Reflections about Barbie (2023), Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 1:30 PM: A Movie Review...Finally

I held off from publishing this until the strike was over, but I wrote it the night I saw it because I wanted to get my thoughts down about the film while it was still fresh in my mind. I don't really have a full blown analysis planned for this one, but rather bullet points that I want to get off my chest. Might be a nice change of pace here. I'll try to keep this spoiler free. 

Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious) - Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, and a Brief Review of Plastic Hearts (2020) and Future Nostalgia (2020)

Happy Women's History Month!

I've noticed that a lot of the music artists that I prefer to listen to are men. 5 Seconds of Summer, Ashton Irwin, One Direction, Harry Styles, Niall Horan... So I decided to dedicate this blog post to two woman artists that I have been listening to lately, Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa. 

A Tale of Two Brother Bands: The Impact and Evolution of One Direction and 5 Seconds of Summer

Introducing my quarantine passion project! I worked so hard on this all of these months since like April during self-isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic. I had a blast writing this and am extremely proud of it! It certainly kept me busy, productive, and happy. Some circumstances then took place, and I kept perfecting it and adding things, but now I finally finished it (I think LOL, unless/although I will probably/maybe continue to edit and revise it and add things while it's live lol). I wanted to wait for the best time to share it, so hopefully now should be good. I have to let it go at some point and I wanted to release it before the year ends lol. Plus, from the writer's standpoint, I'm kinda tired of looking at it now. Haha!

If you're in the mood to read something extremely lengthy about two of the best male bands of this generation, please enjoy! lol :)

Just so you know, this critique essay includes mentions of sex and profanity.

INTRODUCTION

Ever since I got into One Direction (1D), I have felt myself becoming interested in boy bands again.

But let's talk about 5 Seconds of Summer.

An Honest Conversation About Race Between a White Woman and a Black Woman

Growing up white, I was conditioned to stay away from discussions about race. It was just a topic that I was supposed to avoid because I was white and it wasn't my place. Of course I learned about black struggles in school and befriended and talked to black people, but bringing up blackness and whiteness on my own as a white girl was very much advised against because it would likely be offensive and start trouble coming from me, regardless of what I said. (Although, I should acknowledge that I do recall having briefly discussed race in some of my writing, interviews, and other arts analysis.)

I Never Thought That THIS Would Make Me Happy... Or, How I Came to Love a Certain Boy Band

About time I posted on here again, huh?

I've been keeping the following to myself because I consider it a private, personal situation for me and am a bit hesitant to admit to this, but I also feel compelled to blog and share about it as well.

There are some inner issues that I am working through, feeling extra nervous, depressed, or overwhelmed about things lately. It was my 2019 New Year's resolution to overcome this, and it had gotten better in January, but I still found it trickling over a bit, for nobody changes overnight.

Special Blog Project Announcement Tomorrow ;)

I feel like there is a lot that I want to talk about on here. There are posts that I am working on and brainstorming that I feel I should get out before February is through. But I've decided that for now I am going to dedicate this blog to a special cheerful project that I am hoping to finally deliver throughout March and I don't want any other posts to get in the middle of it. Details to come. ;)

A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS (2017) Has a Church Scene EXACTLY like the Scene in HOME ALONE (1990)!

So I FINALLY saw A Bad Moms Christmas (2017) with my own mother just in time for Christmas and was pleased to see a scene in there that exactly mirrors my favorite scene from Home Alone (1990). I was actually quite surprised to see it and wonder if the similarities are intentional. :)

By the way, this blog post includes some spoilers for both films I guess, but especially A Bad Moms Christmas.

I've blogged about the scene before and the blog post for it seems pretty popular on here. Long story short, the kid Kevin is left behind by his family on Christmas and goes to the local church and sits in a pew as he listens to the choir sing. He is joined there by Old Man Marley, an old man of whom he is afraid. However, there the two bond and from that point on Kevin is no longer afraid of him.

Interestingly enough, Home Alone and A Bad Moms Christmas are very similar. Both are comedy films with slapstick (and in Bad Moms's case, raunchiness as well) and yet have this quiet moment to form solace between two characters.

We meet Amy again, played by Mila Kunis, who again, along with her comrades from the first film Kiki (Kristen Bell) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn), is so sick of the pressure of being a perfect mother. The premise is very similar to the first film, except this time the plot involves Christmas. The trio makes a pact to take Christmas back so that they can enjoy Christmas for themselves as well.

Stef's "So Good You Can't Put It Down" Book Reviews Summer 2017 Reading Challenges! - Third Update

My first book of the summer has been completed!!!!! YAY! :D

Once again, beware of possible spoilers. However, I think I did pretty well not giving anything major away.

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

Began: June 3, 2017 12:23 AM

Finished: July 14, 2017 12:48 AM

It took me a month. I'm a slow reader, I guess. Then again, I was juggling this book with others. Focusing on this book alone is when I finally completed it.

I loved this book! It is because of this book that I am now a fan of Mindy Kaling. I'm going to actually miss reading it, especially outdoors, but I am looking to purchase my own copy of this one and its predecessor, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), which she occasionally refers to in Why Not Me? and seems to be a similar premise, to add to my collection. I'm looking forward to seeing what is next for her (which is actually the movie adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time coming out in March 2018).

I feel both inspired and empowered from reading this book. Even if some of her chapters seem longer, her quick humor is so easy to read through and leaves you surprised like "Wow. I am done with this section already." There is one part in her chapter called "A Perfect Courtship in my Alternate Life" that consists of fictional emails and text messages and I wasn't very excited about reading them, but she manages to make this entertaining as well. Her chapter "Harvard Law School Class Day Speech" is a transcription of her Harvard Law School 2014 commencement address and when I first read it I followed along while watching and listening to the video of it on YouTube.

Her words don't totally align and aren't exact with the book's transcription, but it was still an interesting, accurate reading experience. It was fun to see her written words literally come to life as I read them. I recommend. :)

Here is the review I wrote for Goodreads (at least so far)!

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I made it!!! The first book of the summer and my reading challenges done! :D

Such a good book! I feel so inspired! I feel like I've just been on this journey with her. Mindy Kaling gives such great, honest, life advice with lighthearted sarcastic humor and made me think of things from new perspectives. It is such a light, quick read and the mint-colored cover is so calming and inviting. It's also nice and light to hold in your hands. :)

I want to read her other book now and hopes she writes more of them! :D I also want to purchase my own copy of this book now too.

Oh! And before I conclude! Here is the Jai Courtney paragraph on page 44 that I was talking about as promised:

I kept returning to this page and paragraph just because I love it so much. And just in case you're wondering what Jai Courtney looks like...

Credit: GQ Australia - This is actually my favorite written interview with him. Very interesting read and great photos! I learned some Aussie jargon along the way too! Check it out! :)

Hamana hamana hamana 😍😍😍

So now I have been resuming my reading of Katherine Applegate's Beach Blondes. I am on page 382 out of 721. Basically I am halfway through. I'm still in the July section and need to be at page 491 by August 1. Let's attempt that goal again. If I did it last time, I think I can do it again this time.

