Archive for the ‘pop culture digression’ Category

Oh Baby

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

So as we all know Beyonce had a baby.  Whoop de do, women do such things every day. However, I was intrigued by the rumor that they paid to have some master suite built at Lenox Hill Hospital for this magical occasion of bringing the most royal of all musical offspring into the world. At first I thought “that is so ridiculous!” and then I thought about their combined bank accounts ($834,566,979,000,000,000,000,000) and realized that if I were Beyonce, I’d be like “hell yes you are building me a super suite for me to push this thing out in!” Now there are pictures of said suite and info that they actually didn’t pay for it but CHRISTENED it (paid for by the hospital for super VIP’s) but whatevs. It looks like a W Hotel. Can I make a reservation for when/if I am screaming in pain with contractions??? I’m sure they consider a blogger on par with B.

I dunno, i think it would be hilarious if there were a ping pong table in there to kill time between contractions.

Andrew could sleep here while avoiding all things stirrup related.

“Hi Contractor, I want my kitchen to look like Jay and B’s birthing suite…”

Does it make me a bigger diva than Beyonce to exclaim that I can only give birth in rooms with dark wood floors…. these just don’t cut the mustard for a $1million reno.

images via TMZ

And in other news, I am so honored to be nominated amongst some of my favorite blogs for the Design Bloggers Conference Hall of Fame Award for Best Overall Design Blog! Thank you!  If you feel so inclined, you can vote HERE!

You Know I Have to: Eclipse Review

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

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I’ve been working my butt off this week and even though I really shouldn’t have taken the afternoon off to see Eclipse, I simply HAD to before the holiday weekend rolled around. I told myself it was kind of “work” in the name of “blog research” to make myself feel less guilty.  I arrived at the theater frazzled with fingers flying over my Blackberry keyboard, but fully tricked out in my Team Edward baseball tee. In broad daylight. On a Thursday. If any of you happen to have thought I was “cool”, I completely proved you wrong yesterday- standing there on Tremont Street, a grown woman of 30 years wearing a shirt proclaiming her love for a 17 year old fiction vampire. Sometimes I even shake my head at myself in disgust.

My friend Sarah and I though by going at 3:30 we’d avoid the chatty, screaming teens- and we were wrooooong.  But despite the constant chatter behind us the movie totally rocked.  By far the best one yet. This director captured the vibe of the books better than any of the previous ones- with a little more depth and darkness and a lot more passion.  And he somehow managed to direct Kristen Stewart in a way that she seemed far less annoying and awkwardly awful than she did in New Moon.  I remember wanting to jump through the screen and throttle her if she did the huffing/pouting/lip biting thing one more time, but in this one I never got that feeling.  Her wig, however, was tragic and a smidge distracting. Actually, all the wigs/hair/makeup were distracting due to the stylists’ ridiculous heavy hand. It’s like “Okay, put down the white pace powder now. We get it. Their dead”.

But lets get down to it. Team Edward or Team Jacob?  Rob looked mighty fine in Eclipse (although he would look mighty fine in a garbage bag)- he even was able to pull off the skinny tie look without me balking, which is a feat. He makes a great Edward, physically,  and I find his restrained portrayal of the brooding vampire to be intriguing, but man do the teen girls LOVE them some Taylor Lautner! Homeboy comes on screen and it’s a deafening howl of hormones! I remember in the books not feeling a whole lot of pull from Jacob, but Taylor certainly adds a warmth, sweetness (and a heck of a six pack) to the character in a way that kind of (KIND OF) makes me partially Team Jacob.  His intensity in the film is really engaging and he makes Rob look a bit wimpy (physically and as an actor).  He makes you understand why Bella is having a hell of a hard time picking between the two fellas, although I agree with Sarah when she says she wants a t-shirt that says “Team Bella is a Whiny B*tch and Doesn’t Deserve Either One of Them”.  The love triangle story is compelling, and while I could do without the obvious “don’t have sex until your married” subplot/lecture, they made this film a bit sexier.  Well, as sexy as a PG-13 movie penned by a  Mormon for 13 year olds can get.

The plot moves really swiftly, sticks to the parameters of the book and the action scenes are good enough that I think guys might actually like the film and not be more inclined to get a root canal than take their girlfriends/wives to it. The newborn clan on vampires are great, especially the gorgeous fella playing Riley,  but I thought that Bryce Dallas Howard was miscast as Victoria. Her face is too wholesome and sweet to convey that her character is such a scary bad ass.  There are some cheesy parts (it’s Twilight after all), but I think I maybe only groaned once or twice- far less than the other movies.   I’m positive the teens behind us thought Sarah and I were lame old hags with our commentary like “Christ Edward, you’re a millionaire, get your undead butt down to Tiffany’s” when we see Bella’s engagement ring. But overall my expectations were surpassed and I really enjoyed it- even is my stressed out state.  I of course am going to go back for a second viewing with some other friends, and perhaps I’ll have a more interesting review then, but until then Eclipse get’s two big thumbs up from this Twihard!

