Episode Twenty-Two: Sex in the City 2 – a movie review

The whole time Sex and the City (SATC) was running its live course on HBO, I must've seen like one or two episodes (that one episode with the guy Carrie was dating a golden shower aficionado and the other episode being the one with Carrie dating the bisexual guy). But when Target had a Black Friday sale this past Thanksgiving, I picked up all 6 seasons (season 6 was a 2-disc set, argh!) for $8/DVD. Before you know it, I was done with the last season before we hit Christmas.

For most, SATC was all about the expensive designer clothes and shoes, the glitzy glamour and the fancy life that money and success can afford strong, independent women. For me, however, the show brought up a lot of issues that are universal among all of us; how we deal with relationships and love and how we deal with the society's behavioral expectations and pressures. I think the issues they tackled during their 6-season run were thought provoking, even if at times, their methodologies about dealing with the issues were a bit sophomoric and Hollywood-ish. But for the most part, SATC managed to stay maintain a good barometer with what's going on currently, and provided good commentaries and insights.

I'm sure that you've read through the venomous and vitriolic reviews that SATC2 has received, not seen since "Gigli". It wasn't THAT terrible, in my opinion; nothing can be as bad as "Gigli". The movie was not completely devoid of positive moments. Liza Minelli's homage to my homegirl Beyoncé's ubiquitous hit "Single Ladies" was quite entertaining. The moment that Charlotte and Miranda shared as they talked about their struggles with motherhood was both touching and realistic. The dialogue is not as sharp and witty as how it was during the show's run, but there were some funny one-liners (like Samantha's "Lawrence of Her Labia" comment or Miranda's theory of universal physics that predicts the probability of a Liza Minelli appearance: the probability is proportional to the amount of gayness in a room). The eye candies were exactly that, eye candies (the Aussie rugby team, Anthony's straight brother, Nikki, played by D&G model Noah Mills, and even the silver fox Danish architect played by Max Ryan).

However, as like the first film, there was a bit of potential in terms of plot material, but sadly, these potentials were not realized in its entirety. Charlotte is dealing with the "Terrible Two's" Carrie is dealing with her "Terrible Two's" of her own with Mr. Big (Chris Noth). Samantha's dealing with menopause and her pharmaceutical version of her fountain of youth, and Miranda's dealing with an unappreciative (to put it nicely) Senior Partner at her law firm, or at least, that's what I thought it was. However, the movie flails in delving into the development of the plot, and that in the end, it felt like it was one product placement over the next.

Though I suppose, for most people who would be interested in watching this movie, it's more of a diversion from their current lives and I guess the more vapid and fluffy it is, the better? I still think the movie misses its chance to flesh out some of the laid-out storylines, to make it a bit more relevant for its viewers. Instead, we're treated with superfluous oversimplification and overt stereotypes of all parties involved. And this was one of my biggest pet peeve about this movie. One of SATC2's (and SATC the series) biggest themes was challenging the idea of normalcy, may it be relationships, fashion, or customs. But scene after scene we are treated to what the "normal" stereotype that our society holds – from the "promiscuous gays" and the "rowdy jocks" to the "sex-phobe Arabs" and the "oppressed Muslim women". And what's with the whole "Muslim women will only feel liberated if they wear Western clothing" innuendo? Not only is this crass, but mind-numbingly self-centered as well; as if we needed to promulgate that stereotype that the world has about Americans.

Also, the movie was a tad bit long. At almost 150 minutes, I felt that at times, it dragged a LOT, and that it was going nowhere. Verdict? If you're looking for a two-and-a-half-hour getaway from reality, there's a lot more things that you could do to better spend your time, but I won't completely hold it against you if you saw this movie voluntarily.

Rating: C/C-

Episode Twenty-One: Let’s Go, OK Go!

It is a well-known urban legend that pharmacy students in their Acute Care block, including the General Medicine rotation, have made a silent deal with the higher powers to maintain sanity and the opportunity to make it through rotations intact in exchange for their unbridled freedom and social lives (or any semblance of a life for that matter) for 6 weeks. I for one can attest to this. But when one of my favorite bands, OK Go!, makes its way from its Los Angeles hub to this fog-forsaken city, well I just had to make an exception. Repercussions be damned.

I was really excited to see them live, since I've never seen their live show before. I have been listening to them for years, and one of the things that I like about OK Go is that they're actually artists in that they are in the music business to create art that's both visually and acoustically appealing. Who would've thunk?

Their videos are very entertaining and full of character. They have a penchant for choreography-inspired videos, as evidenced by a lot of their videos, like their first video that went viral, "A Million Ways". Yes, they're the band with the "treadmill video" (for Here It Goes Again), one of the most popular music videos on YouTube. They're also known for their outlandish videos, like the video for "This Too Shall Pass" featuring a Rube Goldberg machine built by Synn Labs and the wallpaper-inspired video for "Do What You Want".

I found myself singing along loudly to all the songs that I knew the lyrics to. I've recently downloaded their new album, "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky", so I didn't know the lyrics to the songs by heart quite just yet, though to familiarize myself (and to get "pumped" for the concert), I listened to their new album for a couple days prior to the concert non-stop. They opened with "Invincible" from their first album, Ok Go!. Thereafter, they played a good mixture of old (A Million Ways, Oh Lately It's So Quiet, Seems like a Good Idea at the Time, Here it Goes Again) and new (Needing/Getting, All is not Lost, Back from Kathmandu, This Too Shall Pass) material, performing each song with gusto and passion.

Just when you thought they couldn't get any better, they blow your pants off with something out-of-the-ordinary and wildly inventive. At first, when they brought out a bunch of hand bells and a glockenspiel, I thought, what the hey? And then as soon as I heard the first few notes to "What to Do", I, along with the rest of the crowd, erupted in pure fascination and awe.

And just how would you top that amazing performance? Of course, as the lead singer, you'd do a song in the middle of the crowd! Which is precisely what lead singer Damian Kulash did, performing "Last Leaf" from their latest album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky" by himself as he serenaded the more-than-appreciative crowd.

They even had the crowd "choose" a song to play: either the Pixies' "Debaser" or their own song "You're So Damn Hot" (which apparently is a song they do not like performing); the tribe had spoken, and had chosen YSDM, which was great, though it would've been awesome to see them cover a Pixies song and see how they can infuse their own artistic mark into the song.

As a side note, I've never really gotten the point of having an "encore". Out of ego, perhaps? But in this case, their encore actually made sense; there was a different vibe to it. For crying out loud, they had jackets with illuminating letters spelling OK GO as they performed their encore set (WTF?, Skyscrapers, and Do What You Want) with laser guitars. Yes, ladies and gentleman, laser guitars. OH-EM-GEE. The constants throughout the performance (and the encore) were the confetti showers and the rocking performance by the group.

Was I tired beyond belief the next day? (In a Sarah Palin voice) You betcha ! But it was worth it. Best $22.50 I've ever spent. Next up, The New Pornographers in July at the Fox Theatre! I might have to brave the big bad outside world and cross the treacherous pond to Oakland to see them.