Flashback Friday- Rachael Leigh Cook Double Feature- All I Wanna Do (1998) & The Baby-Sitters Club (1995)

There is something about a story of young women coming together, whether is to ensure their education or to become entrepreneurs.

In the 1990’s Rachael Leigh Cook starred in two different movies where the story focused on smart, persistent young women.

In 1998, she was part of the cast of All I Wanna Do. In the 1960’s, Abby (Rachael Leigh Cook), Odette (Gabby Hoffman) & Verena (Kirsten Dunst) are students at an all girls boarding school. When they are told that their school will soon be merging with the a local boys school, the girls come together to convince their parents and the faculty that the school should remain as is.

I like this movie.  What makes it enjoyable is that these girls are normal teenager girls going through what every teenage girl throughout time has gone through. What makes them different is that they fight for what they believe in, even if their tactics do get a little dirty.

Three years earlier, she starred in The Baby-Sitters Club, a movie adaption of best selling YA book series by Ann M. Martin.

The girls are all there. Tomboy Kristy (Schuyler Fisk),  fashion plate Stacey (Bre Blair), shy Mary Anne (Rachael Leigh Cook), nature lover Dawn (Larisa Oleynik), artistic Claudia (Tricia Joe), first child of a very large family Mallory (Stacy Linn Ramsower) and ballet student Jessie (Zelda Harris).

At the beginning of the summer, Kristy wants to start a summer camp. It sounds simple, but it won’t be easy.

This book series was a huge part of my pre-teen and early teen years. I used to devour these books back in the day. These books have been a staple of the YA genre for twenty odd years. Closely adapted from the books, the movie is the next best thing to reading them.

I recommend them both.

 

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Flashback Friday-Easy A (2010)

A reputation is a funny thing. A woman’s reputation is an even funnier thing.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel, The Scarlet Letter,  Hester Prynne is accused of adultery. Her punishment is to wear a scarlet A on her clothing, marking her as an adulteress.

The 2010 movie, Easy A, is an interesting twist on the novel. Olive (Emma Stone) is a good girl. In terms of the social rank in her high school, she is a nobody.  Her best friend, Brandon (Dan Byrd) who is gay, begs her to help him. To stop the torment by his classmates,  Olive pretends to sleep with Brandon and loose her virginity to him. Word soon gets out that she will do the same for other social misfits. Then things get out of control. While all this is happening, Olive is reading The Scarlet Letter for one of her classes.

What is interesting about this movie is that it proves that human nature is one of the few constant things in this world. There is an interesting sub-commentary in this movie about the double standard between men and women. While Olive is slut shamed, Brandon and the other boys that she pretends to sleep with become heroes. But by the end, Olive is able to break the sexual stereotype and move on with her life.

I recommend it.

The Roots Of Desire: The Myth, Meaning And Sexual Powers of Red Hair Book Review

NPR commentator Marion Roach is a natural redhead.

In her 2006 book, The Roots Of Desire: The Myth, Meaning and Sexual Powers Of Red hair, she examines the legends that have surrounded Redheads throughout the centuries. Going back through history, she starts with the ancient figures of Lillith from the Hebrew Bible and Set from Egyptian myth. Moving through time, she visits the myth that Mary Magdalene and Judas were redheads. Ms. Roach also delves into the science and genetics that determines why some people are born with red hair. While completing her research on modern redheads, Ms. Roach spends time in a “witch camp” and a high end hair salon in New York City.

There are many myths about redheads. Like any myth, after a certain amount of time, the line between fact and fiction often becomes blurry. Ms. Roach’s approach to the book is an intellectual one, but it is not so intellectual that the reader feels like they are reading a college textbook. Written in a down to earth, informative style, this book is an easy to read, appealing style that quickly hooks the reader. One of my favorite attributes of the book, was Ms. Roach’s family history. Her paternal grandmother was a redhead, as was her father.

Like Ms. Roach, I am a natural redhead. I have red hair on both sides of my family tree. As an avid reader and a redhead, I enjoyed this book. I recommend it, not just for redheads, but for book lovers who enjoy a good book.