Yowsa

Is it November yet?

*sigh*

Hooker Chic

When did this become a 'look' worn by anyone but Vegas cocktail waitresses and hookers?

This isn't an exact example of it, but you get the picture. Short shorts and very high heels. It used to appear only on selective street corners. Now it can be seen everywhere. Ugh.

It used to be the shorter the short, the flatter the shoe. Unless you were a 'working girl' of sorts, looking for some quick cash.

Now, fashion appears to have gone 'hooker chic'. I see 19 year old girls all over town stumbling along in very short shorts and very high pumps. It looks cheap and ridiculous. And imagine how annoyed the hookers must be -- it's getting more and more difficult for them to differentiate themselves.

I ask -- Do these girls have mothers? I would have never been allowed to leave my room, let alone the house, dressed like that.

Crossed Tracks at the Cinema

Caught a foreign flick the other night, "Roman de Gare", a French film playing at the art theatre down the street. In French, English subtitles, of course.

I'd give it a B+, a pretty good grade for a movie I knew almost nothing about before attending. I selected it based on a few short reviews I read online, plus it seemed to be the best thing playing at the theatre close by, which is now my cinema of choice since I can walk to it and don't have to deal with parking.

I rather like foreign films. I generally don't know any of the actors in them, so nothing distracts from the plot. The story is the star. Too often in Hollywood/American films, I find myself distracted by the aura of a 'star' who has practically become an industry all to him/herself. An example of this is George Clooney. While I rather like looking at George, and I find him to be a decent enough actor, his celebrity image is so strong, it distracts from whatever film he is in. It's a George Clooney movie, rather than a film about 'X' which happens to star George Clooney. He's too famous to melt into any character at this point. Same goes for Brad Pitt -- he's too big of a movie star to be effective. He's a distraction, and if I were a director/screenwriter/whatever, I don't think I'd want him in my movies. But maybe that's just me.

Back to the film at hand..... I found "Roman de Gare" to be a bit of a whodunit, cat-and-mouse film, ripe with trickery. It's presented time sequence will have you question all that went before. It's clever, but not astoundingly so....just enough to be amusing. I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars in my foreign film galaxy. The ending clears up the loose ends pretty well, and while you won't spend a lot of time thinking about it post-movie, it's a decent piece of evening entertainment with some excellent performances. Definitely worth the walk down the street.

London, Too!

Looks like I will make a pit stop in London on my way to France in mid-July, and I'm pumped about it. We are taking the opportunity, while we are 'in the neighborhood' to stop by and visit our colleagues there. I'm not sure how long I'll be there....or arrival/departure dates...but I'm pumped about it all the same.

One burning question for my British friends out there: Hose or no hose? It's become a real question here in the U.S., even Barrack Obama's wife talked about it yesterday. (she says 'no' to panty hose)

So is it okay to go to the office with bare legs? I do it here....but how does it play in London...and Paris?

Priorities, you know....

Brutal!

The past two weeks, I've been catching up on Season 2 of 'The Tudors' on Showtime's Video on Demand. I missed it while it was in current runs, since I don't have Showtime at the Florida house. So while I've been in Dallas, I've made it a point to watch one every other night to catch up and get ready for Season 3.

I have one word for The Tudors (both the show and the real historical figures): Brutal.

I have seen more beheadings this week than I can count! Not that I didn't know this stuff happened -- I've read history and been to the Tower of London several times -- but I guess seeing it on my TV happening to characters I've been following really brings it home.

Curious as to how closely the show mirrors actual historical accounts, I did some reading up on the lives of Henry VIII and his six wives. Indeed, they seem to have done a pretty good job of capturing it in the show. I suppose when history gives one a story like that, no concocted script is required. It's pretty darn good stuff as far as drama goes.

But it also led me to wonder a bit about the lives of women (both royal and not) in Medieval times, so I also did a bit of reading on that. If you haven't, I suggest doing so. It will so make you appreciate being born now, rather than then. The same word came to mind as I read about the typical female's life in the 1500s: Brutal.

They were married off at 14 or 15, generally only lived to be about 30 and pretty much spent every year in between pregnant. It was not atypical for a woman of that time to give birth to 10 or 12 children...with only a few surviving infancy and the plagues. Many, many women died during childbirth itself or shortly thereafter. It's amazing that anyone lived through those ages, given the lack of knowledge of basic medicine or even hygiene. It truly, truly was the Dark Ages, especially for women. The myths about women's bodies, menstruation, sex and childbirth were astonishing. It was not a good time in history to be a female (nor anytime before that, I suspect).

So, if you have an hour to spare, I suggest reading up a bit on all that. You'll get a whole new perspective. If you think your life as a woman is difficult now....it's nothing compared to what women put up with then.

And as for Season 3 of 'The Tudors'.....up next? Wife #3....Lady Jane Seymour. I've cheated and read ahead (a perc of following a historically-based show), so I know what happens...but I'll watch it anyway. Henry Cavill alone is worth the watch.

Paris or Bust!

60 days into the new job, and I hit paydirt. Bingo! I've been summoned to a meeting in Paris in mid-July. Yay! Now I'm trying to decide if I need to stop off in London on my way over or back. For my British friends out there, if I'm also doing London for a few days, I will let you know.

This is fabulous. A trip to Europe on someone else's dime. Actually, someone else's Euro. Otherwise, with the airfares and the value of the dollar in such a state, I wouldn't be going at all this year.

Too bad my husband can't get away to go with me, but I may have to stay a day or two and play anyway.

Time to dust off the French book and rewatch "The Devil Wears Prada". My goodness....what to wear, what to wear....

