Rec on BBC4 to moving into my new house and gaining access to US Netflix and watching ALL THE PARKS AND REC in mere weeks. Ah, it's been pretty great.

I don't even know where to begin, though, because there literally isn't a character I dislike, a situation I didn't find real and moving and amazing, or a relationship that I haven't wanted to happen. I honestly can't think of a TV show where I've been more in love with the characters- I mean, you all know I love Breaking Bad like nobody's business, and I love a good TV drama, but for pure happiness in watching, I can't think of any programme that's done better than Parks and Recreation.

Here's a quick synopsis if you've never seen or even heard of it before (how is it living under that rock? Warm enough for you?): Leslie Knope is both the greatest woman in the world and deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana. Her colleagues range from the libertarian Ron Swanson (who is amazing), to the deadpan and potentially evil April Ludgate, swagger-filled yet kind of wimpy Tom Haverford, AMAZING Donna, and Jerry, everyone's favourite punching bag. Combined with Leslie's best friend Ann Perkins, Ann's ex-boyfriend Andy, and later on in the series, ROB LOWE and Adam Scott, the Parks and Recreation department do things ranging from mundane to slightly interesting, but fuelled by Leslie's infectious enthusiasm, and basically the best script ever, everything about every episode is basically the best.

Just, in case you hadn't got that point yet. I like this show a lot.

Rather than going through everything I like about everyone and also everything, I'm baaasically going to focus on my title right up there, because, you know, we all have lives to get along with and I can't sit here writing about Parks and Rec all day (that's a lie because OF COURSE I CAN). So things are about to get spoilery, so you can leave if you don't want to know things, but before you go, let me just say that April Ludgate is my actual spirit animal and I love her and also sort of want to be her and also I LOVE HER. Ok, you can go now.

SPOILERY PART.
Just give me a minute, cause I need to think about how cute Ben and Leslie are together.

Ok, are we... Yeah, that's amazing.

Anyway! So! Yes. Before Parks and Rec, all I'd seen Adam Scott in was Friends With Kids. I didn't really like that film, I watched it while I was feeling ill anyway (bad idea) but I really found Adam Scott's character very very annoying. I never ever expected to fancy him in any way (I don't know, his face ON IT'S OWN isn't that great) and even though I guess I vaguely knew he was in Parks and Rec, I cared a lot more about the fact that ROB LOWE was in it. (I like Rob Lowe's face quite a lot. It's a pretty magnificent face.)

But then! The bastard grew on me! I think the thing was this- in the first season, the show was set up so that Leslie was meant to be kind of unlucky in love, because, I think her enthusiasm was supposed to be offputting (RIDICULOUS), at least to men. And so, even though she had a couple of boyfriends even in season 2, in my brain there was still a sense of 'these men are RIDICULOUS, they should ALL want to marry Leslie.' And then Ben came along, and, well, obviously he did want to marry her, but also saw exactly how amazing she was and that was just perfect, plus that little smile whenever she did something incredible that showed how he was falling in love with her and eeeeeeeee!

There are, of course, other reasons to love Ben Wyatt that aren't 'because he loves Leslie Knope' (although that is obviously the best one, and shows his exquisite taste) and, you know, there's the nerd thing and the faces at the camera when we're all thinking 'huh?' about the madness in Pawnee, and the fact that he sacrificed his job so his girlfriend could keep hers and GOD has that ever even happened on TV before? Adam Scott now, to me, has the kind of face that I LOVE because I think of all the things he's done and he's just perfect. Basically I want to marry Ben Wyatt, if that's cool.

That is, if I can't marry Leslie Knope. Actually, that's crazy, basically I want to be Leslie Knope. I mean, I am essentially April, which is cool because I think Andy is way hot, but really and truly, I'd rather be Leslie. To wake up every morning inside her positive, can-do, thinking of everyone else all the time brain must be so amazing, and people just flock to her because she's the best person. In the world. Ever. I love her and I like her and I don't know what more I can say.

