Big Summer Stunner: Mean Girls Gone Wild

I haven't read a Jennifer Weiner novel since In Her Shoes.  I did read Weiner's memoir, Hungry Heart, though, and I'm glad I did, because it explains so much about the pain of growing up, which is front and center in her latest novel, Big Summer.  Part mystery and part romance plus a commentary on social media, Big Summer's got a little bit of everything, making it a page turner.  Fluff and intrigue aside, though, its focus is female friendships.  And not just the Golden Girls-theme-song-slash-going-out-for-strawberry-milkshakes part.  But the part about women building social hierarchies so that friend or foe becomes friend and foe, or, in the more popular parlance, "frenemy."  Which is to say, friendship can be war.

In Big Summer, the brave warrior is Daphne Berg, a fat fashionista and social influencer who was always picked on in school.  Fat is Daphne's word, not mine.  She prefers it to euphemisms like plus-sized and Rubenesque, and I don't blame her.  Despite promoting yoga mats and doggie treats on Instagram, what Daphne really wants is to feel less alone and to help other people feel that way too.  Back in the day, Daphne became best friends with this rich, popular girl named Drue Cavanaugh.  Drew made Daphne's life miserable but was, as all queen bees are, a blast.  Inevitably, they had a falling out in college.  They don't speak again until five years later when a desperate Drue asks Daphne to be her maid of honor.  And that's when the true battle begins.   

Weiner's talent for describing the social dynamics of girl world is what makes her such a powerful writer.  She shares Daphne's trials in a way that's real and raw.  Reading about them sent me right back to my own school cafeteria and its swirling sea of piranhas.  Although I wasn't fat (just a bookworm in weird clothes), I know exactly what it feels like not to fit in, and I'm sure a lot of you do too.  Reliving it isn't pleasant for any of us.  But it's important that Weiner explores it in this book and others.  Because if she helps even one kid -- or adult -- work through her hurt in a constructive way and feel, as Weiner says, "seen," then it's worth it.  

To that point, in Big Summer, there's one woman who hasn't worked through anything.  Unable to let go of her past, her anger consumes her, ruining her life and the lives of others. Which is a cautionary tale if ever there was one.  Because two wrongs don't make a right, and queen bees are people too.  Remember Regina George (Rachel McAdams) in Mean Girls?  Bitch though she was, she had a heart underneath it all and stopped being mean once she channeled her rage through field hockey.  Which is about the only time I can get behind sports, but if it makes the world a kinder and gentler place, then I wholeheartedly shout, "Go team!".     

That said, Big Summer's message isn't tidy, is even, at times, contradictory.  But that makes it even more relevant.  Because life is messy.  So to my way of thinking, the book's message goes something like this: To have a friend, you have to be a friend.  But keep your friends close and your frenemies closer.  Protect yourself, but don't become so suspicious that you grow bitter.  Be grateful for what you have because, chances are, they're the very things that make other girls jealous of you.  Most importantly, revenge is a dish best not served at all.  It's better to serve yourself whatever you want, extra pounds and Internet trolls be damned.

I guess that's how you win the war.  Or at least survive the mystery meat in the mess hall. 

New Year, No Fear: On Wednesdays We Wear Black

 Garden Glam Slam Necklace

Sweater: Mudd, Kohl's

Skirt: Material Girl, Macy's

Shoes: Ami Clubwear

Bag: Delia's

Yellow bangles: B Fabulous

Green stretch bracelet: Parade of Shoes

 Ruby Red Romance Necklace

Top: Bisou Bisou, J. C. Penney's

Yellow tee: So, Kohl's

Skirt: Xhilaration, Target

Shoes: Penny Loves Kenny, Zulily

Clutch: Express

Belt: Apt. 9. Kohl's

Hot Hoop Necklace

Sweater: Kohl's

Skirt: Candie's, Kohl's

Shoes: Guess, DSW

Bag: Nine West, Marshalls

Belt: B Fabulous

Lime stretchy bracelet: Cloud 9, Ocean City boardwalk

Yellow bangle: Silver Linings, Ocean City boardwalk

For this post, I had my heart set on a black and red rose-print cold shoulder crop top from the Kohl's line for Disney-Pixar's hit Coco.  Not to be confused with, "You go, Glen Coco!"from that other hit movie, Mean Girls, which has its own impressive merchandise.  (I've got the "so you think you're really pretty" compact mirror to prove it, as seen below with my until-now-never-been-stripped-of-its-cellophane DVD.  There was no need, as Mean Girls is almost always playing on TBS, Comedy Central, E!, WE, Ion, Oxygen, Pop, and/or Animal Planet.  Just kidding about that last one.  Then again, there is that wildebeest attack dream sequence or whatever, so who knows?)  

