Yesterday I was forced by a close friend to see the recently released film 'Sex and the City 2', partially because the time we were both available to see a film was after 10 at night. I have never watched the TV show before, nor have I seen the first movie, but i was assured that it wouldn't matter. I researched the characters on Wikipedia before beforehand to give myself a vague idea of what was to come. At no point did I expect it to be good.
I was right.
The film follows the four gal-pals from the show as they go to Abu Dhabi on what seems to be a business trip, although at no point during the trip does anything work-related take place. During the trip, the main character, Carrie, frets about her marriage because her husband likes to watch TV and have relaxing nights in as opposed to dressing up and going to galas with her, Charlotte frets about her husband ogling the nanny instead of just talking to him about it, and Samantha, a woman on the verge of menopause, oversteps the boundaries of the Arabic culture and it's relation to sex, in the only plot line that appears to have a message. Sadly, it doesn't, and the closest it gets to a pro-feminist message is singing I Am Woman in a karaoke bar.
The critics strongly agree with my dislike of the film. At the moment it holds a 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, which whilst not being the worst rating I've seen, truly isn't a good one. None of the plotlines in the movie are favourable towards the characters at all, and none of them appear to change, nor make any impact on the world around them. When they mentioned going to the Middle East, I wondered if they were going to make an anti-burqa statement, which they tried to do, but by choosing Abu Dhabi, they removed any impact the film could have had. In Abu Dhabi, women don't have to wear a burqa, and can simply dress modestly, as the men are also supposed to do. In the UAE, wearing the garb is a personal choice, not something strictly enforced, as it is in Afghanistan.
The main problem I had with the movie, however, was the characters. Having never seen anything else Sex and the City related, I don't know if that's how they always act, but I sincerely hope it's not. The main character is two years married to a guy who truly cares about her and tries to build a life together, but she continually pushes him away by telling him that she doesn't want to become a 'boring old couple' and needing him to come out to parties after he's had a bad day at work, which she could easily go to with her friends. The film seems to be trying to put forth a pro-woman statement, but fails miserably, instead making me mutter 'bitch' as the main character says she'd rather have some piece of jewellery solely for herself than an expensive flatscreen TV to snuggle up beside with her husband.
The other characters were just as awful, but the one I disliked the most was Samantha, who had absolutely no respect for the culture at all. Any message they were trying to bring across about sexuality in the Middle East was devoid of emotional backing, and any respect I could have retained for Samantha was lost when she started waving condoms at a group of religious men. It's like if I started waving a picture of Jesus on the toilet at a bunch of Christians.
All in all, the movie was awful, no intriguing plots, no likable characters, and often sloppy camerawork combine to create a film I suggest you avoid.
* - One star out of five
- The Gimboid
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Live together, Die alone, Watch in small groups
Today is the last day of an era.
For the past six years I have been watching the show LOST, a mind-blowing saga that kept my interest beyond the lengths of many other TV shows. Today, at 11:30pm, it will be over, as the last episode finished playing and the tale of the intrepid survivors is brought to a close. I'm actually quite sad.
I started watching the show from the first episode, back in 2004. I originally watched because of Dominic Monaghan, who babysat me when I was younger (before he went off to make Hetty Wainthropp or LOTR), but I was quickly hooked, as was the rest of my family. The show was with me throughout high school and into my first year of college, a constant that kept me sane. It also brought my family closer together. Every LOST day we would gather together and watch it, silent during the show, but discussing events and theories during the commercials. Even now, after I've moved away from home, we have gathered today for celebration and mourning for what many would see as a simple TV show, but we see as much more.
LOST had a great community behind it. It came out as the internet was being reborn; as Facebook was created and it became more compatible. The online fandom of this show was immense. A myriad of forums sprouted up, including my favourite, DarkUFO, and Lost Media. Jorge Garcia, the actor behind the character Hurley, set up his blog a while back to keep in touch with his fans, and despite their inability to talk about upcoming episodes, the rest of the cast also stayed close to the public through interviews.The creators themselves, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, also had a wonderful relationship with their fans, teasing them about future events and possible plotlines, whilst also remaining friendly and compassionate towards the viewers pleas.
Even now, this community is strong, and it will continue to be so. After all, the original Star Trek is still beloved by many, as is X-Files, and so considering the impact that LOST has had on the first decade of the 21st century, I figure it's fan will remain loyal even after it's final bow.
So, if the unlikely possiblity of someone from on LOST ever reading this comes to pass, I would like to say one thing for the many years you have given to me and the millions of fans you have out there. Thank you.
- The Gimboid
For the past six years I have been watching the show LOST, a mind-blowing saga that kept my interest beyond the lengths of many other TV shows. Today, at 11:30pm, it will be over, as the last episode finished playing and the tale of the intrepid survivors is brought to a close. I'm actually quite sad.
I started watching the show from the first episode, back in 2004. I originally watched because of Dominic Monaghan, who babysat me when I was younger (before he went off to make Hetty Wainthropp or LOTR), but I was quickly hooked, as was the rest of my family. The show was with me throughout high school and into my first year of college, a constant that kept me sane. It also brought my family closer together. Every LOST day we would gather together and watch it, silent during the show, but discussing events and theories during the commercials. Even now, after I've moved away from home, we have gathered today for celebration and mourning for what many would see as a simple TV show, but we see as much more.