Except, oh, everything. Like, Leslie is a politician who actually cares about making people's lives better. Like, remember how she made Ron worried that she was going to throw a huge party for his birthday but actually she knew what he wanted so well that he got a steak in front of the TV by himself? Like, The Pawnee Goddesses. Oh yeah. I literally can't think of a TV character who's a better role model, not just for women but for every human being ever, AND even though this is the case, she's still so funny! She's magnificent! She's Leslie. And I love her. Obviously.

And who knew that the woman I used to know only as the weird mum from Mean Girls would turn out to have been so amazing all along? Amy Poehler, I salute you. And your incredible awesomeness and OH MAN can I just watch the whole thing all over again? I can? Well... Ok then. I shall.

Sunday Sundries: This isn't going to be about feminism only it sort of is

Greetings, from chilly, chilly England!

Things seem to have taken a turn for the winter here of late, which makes sense since it's basically the end of November, but still. I will not have it. In a weirdly insulting turn of events, Tumblr just told me my browser was outdated when I went to find the above gif, and wow. That's not cool, Tumblr.

Anyway, stuff. It's Sunday! I... haven't really done anything this week. SHOCKER, I know, but there you go. I have to have some standards of consistency. Mostly I've been spending the week either complaining that I'm too hot or too cold, mostly because I've usually been too hot or too cold (I know). This is mainly down to the fact that I live and work in places that have insufficient central heating, so I have to rely on heaters that make me too hot, but you can't turn them off because FREEZING and goddamn, I hate winter already.

So, instead of ranting on about how I'm always either too hot or too cold lately and it's making me GROUCHY, I'm going to talk about a thing like I used to do sometimes, and then you can tell me things you think about it, if you want. I know, it's a good plan, I like it too.

So here is the thing: How important do we think it is for a TV character to be like you to be able to relate to them? What I mean is this: there's a lot of talk (and I am usually the one doing it) about the lack of anyone who isn't a straight white male on tv. I mean, obviously basically every TV show has women in it (the same can't be said for non-white, or non-heterosexual people, sadly) but they're usually in less important, background roles, like in say Breaking Bad, or The Sopranos. New Girl is called New Girl, but there are now 4 main dude characters and two women. I mean, it's a fairly dire situation, when you look at it statistically.

If we put that aside just for a second (not because it's unimportant, but because I want to work with the characters we do have for a minute), I'm wondering: is it that important for a character to be like you in terms of your gender/race/sexuality for you to be able to relate to them? What I'm really saying is, I am basically Nick Miller, and I don't feel weird saying that because I'm not a white dude.

It would be kind of embarrassing for me to list all the ways in which I am Nick Miller, but will it be enough to say that I am Nick and he is me? No? Well, ok then- we're both underemployed, super poor, really grumpy, maybe a tiny bit lazy and, you know, we both fancy Zooey Deschanel. Whilst I am Nick Miller, I also love Nick Miller, which makes things slightly complicated in my head because apparently I love myself? But the point is, I relate to him more than any other character on New Girl, which makes his successes my successes, and his failures my failures. At least, you know, a bit, and it doesn't feel weird that I relate less to Jess who, presumably should be my role model and whatnot (to be fair, she is a much better role model than Nick Miller. Just sayin.)

And then, another character I relate to but also would marry is Luke from Gilmore Girls. And Gilmore Girls is a programme with plenty of female characters to consider myself most like, and yet it is the grumpy but kindly dude from the diner that I consider myself to be most like, even though I feel like I would get a lot more annoyed with Lorelei than he does because OMG you talk too much, woman. Maybe that's a thing- that I like grumpy characters who don't always have to talk, but always have a presence when they're onscreen (obviously, cause that's the way narratives work...) and that is the kind of thing that women characters are not encouraged to be.

So, in other words, maybe I have to relate to the dude characters cause the women aren't ever written in that way, which is a big lie on behalf of all TV cause hello! Here I am being all quiet and moody over here! Not, you know, perky and nice and generally go getting and excellent.

