I don't watch The Office. I am very aware of The Office, because I am such a huge fan and devotee to pop culture it would be impossible for me to not be. I know this is sacrilegious to a huge population of people out there but regardless there it is. Although I did watch the episode when Pam and Jim get married and I thought it was done beautifully (turns out Mindy wrote it!).
The point of the my intro is that I'm not incredibly familiar with Mindy Kaling's work because I don't watch The Office. But through two of my favorite celeb-centric sites,
Go Fug Yourself and
Lainey Gossip via this
post and this
post respectively, I read a
New York Times profile on Ms. Kaling and
an article she wrote for the New Yorker.
I found the Times' profile on her fascinating, funny, accurate and particularly interesting to me because it details her career to date including how she came to be on The Office and her background in writing. I love writing and am fascinated by writers, so my love for this article isn't exactly a surprise for those who know me well. My girl crush on Mindy blossomed because of the following excerpts:
"A recent “E! Online” poll incensed Kaling by asking, on the hundredth anniversary of Lucille Ball’s birth, which of three red-haired young actresses is the next Ball. 'They’re saying that the essence of Lucille Ball was in the color of her hair,' Kaling said. 'Was Conan O’Brien like, "I’m a redhead!"? Maybe this isn’t exactly the right person, but they would never think the Lucille Ball essence could have been transferred into a man like, like Sacha Baron Cohen.' . . Immediately after delivering this mini-rant, Kaling added: 'I hope I’m not waxing too political. I spend about 4 percent of my time thinking about this.' "
and
"As a writer, she’s both fast and prolific. And though she’s the first to deglamorize her own creative process — she has mentioned on Twitter writing over French fries at the chain Johnny Rockets — it remains mysterious, even to those she works with closely. "
I enjoyed these parts of her
New Yorker article that articulates television writers' dream to make the transition to film:
"I’ll put it this way: At the Oscars the most famous person in the room is, like, Angelina Jolie. At the Emmys the huge exciting celebrity is Bethenny Frankel. You get what I mean.
It’s snobby and grossly aspirational, but it’s true (my favorite part for telling the ugly truth)."
"I regard romantic comedies as a subgenre of sci-fi, in which the world operates according to different rules than my regular human world. For me, there is no difference between Ripley from “Alien” and any Katherine Heigl character. They are equally implausible."
I particularly, really, really, REALLY enjoy the archetypes she describes. They are spot on and hi-fucking-larious. And they sound like something that might have come out of my mouth if I were to ever articulate those words on paper. But now Mindy has done it in a most likely superior manner than I ever could and hence my brand new girl crush!
She joins the rank of funny women, such as Tina Fey, to have a book come out:
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and I'm really looking forward to reading it. I hope this trend of funny women fronting movies, television and books continues. I'd love to see more of the likes of Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler in the news and projects and making money than another in-your-face-fake-reality-talentless "celebrity."
I'm planning on doing my part to support them :).
