Romcoms

happy friday saturday! forgot to send this out yesterday. also for better or worse this newsletter may cease in the near term for reasons that are difficult to explain but will eventually resume at some later later date!

but for today lets talk about romantic comedies.

last week, I wrote this in my newsletter:

I actually decided to make time and watch four five romcoms this week (thank you Mom for recommending Notting Hill). Before this, I’ve only seen La La Land (banger movie, Justin Hurwitz went crazy on the soundtrack) and 500 Days of Summer (also a banger movie, I like the roles Joseph Gorden-Levitt plays in this movie and Dark Knight Rises/Inception).

Yes, they can be silly.

Yes, they might not be as intellectually stimulating or philosophically deep as other genres (which is fine because that’s not the goal).

And yes, well-made ones offer interesting situations of emotions that I find fun to think through and reflect on. Not acknowledging ideas and lessons well-made art provides…feels narrow to me.

I watched five movies—Serendipity, Thirteen Going on 30, Crazy Stupid Love, Love and Other Drugs, and Notting Hill. If you want NO SPOILERS do not read the rest of this newsletter and go drink some water instead.

For the record:

• I watched Serendipity all the way through.

• Thirteen Going on 30: I skipped around some but essentially watched most of it.

• Crazy Stupid Love: Watched while doing some other stuff

• Love and Other Drugs: Skimmed through the whole thing

• Notting Hill: Watched all way through

Now the main question. Do I feel a higher EQ after watching these movies?

Short answer: Meh. Maybe 1 or 2 points.

Long answer: There were definitely some interesting takeaways that are memorable.

Takeaways from Each Movie

1. Serendipity

• Life is itself very very serendipitous. There is value in believing crazy things can happen (and they do, all the time). The world is infinitesimally small.

• “You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after a man died: ‘Did he have passion?’"

2. 13 Going on 30

• It’s a bit kiddish but fine overall.

• I liked when the editor suggested redesigning the magazine from scratch, and everyone saying it was risky and would lose their identity…yet she embraced the youthful willingness to start fresh without being bogged down by sunk costs.

  • I think it is rather difficult, more for adults, to take a considerable group of work completed and be willing to start fresh, from step 1, on a clean slate, but so refreshing and rewarding.

• As difficult as it is to have conviction when things aren’t working, it is equally difficult to have courage to make bold changes in pursuit of something better.

3. Crazy Stupid Love

• The movie was fine overall (the backyard scene was funny though).

• General idea from the movie: Be open to change. I view it like this: the average person and average belief is to be resistant to change. To explore that it is like to be not average (and often leads one to find positive outcomes), one should deviate from average behavior, thus NOT be resistant to change.

• But the lesson didn’t really resonate from this movie compared to other films.

4. Love and Other Drugs

• Movie was mid. No takeaways. The end scene was fine. Funny seeing Harvey from Suits though.

5. Notting Hill

Summary:

My EQ is probably +1 point on the account of lessons I’ve absorbed and marinated on. If you’ve seen any of said titles above and had similar or different thoughts, I’d be keen to hear them!

• killing a project today that I was working on. main reason: cost to create product that met my bar of "inspires joy" was higher than expected, and still joy it inspired was lower than expected. no issue on sunk cost of $ or time: it comes with the territory. onto the next!

• of the few irons in the fire, two are in “waiting” mode (i.e., I am waiting for something external to happen and then I’ll react), one is in “start” mode, and one has now moved to the “sunset” mode (i.e., stopping it for now, and for it to come back in the future, it’ll need to be restructured).

• nothing of major value yet. need more time.

• music for this week

  • liked this artist for many years; he has other singles that are bangers, but think this album itself is quality. flows really well together, and great to zone in to work. don’t take my word for it, give it a listen. beware: it is a bit…uh…yeah just give it a listen and let me know what you think.

• on the topic of romcoms…

‘Til next time,

Vishal