So, to bring this back to the start... does it matter that I relate to dude characters more than the girl ones sometimes? No. Not when the female characters are hardly ever written in a way I relate to, but maybe that's because I'm an unconventional girl. But does it matter that there isn't a vivid array of different female characters in every TV show (well, maybe not every TV show), as well as people of colour and gay people? It does. It really really does. There are only a handful of shows I can think of that even come close to balancing the male:female ratio, and even ones that do don't always show a wide array of different characteristics within their women characters- because guys, 'femaleness' is not a trait, and seriously, we come in just as many different character types and styles as dudes do. REFLECT THIS, PLEASE.

Actual lady character I do relate to.

Parks and Recreation (which I will endeavour to write a post about this week) is as close to being perfect in a male-female way as I could hope, AND it's basically one of the best comedy series I've ever watched. IT CAN BE DONE, and it can be done well. For reals.

So tell me- do you think this is an issue or am I just making a fuss out of nothing? (I'm not). And which TV characters do you relate to that are so like you, but also so not like you? It can't be weirder than Nick Miller, is all I'm saying.

Devouring TV: Extreme Couponing

One of the most astute things that my dad (and maybe anyone) has ever said about me is that I only watch really really good or really really bad TV. It's so incredibly true that I couldn't even say anything about it, just nod in agreement because, yeah. Absolutely. I can't explain this paradox, but the fact is that I want to watch Breaking Bad and I want to watch Hoarders, and I don't want anything in between. The best or the worst, that's all I want.

One thing that no one has ever said about me, but which I know to be true about myself, is that I like to mix the highbrow with the lowbrow- talking about parts of pop culture in a ridiculously over-analytical way for what they are. And that's what you're going to get here, so I can try to justify watching all the Extreme Couponing Netflix has to show, except for the stupid episodes where they've messed with the format and made couponers compete against each other for some reason... That, apparently, is where I draw the line. Weirdly.

So, Extreme Couponing. It's an American reality show wherein people who coupon basically for a living get huge amounts of shopping worth hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of dollars for about $5. It is RIDICULOUS, and so much more exciting than it should be, and it's a shameful yet excellent thing to watch. There are quite a few reasons I suspect I'm so into it, not least of which is that you literally can't do this kind of thing in the UK. We don't have nearly as many coupons, there's no such thing as 'doubling coupons' (Americans: Your shops really do that?!) and most money off vouchers have small print that say 'cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer'. So, there's no possible way for me to ever be, say, paid to take things out of shops, so I have to live vicariously through these people.

A weird and unexpected side effect of watching Extreme Couponing has been that I've started to see the logic in doing what these people do. I mean, don't get me wrong- mostly I watched it because it's completely compulsive and also slides down so easily after a day of unpacking, but, of course, I've thought about it a bit more than that. At first I had a lot of criticisms, like 'whyyy are these people doing this in their free time?' and 'Do they really need that?' and 'Well, they can't get anything healthy with those coupons, anyway.' and it was like the programme had anticipated each of my criticisms and had an answer for all of them.

Like, 'whyyyy are these people doing this in their spare time?' Well, they're doing it so that they can save money. Or so they can support their extended family. Or because their husband lost his job (yeah, it's mostly women who do it...). I'm not saying there's not some kind of compulsion involved, but frankly, I think that if someone wants to do couponing instead of, say, a full time job, then I think that's an equally effective use of one time and also it's kiiind of the opposite of Capitalism, to which I say YAY. I have slightly more of a 'whaaaat?' reaction when people have a full time job, and in their spare time they coupon, because when do you start living, people?!

And 'do they really need that?' Well, they sort of do. Obviously no one needs a fifty year supply of toothpaste all at once, or an entire room for sweets (I actually do need an entire room for sweets, so) but on the whole, the people featured on Extreme Couponing kind of buy things they at least like (apart from this one woman who made her son eat cereal he didn't even like because it was free, which seems a bit against everything I'm trying to say here) and if they don't like them, or won't use them, then they donate them. And you can't really argue with that. Couponing for the good of humanity? That's cool.

