Happy Wednesday! I don’t know-know I broke my little toe. But at the very least I bruised it heavily! It’s a fun thing to watch slowly change color over time.
I’ll start!
Reading: I caught up on almost 2 months of People Magazines! Ask me anything about American movie star gossip! Anything at all! I am just SO informed right now.
Watching: I am feeling increasingly guilty for NOT watching Mimi. I even scheduled an online discussion of it for tomorrow night to force me to see it, and I still haven’t. It’s just so much easier to watch brainless reality TV, you know?
Thinking: I fell out of the canoe on Monday, and ever since then my little toe has been swollen, red, and sore. But I think it is getting incrementally less all of those things every day, so it’s probably fine. Right?
Listening: I woke up before 6am today to drive two hours from the lake house into the city, and along the way I listened to podcasts from the BBC. It’s a True Crime podcast, which I was hoping would keep me awake because I want to find out what happens next. But on the other hand, soothing BBC voices are very soporific. So it was a mixed bag. Probably should have switched to Yo Yo Honey Singh for the last half hour.
Now, question for you!!! Kind of a silly one. My parents and I went to see the dancing Lipizzaner Stallions on Sunday. Which is no doubt amazing and all that, but what I got distracted by was 50% of the audience being little girls clutching toy horses. I totally forgot that was a thing! But it is a thing, right? Horsemad little girls? Anyway, question, were you/your friends/your siblings/yourself ever a Horse Mad Little Girl?
I wasn’t really. I was vaguely interested for like a minute, and then I got over it. But my sister was super SUPER cow-mad. Learned everything about cows, knew all the breeds, could recognize them when we drove by, was always a cow for Halloween, had toy cows. I was going to say it was weird, but then, why is that any weirder than being horse-mad? Equally useful and beautiful animals, equally exotic to a city child.
dontcallitbollywood 
I was totally horse mad. But my mom grew up with horses and hated them, so the closest I got was two weeks in the summer when I went to a camp that let you ride horses. Once at the camp I accidentally galloped, and it was amazing. When I moved to a rural area and had kids I realized I could afford riding lessons, and so I signed my eldest up when he was 4. But while I was a horse mad kid, HE was not! So when he clearly stated he would rather do anything else we gave them up. I never signed up his brothers, I wanted them to beg like I did. They have never begged, or even asked to have horse back riding lessons.
Mimi does not take a lot of brain cells to watch. But I understand not wanting to watch something for who knows what reason. I have not watched much this week, because I want to see something all the way through, but I feel like it would be irresponsible to spend hours watching TV on the first full week of school when I have so much to do.
When I was in my mid 20s I broke my pinky toe, hairline fracture. I broke it pretend wrestling with my brother at a beach. I went in and had it x-rayed, and yep it was broken. Do you know what they do for broken pinky toes? NOTHING. I got to wear flip flops for a while. It is the only bone I have ever broken.
Butter sculptures are NOT a thing in CA.
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You should take riding lessons! You deserve some “me” time carved out every week. And who knows, maybe if you take the lessons your kids will start to get interested.
I am finally watching Mimi, but only kind of sleepily half watching it. So don’t expect a super SUPER good review.
How can butter sculptures not be a thing in CA? Right next to the Butter Cow at the Illinois State fair is an informational exhibit on how CA produces more dairy than Wisconsin. Which is sort of an odd exhibit to have at the Illinois State fair, but I guess it is just because we hate Wisconsin? Sort of a “I root for the Bears and whoever is playing the Packers” kind of thing?
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 12:22 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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A butter sculpture needs to be refrigerated. Thus it wastes electricity and resources and should be eaten by all the poor homeless covering our streets who have no butter, and no way to refrigerate it. And well, state fairs aren’t such a big thing in CA. It exists, but the state is SO BIG. Even a packed fair includes a very small percentage of residents, and most of those are going to be from the area near the fair. Emotionally CA is more of a country, with the counties or areas creating the loyalty others might give a state. We have a tri-county fair, a butter sculpture would be loved there, BUT we don’t have a way to store it. Where am I from? I’m from Bishop, in the Eastern Sierra, which is in California, which is one of the biggest states in the U.S. My primary location identity is Eastern Sierra, which is an area bigger than some states.