We're still following Summer's triple romances and we still see teenagers annoyingly thinking that they are "in love," but at least Summer has been learning from past mistakes. Considering her episode with Adam, she doesn't want to fall too quickly into love, which is refreshing, especially considering that she is a main character in this type of genre. She also stands up for herself well too and tells off characters when need be. Sometimes I get frustrated with lead characters when someone says something unpleasant to them but the character remains silent because they either have no words to respond, do have the words but hold back, or they do spurt out something but immediately regret it after. "Say something back!!" I end up silently screaming at the book. Summer, thankfully, often manages to speak up for herself and rarely regrets it. It makes her a decent character. She's also a pretty funny person in general with her responses.

The "Video Blog" chapters are still irritating. I can't stand how they halt the action. They give us insight into Summer's deeper thoughts and provide details as to what has been going on between the lines of the story so that Applegate doesn't have to dedicate a core of the story to them, but like I have said before, we already know her feelings, and these minor details aren't that important. Sometimes I feel like skipping over these chapters, but then I feel like my reading of the book won't be complete. What do I care what she tells Jennifer, who is a character that we haven't even met or care about?

Diana is still the most interesting character. Her story is what drives me to keep reading, but yet it gives me the most anxiety too. She has gotten happier lately because she has come to a realization about her current situation and is concocting a plan to achieve justice. Applegate does a pretty good job keeping us guessing with Diana. Right now my mindset with her is "What exactly is she planning?"

On Monday night I MAY have managed to find and purchase NEXT year's all-summer book excursion by month (reminiscent of Beach Blondes) at Barnes and Noble. :P

It is called Summer Brides, a collection of novellas written by Marybeth Whalen, Beth Wiseman, and Debra Clopton respectively. I believe it was the only one of its kind on a "Bargain Priced" table, so therefore I felt that it was meant for me. It appears to follow this trend I have observed of wedding books on the rise nicely.

Summer Brides is a part of the A Year of Weddings Novella Collection, so therefore there are books in this series called Winter Brides, Spring Brides, and Autumn Brides as well. There are also individual novellas that are separate books that make up these books. For example, A June Bride (Whalen), A July Bride (Wiseman), and An August Bride (Clopton), make up the eventual Summer Brides collection, which was my motivation for buying it. It mirrors the Beach Blondes setup in this way, but is an anthology with multiple authors as opposed to Applegate's continuous narrative. There is also a book full of the complete collection called A Year of Weddings: Twelve Love Stories, which would have been a better purchase down the road had I known this. Now I feel like I need to collect the rest of the series to have it be complete! I'm somewhat feeling the same way about the SUMMER novel series too so I can continue reading that story.

Reading is something that makes me feel good and is leisurely for me, so I don't want to turn it into a collector's item perfectionist thing. It's okay if I only read and own a few (or even one) books out of a series. No harm done. I mean, I was okay with reading the The Last Little Blue Envelope out of order last year.

Some of the books in the A Year of Weddings Novella Collection series, such as the full collection, are only available on Kindle/Nook or audiobook anyway. Right now I prefer solid books, so I may have made the correct choice for now. I'm hoping to obtain the other books somehow so that I can somehow read them throughout a/the year by month nonstop.

They have gotten mixed reviews on Goodreads. We'll see how these go with me if I do resolve to take them on and keep the book. See, lately I'm buying certain books in stores thinking that I am not going to be able to find them otherwise and/or for a good price online, so I have some decisions to make. I do think that they would make an interesting year long reading challenge for me to compare and contrast writing styles and stories.

For now though, I sadly returned Kaling's book to the library on Monday *sniff* but in place of it I checked out Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10. I'm excited about this one. I've been visiting Barnes and Noble more frequently and keep seeing it for sale. I'm tempted to buy it, but because Sprague Library has it, I'm borrowing it first to test the waters. I also have to work on Amy Schumer's book The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo as well.

You know, I am loving writing these book blog posts! I'm starting to consider dedicating a blog, maybe this one, to just them! lol

By the way, we now have 239 books in our library! I'm still organizing my personal collection of what I want to contribute, keep, and donate.

Stef's "So Good You Can't Put It Down" Book Reviews Summer 2017 Reading Challenges! - Second Update

I finally returned to Sprague Library yesterday to check out Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me? and Amy Schumer's The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo! :) They are now due back August 2 and I am determined to finally finish at least Kaling's by that date.

Sprague Library has another book in its Pop Picks section of which I took notice. I also see it often on sale at Barnes and Noble as a new release popular bestseller. I was considering taking this one out yesterday too. However, another Sprague Library rule is that any patron who is not a student or faculty member is not allowed to check out more than three books at a time, so because I took out my two books as well as a book for my father, I had reached my limit.

The book is a horror mystery novel called The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. It is about this travel magazine journalist (one reason why I want to read it) named Lo Blacklock who aboards a luxury cruise. She eventually sees a woman being thrown overboard, but because all passengers are accounted for, the cruise goes on as if nothing is amiss. So now it is up to Lo to crack the case. It looks like an engrossing, quick read.

I was actually considering eliminating Schumer's book in lieu of this one, but then remembered that I often do this with books. I start reading them, but then get excited about another book and then never finish the original. Because I had already begin reading Schumer's book and in my last blog post stated that I am looking forward to reading more of it, plus it is a part of my Summer 2017 reading challenge that I don't want to quit, I had to make my choice. I don't want to give up on Schumer just yet. Plus, I also am already working on a fiction novel with Beach Blondes, so I want to focus on that and not get lose track of that one either.

I plan on adding The Woman in Cabin 10 to my Summer 2017 reading list. I may not finish (or even start it) by the time summer ends, but let it be known that I am interested! We'll see what happens with it. I could still read it beyond summer and it would be fine.

By the way, I neglected to tell you in my last blog post how we are doing with Operation Basement Bookshelf. Right now we have 188 books categorized, classified, and filed. :)

Stef's "So Good You Can't Put It Down" Book Reviews Summer 2017 Reading Challenges! - First Update

June was a busy reading month for me! It is now July 1! Let's see how I did. :)

Here are my page numbers as of now:

Beach Blondes by Katherine Applegate - 296 out of 721

The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer - 45 out of 323

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling - 123 out of 228

Beware of possible spoilers! 

As you can see, I surpassed by Beach Blondes June goal (on June 22), of which I am very proud! :D

Let me explain something about this book that I have discovered during my journey with it. It is actually three books in one, which explains the thickness of it. It consists of the novels June Dreams, July's Promise, and August Magic. From my understanding, these were all individually released in 1995 and then rereleased as a full book in 2008, and boy does it ever date itself. I mean, the kids don't use cell phones! They use PAY PHONES and listen to their CD COLLECTIONS! On Goodreads there are adults on their commenting about remembering reading this when they were kids and wanting to read it again, making me feel so late to the party! I mean, 1995 was one thing. I was a five-year-old back then. But I feel odd reading this now as an adult given the teenage subject matter and think that if I jumped in when it came out in 2008 it would be more relevant for me because I WAS A TEENAGER THEN.

However, reading it for the first time as an adult helps me appreciate it better for what it is. It also makes me feel wiser than these kids. :P

You know, this book is surprising me. It is way better than I expected and clearly deserves a better cover photo. There is definitely more to this book than meets the eye given some of its serious subject matter and the cutesy photo of a bunch of blonde girls taking a selfie on the beach does not do it justice by any means. It's false advertising. So far there has been only one scene that I recall of the girls hanging out on the beach, and it's only two of them laying on the sand. In fact, throughout the whole book, there is only one blonde and very few female characters to begin with. Another is brunette, another is Latina (whom isn't described as being blonde), and this other girl, a minor character, is a redhead.

