Drop Dead Diva Love

I am such a huge fan of Drop Dead Diva! I have been since I started watching it on Lifetime a couple years ago. The show is now in its fourth season. The central character, Jane Bingum, is played by Brooke Elliot. She is fabulous.



This song was featured on a super duper emotional scene on Drop Dead Diva. It was heart breaking and most of us can connect with bittersweet heart ache.

The premise of the show is DIFFERENT than anything that is currently out but works so well. I will not post any spoilers here but if you're interested in the show, Netflix is running all three seasons right now. Also, all three seasons are available on DVD.


So what, exactly, is the show about?


Guardian Angels
Best Friends
Love
Lawyers
Pop Music, sometimes Show Tunes
It's like the movie GHOST meets the TV show Ally McBeal meets Glee and they have a baby. The cast is spectacular. Each actor/actress is so perfect for the character they play. Margaret Cho is so awesome as a sarcastic legal assistant. But, Brooke Elliot shines like the star that she is.

Netflix Viewing: Greek

Over the weekend I had plans to watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean. I had to rethink that because I didn't really want to be packed into a theater on opening night when I could watch it during a matinee and have the theater almost all to myself. So this past weekend I opted for Netflix Viewing. I took in 9 episodes of the show GREEK.

It is based on the Greek system in colleges and universities across America. I never quite understood the Greek phenomena aside from the magic of a step-show. My ex-husband was part of a fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, and he was branded on his arm. It looked painful but I suppose it was something important to him for him to allow someone to brand him. I mean no disrespect when I critique his choice. It is what it is.

I thought it interesting that at our (me and the ex) wedding reception a guy recognized the actions and behavior of my then-husband as Que-doggish. He was a guest of a friend of mine. I had not met him previously so did not know that he too was a Que-dogg. They had a conversation that seemed to include all the "signals" of their organization. I don't know what the draw is for Greek organizations. My bloodlines, at least in the last 200 years or so as far as I know, do not lead back to Greece. So, what makes one desire to "pledge" to the fraternity/ sorority?

The television show Greek is a one-hour teenage drama. It seems to promote drinking and promiscuity while trying to maintain academic excellence (not). Odd, considering that the show airs on ABC Family. Is that what is considered family values now? The world is so confused as to what, exactly, constitutes family values. No one can agree. No philosophy is all-encompassing of the different types of social behaviors that are in the world. **sigh**

As I watch the show, I'm intrigued by the characters. They all appear to be versions of people that I know in real-life. Does art imitate life or vice-versa? What is good entertainment nowadays? There's tons of kissing and allusions to sex. Is this indicative of the normal college experience? Husband is not interested at all in the show. He was irritated that the only black male on the show happens to be the gay one. Is this a true sampling of society at large? **shrugs** What I do know is that I am probably going to finish off the series because I'm 9-episodes into all the characters.

What Not to Wear Therapy

This past Saturday TLC was running a What Not to Wear marathon. I DVR'd all the episodes that I didn't previously see and reviewed them later on in the evening. The premise of the show is to take a person that is fashion-challenged and make them over - new $5,000 wardrobe, hair, and makeup. I adore the hosts of the show Stacy & Clinton. Stacy reminds me of my cousin Honey Girl so she already has major brownie points with me. I remember when I lived in Kansas, I used to tune in to see Stacy because she looked like Honey Girl and I felt like I was back home again. That is the reason I became a fan of the show. Crazy but true. Clinton -- he's so fashion-savvy and soooo the guy next door. He reminds me of the character on My Best Friends Wedding, George, played by Rupert Everett. I wonder if Clinton is gay. He teeters on that fine line between being a "straight" male that has slightly fem attitude and a "straight" gay guy. Dare I google him?

Anyway, what amazes me about the whole process is how the person being made over sometimes experiences a "shift". Sometimes --no-- majority of the time, the person begins to change how they think just by overhauling the cosmetic parts of them (fashion, hair, and makeup). I wonder if this is why plastic surgery and bariatric surgery has become so trendy.

