Summer TV Review: Plain Jane

Photo courtesy of Matt Kennedy and the CW All Rights Reserved

The CW has been advertising their new reality show Plain Jane for months now. I've been so excited to watch this show. When the previews started airing I hated that I would have to wait until the end of summer to watch a single episode. I am a firm believer that confidence in women is key! There are so many bad situations in my life that I could have avoided if I had more self esteem. True beauty does come from within but let's be honest, the outside package counts too.

My biggest problem with the show is that it is premised on the idea of catching a man. These girls are all on the show because they think they need to be "hotter" if they are going to have any chance of landing their dream guy. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be the best you possible and we women are all guilty of spending a few extra minutes in front of the mirror when there is a guy we like. However, I have a serious problem with the idea that these girls somehow need to change themselves to get a guy. If a guy that is your friend didn't notice you without 4 inch heels and a skin tight dress then you may need to find another guy. Creating a fake you to please a man is only going to bring you misery. Trust me I know.

At the end of the show, the newly transformed girl presents herself to the object of her affection and reveals her secret love for him. Waiting for the guy to recover from the shock and embarrassment is nothing short of awkward. And could you imagine if he said not interested. What would happen to that poor girl?

But the show was not all bad. At the end when this week's "plain jane" Cristen revealed her secret crush to her friend of 6 years, he told her that he had a crush on her since college and just never told her. See? He liked her exactly the way she was before all the hair and makeup. That to me was beautiful.

The show ended with pictures of the new couple and they seemed pretty happy together. Suprisingly Cristen looked like herself just with perfectly tweezed eyebrows and a chic new haircut. By the time the show went off I found myself thinking I was perhaps a bit too quick to make a negative judgment. Maybe they didn't try to change this girl but just tried to give her the tools to be a more improved happier version of herself. It definitely seemed to work.

I think I'll keep tuning in...

Plain Jane airs Wednesday nights at 9 EST on the CW.

Your Ex Is A Jerk? Ok, Now Move On!

So this afternoon I was watching an episode of the Tyra show with guests who claimed they suffered from sexorexia (in other words they no longer engaged in sexual activity of any kind as a punishment to themselves for some other issue). Well there was this dude on the show telling everyone how he hasn't had sex in 8 years because his ex-girlfriend disappeared for 5 days then came back and said she didn't want to be with him anymore--and it broke his heart. The ex was on the show and the guy was sitting on the couch crying and looking at her saying "you never even said sorry". Dude it's been 8 years. As if that's not bad enough, he proceeds to talk about how he lost his job, has no money, his car is falling apart and women don't want him because he doesn't have, in his words, "bling-bling". Well, sir, maybe if you focused your energy on working and building up your finances instead of walking around depressed about a relationship that ended 8 years ago you wouldn't be broke.

Ok, I don't mean to make light of his pain. We've all been there. There's an ex that completely abuses your trust and treats you in a way that no human being deserves to be treated and you are in more pain than you even knew was humanly possible. I don't know about you, but when I was in the situation it made me feel better to tell people how much of a jerk my ex was. But it wasn't so much out of hate for him. I wanted to make myself feel better about how much anger and pain I was feeling and I thought if I could get my friends and family to say he was a bad person then I could justify all the pain I was in.

Watching that guy showed me something though. We will all probably suffer some kind of betrayal at some point in our life. And it is great for friends and family to offer us their shoulder to cry on as we try to move on from those painful experiences. But the important thing is that we move on. I won't place any kind of time limit on moving on...it took me years to recover from my ex. But when it's been 8 years and you are still crying like it happened yesterday you haven't moved on. And though you may want the whole world to see how bad of a person your ex is the only thing you actually end up accomplishing is making yourself look crazy.

Lifetime Movies...Not What They Used to Be

I have been watching Lifetime since I was a little girl. I remember how my sister and I would spend our entire Saturday afternoon watching their movies. Then came Lifetime Movie Network and we thought we were in heaven! Lifetime movies all day, every day...what could be better?

Well....

That was then, this is now. Back then, Lifetime movies told stories of real women. Believable stories we could all relate to. They taught us about abuse, violence, drugs, eating disorders, love, lust and all the consequences that come with fast living. I must say that I learned quite a few lessons watching these movies as a teen. Now, every time I turn on Lifetime there's another movie on about some ghost terrorizing a town or 40 year old woman stalking some poor woman's husband or a girl who can see dead people (how original?) and quite frankly it is starting to get old.