LOST had a great community behind it. It came out as the internet was being reborn; as Facebook was created and it became more compatible. The online fandom of this show was immense. A myriad of forums sprouted up, including my favourite, DarkUFO, and Lost Media. Jorge Garcia, the actor behind the character Hurley, set up his blog a while back to keep in touch with his fans, and despite their inability to talk about upcoming episodes, the rest of the cast also stayed close to the public through interviews.The creators themselves, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, also had a wonderful relationship with their fans, teasing them about future events and possible plotlines, whilst also remaining friendly and compassionate towards the viewers pleas.
Even now, this community is strong, and it will continue to be so. After all, the original Star Trek is still beloved by many, as is X-Files, and so considering the impact that LOST has had on the first decade of the 21st century, I figure it's fan will remain loyal even after it's final bow.
So, if the unlikely possiblity of someone from on LOST ever reading this comes to pass, I would like to say one thing for the many years you have given to me and the millions of fans you have out there. Thank you.
- The Gimboid
Friday, May 21, 2010
Draw Mohammed Day
May 20th was 'Draw Mohammed Day' according to a pretty large group that has gathered on Facebook. They all decided to draw pictures of the Islam prophet Mohammed in order to promote free speech (or something like that, different people in the group seem to have different reasons). It all started when South Park was sent death threats for trying to portray the prophet on the show. This infuriated people, who somehow don't seem to realize the meaning of the word 'taboo', and 'offensive'. Instead, these people who are drawing the prophet are blaming Islam for oppressing them and others, and just a quick glimpse on the Facebook site reveals that the majority of people participating and ranting are Atheists who are simply anti-religion in general.
Although religions can cause problems, right now it's non-religious people who are starting the fight.
For a group of people who complain about how religions cause all the problems, Atheists tend to be the ones who start the fights.
It's like a schoolyard battle. You have the kid who loves to fight (religion), and the annoying kid who's bugging them about everything and telling them that they're stupid (Atheists). Who's the one who's to blame for the fight?
Although I don't believe in God, I don't care if other people do, unless they're using it as a reason to do stupid things. If they want to waste their time going to synagogues/churches/etc, that's their business. If they're oppressing someone else because of their beliefs, though, that's something that involves everyone, and should be stopped, but you shouldn't start bugging everyone who believes in some of the same things.
It's similar to all the debates on gaming that annoy me. People saying that gamers are about to go crazy and kill everyone just because a couple people have done things and had played something like Grand Theft Auto at some point. It's all stereotyping done by people who know nothing of the religions.
Islam actually says that the only time you can kill is in self-defense. Christianity is inherently violent, but Islam at its core is decidedly less so.
Later on, governments ruled by people who believe in this nonsense decided that they could twist it around to control people. I strongly believe in keeping religion and politics separate, but for some reason, those in power never seem to do it properly. this instead become an issue with those specific people, rather than with the entire religion.
Religious extremists are not the majority, nor even a large minority, of any religions, so why pick apart what makes the other people happy if they're not hurting anyone.
How much do you even know about Islam? Who are you to judge what these people happen to hold dear to them? Are you saying that you're so ignorant that you'll do things that offend people just because you can? You may have freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean you should use all of it - other people are the most valuable thing we have on the planet, and who are you to offend them just because you have the freedom to?
You don't deserve the freedom that you have if you're going to use it to hurt others because you don't agree with them. If you're planning on doing something like this, think about what you're doing before you act on peer pressure.
- The Gimboid
P.S. As a final word, I have to wonder how people know it's a picture of Mohammed. If no one can draw a picture of him, then surely no one knows what he actually looks like beyond description in words.
Although religions can cause problems, right now it's non-religious people who are starting the fight.
For a group of people who complain about how religions cause all the problems, Atheists tend to be the ones who start the fights.
It's like a schoolyard battle. You have the kid who loves to fight (religion), and the annoying kid who's bugging them about everything and telling them that they're stupid (Atheists). Who's the one who's to blame for the fight?
Although I don't believe in God, I don't care if other people do, unless they're using it as a reason to do stupid things. If they want to waste their time going to synagogues/churches/etc, that's their business. If they're oppressing someone else because of their beliefs, though, that's something that involves everyone, and should be stopped, but you shouldn't start bugging everyone who believes in some of the same things.
It's similar to all the debates on gaming that annoy me. People saying that gamers are about to go crazy and kill everyone just because a couple people have done things and had played something like Grand Theft Auto at some point. It's all stereotyping done by people who know nothing of the religions.
Islam actually says that the only time you can kill is in self-defense. Christianity is inherently violent, but Islam at its core is decidedly less so.
Later on, governments ruled by people who believe in this nonsense decided that they could twist it around to control people. I strongly believe in keeping religion and politics separate, but for some reason, those in power never seem to do it properly. this instead become an issue with those specific people, rather than with the entire religion.
Religious extremists are not the majority, nor even a large minority, of any religions, so why pick apart what makes the other people happy if they're not hurting anyone.
How much do you even know about Islam? Who are you to judge what these people happen to hold dear to them? Are you saying that you're so ignorant that you'll do things that offend people just because you can? You may have freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean you should use all of it - other people are the most valuable thing we have on the planet, and who are you to offend them just because you have the freedom to?
You don't deserve the freedom that you have if you're going to use it to hurt others because you don't agree with them. If you're planning on doing something like this, think about what you're doing before you act on peer pressure.
Interesting thing is, I don't believe in God, but I know that you don't judge a person by what religion they identify as - you judge them by what actions they take in life. Every person is an individual.
- The Gimboid
P.S. As a final word, I have to wonder how people know it's a picture of Mohammed. If no one can draw a picture of him, then surely no one knows what he actually looks like beyond description in words.
So really all of these pictures are of some guy with a beard who people decided to call Mohammed.
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