Tag Archives: HBO

Posted on

Sex and the City 2: The Review…

Hello World!!!

Okay, okay, okay…now that the girls’ movie of the year has been out for just over two weeks, I thought it would appropriate to discuss the  movie at length…First of all, did you like it? Was it better than the first movie? Did it leave you wanting more?

My answers are: Yes, Yes and Maybe…

I’m afraid when it comes to Carrie and the girls, I will always be a HUGE fan…the writers of the “Sex and City” institution would have to do a lot to lose me…As I read or heard somewhere, “Sex and the City” is a love letter to singlehood…And anyone who has been out in the dating game for a while knows that single girls like myself need a good love letter every now and then…soo I LOVED the movie…

And I enjoyed it more than the first movie…Why? Well, first of all, let me state this:  some of the quirkiness, irony and overall rhythm of the HBO television series simply can not be duplicated on the big screen…I did not realize this when I saw the first  movie and so I kept pondering what was missing…Once I realized that I could not expect exactly what I saw in the television series, I could relax and let the story unfold…And so for that reason first of all, I enjoyed the second installment of the movie more than the first…

Now aside from that, I enjoyed the overall plot more anyway…let’s face it…many of my friends (like Carrie and the girls)  and I have been single for a looong while and once we finally tie the knot, I’m sure we will ponder just what being married really means for us…This notion was  the theme of the second movie. I was never one of those women who wanted to get married in my ’20s…for better or worse, I wanted and had to explore this world solo a little bit before committing to the institution of marriage…And I also affirm that part of the reason that I have been single for so long is because I have wanted to be…And for anyone that has treasured singlehood, I would guess that it would be difficult to surrender that individuality, freedom and let’s face it: excitement that you feel when you always have the chance of meeting your next great love…

Carrie finally landed Big after years of practically chasing down this classically emotionally unavailable man around the NYC…And now the two have been Mr. & Mrs. Big for roughly two years…You would think she would be satisfied as she finally has the man and career of her dreams…but as any dyed-in-the-wool single girl has realized years ago, “familiarity breeds contempt…” Carrie has gotten somewhat bored…her husband is no longer the single suitor that shows up outside of her window in his black limo ready to whisk her away on a romantic night on the town…instead, he has become the predicatable husband that would prefer ordering in every night and watching black and white movies on television…(Actually, that sounds great to me, but let’s keep the focus on the heroine of the movie…)

In fact, Carrie is so shaken up by Big’s predictability, she escapes to her single girl apartment that she still owns to write and ponder her marriage…Question: Should every woman retain ownership of her bachelorette pad for occasions such as these? After a couple of days or so go by, her husband shows up outside her window as he did when they were single to whisk her away for a romantic night on the town…they are pleasantly surprised to discover how much excitement they have for one another after a few days away from each other…And to Carrie’s surprise, Big suggests that they take a two-day vacation away from each other every other week…And since Carrie is all about defining new roles, even in marriage, she considers his proposition while secretly scared their marriage may be deteriorating…

And true to form, Carrie MUST discuss all of this when she and the girls head to Abu Dhabi (actually Morroco) for much needed girl time…Question: Even after marriage, should girls regularly schedule a trip just for the girls? The all- expenses- paid trip is a gift from one of Samantha’s potential new clients…(Read NG – you know who you are, I need for you to hook up a similar trip…’K, thanks 🙂 )  What a better place to ponder gender roles and the institution of marriage than in the Middle East…For the purposes of brevity, I won’t get into much of what happened with Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha…but I will attempt to wrap it up here…Charlotte, who dreamed about about being a mother for years, discovers that motherhood, while incredibly rewarding,  is just plain hard… Miranda, who encourages Charlotte to confess and affirm her ambiguous feelings about motherhood, realizes that she can define her career on her own instead of bowing down at the chauvinistic law firm she works for…Samantha, a lovable sex fiend, realizes that her sexuality, while shocking stateside,  is downright criminal in the Middle East….

