I watched 2 Days in Paris on Sunday night and pretty much hated it. I didn't want to hate it, but I couldn't find a single moment to cling to and say 'yes, these are my people, they act like normal human beings.' I have such a hard time identifying with people who make obviously poor decisions and insist on seeing them through. I also can not sympathize with being in relationships where your partner makes you miserable and all you do is bicker, yet you remain because you can not imagine an existence less miserable than your current misery. The people I've spoken with who enjoyed the movie say, 'Oh, but the film was so realistic and honest' or 'But the point was that they were such difficult people,' which I can see, but there was no counterweight to this couple's horribleness to one another, no redemptive factors that showed that we should care about whether they were unhappy as a couple or as single beings. Also, if this movie was a realistic portrait of your romantic relationships, then I'm sorry, that is truly terrible for you. I do not think that I like movies that fixate so pointedly on the dissolution of relationships.

Arguably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind could be subject to the same criticism, but I think the difference there is that both Kate Winslet and Jim Carey's characters were likable on some level, the story showed a time when it was plausible to think of the couple as compatible, and the plot explicated on additional themes more philosophical and interesting than how hard it is to stay in love with a challenging person.

Everyone who reviewed this movie compared it to Annie Hall, which is obviously valid, but since so many other people who get paid to think about movies hit that note, I'm not going to waste my breath. Further, I didn't really enjoy Annie Hall at all, which most likely gives some insight into why I was so disappointed with 2 Days in Paris.

I've gained many things personally from changing my habits and going to the gym almost every day, not the least of which are muscle tone, increased endurance and agility, many ridiculous choreographed step routines from my favorite aerobics class and the ability to undress and shower in a room full of strange women. This last one, however, has lead me to what I think is the most important lesson I've learned at the gym over the last 8 months; most tattoos are awful.

Since I was 14 years old, I've been dreaming of different ways to mark my body in ways that would express my true essence to the world. When I was 15, the very coolest thing I could possibly imagine was to have my name tattooed on my back in orange flame writing. Uh, yeah. Seriously. Lucky for me, I had the kind of sensible and non-permissive mother who wouldn't even let me get my belly button piecered, so the matter of permanent body art was a non-starter. Let me repeat, orange flame writing. Mom, thank you. So, when I came to my senses roughly six months later, I was quick to grasp that taste is an evolving and ever changing concept, and ink scarred into your epidermis is not. Forward from there, I would envision typewriters on my forearm, and hearts on my abdomen, and victorian pen drawings of animals and chandeliers, always knowing that it probably wouldn't happen, and that was probably for the best.

The last several months have taught me that even if your tattoo is something deeply personal and important and a song to your dead cat or something, it still probably looks dumb when you're toweling off in a locker room full of strangers.

As evidence, here is a list of the terrible tattoos I've seen on women at my gym:
1. Pooh Bear, the size of a silver dollar.
2. Countless, seriously, countless Asian symbols littering the flesh of lily-white girls who I am positive do not speak any Asian languages.
3. The ubiquitous "sweet-tribal-tramp-stamp." Except I didn't need to join the gym to see this one, because I've been to college.
4. A zebra head? Just the head? Really?
5. Truly unattractive flowers. I can understand why you might want a tattoo of a pretty flower, but why an ugly, unrealistic one?

Project Runway:
Ah, the requisite challenge wherein designers must make garments out of materials that should never be used for garments. I sort of wonder why the producers don’t abandon this genre of challenge, because the majority of designers just go the easy route making clothing out of whatever textile type materials they can scrounge. Last night was more of the same in this respect, with only Jillian using actual food products from the Hershey’s store. Christian seemed to be on board with the concept and spirit of the challenge by covering his dress with the brown inner wrappers of Reese’s, glistening with chocolate sweat. Everyone else tore apart pillows and larger pieces of Hershey’s branded merchandise to make dresses (Speaking of which, that store totally stressed me out with the insane, giant stuffed candy paraphernalia; who needs/wants that?! I will never ever go in that store).

In terms of favorite designers, six episodes in, I’m finally forming opinions and attachments (except for Ricky, I hated him and his stupid mesh hats from practically the first time I glimpsed him). Jillian wasn’t early favorite for me, but has been slowly winning me over. I thought I would get sick of smirky Christian with his silly hair, but so far I’m charmed by his sass. I’m glad creepy Steven finally left in the last episode, and I was bored by Elisa’s whole ‘I’m so free-spirited and unique’ thing. I can't decide if I really like Kit as a designer or if I just like her hair. I’m still livid that they kept awful Ricky over Chris a few episodes ago, but luckily that mistake was rectified by Jack’s untimely departure. I can tell that Rami is already a favorite to go all the way, but I’m not convinced his designs are really that interesting.

Okay, dicuss.