Evil Eva Reviews... Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

EvilEva Reviews ...... Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling.
 

Dissecting The Cover:

Mindy looks adorbs in her ruffled pink top and thoughtful as if she truly is contemplating whether everyone is hanging out without her.
Sure, the cover is fairly simple; just Mindy in front of a fancifully-wallpapered wall. But this is a comedic actress/writer's memoir not some sweeping, serious, doom and destruction, robot-y, famine-y dystopia or some dramatic, love triangle-y, teens-on-a-tandem-bike-in-the-pouring-rain romance. So for me, the simpleness works.
And, because of the books you can usually find me reading, I'm just glad they let Mindy keep her head!

Let's Review:

You might know Mindy Kaling as a writer as well as the portrayer of Kelly Kapoor on The Office. Or maybe you know her from her hilarious new comedy The Mindy Project. Or perhaps you know her from simply being awesome.
However you've come to know Mindy, now you can know her even better!
Part memoir, part Girls-Guide-To, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is a fun, witty collection of essays on life, love, work, and friendship told in Mindy's signature self-deprecating, sassy, sage voice.

Here's What I Think:

Mindy's book reads like what I imagine a really long, scattered conversation with the woman herself would be like if we got together for a chat and cheese fries at Applebee's.
She would regal me with stories of her time at The Office and what it was like working for a television psychic, while peppering in her opinions on women in romantic comedies that most certainly don't exist in real life (which was my fave chapter!) and the rights and responsibilities one should uphold in order to be a dope best friend.
We would exchange childhood horror stories of being made fun of and living with the atrocity of having a bowl-cut.
We would talk fashion, gossip about boys, and I would badger her into dishing about what her famous friends are really like.
Then we would promptly order dessert!
Reading Mindy's book is like being granted access to your best friend's diary. If your best friend happens to be extremely complimentary about her coworkers, deeply loves her parents, and keeps a tight lid on her sexual exploits.
So, yeah, Mindy doesn't reveal anything too dishy and salacious, which is kinda what you want from a celebrity memoir (if you're me anyway!) 
There's no x is such a d-bag. Or y is a total monster. Or z really needs to get her shit together. Which I totally get. I mean, Mindy doesn't seem the type to talk trash about a person. In print. For the whole world to read. But maybe... over cheese fries? :)

Swoony Times:

While there is a chapter on guys and romance, Mindy doesn't really spill the tea on any of her previous or current romantic entanglements. 
However, she does share her views on one-night stands (not into them,) chest hair (totally into it,) and the vast differences between men and boys (too many to name, though all hilarious and totes true!)

Bonus Shizz:

Childhood Photos!

I love looking at old photos! Seriously. I can easily be lured into wasting the better part of an afternoon with the mere mention of these often times unflattering and embarrassing relics of days gone by. I mean, relatives, friends, boyfriends, enemies, even random celebrities. I'm a sucker for ANYONE in OshKosh overalls and terrible 80s hair!

Mindy has assembled pics of herself as a "chubby" baby and an adorably bespectacled little kid. There's also that one picture on page 19 in which I don't have the slightest clue what the fuck is going on. But in which Mindy appears to be bobbing for apples... in MIDAIR! While wearing some sort of Wonder Woman-esque outfit!  

Best Friends (In My Head) Status!
I totally stole this from Wendy Williams. Wendy is constantly declaring that people she's never met are her best friends IN HER HEAD. I get it, girl. There are tons of authors/celebrities/what-have-you that I think I would totally connect with if, you know, I ever actually met them. Wendy Williams is, in fact, one of them. (How you doin'!)
Mindy is also one of my best friends IN MY HEAD! I just totally dig her sense of humor and her sassypantsness. I also like that she's a girls girl who's not afraid to show her smarts AND unleash her inner nerd!

Noteworthy:

From page 83 (Part of Mindy's Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities)

IF OUR PHONE CONVERSATION GETS DISCONNECTED, THERE'S NO NEED TO CALL BACK.

I get it. You get it. We take forever getting off the phone anyway. This is a blessing.

This is probably one of my most favorite observations in the book because, literally the day before I read this passage I was on the phone with Bestie J and we got disconnected and just didn't bother calling each other back. It's friend code. We were basically just bullshitting around anyway, this wasn't a life or death convo so it was like, well, guess we're done talking. It really is a blessing though. Especially when you're long-winded and you've both just finished reading the same book and could quite literally stay on the phone for at least five more hours discussing imaginary characters that you kinda care more about than some of the actual people in your life. Some calling plans just can't take that kind of booknerd dedication, you know?
     
From page 155 (Mindy on one-night stands)

Eventually, my constant interruptions make her so irritated, she stops telling her sexy story. I guess nothing puts a damper on a one-night stand as much as your friend pointing out all the opportunities where you might have been killed.

From page 161 (Mindy's inner monologue after a conversation with her ex's new girlfriend who is both young and not a bitch)

Don't you dare, Chloe. Don't you dare make it impossible to hate you. Quit looking at me, all earnest, with those Bambi eyes.
Also, I'm your "hero"? What am I, ten thousand years old? I quickly said something weird like "Bless you, child," excused myself, and walked briskly away.

 If You Liked That, Try This:

Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According To Kathy Griffin by Kathy Griffin.
(Truth be told, I'm only suggesting this one because it's the only other memoir I've ever read. Plus, much like Mindy, Kathy is super hilarious. Although you would probably be alright trying Bossypants by Tina Fey or any of Chelsea Handler's books too.  

The Scale Of Judgment Says:

...... 3.
I'm normally not a nonfic chick but Mindy's book had me lol'ing, nodding my head in agreement, and wishing that I could in fact hang out with her!
   