'Well, they can't get anything healthy with those coupons anyway.' Well, for the most part, this is pretty true. I've seen people buy many many bottles of vitamin water, packs of oreo cookies, this same brand of noodles over and over again (there must always be coupons for them!), but, as the narration constantly reinforces, coupons for things like meat and produce and basically raw ingredients of all meals are pretty much like unicorns. So, I could watch with the smug belief that, well, at least I eat better than these people. BUT THEN I watched this episode with a vegan couponer, and well. I mean, what can you do with that? She must be pretty healthy AND she saves money. So, my conclusion is that you can be an unhealthy couponer, but you don't have to be.

Obviously, I've overthought this a LOT. But it's fun to do and I like it, so leave me alone! Here are a few random side effects I've experienced watching Extreme Couponing:

• I've wanted to smack the voiceover person so much whenever he says 'a x% savings.' NO. It's either 'a x% saving' OR 'x% savings'. NOT BOTH.
• They almost always get tons of vitamin water and it makes me crave vitamin water so badly. This wouldn't be a problem, but vitamin water is SO EXPENSIVE over here. It's not just a little bit more expensive, it's like the same as the dollar price, only in pounds but also with more money added to that? I can't afford that shit, someone find me a coupon!
• Extreme Couponing is the only thing I've ever watched that makes me kind of want to live in one of the crappier states* in the US because they have better coupons. This is RIDICULOUS, and yet.

So basically. You probably shouldn't watch Extreme Couponing because MY GOD the amount of time you'll spend doing so, but if you feel a compulsion to watch really bad TV (I can't be the only one...) then you couldn't do much better, or in fact worse, than this. I love it, really.

*By crappier, I basically just mean not California or New York. Their couponing deals suuuuuck.

Devouring TV: The Wire

I finished watching The Wire an entire two months ago, and I'm concerned that if I don't write something about it now, then I never will, and this post will be lost forever in my drafts folder (or, you know, I'd delete it because I got bored looking at it). Here's the thing- I don't want to say too much about The Wire because I feel like it's been subject to SO much praise (so so so much. Incredible amounts. Probably even more than it deserves, and it deserves a fair bit) that anything I'm going to say about it is going to be redundant and, you know, you're probably sick of hearing about The FUCKING Wire already (I know I was before I watched it. But then the Breaking Bad withdrawals set in and I had to do SOMETHING with my time.)

So. The Wire, along with The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, is commonly regarded as in the top four TV shows OF ALL TIME. I'd prefer to think of it as the top 4 TV dramas of all time, and if I'm honest, The Wire wouldn't be in my top 4 (replace it with The West Wing and I think you're pretty much there, though) BUT that doesn't mean that it isn't still FREAKING AWESOME, it just means that I'm not so much into the police dramas. I mean, the fact that I even watched the whole five seasons of this is an achievement in itself, because I think the only other TV police show I've ever watched so much of is 21 Jump Street, for... Obvious reasons.

I almost feel bad watching it because he hates that show SO FUCKING MUCH. But he's too beautiful not to.

Anyway. In case you were wondering, The Wire is MUCH better than 21 Jump Street, albeit not as beautiful. But then again...

Oh, McNulty. You're such an asshole. But I love you.

And, for that matter,

Stringer Bell, guys. ALSO an asshole. I don't know what this says about me.

See the thing is though, BOTH of these guys are assholes, but they're on different sides of the law, and I think that's what REALLY makes this programme interesting- the characters are so layered and interesting, and no one's wholly good or wholly bad, and THEN you also see the the different cultures and environments they've been brought up in, and maybe you go 'well, in different circumstances, maybe McNulty could have been a great drug kingpin, and maybe Stringer could have been a cop if, say, his best friend had been murdered instead of growing up with him and them dreaming together about how rich they were going to be.' There are really a very very few characters who've escaped the circumstances they grew up in, and that alone is enough to make you think about a LOT of things.

