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Sugar Bits - Why Did I Get Married? Takes the Box Office

PopSugar — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:31:41 PDT

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? took the number one spot at the box office this weekend. The Game Plan was finally knocked to number two, which was probably not part of... the game plan. - BuzzSugar
Diddy is under investigation for allegedly punching a man in the face in a disagreement over a woman during a night out in New York. Diddy just can't seem to stay out of trouble these days. - Page Six
Dirty, Sexy Money star Samaire Armstrong has checked into an outpatient treatment facility in order to receive treatment for "personal issues." It sounds better than ending up in the hospital for exhaustion. Hope she gets well soon. - Us Weekly
Elisabeth Hasselback plans to take maternity leave from The View starting in early November in preparation for the birth of her second child. Something tells us that the drama surrounding that round table will find a way to go on even without her. - People
Vanessa Williams just signed a reportedly unbelievable $20 million contract to keep being a celebrity spokesperson for Proactiv. Shhh, don't tell Jessica Simpson this makes her $3 million deal look a little weak. - Extra

Box Office: Tyler Perry's No. 1 Movie

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:30:00 PDT

This past weekend at the box office was one of the most surprising I’ve seen in a long time. Tyler Perry’s play-turned-movie Why Did I Get Married? took the No. 1 spot by a long shot, finally knocking The Rock’s Game Plan into second place. The George Clooney starrer, Michael Clayton, leapt up the list to No. 3 as it expanded to wide release. Clayton just barely came in above the drama/thriller We Own the Night.

The Heartbreak Kid weakly rounded out the top five bringing in $7.4 million. Most surprisingly, the talented, good-looking cast of Elizabeth: The Golden Age couldn’t save the movie from its measly $6 million take. The period piece landed in sixth place.

This upcoming weekend audiences have their pick of drama (Things We Lost in the Fire), more drama (Reservation Road), thrills (Gone Baby Gone), more thrills (Rendition) and horror (30 Days of Night).

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Fall Movie Preview: Just Drama

BuzzSugar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:30:00 PDT

Well it's September, folks, and the summertime movie season is officially over. Now we have a whole new crop of films to check out in the coming chillier months, so in preparation for that, I'm giving you little glimpses of this fall and winter's must-see movies with my Fall Movie Preview series. Today's roundup is full of drama, drama, drama.

December Boys
I am very excited to watch Daniel Radcliffe in his first major non-Harry Potter movie role. Hopefully I can get through the film without seeing him solely as everyone's beloved boy wizard. In December Boys Radcliffe plays one of several orphans vacationing with a couple who will ultimately choose one of them to adopt. The movie opens in select theaters today, September 14, so go here to watch the trailer.

Several more oh-so-dramatic movies if you

Lions for Lambs
From the trailer for Lions for Lambs, it looks like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are compelling in their roles while Tom Cruise is sniveling and obnoxious. Still, Cruise's presence won't stop me from seeing this tense political drama, directed by Redford himself, in which "injuries sustained by two Army ranger behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman (Cruise), a journalist (Streep) and a professor (Redford)." Lions for Lambs opens November 2, so check out the trailer on the film's website.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?
Tyler Perry stars in his own latest film project which may not be a severely dramatic film but, basically, I didn't know which other Fall Movie Preview category to place it in. Janet Jackson joins Perry in this story that examines marriage in all its glory and complications. As Lionsgate describes the plot, "During a trip to the picturesque snowcapped mountains of Colorado, eight married college friends have gathered for their annual seven-day reunion. But the cozy mood is shattered when the group comes face-to-face with one pair’s infidelity. As secrets are revealed, each couple begins questioning the validity of their own marriage." Start wrestling the hard issues on October 12 when Why Did I Get Married? opens.

Into the Wild
Sean Penn directed this project, and adapted the Jon Krakauer book on which this film is based. Into the Wild tells the true story of Christopher McCandless who graduates college, gives away his savings and ventures on his own in pursuit of ultimate truth and freedom. He tells no one where he's going, and his family never hears from him again. The movie tells of the people he meets and the adventures he has before reaching the desolate Alaskan wilderness he so wanted to find. The film opens everywhere September 21, so check out the trailer here.

