Do you really have a type when it comes to attraction, flirting and dating?

I don’t. I’d say that generally I am more drawn to guys who are taller than me and happen to have cute smiles, but that is pretty much all they have in common. Hell, they might not even have the height in common. 

I have been aware of this for a while but it dawned on me once again when a friend decided, based on my recent fascination with The Vampire Diaries’ Paul Wesley’s, looks that she has a clear idea of what my type is. Well, she was in a rush so I didn’t get a chance to show her Ian Somerholder, who plays Paul Wesley’s brother on the show. But apart from playing brother vampires and me finding both of them extremely attractive, they don’t really have anything in common. Oh, then there is also Matthew Davis, who is a guest-star on the same show. He is just gorgeous.

So this is Paul Wesley.

And this is Ian Somerhalder. Do you see a resemblance? I don't...

But I also think the “kid” brother Jeremy (who plays a high school student but is actually 22), played by Steven R.  McQueen, will grow up to be a total hunk (just like his grandfather the late Steve McQueen was). Oh, let’s not forget the cast’s Zach Roerig, who plays Matt and is a total cutie. Then there is his best friend Tyler, played by Michael Trevino. Now, I shouldn’t be finding Michael Trevino attractive if Zach is my type, but I do. I love the fact that Tyler reminds me of Jonathan Rhys Meyers on his good days. Oh, and let’s not forget the guest star Taylor Kinney, who played Tyler’s Uncle Mason for 6 episodes.

Matthew Davis

Steven R. McQueen

Well, so the above examples have all been from The Vampire Diaries- but it does serve the point of this article perfectly. I find the male cast to be extremely attractive, even though they couldn’t have looked like each other less. 

Michael Trevino

Zach Roerig.

Taylor Kinney.

The point is, what attracts you, attracts you. There is no point in making up rules. But don’t get me wrong, I do have rules and a certain type when it comes to personality. I want decent, fun-loving & friendly.  There is no way I am giving up on that. Other than that, I am pretty open to different types when it comes to looks.

Take a look at some other celebrities that I find attractive, to further visualize my point:

*Jon Bon Jovi, Mel Gibson’s youth, Colin Firth, Gerard Butler, Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keanu Reeves, Paul Walker....

So, boys and girls, do you have a type? Really? I think it is just more fun if you don’t.

Men Want Porn, Women Need Vampires

    Yes, I realize it is a weird title. It doesn’t make it any less true, though. This is basically a word-play on a bestselling book’s title. The book is called Why Men Want Sex and Women Need Love and the moment I saw the book, I was really turned off by how stereotypical it was. I was in fact inspired to write a reverse article – why men need love and women need sex, to point out that both sexes need& want love and sex. We want it both and we hope to find that we can find them in the same person.

But then, as stereotypical as the title was, it is not entirely wrong. Even though sex is a biological need for both parties, women seem to be more fond of associating sex with love. It just sounds better and we really feel like we will get better sex if we are in love. And guys seem to be more obsessed with finding a woman who is good in bed, while women cross their fingers that the guy they fell in love with will be good in bed. Bit of a dilemma, right?

I am not saying you can’t have sex without love or enjoy it if there aren’t mutually intense feelings. But women are typically labeled as the more romantic ones. And well, we do form the majority of the romantic movies’ audience and the readers of romantic escapism books. And while there are certainly girls who enjoy porn, you are far more likely to find porn stuff in a guy’s room than in a girl’s. Go through her computer and DVDs or her movie/TV-watching history or her books, though, and you will run into vampires. It can be that she is more into classic stuff like Bram Stoker or Anne Rice. It could be the Twilight series, it could be the Dracula films. But it is really hard to find a girl who hasn’t enjoyed watching one vampire on the screen. So why the hell are we obssessed?

Playboy Cover. Image via:

repository.wwe.com

Oh sure, just like porn stars and male magazines’ cover girls have the bodies that attract men, the casting/writing for vampires are done with the utmost care: The guys are hot. They have great faces and bodies, intense looks and seductive traits. And even though we get our share of villains, there is always this leading vampire who falls for a human girl and we get this ever-lasting love story, where the guy risks his life to save the girl. It might be cheesy or corny, but as long as the writing and casting can pull it off, us girls are willing to buy it all. The blood and the sex might be drawing men in, but for girls- it is usually the sexy and passionate love story.

Image via: werewolves.com. You see the guys on each side? They are both vampires. The one on the left is played by Ian Somerhalder. The other by Paul Wesley. Yes, girls love them both.

And guys might make fun of it as they want, but frankly, I’d not poke fun if I were them. It is not like they are always watching state of the art films with substance. They can watch as much Nolan or Scorsese or Fincher or whoever they like. There will still be those porn movies we know they love watching for you know what.

So yeah, guys and girls tend to see love and sex differently at times. I propose we leave each other alone with this. They are never going to respect our crush for Boreanaz or Pattinson or Somerhalder. And we never want to catch them at it, especially when they are getting assistance from their “quality” stash.  

But I suppose once in a while, we get series like True Blood, that seems to give both parties what they want at the same time. It is nice to find a vampire thing to watch together. And hey, occasionally, we do end up in relationships where we want similar things.

So guys like porn. Girls like vampires. But we both want the love and the sex after all...

Sluts, Manwhores & One Night Stands

This really might solve the memory loss for the guy but what if she doesn't remember either?