However, even though I do enjoy its engaging tale, I do find some flaws with it regardless. Okay so the plot surrounds an awkward teenage girl named Summer Smith from Bloomington, Minnesota (who constantly reminds the reader and the other characters of her origins, much to her own embarrassment) who is invited by her Aunt Mallory to stay at her home in Crab Claw Key in Florida for the summer. Mallory, a romance novelist now that she has divorced her husband, embarks on a book tour for the week and leaves poor sweet Summer with her reclusive cousin Diana, who doesn't make it a secret that she doesn't want Summer there.

Diana Olan (the brunette) is clearly the most interesting character in this book by far. At first she comes across this typical bitchy teenage mean girl, making me dread her stereotypical behavior, but then as we learn more about her, we realize that something deeper is going on with her. This carries the story for me. She actually got an emotional reaction of out of me when I read it in the car on the way back from a family day trip to the Borgata in Atlantic City. I want to read more about her and how she is going to overcome her troubles. I admire Applegate for taking the strides she does with this character and her plot. It's what makes this book different from the other teenage beach novels I have read.

However, the main focus is on Summer, who all of a sudden is attracting practically every boy in town even though back in Minnesota she was invisible to the opposite sex. These encounters were foretold to her by a tarot card reader while on the plane there, by the way. 

She first meets Seth Warner, who randomly kisses her in the airport but turns out has a delusional ex-girlfriend (Lianne, the redhead) who believes that they are still in a relationship and that Seth is lying and then for some reason he gets mad at Summer for being upset about this; then Diver, this hippie guy who has sworn off girls and lives in the stilt house Diana throws Summer in, only wears one pair of swim trunks (his singular attire), and declares that the neighboring pelican's name is Frank; and finally Adam Merrick, the wealthy senator's son who uses the typical lines that only an arrogant player with money, looks, and power would utter and originally dated Diana in the summer prior and has now set his sights on Summer.

I mean, seriously, all of the boys in this book are a little strange. Summer has no true winner here.

One of my biggest problems with this book is how philosophical these kids are. It makes sense when Diver does this, because it's his character, but the rest of them do this too. They don't speak like normal teenagers but instead all have these existential moments where they talk deeply about life and claim that Summer is experiencing all of this romance because apparently Crab Claw Key is so mystic that people forget who they are while they're there. Summer attempts to transform into a different person and do things she normally wouldn't, making her confused about her actions afterward, and they all attribute this to the setting itself.

Another thing I can't stand are the video blog chapters. Scattered throughout the book are chapters called "Video Blog," for which Summer pretty much provides a stream of consciousness monologue for Jennifer, her best friend back home who is vacationing in California. These basically serve as Summer's reflections of what is happening in the story, and more insufferably, act as recaps of what we have already just read. These chapters aren't needed. I already know how Summer is feeling about her situation considering I am following her as the main character and listen to all of these existential discussions she has. These are reprieves from the action and I use them as a place to stop reading for the time being, but they just get in the way. The book would be shortened significantly if these chapters were removed.

I want to move onto the other books, but I don't want to leave out Marquez. Marquez is a Cuban-American girl who goes by her last name because Maria (her first) is too common and Esmeralda (her middle) is a bit too too, I guess. She befriends Summer, gets her a job at the Crab 'n' Conch, a restaurant that is apparently the world's worst place to work according to the kids, and remains her sole companion throughout the book. She is no-nonsense and serves as the comic relief, but yet has issues of her own that are slowly unraveling. Applegate also uses her as an opportunity to discuss immigration, which is still very relevant to our world today, so that's interesting. 

So now I'm waiting on seeing what is coming up for these kids, such as what Adam is going to do next to win Summer's heart back (let's just say that by page 296 he has REALLY pissed her off...an understatement at best). I am also really wondering what Diana is going to do as she plummets deeper and deeper into her sorrows. I've actually decided to take a small break from this book because I was reading it nonstop one week and needed a breather from its heavy premise, so I chose to devote this time to continue the other books on my list.

Then I have my comedienne ladies, Mindy Kaling and Amy Schumer! I haven't worked on my Roseanne Barr book yet because I was so engrossed by these books. Plus, they are library books, so I need to prioritize.

I had to return these books to Sprague Library on June 29. Because it is a college library, their policy is that only students and faculty can renew books. During the summer they are closed on Fridays and Sundays and are closed today this week as well, so I have to wait until Monday to go back to retrieve them so I can resume my reading once again. :P

This was the first time that returning books to the library gave me withdrawals!

So far I am liking Kaling's book more than Schumer's, which I guess is evidenced by my page progression above and is funny because I initially thought it was going to be the other way around.

I'm halfway through it, about to start Part 3. This is thanks to her short, quick read chapters of simple stories and tips. It's both lightweight and lighthearted and takes us into Kaling's life, about which she is completely honest and is her intention with the book. She occasionally makes references to her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), so I want to read that one now too. I also kinda like the cover design better. No offense to Schumer's nude backside, but Kaling's mint-colored cover relaxes me. 

She also happens to mention my current celebrity crush, the super hot (and hairy) Australian actor Jai Courtney, on Page 44! I'm on a Suicide Squad (2016) kick lately, in which he portrays Captain Boomerang. She says that her friend Ike (Barinholtz) knows him, and I was like, "Yeah, he does! They worked on Suicide Squad together!" I never knew who Courtney was beforehand, so I'm thrilled that I discovered him just in time to understand her reference. It's so ironic and I got so excited when I saw it! I was going to take a photo of the paragraph dedicated to him for this blog, but didn't plan on not having access to it by the time I published this (Grr!), so I'll try to supply it for my next reading update. I'm almost done reading her book anyway. It's my favorite book of the summer so far. :)

As for Schumer's book, for some reason I am getting more melancholy vibes from her and I don't really know why, given that hers and Kaling's books are basically the same concept. Don't get me wrong, it's still a funny book. 

Various aspects of her book have stayed with me. For example, in one chapter she describes her one and only one night stand. Normally I am against one night stands 100%, but her story made me see them in a new perspective. 

In the next chapter she talks about being an introvert, which seems highly unlikely for someone with her personality, but it made me realize that my own introverted side isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for female writers like ourselves. She and Kaling talk about their work process, which is a huge reason why I am reading their books. I like reading about successful women writers and how they got to where they are today as they deal with their inner and outer struggles. It makes them more human and relatable and makes me feel less alone. 

Schumer I feel often gets a bad rep, but I have gained some more respect for her after reading what I did about her so far in her book. She comes across a good person, especially when she talks about her riches to rags to riches background and how she gives money just because she wants to. I'm looking forward to reading more of her story. :)

Throughout the month of June I took all three of these books on my daily walks to a local park or schoolyard, both of which are usually void of people or at least consist of very few, where I would sit at a vacant picnic table and just read in the sunlight or the occasional windy/rainy day. These are my most serene moments of the summer.

I highly recommend. :)

"Scream Queens" Cancellation: My Thoughts and a Brief Review of the Two-Season Series Overall

"Scream Queens" has literally been cancelled for a month now (announced May 15) and I'm just finding out now. lol Last night I tweeted another girl about the show when she tweeted about binge-watching it only to wake up this morning to her response tweet telling me that it has been cancelled. I looked it up and lo and behold found articles about it.

I've been looking it up on and off to see if it had been been renewed, so I'm surprised that I missed this news. This entire time since the Season 2 finale I had been indifferent to whether or not it would be renewed and had planned to be fine with either outcome. The following is why.

