Performance Art Heart: Diffi-Cult Following

Arches and Apples Earrings

If it's weird for me to blog about a show that satirizes crafting on my blog that's mostly about crafting, then if nothing else, at least I'm consistent.  Over the years, I've posted about the Portlandia Etsy spoof, the Whitney Cummings Etsy dig, and my own unwitting star spot on handmade goods roast site Regretsy.  Which is my way of saying that I like laughing at myself and at people who laugh at themselves (and, okay, other people) too.

Enter Difficult People.  This Amy Poehler-produced Hulu original comedy (2015-2017) follows best friend comedians Billy Epstein (Billy Eichner) and Julie Kessler (Julie Klausner) as they snarkily stumble through their mid-thirties and auditions in New York City.  Both are Jewish; only Billy is gay.  It's like a mashup of Seinfeld, Will and Grace, and Curb Your Enthusiasm -- only meaner.  Indeed, in one episode, Billy and Julie describe themselves as a "homelier Will and Grace."  They're the kind of comedians who sacrifice everything (Billy's apartment is a shoebox that he Airbnbs to make extra cash) to claw their way into casting calls even though they -- and we -- know they'll never make it.  Not that that really matters, their dreams -- and the show -- being about the journey.       

Kiwi Cutie Earrings

Billy's day job is waiting tables at a quirky café; Julie's is writing reality show episode recaps.  During court-appointed community service for stealing flowers from an Alice in Wonderland memorial, Julie teaches recap writing to inmates and imparts this pearl: "Show recaps aren't about the show.  They're about you."  I like this, probably because it so closely parallels one of my favorite personal aphorisms: TV is always there for you, but you don't have to be there for (the people inside the) TV.  Romance-wise, Billy is always looking for love -- or at least his next hookup -- and Julie has a live-in boyfriend, the servile and long-suffering Arthur (James Urbaniak), who wears a bowtie and works for PBS.  Impervious to Julie's ingratitude (Where's dinner?!), affable Artie's only crime isn't even his but Urbaniak's, as he played the foot fetish shoe salesman who gave Charlotte a free pair of designer sandals on Sex and the City.  But then again, it's hard to blame Julie for haranguing Artie too much considering her monster mother, Marilyn (Andrea Martin).  Despite being a psychologist, this pint-sized narcissist manipulates Julie into doing her bidding, all while criticizing her appearance, boyfriend, and aspirations.  Of course, Marilyn also gives Julie money.  Because PBS and Real Housewives rants don't pay the bills.  

One of the things that bonds Julie and Billy -- other than their hard-bitten humor and hatred of all and sundry -- is their constant need for attention.  In one episode, Billy is all set to send former Monkee Micky Dolenz packing when the allegedly ailing entertainer begs him to produce his one-man show.  But then Dolenz goes on about how much he admires Billy, and Billy caves: "I have no problem walking away from a dying man, but not a dying fan."  Because that's the thing about this duo (Billy and Julie, not Billy and Micky).  Despite their prickly, don't-mess-with-me personas, their eager-to-please, theater kid self absorption makes them easy prey for any con man with a kind word.

Hearts and Arches Earrings

Nevertheless, at one point, Julie becomes so discouraged by the comedy rat race that she chucks it all to open a shop on Etsy.  Even though she refers to Etsy as a cult. (Yes, finally, the promised crafting connection!)  Her craft?  Wish bags for Midwesterners.  Don't ask me what a wish bag is, because I don't know, and neither does Julie.  But they sell like hotcakes, and Julie discovers that she prefers spending her days surrounded by things instead of people.

Same, Julie, same.

Still, I don't think I need to tell you that this life hack turns out to be as ironclad as those wish bags.  Bitter or not, Julie's got to get back up on that stage.  Because only trouble is interesting, and the show -- or in this case, showbiz -- must go on.