I don’t actually care about horses anymore. In fact I had a friend who was horse mad and I kinda thought she was a bit crazy. I know people with horses, and they take a lot of, well $, they take a lot of money. And then they up and die for like no reason after you’ve spent a week not sleeping and being by their side. They are giant fancy dogs. I have children, I have no need for pets, though I admit I kinda like our hamster and fish. I spend my “me time” reading your blog!
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Keep reading my blog!!! It is the best use of “me time”!!!!
The serious farmers could always get to the IL state fair, because we are a midsized state and also the agricultural area is pretty centralized. But, growing up in the state capital, you can absolutely SWEEP the lower stakes competitions! My Dad got on a kick for a few years of checking out the competition building and seeing which sections had the fewest entries (for instance, “best molded candy”), and then entering that section the next year figuring he HAD to place if he was one of only 2 entries. I recommend this strategy for your regional fair, if possible.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 1:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My kids have won numerous ribbons from our tri-county fair. Not the same though, not a state thing. But the family has even won best of show THREE TIMES. The first time the 12-year-old won it when he was 4 for a salt & water color painting. Then the 9-year-old won it when he was three for…crap I forgot what he won it for. And the then the 12-year-old won it when he was 9 for an AMAZING imaginary fold out map with imaginary country flags on it’s back side. Honestly that was the only one that was deserved. But now I gotta go through the photo albums to remember what the 9-year-old won it for.
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My Dad won “best fudge” at the state fair and my sister won “best white bread”. The greatest honors in our family. But, only the one time, while your family seems to be on a constant winning streak.
Your 9 year old is me, in terms of never winning things. So I never even entered in the state fair contests, having been burned already by young authors/young scientists and all the other competitions elementary schools forced on me to break my heart.
And your fair sounds SO FUN!!!! When my Mom was a little girl, she did 4H at the county fair. Do they still have that around you? Anyway, the part she liked is that the kids weren’t competing with each other, they were just graded on how they individually did. Much less pressure. But it was all boring things like sewing an apron or raising a pig, nothing fun like an imaginary map.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 11:03 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Pretty sure the 9-year-old won in 2015, which is the ONE YEAR I can’t find! But in looking I saw that in 2016 the 12-year-old won Best of Show for a pipe cleaner sculpture. So he won it, himself, three times. That kid wins everything. But the other one doesn’t, and the one time he won I can’t remember what he won for. I’m a terrible human.
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Surely there’s an archive somewhere? Oh OH! This would be a great challenge for your husband’s students! Make it a lesson on research.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 11:08 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I have to thank you for recommending New Tricks, I never would have watched it on my own and really like it. The love interests are actually good!
Anyway it’s good watching for when I’m not watching Christopher Lee. Entering the doldrums of arty movies soon, wish me luck.
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Ick, forget arty movies, keep watching New Tricks!!! Isnt’ it fun? The mysteries are so-so, but the love interests are fun, and the old dudes are AWESOME. It ran forever and ever, I assume it started getting bad in the later seasons, but I still have lots of good stuff left.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 12:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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But then what will I watch for Christopher Lee?????? His 80s and onward filmography is a huge mess.
I think I started in a later season and it’s still fun, tbh, The mysteries are not good but I’m watching it for character relationships and also love interest shipping. Honestly, as you might have noticed, I mostly prefer things when they are objectively bad.
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Can’t you just watch Lord of the Rings? He was in that, right?
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 2:33 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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He was, but not enough to make it worth my while to see them again. Although I’ll probably get to them once I’ve seen everything else.
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I miss good indian romances 😦 I can’t find any interesting ones so I started watching american films.