Feel the Noise
Jennifer Lopez produces this drama all about rap and dance in Puerto Rico. As IMDB describes it, "After a run-in with local thugs, aspiring Harlem rapper Rob (Omarion Grandberry) flees to a place and father (Giancarlo Esposito) he never knew, and finds his salvation in Reggaeton, a spicy blend of hip-hop, reggae and Latin beats." Check out the trailer before Feel the Noise hits theaters October 5.

Why Did I Get Married? photo courtesy of Lionsgate
Into the Wild photo courtesy of Paramount Vantage
December Boys photo source
Other photos source

How Not to Destroy Your Marriage

The Good Men Project — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:30:42 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Today, Mark Tyrrell offers eight relationship tools to make your marriage work.

"All marriages are happy. It's the living together afterward that causes all the trouble." - Raymond Hull

So how do you make your marriage work? Or do you just blindly hope it'll take care of itself?

Think of a hot, successful date with someone you’re attracted to. You have fun, great conversation and more sexual chemistry than a warehouse full of pheromones. You don’t have to “work at” the date because it’s self sustaining. It runs as smoothly as the gliding hand of a classical guitar maestro and you can’t wait for another rendition.

Teenage Dating in a Twilight-Hunger Games World

But marriage, or any long term relationship; well that’s a whole other caboodle.

If we’re not careful, marriage can deteriorate into little more than a torturous assault course; littered with routine boredoms, frustrations and resentments. Couple all that with external pressures and sometimes marriage feels not worth the effort. But there are major benefits to being hitched or committed, other than just a beneficial tax regime.

Healthy marriage; healthy people.

Being happily married bestows heaps of health benefits. You might be forgiven for thinking that if you’re married you don’t live longer it just seems like it but, no, a good marriage really can help you clock up more years (1) and married people are happier (2) even though they don’t always look it from the outside.

But when marriage doesn’t work it can feel being manacled to a maniac, marooned with a misogynist or nailed to a nag. And I don’t care what the studies say, that’s not healthy. You may hear couples say stuff like: “We are making our marriage work!” but how do we do this?

Making it work.

We pay lip service to “working on the marriage” but what is the work we need to do? Marriage vows such as “to love and to cherish” and “forsaking all others, for better or for worse” don’t really tell us how to make it work, although they give us a clue.

Fortunately a ton of research has been done on what to do and not do to make your marriage, or any intimate relationship work. Follow the guidelines here to become “good at marriage."

Tip one: Be romantic but keep it real.

We are all (force?) fed romance in movies and novels. The handsome man gets the beautiful woman. But what I wonder is what happens after our romantic couple ride off into the sunset together? What do they do exactly? Bicker? Moan at one another? Start to ignore each other?

After all that romance, our beautiful couple is bound to have massive expectations of their life together. But when rose tinted expectations clash with day to reality, watch out!

Romance is vital in any relationship. Always seeing the best in your partner helps to keep things intimate and love should be expressed. But if you have been raised on Mills and Boon Romance novels or feel-good movies, then your own romantic expectations can work against the sustainability of your long term relationship.

When day to day life fails to live up to the giddy, heady lust-filled days of the pre-settled down romance people can become angry, even blame one another: “This wasn’t what I signed up for." They find it hard to take the rough with the smooth because they never really figured there would be any rough.

Expectations not diluted with at least a dash of realism can be a royal road to relationship ruin. Your partner may be an angel, but they have feet of clay. You must learn to love those feet or at least accept them a bit!

Get the rest after the jump!

7 Money Mistakes Women Often Make

LearnVest — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:15:55 PDT

We all make mistakes - we're all human after all. LearnVest shares some of the common money mistakes that women often make so readers will learn not to make them, too.

Some of us handle our money flawlessly, perfectly, brilliantly, all of the time.

But most of us don't.

Most of us make mistakes here and there. We make some mistakes more than others, because of our personalities, or our upbringing . . . or sometimes even our gender.

It's ridiculous, but true.

We've heard it firsthand - from our readers. In fact, we went through hundreds of reader submissions and found examples of the most common stories that cross our desks every day.

Let's be clear: Not all women make these mistakes. Not all men avoid them. But in our experience, these are a few female financial problem areas that can lead to major debt and lots of stress.

RELATED: Are You a Social Shopper?