With witty one-liners, a galaxy of guest stars (Tina Fey!  John Mulaney!  Amy Sedaris!), and the kind of misanthropic humor that can thrive only on a sitcom full of eccentric, dysfunctional, and codependent heart, Difficult People is easy to love. 

Prep School Jewels and a Few Funny Flicks

 Mr. Mushroom Necklace

Sweater: So, Kohl's

Skirt: Marilyn Monroe, Macy's

Shoes: Christian Siriano for Payless

Bag: Marshalls

Jacket: Gap Outlet

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

 Heart Hodgepodge Necklace

Sweater: Arizona Jeans, JCPenney

Skirt: Ellen Tracy, JCPenney

Shoes: Candie's, Kohl's

Bag: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Jacket: Gap Outlet

Sunglasses: Relic, Kohl's

 Hits the Spot Teapot Necklace

Sweater: Macy's

Skirt: Stoosh, Macy's

Shoes: Rocket Dog, DSW

Bag: Princess Vera, Kohl's

Jacket: Mossimo, Target

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: JCPenney

 Start My Heart Necklace

Dress: Macy's

Shoes: Payless

Bag: Marshalls

Coat: Candie's, Kohl's

Belt: Wet Seal

Sunglasses: Rampage, Boscov's

Nothing says back to school like a big old mess of plaid. Even if September is long gone and my Moon Dreamers lunchbox is decorating a landfill. Still, January is as good a time as any to "Schoolhouse Rock" your style (whether you're angling for the honor roll, a social security check, or something in between), especially in this, the first month (and post!) of the year. And few things say schoolgirl like hearts. You know. Dotting i's in passed notes and notebooks, dominating drugstore-issue valentines, and popping up on post-study sesh pendants.

Ah, pendants. And barrettes. And Koosh balls. And, at least before they were banned, those snappy neon slap bracelets. When I was a kid, I lived to spend my allowance on all this and more at Afterthoughts and Claire's Boutique. Truth be told, I still have some of it! (Not the slap bracelets, though; safety first, people.)

Which is just one of the reasons I so enjoyed the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler extravaganza Sisters, an homage to 1980s kitsch -- and house parties -- as told through the story of the sisters Ellis. Fey plays freewheeling beautician and single-mom Kate to Poehler's divorced do-gooder nurse Maura, and the results are hilarious. When we meet Fey, she's giving Chris Parnell a heinous eyebrow wax; when we meet Poehler, she's giving sunscreen to a hobo who turns out to be a construction worker. Yet they're forced to put aside their differences when they find out that their parents (Dianne Wiest and Josh Brolin, just like on CBS's "Life in Pieces"!) are -- sigh -- selling their childhood home. They promptly meet up in Orlando and embark upon an epic bedroom-cleaning sequence that highlights Kate's wild child and Maura's geek girl personas in an awesome outpouring of lava lamps, trolls, feather boas, headbands, scrunchies, colorblock sweatshirts, and, that star of all such montages, diaries. (Kate's chronicles X-rated escapades whereas Maura's recounts episodes in rock tumbling. Nuff said.) Like many a repressed heroine before her, Maura is desperate to, as she puts it, "let her freak flag fly," and Kate conspires to help her by throwing a kick-ass rager cleverly coined Ellis Island Revamped, where she can chat up nice guy neighbor James (Ike Barinholtz, a.k.a. kooky nurse Morgan on "The Mindy Project"). Never mind that a stuck-up couple (the wife's wardrobe is 70% dry clean only, a sure barometer of yuppie-dom if ever there was one) has already purchased the house. Kate will stay sober so Maura can party, and everything will be okay.

Which is how movies work out never.

Before long the Brady Bunch-esque Ellis homestead is overrun with high school friends and frenemies under the influence. So, comedians abound. Maya Rudolph! Bobby Moynihan! Rachel Dratch! Kate McKinnon! Samantha Bee! Things are said, stuff is defaced, and a ballerina music box ends up somewhere it shouldn't. Kate and Maura fight, then pick up the literal and metaphorical pieces in a way that avoids being sappy. Although their personalities are at odds with each other, they have a few of those simpatico bonding moments that happen only to siblings. Which is to say, underneath the layers of Aquanet and eyeliner, Sisters keeps it real.