Anyway, I wanted to team the Coco top with a yellow lace midi pencil skirt from J. C. Penney's Project Runway collection.  But, alas, that too was sold out, forcing me to renounce my mid-priced department store product placement-themed ambitions and make it work, Tim Gunn style, with some stuff that in no way resembled what I'd planned.  Such is the roller coaster that is fashion blogging.

Speaking of which, a word about stretch bracelets.  When the beads begin to separate, however slightly, you know that your beloved bracelet is on its way to becoming a necklace.  Well, I know it's on its way to becoming a necklace.  You may just know that you're about to unleash a shower of rhinestone slider beads out into the world, sending a pack of mall-walking grannies scrambling in front of a Wetzel's Pretzels.  This happened to me with a much-adored, much-worn faux diamond and ruby stretchy stunner just before Christmas (not the Wetzel's Pretzels part, the repurposing part).  So I gave it new life by making the above darling Ruby Red Romance Necklace.  I did the same with Garden Glam Slam, which is similarly crammed with costume jewelry castoffs.  Hot Hoop, not so much, although the pendants are vintage.

Finally, if there's anything that fascinates me more than color, it's the absence of color.  Which is why I used this ironically named Vanilla filter on my outfit pics to dart to the dark side:

I love how the grayscale really makes the details pop, kind of like a close-up of a closet in a black and white movie.  So, it seems only fitting to ask, "(Compact) Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fetchest of them all?"  Why, Ms. Addams, of course, and I don't mean Rachel Mc.  Indeed, the first daughter of darkness could have taught the Plastics a thing or two, both in sartorial savvy and scariness.

In closing (I know I just said "finally," but then, when have you ever listened to me?), no resolutions this year.  Because resolutions are just rules, and rules were made to be broken.  So, no rules, just right.

That's Outback.

Movie Moment: The Vow

I was excited about seeing The Vow.  If there's a sappy romance serenaded by a Taylor Swift single out there, then I'm bound to turn up.

So, it was inevitable that I'd be at least a little disappointed.

The Vow is about newlyweds Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Channing Tatum).  She's a sculptor, he owns a recording studio, and the city of Chicago is their bohemian love nest.  But all of that changes when a car accident erases Paige's memory.  Reluctant to take up with a man she sees as a stranger, Paige forsakes Leo to lean on the parents that she she shut out before her marriage.  They're rich and respectable, everything that Leo isn't, and her time with them causes her to regress into the country club card-carrying law student she used to be.  This isn't new territory for McAdams.  The themes of wealth vs. poverty, convention vs. art, and safety vs. adventure run through other romances in which she has starred, such as The Time Traveler's Wife, The Notebook, and even, to an extent, Wedding Crashers.  As in these other movies, her character's decision about who she wants to be is inextricably intertwined with the man she ultimately chooses.  Yet while these elements make for a powerful combination in a classic like The Notebook, they fall a little flat in The Vow. 

For me, this was partly because Paige is so unlikeable.  I know it's not her fault; she's not in her right mind and can't help but parade around like some bitchy debutante while her heartbroken husband bends over backwards to help her.  Nevertheless, it's difficult to warm to Paige or even pull for her to regain her memory.   (Maybe this is a good place to say that Channing Tatum is, unbelievably, the best part of this movie.  Even if it is, as the bf so shrewdly pointed out to me in the theater, hard to take him seriously.)   Moreover, the movie's central conflict is between Paige and her parents instead of between Paige and her husband.  The secret of their estrangement overshadows the love story, diminishing its power and importance.  Finally, even the flashbacks showing Paige and Leo at their best hint that Leo was always a little more invested in the relationship than Paige.  This, compounded by the fact that the couple hadn't been together long at the time of the accident, made me wonder if maybe they weren't meant to be after all.

I began this cinematic journey as a starry-eyed optimist and ended up as a cold-hearted cynic.  Which is not something I'm proud of.  I'd signed up for the gooeyness, after all, and had been prepared to get all teary-eyed over a box-office success most were sure to criticize.  Little did I know I'd become one of the haters.  Still, The Vow made me think (a little) and made me (moderately) angry, so I guess it couldn't have been all that bad.  

