Merry Christmas Mindy & The Rainbow Connection

Dear Mindy,

The busy holiday season got the better of me and it's been a while since I've posted. However, I did not want to close out 2015 without acknowledging you my dear. You've had an incredible year - new home for your show, new book, and... perchance new lovers like no other? 

I realized I initiated this blog in January 2015, although it took me a couple of months to really get it going - and it was about a month after that you blocked me- which was pretty amazing. I didn't cover all the topics I had in mind but I picked up some cool followers and Instagram Mindians along the way. I also choose to believe you may have possibly shouted me out on your show -just let me have this delusion guys. All in all, it was a blast in the past.

Now, on to the future. I am convinced that one day you will star in my epic movie or musical blockbuster of all time. I tell myself that I will wait until the wrap party to drop my secret-blogger past on you but I know that I will not be able to contain myself past the initial casting lunch. This will give you momentary but inconsequential pause about joining my production. Even more fame and fortune will follow. We will eventually co-godparent Franco's adorable bastard twins. It will all be so amazing. 

But I must write it for this to come. Therefore, blogging must give way. It won't be goodbye forever. I may even post from time to time. And if you are ever in need of some noble-hearted rando, just give me a sign - maybe an unblocking?

Remember when you were younger, and for motivation you thought of the awesome peeps you'd befriend once you made it; mine would be you. 

Yours Truly.

What's so amazing

That keeps us stargazing

And what do we think we might see

Someday we'll find it

The rainbow connection

The lovers, the dreamers, and me

I am not Mr. Robot

Dear Peeps,

There are multiple posts I've been meaning to write - still covering Why Not Me? Thanks to the awesome @madcharitable (aileenr on Instagram), I have even more data to consider.

In the meantime, a question I received from a reader was pretty amusing to me - whether I am able to write my creeptastic posts because I am a computer hacker? 

This is hysterical and impossible, although the staples of my wardrobe are hoodies. Plus I love society. I am not an anarchist or revolutionary. I am a mid-level muggle most reliable consumer of capitalist excess. I live for the excesses. I detest change. The ads you see on TV - they were made for me. I am the demographic. 

Stay tuned. Please feel free to email more inquiries to manformindy@gmail.com. But please don't hack me.   

Why Not Me? "One Of The President's Men" Update

Dear Mindy,

I have it on good authority that your boy felt blindsided by the tell-some chapter in your book and in typical guy fashion, he didn't feel it was an accurate depiction of what happened between you two. 

So if you were wondering what he thought about it, now you know. Don't ask me how I know this. I don't know him and he doesn't know that I know it was him. Let's just say it's a freakishly small universe. 

If your aim was payback by blowing up his spot in a diabolically effective but contained way, mission accomplished. I bet he's way flattered even as he protests.

I'm still impressed that you wrote it. 

XOXO

Mindy Don't Know Me Like That

For those of you out there who have wondered and even inquired, I do not know Mindy Kaling!

I have never met Mindy Kaling, am not employed by Mindy Kaling, and am not connected to anyone in her social circle, remote or otherwise, who has sold out her personal secrets.

What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like... Mindy Kaling... who has never wronged me in any way and who just happens to be at the center of my current celebrity fixations. 


I'm not psychic but I do have a sixth sense that may somehow be related to my astigmatism. While I'm no Robert Downey Jr., my powers of deduction are surprisingly on point, especially when the subject is a celebrity because then I am privy to lots of information I have no business knowing.

If I were unscrupulous, I would already have had made a fortune as a celebrity palm-reader (for entertainment purposes only). I would also have outed the Obama aide that Mindy writes about in Why Not Me? "One Of The President's Men." 

Very clever Mindy but I was not led astray gobbling up your tasty breadcrumbs of misdirection. Yes, I'd wager that I have indeed identified the non-villain/hero in your love chapter. Well, that may sound like B.S.; Nevertheless, I will maintain Mindy's secret, knowing she wouldn't want to subject this guy to "the censure of the world for caprice." 

Sometimes I'm concerned that people like me would cause Mindy to be more guarded and to therefore share less, ruining it for us all.

I would like to take this time to reassure Mindy that I don't want to be the cause of that suckage. While my blog may occasionally blow up her spot, it will not be with malicious intent. My favorite things in life include Mindy's chapters and Taylor's songs. 

Hey Mindy, if you're ever curious about what you revealed that gave it away, have your people call my people. 

Why Not Me? Book Profiling - Acknowledgments

As I mentioned in my review of Why Not Me?, I wanted to dissect the book further in additional blog posts.

It's easy to overlook the Acknowledgments section, overshadowed by the wit and affability with which the actual chapters of the book are so carefully crafted. But to me, it is the most revealing section of the book and therefore, perhaps even my favorite. It was the place I first turned to when I got Mindy's book in my hands (which says something about me - freak), and what a story it tells.

Including also the Dedication to Mindy's Mother

Mindians won't miss the lack of mentions, especially when compared to the acknowledgments in her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) - see below:

Now, I don't imagine every person who had been acknowledged previously and not mentioned in the second book's acknowledgments has bad blood with Mindy. Some of these people may simply have had involvement with the first book and not with the second. Mindy and Lena Dunham still seem to be friends.

Other missing shout-outs are more jarring, including:

Mindy's brother, Vijay - that's sad. Obviously, Mindy couldn't have loved her brother's whole Indian-face fiasco. In fact, it was reported that her rep stated at the time of the embarrassing media coverage: "Mindy has been estranged from her brother for years. She was not aware of his decision to apply to medical school under a different name and race." 

