Thursday, November 11, 2010

Monogamy Is Beautiful

I spend a lot of time thinking about love and relationships. I'm in a long-distance, long-term, monogamous relationship and I love it. I see a lot of my friends pretend to be monogamous but keep a "friend" or two on the side. I see friends play "the game" and keep multiple boyfriends or girlfriends because people "can't be trusted." These same people like to give me advice about how stupid it is to be monogamous at such a young age and how I should be exploring and blah blah blah.

I always hear, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." But why not? All of my eggs fit comfortably in my basket. Meanwhile, you're spreading your eggs out in more than one basket, which is doing nothing but adding weight and strain to your life.

Whenever I see Corey, I feel a happiness that I can't explain. When he holds me, I feel safe. When I look at his heart, I see my reflection. Now, I don't expect many people to understand this because not many people have felt that way. But don't judge me for putting all my eggs in one basket because, one day, you'll get tired of carrying around multiple baskets and you'll wish you were me.

This is for my friends (and others) who fool themselves and their mates into thinking they're monogamous when they're not. This is also for my friends (and others) who complain about not being in a relationship but are too afraid to put all their eggs in one basket and see what happens. Most importantly, this is for all the people who judge those of us in monogamous relationships, whether you say it out loud or just think it. We can feel your negative, judging vibes so don't play yourself. Remember that life is about taking risks so don't be afraid to try it out and don't judge people because it works both ways.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

My Review of "For Colored Girls"

Last night, I went to see For Colored Girls at the Milford Mall with a group of around 25 other Yalies. The theatre was completely sold out. There were men and women (mostly women) of all ages there.

My opinion: I loved it!!! I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. I thought Tyler Perry did a great job. The monologues were well-placed. The colors were great. The casting was great (although I would've loved to see some Yale in the mix*Angela Bassett*) and the roles were appropriately assigned. The movie was very emotional, which I expected. There were times to laugh and times to cry and times to be angry and times to be shocked. It was also a great conversation sparker. I left the theatre craving a discussion about it, which is exactly what happened. There were some differing opinions about the placement of the monologues but, overall, my friends and I liked it.

My thoughts: I will do my best not to give anything away for those who haven't seen the movie yet. I fear that some people will walk away from the movie hating Kimberly Elise's husband and Janet Jackson's husband without fully understanding their characters. Although the movie is focused on Black women, it also touches on some of the problems that men face, both in Black society and overall. I hope that people will really think about the lives of these characters just as much as the female characters.

My experience in the theatre: It was a very trying experience for me. One of my biggest pet peeves is ignorance in movie theaters. There were so many times when I wanted to scream "shut up" or "stop laughing" throughout the film. People laughed EVERY TIME Whoopi Goldberg's character came on screen. Yes, Whoopi is a comedian and she is pretty funny, but her character in this film was actually serious. She had some very serious monologues and conversations that were completely overshadowed by laughter. Are we that ignorant that we can't tell comedy from drama? If you know you lack maturity, you should not see this film.
Another pet peeve of mine is when I see children in situations that they shouldn't be in. I was very upset to see small children in this Rated R film. Everyone knew from the previews that this is not a family film so WHY would you bring your kids to see it? There was a family of 5 in my theatre- a mom/adult and 4 kids. They were between the ages of 2 and 9 (I think). The mom sat in the row in front of us with the 2 year old on her lap and the other three kids were sitting behind her. During the very emotional parts of the movie when the audience cried (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), these kids started bawling. I just wanted to hug them and slap their mom. NO CHILD should see this movie. Even if you think you child is too young to understand it, they will cry if they see a bunch of adults crying around them. This movie was Rated R for a reason. There was nudity, swearing, violence and everything else you expect to see in an R-rated movie. If you can't find a babysitter, you need to stay home or go see Megamind.

Overall, I think For Colored Girls is a must-see. I'm going to see it again, hopefully without the inappropriate laughter and kids.