There was a moment in a particular episode that had me thinking about my own life. A Caucasian woman, age 52 from Texas donned one of her favorite outfits. Stacy and Clinton direct her to the 360 room (the room is round and the wall is all mirrors) where she talks about where she'd wear the outfit and all the reasons she loves it. She discloses that the outfit was purchased sometime in the early 80's. She absolutely adored the skirt set but any observer could see that it was not working for her. When Stacy and Clinton open the room to talk about the outfit, the first thing Clinton asks is, "What was going on in your life when you purchased this outfit?" The woman said that the early 80's was when she was the most happy she had ever been. Clinton told her that her emotional attachment to the outfit has more to do with what was going on in her life when she first began wearing the outfit and was doing nothing for her body.

In that moment, when Clinton lays out such a 'revealing revalation', I instantly think of my favorite shirt that I refuse to get rid of. I have never been able to figure out why it remains hanging in my closet. I just know that I take it with me everywhere. Normally, if I haven't worn an item in 6 months, it goes straight to the donation pile. This favorite shirt will probably never make it there unless a fashion intervention by Stacy and Clinton ambushes me.

 

  

 

Clinton mentioning the sentimental value reminded me of the extreme "shift" that was happening with me when I used to wear this particular shirt. The shirt was actually something I raided from a dear friend's closet. I thought it looked better on me than it did on her. She agreed and off it went with me to my house. This was happening when I was newly single, immediately after signing divorce papers. I felt pretty in that shirt and red happens to be one of my most favorite colors! So after signing divorce papers, I really began to fall in love with me. Hindsight being 20/20, I look back at that period in my life and recognize the "shift" in my mindset. I'm thinking that maybe the shirt reminds me of that "shift".

I emerged from that divorce a brand-new-me. Though I was miserably sad, I was also hopeful. I knew that I would never settle for mediocre treatment for the sake of saying, "I got a man". I would never settle for a relationship void of enduring love ever again. I would never, ever let someone walk all over my heart or shatter it in a thousand pieces. I valued me! I do believe all of 'that' is wrapped up in that one article of clothing.

Some people will never experience a "shift". They'll continue to live the same abusive day OVER AND OVER. The beautiful thing is that in every single moment, they can choose a different ending. You can choose a different beginning!

* * * * * * * * * *
What Not to Wear Photo Credit

Ladies Night: Sex & the City

Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) has to be one of the best characters, ever, in the history of chic flicks.

This post is for those who are not fans of the series or movie because I know that you obviously haven't seen either.

The series is based loosely on a book by Candace Bushnell, coupled with a column she wrote for The New York Observer. She says of the character, Carrie Bradshaw, "she's my alter ego". Four powerful, strong, career women are best friends in New York City. The series follows their lives, seperately, and together. They cover all kinds of issues in a comedic, over-the-top yet real-life way. I first started watching it religiously in 2003, when my ex-husband dumped me. Everytime I tuned in, I felt like I was sitting in on a really good conversation with my best girlfriends. In fact, many shows were the jumpoff for real-life conversations. Female fantasies about love and romance; relationship problems; and the issues that continually come up in love, marriage, and true friendship.

The series follows all four women and their problems with LOVE, romance, and sex. It is the funniest, real-est show about friends. The writers for the show are outstanding! The locale is fun and exciting. Beautiful, even. The fashion is fabulous. I know I had dreams about wearing stiletto Manolo Blahniks -- if only it were made in Polynesian-Feet sizes with the Payless price. The drama and comedy of it all still warms me. I think it's because I feel like they're my real friends that I've experienced all of their heartaches and happiness with. Isn't that what bonds us to our friends in real life? That we're able to laugh and cry without being judged for our imperfections?

The movie picks up where the series left off. Carrie and Bigg. I don't remember what season Bigg enters the series but he becomes the man that Carrie always wants to run back to. Even through all her relationships, including one that relocates her to Paris, the only man she ever fantasizes about is the one she can't have. Bigg. He is a self-professed BACHELOR and wants to stay that way forever.