That having been said, Sisters is something of a foil for Daddy's Home (Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg) which I saw a week before and feel compelled to bring up partly because 1) both are raucous comedies headlined by SNL powerhouses and 2) both feature John Cena, a hulk of a man that I didn't know existed until seeing him in Trainwreck (yet another raucous comedy costarring an SNL favorite). Both were good, delivering on the promise of holiday hijinks, but my takeaway was this: Daddy's Home had a more cohesive plot, but I learned more from Sisters. Probably because I'm a sister. As opposed to a daddy.

Who says comedies can't be deep?

One Last Walk in the Park

Erin Earns an Emerald Necklace

Tank: Bisou Bisou, JCPenney

Blouse: Decree, JCPenney

Jeans: City Streets, JCPenney

Shoes: Charles Albert, Alloy

Bag: Candie's, Kohl's

Sunglasses: Cloud Nine, Ocean City

The series finale of NBC's "Parks and Recreation" aired three weeks ago, so I've been sitting on this post for awhile.  Yet no time seemed more opportune to unleash it than St. Patrick's Day.  Parks are green, shamrocks are green, and both set the stage for this Erin Earns an Emerald Necklace.  I never used to like the name Erin, probably because it sounds too much like "errand."  But I was willing to put that aside for the sake of catchiness -- and, in the process, perhaps redeem myself to the legions of perfectly nice Erins who are doubtless reading this.  None of them, incidentally, work for everyone's favorite fictional parks department.  That distinction goes to Parks' precursor, "The Office," which introduced Erin (Kelly Erin, really, but who's counting?) Hannon as the replacement receptionist when Pam moved on to the high stakes but ultimately soul-crushing world of sales.  Indeed, Parks began as a sleeper of a sitcom that sneaked its way into NBC's Thursday night lineup (and our hearts!) seven seasons ago as local government's answer to "The Office."  Told documentary-style like its corporate counterpart, "Parks and Recreation" explores the minutiae of small town politics as seen through the rose-colored yet razor-sharp eyes of exuberant deputy parks director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler).  Leslie is every bit as wacky as Dunder Mifflin's Michael Scott (Steve Carell) but about a million times better at her job.  Although both are all heart, often crossing professional boundaries to make their employees' lives better, it's Knope who gets the gold star for do-gooding, managing to craft elaborate scrapbooks and produce tailor-made gifts for every obscure occasion on top of beautifying bus stops and fighting the good fight on town council.  She does it all in the name of devotion to her fictional hometown of Pawnee, Indiana, a place that is both a satire of and a love letter to Middle America, so populated by fast food-scarfing locals raising heck Greek chorus style at town council meetings one night and taking selfies with adorable town mascot Lil' Sebastian the next.

