Marni's World

I have a confession to make. Perhaps it isn't so much a confession as an admission of how out of the loop (out of touch) I am with modern society. What I am trying to say is that I am not on any social networking site, well, except for this one, but this is academic, whereas Facebook is not. Frankly I was on Facebook for a few months and it terrified me. I thought it was so weird that people I hadn't talked to in fifteen years could all of a sudden be there requesting my friendship. It meant they had searched for me , right, and while I suppose I could think that was flattering, it really freaked me out.

I have family all over the country and I would love to be able to use it as a way to keep in touch with them, but that is a slippery slope. I could limit my contact to out of town friends only. The problem, the real problem as I see it with Facebook or any other site like it, is that most of my friends are using it as a way to notify us of anything that is going on in their lives. For example I recently missed out on my friend's baby shower because I wasn't on Facebook. I didn't even know they were having one because that is the only way they told people about the shower. I was a little dismayed at first and then I realized I am the only one not on Facebook. Of course that is how they notified people because everyone else they would want to be there would be in the know.

Now I am ranting about this because I feel like I missed the boat. All of a sudden we don't call or e-mail each other, we just Facebook information? Is this the tipping point and I missed it and now I can never catch up? Those of us that aren't on are out of luck. I think about getting back on and then I remember all of the reasons I didn't like it in the first place. What is a gal to do? I either stand tall and continue to miss out on important events or I join again and dodge friend requests and constantly monitor my on-line persona. It is a weird and wonderful age we live in but sometimes I think I'd rather stay off the grid living a life of simplicity. Perhaps that is archaic but I don't know that I'll feel any closer to people being back on Facebook. I will just be better informed and more paranoid.

Perhaps it is the World Cup and the constant echo of the word "goal" that has made me think about goals.

Now, I am not talking game goals, I am talking about life goals.

Perhaps many of you have goals, something that you would like to achieve. Maybe you have a goal for the next month, next year, or within your lifetime. I, however, feel like I am in a goal rut. I have been examining my life lately, and I can’t help but wonder how I got to the place I am now.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy and content with my life but I have been in sort of a similar place for several years now. I am only getting older and I keep wondering if I will have a major life shift at some point or more importantly that I will seek out that life shift. I made a comment to Devan about having a baby and we both kind of sat back and realized, wow, we are getting older and these things happen, but when do you feel ready for them? Perhaps you never feel ready.

Now I do have one very distinct life goal. It may seem kind of silly but I have been very fortunate to travel a lot these past 6 years and I would like to travel to all 7 continents in my lifetime. Is that a novel goal? Is that really something to strive for? I wish I could say I have a goal to end world hunger, or cure cancer, or single handedly save the environment, but these are incredibly unrealistic goals. I do not have a science background or any political savvy. I am just a person who is very lucky to live in the United States and has the luxury of pondering goals.

I need to set up some realistic goals. I need to envision my life, where I want to be, and how I will get there. That is the logical path for setting and achieving goals, right? Maybe some day I will get to all 7 continents, and maybe not, but it is fun to have that idea to look forward to. Maybe with that goal in mind it will help shape my more immediate goals. I can concentrate more on giving myself to others, volunteering more and doing some of the things I have always talked about doing but never have. Now those seem like realistic goals.

I have been out of the country for a while traveling and so I am readjusting a little bit still to my life in the US. I feel like I have so many things to blog about and yet I feel compelled to rant about something I just saw. It was so vile, so awful, that I feel like a geyser of angry adjectives about to erupt. Members, I am talking about the new Sex and the City movie or what I like to refer to as Ishtar in Heels.

I should preface this rant by informing you of what a huge fan I was of the series. The series was revolutionary for women and I say that with all sincerity. Not only did they have believable women (except for the income to wardrobe ratio) talking about things that women with close relationships actually talk about, but it was some of the most groundbreaking roles for women in television. I actually own all six complete series and they are well loved.

You might imagine that being such a huge fan of the series I couldn't wait for the first movie and you would be right. I rarely if ever see a movie on opening night but there I was in the huge cue of women in my fancy duds waiting to see Carrie and the gals in all their glamour on the big screen. I liked the first movie. I felt it was a little long but it did a good job of giving you a little more of what you want while nicely wrapping up any unanswered questions. When I heard they were making another movie I was skeptical, and with good reason. After seeing the film I am simply appalled. I have never been so embarrassed for actors in a film as I was while watching that sad excuse of a sequel.

The first hour wasn't too bad, a little boring, but it was good to see all of the characters again. The thing about the first hour or so of the film is that they are in New York and its surrounding areas. New York is and has always been the fifth character. It plays an integral role in the series. Whenever the characters leave New York, they always spiral. They are out of their element and become literal fish out of water. They can't relate to other people. They can't behave. They quite simply can't function and this is exactly when Sex and the City 2 takes a huge nose-dive. New York is a place where anything goes and when they leave the sacred, protective arms of New York and head for of all places Abu Dhabi, well let’s just say, let the cringing begin.

I watched in horror as the women go to Abu Dhabi and make complete fools of themselves. Miranda tries to embrace their new surroundings with some semblance of grace by buying some travel guides and learning the basics of Arabic. The rest of the clan might as well have read the manual on all things not to do in an Islamic country because that is exactly where the film goes. Samantha the eldest, sex-crazed character, who I always admired for her boldness, is the worst of the lot. She can’t understand why she needs to cover up her body, why she needs to tone down the sex talk, and why everyone in Abu Dhabi is so uptight about sex. In one horrible climactic scene when her bag is spilled out on the ground while surrounded by a group of Muslim Men, she explodes like a lunatic, screaming that she has sex while waving a stack of condoms in their faces. It is so offensive that I was astounded that not one of the actors or producers looked at that scene in the editing room and thought, “Hmmm, maybe we should rethink this.” Samantha is supposed to be so liberated, but she ends up looking like a crazy woman. I secretly wished someone would stone her. Or maybe I just felt like something needed to be flung because I know I sure wanted to throw something at the screen.

If the filmmakers wanted to make a feminist critique about Muslim women and their roles in modern society, then they totally missed the mark. This film did nothing but make American women look like idiots and Americans in general look like insensitive, brutish jerks. Thanks a lot Michael Patrick King for setting us back 100 years.