Cheat Work Thursday

I love Lost , so I finally watched The Leftovers , another highly acclaimed show co-created by Damon Lindelof. The story starts in Mapleton, New York, following the aftermath of the "Sudden Departure" when 2% of the world's population disappears. Those left behind grieve and live in fear, painfully trying to find explanations and ways to move on. Among them are Kevin and Nora. Kevin is the Mapleton's Chief of Police. He doesn't lose any family members from the Departure, but his wife Laurie leaves to join a cult called the Guilty Remnant, his stepson Tommy joins another cult in the desert, and his teenage daughter Jill is annoying. Nora loses her entire family -- husband and two kids -- from the Departure. Kevin and Nora meet at a town event one day and start dating. Like Lost , The Leftovers also features an ensemble cast of characters with different backgrounds and secrets, which I always love. So, season 1 is great, and I almost get this "show...

I put off reading this for a long time, thinking that I won't like it. I mean, do I really need to read a 400-over-page book about royals and extra rich people being rich? Then when I finally read it, because Goodreads, its first few pages with way too many pop culture references were just eyeroll-inducing. But I soon got past that and was charmed by its quick banter. And once it got me hooked -- omg, it felt like curling up in bed with a warm blanket on a rainy day! The story is sweet and smart and funny and packed with so many reasons to be hopeful -- or dream  of a more empathetic world(?). My immediate thought after finishing it: Please, please don't let the movie ruin it. Because I'm selfish. And there's no way a movie is not already coming for this. So Alex is the son of the first female President of the United States and Henry is the fourth in line to the British throne. They start their relationship by despising each other, to being fake friends for dipl...

Knowing what we know now, those award acceptance speeches thanking and worshipping Harvey Weinstein just make me want to shower. These two must-read books were written by the three reporters who broke the Weinstein story in 2017, recounting their months-long investigations and the aftermath of the broken dam. Kantor and Twohey published their story five days before Farrow, reporting it for The New York Times ; Farrow started his investigation when he was at NBC, and when it was quashed by his bosses, he brought the story and wrote it for The New Yorker . While the focus of the two books are Weinstein's "alleged" crimes and how he uses his money and power to silence the women who accuse him of rape and abuse spanning over decades, they also cover sexual allegations against other powerful men, mostly in media and politics, including Roger Ailes, Les Moonves, Matt Lauer, Brett Kavanaugh and Donald Trump. There are some overlaps between the two books, but the sto...