The final episode of the final season places Carrie in Paris with a love interest that she thinks is "the one". The show is so cleverly written that we, the audience, have a huge love-hate relationship with Bigg right along with Carrie. So as we see Carrie leave New York for Paris with her new man, we know that she is still ever in love with Bigg and yet we sympathize with her and want her to move on because Bigg is just NOT READY to commit. Don't we see that in our best girlfriends lives? Maybe even in our own? In the closing scenes of the final episode, Bigg is in Paris searching for Carrie, to profess his love. As all good drama goes, they always seem to miss each other. Finally, in the end, they meet on the streets of Paris and Carrie realizes that she was made for Bigg and he for her. They return to New York and that closes out the series.

The movie picks up from there and Carrie and Bigg are set to finally get married. They go through the motions of planning a huge wedding complete with all the festivities and pomp of high society. They're scheduled to wed at in a gorgeous library. The gown, flawless. Everything is perfect. Right before the ceremony is to start, Bigg decides that he can't go through with it. All serious Sex & the City fans know that it had to be that way. Bigg would not be true to character if he actually went through with the BIG wedding.

The movie follows her as she processes the grief. Her best friends accompany her to the honeymoon. Best friends do that for each other. In this portion of the movie, I'm in tears and thinking about my closest friends that pulled me through the grief of my divorce. That's what I equate the hurt that Carrie was experiencing with. Even though all my conversations in that dark period of my life led to tears, they still hung with me and helped me through it. I bless their presence in my life. My mom was such a blessing too. What can a person do after being gilted? It's not like Carrie wanted to ever speak to him again and yet she did want to speak to him, to try and make sense of the senseless. The same thing happened to me after the ex and I finally signed divorce papers. I desperately wanted to speak to him but didn't want to, at the same time! Mad, sad, hurt... all of it!

There are several portions in the movie that brought me to tears. Happy tears and sad tears. The movie is so emotional and multi-faceted, like a woman is. In one scene, Carrie rhetorically asks, "When will I ever laugh again?" Miranda (the redhead) answers, "When something is REALLLLY funny." The comic relief that finally breaks Carrie from her depression is so simple, yet so funny. It's a moment that can only be shared amongst true friends.

This movie has become my new, favorite chic flick. I usually have a desire to pull it out while I'm PMS'ing when I'm just looking for a reason to cry and feel melancholy. The movie that used to do that for me is called, A Mirror Has Two Faces. Another great chic flick. Get that one! Anyway, I could run down the whole movie for you but that would be a spoiler. Especially if you're going to watch it. It is Rated R for strong, sexual content. So if that's not your thing, get the edited version or wait til it comes out on TBS or something. I'm sure it will have all the necessary elements.

Ultimately, the movie reminds me of my best friends and how they've affected me. How they've supported me through the good, the bad, and the very ugly. It reminds me of love and romance and the issues that affect our relationships.

FOXTV: Reunion

I rarely watch TV. However, I do love a good story.

I used to be the BIGGEST fan of all the CSI shows until I started predicting the plot. I'm sure many of us do that. For me, that's my que to exit stage left. LOL... If I find myself watching the boob tube, you'll find me on the food network... duh! A big girl loves to watch food being prepared. I call it the boob tube cause that's all you see on TV nowadays... boobs, tits, breasts... whatever you wanna call it. Lord knows that a woman is so much more than that.

Sometimes I'll catch an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. I also love the makeover shows on TLC. Trading Spaces, Clean Sweep, While You Were Out, What Not to Wear... you get the idea. Transformation is fun to watch.

This brings me to, what will hopefully be, my addiction for the fall TV lineup. REUNION!!!! The premiere was on Thursday and I missed it. Lucky for me, Fox had an encore showing this evening. So where do we begin? In case you didn't visit the website and have no intention of watching the show along with me, the blurb from the website states:

In 1986 they were the best of friends. By 2005 one will be murdered. All will be suspects.....The new show where every episode is another year. And every year reveals another step in solving the mystery of the murder between high school friends. The six characters age from 18 to 38 in the course of one television season.

I think the ENTIRE premise of the show is brilliant.

