Sex and the City 2

I'll admit, I went into Sex and the City 2 with little hope for the movie. The result? My expectations were not only proven correct, I had severally underestimated.

Now I must mention that I was not a huge fan of the first movie. Now on to the plot: we revisit the girls 2 years after the first movie. Carrie: is married to Big and living the typical married life (i.e. boring), Charlotte: is an overstressed mother of two with a very well endowed nanny; Samantha: is going through menopause and has found every possible "natural" means of stopping the change; and finally Miranda: is dealing with work related stress issues. The majority of the second half of this lengthy film, takes place in Abu Dhabi, where the four-some go for some much needed relaxation time. There the girls take in the scenery (and some men), clash with the culture, and (as the trailer hints at) Carrie runs into her ex Aidan Shaw (who I may add was looking particularly yummy in this film).

Review:

My biggest problem with the movie was how over the top it was. The dialogue seemed too cheesy, with sex filled one liners thrown in by the characters just for laughs. The trip to Abu Dhabi, while absolutely gorgeous, seemed like a failed attempt at creating a plot for the film rather than building a plot around it. The whole movie felt so far removed from the characters we had grown to love through the series. An additional comment that was echoed by a few of my friends were some of the cultural comments made by the characters, which were at times cringe-worthy.

I will note that while I am not often a fan of the clothing, both in the show and in the movies, I absolutely love, love, loved the clothes in this movie. From Miranda's plunging neckline dress to Carrie's billowing white dress at the end I must admit Patricia Field nailed this one.

Final thoughts: unless your a die hard Sex and the City fan I'd say skip it and rent it later

"literary crack"

So I've become absolutely addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, like completely addicted. So it was no surprise to me that when I picked up the next in the series that I hadn't devoured yet the sale's lady referred to the books as "literary crack." I just had to use that line somewhere, as it was not only the perfect sentiment toward these books, but also just a great line...

Caffeinated and Eco-Friendly

So I recently purchased this coffee travel mug so I don't have to keep throwing away all those Styrofoam cups for my coffee (so not earth friendly...). I found this one one ThinkGeek, a website that sells really cool stuff like caffeine molecule travel mugs to geeks like me (seriously though the site has a lot of really cool products that I highly recommend checking out). I can't wait to get it in the mail!

Hephaestus

I had the opportunity last week to catch the play Hephaestus, now showing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. As a fairly recent Chicago resident, I hadn't had the pleasure of seeing this performance when they were last in the windy city. Needless to say I was impressed...


The full title of this amazing play is Hephaestus: A Greek Mythology Circus Tale, the title of which pretty much sums up the entire performance. Think traditional Greek mythology tale combined with the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil. The performance was breathtaking, from the actors, to the circus acts, to the music...it was absolutely beautiful. I cannot rave about/recommend going to see this if you haven't already.

For more information check out the Goodman Theatre website at http://www.goodmantheatre.org/


Next on my list of plays I want to see is Fuerza Bruta: Look Up, check out the trailer for it below along with the trailer for Hephaestus.

Hephaestus: A Greek Mythology Circus Tale


Fuerza Bruta

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I feel like I haven't written in ages...I love writing for the pure joy of putting words on paper (or on the screen) even if no one reads it there is still something so satisfying for me about doing it. That being said on to my actual post...

Summer's here and though I am an adult I still get a thrill out of going to my local book shop and seeing the section of books marked off as "Summer Reading." I know it sounds dorky, but despite a hectic schedule I still somehow manage to read more books during the summer than any other time of year. One of the books I happened to read (at the suggestion of my mom) was "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave. The book tells the stories of two women in parallel. One is a white woman living in England, who is struggling with personal problems. Another is a woman named Little Bee, a refugee who fled from Niger following the oil conflicts. The novel is laid out so that the chapters alternate between the perspectives of both women. As their stories unfold you discover how their lives came to be entangled.

I found that for me, half the intrigue was discovering just exactly what had caused these two seemingly completely different women's lives to intertwine. The novel definitely touches upon some heavy issues within its pages and is not for the person who is looking for an easy beach read by any means. That being said I finished the novel within two days as I simply couldn't put it down. While initially I'd be hesitant about a book that changed narrative perspectives (past experience has made me wary of books that make use of this technique), I found that it was quite easy to follow and enhanced the pleasure of reading the book immensely. I highly recommend reading this novel for those who are interested.

Image from Chris Cleave's website, check it out at www.chriscleave.com to learn more about his books.