Basically 90% of the characters are unlikeable, or at least unlikeable some of the time, and you'd think that would make it kind of frustrating to watch, but really I was more frustrated at the lack of women in it (oh yeah. There are like no women. Don't come into this expecting women, because there are maybe two? And those that get to be any kind of main character have to have rejected femininity entirely. But hey, there're always strippers! *sigh* and THIS would be why it doesn't make it into my top four, just by the by). Because the thing is, these characters being unlikeable doesn't mean that you don't care about what happens to them- it just means that you love them, but you don't always like them. Just like a completely fucked up little family of badness!

Anyway. One character I quite uncomplicatedly like is Omar. Omar is essentially a thief who only robs drug dealers, and a murderer who only murders drug dealers (and only when he has to). He's on the edges of the drug dealing culture because it seems to be where he can make the biggest profit, but also because he's bound to be on the edges of that whole culture because he's also gay. Which is just sort of AMAZING to see because I'm not sure I've ever seen a gay character ANYWHERE who's completely comfortable and unapologetic about his sexuality, but also whose sexuality is also not the most important thing about his character- rather, the fact that he's a complete and utter total badass is.

And it's so weird to be rooting for a character who basically just steals and kills, but somehow The Wire is the kind of programme where you end up doing just that- there's the sense in which he's almost doing a public service by beating these violent, damaging men at their own game, and it feels ok to support him in this because, as he constantly reinforces- 'I never killed nobody who wasn't in the game'. Omar does everything he can, in fact, to avoid harm to civilians, and you kind of have to love him for it. And just to reinforce what a badass he is- the danger involved in what he does is apparent throughout the series, but no more so than when he ends up in prison for a murder that he actually didn't commit and it suddenly becomes clear that he's locked up, unarmed, with the exact people he's been fucking with for years, and you suddenly realise that this is the risk he's been running all along and GOD, can you imagine constantly fucking with a load of violent criminals and then suddenly being easily within their grasp? How long before you get killed in that situation, twenty minutes? Omar is a BAMF.

And now, a really quick rundown of each season, and then we're done, I swear.

Season One: It really sets the bar high for how the rest of the show should be- the ensemble cast of police officers is so good that it feels wrong somehow when they're all working separately (and, in fact, I'm not sure the whole team is ever assembled again after this season). The storylines are tight, the targets are made clear and all the characters and themes and issues and everything are introduced so well and strongly. Just an amazing first season.

Season Two: I just find this season really really brave, because rather than just giving us what we've been used to (the same characters, the same crimes), things are actually switched up and the targets are actually completely different- this is still Baltimore so the crimes still involve drugs, but in a completely different way to season one (although you still get to see some of the criminals from then too, because, you know, attached.) Also has maybe the most chilling line of dialogue I've ever heard in anything: "Cut off his hands. Cut off his face."

Season Three: This is really the Stringer Bell-Jimmy McNulty showdown season, although this really constitutes Stringer going about his daily life and McNulty becoming increasingly obsessed with him. If we're applying the Draco-Harry rule here, then Jimmy is DEFINITELY in love with Stringer, but... I'm not sure that's true. Sadly.

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE!

Anyway... This season I found a liiittle bit patchy and unfocused at times (look at this guy! And now this guy! And that other guy is doing other things now for reasons I'm not sure of!) but it definitely sets certain things up for the rest of the series.

Season Four: The season of the children! This is probably my favourite season, because there are kids, which means that it's here that you can see where people start off in the streets and why they become drug dealers at all. It's probably the most social justice-y of the series, but it's interesting seeing how these characters we thought we knew suddenly start acting differently when children are involved (as they are in practically all their lives), and it's heartening, too. Until the end. Which is SO SAD.

Season Five: It's... Patchy at best. There's a newspaper involved, which is ostensibly to show the inequality of media coverage over things like gang shootings, but is really there so McNulty can do something SO STUPID that I can't even think about it without getting pissed off. It's not at all without merit, and it really really finishes things off well, I think, but it's definitely not the best season. But, you know, it's The Wire and it's allllllll good.

