Best tv shows

Because, again, absolutely nobody asked... & WRITING workshop this evening

Hello all,

Thanks for the replies to the book recommendation post that nobody asked for. I’m dipping my painted toes (Aperol Spritz orange - the shade of the summer, according to the Times) into newsletter waters with these lists in the hope that they get me into the groove again.

Earlier this year I spoke to a therapist about my mid-life work crisis and she gave me a motivational slogan to live by.

Ready for it?

BE F)CKING PROFESSIONAL!

She has worked in war zones and had that PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND GET ON WITH IT vibe that I really like and also really hate.

I wrote BE F)CKING PROFESSIONAL on a Post It by my desk but the note kept falling down and I didn’t listen to her advice enough to keep paying her.

I could do a whole article on my motivational Post Its. I have dozens of them in drawers - some of which I look at and think, oh yeah, you did that and others which point to ongoing struggles. ‘WHAT’S STRONG NOT WHAT’S WRONG’ says one! GREAT ART CAN COME FROM GREAT JOY is another. PRACTICE EXTREME LISTENING!!! and BE PRESENT IN ALL THINGS AND GRATEFUL IN ALL THINGS are both stuck to a blackboard in my kitchen.

Then there is the orange one I’ve just found stuck to a stapler which asks: AM I SEXUALLY REPRESSED?

I didn’t write down an answer to that question.

To be continued…

Until then, here is a list of TV shows that I’ve been enjoying/not enjoying. I hope you all have better things to do in the summer than watch telly… but just in case, like me, you don’t, here goes…

Love and hugs

mx

Nothing Compares the documentary about Sinead O’ Connor is 10/10 brilliant and important. Please watch it if you haven’t already.

Deadloch on Amazon - I loved, loved, loved this show. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen before. A black comedy about two middle aged women cops in a small town in Tasmania on the hunt for a feminist serial killer. Yup, the killer is targeting badly behaved men in order to make the world a better place. Is the killer male or female? Male serial killers apparently like to show off their results, while female killers do it to get the job done - they don’t need any glory. Who knew? The dialogue is sublimely funny - almost every sentence is comedy gold - but it’s a proper whodunnit too, I really did want to know… and the whole thing weaves into this smart commentary on the state of men and women. I give it 20 out of 10.

The Crowded Room - on Apple. Didn’t love the first couple of episodes but I was glad I stuck with this show that starts off like a police drama but unfolds into an exploration of what it’s like to have multiple personalities. Multiple personalities were something that was a staple of 1980s court dramas. LA Law often had scenes were a middle aged man would take to the stand only to answer in a woman’s voice and introduce herself as Mary. Or maybe that was a fever dream from drinking too much orange squash. Anyway, I liked this show.

The Girl from Plainville - this is on Channel 4 in the UK and stars Elle Fanning as a mixed up teenager who starts a text relationship with a young boy who takes his own life. It’s based on a a real story which results in the Elle Fanning character going to trial for her role in his death. It went on about three eps too long but Fanning is brilliant in it and it’s a good/scary exploration of teenage mental health.

And Just Like That - the SATC spin off. It’s terrible in so many ways - Terri White’s newsletter does a good job of detailing the ways - but I watch it for the beautiful clothes and the nice lighting and the frothy tales of characters I’ve known for years… even though they don’t act like their old selves at all. I also need to offset the serial killer dramas with a bit of whipped cream television.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Netflix. I also started watching this hoping for a bit of light fluff but they make the most gruesome serial killers seem like sweeties! They are so AWFUL to each other. So awful it is almost impossible to stop watching… but I staged my own intervention after series two and said NO MORE. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS! I MEAN I’M NOT, BUT I WANT TO BE.

It reminded me of my dad’s disappointment when he saw us watching Eastenders and Grange Hill as kids. ‘All that money on your education and this is what you do…’ he’d say while making his way to the kitchen where he’d lie on the sofa in a rain coat (which acted as his dressing gown) pondering the theory of compound interest. Dad was obsessed by the theory of compound interest. I still have no idea what that is or if anyone ever gave him the information he wanted in the pre-internet days.

What I am NOT watching

Nelly, my neighbour, keeps telling me to watch I Will Teach You to be Rich by Remit Sethi on Netflix. Sethi wrote a bestselling book of the same name and in this series he visits people and goes through their finances, a bit like the Marie Kondo of bank balances. The thought of watching this makes me want to be sick in my mouth - which is why I really need to watch it. I wonder if it covers the theory of compound interest.

Instead of watching the show I bought me and my neighbours candles from the local spiritual shop with the words PAY ME on it. We are all lighting them and hoping for the best… well, you never know. Either that or we’ll burn the building down. I shouldn’t joke about that.

Ok bye for now.

For anyone who is free there is a Writing for Fun and Sanity workshop this evening, Monday 7th August 7.30pm-9pm. Do join if you fancy it.

Mx

ps still haven’t watched Barbie.

pps for anyone who follows my insta and enjoys the view of the chip shop - it has inspired art! Artist, writer and all round creative person John Paul Flintoff did this painting of the view, which he is selling on his site. If you would like a chip shop hanging from your wall - and who wouldn’t? - type MARIANNE in at the check out to get twenty per cent off.