Ever bailed out an ex? Indulged in a little more retail therapy than you meant to? Or woken up one day and realized you didn't know as much as you thought you did about managing your money? You just might recognize yourself.

Of course, if you don't, good for you. We're just saying, bad money snafus happen to good people. But read on: We'll show you the top seven mistakes women make - and what to do instead.

Feeling Guilty

"When we were together, I let my ex stay with me rent-free until he found an apartment, lent him my furniture and paid for every date because I had a job and he didn't. When I lost my job, he paid for my rent for a few months and bills, etc. Now that we're broken up, he wants me to pay him back for the rent he insisted on covering. I am still on unemployment and barely getting by. I feel so guilty because we didn't end up as the forever couple and while I can't (nor would I . . . ) calculate all of my assistance getting him settled in NYC, he can quite easily."

A 2011 study from Eversave.com found that 67% of women have felt guilt about a purchase. But that's not the only opportunity for guilt: There's also staying in a job you feel guilty about abandoning, giving someone money because you feel guilty about their situation and, oh, doing the opposite of what you want when it comes to working after having children because you feel guilty about being a good mom (more on that here).

This guilt effect might not be limited to finances, either. Some studies suggest that women are more inclined than men to feel any kind of guilt. And we'd argue, more likely to bail out their exes, too.

Read on for more.

Interview: Amanda de Cadenet on Loving "Women's Women" Jane Fonda, Gwyneth Paltrow, and More

Tara Block — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:20:00 PDT

We explained why we love photographer and British TV personality Amanda de Cadenet and her new show The Conversation, and tonight is the second episode!

We chatted with the motorcycle-riding mom of three (who's married to a rocker, no less) about everything from sex positions to The Bachelor to the benefits of marriage, but what Amanda's really passionate about is the plight of today's women. On her new Lifetime show The Conversation, Amanda gets into some heavy topics with famous women like Jane Fonda, Kelly Preston, Zoe Saldana, Sarah Silverman, and Gwyneth Paltrow. And she couldn't help but gush about her ladies, who she says are "truly women's women," in addition to opening up about how our sex as a whole needs to start sticking together. Here's what she said:

TrèsSugar: What did you learn from doing these interviews?
Amanda de Cadenet: That women globally are addressing very similar issues in their lives, and that we're not actually that different. I've met so many good people, and that was really the overwhelming feeling: Wow, there are some good people on the planet.

TS: What part of a woman's life do you think we're most scared to talk about?
AC: I would say people have a lot of shame about their relationships. Most women who I know have stayed in a less-than ideal relationship for way too long, and they get embarrassed to say, "Yeah I'm still with this person because I just can't leave."

Or people are uncomfortable saying, "I hate the way my body looks." It's just not PC to be down on your body these days, but the truth is that most of us are. So I love that my ladies are very outspoken about their bodies and how they feel about them. There's been this kind of picture painted, a standard that's been set, by whom I don't really know, that to be a woman who's having a successful life you have to be OK with your body, be earning enough money, be in a relationship. If you're a woman of a certain age you're supposed to have children. You're supposed to be conforming to society's idea of what it means to be a successful woman. None of us are, by the way. And that's part of what The Conversation is about: Who created this notion of what it means to be a woman on the planet? Because none of us are living up to it. And the reality is what we're actually talking about on the show, which is that no one's doing it perfectly. We're all doing the best we can do. And Jane Fonda at 73 says, "I'm finally whole." Gives us all permission to be human, right?

For the rest of the interview and photos of Amanda with some of the women she interviewed, keep reading!

Photos courtesy of A&E Television Networks LLC

Game of Thrones, "What Is Dead May Never Die": What We're Still Talking About

Shannon Vestal — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:08:55 PDT

This week's Game of Thrones introduces us to a few new characters, while giving a bit of the spotlight to Tyrion, Theon, and Renly, and happily, there's no Joffrey again this week (though we get a good bit of Sansa). Renly is on a throne with a new wife, Theon makes a decision about where his loyalty lies, and Tyrion masterfully orchestrates a ruse. Oh, and as usual, there is a ton of blood courtesy of some very stabby soldiers.

We're missing scenes with Dany and Robb, but lots of action goes down in Westeros this week. Ready to recap? Just keep reading.