And those descriptions? Really, really, really just tips of the iceburg because oh my GOD the characters I didn't even mention (BUBBLES!) and the whole entire storylines I missed out (this guy runs for mayor and I really don't give a shit because everything about the Political stuff was already done better by The West Wing) and really you just have to watch it because no one is ever going to be able to cover everything that happens in it in one blog post, but through a series of emails? I think we can get a lot closer! And I can't even imagine a time when I won't want to talk about The Wire. Seriously.

Devouring Books: My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary by Rae Earl

"In other words, he is a bastard shag-about who wants to sleep around. I told her this, but she doesn't want to hear it. He, according to her, is a bad boy- which, according to me, means he is a twat."

I wouldn't have heard of My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary if it hadn't been for the Channel 4 series of nearly the same name (My Mad Fat Diary) which was really and truly excellent. Honestly- the cast, the situations, the way it could take me from tears to laughter and back again in about 5 minutes... I just loved it so much. Before I read the book, though, I knew it was going to be quite different- it's set in the late eighties rather than the mid-nineties (so, you know, the music is different), and, you know, real life just isn't ever going to be as neat, or crossing storylines-y, or just as good as the TV show was.

Because I just want to get that out of the way really quickly- the book isn't as good as the TV show. I know, I know, SACRILEGE, but the thing is, it is literally a teenage girl's diary, which I say not as an insult, but more as a compliment to the programme, which was able to go to much greater depths than this book because it's outside looking into a character rather than being someone looking out on, and reporting on what she sees in the world. Then again, maybe I'm just not so much a fan of reading diaries, because they have a fairly limited scope and stuff. Who knows.

Now. I really did want to get that comparison out of the way (for the maybe 3 people who have seen My Mad Fat Diary!) because I genuinely really did like this book. There were times when I could have seriously been reading my own diary, because SO many of the feelings and thoughts are ones that I've had myself because I have been a teenager too! It's terrible! The hormones and the self-hatred and the feeling totally alone and me-against-the-world-ish- I've been there, and with bells on! As, you know, have we all. But this book wouldn't be at all fun if it was just doom and gloom and depression, and it really isn't- you can tell when Rae's had a bad day because she starts reflecting on all the things that are wrong with her life, but mostly (and I think this is something we all try to do) she looks on the bright side of things and ends up being hilarious.

Sample bit about her mum:

"SHE still comes in when I'm in the bath and asks me if I have washed properly. Especially (and she always whispers this) 'my credentials'. She means my bits. JUST SAY IT WOMAN!! She can't even call sanitary towels sanitary towels. She calls them BUNNIES!! It's like the 1950s in this house."

I found this especially hilarious for some reason, and a lot of the book is like this- it's just that I'm pretty sure that Rae doesn't know how funny she is, and so it makes it heartbreaking when she focuses on her 'faults' (too fat, a bit mad etc etc) kind of all the time, and doesn't realise that she has all these excellent qualities that make the other things not really matter at all. Fortunately, there is a foreword to the book that kind of makes everything better- Rae is all grown up, and has perspective, and she's ok. Which is really really pleasing, and kind of makes you feel ok for sharing in some of her worst moments- because she's over them, so you don't need to worry about them either.

"I'm sharing it because these days it makes me laugh- and because I still see fat girls everywhere labelled as 'bubbly with a nice personality'. And I suppose I want to tell them (and everyone else) that in the end it's all OK. You can be fat and nuts and a virgin when you are 17- and things can still turn out OK."

 So yeah, this book has all the things- it's funny, it's sad, it's real AND true, and most of all, Rae just seems like the best kind of person, with the added benefit of being someone real. I feel like it's absolutely perfect for teenage girls to read, but maybe it's just funnier when you're past that stage of life and you can look back on it and go 'yeah, that really was shit.' Solidarity, guys. That's what it's all about.

Devouring TV: The United States of Television- America in Primetime

I definitely don't write about it enough here, but the amount that I love TV is ridiculous. I love really bad TV, but if you can believe it, even more than that, I love really really good TV. And, apparently now, I like really good TV shows about really good TV, and this is getting really meta and I'm getting confused about my own sentences.

