Archive for the 'Essays' Category
How is this a Chic Flick?
I went on a binge for stories since I’m short on stories and I decided to go after romantic comedies…
About 50% are about sanctioned cheating.
The movies with men in them have them being jerks and chasing women for basically sex. More than half is about how the man in less than two months slept with a number of women while separated from the mysterious female. (All I can think of is STDs)
And then the ones with the serious separation time that makes me want to bang my head against the desk and ask what are they thinking? Sorry, 3 years is three years too long. Spend more time on developing the relationship and less on montage scenes and separation montage scenes–please.
Then there are the films about women who dress up in heels and magically gets the man, whom they most likely did 1-4 with and then sleeps with a bunch of guys–and while I don’t sanction men doing that–I don’t sanction women either.
Women who seek love aren’t that stupid. We don’t sleep with 20 guys, in order to take back sexual power and then have to determine ourselves by men’s standards and then end up trying to reclaim our feminine power through things like clothes and make up (more men’s terms). Women can be women too without having to bend to how men define women. I want to see that in a romantic comedy. I want to see a woman being a woman, doing well at her job without being shown as a goodie two shoes or a bitch, but human trying to seek love without having to do the “OMG a make over.” I want to see women being women trying to keep a marriage together and rekindle that relationship. And I don’t like watching sanctioned cheating as if there is someone saying, “Hey cheat–it’s OK.” and when you ask the film why, it says something like, “It’s reclaiming the sexual power of women.” Can there be a romantic comedy without the rival? Without the Best Friend ever? Why can’t we women get films that actually empower women who are trying to seek love and a career–in true instance?
Is it sad the closest we got was When Harry Met Sally? Sally was flawed, not a bitch. But there was nothing really slimming her into a role of what is “female” v. what is “male” which just makes me gag more watching these films, which just feels like a long lecture to no where. Maybe I’m the only woman in history that dislikes shopping for clothes and doesn’t buy into the White Middle Class WASP definition of dating.
Maybe this list is the reason why I quit watching American Romantic comedy.
More professions are writer or in the industry… lazy writers.
Birthday?
I’ve had very few non-sucky birthdays. On my birthday I either hibernate or go out and tell myself I’m special by buying a birthday present for myself. I also never list my birthday anywhere.
I always find it funny when people say to me, “I don’t know what to buy you.”
Let’s get this straight. Since I was 5 I’ve been making up stories. I’ve also been one to draw, crochet, knit, garden, travel, eat, and generally geek out. I also sew and make my own clothes which I design myself. I obsess so much that I have lists of stuff I like floating around both online (amazon) and offline.
This is a true story, but the only person who got me lined paper and writing materials for my birthday was my writer’s assistant (She nominated herself for the job). There was a journal with a calligraphy pen before that from a friend of my parents, but I really never used that.
Everyone knows I’m a writer and pretty particular about my notebook choices. If I got a lifetime supply of Mead paper cover college rule notebooks in 8.5 Spiral without perforation or holes, I think I’d die under the stack in utter joy because they are damned hard to find these days. 100+ pages… You should have seen the shopping list when I wrote I needed a notebook when I was younger.
Cheese–I like my stronger cheeses. I hate the weak wimpy stuff. Particularly after a few months writing about cheese for one chapter.
All in all, my writer’s assistant was pretty shocked that people thought I was hard to buy for.
I’ve been the one whose pretty good at nailing birthday presents. I’ll plan ahead 6 months in advance, calculate the money I need, the birthday cake composition and make the reservation, if I need to. I’ve been known to send out invitation 4 months in advance.
How? I pay attention for the entire year for what people ask for, want and dream about, then wrack my brain for the best solution to that. It’s my own personal pride being invested into spending that long on a present.
This year my birthday present is a cake, and a trip to a cajun restaurant that’s nearby. Don’t know if family will be there, but I really don’t care. One should be able to celebrate the life one has. I’m debating various presents for myself, such as a day/days off and buying SIMS Ambitions. I kinda want a Cinnamon ball python, but that’s out of range right now… (Eyeing a female Black back Cinnamon ball python by Albey’s Reptiles…) Maybe I’ll also get some writing done.
Unlike last year I’m not counting on my parents to really spend time into a present. I learned my lesson after failing plenty of times. I always come last.
So partying by myself reaffirms myself that in someone’s world I come first–mine–at least once a year. That’s a pretty important thing to remind yourself of.