The rest of the parks department is fueled by similarly boundless energy, from the shenanigans of former pit-dwelling, shoe shiner-turned-children's-singing-star Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) to the endlessly optimistic business ventures of the ever-hip, always suited up Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) to the incurably can-do attitude of health nut, literally-can't-stop-smiling Chris Traegar (Rob Lowe) to the wise cracks of fashionista and Treat Yourself! devotee Donna Meagle (Retta) to the roller coaster love life of "most beautiful nurse in the world" Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) to the sweet, simple-minded but (for some reason) much-maligned candor of Jerry-slash-Terry-slash-Larry-slash-Garry Gergich (Jim O'Heir).  (Whew -- are you as out of breath as I am?)  Still, every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you . . . Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) and April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and (sometimes) Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott).  Reluctant Parks Director Ron is a man of the land whose hatred of government is surpassed by only his love of red meat.  Preferring his own company to water cooler chitchat, he raises aloofness to an art form.  Yet still waters run deep -- as deep as the lake where Ron ultimately paddles his handmade canoe -- and in the end, his ties to the Parks posse prove to be among the strongest.  Nevertheless, April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) gives him a run for his (carefully hidden) money.  The dark ying to husband Andy's blinding white yang, this jaded, eye-rolling hipster (but don't call her that!) comes off like she couldn't care less.  But underneath it all, she cares too much, eventually embarking on a "what do I want to do with my life?" mission, revealing that sometimes slackers are just people with standards.  Then there's Ben, the veritable voice of reason in a sea of sitcom insanity (hey, he's not an accountant for nothing) as well as one-time Ice Town mayor and Leslie's one true love.  This wry, nerdy nice guy is the ideal man behind the woman, gallantly stepping aside to let Leslie fulfill her childhood dream of becoming governor of Indiana.  And good thing too, as this gives him plenty of time to mass produce his totally awesome Cones of Dunshire game!

No doubt about it, this is one workplace ensemble in which every character is wonderfully weird and witty.  The finale does not disappoint, flashing forward to reveal what happens to each one of them.  It's a surprisingly satisfying send-off for a show whose last hurrah was burned off in post-holiday, back-to-back episodes in the programming no-man's land of Tuesday night.  Striking the hard-won balance between smart and sweet, Parks captures the absurdities of small town life while offering up a hopeful view of American politics.  It's a testament to the triumph of kindness over ambition, a hilarious heartland with heart.  And I will miss it.

Forget shamrocks.  With vibes this good, I'm holding out for a four-leaf clover.  (Yep, it's still St. Paddy's Day.  I was bound to tie it back in somehow.)

TV Tuesday: Casting My Vote for Parks and Recreation

As I've mentioned in many a TV-related post, it takes me awhile to warm up to new TV shows.  So, when "Parks snd Recreation" joined NBC's Thursday night lineup four seasons ago, I initially wrote it off as an "Office" knock-off.  Yet sometime between then and last season, something shifted, causing me to think, "Hey, what have I been missing?  This is a hoot!"  The "Parks" players are as eccentric as any you'd expect to find in the fictional small town of Pawnee, Indiana.  At the forefront is Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), perky Deputy Parks Director extraordinaire.  Her boundless enthusiasm and can-do attitude lights a fire beneath even the most lackadaisical of her staff, namely her bureaucracy-hating, tells-it-like-it-is boss Ron (Nick Offerman) and chronically eye-rolling, deadpan intern April (Aubrey Plaza).  Luxury-loving and perennially besuited Tom (Aziz Ansari), "most beautiful nurse in the world" Ann (Rashida Jones), childlike amateur rocker Andy (Chris Pratt), overzealous health nut and optimist Chris (Rob Lowe), divaesque Donna (Retta), clueless but well-meaning Jerry (Jim O' Heir), and Leslie's level-headed beau Ben (Adam Scott) round out the rest of the public service circle.

This season we're treated to democracy in action as Leslie faces off with none other than Paul Rudd for a seat on city council.  Rudd is brilliant as pretty boy puppet Bobby Newport, spoiled son of Pawnee's premier candy company owner.  In the most recent episode Knope and Newport engage in that time-honored pre-election nail-biter, the debate.  Bobby vacantly delivers answers spoonfed to him by his shark of a campaign manager (Kathryn Hahn) while Leslie stands classily by, hiding her light under a bushel until the very end when she launches into an impassioned speech about her love for Pawnee and her duty to protect it.  The crowd goes wild; really, it's quite moving and inspirational.  Then, with perfect comic timing, Bobby saunters over to Leslie with all the bonhomie of a high school quarterback and tells her that he's so glad that that's all over with and why doesn't she come on over to the after-party at his dad's lake house?  Even when playing a jerk Mr. Rudd can't help but turn out to be nice :)