Tag: Timeless

Another Good Read: This Time Tomorrow

If it seems like my blog has become a lot of book recommendations, I’m sorry. I’m doing more reading than I have ever done. I suppose my desire to read comes and goes, but every book I have read lately has had something in the plot summary that peaked my interest. It’s been fun to read stuff from new authors, too.

I literally just finished This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. She is not a “new” author in that she has written many other books. I did find it interesting to know that her and her husband own their own book store in Brooklyn, New York.

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, I have mentioned my love for time travel stories. The thought of being able to go back in time and visit some famous event or to the future is intriguing. The Back to the Future movies, The Twilight Zone, Time Tunnel, and even the short lived series Timeless will always be fun to watch.

This book has a bit of time travel in it (and coincidentally, so does my next read). Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

“What if you could take a vacation to your past?

With her celebrated humor, insight, and heart, beloved New York Times bestseller Emma Straub offers her own twist on traditional time travel tropes, and a different kind of love story.

On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?“

What I love about the premise of the story is that even though she wakes up on her 16th birthday, she is very aware that she just turned 40. This is an important part of the story. It is kind of the “If I knew then what I know now” sort of thing. Tiny Spoiler Alert: There is a “Groundhog Day” feel to the story as she repeats the same day more than once. Knowing that won’t spoil too much for you.

The love story eluded to in the synopsis is not the ordinary love story. It is the love between a daughter and her father. That love is really what drives the story.

It really wound up being a thought provoking story. I could easily see this being something that would be a good Book Club read or even something that would make a great movie.

That’s one way I won’t watch your show…

I don’t watch a lot of new TV shows. This is partly by choice and partly because of the lack of time to watch (or that I have better things to do!). I don’t think that there has been any new show over the past, I don’t know, 5 years that I was really excited to see. The last show I wanted to see was Timeless in 2016 (A time travel show that I thought was pretty cool and sadly cancelled).

Now, call me a prude, old fashioned, or whatever you want, but I just read about a show that may or may not be a good show. I won’t ever watch it because of the title. Annie Murphy stars in a new show called, “Kevin Can F**k Himself.” Does the show really need to be called this? “I Hate Kevin” would get the point across, too, I’m guessing. How are the TV ads going to be able to say the name of this show?

Shows with profanity in the title are common for Annie, though. She’s known for being on the hit Schitt’s Creek. Playful title, but still profanity. I’ve never seen that show either, by the way. Yeah, I know, I’ve seen all my friends rave about it on social media. I know it won all kinds of awards. I just don’t have the desire to watch it. The name doesn’t even have anything to do with it.

I’m not saying I never swear. My co-workers can attest to that. Lately, though, I have been getting that foul mouth under control and I am very aware of the words I use. Now, can I promise that if I whack my thumb with a hammer I won’t swear? I hope not, but there is still the possibility.

In an 2012 article from Deadline (which you can read here: https://deadline.com/2012/11/fk-expletives-take-over-show-titles-367900/), it recalls the 2009 show that starred William Shatner – $#*! My Dad Says. The show was based on a blog, which I think also became a book. The Parents Television Council didn’t care too much for the title and asked people to boycott the show.

The article also goes on to mention shows that were in development that used expletives in the title. Those included two using “Bi*ch” – Don’t Trust the Bi*ch in Apartment 23 and Good Christian Bi*ches. Then there were plenty with the F word – Oh, F**k! It’s You!, How the F**k am I Normal?, F**k! I’m in My Twenties, and Grow the F**k Up!.

Remember the old George Carlin bit, “The Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television?” I won’t list the words here, but I know a few of them are common place on prime time TV – and NOT just on the cable channels. It’s sad. Most kids are familiar with those seven words and more by the time they are in elementary school. I remember the first time I heard my grandma slip with the F word. She caught herself, we didn’t know what she said, but it was obvious that it was a bad word.

Today, these kids aren’t phased by those words and incorporate them into their daily talk. Just the other day on the phone my oldest (19) let an F bomb drop. He apologized immediately to me, but I know that he is using it frequently with his friends. My youngest (13) has also been known to let a swear word slip in front of me. It’s common place today.

Ok, I will get off my soapbox. Think of me what you will.