I started with Love finds you in Charm. It’s about young Amish woman who isn’t sure she wants to stay Amish. She vists her cousin who lives in another state, to take distance from her life and think about her. There she meets an Amish man who not only is super hot but also reads Jane Austen romances and likes to talk about them. Of course they fall in love. It was very predictable but nice and relaxing.
Then I saw Last Christmas. Being honest I thought it would be better. It felt like unfinished, like it starts in the middle. I didn’t like it much, but I do liked Henry Golding. I just read he will play Mr. Elliot in new Persuasion. Can’t wait.
The last one I watched: The longest ride. It’s better than Notebook (but what isn’t?) and has a very nice sex scene but still it’s quite boring and the main actress has one facial expression all the time. Not recommended.
Now that I think about it all 3 movies are romances between blonde woman and super hot guys.
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I heard Last Christmas isn’t as silly as I’d want it to be, so even though it sounds like it was created especially for me, I haven’t seen it.
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Again, are we talking the bad Last Christmas, or the good Queen Latifah one?
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 3:27 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, I’ll watch that one if I can find it.
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You need to watch the other Last Christmas! The superior one with Queen Latifah. It is delightful and perfect and certainly feels “finished” to me.
On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 3:14 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Maybe Srinivas Avasarala and Ruhani Sharma’s new movie trailer might bring back hope about Indian romances – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xIL857GReu4
Also, Sri Vishnu’s Raja Raja Chora that released in theatres is getting good reviews. Brochevaruevaru Ra type vibes from the trailer. It is not playing anywhere close to where I am so have to wait for OTT release.
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Nootokka Jillala Andagadu looks like a better and smaller version of Bala / Ujda Chaman / Ondu Motteya Kathe. I will watch it because of Ruhani and because it looks moving. Thanks.
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I was not able to make out if it is a remake of Ondu Motteya Kathe. The theme is similar but probably the execution is different. Srinivas Avasarala is credited with the story. Yes, Ruhani should come in more movies. I saw this trailer and remembered how good she was in Chi La Sow so watched it again.
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I feel the same way you do. Definitely check out Last Christmas with Queen Latifa, as Margaret said. It’s really cute. And then if you get on the Queen Latifa kick, also check out Just Wright.
I’ll also have to check out Love Finds You in Charm. It’s been so hard to find fun light romances!
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Oh my gosh, Just Wright is amazing! I forgot about that one! I saw it in theaters because the trailer got me so excited and then it was just as good as I hoped. Last Christmas is more Christmas-y, and I do love the whole “mutual unspoken crush” romance. But the “I thought you liked the hot girl but you actually like ME” romance is just as good.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 7:52 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Can’t find Last Chritmas/Last Holiday here, but Just Wright is on Disney+ ! I will watch it soon. While searching I saw Disney also have Up Close & Personal, with Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer. The cover looks like something right up my alley. Is it good?
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Up Close & Personal looks really really melodramatic and sappy. Which might be perfect for you!
Just Wright, Brown Sugar, Last Christmas, The Best Man, those are GREAT. Also, Starting Over that I just watched with my parents. And The Goodbye Girl is cute. And The Truth About Cats & Dogs if you haven’t seen it already.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 8:50 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I haven’t seen Up Close and Personal in a LONG time. Slight spoiler/my preference. I don’t like sad movies in general so it wasn’t one of my favorites when I watched it. I was also a teenager when I saw it.
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Butter sculptures are a thing in PA too. The annual state farm show has an entire room filled with butter sculptures. Growing up in Bangalore cake sculputures were thing. So each year for christmas this grocery chain used to make ginormous cake around a theme. So I have seen all the seven wonders in cake form.
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Were they kinda like these?
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Yes, but on a slightly larger scale. This is what I was talking about – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2TxWYciI99Y
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Hey Margaret! Congrats on the house and I’m sorry about your toe, I hope you haven’t broken it. I’m sorry I kinda disappeared on you but I hope you’ve had a good year.
I’m starting to get back to watching indian movies at my normal rate after slowing down last year. And I’ve missed talking to you!
