An Ode to Sex and the City

As some of you know, I'm currently unemployed. This means that I have a lot of time on my hands! While I have been spending a lot of my time reading (there's a shocker) and hunting for jobs, I decided early on that it would be a great time to start watching my lovely box set of Sex and the City DVDs. And watch I did. According to Get Glue, I watched the entire series (six seasons, 94 episodes) in 28 sittings. I must say that I impress myself. I found it fitting that I watched the series this year as 2013 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the show's premiere (it started in 1998). I saw a number of articles floating around online a few months ago about how much the show did for television and for women and I thought I'd throw my two cents into the ring. Why did this show resonate with me and with so many women?

I didn't watch Sex and the City live. For starters, I didn't get the channel. The main reason though? I was only 11 when it debuted and still in high school when it aired its final episode in 2004. Not quite the target audience. Once I was in university, where I had access to cable, I started watching reruns. I realized as I watched the episodes in order that I had seen quite a number of them at least once through reruns - other than the final season. In all the years since the show ended, I had only seen the finale once...and I couldn't remember the specifics. I loved recognizing some of the more famous episodes (the one with the Rabbit, for example) and remembering how I wrote an article on the Absolut hunk for my advertising class in university. Seeing the fashion and hairstyles change was really interesting, not the mention the way the show was filmed and structured. And watching how the women themselves grew and matured was great too and I think their evolution was well done and written well.

Let's get the big (ha) question out of the way...which of Carrie's boyfriends did I like the most? Usually you'll find that fans are either Team Big or Team Aidan. Of course, there's the odd person who really liked Berger (that post-it note break-up will live on for a long time) or maybe even the Russian (I didn't like him at all), but mostly it's just the two camps. So who do I root for? That would be Aidan. I think I have a pretty good response for whenever someone groans and asks how I could like him more than Big (as I'm sure some of you are right now). I think my problem with Big came from the fact that the first few episodes I ever watched were ones where he's a huge ass. I didn't see him in a good light for ages and I suppose that coloured my judgement. What about you? Are you happy that she ended up with Big in the end or do you wish that she had had a third chance with Aidan?

I finished watching the series a couple of weeks ago but I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the movies yet (which are also included in my pretty set). I loved the first one. I saw it in theatres with my mom, her friend, and my best friend, Marisa. We both teared up and leaned into each other when Charlotte starts yelling at Big because she's so upset with how he's treating Carrie. The second movie though...ugh. I'm pretty sure I saw that one in theatres too but I've blocked it from memory because it was just so damn ridiculous. And that's why I don't really want to watch the movies right away. The end of the series was just so perfect that I don't want to ruin it with the movies. I'll get to them eventually...in another month or so.

Watching the entire series in order over a fairly short period of time was fantastic. I was so into these characters' lives and I didn't want to leave. Their friendship is one that I, and millions of other women, want for ourselves. How many of you have tried to determine which of your friends are which SATC character? This past May, three girlfriends and I met up for a birthday brunch as three of us have May birthdays. We realized going in that it was going to be a very Sex and the City type brunch (the city was my super small hometown and the mimosas were tea) and we inevitably started discussing who would be who. "Miranda" and "Charlotte" were assigned right off the bat, which left Marisa and I deciding who was "Carrie" and who was "Samantha". In the end, it was my curly hair and love of writing that had the girls declaring that I was "Carrie". Of course, everyone has a little bit of each woman in them. Just as the characters realize throughout the show. They're all so different but they're really similar, too.

I must admit that I was quite sad when I put in the final disc. I didn't want the magical time to end! I can't imagine what the actresses must have been feeling when they filmed the final episodes. (Actually, the special features give a good insight and definitely made me tear up.) As I pressed play on "An American Girl in Paris: Part Une", I found myself hoping that my boyfriend wouldn't come home from work early as I was sure I would find myself crying at some point before I finished the show. I did tear up a few times but he came home after I finished "Part Deux", thankfully. The first scene that set me off was the dinner the four friends have before Carrie leaves for Paris where she says:

Today I had a thought. What if I had never met you?

What if, indeed. Can you imagine not having your best friend(s) in your life? I can't. Nor do I want to!

I've already talked about the friendship but what about the other reason this show resonated with so many women? The fact that they were completely frank and open about everything and discussed so-called taboo subjects with each other. Threesomes? Check. Vibrators? Check. Grooming? Check. These sorts of things weren't really discussed on television before and it was great to see how they continually pushed the envelope throughout the series.