I figure that I'd blog about my feelings about this considering how I've dedicated blog posts to it before. This is the first time that a TV show I followed has been straight up cancelled as opposed to simply ending after a lengthy run, like creator Ryan Murphy's other creation, "Glee."

Okay so here are my thoughts.

Murphy says that they told their story, and I agree with him. It ended in a way that was complete, so I wasn't really foreseeing any continuation. There was nothing about the Season 2 finale that told me that any more needed to be said. It's also telling when the main cast starts to move onto other projects that the end is near. The lead female characters all have successful careers and Lea Michele's character, Hester Ulrich (I literally forgot her name. I had to look it up.), the main antagonist of the series, actually ends up scot-free in a relationship with Dr. Brock Holt (John Stamos).

The only thing that threw me was the cliffhanger ending when Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts) encountered a Kappa Kappa Tau logo and the Season 1 Red Devil once again in her car, which opened up an opportunity for a third season. It ended much like the Season 1 finale, after all.

But, there isn't a true reason for one. Most of the main characters have died, including fan favorite Chad Radwell (Glen Powell). Some fans, including myself, speculated that maybe Grace Gardner (Skyler Samuels) would return for Season 3 for revenge, considering that she is also still alive and living in an insane asylum, but I guess that isn't coming to pass.

The fact that I had to look up most of these characters and actors' names and forgot that Denise Hemphill (Niecy Nash) survived the series tells me that maybe this show wasn't as memorable as I remembered.

The true stars were clearly the Chanels (which I'm now kinda realizing and understanding how it was a parody of "Heathers"! lol!), particularly Roberts, and Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd) and Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin).

You know, Season 2 wasn't nearly as interesting as Season 1, and unfortunately plenty of fans felt this way, which probably led to its demise. It lacked the ratings. This is probably because Season 1 was a fresh, new concept and the audience didn't know what to expect, whereas for Season 2, you kinda had an idea. I tuned in, but not as much. What really aggravated me about Season 2 was how early on they revealed the faces behind the Green Meanie, thus making the finale anticlimactic. Once they disclosed to the audience who the three Green Meanies were and all that was left was for the characters to find out, I lost interest. Even Chanel's relationship with Dr. Brock was cringeworthy. I mean, I know Chanel is supposed to be an adult, but it was still so weird for me. She's a girl in her twenties competing with a middle aged woman, Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis - I remembered her full name at least!), for a middle aged man's affections (even though, now that I recall, Brock was either younger or older than he appeared, which made him a suspect, or not...See how much I've forgotten about this show??!). I know this was the comedy, and it was unique to say the least, but still...weird, even for "Scream Queens" standards I guess. I also wish they gave Chanel #5 a romantic happy ending. I was getting sick of her being a constant punching bag so I'm actually very pleased with her outcome of finding her purpose working at the hospital with Zayday Williams (Keke Palmer - remembered her too!) and finally away from the two bitches she called friends.

In fact, the only good thing to come out of Season 2 is Billie Lourd and Taylor Lautner's (who played Dr. Cassidy Cascade - I remembered!) real life relationship, which is still going strong!

So, a Season 3 would have been fun and a good number of seasons to flesh out the rest of the series, but definitely not necessary. You don't want to drag something out to a point where the entire series as a whole becomes despicable and you run out of ideas, somewhat like how "Glee" got stale towards the end. But yet that show was regarded very successful and had a very heartwarming series finale. "Scream Queens" has ended on a not high, not bad, but mediocre note.

It normally upsets viewers when a beloved TV show is cancelled after a season ends on a cliffhanger, but for "Scream Queens," it is actually pretty appropriate given the show's theme, and I'm satisfied with the run.

So long, "Screams Queens"! It has been a crazy ride! :)

Stef's "So Good You Can't Put It Down" Book Reviews Summer 2017 Reading Challenges!

I've decided to take on a number of my own personal reading and book challenges this summer and am announcing it now on here to be somewhat held accountable and report on the outcome. lol

The challenges so far are as follows. And of course, they all have female leads.

1) Basement Bookshelf Library

My father Steve and I, both writers and bibliphiles, have accumulated a lot of books into our collections over the years. We have donated some books, and I plan to donate some more, but the time has come to organize the tomes in our home library. Last month we attended the Lacordaire Academy Used Book Sale, which ran from May 18-21, and purchased some new additions, so now we have to figure out how to combine the old with the new (and used.)

2) Beach Blondes: A SUMMER Novel

I'm hoping that this novel isn't as young as it appears because I don't know if I am necessarily in the mood for teenage girl drama, but who cares, right?

I bought this book from Berkeley Heights Public Library (even though it gave off a teenage vibe I was still interested in the plot :P) and am impressed with how thick it is considering it is a member of the TEEN FICTION genre. I mean, it's 721 pages!

Something I like to try is reading books according to setting. For example, I had planned on starting the book November 9 by Colleen Hoover on, you guessed it, November 9, 2016. Unfortunately, this didn't come to pass. I think maybe I was in the middle of another book? I don't know. But I do own the novel, so I will try again this year. :)

As for Beach Blondes by Katherine Applegate, I took notice of it again when I started sorting my book collection and noticed that it is categorized by month, meaning sections dedicated to June, July, and August. Given that June was coming up shortly, I decided that this was the perfect time to take on my setting reading challenge. It is June 2 now and I have to be on page 266 by July 1...

Wish me luck!

3) Comedienne Memoirs

As I have said in my last book post, I have been getting into memoirs, particularly those written by female authors. My dad and I went to Sprague Library at Montclair State University just last night and I, like usual, visited the "Pop Picks" section to see what I could find. As opposed to the rest of the library, these shelves consist of more contemporary titles. They tend to rotate this section every so often too.

There seemed to be an influx of celebrity memoirs/biographies/autobiographies all of a sudden in this section.

The first one that caught my eye was Amy Schumer's The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo. I'm not a huge fan of Schumer's comedy, but I don't totally dislike it either. There are times she makes me laugh with her girl-next-door attitude and I appreciate her as a person. I think I saw an interview with her once when she said that she wanted to stay true to herself and that's all she can do or something like that. Whatever she said, she gained my respect from it. lol

I was a little iffy about this book though because so far she seems to make a lot of vagina jokes, which don't bother me, but I hope it isn't an indication that she provides an overkill of such jokes throughout. Like, a "Look at how progressive and edgy I am! I keep referencing my pussy in my book! Haha!" type thing. One of the first chapters discusses her experience seeing some hot guy at an airport. Her humor in this section drew me in so I decided to check it out.

Before I made this decision, however, I came across Mindy Kaling's Why Not Me? Again, not a huge fan of Kaling, pretty much as indifferent as I am with Schumer. I have come to like her more recently from her voice acting work as Disgust in Inside Out (2015). But when I cracked open Kaling's book, I found myself chuckling at her simple humor. I appreciate how light the book feels in my hands and how short it looks. Both her book and Schumer's have short, quick read chapters, so I think for at least Kaling's I can take it on and manage to finish it. Then I realized that I could apply her story to myself because with this book she intends to convey her tales of finding confidence to be herself. I can always learn that type of lesson. Considering all of these good feelings I have so far toward this book, and even somewhat preferring it to Schumer's, I decided to check this one out as well.