FOX has really stepped up their fall lineup. They have some really good shows. Last season... HOUSE was my Tuesday night addiction. I was hooked on North Shore for a minute but that show got cancelled. The absence of 'ethnicity' buggs me out but well, I can't really do anything about it UNTIL I actually own a broadcasting company. LOL... am I wrong? Even if I boycott the station, there are still millions of others that ARE watching it.

Back to this new show, REUNION. Has any other network tried this format? Most shows create the crime and solve it in one episode. Reunion has created JUST ONE crime and has written a whole seasons worth of shows to solve it. So we get to witness all these different stories with these six characters. Click for a RECAP.

I absolutely adore the character of WILL. He's the son of a landscaper and his best friend happens to be a REALLY rich kid. Will goes to jail for Craig for vehicular manslaughter.

The REALLY rich kid is Craig. He seems like he's a good enough kid but you just KNOW that he'll be as manipulative as his father is. Go figure.

Aaron is heading off to MIT and he is in love with the resident whore, Jenna. Aaron is a virgin but Jenna deflowers him before the episodes end.

Carla is in love with Aaron. Her mother died when she was 11 and she was very ANGRY. Her best friend is Samantha... who is Craig's girlfriend... but she's pregnant from WILL.

The writers did an EXCELLENT job of blasting us with six intriguing characters. Six friends, a thousand stories and the stories are happening in the relationships. I can't wait til next Thursday.

I rarely watch TV. However, I do love a good story.

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

I feel impressed to share how I've been feeling lately. I hope this will be my last and final entry about Katrina.

Katrina and the devastation it left behind can be looked at from so many angles. I've watched some of what is on the television. I've read blogs. I've read news articles. What is most lacking, for me, is the absence of HOPE. Part of my cynical eyes refuse to see the HOPE in any of the literature or media available because I KNOW the media profits off the devastation. The longer they prolong it, the longer they can sell those advertisements. So if you follow the money trail, you know that the "absence of HOPE" is paramount.

Yet there is HOPE. There can be happiness if we allow ourselves to see it. Imagine the brand newness of starting all over again. The loss of property and "stuff" is the least to be worried about. I understand that many lives have been lost and that is tragic, above all else. Lives cannot be replaced, stuff CAN!

I refuse to get sucked into the media's portrayal of despair, gloom and desperation. I am hopeful that folks will be able to persevere and flourish.

BTW: I hear that truckers strike was a rumour.

Wake Up Call

Everyone has an angle, an opinion. Like an asshole, we all have one!

Everyone gives their spin on the state of the world.

Everyone has a "10-Second-Take" on current events.... and so do I!

I've been searching the blog world, voraciously reading the blogs that have analyzed Katrina and its significance. Folks have ideas on last Decembers tsunami in Indonesia and why or how it plays into the political and financial arena. Are they related to each other, aside from them being "natural" disasters? Are they even natural? A natural disaster is not so natural.

There is a connection! Everything is connected... just as ALL systems of the body are intricately connected, so are the current events that are playing out weaved together.

**WARNING: This is ALL my opinion culminated from reading and studying. It may cause skepticism but as I stated before, like an asshole - we all have an opinion. It may cause you to think that I am just plum outta my mind. Who cares? I don't!**

There are excellent book sources out there, most of which are out of print. However, the most recent book that is probably most helpful to bring you up to speed is Crossing The Rubicon by Michael C. Ruppert. I have actually met this man, took pictures and have spoken with him. It was a great experience. The book is an easy read even though it exceeds 600 hundred pages. I have never felt more empowered about the status of the world and how to better prepare for the worst.... that MUST COME TO PASS.

There is an intentional dumbing down going on around the country and its been in place for at least a century. Since government schools were implemented, curriculums have been manipulated and the product of schools, "employees", insure an endless supply of "human resources". That is an entirely different subject and deserves a post of its own... but it starts there... in school.

Today, I'd really like to look at the mass psychology that happens with the media because it is the most prevalent source of information in America. Why do I imply that the media, namely television, is the most prevalent source? Well, because no matter what economic position you're in, rich or poor, majority of homes in America have a television. Back to the mass psychology. A perfect example is the difference we've seen in how the media portrays people of color in regards to KATRINA and the looting going on. African Americans are "looting" while White people are "finding necessities". Well, that's what the media says.