4.5 Mondays

Possible? Yes. Sort of felt like it anyway.

I've been in a conference all week, morning 'til night with a dozen colleagues and 3 guys from the UK giving Powerpoint presentations. Started bright and early Monday morning, finished noon-ish on Friday. 4.5 days of being cooped up with the same faces. A really long week.

Actually, I must admit that it could have been worse. The subject matter was fairly interesting and the format of the conference not half bad. They also fed us well, which will lead to a big workout week next week. And one interesting demographic dynamic -- I was the lone female in the class. 14 attendees, 13 of them male. The nice thing is that I trumped most of them in title, often not the case in a career woman's world.

One other item of interest -- having nothing to do with the content of the class, yet still interesting to me -- I don't know what it was, but one of the presenters had something going on in his demeanor that called to mind David Beckham for me. He didn't look much like him, but there was an essence of something there that I couldn't put my finger on -- he said he lived north of London, so perhaps they've something in common there? Thankfully, he did not have the annoying Becks voice. (The Beckham thing is lost on me the second he opens his mouth and that tiny, whiny cartoon voice emerges.) In contrast, this guy had a deep, commanding voice and British accent that made you want to listen to him. Words elegantly rolled off his tongue in a deep vibrato, easy on the ears (if not the eyes). He sounded a bit Daniel-Craigish in that regard, and you all know what that does for me (*sigh*). So that put an interesting twist to whatever he happened to be presenting...even if I (the lone female) was the only one who appreciated it.

Sometimes, it's the little things that get you through 4.5 Mondays in a row.

These Are The Choices?

Underexperienced, Overexperienced. Ugh.

The good news?

Ding, dong...the witch is dead! Or at least comatose for a while.

The 7 Deadlies...

Just when I think men and women have evolved in our relationships to a more modern meeting of the minds and balance of life equity, something comes along....some cultural nothing...that indicates perhaps we have not. This morning's indicator of lack of progress was on one of those stupid Tyra Banks episodes.

I'm very embarrassed to say that I actually exposed myself to this dribble because I was too lazy to get up and find the remote control and change it. Plus, I was only listening with one ear as I sat and answered my work email. Still, I came away shaking my head over what I half paid attention to.

The topic? 7 Ways to Keep Your Lover

Tyra had enticed 7 twenty-something men to come on the show and tell why they had recently broken up with their girlfriends. She then had a panel of so-called 'relationship experts' to expound on the reason provided by the guys. This, purportedly, would highlight the mistakes made by the dumped women and could teach us all a thing or two about how to keep our man. Ahem.

So here are the 7 reasons these guys dumped their ladies, and thus, avoiding this behavior would be the way to keep your man:

1. 'She withheld sex from me.' When they'd had a big fight, when he'd done something wrong, when she was feeling hurt or not pleased, she refused him a little something-something. Um....Okay. Wow. So let me get this straight. Even if he treats me badly, disrespects me, makes me feel like crap, stomps all over my feelings, I'm supposed to pop open wide and let him go at it. Really? Even if my resulting lack of desire for him is due to emotional duress (and not a punishment strategy), I'm just supposed to lay back and keep him happy. Well apparently so, because all of the so-called 'experts' agreed. The rule? No matter what, don't go without sex for two weeks. The guy has every right to bolt if that happens.

Wow. Score 1 for men, bigtime zero for the progress of women. I thought that women had started to move out of the dark ages where it actually mattered to men that there was emotional participation along with the sex. Now I hear, even from the experts, that this truly does not matter. It's the Nike philosophy. JUST DO IT.

2. 'She was too clingy.' The girlfriend moved from Florida to NYC to be with him, they had a baby, and now, when he wants to disappear at night for 4 or 5 hours to party with the guys, she either doesn't want him to go or wants to go with him. Um, do I even have to expand on what's wrong with this picture? And once again, our panel of experts agreed -- she definitely needs to give him his space.

3. 'She wouldn't clean up my stuff.' Apparently the poor bloke worked all day (and so did she, by the way), but it would have just been the sexiest thing ever if she'd done those dishes that were stacked up in his sink. Again, the experts agreed.

4. 'She didn't trust me.' Well if he'd aligned with 1-3 above, I can see how #4 would happen.

5. 'She was boring.' This guy didn't like the same old thing all the time. He wanted a woman to surprise him with fun and excitement as often as possible. Yes, the experts agreed -- it was definitely this woman's fault that they were in a rut. Dump her.

6. 'She wanted me to be her wallet.' This poor guy had a girlfriend who was just too into him having some money. Wow. A woman concerned about financial security. Amazing! What a concept! Let's see....traditionally, I think this has been the trade-off across the centuries. He gets regular sex; she gets financial security. Yes, yes, that's the unvarnished version of what marriage was about before "love" took over....but apparently this guy is shocked by that. He wants the regular sex (two-week rule, you know), but she can pay her own way. ha! Good luck with that. Women are just lining up for men like this one.

7. 'She wasn't confident enough.' She agreed with him too much. And he wants a woman who speaks her own mind. Oh, yes, I'm so sure. And the minute she overrides him or puts her needs above his, he'll be crying some of the 1-6 above. PALEEZ.

So that's it. That's why these pencil dicks dumped their girlfriends (and apparently, this is how you can avoid such ugliness...).

And all I can do is be glad I'm not out there in the single world, trying to find a decent guy to date or marry. Wow. The de-evolution of women in modern relationships is simply astounding to me. But what's more shocking is the 'agreement' by the 'experts'.

What the hell is going on out there? Geez!