Let me start again. British friends! On iPlayer right now, there are 4 1-hour documentaries about American TV from the fifties to now, and they are SPECTACULAR (American friends, you already got these in 2011. But if I'm really convincing about how good they are, you can buy them on DVD.) More or less my entire purpose for writing this post is to MAKE YOU WATCH THEM, because the whole series is on the internet until the 18th May (that's Saturday, guys) and it's kind of the best thing I've ever seen, or at least the best thing about American TV that I've seen.

The documentaries break American TV down into 4 separate themes, or sets of characters- The Man of the House, The Misfits, The Independent Woman and The Crusaders, and then explores how each of these things have developed from the beginning of TV right up to the present (ish- it was originally broadcast in 2011...) day, and the answer in basically all cases is that They Have Changed A Lot and That Is A Very Good Thing. I feel like it's a fairly established viewpoint now that we're living in 'a golden age of television' and for me, Breaking Bad ALONE confirms that. But these documentaries don't take the view that all old TV was terrible and everything new is wonderful, more that previous programmes were groundbreaking at the time, and because of that they've influenced new and wonderful things (like Breaking Bad. How many times can I bring it up? You don't even KNOW.)

 So. I don't really know how to talk about the series, so... I'm just going to talk about each episode and talk about things I liked about them and stuff? Yes. That.

The Man of the House: This episode basically talked about the shifting role of the father in American TV, and how it's evolved from him being this fairly perfect, idealised man who came home at seven on the dot every night to his loving family or wife, to becoming much more complex (this is a common theme...). Possibly the most interesting of the shows featured in this part was Mad Men, in that it's set in the same time as a lot of these idealised sitcoms, but the father figure (i.e. Don Draper) is a highly conflicted figure who seems to be living the American Dream, but is actually always looking for a way out of the family life that he's supposed to want.
Since this episode also featured The Sopranos (ostensibly a family driven show, in both senses of the word) and Breaking Bad, I was obviously hooked RIGHT in. And then, we had

The Misfits: Going from The Addams Family in... whenever that was on, through Twin Peaks and right up to 30 Rock and Glee, this episode looked at the outsider in American TV, and how the role of the outsider has evolved and changed, and that things have shifted so much that now everyone is almost an outsider, which of course means that no one is. I think this was the episode that had the most TV shows I coveted (Taxi, Six Feet Under, Seinfeld, Freaks and Geeks- and now I even want to watch Curb Your Enthusiasm) maybe because it also featured so many TV shows I like- True Blood, Arrested Development (!!), United States of Tara, and MY GOD, Twin Peaks...
I doubt it will come as a shock to anyone at all that I'm a fan of the outsider, but as a character thing, it's really come a long way (baby). But just... Yeah, it was so good. SO. GOOD.

The Independent Woman: There wasn't even a chance I wasn't going to like this episode, but it did make me want to watch a lot more of the older shows featured than any of the others, basically because... The Woman's Movement, man. That was awesome. So basically I now need to watch all of I Love Lucy and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, but I was also SO interested by the route women have taken through the TV world- from perfect wives and mothers, to women who are still probably wives and mothers, but who have a lot more going on with them too, and even if those things turn out to be self-destructive then, well, why aren't women allowed to do those things, too? (I'm pretty much thinking of Nurse Jackie and Weeds here, just so you know.)

The Crusader: I was actually a little bit disappointed by this one, and I'm not sure if it's because I've seen hardly any of the shows featured (just The Wire and M*A*S*H) or because it genuinely wasn't as good as the others. My main problem with it was that, whilst there was a tiny section about women crusaders, involving Diablo Cody (who I ADORE, by the way) saying 'I guess there aren't as many female crusaders because people assume that these are characters that only men are interested in' in a clearly sceptical-of-this-view way, and then for their female crusader to focus on, they picked Scully from X-Files. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm sure she's an excellent crusader to look at in all her own ways, BUT she does work alongside a man so... You couldn't have looked at Buffy The Vampire Slayer? REALLY? (Basically this is all I'm bitter about. But it just seems like SUCH an important show to miss out!)
Anyway- Bitterness aside, I really did enjoy the The Wire segment of the show, because it gave a really compelling argument as to why I love Omar SO much. I think I understand it better now. I will bring this up again when I finally write about The Wire...

