Sex, The City, And Penn State

If you haven't guessed from my previous blog posts my mother and I are extremely close. Naturally she is the main influencer of the kinds of television shows and movies I would watch. Since I was little my mom would be watching Sex and the City, the television show, and it seemed so amazing with the gorgeous clothes, a glamorous look at New York City, and of course the group of women who are the ultimate best friends. I wanted to watch it so I could learn lessons on fashion, friendship, and most importantly love. Once I was old enough I started to watch Sex and the City with my mom and it has been a solid bonding experience. Once I finished the TV series it was onto the film, which is still what I watch when I want a pick me up.

The film follows the television series and is supposed to wrap up the lives of the four best friends who the audience has watched grow, fall in and out of love as well as wear amazing outfits. The four best friends are Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. All interesting women with different personalities that make up an unstoppable group. It has been popular for fans to identify with one friend so I will say mine, Charlotte the hopeless romantic. She is sweet, honest, and is looking for true love (I can honestly say this is me just look at how many quizzes I've taken to confirm this). Miranda is the not afraid to speak her mind, tends to be a pessimist, but is so loyal to all of her friends. Samantha is bold, brave, and well outgoing especially when it comes to sex. Carrie is free spirited, knows who she is as a person, and is trying to find someone who won't change her but compliment her. These women go through trials and tribulations in the TV show and by the moive most of them have found "the one". Carrie is getting married, Miranda has a son and is getting married, Charlotte is married and has a daughter, and Samantha has a reliable boyfriend.


Throughout the film as well as the TV show everyone seemed to constantly be looking for "the one" besides Samantha. Yes they all had career goals and other things going on in their life but honestly it was kind of obnoxious how everything seemed to be centered around "landing your perfect man". As much as I love the show and movie that is just not an acceptable message to portay to women. No one has to be constantly looking for love becuase that is exhausting and your not focusing on other important aspects of life. Instead of contantly searching, take a step back and try and let love find you.


While the women were looking for love a lot they were extremley hard workers. Miranda is an attorney who is tough and works her butt off especially to support her son. Her husband is a bar tender so she actually makes more money than he does. The show did branch out to show that there relationship remained normal and her husband had no problem of this which I appreciated. Charlotte works in an art gallery and has a keen eye for discovering new talent which is extremley impressive. Samantha is a successful PR pro for some of the most famous actors in Hollywood including her boyfriend. Carrie began as a columnist and then became a book author. All these women worked extremley hard to be successful which is truly inspiring. This makes the charatcers even more relatable because all of their careers require different skill sets.


All in all this show and movie has been with me throughout high school and has taught me some very important lessons. While there are some dissapointments there are plenty of good and sound advice given throughout the series. I highly recommend watching both the series and the film.

I Just Want to Be Friends...With Benefits

The classic relationship I tend to notice in college is the great friends with benefits title. The meaning of friends with benefits are two friends who are physically involved but not emotionally involved. It seems like the perfect solution if you don't want to commit...but it isn't entirely. A lot of times one person develops feelings for the other and then everything turns into a mess. As seen in the movie Friends With Benefits starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. The movie takes place in New York and Kunis' character is a headhunter who hires Timberlake as an art director for GQ magazine. They are both attracted to each other but do not want a relationship. One night they start talking about sex and relationships; they both agree that sex should not have to come with so many emotional attachments. They begin casually sleeping with each other but remain friends. Things start to get complicated when Timberlake's character starts developing feelings for Kunis' character.


Throughout the film the audience sees a push and pull of the two characters in their feelings towards eachother and the kind of relationship they are looking for. The first lesson the film provides is that every opportunity is once in a lifetime. Timberlake's character was an art director of a small website in Los Angeles when he got the call to interview for a job at GQ in New York. Meeting Mila Kunis' character was also a once in a lifetime situation becuase who stays friends with the headhunter from the company that hired you. All of these once in a lifetime chances should be noticed and you should do something about it. Take the leap into a better job, ask out the person who intrigues you, and live life to the fullest.

Another lesson provided by the film is that being "emotionally damaged/ unavailable" is an excuse not to date and hate on relationships. Everyone comes with emotional damage, has been hurt by other people; honestly it is not a good enough excuse to not believe in relationships. Both characters tend to talk about their respective emotional damage and while the audience is supposed to relate/ feel symptahy is tends to get a bit difficult. Finding a good relationship with someone who just fits with you is amazing and should not be taken for granted.

