Sex and the City 2: A Promotion for a Life of Whimsical Carelessness

Even though I'm not a "Sex and the City" fanatic, I saw several episodes of the series and liked the characters and the actresses playing them. I still do. The half-hour episodes were well-written and snappy. However, I was thoroughly disappointed in SATC2 and thought it didn't do the six award-winning seasons and first movie justice, was over the top and borderline insulting. For those of you that loved SATC2, I really don't have anything good to say, so you probably should skip this post.

One of the main reasons I enjoyed watching SATC was for the high end fashion, but for some reason the sequel's outfits didn't live up to my expectations and I felt they were farfetched. The ladies have always loved the labels and bought expensive things, but it was still grounded in some sort of far-reaching reality, rather than a flashing showcase of life where money is no object. Also, this time around I often found myself saying, 'what is she wearing?' Rather than, "wow, that's really cool and unique."

I realize that during the Great Depression, Hollywood movies that portrayed glamour and good times were an escape mechanism and flights of fantasy. But, this is a cruel punishment to the average person in the work-a-day world who is upside down on a mortgage, looking for work and had to watch a quartet sit down to an all-you-can-eat buffet and gorge themselves for two hours, and talk about how utterly incredible the food was.

Starting with a flashback scene in the beginning, throughout the whole movie you're reminded of how old the women are. Samantha constantly talks about the vitamins and hormone creams she takes to stay younger, her Spanx and hot flashes. Yes, these lines are funny, but when the theme didn't stop, I thought, has Sex and the City lost its prime just like the characters?

Speaking of age, while watching the storyline unfold, I couldn't believe some of the characters behavior. The drama produced seemed like something an immature, young woman might do and be ridiculed for. Carrie is married to Big and still needs to be reminded that a kiss is still a kiss and that certain marital fundamentals actually do apply. Miranda quits her job because she feels silent in a firm of all men. Charlotte, a mom of two, shuts herself in a closet when two-year-old Rose's constant screaming and older sister Lily's attention-craving gets the best of her while baking cookies and finally Samantha, who is still single and mingling at the age of 52 insists on wearing the same clothes in Abu Dhabi where the culture is very different.

Lastly, I understand Samantha's character and I really do like her. However, I thought that she showed a lack of respect to a culture when she refused to cover herself somewhat in a Muslim culture country. This issue struck controversy across the globe.

As a young female business professional I really like the SATC storyline featuring single, professionally successful women charting their own course, while talking frankly about their experiences with sex, love and city life. I just thought it could have been done more realistically and tactful.

When PR Doesn't Matter Anymore: The BP Oil Explosion

BP engineers have been unable to stem the torrent of oil gushing by the hundreds of thousands of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico each day following the explosion that sank the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig last month. Weeks later, the BP oil spill is still a environmental catastrophe and PR nightmare. Tar and oil are still being found in new places, more wildlife is dying every day and BP still has not fixed the spill. Shouldn't companies have a contingency plan that prepares them to quickly fix their wrong doing and respond to the public well when a worst case scenario happens?

Of course a company should! This is a perfect example of a corporate responsibility and public relations disaster. Regardless of how BP responded right away, apologizing, taking responsibility, trying to fix the spill, etc. Yet, BP hasn't fixed the problem! That's when a strong brand history and an immediate PR crisis communications plan just don't matter anymore. PR needs to be followed up with action. This why there needs to be a complete contingency and response plan for every company. Especially for something that truly could happen. For example, if you're an oil company, you should probably have a response for an oil spill at any drilling area of yours.

I was angered after watching Mike Williams 60 Minutes story on the spill. According to Williams the BP explosion was the result of the company's desire speed up drilling and to save money. Drilling faster actually made the bottom of the well split open.

Williams story told that just four weeks prior to the explosion, the well's most vital piece of safety equipment was damaged when a worker accidentally bumped into a joystick that applied hundreds of thousands of pounds of force onto a closed blow out preventer which was closed by a rubber gasket called an annular. Congress is currently looking into other things incidents that occured at BP leading up to the spill which is becoming known as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

In my opinion, it will be amazing if BP can 'dig' out of this huge hole they're in. I'm not sure they'll have the money of the customers to stay in business after everything is finally cleaned up.