In the end, I had to watch the final episode and I had to say goodbye. I teared up and sighed in happiness as the screen faded to black. Is that overdramatic? Maybe. But I think that's the mark of a good show. When they go out on top with a great finale that makes you so happy you were a part of it, somehow. Even if it was years after the premiere (and finale) and through DVDs, not live TV. Sex and the City was a special show and I think it's right that it's lived on in the hearts of so many women. There's so much more I could say but I think I'll end it here. Let's talk about this show. What do you think of it? What's your favourite episode? Are you happy they ended it when they did or do you wish it had kept going?

Mini Review: Chasing Harry Winston

Raise your hand if you belong to a book club! Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger was my club's pick for November. The group of ladies meets every other month because other people have lives and don't read nearly as much as I do. Hm. Perhaps I need more of a life since I finished this one in a weekend... :) Anywho, this one got picked because we wanted something light. I was happy since I already owned a copy! It ended up being a really fun and enjoyable read and I look forward to seeing what the other ladies thought of it when we meet on Tuesday.

Here's the synopsis:

The bestselling author of "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Everyone Worth Knowing" returns with the story of three best friends who vow to change their entire lives...and change them fast. Emmy is newly single, and not by choice. She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life when her boyfriend left her for his twenty-three-year-old personal trainer -- whose fees are paid by Emmy. With her plans for the perfect white wedding in the trash, Emmy is now ordering takeout for one. Her friends insist an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure will solve all her problems -- could they be right? 

Leigh, a young star in the publishing business, is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy. And to top it all off, she has just purchased her dream apartment. Only when Leigh begins to edit the enfant terrible of the literary world, the brilliant and brooding Jesse Chapman, does she start to notice some cracks in her perfect life... 

Adriana is the drop-dead-gorgeous daughter of a famous supermodel. She possesses the kind of feminine wiles made only in Brazil, and she never hesitates to use them. But she's about to turn thirty and -- as her mother keeps reminding her -- she won't have her pick of the men forever. Everyone knows beauty is ephemeral and there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner. Suddenly she's wondering...does Mother know best? 

One Saturday night at the Waverly Inn, Adriana and Emmy make a pact: within a single year, each will drastically change her life. Leigh watches from the sidelines, not making any promises, but she'll soon discover she has the most to lose. Their friendship is forever, but everything else is on the table. Three best friends. Two resolutions. One year to pull it off.

OK, that was an insanely long synopsis - and I cut a bit out!

This novel had a very Sex and the City type feel to it, which I loved. The women all had different personalities so every reader should be able to relate to one of the characters. They also felt very real to me, with very real issues. None of the women were perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Emmy gets way too focused on marriage and the future, Leigh couldn't own up that her relationship really wasn't working, and Adriana hadn't realized that maybe she should change her attitude towards life and men and "grow up" just a bit.

Once I got to thinking about this book (and honestly, I've been thinking about it for awhile since I actually read this last month...eep) I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was about this novel that I liked so much. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent reading this book and I will definitely make a point of reading more of her books (haven't actually read The Devil Wears Prada but I have read - and reviewed - Everyone Worth Knowing and I enjoyed that one, too). I definitely cared about the characters. I wanted to see how they grew over the course of the novel. I think there could have been a bit more...well, just a bit more. It could be that I wanted the ending to be expanded a little bit more or that I wanted a more personal connection with the characters. I know that kind of contradicts what I said earlier but I did care about what happened with the women and I wanted everything to work out for them...but...I couldn't personally understand why they were doing some of the things they were doing. I think it was the same sort of thing that keeps me from looooooving the Shopaholic series. Those books are a lot of fun and I always enjoy reading them but Becky is a twit. I've probably just confused you now, haven't I? :)

Overall, I really liked Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger and would recommend it to anyone who likes SATC, chick lit, and Weisberger's other novels. I'll try to update this post after book club next week if anyone else had some interesting thoughts about the book.

Happy reading :)

Update:
I had book club this week and it seemed like a lot of the ladies felt the same way I did about this book. One person actually couldn't even finish it and another read the first 100 pages and then the last twenty. It seemed like the general feeling was that we liked it, we did want to find out what happened to the characters, but we didn't really care about them. And what was with that parrot anyway? :)