On Our Radar: Spice It Up!

With 27 Dresses opening today, it got our mind thinking about bachelorette parties. Not surprisingly, JSG has planned more than a few. If you’re headed out of town, all the normal rules follow about traveling with a good group and picking a swank hotel.
One key difference of a bachelorette party versus a regular girls’ trip is the emphasis on debauchery. For that, we always love a few flirty games or props, like a scavenger hunt or candy rings for the gang.
Too tame? Here’s a great opportunity for those of you who live in the LA area and have a bachelorette party coming up or are just looking to step it up a notch with your sweetie: Stop by the Love LA show on Sunday, January 29. It bills itself as the first ever “Sexual Health, Education and Entertainment Event”. Don’t let the name fool you, it has seminars whose names alone would make you blush, (Kick Start Your Kink is one of the more mild ones) and exhibitors from the Pleasure Chest to Zen By Design. If you go, write and tell us how it was!

take a hike, Migrant Mother

Is this the greatest photograph ever taken in the history of ever? I think I'd have to answer "fuck yeah!"

Vampira + Packard = Bliss.

Maila Nurmi (1921-2008)

Nabbed from The Exploding Kinetoscope.

Men are from Mars

Truth is we never read that book, figured we knew men do everything backwards, or, should we say--differently--than women. This certainly is the case when our significant other goes to book his boys' trips. JSG does it like this: pick a city, then search out the coolest, chicest, fanciest hotel within our budget. Our guy on the other hand goes straight to Vacation Rentals By Owner. This site boasts thousands of properties listed by owner for properties all over the world. According to the website, the advantages over a standard hotel room, are more space, less expense, kitchen facilities and flexibility in price and booking. Sounds pretty good...
On our guy's last ski trip to Park City, he rented a two bedroom house which slept 6-8, where they walked to the lift and to the town. Not a stand-out from the outside, it was completely redone and updated on the inside (gourmet kitchen, gas fireplace, and a big new bathroom with whirlpool tub): all for $300 per night. JSG can't personally endorse VRBO, however the S.O. has used the site three times now, and each was a great experience.

Maybe we can learn something from these guys after all? If you act really quickly maybe you can still rent a house for the Sundance film festival, in Park City today through January 27th.

28 sentences later

Julia Roberts winning that Oscar for Erin Brockovich (over Ellen Burstyn for Requiem for a Dream) (which is simply one of the most amazing performances by anyone in anything in the history of ever) (I'm just saying) turned me into a cold-hearted snake with regards to awards. Oh, sure, we all know awards are suspect- particularly when it comes to declaring one piece of art "the best", but sometimes the sheer wrongness of it all (Forrest Gump over Pulp Fiction? Really?) makes me want to get a tattoo on my forearm: a big anchor with the words FUCK AWARDS written around it in fancy cursive script.

That said, I should probably point out that any time I win an award, it's totally and completely well-deserved, like when I won the French Award in high school. And no, unfortunately I didn't win the French Award in the Kissing Division- that honor went to Alisha J...that whore!

My point is, when 28 Weeks Later won "Best Horror Film" at the Scream Awards, I reacted with a resounding "meh". When you all voted it "Best Horror Film of 2007" in a recent poll here at Final Girl, I reacted with a resounding "Jesus, can't I get some GD readers who aren't total crackheads?"

And then, the other night, I finally watched the damn thing.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to seeing it. Maybe it's because I loved the first one- how could the sequel match up, particularly considering that the writing/directing team of the first (Danny Boyle and Alex Garland) weren't to be found in the second? And...you know...it's a sequel. Diminishing returns and all that.

Let's just say that I owe everyone who voted it "Best of '07" a big "Gee, I'm sorry I doubted you". Don't let this humble apology go to your head, however. It should be noted that I still find your fashion choices dubious at best. But honey, your taste in horror films is simply divine!

28 Weeks Later is paced so frenetically that it makes me want to bust out some primo Peter Travers-style movie-poster-worthy- yet-trite-and-shitty-one-liners: It's a non-stop, action-packed thrill-ride! 28 Weeks Later goes for the throat and doesn't let up! It's a white-knuckle roller-coaster ride you'll never forget! You'll be so scared you'll punch your gramma!

It's highly possible, even, that I liked it more than I liked the original. It was much more gory and, to my surprise, much more moving. The opening sequence left me feeling that all bets were off, and by the end of the film I was proven right; it's wonderful to go into a horror film only to realize that you can't know what to expect.