What I noticed so far about both books is that they seem to have the same concept, comedy, and sarcastic tone. I then realized that their writing styles (provided it is their writing styles and not just a ghostwriter trying to emulate their voices lol Kaling says that she is comedy writer, which made me more interested to read her work) are reminiscent of the approach of one such comedienne, Roseanne Barr.

Back in January and February I got sick with a fever and started watching "Roseanne" on Laff. I never really watched the show when it first came out in the nineties, but I had some memories of it and now watching it as an adult I appreciated it even more. I found Barr's book Roseanne: My Life as a Woman, which she claims to have written herself within its pages, at the Lacordaire Used Book Sale and decided to purchase it. I read the same amount of pages in this book I read from the others when I first bought it and sense the same humor.

My plan this summer is to read all three books and compare and contrast the written work and experiences of a white comedienne, a comedienne of color, and a white comedienne from the nineties, who are all fairly successful in their own right, and perhaps apply their advice to my own creative success as a woman. All chapters seem to be short, sweet, entertaining, and interesting.

My Schumer and Kaling books are due back at the library on June 29.

4) Still working on THIS book...

Ugh. I have gotten further with this book since my last book blog post, but I'm lacking interest in it now. I've invested so much in it now that I feel like I've come so far and I don't want to give it up! I want to see what happens now!

It started off good, but now the two main characters Marie-Laure and Joseph keep gushing about how much they love each other and engaging in these cheesy, over the top sex scenes that you just know something bad is going to come across these two. Joseph is betrothed to another woman in an arranged marriage, of course, so that's a typical star-crossed lovers storyline for you. I keep predicting that Marie-Laure is going to get pregnant by him (even though they have been using "sheaths") and because he is an aristocrat and she is a scullery maid, it's going to bring about a scandal and secrets. So cliche. I'm not here for it right now.

I actually ran into Janis at the used book sale and told her about my qualms with this book. She shook her head and understood my woes. lol

So, there you have it. My Summer 2017 Reading Challenges so far! Wish me luck! I'll hopefully be back with updates as my reading progresses! :)

Biblical, Shakespearean, and Other Themes in "Heathers"

Let's celebrate my half birthday by sharing my first analytical blog essay in months! :D

For the past few weeks, I have been on a "Heathers" kick. Heathers was a teen movie in 1988 starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater and it was remade as an Off-Broadway musical in 2014. I watched a YouTube video one Sunday morning, heard "Dead Girl Walking", liked it, looked it up along with the rest of the musical, and the rest was history.

I had heard about the musical when it came out, but still didn't really think that much about it. Although, I will give its Twitter account credit for being the one Broadway musical account to follow me. ;)

I never really knew what "Heathers" was about, hence my current interest to now delve more into it. All I knew was that it is about a clique of girls all with the name Heather and that this teenage bad boy tries to kill everybody. I always sensed the dark tone, but now I have more of an understanding of the story in general.

For example, I never knew that Ryder's character wasn't named Heather. I always thought that she was the fourth Heather or something. However, high school senior Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder in the movie, Barrett Wilbert Weed in the musical) is a teenage nobody who longs for life in elementary school when all of her classmates got along with each other. She hooks up with the awful popular girls, the Heathers (Heather Chandler, the Queen Bee, Heather Duke, the bitchy second-in-command, and Heather McNamara, the one that tags along and has some deep issues of her own), in order to avoid being targeted by the bullies. She becomes attracted to new kid Jason "J.D." Dean (Christian Slater in the movie, Ryan McCartan in the musical) when he is the only one strong enough to stand up to the bullies and wishes for him to protect her. The two develop a sort of flirtation and end up accidentally-on-purpose murdering the mean kids for revenge and framing the homicides as suicides to alleviate the blame, thus launching a whole teen suicide awareness campaign at their Westerburg High School. From this, Veronica's life starts to spiral out of control as J.D.'s true dark colors are revealed and he gets more and more determined to purge the bullies in order to sanctify society.

There are some themes in this plot that I believe are worth noticing, so let's dive right in! :) Incidentally, although I will be talking about both the film and the musical, I'll be going by the musical more. They made some changes from the film for the stage version and I feel more familiar with the latter.

Beware of spoilers and adult language!!!

Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious): Women's History Month Blog Posts Update

Hi there, everyone! Happy Women's History Month! :D

You might be wondering why I haven't been delivering weekly "Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious)" blog posts this year like I have done every year during Women's History Month since this blog's conception. Well, in addition to me not having anything very solid planned for this year, this has been a crazy month for me. Women's History Month this year kicked off with personal health issues (literally right away, like around 1 AM on March 1) which landed me in the emergency room for a few hours later that night. Then more stuff happened, which I will explain in my next blog post.

I then had work to do among other things that prevented me from blogging, which brings me to now. I actually have a total of two blog posts up my sleeves for Women's History Month and my series this year, both of which were somewhat inspired by my illness believe it or not. The thing is, they probably will not be ready for publishing this month. However, I still plan on writing them and publishing them for you at some point, even if it's not this month. Nothing wrong with writing about amazing women outside of Women's History Month. ;)

Stay tuned! Happy Women's History Month once again! :D

10 Years and 20 Seasons Later - How I Learned to Finally Appreciate "Dancing with the Stars"

The 20th season of "Dancing with Stars" came to end on May 19, 2015 (Teddy's birthday!) with #TeamValenRue, Rumer Willis and Valentin Chmerkovskiy, as the Mirror Ball Trophy victors. #TeamRallison, Riker Lynch and Allison Holker, came in second place and #TeamShway, Noah Galloway and Sharna Burgess, came in third.

ABC

This was the first time I watched a whole season of DWTS from beginning to end, dedicated to it and making a point to tune in each week, so now I want to write about it. :) These are my reflections. I have a lot to say, so hang in there.

Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious) - Fictional Woman of the Week: The Women from "Reba" (2001-2007)

The final installment of my series this year is the Texas sitcom "Reba", starring country singer Reba McEntire as title character Reba Hart. Like I said, this show is a little too good to be true, and I'll explain why.

The show's main focus is the foundation of family and getting through life's obstacles as a unit. However, the real concept is questioning the true definition of family. The series opens up with Reba and her family at a court-ordered family counseling session. She is separated from her dentist ex-husband Brock (Christopher Rich) and they are trying to solve their marital problems and custody battles. It is revealed in this opening scene that Brock has to marry his dental hygienist Barbra Jean (Melissa Peterman) because she is pregnant, and that their high school senior drill team daughter, Cheyenne (JoAnna Garcia), is pregnant as well with her star football player boyfriend Van Montgomery's (Steve Howey) child. These are the plot points that set off the fireworks for the rest of the series. Reba and Brock also have two other children: the cynical Kyra (Scarlett Pomers) and the innocent, youngest Jake (Mitch Holleman).

Reba Hart (nee McKinney) (McEntire) is literally the mom of the group. When Van's parents disown him due to the pregnancy, Reba takes him in. Reba eventually has a full house minus Brock, which includes baby Elizabeth when she is born during the Season 1 finale. Right away you know that she is a good mother and genuinely cares about others. Though being a stay at home mom seems to be her main role, she is also seen working as a secretary for Brock's dentist rival and eventually goes into the real estate business with Van.

But of course, this full house also means that the other woman, Barbra Jean, feels entitled to show up unannounced at any time. She calls Reba her best friend, leaving Reba nauseous at the very thought. The conflict between these two is the true heart (Haha, Hart/heart) of the show, but it usually is more lighthearted and comical as opposed to serious, angry female rivalries. They are a typical duo with Reba as the short deadpan snarker and Barbra Jean as the tall goofy one.