But back to Carrie…Inevitably, while in Abu Dhabi, she draws The Test to her…everyone should know what the Test is by now…I believe that whenever we are considering making a decision that could change the trajectory of our life usually for the better, we attract the very thing that threatens to take us off course…I first read about this in the The Artist’s Way…I could give a dramatic example of this us…but let me offer a more harmless example…Trying to lose weight, you make a huge salad with just the right amount of broccoli and other veggies and just as you sit down to eat it, your girl calls up and invites you out for coffee and desert…oh the temptation…

And so in the middle of Abu Dhabi of all places, Carrie bumps into Aidan – the other man who swept her off of her feet…(And some of us feel that she should have choosen Aidan over Big anyway…) Feeling somewhat unsure of her relationship with Big, she goes out to dinner with Aidan…Question: Is it okay to go out to dinner with a former love under any circumstances once you are married? One woman told me she felt it was okay since they ran into each other across the world from where they met…

True to her drama-creating form, Carrie allows herself to be kissed by Aidan…and truth be told, she sets up the stage for such a kiss when she wears a skirt with a slit that nearly reaches her waist…Once she actually kisses him though, she instantly feels remorse and remembers what it was like when she was single and all she wanted was Big’s commitment…and of course, all’s well that ends well…Carrie and Big have a heart-to-heart discussion about their marriage that ends with Carrie wearing a huge black diamond ring that while it symbolizes her marriage to Big also demonstrates her individuality…

So what did you think about the movie…

Any thoughts?

Posted on

Something the Lord Made…2010 is here!

Hello World!!!

Happy New Year! I had hoped to post on Dec. 31 or at least Jan. 1, but alas, deadlines and life got in the way…

At any rate, ready or not, a new year, a new decade even, is upon us…and what are we do? (Side note: Am I the only one that wonders why 2000-2010 is not considered a decade?…I mean dec, the prefix, means 10…I don’t know) I have decided to take my cue from a movie I watched on Christmas Day. HBO movie “Something the Lord Made” is the heartwarming story of Dr. Vivien Thomas, a black lab assistant who through an unlikely partnership with renown white surgeon Alfred Blalock, inaugurated modern cardiac surgery. As Thomas lived during the time of the Depression, his dream of attending college and medical school had to be shelved while he earned money to support his family. And although, Dr. Blalock would have been unable to perform the first “Blue Baby” surgery without Dr. Thomas’ assistance, Thomas’ contribution went nearly unnoticed as black people’s accomplishments were marginalized then. In fact, as Thomas performed procedures on lab dogs, Blalock commented that a surgical incision Thomas had done was “like something the Lord made.”

Years later, John Hopkins University School of Medicine honored by Thomas by awarding  him a honorary doctorate as he was never able to attend medical school although he trained some of the country’s top surgeons.

I guess what inspired me most about the movie was that it was obvious that God used Dr. Thomas to perform His handiwork and yet again prove that “God has choosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.”  ( I Corinthians 1:27) The movie led me to ponder what is my gift that will be “like something the Lord made?” I was encouraged to discover that a journalist, Katie McCabe, was the one that first brought Thomas’ poignant story to the attention of the world. While I have not written a story that has been as popular as McCabe’s story yet, I’m thankful to God for how He has used me thus far and look forward to future stories I will write….

Another detail of the movie that struck me was that Dr. Thomas’ inability to attend college and medical school may have been a blessing…although it did not seem so at the time I’m sure. Since Dr. Thomas was unable to pursue his educational dreams, he was forced to get a job – a job that fortuitously paired him with a top surgeon. And their partnership saved lives. It’s doubtful that, due to the constraints of segregation, that they would have paired together otherwise…Yes, God commands that “in everything, give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:18)  Yes, things that seem pretty crappy, according to God’s word, we are to thank God for them…easier said than done…but I’ve been thanking God lately for something in my life that I would rather not have to deal with, but since I’ve done that, I’ve been surprised about how peaceful I feel about it…God allowed this happen in my life, and I trust that He has purpose for it…

By the way, I did not get this insight on my own…My father recently preached a sermon in which he referred to Corrie ten Boom, a woman who as put in a concentration camp during the Holocaust…While there, she was infested with lice. Her sister, who was also there, reminded her of the verse I mentioned above. Of course, ten Boom bristled at first, then acquiesced…Later she discovered that due to her lice infestation, the guards at the camp left her alone…

So 2010 is here, and I did not receive what I hoped, wished and prayed for in 2009… What am I going to do? Accept it. Does that mean I’m giving up on my dreams? Not hardly. I’m just accepting God’s sovereignty and waiting for His direction…

2010 is something the Lord made, and I will rejoice and be glad!