All in all the film is entertaining and has its sweet moments. It also shows the fairly common outcome of a friends with benefits relationship. However the grand romanctic gesture and then entering into a relatioinship is on the other end of the "common" spectrum. Either way taking opportunities that are presented, living life to the fullest, and appreciating relationships are all important lessons to take away from the film.

Clueless About Love

A crush, like, love; are all confusing in the teenager years leading up to adulthood. Trying to distinguish between all three is incredibly difficult and honestly exhausting. All of the questions like "Am I cute enough?, Did they actually look at me?, Will we be together forever?". Some teenagers do think these exact questions, others think of questions that are similar. The key to help figuring it all out is a core friend group of course. Well sort of since they are in the same boat as everyone else. But figuring it all out is a part of discovering oneself and growing up.

The classic movie Clueless starring Brittany Murphy, Alicia Silverstone, and Paul Rudd. (Not going to mention another somewhat famous actress because I generally don't agree with her opinions at all. You know who). A timeless classic about a rich, privileged girl feeling the need to "help"everyone around her. Whether it be a makeover or being a match maker Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is always trying to help others. Cher is hopelessly clueless when it comes to understanding love and generally the world around her. She does have redeeming qualities and a huge heart. Her huge heart can be seen in the way that she loves and cares for her friends. The first lesson Clueless gives is that your inner friendship circle is something to cherish. Having those people to tell every secret, share every heartbreak, and people you can just sit around and laugh with. These are going to be some of the most important people in your life.

Another great lesson that Clueless provides is that you may find love where you least expect it. It can pop out of anywhere and keeping an open mind is super important. Finding that person that challenges you, accepts your personality, and makes you happy to be around is possibly the right person for you. Allowing yourself to look past your ideal "perfect person" and allow yourself to just fall makes you realize how closed off you've really been. While I'm not saying that you should be scouting out your ex-stepbrother, keeping an open mind to people and to the world will lead to such greater things. 

All in all Clueless is a pretty great movie. It's funny, has lovable characters, and everyone ends up routing for love. Yes it has its flaws like all romantic comedies do but this one really does have a sweet portrayal of romance. Remember to always stop for stop signs, be confident in your fashion choices, and keep an open mind for love. 

Beauty and the Briefcase Ha...Get it?

The ironic yet still funny take on the classic film Beauty and the Beast comes to our screen with Beauty and the Briefcase. Starring hillary Duff as the female lead and Michael McMillian as the male lead, the story follows an up and coming writer who goes undecover in the business world to find love. Why go undercover in the business world? For the magazine Cosmospolitan of course (aka The Holy Grail). As this is the characters first article for the extremley popular magazine she dives head first into the business world. Her job is to find her magic man becuase for some reason no women in New York can find one. Honestly I am still not sure how that is possible but..fine..it's the plot of the movie.

The female character Lane, goes out on many many dates with different guys who meet some points on her "checklist". Which brings me to my first bad advice point, a person does not need a checklist to find love. Yes I understand finding someone with similar interests and who is stable is important but if you find love with someone who you didn't think you would fall for, that is totally fine. Be happy, be in love, but do not create a crazy checklist with impossibly high standards.

In the movie the wardrobe choices for Lane and some of the other females are very interesting becuase it usually involved bright colors and form fitting attire. When Lane first arrives at the office her female coworkers and dressed in drab clothing that is also unfitted. As Lane walks through the office her male coworkers are constantly checking her out and making some sort of comment. Now I understand male attention is great but the message the movie gives about how to get that attention is wrong. The CEO of a company should not be getting distracted by a woman in a tight fitting skirt and honestly the entire office was ready to be an HR problem.

The postive message this movie brings is directly at the end. As I mentioned earlier you do not need a checklist to find the perfect perso, you just need your perfect person. They will pop out of nowhere and will take your breath away. Finally Lane learns this and moves on with her life, and ditches the checklist (yay!). Giving good love advice is hard, especially in a cheesy ABC family movie. But the message the film brings at the end is what is importnat. You can find love anywhere and once you do, just let yourself fall.