I still wish these siblings would reconcile. I think they may have already been on their way to making up had their Mom been around to force the issue like moms usually do. 

Mindy, think about making up with your crazy brother - he's still your family. We won't judge you for his antics. 

Other former "dearest":
Brenda Withers (I called it) and Christina Hoe - an examination of this deserves its own post.

David Harris: 
Obviously, the ex-boyfriend wouldn't get a mention. While the current version of her first book doesn't include it (as you can see from the images above), a google book search reveals, that at one time in the first edition, David Harris had been acknowledged (as you can see from the image below). 

It seems that other references to her ex David have also been removed from the current version of Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? Too bad I can't read the rest of this page:

Danny Chun: 
I'd guess that things aren't all good between these two former writing mates. The most telling indication of this is Mindy doesn't seem to have once mentioned or plugged Danny's new show, Grandfathered, on her social media. Interestingly, Grandfathered airs on the FOX network, which coldly dropped The Mindy Project - so perhaps this isn't a Danny snub but a FOX one instead?

Jack Burditt: 
While Jack wasn't in Mindy's first book, he was an Executive Producer and writer for The Mindy Project, and he's noticeably missing among the Why Not Me? mentions of Mindy's other writers on the show. I also noticed Jack seems to have moved on to working on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. If I had to guess, I'd say the fall-out - if there was one - was fairly recent, like sometime this summer when The Mindy Project was gearing up for Season 4 on Hulu. Perhaps, Jack's exit from the team was less than smooth? Maybe, everything's fine and I should stop reading into nothing in Acknowledgments?!

P.S. Mindy loves carrot cake. This was not deduced from profiling her book but from other sources.

                                                                                                                                           

Mindy Kaling Do You Want To Want Me?!

I can’t imagine a better ringtone for Mindy on Morgan’s phone than “Want to Want Me” by Jason Derulo. Well done, Mindy Project writers.
Read more at http://www.tvovermind.com/reviews/the-mindy-project-season-4-episode-3-review-leo-castellano-is-my-son/#AIr2mU69KwKYj68j.99

Bravo The Mindy Project writers! Bravo indeed!!

So there I am, watching the third episode of Season 4 of The Mindy Project, loving life, when suddenly, the amazing happens. Nurse Morgan's phone rings when Mindy calls, and people... the ringtone is JASON DERULO'S "WANT TO WANT ME." This happens not once, but twice in this magical episode.

The simplest explanation is that Mindy Kaling is indepedently a Jason Derulo fan and this has nothing to do with me.

However, when I layer assumption upon assumption, I reach a more outrageous and gratifying conclusion. Could it be, that this was a shout-out from Mindy/her writers? I have no concrete basis to think so, but I did write this post earlier in April dedicated to my girl. 

Also, I tweeted the incredible Charlie Grandy, the writer of Episode #403, and he actually acknowledged my existence!

Call me a megalomaniac but Mindy... could it be you don't hate me? Maybe you even like me? Maybe you're just messing with me. Even if Mindy is absolutely oblivious to me, perhaps our psychic antennas tuned in to the same universal frequency for a moment in time, when this hot single by Jason Derulo was playing? Please know, whatever the case, I love it. Thank you.   

Why Not Me? Book Review

I have finished reading Why Not Me? 

Before the book was released, I wondered how it would compare to Mindy's best-selling Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns), which I loved. 

As with any other anticipated sequel, you don't want it to be a departure from what you loved about the original but it also shouldn't be a regurgitation. The more you love the source, the taller the order for what follows. 

I almost was preparing myself for Why Not Me? to be a letdown, assuming that Mindy's rising fame since the best-selling performance of her first book would make her more guarded, less vulnerable, less relateable and therefore less entertaining. 

I am pleased to announce that Why Not Me? was deeply satisfying. If you loved her first book, you're going to love her second. The voice is still familiar, as endearing, and surprisingly revealing - once again, Mindy Kaling is willing to wear her heart on her (now haute couture) sleeve to get you to like her, and when she does, you wind up loving her (unless you're a monster or the victim of unresolved childhood trauma).

When Mindy's first book debuted in 2011, I did not read it. I barely followed Mindy Kaling back then. I did not regularly watch The Office, although I'd be amused if I happened to catch snippets of the show in reruns. Somewhere between then and 2012, when The Mindy Project started airing on FOX, I started noticing Mindy more. From an admiration of her background and her accomplishments, sprung a desire to learn more - almost obsessively. This is not unlike the aftereffects of watching "Eminem - The E True Hollywood Story," except there hasn't been such an expose on Mindy Kaling (as far as I know). 

I can't tell you when exactly I became so fascinated with Mindy Kaling that I am now inspired to blog all about her - I, a notorious, blogging lothario, who has ardently gone through multiple blog domains only to abandon them after toying around with weak and inconsistent posting, have somehow managed to stick with this creepy little blog for a record showing (maybe to Ms. Mindy's chagrin). It can't last... but it sounds like love to me (at least the romcom kind). 

Why Not Me? is blogging gold from my muse herself. Theoretically, it deserves an individual blog post per chapter. Realistically, there are at least a couple of more posts about the book that I plan to write wielding my insane profiling abilities but with great responsibility (I got you girl). Stay tuned. 

Mindy Kaling's actual signature in a pre-autographed Why Not Me?