Bachelor Nation

I wouldn't say I'm "hooked" on Bachelor Nation, as I can stop watching anytime (LOL), but it is a fun way to spend an hour or so once a week while I'm doing crafts. Unlike while viewing a regular movie, I don't have to pay close attention to a BN episode because (1) important points are regularly repeated, and (2) I don't actually care if I miss something. In fact, I often read a spoiler article online first! Right now, Jenn Tran is the Bachelorette looking for love, and she's whittled her suitor list down to two or three men. (Reality Steve has given his prediction, so we shall see if he is correct. He was wrong last time with Joey, Daisy, and Kelsey.) A big thing on the BN shows is the main character is always seeking "clarity." It must be tough to sort out your feelings for all these different people when they're thrown at you in a giant glob and you're immediately placed a variety of stressful situations. You don't have a lot of time to spend with each individual, so for me it would be really hard to judge them on anything but the most superficial factors. Yet the goal is to become engaged in like two months! How can you know if your "butterflies" are for this guy or that guy when you're all together on a group date? It was hard enough to get "clarity" when I was focusing on only one guy. Of course, Jenn's idea of Mr. Right is vastly different from mine, but that's what makes this interesting... and very low stakes for me as the viewer. I watched the Golden Bachelor too, and that was more my speed given their ages, but even so I couldn't relate to all the intense physical activities. For me, the perfect date is wandering around a bookstore and then having a delicious pastry at a cute cafe, not going dirt-biking. Ish. But the dirt bike companies subsidize the show, while cute pastry cafes... not so much.

The next Bachelor is Grant Ellis, one of the men Jenn rejected, and he seems very sweet, handsome, and soft-spoken, though perhaps not the usual "big" personality. For me, that's ideal, but the bachelors and bachelorettes seem to all be looking for extroversion, exuberance, spontaneity, etc. Smile like a maniac and be upbeat at all times, declare that every new thing is great, insist that any change in plans is awesome ~ there are a lot of men as well as women searching for these qualities, no matter their ages. They don't want to know about your real problems; they want a plastic Barbie doll. Reminds me of you know who. I'm also reminded generally of the men who were so into travel back when I was trying to date. Ugh travel! I hate traveling. All the crowds and inconveniences and disruptions to routine. Not to mention the cost. Feh. Give me a staycation every time.

It's much better to date vicariously through a silly TV show while snuggling with my cat than to deal with real-life dates. The Golden Bachelorette is coming soon too, starring Joan Vassos, who had to drop out of the previous Golden show due to family issues. That was lucky for her as the Golden Bachelor turned out to be a jerk. I hope the new set of geezers have been more thoroughly vetted than Gerry Whatshisface. Also, I prefer the format of the bachelorette shows, as it feels better to have a woman sort through a bunch of men who all (supposedly) want to be with her and are trying to make a good impression than to have one man strutting around rejecting women every week. I don't like to watch women make idiots of themselves for some dumb man, as that reminds me of me. But still... I will be tuning in to Grant's search for love and hopefully he will be nice like Joey was and not a creep like Gerry was. 

I'm also looking forward to the next season of Only Murders in the Building ~ I loved the first two seasons, was meh on the third, and thoroughly enjoyed the fourth. Hopefully, S5 will be as good as S4. Hulu also has a bunch of Christmas romcoms that are new to me, and the season is coming up soon. Can a Jewish atheist love Christmas romcoms? You bet! Gotta admit that Hulu’s promo was a big success in my case, and I will be renewing it when it jumps to the regular price in November from the one dollar per month special that I've been enjoying for almost a year thanks to my friend J who alerted me to the special.

Sunday evening I saw Between the Temples at the Bella Terra theater in Huntington Beach. It was a quirky, low-key movie that ended up being surprisingly engrossing. The actors were all wonderful, and I was pleased that my friend C loved it too. I hate suggesting things that people end up disliking. There are a bunch of films upcoming that I want to see: Joker Folie a Deux, Conclave, Wicked, Nosferatu (maybe), and A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan story). There's still something nice about getting out of the house and seeing a movie on the big screen. Since I usually prefer offbeat movies like Temples or popular ones at odd times (It Ends With Us), it's not really an issue for me to have to worry about crowded theaters full of germy people. With both recent movies, there were less than a half-dozen people in the whole room. I probably get more germ exposure at a game night!

That said, I am planning to get both a flu shot and the next Covid vax in September.