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Hey Niki! You are all young and exciting, I figured Life Happens to you. No worries, DCIB is always here.
I’ve slowed down on movies as well, not having my standing Friday new release in theater date with Dina really hampers me. So prepare yourself for a lot more discussion type posts and a lot less reviews 🙂
On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 10:04 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Lol Margaret, you’re nice but I’m not that exciting 🙂
I think in general I lost interest in Hindi movies specifically after 2019 and then I got really into Star Wars for a year during the pandemic. But my Star Wars fixation is starting to slow down and so I’m back.
Also I’m very excited about the Bears drafting Justin Fields so this upcoming season, I will be watching ton of Bears football!
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Hey, I took a break for Marvel! That was fun.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 10:25 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Hello from vacation! Any thoughts on this?
https://variety.com/2021/streaming/global/call-my-agent-bollywood-first-look-teaser-netflix-india-1235049536/
I didn’t watch the French version but everyone else in my world loved it. Interesting to see there are UK and Korean remakes in the mix too, makes all kinds of sense – and the whole sharp agent/needy star relationship is both universal and specific to each context in ways that could be fascinating if done well.
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Feels very Netflix. Like their “Interrogation” series that they did in multiple languages. OF course they look at one big hit in one language and immediately get their team working on remaking it!
Other reaction, SONI RAZDAN!!!! I love her!!!! And I am super excited that she is spreading her wings and doing interesting things and being more than just “Alia’s Mom” or “Mahesh’s Wife”.
On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 12:04 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I finished Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and it was beautiful and wonderful and hilarious and heart-wrenching and sexy and perfect and everyone should read it.
Started Mimi, which is overall lighthearted and a good movie, but has some glaring issues. I can get past the over-the-top-ness of its dramatics by this point in my Bollywood watching, but I’m having a hard time stomaching the glorification of fair skin and the film’s viewpoint on children with disabilities. Despite this, Kriti is incredible and I am in this movie for her.
I am plagued with thoughts about how my school year starts in less than a week. I am not mentally or emotionally ready, or even physically ready. We start September 1, in school for three days, and then a 5-day weekend for Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah immediately after. I was pretty much explicitly told not to do any real teaching those first 3 days, and I have no idea what to do for 3 days worth of intro things and icebreakers with a bunch of awkward Asian 14 and 15 year olds, most of which haven’t set foot in the building ever, including the sophomores.
I think I was like you about horses. Into them for a minute, and that I’m not even sure. According to my mom, when I learned how to read, I memorized facts from a book on animals in general and would just spit them out at random. I was really into space for a while in 5th grade, but then I read something that said the sun is going to swallow the Earth in 6 billion years and that still freaks me out to this day.
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Regarding Mimi and other films in general, what I struggle with is deciding whether they are glorifying or simply depicting certain issues and mindsets which are prevalent in society. In addition to your points, there’s also casual Islamophobia in Mimi which passes without remark. I wish filmmakers found a way to address these within the film without breaking the narrative.
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I loved Red, White, and Royal Blue! It was sweet and fun, with great chemistry and humor! Now, let’s turn it into a movie! Should we cast Varun and Sid as the leads since we are all itching for an actual gay romance with those two? Who should we cast in the mother’s role? And the sisters?
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You are officially my new favorite person because this is something I never knew I needed until now.
(For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, Red, White, and Royal Blue is a contemporary romance novel set in an alternate 2019/2020 in which the son of the first female US President falls in love with a prince of England.)
First of all, Varun is Alex (president’s son) and Sid is Henry (prince of England). Obviously. My first thought for June (Alex’s sister) is Parineeti since I think she’s friends with Varun in real life and they’d have a really fun, playful dynamic.
Bea (Henry’s sister) has to be someone regal but can also easily let loose. My first thought was Tara, but she’s probably too young, and I don’t think she can be as reckless as she needs to be, not necessarily on screen but at least in her past. Priyanka maybe? Deepika?