Any thoughts?

P.S. Mos Def portrayed Thomas in the movie…He is sexy for real…although buddy got eight chillun with four women according to Wikipedia…that ain’t too sexy…

Posted on

We Are Single Because We Want To Be…

Hello World!!!

Aside from reading Charlayne Hunter-Gault’s memoir, I also carved some time out of my vacation to finally read Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell. While I devoured the hit show when it was on HBO, and I now savor the reruns, I had never read the actual book that inspired the groundbreaking show before a few weeks ago.

In the Introduction, Bushnell said the book’s central theme is the answer to this question – Why Are We Still Single?  This is her answer – “Now, with a few years’ perspective on this issue, I can safely conclude that we are single because we want to be.”

Wow! Since reading that statement, I have been digesting what that means to me and my other still single girlfriends. Just before I read the book, maybe a few days before even, the church pianist came up to me after church one Sunday and said something like, “When are you getting married? I’m trying to hold on so I can play at your wedding.” A guy who was nearby said, “I’ve asked her out, but she won’t go out with me.” The church pianist then said, “Oh, she’d be married by now if she wanted to be.” And my dear old Dad has pointed out to me recently that I have made ambivalent statements about being shackled..er…hitched.

So what am I saying? Gather any group of 30ish women for more than 20 minutes and the conversation will eventually shift toward a discussion about relationships. My girlfriends and I are no different. Since we crossed the 30-year-old threshold, we have discussed relationships with a urgency that wasn’t present a decade earlier. It’s not that we define ourselves singularly by our romantic relationships, but having a rich and rewarding partnership with a significant other is important. A 40ish, single friend of mine said a lot of it is biological; she has assured me that if I reach my 40s without being married, that desire will not be as strong. To that I say maybe so, but I’m not there yet.

But even as we desire to floss that rock, bag a husband and retire to the burbs, I wonder if some of us are really ambivalent about the whole thing. To that end, I have compiled a list of 10 actions that may prove that you are secretly ambivalent about the husband hunt.  As they say, “actions do speak louder than words.” These are in no particular order. Also, I will not disclose the actions I have taken…hey you gotta keep something to yourself.

1. You live in the A. Some of my friends are seriously considering moving to another city because they believe that the wealth of women in the city prevent the menfolk from having class in dating in general or from having to make any real commitments. Asking a girl over to your home for a 1 a.m. drink is not anyone’s idea of a romantic first date. Trust me, it’s all downhill from there…

2. You date bad boys and try to make them into church-going deacons. If you met a dude in the club, it’s possible that you can get him to go to church with you. (Hey, I’ve been known to stumble in at daylight Sunday morning, nod off for a hours, and head back out to the mid-morning church service.) But if you make this a habit, this action says more about you than it does about the guy. Marinate on this for a minute…

3. You date self-professed, commitment-phobes. Hmm, I’ve come to believe that if someone tells who he is, you’d be smart to believe him.

4. You constantly date guys that live out of state. What’s up with that? Is it because there are no good guys around or are you somehow unavailable at a deeper level?

5. You run from guys that like you, but chase after the ones that don’t want to be caught. The “thrill of the chase” really sucks…

6. You have a long list of requirements that no one, save Barack Obama (hey Michelle already got that on lock), can measure up to. “Something New” is a good movie about throwing your so-called requirements out the window and actually accepting what you need rather than what you think you want in a man.

7. You blame your dating history on your dating partners rather than occasionally looking at your side of the street. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Get a grip. Sometimes, YOU are the problem.

8. You’re desperate. Yeah, I want to get married some day, but I enjoy my own company. I mean, chill.

9. You’re mean. I really think that like attracts like. In my humble opinion, if you manage to be loving to all people whether it be the guy that keeps offering to wash your windshield at a downtown intersection to your backbiting co-worker, then I believe that you will attract love – romantic and otherwise.

10. You forget to pray. If you’re a Christian, this means that you have to have a dialogue with God about what His will is for your life. It may or may not include a husband. Them’s the breaks.

Hey, I’m no counselor or therapist, but I think I could be right here. What do you think?

Any thoughts?

P.S.  This is 10.5. You date a guy simply because he looks like Tupac. You rationalize that he will eventually get a house, a car and a clue…Hey at 25, this is fun…at 35, not so much…:)

P.P.S. Guys please comment!!!