Virtually the entire zombie subgenre is rife with political and social commentary (let's not debate the use of the word 'zombie', okay? that argument is so 2002) and 28 Weeks Later is no exception. I like my horror with a little meat on its bones, to be sure- but here it didn't really matter. I was so damn wrapped up in the goings-on that I was simply enjoying that (white-knuckle roller-coaster) ride. Yeah, there are a few plot holes, a claim to which I react with a resounding "BFD".

I loved this film so much that I think I need to reconsider the text on that anchor tattoo. Maybe I'll change it to say FUCK JULIA ROBERTS.

Spas on the Go

One of the best parts about traveling and staying at a swank hotel, is that you’ll find a decadent spa a stone’s throw away from your room (Unless of course you’re in Vegas and that kick ass spa that’s in your hotel could still be a half a mile walk away from your room). And as much as we love spa-ing, we never do seem to book an appointment while we’re at home, aside from the basic mani and pedi, which is essentially maintenance.
Throughout our travels, we have been fortunate to have many a spa treatment from the truly pampering, like a 2-person massage at the Ritz Carlton in Laguna Niguel to the completely unnecessary, like the chakra balancing at the Phoenician in Phoenix.
Here’s a few things we’ve learned:
1. Seek out the energizing treatments. Scrubs that get your circulation going with scents like lemon, menthol and eucalyptus are immediately uplifting and energizing, says our friend Denise Vitello, Spa Director at NYC’s Mandarin Oriental.
2. Got a hangover? Detoxifying treatments like a mud wrap can help, says Dzeneta Arslanovic, Director of the Spa Avania at the Hyatt Regency Scottsdale at Gainey Ranch in Arizona (shown above). They drain your body of toxins (hello third margarita). BUT—major word of caution here—both Denise and Dzeneta agree, and we can tell you from experience, you won’t feel good after a detoxifying treatment. In fact, you may feel a little more queasy and tired than when you started. Add to it that you want to drink lots of water and do not want to add alcohol back in to your newly detoxified body, it’s best to save these treatments for the last day or when you get back home.
3. Ditto any treatment involving heat. They feel great while you’re having them, but they can wear you out. True story—we passed out at Ole Henriksen after a massage in a steam room from being over-heated. That put a serious damper on our night out in Los Angeles.
4. It’s virtually impossible to get out of a massage without getting oil in your hair, so if that's an issue, don't even bother. While at the Montage in Laguna Beach, our very nice therapist put a shower cap over our head and did her best to keep the oil out of our hair, but to no avail. But showing what a five-star property they are, she set us up with a free blowout. If you really must get a massage, seek out a Thai massage (lots of stretching) or reflexology—two relaxing treatments sans oil.

Happy spa-ing!

Speaking of Those Ruskies...

We got a kick out of this story that male strip clubs are proliferating all over Moscow! The Jet Set Girls are rather "Western" in our mentality and agree with the author that over here in the states, clubs like Chippendales and the Thunder from Down Under dancers come across as a cheesy. We still remember going to the Hanger Club outside of D.C. where the first dancer who came out danced around in his thong to "Hail to the Redskins!" and one half of JSG is still trying to recover from being flipped upside down and spanked by an at-home stripper at a friend's bachelorette party (thank goodness that tape got erased).

But maybe the Russians are on to something. Wouldn't it be fun to have a night out with the girls' in a classy establishment with half-naked guys? And we have always wanted to see the Kremlin...

It's that time again...

...time to choose another Film Club selection! The hills are alive with resounding 'huzzah!'s, I can tell. Film Club Fever will be at a record high as soon as the title of the next choice is revealed, I can assure you.

I'm revealing it....NOW!

Yes, my babies, it's The Manitou (1978), the film that brings together Tony Curtis, Burgess Meredith, and Stella Stevens to tell the story of...the story of...well...

When Karen (Susan Strasberg) tries to have a tumor removed, she discovers it's actually the deformed fetus of an ancient Native American shaman ready to be reincarnated. Soon, the evil spirit bursts forth, and Karen turns to a sham psychic (Tony Curtis) and a contemporary medicine man (Michael Ansara) for a showdown with the murderous creature.

I've been assured it's the best movie ever. I can't fucking wait to see it.

Clicken ze Netflix if you so desire. It's been somewhat recently released on DVD, so hopefully it'll be easy-ish to find. This selection can't get here fast enough...sometimes life is goooood, I tells ya.

The film: The Manitou
The due date: February 25