Friday 5ive- May 8, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week.

1) Spring has sprung here in NYC and in addition to the pollen in the air, we have beautiful tulips blooming, like these pretty ones in shades of pink along 72nd St.

2) Sunday is Mother's Day, and one of the things I most grateful that my mother gave me is a love of reading. She read my favorite book to me, Miss Suzy, countless times and I even have a copy of the book in my collection. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

3) I finished my 9th virtual bike ride, this one was a 340 mile Tour de Fleur Virtual Spring Challenge. We virtually rode a route that included Buffalo and Eric County Botanical Gardens and six more, such as Sonnenberg Gardens, in Western New York. We got some great swag for this one- gardening gloves, a packed of wildflower seeds, a tote bag, t-shirt, and of course a fun medal.

4) If you are a 30 Rock  and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fan, you must head over to the Peacock streaming network (it's free!) and watch Girls 5Eva, a comedy about a 90's girl group that is having an unexpected resurgence. Renee Elise Goldsberry (Hamilton), Busy Phillips (Dawson's Creek), the always hilarious Paula Pell (A.P. Bio), and singer Sara Bareilles play the reunited band as they try again for stardom. The writing is sharp and one-liners fast and furious, and Sara Bareilles is a revelation. She is so funny and a really terrific actress. I watched the premiere episode and can't wait to binge the rest. Tina Fey executive produces. 

5) I read two terrific books this week that I enjoyed a great deal. Susan Mallery always writes characters we care about and her new novel,  The Stepsisters, continues in that vein. Daisy, Sage and Cassidy are related in various ways- stepsisters, half-sisters- and haven't seen each year in years. They never got along, and now circumstances bring them together as adults. Can they reach a truce or maybe even have a true sisterly relationship? My full review publishes on May 24th.

Ellen Meister's The Rooftop Party will appeal to anyone who wants a peek at the behind-the-scenes on the addictive shopping channels. Dana is a successful host on the Shopping Channel who wants to get her acting career moving. When the new CEO of the company is pushed off the roof at a staff party, Dana can't remember what happened and fears she may have done it after he tried to force himself on her and possibly roofied her drink. With the help of her hilarious  and efficient Tennesee beauty-pageant assistant Ashlee (I loved her!), Dana must find out the truth before her NYPD detective boyfriend assigned to the case does. It's a rom-com mystery mix and it's a fun read. My full review posts on May 25th.

Stay safe and socially distant, wash your hands, wear a mask when necessary, and get your vaccine if you are able. We all want to have a fun summer.

Friday 5ive- September 18, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. This week, it's all about entertainment, most of it streaming.

1)  When I first came to NYC about a twelve years ago, I bought a ticket to Miscast, a fundraiser for MCC Theater. Juliana Marguiles was the honoree, and I got to meet Chris Noth while getting a drink at the bar. (Yes, he is that handsome.) The entertainment at Miscast consists of performers singing songs from Broadway shows that they would never get cast for- usually men singing songs usually performed by women, and women singing songs tradtionally performed by men. This year, the gala was online, and free so many more people got to see the amazing performances. My favorites were Norbert Leo Butz singing "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, Phillipa Soo singing "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific and Heather Hedley closing the show with a powerhouse performance of "Endless Night" from The Lion King. I entered the drawing to win a table for 10 for the 2021 Miscast, if I win, maybe I'll take you with me! You can see the performances on MCC Theater's YouTube channel here. (While you're there, check out this classic Miscast performance of "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago) 

2)  HBO premiered a series of five monologues titled Coastal Elites, written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Jay Roach. Bette Midler's portrayal of Miriam Kessler, a retired Jewish schoolteacher who gets into a scuffle with an obnoxious man was so brilliant. She looked directly into the camera, speaking to a police officer investigating the incident, and it was as if she was speaking for me and a whole lot of other people. Give her an Emmy! Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Sarah Paulson and Kaitlyn Devers also had monologues that represent what so many people are feeling today, they were all so fantastic. The group was interviewed on Wendesday by CNN's Alyson Camerota about the show for the 92nd St. Y in New York City, and it was interesting to really get into the creative process behind the show. You can see the trailer here.  

3)  Paula Pell is having a well-deserved moment. First, her Qubi series, Mapleworth Murders, debuted in August. It's a satire of Murder, She Wrote and the 12 ten-minute episodes are nothing short of comic perfection, with lots of great guest stars, like Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph. Now the new Peacock streaming platform premiered the 3rd season of the comedy A.P. Bio, about a Harvard philosophy professor who ends up back in Toledo, Ohio, living in his deceased mom's home, and teaching AP Bio at the local high school (played by Glenn Howerton of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). Seasons 1 & 2 were on NBC, and so hilarious. The show has moved to Peacock for season 3, and the first episode of the new season is comedy gold. Pell has a physical comedic performance that would make Lucille Ball proud. Patton Oswalt plays the principal, and he and Pell are a comedy team for the ages. I hope there will be a season four. 

