SATC2 vs the Twitterverse

One of the trending topics on Twitter this weekend was #SATC2 ...aka Sex and the City 2. It was opening weekend for the movie and being one of the most anticipated movies of the summer....this came as no surprise.

What was surprising is what people were tweeting. The comments went from :

@stopfrizzyhair I'm going to SATC2 tonight...sooo excited

@JenniRed hanging with my sister. I love her SATC2 and then dinner.

....to....

@sapphire_917 underwhelmed by SATC2 movie.

and my two personal favourites (they both came in with over 100 re-tweets each)

@JoannaWeiss SATC2 is apparently a) the worst movie even and b) the best thing ever to happen to movie critics.

@robbiereviews Our genius TV critic Ian Hyland's verdict on SATC2: "This year's worst release since the BP oil spill, with just as many f***ed-up birds"

I thought that the last one was so funny I used it for my Facebook status ... which ended up getting several comments and "likes".

Even after all I had read and heard... I decided last night to go and see the movie for myself. One of my best friends does PR for the AMC so the tickets were free... would I have gone otherwise ... probably not.

To sum up my opinion for you...I agree with the last three tweets. It was awful, long, corny and campy. Also note that there were very few people who tweeted positive comments on the film, most were just of people who hated it or hadn't seen it yet. Apparently they had not quit the trending topics button this weekend.

Samantha's usual woman-sex empowered ways were replaced with trashy, whorish acts that ends up costing her an amazing opportunity to work internationally. Her actions and sayings she quipped were obvious, skanky and would probably make a hooker blush. Her character was no longer edgy and I just felt bad that there was a 52 year old professional woman acting this way.

Charlotte was annoying in her own way. She was afraid her amazing husband would cheat on her while away in Dubi. Instead of enjoying her trip with her friends, she obsessed and was distracted the whole time. In the end ... it all ended up being for nothing. (Which I could have saved you from wasting 2 hours and 45 minutes of your life and told you from the beginning.)

Carrie and Miranda were less annoying in contrast to the other two ... I didn't mind their story lines.

Am I glad I went yes... but only because now I have something to blog about.

This weekend SATC grossed $51 million dollars in four days .... which seems OK . Until you find out that the first movie made well over that in just three. Also SATC2 was beat out by Shrek Forever After, also a sequel, grossed $55.5 in its second weekend . This means that people would rather see an animated green ogre then four "sassy"middle aged women run around the desert.

SATC 2 is no longer trending but have the tweets already done their damage? Are these bad reviews, bad tweets and bad WOM the reason for the decline in the box office numbers?? Or is it just the "curse of the sequel" that's to blame??

The question is .... in a few years will they make a Sex and the City 3?...maybe instead of Dubai it will be filmed in an old folks home .... but lets face it Blanche from the Golden Girls is the only woman of that age who can get away with sex humor ... so they better not even try.

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The Mystery Has Been Solved...well sort of...

So Adam Giambrone came to speak to our class about his expereince with communcations, media and changes that he has seen over the years. For those reading this who don't live in the GTA here is a link for more information about him http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Giambrone .

But to sum it up he a Toronto City Councillor and chair of The TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) . And following the political way of life ... his is full of promises, initiatives and torrid affairs with undergrad students. (One that compromised him for running for Mayor of Toronto.) So as guest speakers go... this one was going to be pretty interesting.

People generally have a bad view of the TTC. Fare increases, bad routes, threats of strikes, sleeping toll collectors . (Again for people not in the GTA) http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2010/02/your-comments-debating-your-transit-transgressions.html.

Personally I am OK with the service that the TTC provides ... I am just happy that subways exisit here. I come from a province where when you say "Lets meet at the Subway" they think that you're talking about a place to get sandwiches... not an underground train. Any time I get frustrated with the service my mind goes back to my days in Halifax, Nova Scotia where I would wait for hours to get the number 4 bus from Clayton Park to downtown. A drive that would take someone 20 minutes tops, on the 4 bus takes well-over an hour because the route is the most nonsense route in the world. But I digress....

When I heard that the chair of the TTC was coming to class there was one question that has been plaguing me since I moved to Toronto. Why do the subways stop running 30 minutes before the bars close ????"

I would say not a Friday goes by without someone asking me, "When does the last train go by this station." At which point I say "1:35". (This is when the person looks at their watch and starts downing there beer frantically, running around the bar trying to gather up all their friends in hopes to catch the last train.)

This being the ideal situation, your other options are to jump on The Blue Night Bus (lovingly nicknamed "the Vomit Comet"), cabbing (fares starting at $4.50), walking, or driving. My bar is next door to a parking garage and I have seen MANY people get into their car who definitely shouldn't be driving . (None that have been at my bar I am SmartServe trained :)

Now the time came into my life that FINALLY I was going to get this mystery solved. What better person to answer this question then the chair of the TTC ..... well I was wrong. When I asked him why they couldn't stay open a little bit longer Adam Giambrone did was all politicians do best. Sort of answer the question then make the answer about something else. Stick to your key message. His reasoning was that the tracks needed to be repaired and apparently this wouldn't be possible if the trains ran an hour longer?? Anyone who has visited New York City knows that this is a load of crap. They manage to do just fine running 24 hours a day.... I am pretty sure an extra hour isn't going to make that much of a difference.

He also mentioned the cost, but again ... didn't fly with me. I assume with the amount of people crammed into every bus, subway and street car during rush hour, all holding their Metro passes tightly at the cost of $120 a pop and a one way ride costing $3.00, that they are probably doing OK. And then he began quickly talking about different bus routes that have been extended, cancelled and plans for the future. Spouting out names and jumbled sentences that made my head spin and when he looked at me to see if I was satisfied with the answer all I could do was nod. I figure that was just easier then telling him that his reasoning made no sense. I am sure that would have just led to more round-about, fast talking and would leave me with the same bad taste in my mouth. I think the taste was bullshit.

So for now it seems like my Friday nights will end with people checking their watches, chugging down their beers, gathering their friends and running to the subway in hopes to catch the last train.....This leads me to wonder how Adam commutes from downtown on late Friday nights ? Maybe he stays on rez with the undergrad ?