Americans have been feeding into the media frenzy for decades now. How the media portrays people are intentional. Most folks take what is said on the television as gospel and never look further into what is being said. We KNOW that white people are right along side black people, looting and robbing. However, enter Ms. Molly and Mr. Folly whose only nourishment for the brain is TV. They believe it and feed into it. The side effect: Black people are looting for personal gain and white people are doing it to survive. So when, Ms. Molly or Mr. Folly come across a black person, the images they've seen on TV pop into their head. It's crazy.

So let's take this in another direction, completely separate of race. Failing to tell you what you need to know, omission, is the media's biggest profit. They control those of you that don't feed your brain with alternative theories and rely solely on the television. Everything the media portrays is SPIN. Everything I say is SPIN.... It is not just written to put my beliefs on display, it is written to evoke a certain emotion; to persuade you. The same is true for the media. I believe that if media were COMPLETELY unbiased, information would be disseminated as bullet points and headlines instead of essays and reports. All the added language is fluff and is part of the "intentional dumbing down". It is written solely to convince you to go in a given direction.

America tried and convicted Usama bin Laden without any facts, without a jury, without a court, without one shred of feasible evidence. The mass media's coverage of George Bush hypnotized an entire nation to go after Usama and al Qaeda. If that can be done to one man, imagine what the media can do to a class of people. An entire race of people.

Anyway, just days after 9/11, homeland security was implemented. I've touched on the comparisons between Hitler and Bush in regards to "the homeland". Right along side homeland security, the Patriot Act was voted in. Does the average American realize that the Patriot Act strips every single liberty guaranteed by the constitution of the United States? If you have seen the movie, Enemy of the State... that movie is VERY POSSIBLE, thanks to the Patriot Act. Freedom in America, what a concept!

I was caught in the rhetoric of September 11th. I was next to every American trying and convicting Usama based on George W. Bush's emotionally charged speeches. But more significantly, I was seduced by the media's portrayal of Usama and the media's coverage of "everything George". So folks, this is your wake up call! This is your call to action to feed your brain with something other than the television.

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!

TV Court

Lately I've been watching TV court religiously. My favorites are Judge Mathis, Judge Judy, Judge Joe Brown and The People's Court. In that order. It's a toss up on the reasons I happen to love courtroom comedy. I get a good laugh at watching folks on national tv, in front of an actual judge, airing their dirty laundry. It's hilarious. Like, piss in my pants hilarious.

Judge Mathis is my absolute favorite. Maybe it's the glasses or that weird sounding voice or the way he just calls people on their shortcomings. **shrugs** All I know is that he keeps me laughing from beginnig to end. I always agree with his rulings... actually I agree with all these judges rulings. Getting to the ruling is the fun part. And Judge Mathis got jokes. He is always clowning.

Okay so I'm watching Judge Mathis the other day and the plaintiff was sueing an ex-coworker for money owed on a loan. The plaintiff stood with his wife and proceeded to tell Judge Mathis how the loan was incurred. In the process he sez the defendant was interested in him sexually. The defendant being male... the plaintiff being male... it was a "Gay" case... back to front. The plaintiff is standing there with his wife while the story is being told. It was hilarious.

I could give you the play by play on the case but that wasn't the funniest part. That episode, Judge Mathis' brother was in the audience. So while the litigants are arguing about who was tryna get with who...

Judge Mathis asks the defendant, "Is that how things work in the gay community?"

While the defendant begins to explain Judge Mathis interrupts and says,

"Let's ask an expert. My brother Sam is in the audience. Let's ask him."

I just fell out laughing. It was just hilarious. I'm sitting there laughing my behind off cuz the Judges brother is like stark, raving RED. Yes! This man turned RED. And he is stunned and shocked and laughing at the Judges reference to him. If no one knew Sam was gay, now they do... cuz Judge Mathis just blurted his business on national TV. I swear my gut was aching from laughter.

So ask me again why I love Judge Mathis and all the other judges on network TV... it's COMEDY.... that's all there is to it... straight gut-busting COMEDY.

Photo Credit