4) My husband likes action movies, so we caught up on season 2 of Amazon Prime's series Jack Ryan, based on the Tom Clancy character from his series of novels. John Krasinski plays CIA analyst Jack Ryan who gets involved in the murder of his US Senator friend while in Venezuela. There is lots of action, and Krasinski and Wendell Pierce, who plays CIA agent Jim Greer, make a great team, with their humorous quips in between action scenes and political intrigue. Michael Kelly, from House of Cards, joins them as well as the Chief of Station at the American Embassy. I'm looking forward to season 3 of this one as well. The trailer is here. 

5)  I finished one book and I'm in the middle of two others. Sue Miller's Monogamy tells the story of Graham and Annie, a long married couple. Graham owns a bookstore in Cambridge, and Annie is a photographer readying for a gallery show. Graham is a big, gregarious man, who always loves to talk to people and put them at ease. When Graham dies, Annie has to deal with her own grief and more when she discovers that Graham was unfaithful. It's a beautifully written story. 

I'm in the middle of Marilynne Robinson's new novel, Jack, the fourth in her series of books about the residents of Gilead. Jack is the prodigal son of the Reverend Ames Boughton, now living in St. Louis during WWII after a stint in prison. He falls in love with school teacher Della Miles, a black woman. We watch their romance begin against all of society's conventions. It's a very quiet story, one that you don't rush through, but slowly read  to savor the gorgeous language. 

It'a Hispanic Heritage Month, and I just started Angela Cruz' Dominicana, about fifteen year-old Ana, who leaves her home in the Dominican Republic to marry an older man and move to New York City in the 1960s, in the hopes that she can bring her family to the United States. I'm enjoying this look at immigrants in New York City during this time period in history. Good Morning America chose it for their book club.

I guess it was a week for the Jacks and novels with one word titles.  Stay safe, socially distant, wear a mask and wash your hands everyone.

Friday Five- March 15, 2019 Edition

A few years ago I started a weekly post called the Friday Five, about five things that I found interesting that week. I'm going to revive this and try to be really diligent about posting, so here goes Friday Five 2.0

1)  I first discovered Paula Pell at the Saturday Night Live exhibit in NYC. They did a video interview with former head writers and she was in it. I found her so interesting, and didn't really hear too much about her until I watched the NBC sitcom A.P. Bio. She plays the school secretary and she is hilarious, especially in her scenes with Patton Oswalt, who plays the principal. Then I saw her on IFC's Documentary Now! in the episode that spoofs the famous documentary about the Broadway show Company. Pell takes on the Elaine Stritch role and she is nothing short of phenomenal. Watch part of it here:


2)  Speaking of TV comedies, I'm addicted to Brooklyn Nine-Nine on NBC. It's made by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, who did one of my all-time favorites Parks & Rec. I have no idea why it took me so long to find this, but I have four seasons to catch up on.


3)  I've seen some terrific Facebook Lives, all having to do with books. Author Adriana Trigiani has been doing them weekly, and it's like chatting with a good friend. She has some exciting movie news on this week's episode. If you like her books, check her Facebook page for these fun visits.  You can see it here.

I also watched two other recent Facebook Lives- Harper Book Studio 16 talk on Historical Fiction with author Lauren Willig and editor Rachel Kahan was the first one. They mentioned so many of my favorite books- The Thorn Birds  and Gone With The Wind. You can see it here.

The last one I watched was a Library Love Fest interview with actress Kate Mulgrew, who many know from Ryan's Hope, Star Trek Voyager and Orange is the New Black. She wrote a book called How to Forget about her parents. If it's half as good as her memoir Born with Teeth, it will be fantastic. I saw her speak about that book a few years ago at Barnes & Noble in Union Square, my post about that is here. The Facebook Live video is here.

4) As I've mentioned before, I volunteer at the Book Cellar, a used book store located in the Webster Library branch of the New York Public Library. All of the staff are volunteers, all of our books are donated, and our profits benefit the local branch libraries of the NYPL. People are very generous to us, we get some wonderful books, including rare and new books. This week we got an exciting book- an inscribed copy of Hamilton- the Revolution about the smash Broadway musical. The book is signed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and I was so happy when I saw that signature. This is a big find for us.

5) Author Laura Lippman is trying to encourage people to read 100 pages daily for her #AlwaysForPleasure Twitter reading challenge during this Lenten season (although there is no correlation). I decided to follow her example and I finished two books- Jacqueline Winspear's 15th Maisie Dobbs book, The American Agent (which is one of her best!) and Jennifer Robson's historical novel about the women who made Queen Elizabeth's wedding dress, The Gown, which I also liked. I'm in the middle of two other books, Jennifer Weiner's Mrs. Everything and Kate Quinn's follow-up to her hit The Alice Network, titled The Huntress. I saw Jennifer Robson and Kate Quinn at HarperCollins' Book Club Girls' Night Out last year, where they talked about their books. That post is here.

Whew, this is a long post. Most of the Friday Fives won't be this long, I promise. Let me know what you've found interesting this week in the Comments section. Have a great weekend!