Sex and the City 2 Review

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

**Spoiler warning- I may give away more than you want to know if you have not seen the movie!

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As most of you are/were, I was anticipating the Sex and the City 2 release with intense eagerness, high expectations and gleeful anxiety to be reunited with my favorite friends (fake friends, but still “friends”).  I went Friday night with one of my girls, and after letting it sit with me over the long weekend, I hate to say it, but I was not a fan.  It’s hard to even explain or put into words, but I’ll try. The essence of what I loved so much about the series and the first movie- the “OMG, I’ve so been there” closeness and bravery and humility in topic choice- seemed missing and in the place of that was a whole lotta flashiness, generally unattractive clothes and a smug detachment from the audience that made the series such a phenomenon. It felt like a big, glittery, campy SHOW, and less like a carefully woven tale of the continuing  lives of these four women we’ve grown to care about so much.

Now, there were things I loved, of course.  As expected, Carrie and Big’s apartment was a cool, rich, collaborative  space with fun bits and pieces that delighted the designer in me (did anyone else notice the Forbes & Lomax clear toggle light switches?No? Just me? Figures.) I didn’t love all of it, but the overall feeling I got from it seemed realistic and like it was carefully curated to look like a combination of the both of the characters. And that closet? I die. But it did feel serious, dark and gave off a very somber vibe.  Seeing Carrie waltz into her old renovated apartment made me long for the lively, bold Carrie of yesteryear! I believe I let out an audible “awwwwwww!”. That space continues to be a favorite of mine and in a way, it made me sad seeing it again.  Perhaps that was their intent.

The fashion was up and down- Miranda looked fierce and her wardrobe was the best in my opinion- wearable yet fashion forward.  Carrie had her moments (the full skirt and Dior t-shirt in the bazaar was entirely ridiculous YET beyond amazing), the dress she wore that made Aidan’s jaw drop and her Halston Heritage pieces (which left me wanting to log into Net-A-Porter immediately) all were examples of Patricia Field’s genius- but what on EARTH was she thinking with that lace crown thingy she wore in Standford’s wedding??? I could not believe my eyes! Some of Samantha’s outfits made me want to avert my gaze and I’m having a hard time recalling any of Charlotte’s clothes, which means they weren’t anything special to me. As for that karaoke scene- all I can ask is why? Painful.

Emotionally, I felt it tried very hard to touch on many woman’s issues (the difficulty of motherhood, work stress, menopause, marriage boredom) which I appreciated ,and yet it felt a bit forced.  Kristin Davis did an incredible job portraying the new mother confused by the love  and despair she feels with her current life and her struggle to make everything seem perfect. Yet I found the Samantha storyline to be lacking taste and depth.  I would have rather seen her wrestle with and embrace her emotions regarding getting older as a single woman instead of fighting it tooth and nail while wearing desperate looking outfits. Miranda’s storyline was very unremarkable in it’s complexity, which is a shame since she’s a great actress and handled her heartbreaking role in the first movie fantastically.

As for Carrie, dear Carrie- I was most disappointed by her. I myself am “a Carrie” (according to the bevy of online quizzes I’ve taken) and I’ve always felt such a  connection to her emotional complexity, confusion, creativity, weakness, strength, humor and ability to wear her heart on her sleeve.  When I saw the preview included a reunion with Aidan my heart skipped a beat.  As debonair and sexy as Big is, Aidan is my forever favorite for her. His passion for her was never in doubt and the fact that she screwed it up with him not once but twice broke my heart.  I was happy when she found peace with Big, and seeing that she was bored by him only two years into marriage felt like a cop out for a storyline.  Of course, I identified with her frustration with the repetitive predictability that can be marriage and the HORROR of receiving a gift that renders you slack jawed in shock from it’s complete lack of thoughtfulness. For example, I once got a candle shaped like a pair of flip flops and a stuffed animal (together) for my birthday and immediately started sobbing that my husband-then-boyfriend had no idea who I was. (For the record I hate cutesy candles AND stuffed animals). In both instances, it’s not about the material goods, but rather the communication that the giver understands your passions and personal interests.  The other part that tickled me was the fact that in every marriage there will come a time when you have to frantically wave your arms (even while wearing lingerie) to get the the attention of your tv-zombie husband. Even when you’re Carrie Bradshaw IN lingerie. But that is where my enjoyment ended.

What I missed was Carrie and New York. Carrie and her writing. Carrie and her inner monologue! She seemed different, as lame as that sounds, and maybe it’s because she’s older and wiser, but maybe it’s because the producers didn’t try as hard this time around because they knew this was going to make money no matter what and they could simply phone it in.  Her dalliance with Aidan was so brief and so anti-climactic that I was fidgeting in my seat! His admissions to her about he felt about her, even after they both got married and moved on, had my heart beating faster. But then  this quick kiss, scamper off and selfish admission to Big followed by a big, fat diamond from him to remind her “not to kiss other men” felt waaaaaaaaaay too neatly tied up for me and lacking in the obvious inner turmoil that would most certainly inhabit all involved- Carrie, Aidan AND Big, who didn’t seem to care that much.

I’m interested to hear what you guys think. Perhaps I need to see it again, but I know that I’m not the only one who was let down by this film…. regardless, I actually hope they do NOT make a third and leave us to revisiting the episodes that made this series such a  big part of our lives.

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