******

   

Dystopian Books-Into-Movies News That Is A Go And A No (Plus Find Out Who Will Play Augustus Waters!)

There's been quite a bit of Books-Into news floating about the Internets while I've been M.I.Bloggy.A lately. But I'm back, bloggerbabies! So let's get right to this business!  

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems our Ricky-centric (ok, ok MY Ricky-centric) freak out may have been for naught. What I mean is, the Delirium pilot was not picked up by Fox. Which, if I'm being honest, I'm kinda happy about because now I won't have to witness that toolbox Ricky from Secret Life playing my sweet Alex. On the other hand, I'm a little bummed because this project could have been really awesome what with Emma Roberts (my homegirl!) attached to it. But, alas, it was not meant to be.
Although, if you were really looking forward to the project and have a dogged determination AND a Twitter account, you can search Twitter for peeps lobbying to get the show up picked up by another network and join in the crusade.

Cursed with a similar fate, The Selection won't be making it's way to the CW either. If you remember, a pilot had already been filmed once and was passed over. It then got a complete redo with a completely different cast. But, this pilot, once again, wasn't picked up.
I guess maybe networks are scared that dystopians have been doing so well that they're bound to be on their way out pretty soon much like the witches of the 90s and the vampires of the 00s. Maybe their lifespan just seems better suited for movie trilogies.

A show that totally IS happening is The Originals! The spinoff of the CW's The Vampire Diaries is set to premiere this fall! You can check out the back-door pilot (and totally squeal over that part where Klaus leaves a message for Caroline!) here. (But it's only for a limited time so hurry and watch, k?)

Now, here's the big movie news of the week, kiddos. The One Who Would Be Augustus Waters has finally been revealed! And the part goes to......
Ansel Elgort!
I thought the name sounded kind of familiar and then it dawned on me why. He's the actor that will play Caleb Prior in the film adaptation of Divergent. So he'll be in two really big Books-Into -Movies. One in which he'll play Shailene Woodley's brother and the other he'll be playing her lover. That's..... weird. But congrats, Ansel (even though this is starting to get into some V.C. Andrews type of weird territory.)

Speaking of Divergent, a while back Entertainment Weekly gave us a first look at the movie. 
Behold the knife-throwing scene:

I'm still totally NOT into Shailene Woodley playing Tris but this is a pretty cool still to share right out of the gate. So, well played, EW.

And in even MORE Divergent news, the title and the cover art for Veronica Roth's third and final book in this series was recently released! It will be called Allegiant and will hit stores October 22nd. And I'm too friggin' excited! Like, Jessica Spano on caffeine pills excited!

I'll end this post with two new trailers. The first is the international trailer for The Mortal Instruments. This one seems a little more in-depth than previous trailers, plus it includes a sneak peek at baddie Valentine!
City of Bones will be in theaters August 23rd.



The other trailer is for Judy Blume's Tiger Eyes. Surprisingly, this is the first of Judy's many books to ever be turned into a movie. I've never read this one but based on the trailer, it looks pretty emo. It's all death-talk and pill-popping and crying-jags, hospitals, the desert, and what I'm just assuming is a dead father story.  
It stars Willa Holland from Arrow and, unless my eyes are deceiving me, the Pink Power Ranger. Huh.
Anyway, you can catch Tiger Eyes in theaters starting June 7th.



Well guys, I think we are sufficiently caught up with our Books-Into news. But, as you well know, new shizz is being reported EVERYDAY.
So I'll try to stay super vigilant with the latest.
Now I'll turn it over to your rants, raves, comments, and concerns. Leave 'em in the section below.

There Will Be Blood!

Ok, well there won't technically be blood. That's just me being super dramatic with my post title in order to get your attention.
So. There won't be blood but there will be CHANGES!
Perhaps y'all have noticed that lately I've been quite slacky with my posting and my reviewing and my various other bloggy responsibilities. Well the reason is this:

I wanna revamp my blog!!!   
Yes, I know I've done this before. But sometimes you just get the urge to shake things up. And I've recently been daydreaming about backgrounds and fonts and features! So I definitely think the time to shake these things up is NOW!
So here's a list of shizz that I'll be changing/adding/what-have-you in the coming weeks:

*Nancy Drew Is My Homegirl will have a whole new look!

*I'll be introducing a new feature called Honest To Blog in which I'll be revealing 5 random facts about myself!

*Fangirl Five Fridays will NO LONGER be EVERY Friday. I'll be changing it to a monthly feature. The first Friday of every month, I'll be fangirling about what I'm the most excited about that's happening in said month. (And you can still fangirl right along with me!)

*I'll be adding a Tab called Homegirl Vocab. So if you ever come across a word or phrase that you've never heard and you're sure I either made it up or it's simply a reference to something you've never seen, just hit up this new Tab and you'll be able to find the definition and finally know what the fuck I'm talking about!

*I plan on resurrecting The Super Nostalgic Book Flashback Challenge! I'm hoping to make that a monthly thing too.

*I'm also kicking around the idea of having a weekly TV roundup post of sorts in which I'll dissect all the WTFery that's gone down on my favorite shows for that week. I like this idea and I think it could be really fun but I sometimes have a little problem with follow-through. So this one is just an idea at this stage. (But if Evil Eva can actually get her shit together, this feature will be a definite go!)

So, as you can see, I'm planning a bit of an overhaul. You might come back and see what, at first, might appear to be a completely different blog. But don't worry, y'all. It'll still be the same ol' Nancy Drew Is My Homegirl here! Just with 100% more awesomeness!