But see, that's the thing. Though Reba clearly shows her dislike for Barbra Jean, she sucks it up and tolerates her, but while often insulting her to her face and wanting absolutely nothing to do with her. Very rarely would a jilted wife in real life put up with the other woman's antics let alone even deal with her in a civilized manner. There are even times when she is the mediator between Barbra Jean and Brock when they go through a rough patch. What ex-wife would do this? This is probably why Barbra Jean misreads Reba's good nature.

However, Reba isn't perfect herself. A lot of times she has a lot of pride and thinks she knows what's best for everyone but she ends up having to eat her words. It especially pains her when she has to apologize to Barbra Jean or get her approval on things, particularly in my favorite episode "Date of Mirth" when Barbra Jean has a crush on her marriage counselor and Cheyenne and Van convince Reba to get permission from Barbra Jean to date him, and in the episode "Parenting with Puppets" when Reba is convinced that Barbra Jean's parenting tactics are incorrect, leading her to mistakenly blame Barbra Jean and Brock's son Henry for breaking a lamp.

But then again, Barbra Jean "BJ" Hart (nee Booker) (Peterman) using puppets as a parenting technique is pretty juvenile. But that is her nature. The reason why Reba can't stand her, other than the fact that she stole her husband, of course, is her immaturity and over the top personality. She often has these cutesy or crazy ideas with which Reba originally wants no involvement. However, Reba is eventually roped into Barbra Jean's schemes, such as when she takes Reba to see her marriage counselor to explain her crush issue in "Date of Mirth". Other examples are the time they diet together with Cheyenne in "Have Your Cake" and when she and Reba go out man hunting during Barbara Jean's separation from Brock, an activity that Reba surprisingly finds herself enjoying, in "The Two Girl Theory", two of my other favorite episodes.

Barbra Jean may be a pest, but she is also caring and a sweetheart. She is often the one to bring up the Lord or pray in the middle of a scene, though often dramatically. When I watch "Reba" episodes, I see people criticize Barbra Jean in the comments for this reason, saying that she is a phony praying and calling herself a Christian, yet getting pregnant by someone else's husband. Now is my chance to defend her.

Even though Barbra Jean may not realize that some of her words and actions done in innocence may aggravate Reba, she does recognize that she is a sinner. She feels a lot of guilt for what she did to her. She states this every so often, particularly in "The Ghost and Mrs. Hart" where she thinks that ghosts are haunting her because of the wrong she did to her "best friend." Perhaps Barbra Jean tries to forge a friendship with Reba to amend her wrongdoings. Does nobody think that maybe Barbra Jean is turning to Christianity because of the wrong she has done and is trying to make peace with God? For some reason, people seem to have this misconception that we Christians think we are perfect and preach it but don't act it. That couldn't be farther from the truth. As Christians we acknowledge that we are flawed and Barbra Jean is a fictional character that also does this.

Another person who acknowledges the error of her ways is Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery (Garcia), the pregnant teenager of this series. Like with Nikki Parker and Maya Wilkes, we see Cheyenne live with the aftermath of her actions, such as watching her juggle student life and motherhood, but unlike them, we watch her go through the actual pregnancy as well. During the first season, Cheyenne endures a lot of ostracizing and ridicule for her position, along with the fears of having to grow up too fast and put any of her aspirations on hold. Towards the end of Season 4 and into Season 5, she develops an alcohol problem to cope.

Notice too that all three teenage mothers in my series this year keep their babies and raise them. I find this interesting because no other option seems to be considered.

Though she is vain and ditzy, Cheyenne actually has a heart of gold. In "The King and I" it is suggested that she was kind to the nerdy kids in high school, she volunteers, and she's a very good mother to Elizabeth. Her partner-in-crime husband Van pretty much fits this description as well.

But the thing about Van is that his willingness to commit himself to Cheyenne is very unrealistic, just as unrealistic as Reba's strange relationship with Barbra Jean. I had this issue with the show when I first watched it too. In many cases, never is there the guy who impregnates a woman going to be the type of man Van is. Perhaps the show wanted to create a character like this to encourage deadbeat dads to stand up to the plate, but it also gives false pretenses to young women that guys are going to be like Van, when the sad reality is that they are more likely not. In the first episode of the series, he is willing to marry Cheyenne and the marriage lasts throughout the series even though oftentimes the two bicker about things and face bumps in the road. Regardless, they never separate like Brock and Reba and eventually Brock and Barbra Jean. Unlike the previous generation, Cheyenne and Van have a very successful partnership. Interestingly, Cheyenne is portrayed to anticipate and enjoy sex more than Van, so that is different.

Finally there is Kyra Hart (Pomers), who can basically be considered a sub-character, often involved in the sub-plots earlier in the series but receiving a bigger role as the story goes on. She is the smart sarcastic kid who is your typical middle child - often forgotten. Well, at least she feels this way. Towards the end of Season 2 and into Season 3, Kyra moves in with her father and Barbra Jean, feeling like there is no place for her in the filled Reba household. She is the rebellious one who often masks her feelings and makes fun of the stupidity of others, specifically that of Van, Cheyenne, and Barbra Jean.

Although she may come across as an antagonist, often stirring up conflicts to her advantage, there are moments when she softens her heart (Haha. Hart/heart again :P). A shining moment for her is in the episode "Mother's Intuition". In this episode, Kyra keeps canceling dinner plans with Reba and it is revealed at the end that the reason for this is that she needs to stay home to keep Barbra Jean, who is depressed because Brock has moved out, active in life. In the final scene Barbra Jean lacks motivation to go to the park with Kyra and Henry, but Kyra persuades her to get off the couch and join them, much to Barbra Jean's appreciation. What's nice about this is just that. We actually see a nice side to Kyra, and that is rare. She has a strong mean streak to her, especially towards Barbra Jean. It shows that she genuinely cares about her stepmother and has warmed up to her. It also shows that it is not impossible for Kyra to be kind. Kyra is also the one who usually reluctantly, yet willingly, takes part in Barbra Jean's shenanigans.

At the end of the series, Kyra begins to focus on music and has a band.

"Reba" was cancelled a bit suddenly as well, but at least this series has a decent finale that wraps everything up. During the final scene, everything is hunky dory. Cheyenne and Van are getting on their feet, Barbra Jean decides to not leave Texas for work so she could work out things with Brock, and Reba actually ends up finally calling Barbra Jean her best friend. Then Reba delivers the following monologue:

"I'm just so happy that all of our lives worked out...Six years ago I thought I was cursed. Turns out that I'm blessed. Blessed to be in the middle of the craziest, most dysfunctional, WONDERFUL life I could imagine. And I love all of you."

This gets Van all choked up and he suggests that they take a group photo to capture the moment (but really, the only reason why this is done is to mirror this same event that takes place in the closing scene of very first episode). Then Reba delivers the following line as an homage to the show's theme song "I'm a Survivor", sung by McEntire herself:

"We got through it all. Because we're survivors."

This ends the series with the picture being taken, accompanied by the song playing and audience applause in the background, and a final montage of scenes from the show.