So. Clearly this is the best thing that's been on TV for AGES, and the shows it talks about are basically the best things that have been on TV EVER. It has its limits- each programme was only talked about in one of the documentaries, so things like the female characters in Mad Men weren't discussed in the Independent Women one, and I feel like Breaking Bad could easily have been talked about in ALL the shows, AND I felt like there were a few notable omissions, like Buffy, and also The West Wing, which really didn't fit into any of the themes but WAS kind of an important programme (or maybe that was just for me.) I also wouldn't have minded a 5th programme where people talked about cartoons.

BUT. They were still awesome, especially for someone who watches as much TV as me. Having watched the last one and not totally loved it, I'm not sure how interesting people who haven't seen a LOT of the programmes would find them, but I feel like, if you've seen at least some of the shows, you're going to enjoy it when they talk about those, and you're going to add most of the rest to your 'MUST. WATCH.' list (because I know we all have those. Or is that just me, AGAIN?) So basically you have to watch this, so you can watch everything else, and then we can talk about TV together forevermore.

Top 5 TV

I recently finished watching The Wire (which... I should probably write a post about. But how do you sum up 5 seasons of TV that were pretty awesome, but that EVERYONE has pretty much praised to death already? Exactly) and ever since then, I've been slightly... adrift in my TV show viewing. I've watched some Arrested Development (which, by the way, is exactly as funny as everyone says it is) and Parks and Rec has finally made its way over here, which means I get two episodes of it a week, but as of now, I don't have anything to obsess over at all times.

This is mostly my own fault, I have to admit, because there are just SO many TV shows I want to watch that I don't even know how to settle on one. Probably I should just finish Arrested Development and then settle on the next one, but... I sort of don't want to finish Arrested Development. Because, in case I haven't made this clear yet, it's actually the best. But anyway! These are the top 5 shows in the running to be the object of my affections for a month or so:

 Top 5 Shows I want to watch

1. Six Feet Under- This is the show I really want to watch the most most most, only it involves buying the boxset and I'm not sure I'm ready to part with that much money right now. But... Alan Ball!! I know it's going to be so awesome, so all this delayed gratification is going to be fine, right?

2. Pushing Daisies- This is mostly just because Kayleigh and Alley have both said how awesome it is, but I hear it involves pie so I. Am. Sold. (I have seen Waitress SO many times, mostly just for the pie porn. Actually, that movie is just generally pretty awesome...)

3. Firefly- Joss. Freaking. Whedon. That is enough to make me ashamed I haven't watched it yet. It's on Netflix so it will definitely be watched. Maybe next. Maybe.

4. Dexter- I don't know if I WANT to watch this so much as it's so so easy to watch because it's also on Netflix that it seems like it'd be a crime NOT to. All I know for sure is that 8 seasons (or whatever it is) is a hella big commitment, so... It'll have to be really really good.

5. A Gifted Man- There is absolutely no mystery to why I want to watch this- Patrick Wilson. Patrick Wilson. Oh yeah, and Patrick Wilson is in it? This may not seem like a good enough reason to watch a TV show that, even I'll admit looks kind of ridiculous but... It's Patrick Wilson. I'd watch him doing anything. Also,

(ok, Patrick Wilson is married. But his character isn't...)

That was actually a really difficult list to make because SERIOUSLY, guys- there are SO MANY TV shows I want to watch! I have to give honourable mentions to My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks (both of which I want to watch quite badly, but I've also had a hard time finding them anywhere) and also to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Killing which I do have access to, and so will probably watch sooner than I watch, say, Six Feet Under or A Gifted Man.

SO TELL ME, friends! What should I watch first? What else should I WANT to watch? Tell me all your TV secrets (and by secrets, I really just mean TV shows that everyone is able to watch. So not secrets at all, then).