Vibe of the Vest, Punky Knows Best

Shoes: Steve Madden, Macy's; Bag: Worthington, JCPenney

Sugar Thrillz, Dolls Kill

Punky Brewster, funky rooster, what riches have you on your ranch?  Never mind that ranches are for horses, not chickens, and that the richest thing a rooster has is a strong fox in the hen house game.

Back in the day, some people used to call me Ms. Brewster.  And it wasn't even because I wore vests (I didn't).  The reference came about because of my colorful, collage-like aesthetic, which suggested that I just might still have a sticker book.  The first time it happened, I was a senior in high school, and it really annoyed me.  I was in a summer program sponsored by the Rotary Club (don't ask), and it came up in the newsletter, a sort of who's who superlative piece where other girls got to be compared to Natalie Portman (this being the year of Star Wars: Episode One) and Denise Richards.  I thought that my look was daring, maybe even a little subversive, so realizing that I reminded people of a character who pounded juice boxes was upsetting.  The next time I heard, "Hey, do you know who you look like?", it wasn't until I was thirty and at the dentist's office.  But by then I didn't mind as much.  In fact, I even kind of liked it.  Maybe with age I'd grown more comfortable with my kooky persona.  Either that or I was hoping that the hygienist would let me pick something out of the prize box.   

  

But life's like that, right?  You live and you learn and then you wear more outfits.  It's like my tee shirt in this first pic says: good vibes or goodbye.  (Not that you should always believe what you read.  I once knew a girl who had a patch on her backpack that said "mean people suck," and she was the meanest girl ever.)  This slightly snarky yet profound maxim may be having a moment, but its message is timeless.  To feel good, you have to stay positive.  Even when it's hard.  Especially when it's hard.  Which sometimes (scratch that, most of the time) means kicking not-so-positive stuff out of your life.  Or at least out of your head.  

Only then does it all become easy.  Well, easy-ish.

Now I'm proud to be called Punky.  She's a cheerful pop culture icon, and if I remind people of someone that crayon box bold, then so be it.  

Just as long as no one ever calls me Vicki from "Small Wonder."  I'm cool with the robot bit, but I don't do housework.

Movie Moment: Friends With Benefits

Like many moviegoers, when I heard about the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, I thought, hey, didn't Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher already make that movie?

Well, sort of.

Like No Strings Attached, Friends with Benefits stars a tough cookie heroine (Mila Kunis) with a guarded gooey center. Yet Kunis's Jamie is edgier and more vulnerable than Portman's Emma, making for a more compelling and likable character. Likewise, Justin Timberlake's Dylan trumps Kutcher's Adam. Whereas Adam is eager to be Emma's prince charming from the get-go, Dylan doesn't really know what he wants, which makes him more believable. Although he's a little steamrolled by the more dominant Jamie, he's a worthy opponent, chipping away at her crusty shell until they both end up on equal footing. But what truly makes Friends with Benefits the better movie is that it's really about two friends instead of two near-strangers who just happened to have sex. Kunis and Timberlake have an easy chemistry that cuts through the dating game motions they so cynically mock. Indeed, they first hook up after rolling their eyes at a sappy romance starring Jason Segal and Rashida Jones (which, by the way, was funny to watch given Segal's and Jones's animosity toward each other in I Love You Man). It gives you that whole what-if-two-friends-watching-movies-on-the-couch-just-went-for-it? element that was missing in No Strings Attached.

Stuff to watch for: 1) a cameo by Shaun White as himself and 2) Richard Jenkins as Timberlake's father with Alzheimer's. I know, I know, what's something so serious doing in a romantic comedy? But it works.

Friends with Benefits is fun and, dare I say, poignant without being cheesy. At the end, I left the theater happy.

Movie Moment: No Strings Attached

I've long thought that it's easy to think a movie's good when you see it in the theater. By sheer default, the state of "being out" has you in its thrall. Renting a movie, on the other hand, is a much different kettle of fish. Whatever you're watching needs to be compelling enough to prevent you from getting a snack, going to the bathroom, reading a magazine, crafting, painting your nails, balancing your checkbook, or - horror of horrors --falling asleep (an offense of which I've been repeatedly guilty). All of these interruptions chip away at the movie-watching experience, breaking the theater spell we take for granted and reducing many flicks to mere plot points (ie, romantic comedy: boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back; action flick: the bad guys are out to get the good guys and lots of stuff blows up).

I had a chance to put this theory into practice recently when I rented No Strings Attached. You know the premise. Natalie Portman (Emma) and Ashton Kutcher (Adam) play friends with benefits only to find out that getting physical outside the confines of a relationship is harder than it seems. It was cute, enjoyable, and a little crude in places - in short, all the things you'd expect. Even so, one major element was missing: the two were never really friends in the first place, more like acquaintances who've met a handful of times. So, their decision to sleep together just for the heck of it is more like a well-thought-out one-night stand that segues into an "arrangement" than a groundbreaking turning point in a close platonic relationship. Although the movie was entertaining, I think it would've been more interesting had the two been watching TV together on the sofa every night for years only to have an "incident" break the pattern.

Given my opening ramblings, the added bonuses of movie theater popcorn and surround sound might have done the trick too. Then again, I also rented Cedar Rapids last week, a movie so bad no quantity of concession stand treats could sweeten its stench. So maybe I'm just full of nonsense.