Lifetime is not supposed to be about filth. Real stories, real women...that's their theme right? If I wanted to watch poorly executed brainless movies I would spend my time watching a Step Up marathon. But it is still Lifetime and I believe they can redeem themselves. We Were the Mulvaneys is still one of their best original movies ever and that came out in this decade. That means there's hope right?

This month Lifetime premiered The Client List starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. The story seemed right up their alley--a young mom struggling to make ends meet finds herself tangled up in a life of prostitution and is ultimately disgraced when all she was trying to do was support her family. I also love Jennifer Love Hewitt so I expected it to be a good movie. Needless to say I was disappointed. It was mediocre at best. How can it be that they have been telling these same stories for decades and still can't manage to get it right? It wasn't so much the actors as it was that the movie was just poorly written. And whoever the dialect coach was that taught those actors those cheesy southern accents needs to lose his or her job immediately. After an hour and a half I realized I was no longer paying attention to the movie and was instead looking at my TV thinking "Jennifer is such a beautiful girl. I wonder why she is in her 30s and still single. Oh no, will I be in my 30s and still single...". Needless to say those are not the kind of thoughts that are going to leave me feeling good about what I just watched.

But I still believe in you Lifetime and will patiently wait for your comeback.

Racism Has Got to End

Racism is sick. I grew up in the South so I am well aware of just how racist some people can be towards blacks...and yes this still goes on in 2010. I am also in a predominantly white profession. When I sit in my law classes, or walk into the offices of my internship, I am usually the only black face. Matter of fact, I'm usually the only person of color period. Every time my fellow interns get together and magically forget to invite me, or an employer lectures me about the importance of being on time and not turning in crappy work even when I have done nothing wrong, or a fellow intern looks in my face and has the nerve to tell me they like me because I am "not like normal black people", it hurts. I have spent years working hard to prove myself in a society that has considered me a failure from the beginning. Poor black southern girl from a single parent household...what will she ever accomplish? But by the grace of God I have accomplished.

There is nothing more demeaning or humiliating than when you experience racism. The first time someone ever calls you the n-word, it does something to you. But one thing I know, hate breeds hate. And I refuse to be a victim of racism. I will continue to pursue whatever path in life I choose to follow. And most importantly, I will not allow racists to win by making me hate!

Black people seem to have this opinion that blacks can't be racist...we've experienced too much oppression ourselves to ever be in that category. Well that is a huge lie! I have been honest here that I have a tiny obsession with blogs. Well today, I went on mediatakeout.com and one of their stories was that Essence magazine (which I love!) just hired a white woman as one of their main editors and that they would officially be cancelling their subscriptions. Now was there any evidence that Essence passed up on a more qualified black applicant to hire this woman? No. So why the anger? Oh I know, because of the color of her skin...

Essence isn't immune either. The other day I was reading an article on their website written by a black woman as she was contemplating whether or not she should consider dating men of other races. I am not a fan of that conversation (but that is a topic for another day). However, I was completely relating to everything she said until I got to the end of the article and she stated that she told her girlfriends one of the reasons why she didn't date white men is because "they just smell different". Excuse me? White people smell different?! If I ever overheard a group of white men sitting around talking about they couldn't date a black woman because we smell different I wouldn't hesitate to call them racist. And I am not going to hesitate with this woman. She took the time to write an article for a magazine. Proofread countless times. And yet still determined that was on ok statement to make. Something is wrong!

I am sick of racism. I am tired of the nasty comments and the snide looks. Racism hurts and I will never, I mean NEVER, make another human being feel the way I feel when it happens to me. Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of a world where people would be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. That didn't just apply to black people. When you judge a white person simply by their skin color, you are no different than the white racists you continue to fight against. Yes white people are the majority. Yes they are the ones in power. And yes racism towards them probably does not affect them even a fraction as much as it affects those of us in the black community. But wrong is wrong. When I walk into a room I want people to see me and form an opinion based on my actions. And I do the same towards everyone I meet regardless of their ethnicity because I am not a hypocrite.

Express Clearance Sale

Express is having an amazing clearance sale right now. Every clearance item is reduced an extra 20% at checkout on top of the already amazing prices. Various styles of their popular editor pant are on clearance for just $23 (they are originally retailed for 60 bucks) . There are a lot of great deals so check it out today. They are selling out fast.

Bargain Tip: If you have never signed up for their email list, do so on the website and you will get a coupon for 15% off your online purchase.

Happy shopping!