I'm not sure if I like this series finale much either, so therefore I don't like any of the series finales on this list. lol :P

To me, everything ends too perfectly. I know that they were probably going for a happy ending, but this final scene insinuates that because the show is over, their lives are essentially over and they will never have any more problems because they "got through it all." It's as if because it was the series finale, it had to be entirely conclusive with everything tied in a precious bow.

But then again, the whole show is like that, so you have to take it for what it is. It has its serious moments, sure, but ultimately it's a sweet show about family and crazy family members and experiences. Perhaps instead of emulating everyday life, "Reba" is there to give us hope of what life could be and that it's possible that we all can have a positive outcome.

Well, that is all for this year's "Fictional Woman of the Week"! I hope you enjoyed this spin on it! Happy Women's History Month, everyone! We'll see what I'll cook up next year! :D

Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious) - Fictional Woman of the Week: The Women from "Girlfriends" (2000-2008)

"Girlfriends" is my most intense sitcom on this year's list, and by intense I mean that it covers more serious issues than the other two do. The show discusses jealousy, sex, weddings, failed marriages, being a black woman in today's America, and AIDS, which is somewhat rare for a sitcom. Though other sitcoms may include it, this sitcom focuses on it a bit more heavily. It's actually pretty educational in regards to AIDS, especially in the episode "The Pact". Even though all three shows bring God and religion into the equation, "Girlfriends" is the one that tended to do it the most often.

The show follows the lives of four professional women. They also have a male friend in William (Reggie Hayes), but the main focus of the series is the female camaraderie.

Of course I would like it. :)

TV Tropes

I started watching this show again because I noticed that Tracee Ellis Ross, who played "Girlfriends" lead character Joan, is now in the new ABC comedy "Black-ish".

Out of all four ladies, I always felt like I related to Joan Clayton, Esq. (Ross) the most. Joan is a lawyer but eventually in Season 5 opens up a restaurant called "The J-Spot". She is considered the mom of the group and is not as free-spirited as the others. However, she is very loyal and usually the voice of reason. Even though all four women are the show's main characters, she's the rock that holds the story together. Without Joan Clayton, we wouldn't have "Girlfriends". We see her perspectives the most. In the beginning episodes, she would even break the fourth wall so we could see her inner thoughts.

I also like how she often addresses her friends as "You guys."

However, watching it again as an adult made me realize her negatives more.

Throughout the whole series she is on the search for a husband. This is her main goal, which now that I think about it when writing this series, is a change of pace. Here we have a professional woman looking to be a wife when normally female characters would more likely be wives looking to have professional lives.

This isn't a bad thing to want nor is Joan a horrible person, but at times in her quest to find true love she can be very insecure and in other circumstances get too involved where she shouldn't. Then there are times where she is not as loyal as she could be and tends to be selfish and condescending, even though this is not her intention. She is just trying to juggle her friends and priorities, which proves difficult for her.

Most of her problems in the show involve her childhood best friend, real estate agent Antoinette "Toni" Childs (Jill Marie Jones). Because Toni was always there for Joan in the past, Joan feels indebted to her and is quick to give her the benefit of the doubt whenever she wrongs her. Even though Toni is often there for Joan and is the first one Joan turns to in times of trouble, like when she thinks that she is pregnant in "Pregnant Pause", Toni is often Joan's main antagonist that causes her unnecessary stress. She is usually portrayed as the bad guy because, like I said before, the show is from Joan's perspective. Their on-again, off-again friendship is much of the show's conflict, especially early in Season 2 when Joan goes to therapy because of her. Another example is the story arc in the last half of Season 3, which consists of Toni preparing for her wedding to Todd (Jason Pace) with Joan persistently and obviously being jealous of her.

Toni stands up for others and herself, but her narcissism and self-centeredness is her trademark at an extreme degree and she is often prone to hasty actions. She is very confident in herself, especially her looks, though she comes across vain, and like Joan she too tries to be there for her friends. She prefers the finer things in life because she grew up poor, but when she finally has her child Morgan with Todd, she matures and becomes a devoted mother.

Both Joan and Toni have qualities that don't make audiences totally despise them, but they both also come with baggage and drama, which they acknowledge. This makes them more human as opposed to archetype, cartoonish characters. There are many layers to them. Their roller coaster friendship is such an important aspect of the show that the hostility between the two even continues after Season 6 when the Toni Childs character is terminated, thus terminating the friendship once and for all because Joan missed Toni's custody hearing even though she promised she would be there. Jones decided to leave the show and her character, who is now separated from Todd, moves to New York so that Morgan could be with her father, leaving Joan feeling withdrawals and guilt. This plot point is very evident in the Season 7 episode "Everybody Hates Monica".

The other two women in their "four girl ensemble" are a bit more real and straightforward and less likely to get into high school drama but are also very loyal friends, though often caught in the middle of the Joan/Toni disputes. The first of the two is Maya Wilkes (Golden Brooks). She is introduced as Joan's secretary and assistant and is the teenage mother of the series, her son Jabari a recurring character. At first she and Toni don't get along because they come from opposite worlds, but eventually they warm up to each other.

Maya is the character that is most like everyday people. She isn't rich like Joan or Toni but struggles to make ends meet. Perhaps the fact that she is a mother makes her more down to earth than the rest and we see how good she is to her son throughout the series. She is the one with the quick wit and snarky remarks that often uses sarcasm to respond to and make fun of situations. She coins the phrase, "Oh, HELL no!" Lol. I love that. I think she says it at least once in every episode. I always like the way she expresses herself, even her laughter. She also mentions once that she loves her some Jon Bon Jovi. That's not very important but it needs to be included in this regardless. lol

Like Nikki Parker, Maya too tries to go to school and get her degree, but her stress in piecing together her life and having conflicts with her husband Darnell (Khalil Kain) emotionally leads her into the arms of another man, Stan, who is first introduced in "Maya Takes a Stan". This causes a separation between Maya and Darnell, but they eventually get back together by the end of the series. She also becomes an author of a self-help book entitled Oh, Hell YES!, so that's pretty cool.

Finally, we come to the comic relief and the character most post-graduates could relate to the most, Lynn Searcy (Persia White). I call her a comic relief because she's the one laid back character that has most of the funny lines in spite of everything, but it's not like she's only there for that reason. She seems to be more of a side character, and maybe she is at the beginning, but she eventually becomes a more solid character and has her own serious storylines, which get more and more serious as the series goes on and she matures as it progresses. She's also half white and was adopted and raised by a white family, thus adding more details to her.

Lynn is Joan and Toni's bohemian friend from college who is always crashing at her friends' places. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think she ever has her own place in the entire series. She holds five post-graduate degrees but yet lacks motivation to find a job and struggles to keep one. She cares more about developing her creative side, being the artistic one of the group. She dresses like a hipster, attends poetry slams, and eventually makes a documentary about African American women and the AIDS epidemic.

My favorite Lynn-centered episode is "Take This Poem and Call Me in the Morning". In this episode, Lynn meets her love interest Sivad (Saul Williams), a poet who performs at one of the slams Lynn attends and is the one who inspires her to make the AIDS documentary. She finds out that he is celibate, which marks her relationship with him a huge story arc for her. Out of all four women, Lynn is the most sexually experienced and experimental. Sex is a huge part of her character and she is very open about it. Sometimes it is used for comedy, but other times it's a big factor in her relationship with men that can either make her or break her. At first she hides this from Sivad and tells him that she is celibate too in order to get closer to him, but he eventually finds out that she is lying. They then agree to become a couple anyway with Lynn willing to repress her sexuality to be with him. Knowing how sexually driven she is, seeing her willing to surrender that about herself for love is a very mature move for her and renders respect.

