Bad, Bad Blogger!

So I've been doing a horrifying job of keeping this puppy going for the last two months. Sadly, my life has been nearly as devoid of chick flicks as it has been blog posts about chick flicks, too.

I've been working hard (crazy hard) for the last six weeks or so (the two weeks before that, I plead bridesmaid duty) but the results have borne fruit: I'm inching slowly but surely towards being able to call myself a paid, honest-to-goodness arts and entertainment writer!

Stay tuned for news on a) even more movie-related posts (travel-themed, of course) over at World Hum, b) an article about movies - including a couple of chick flicks that have been featured right here - in WestJet's in-flight magazine, and c) renewed efforts here on the blog.

Coming soon: an ode to dance movies, and a column mulling the Judd Apatow "chick flicks for dudes" phenomenon.

Zingers of the Week

As I may have mentioned before, I'm nearly as big a sucker for vitriolic witticisms directed at chick flicks as I am for the flicks themselves. Hence, a new feature for the site: Zingers of the Week, courtesy of new (or recent) chick flick releases and the reviewers who dislike them.

First up, the Globe and Mail's Jason McBride, who asks of Canadian pseudo-ironic indie comedy Prom Wars: "If it's lame, derivative, and doesn't make you laugh, is it really a comedy?"

Next is Robert Wilonsky, writing for the Village Voice. He notes the similarities between Baby Mama and a January 2007 episode of 30 Roc, and concludes: "Baby Mama extends the joke, then softens it, then smothers it in its crib—an unpleasant picture perhaps, but not any more disagreeable than the phrase 'Produced by Lorne Michaels'." Ouchie!

Made of Honor gets not one but two mentions - incidentally, both imply that the answer to the question I asked yesterday is: My Best Friend's Wedding.

After some hilariously vicious commentary on McDreamy's career, Robert Wilonsky comes down with a verdict: "Director Paul Weiland and the three (!) screenwriters it took to boil down thousands of bad movies into 101 minutes haven't provided this one with a single original thought; it should only entertain those still getting adjusted to the idea of talkies."

And finally, after some digression (be sure to read her full anecdote about I Liked It Better Guy!) Katrina Onstad decides that bride-to-be Kathleen Monaghan is the best thing about the movie:

"If I knew how, I’d make a Youtube mashup of Made of Honor and My Best Friend’s Wedding in which Monaghan ends up with Dermot Mulroney, leaving Cameron Diaz for Patrick Dempsey, and Julia Roberts alone — I liked that best the first time."

Renewing my vows, Redux

So I’ve just completed the move from Toadfire over here to Blogger, and I’m really pleased with the new set-up. One of my New Years Resolutions was to get this blog fired up again, and I think having a new home and fun pink sidebar text will definitely help me do that. I know I made a lot of big promises last time I “renewed my vows” to this project, but this time – at the risk of sounding like the bad guy in a dead-end relationship – I really am going to change…

From now on, here’s how things are going to look: features or columns once per month, screening logs as and when (hopefully a few per month), and a lot more short items – gossip, movies I’m excited about (or NOT excited about, as the case may be), links to interesting reviews, that sort of thing. The new content should help to keep things fresh between major features.

Looking forward to it!

Renewing my vows...

This was originally posted on August 1, 2007, over at this blog's original home, deva.toadfire.com. "Revenge of the Scribes" went up in January 2007, and then I ignored the blog for a shameful seven months. Of course, I didn't exactly stick with the vows I made in this post, either...

Okay. So I've been a little remiss in my blogging duties. A lot remiss, really - 7+ months worth of remiss. But baby, I'm here to tell you I can change. And I really mean it, this time... From now on I'm putting 100% honest commitment into this relationship.

I can't take you all to Vegas with me for a vow-renewal ceremony, but I can make a few concrete promises.

1) From now on, I'll be doing one of my main, themed entries each month. Maybe even twice a month, if the urge strikes me. Coming down the pipe - the new generation of New York City rom-coms, and an ode to wedding movies, in honour of the various nuptials I attended in July.

(Yeah, that's my excuse for July - the excuse for February through June is a sob story about how I changed jobs no less than five times, including stints shoveling snow, and slicing smoked meat and kosher dill pickles at 6am. YOU try blogging when you've been asking people if they want swiss or cheddar on their breakfast bagel all morning.)

2) I'm introducing a new feature, mostly aimed at making me feel like I'm writing lots when in reality I am writing very little. I call it the Screening Log (thanks, www.notcoming.com) and basically it means that when I see a chick flick, particularly if it's new in theaters, I'll post a quick mini-review, rather than waiting to write a full theme piece about it. So you'll know whether or not it's worth your twelve bucks...

Ooh this is so exciting. It's like my very own re-design, without the re-design. Let me know what you think!

Definitions, plans, etc.

I thought it would be difficult to come up with a satisfactory definition of the term ‘chick flick’ as I intend to use it, but Wikipedia has pretty well nailed it. Thus:

“The term chick flick is slang, often derisive, for a movie which is designed or considered to appeal mainly to women, and generally focusing more on romance or relationships. Many romantic comedies or films with many female characters are likely to be put into this category. Critics of the term have pointed out that movies aimed specifically at men are not labeled so derisively.”

I should add that I’m not overly concerned with the contemptuous overtones cited above. I suppose you can think of it as a reclamation of the term – like the more progressive uses of the word ‘queer’, or Eve Ensler’s suggestion that women re-take the word ‘cunt’.

(Sidebar: I really, really hate that word and have zero interest in taking it back. There are plenty of fairly offensive terms that relate to women, but this one is the only one that I associate so clearly with violence. If rape was a word instead of an act, it would be cunt. Ugh.)

I should also warn anyone reading this that I will occasionally slide into a consideration of comedies that are nobody’s idea of a chick flick – American Pie and Anchorman spring to mind – and I apologize in advance for these lapses.

As far as content is concerned, I’ll basically be putting down my thoughts on various chick flicks, loved or hated, in roughly thematic groupings. Sometimes this will be by film contents and sometimes by actors, directors, or writers. I’ll follow my musings with recommendations and ratings – basically, is this a movie you should be watching with a boy, with a group of girls, or with a half liter of Ben and Jerry’s and a spoon?

I’ll try to keep it interesting and of course to avoid spoilers. (Does he get the girl in the end? Does he??)

There are so many of these movies out there, and I hope if anyone’s reading this I can help to steer you to the right ones.