Movie Moment: Midnight in Paris

Stories about writers have always interested me. That's why I liked Midnight in Paris. Woody Allen's latest is about Gil (Owen Wilson), a successful Hollywood screenwriter who longs to chuck it all to move to Paris and finish his novel, a tale about a man who runs a nostalgia shop. By contrast, Gil's fiance Inez (Rachel McAdams) is a status-obsessed shrew intent on impressing her former professor, Paul (Michael Sheen), an irritating know-it-all who, along with his wife, all but crashes the young couple's vacation.

So, Gil is frustrated. By his career, by Inez, and by Inez's snooty parents. He feels like his dreams are slipping away, and that the charming and sympathetic artist's haven that is Paris is the only force that can keep them within his grasp. So he walks, alone at night under the stars, and unlocks a world so inspiring that his writing takes on a whole new dimension.

I won't say more than that, except that the setting is beautiful and the supporting roles of Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, and Adrien Brody superb. That and that it's the kind of fanciful, hopeful movie that makes you think life doesn't have to be a compromise, that you can have what you want and never grow up if you learn to appreciate the moment.

Movie Moment: Morning Glory (in Bloom)

In time-honored tradition, I spent my federal day off at the movies. I went with my sister, to see Morning Glory in her neck of the woods. The movie opened only yesterday, so you've undoubtedly seen the commercials and know that it's the story of a young, idealistic television producer trying to run Daybreak, a struggling morning talk show. I admit that my hopes were high, my own idealism needing to be nudged only slightly by the tried-but-true girl-against-the-world plot line and the trailer sound bites set to swelling music.

It was good. But not as good as I'd expected. Rachel McAdams is perfect as workaholic go-getter Becky Fuller. Although tough and together on the outside, her character is the equivalent of an awkward adolescent underneath, a quirk that comes into full hide-your-head-under-the-pillow flower when she tries to apologize to another journalist about the awkwardness she caused on their first date.

This is probably a good place to mention where the story loses steam for me. Becky's relationship with this guy is never really developed. They meet, it's weird, then it's not weird. We don't see them get close. Or argue. Which is especially odd, because Becky's commitment to her job provides ample opportunities for conflict. Although she pulls all-nighters and never turns off her Blackberry, her beau never complains, not even when she goads him about it. The absence of any such drama seems especially glaring because the commercials set me up for a gripping work vs. life dilemma, especially when Becky says, "I'm the first one in and the last one out," and when Harrison Ford's prickly Mike Pomeroy begins to thaw, telling Becky, "You're worse than me. You'd sleep at the office if you could. Let me tell you how it ends. You're left with nothing." Turns out, Becky wasn't worrying about her personal life when saying the first line; she used it in her job interview at the beginning of the movie to impress her prospective boss (Jeff Goldblum). And although Mike's advice is heartfelt and marks a high point of the movie, it falls a little flat because Becky isn't experiencing any problems outside of work. Of course, the value of his advice is revealed when Becky turns down an offer from NBC, returning to Daybreak because her coworkers have become like family members to her. I know this marks a turning point because it shows that Becky has learned to put people before career climbing. But it happens a little fast, and I think it would've been more believable if she'd shown half as much warmth for her boyfriend. (Or, to be fair, if he'd shown half as much warmth for her.)

Hmm. Now that I think about it, I'm always criticizing movie and book characters for not being into their relationships enough. I guess that makes me sort of a sap.

All in all, Morning Glory is entertaining and (I sigh a little at resorting to this overused romantic comedy descriptor) cute. If you like the candy-coated humor and sparkle of romantic comedies (as do I, despite the somewhat critical tone of this post), then you'll probably enjoy it.

Movie Moment: The Time Traveler's Wife

As soon as I saw the first commercial for The Time Traveler's Wife, I knew I had to see it. It promised to be one of those magical, heart-sweeping sagas that demands tissues. How did the movie stack up? Well, it did demand tissues. But it was more disturbing than magical and ended with many unanswered questions. Also, there were a few gory parts bad enough to make me cover my eyes. Even so, it wasn't bad. Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana were very good in it -- it just wasn't what I expected. I'd really like to read the book, though. Nine times out of ten the book is better than the movie anyway. In this case, I think it will probably tackle those unanswered questions and delve more deeply into the fine points of time travel as well as the couple's relationship.