(Addition 8/20/17 1:29 AM I just found out that Williams and White were once a couple in real life who eventually got married! They actually MET on the show!!! :D However, they are no longer together. End Addition 1:31 AM)

Lynn utters one of my favorite lines in this episode. I liked it so much that I put it under my Facebook quotes. She equates sex with freedom, so after the poetry slam at the end of the episode when she and Sivad are discussing her sexuality, Lynn says:

"My sexuality has been my spirituality."

This was so profound to me when I first heard it. It's beautiful. I never really linked sex and worship together before but her saying this made a lot of sense to me. This brought up to me a whole new way to express spirituality and a whole new way to connect to God, though she is referring more to a connection between two people. Sex is a beautiful thing that is often tarnished by media, so therefore Lynn saying this reiterates the true intention of sex.

However, it comes to a point where Lynn can no longer handle her new celibate lifestyle and the two decide to call it quits and have a mutual breakup the following season in "Snoop, There It Is". Even this is handled good-heartedly and maturely. It's actually pretty impressive that she lasted as long as she did, so I consider this storyline a turning point for her character. Towards the end of the series, Lynn finds music and starts a band called "Indigo Skye". She is seen singing, songwriting, and playing the guitar.

As you can see, this was a very deep show. It had eight very good seasons, but unfortunately it did not get the series finale it deserved when it was cancelled in 2008 and abruptly ended with no satisfying conclusion.

Next week's sitcom had a decent series finale, but it was too good to be true. In fact, the whole series was too good to be true. There's your clue. Stay tuned and thank you for reading! :)

Real Influential Women Role Models (Real and Fictitious) - Fictional Woman of the Week: The Women from "The Parkers" (1999-2004)

The first installment of our series this year is the women from "The Parkers", which was a "Moesha" spin-off. I've been wanting to talk about it, so I decided to use this chance to do so.

Wikipedia

This show has a mother/daughter theme. Nikki Parker, the mother of the duo, was played by Mo'nique. I've realized that in every installment of my list this year, there is a character that went through a teenage pregnancy, and Nikki is the first of the three. Nikki actually made my "Fictional Woman of the Week" list last year, so therefore I'm not going to discuss her too much in-depth now, but she's still worth talking about in this blog post.

Because she got pregnant in high school, Nicole "Nikki" Parker (Mo'nique) missed out on college to raise her daughter Kimberly Ann Parker (Countess Vaughn). So when her daughter attends Santa Monica College, Nikki joins her.

What I like about the show now as an adult, other than its slapstick humor, is the college setting. I loved college life, so because a lot of the scenes of this show is set on their college campus, particularly their student center, it appeals to me. The concept itself is interesting. It's very rare that you see a mother going to college with her daughter, which makes this show unique.

Regardless of how irrational she may be when it comes to her unrequited love for Professor Stanley Oglevee (Dorien Wilson), which is the main plot of the show, there are many admirable qualities about Nikki. She is very devoted to her family, friends, education, and business. She's very strict sometimes, but for good reason. She is often encouraging others and seems to have a very positive outlook on life. At the end of the series, she finally graduates college and gets her man.

Kimberly "Kim" Ann Parker (Vaughn) is actually the complete opposite of her mother. Even though she is just as devoted to friends and family as Nikki is, education is not her top priority. Unlike the rest of the characters, she doesn't graduate college by the end of the series.

She's actually pretty much considered the "dumb one" of the group. Most of the goofy one-liners come from her, much to the others' frustration at times. However, this being said, she also has a lot of innocence and has this cuteness about her, especially her giggles. She's the relatable, childlike, sweet character that ends up learning life lessons throughout the series and we watch her grow up. At the end of the day she has a decent amount of common sense and ability to make her own decisions and learn from them. Even though she is not book smart, there are times when we see her very worldly wise as she tries to stay faithful to her beliefs.

One shining moment of hers that comes to mind is during the Season 3 premiere. In the Season 2 finale, her boyfriend dies in a fire and leaves behind his baby girl and in the Season 3 premiere, Kim is determined to raise the baby herself, much to Nikki's dislike. Not wanting Kim to throw her life away for something that is not her responsibility, Nikki contacts the biological mother, leaving Kim angry with her. This episode was shining for Kim because this is one of the few times we see her acting like a mature adult taking things seriously. She was willing to raise the child and was disgusted by how the mother just abandoned her daughter. At the end of the episode, however, Kim gives the mother advice on how to be a good mom because Nikki left such a good example for her and is at peace with the situation.

In addition to all of this, Kim is a talented singer and fashion designer.

Next up is Kim's best friend, Stevie Van Lowe (Jenna von Oÿ), and the more I think about it, the more I realize that Stevie isn't very special lol.

Well, okay, let me talk about her first. She's a foil to Kim when it comes to smarts. She is very studious but, like Kim, has a singing talent. In fact, the two of them, along with their male friend "T" (Ken Lawson), whom Stevie dates for awhile, have their own singing group called "Freestyle Unity". She and Kim actually plan to go into business together by the end of the series. Unlike Kim, she has a very estranged relationship with her mother and often goes into bitter rapid rants about her.

...But that's all there really is to Stevie. There's nothing very exciting about her nor does she really add or take away anything from the show. I think the thing with her is that she's the "straight man" of the group, meaning that she's usually the most sensible and serious out of everyone and to maintain that role she is probably considered the least funny. She's the least likely to get into antics or be comical while in them, so therefore she's not going to be quite as memorable. But that doesn't mean that she isn't likable or influential. She has a lot of good qualities for her to deserve a spot on this list and this type of character is sometimes needed in comedy. She's basically a female companion for Kim and a decent person as seen from her actions, and that's all there is to it.

Finally, we come full circle to Nikki's best friend Andell Wilkerson (Yvette Wilson). Andell doesn't appear until the second season. In the first season Nikki originally has a best friend in a character named Desiree, and although Desiree is kindhearted, her personality proves blander than Stevie's, so thankfully she was replaced with someone with more pizzazz.

Unlike Stevie, Andell is more likely to chase after men and hilariously get herself into jams with Nikki, whether it is dressing in drag to get a signed jersey from Shaq ("Sign of the Shaq") or being trapped on a window ledge to get concert tickets from Tweet ("Kim's 21st Birthday"). However, like Stevie, she is the sarcastic friend who uses that very trait to knock some sense into her Parker friend. Normally Andell is sucked into Nikki's antics, especially when it involves her obsession over the Professor, but she always proves to be a good friend as she sticks up for Nikki and always stands by her side. In fact, even though she is the one who normally talks against Nikki's desired union with the Professor, wanting her friend to find love in the arms of another man who legitimately cares for her, she is the one who finally acknowledges their love for each other and brings them together in the series finale. After she locks Stanley in the closet, that is.

Andell is also a business woman. From Season 3 on, she owns a eatery named "Andell's".

Even though this is a show about close mother and daughter relationships, which is something that Nikki and Kim clearly do have, their heartwarming love for each other the core of the show, this is a show about friendship as well, even though the friendship theme is a bit more secondary.

However, next week's "Fictional Woman of the Week" centers fully on the friendship of women. That's your clue. Mull it over and see if you can guess what show it is and let me know your guesses in the comments. Stay tuned and thanks for reading! :)