What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Sex and Feminism

The Good Men Project — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:00:00 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Lisa Solod, who came of age during the sexual revolution, explores what feminism means to this generation.

My mother married my father because, she told me in a rare moment of candor, she wanted to have sex with him. She was 25 and tired of pre-sex fumbling and stolen kisses. My father was, of course, far more experienced, having been in the Pacific Theater during World War II; far less discreet about his former life (and life in general) he told his daughters inappropriate tales of the women he had met on shore leave. One I particularly remember had her front teeth filed into points. Well into their marriage, each of them managed to be unfaithful and they finally separated (but not because of infidelity) after twenty years of marriage. Yet, for another dozen years or so they would hook up here and there, travel together, and, of course have sex. In a further revelation, my mother told me that the sex was the best part of her relationship with my father.

I came of age at the tail end but the real beginning of the sexual revolution (1971-1974). At that point, sexual liberation was inextricably tied to the rise of feminism. Having sex like men, i.e., without attachment, was part of our freedom. But too many of us got hurt. We hadn’t yet factored in the biology of mating and how really hard it was to have that much sex without any real commitment. Most of the women I know who grew up during those years had far more sexual encounters than they were ever willing to reveal to their husbands. Those of us who divorced then dived back into the sexual market with the same abandon. I am not sure we were all the wiser. I hear STDs are on the rise in the over 50 group, which doesn’t surprise me. We all were pretty practiced in birth control but we took it into our own hands, with the pill and the diaphragm. This was pre-AIDS. Barrier methods were not our methods of choice then. They are not, apparently, our method now, either.

Should a Man Stand Up For His Woman?

But those of us who grew up in the trenches of the sexual revolution know that feminism was about far more than women having the kind of meaningless sex with men that men had been having with us for eons. Feminism, which is still being parsed in the media as well as our own homes, still being debated and discussed and accepted and dismissed, was about being able to control (to the extent that anyone can) our work lives, our love lives, our lives as a whole. It was about being able to have a career, being paid equally well for that career, and making our own decisions about marriage and childbirth without having to merely capitulate to what society had set out for us. I, for one, was happy not to have to marry to have sex. I was thrilled to be able to go to college and think about a career without worrying that it might make me unmarriageable. I was ecstatic about the notion that I could make decisions for myself.

All those ideas I passed along to my daughter. But, of course, she had no need to wrestle with those notions as the women in my generation had. She lived in a society where (she thought) feminism was taken for granted. Women her age did not talk about marriage, either as an option or something to reject. They saw it as fact that women could do anything.

Read the rest of the story below.

What to TiVo: Saturday

BuzzSugar — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 23:59:44 PDT

8:00 Shark Tank (repeat)
9:00 My Extreme Affliction: A Special Edition of 20/20 (new)

6:00 NCAA Basketball Tournament: Kentucky vs. Louisiana
8:30 NCAA Basketball Tournament: Kansas vs. Ohio State

8:00 Cops (new)
8:30 Cops (repeat)
9:00 Bones (repeat)
11:00 Q'Viva! The Chosen

8:00 Escape Routes (new)
9:00 The Firm (new)
10:00 Law & Order: Special Victims Units (repeat)
11:30 Saturday Night Live (repeat, host Katy Perry; musical guest Robyn)

"He Wants to Be Friends"

Tres Community — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:05:00 PDT

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I'm gonna be short with this. Me and my boyfriend of one year had a pretty great relationship in the beginning and things started to go downward from there because of the messages that he would ask to females over the cpu playing some questionnaire game, which I thought was very immature. I'm 20 he's 22, I know that's young but we are really committed to one another. . . . So the problem is I would bring things up again from the past because I felt somethings were similar to the present and necessary, so yeah I'll bring it up. I guess it got to the point where he told me he missed being single because he didn't have to deal with all the things that he had now. He told me he wanted to remain friends because he still wanted me apart of his life and what not. But he also told me that he has been feeling this way a couple months back but never told me and for that reason, I told him I could not respect him for letting me know that ahead of time and said I did not want to be friends with him. In the process of him telling me this he said he doesn't see us getting married but I wasn't offended because I'm too young to even think about that. So If I'm as much to him as he says, why be friends?

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it anonymously to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.