Nora (Alex’s best friend) is tricky because she needs to be analytical but feisty. First thing that comes to mind is Prajakta Koli from the Mismatched series, but who knows if that actually counts. Maybe Sonakshi or Anushka.
Ellen (POTUS, Alex’s mom) is where I get stuck because I’m really bad with older Indian actresses. Jaya could probably do it, but she might be too old to be believable as POTUS and also as Varun’s mom. Maybe Neetu? Or Ratna? This one’s hard.
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YAY! This is so much fun! Okay, I was thinking Varun for Alex (cocky, snarky, happy, full of himself,) and Sid for Henry (shy, uptight, feels deeply but cannot express it, a little sad) too given their personalities! I think Deepika for Bea. Someone who had a tough/wild past but has overcome it and is regal now. I can see Deepika being perfect for it. She can totally pull off regal. Also, I like the thought of seeing Sid and Deepika in a film together as brother and sister.
I actually think I would go for Pari for Nora. Given her role in Hasee to Phasee and other similar movies, I think she would be great at playing someome who knows she is the smartest person in the room. Plus, I have been craving a gay/bi-sexual romance with Pari in it and here we could have so much fun expanding her relationship with June. And I can see how Pari could have dated Varun at one point but they are just friends now.
I can’t think of who should play June. I want someone who is girly and soft and loves bright colors and decorating her room, but still very smart and can be considered a passionate journalist. It also has to be someone who has great chemistry with Pari and Varun. Maybe Alaya Furniturewala or Ananya Panday. Oooh, now I can see them both on this role.
Ratna would be great as Ellen, or even Shefali Shah. I agree that Jaya may just be a bit too old for that role. Maybe even a Madhuri since she played Varun’s mother in Kalank. I wonder if she is too young though.
Okay, I can’t believe I forgot this, but what are Pez??? Ranveer with his natrually eccentric fashion sense and heart of gold. I want Ranveer to play a gender fluid character so badly!
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Man, Nora really is Pari’s role in Hasee Toh Phasee but with social skills and without all the mental health issues. I can see it.
I like Ananya as June, but is June older than Alex? I feel like Ananya would only work if June was the younger sibling. If June is supposed to be older, maybe Kriti. But I was also thinking about this as I was trying to fall asleep last night, and I had a breakthrough that maybe Tripti Dimri would be good because she can be girly and classy and I think we were also talking about casting her opposite Pari in a lesbian romance during the Hasee Toh Phasee watchalong.
Madhuri is good in terms of age, but I think she might be a little too regal and delicate. I haven’t seen Shefali Shah in much except Dil Dhadakne Do, but she also might have too many jagged edges. Idk. Ellen needs a balance of firm, fierce POTUS and also loving mother. Ratna I think can do it.
Ranveer is the ONLY choice for Pez! Ranveer IS Pez if Ranveer was genderfluid and British.
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When I was little everyone I knew was horse mad, so I had to be different. This was probably a great boon to my parents, because we could not afford anything even vaguely horse-related.
I watched most of Cold Case. I say “most of” because I didn’t realize it was a horror movie until I started watching and then I was faced with the difficult dilemma of maybe getting creeped out and not being able to sleep or missing Prithviraj in a uniform. So I tried again during daylight, and it turns out not to be so hard to skip the creepy bits, because it’s a parallel story and Prithviraj isn’t on the scary track. There’s been a murder and he’s trying to solve it as a policeman, and at the same time the spirit of the victim is trying to contact a female reporter. The director also signals the scary bits pretty well; maybe too well if you actually want to be scared. They are pretty cliche and you can really see them coming, and they aren’t always all that scary. (Fisherman finds a round thing in a bag in a backwater, he unwraps it slowly and NUH-nuh!!! It’s a SKULL!!! Duh. Of course it’s a skull. This is a murder movie; are we going to focus on a basketball he found?) Anyway, can’t speak to the whole movie but the procedural part is fine and Prithviraj looks very nice in his tight uniform, in his casual jeans outfit, and particularly in his biking get-up.
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