"Candy" Made Just For Girls :)

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For some reason, I have the song, “I Want Candy” in my head. It was annoying when I first heard it in 1982 (dating myself here), and it's annoying now. However, it does give me an idea for an interesting blog post.

Sometimes it seems that guys have all the fun. Not only do they have all the sports teams and can easily find jeans that fit, they get 'eye candy' by the pound. Think about it; between professional cheerleaders, scantily-clad pop starlets and nubile young actresses, the guys have plenty to feast their eyes on. That's okay, though, because there is plenty of male 'eye candy' for us if we know where to look. After all, we should get to have some fun too! In this spirit, here are a few of the visual 'candy stores' I've found.

If you like cute love stories set in medieval times, check out A Knight's Tale. It's rather tongue-in-cheek, but it does tell a good story. Here, a squire (basically a knight's caddy) and his friends pose as nobles for the purpose of entering a jousting tournament. Heath Ledger is (was) one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen, and Paul Bettany (playing Geoffrey Chaucer) isn't hard to look at either. While his role is relatively small, James Purefoy adds a great deal to the 'eye candy' inventory. It's a really fun movie to watch with the girls, but the story will entertain your husband too.

On the TV front, there's Grey's Anatomy. Patrick Dempsey definitely lives up to the 'McDreamy' label, and Eric Dane's 'McSteamy' only makes it sweeter. If you like redheads, Kevin McKidd (Dr. Owen Hunt) is your man, and Justin Chambers (Dr. Alex Karev) has really nice skin. You'll see plenty of T.R. Knight's (Dr. George O'Malley) 'nerdy charm', and Chris O'Donnell had a brief stint on the show. As you can see, there's no shortage of men to look at. The show is great on it's own, which would be why it's lasted for seven years. However, the men definitely add to its charm!

Another show with multi-level appeal is Bones. It takes place in a forensics lab that works with the FBI to solve various crimes. The leading man is David Boreanaz who, in my opinion, looks better now than he did in his younger, Buffy the Vampire Slayer days. As for supporting actors, John Francis Daley (Dr. Lance Sweets) has a 'teenager-ish' charm, and T. J. Thyne (Dr. Jack Hodgins) has an amazing smile. His vivid blue eyes don't hurt either! For those of us who watch the reruns, Ryan Cartwright (Nigel) and Pej Vahdad (Dr. Arastoo Vaziri) are cute and smart at the same time.

As you can see, 'eye candy' isn't just for the men. Women can also find nice things to look at while still enjoying a good story.  The best thing about this kind of 'candy' is that you won't have to worry about gaining weight or rotting your teeth!

Must-have movies for a 'chick-flick' party

However much we love the men in our lives, sometimes we just need to hang out with the girls. After all, guys don't usually consider shoe shopping and drooling over Ryan Reynolds when he takes of his shirt in National Lampoon's Van Wilder to be a good time. There are some things you just can't do with the 'menfolk' around.

When I had a particularly difficult breakup, some of my friends got together and threw me a 'chick flick' party. We ate ice cream, watched The First Wives Club and, to quote one friend, 'bitched about men'. It wasn't that my friends were man-haters so much as that they were trying to give me a way to get vent some of my frustration with the breakup. However, 'chick-flicks' don't always have to be 'angry'. Many have stories that are simply more appealing to women. Here are some of my favorite 'chick flicks'.

• Dirty Dancing. Jennifer Grey-before the nose job-makes beautiful music with a young and gorgeous Patrick Swayze on a 1960s family vacation to the Catskills. It's mostly a story about a shy young girl finding herself and her first love, but the soundtrack and wonderful dance scenes make this a slumber-party staple. Plus, he takes off his shirt.
• The Princess Bride. Here, a young woman loses the love of her life, only to find that he isn't dead after all. Problem is, she's engaged to a prince. She might be a fairy-tale princess, but she is no shrinking violet. Her first love enlists the help of some fairy-tale friends to rescue the princess and live happily ever after. To answer the first question of the movie...yes, it's a kissing book.
• The First Wives Club. This one isn't about 'man-bashing' so much as celebrating female friendships. The premise is that three college friends reunite after the suicide of another friend in the wake of her husband leaving her for another woman. The women get together and use their anger at their ex-spouses to build up their confidence and reinforce the friendships that they had let slide over the years. They do end up making their exes pay-literally, but the biggest theme is about how a woman doesn't need a man to be 'complete'. You can see why this was a good 'breakup-therapy' movie choice.
• Chicago. I'm only calling this one a 'chick flick' because most (straight) men I know don't like musicals. The men might like the skimpy outfits some of the women wear during the dance numbers, but the song Cell Block Tango where the women talk about how the murdered their husbands/boyfriends made the boyfriend I saw the movie with rather uncomfortable. For the record, it's not 'anti-man' so much as 'anti-bad behavior', and there were a few other songs from/about strong women. If you're upset about a breakup, hearing 'he had it coming' can be very cathartic.

These are only a few 'chick-flicks' that can make any girls' night fun. If you want, the American Movie Channel's website has a list of the most memorable 'girl movies.  Have fun!