Katherine Heigl’s Abby calls Gerard Butler’s Mike a manwhore in The Ugly Truth. Well, he has a dirty mind, a dirty tongue and he does sleep around a lot. But  manwhore sounds a bit harsh, so I am just going to call Mike a slut. Here's how I define a slut: a person who sleeps around too much, has one night stands all the time and has sex on first date a lot- sluts. Obviously, the girls who do these are regarded as sluts in many countries, no matter how liberated or open-minded they claim to be) maybe with the exception of Scandinavia...) So, if women are going to be called sluts, so should men be.

Gerard Butler as Mike in The Ugly Truth - he is posing with the fun-bag twins (a.k.a the girls he wrestled with in Jell-O). Image via allmoviephoto.com

How did this come up? I was sitting in a bar with friends and chatting with a Scottish mate. He kept entertaining us with all the dirty stories he had (you know, stories that you could catch on Sex and The City or Entourage episodes). It was all really fun and entertaining until I realized he was trying to make himself sound like a victim- like the girls forced themselves on him, that any embarrassing result was due to the girl and all that…

He was entertaining me, until he said he could never really date a girl who slept with him on the night they met. It'd be if he just meant that it may not be a great idea to start something meaningful with a person you just went to bed with. But what he means is how can he possibly date a girl who just slept with him right away? You don't date sluts, do you?

Whoa, what? What kind of a double standard is that? I am not the biggest fan of one night stands, but if a guy is going to consider a girl “not relationship material” because of this, there is something very twisted in his logic. When to sleep with a person is a personal and mutual decision. 

But I know one thing for sure. If she is a slut, so is he. And I kept laughing at his face all night, saying he was sooo slutty and not relationship material. He hadn't looked at it like that before.

Now, I am not taking a moral point of view here, folks. I am just all for equity. What is the point of all this? Well: imagine how awkward (and entertaining for us females) it would be, if a guy met the girl of his dreams and he had sex with her right away. Perfect scenario, right? She is hot, fun and impulsive. But then he realizes she is not returning his calls. And who could blame her? How is she going to know he doesn’t do it with every girl he meets? How is she going to take him seriously? Yep, that was sarcasm...

Every coin has two sides, boys. Just so you remember it..

5 Parameters That Keep Us Single

     When you have been single for a long time, your friends love to treat you like you don’t have a boyfriend because you are looking for The One, a guy looking like your favorite celebrities or some other theory that indicates that you have very high standards for the other party’s looks, personality or both. Well, the thing is, you don’t really have to go after the impossible to remain single. 

Recently I was thinking about how it was a shame that there weren’t many attractive men around. Sure, there are some but finding a guy attractive doesn’t cut it alone. He has to be straight, single and you need to be his type as well. And of course when these come together, you should be into you enough. Otherwise he will just waste your time.

So let’s say you found your straight, single, attractive (to you) and into you, there is another thing you need to have a relationship to work: he has to be a good boyfriend. And by good boyfriend, I don’t mean candles and flowers and all that crap. He just needs to be nice to you, respect you and be able to show he likes you. If the guy is a lousy boyfriend, it won’t cut it if he is the nicest guy on the planet.

So the next time you want to blame something for your being single, you can very well curse the statistics. After all, it is not that easy to find a single, straight, cute guy that attracts you and that you attract. And he also should be a good boyfriend too. Yes, girls. We are screwed.

And boys, don’t raise your eyebrows already! If you are single, chances are you are looking for that single, straight, cute girl who is your type and wants you and isn’t a total psycho in a relationship. Good luck to you too...

I don’t think things work that much differently if you are gay. You need that cute person to be gay or at least bi and the rest is the same.

And if you are bi, maybe you might have a better chance at beating the odds.  

Let me know if you recently met someone who fulfills the 5 parameters and you have my blessing. And wish the rest of us some good luck.

He (or She) Is Just Not That Into You: The Book, The Movie and Real Life

This is a book and movie review combined into one. But since it is one of the most honest and refreshing non-fiction books ever, it should be on this post.  Now, the original title is He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys, but since the advice in the book are better applied to both sexes, I needed to add “she” to the mix.

The Book

The book title is the somewhat amusing and harsh title “He is just not that into you”. It was written by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. Now, I had first thought it was one of those stupid self-help books that are full of bullshit- stuff that tells you the obvious. Well, but this one is about the obvious facts, it is about the obvious stuff we just have hard time accepting when we genuinely like someone. It sucks to come to terms with the fact that our feelings are not reciprocated, that the object of our affection/love/lust/crush/whatever doesn’t feel the same way.

I have to say I am not as naive as Gigi (played wonderfully by Ginnifer Goodwin) was in the beginning of the movie (I will be talking about the film soon), I never thought that a guy was being an asshole to me because he liked me. If someone is mean to you, it is because they don’t like you. It is one in a million that a person will act like that only because they are intimidated by how they feel about you. And even then, it is probably not going to work out because they will be inclined to act like a bitch/jerk every time they feel frustrated. So it is never a good sign. So if they are acting like they don’t like you – men or women- well, it is because they don’t.

Real Life

But it is much more complicated when they are not simply mean, isn’t it? Maybe they are nice and even friendly. Maybe they are sending out mixed signals. One action is telling you to run a mile from them and another is indicating that they are obviously interested in you. Then you are tempted to wait by the phone (or stay glued to your cell/facebook/messenger- whatever your poison) and your friends are also thrown in the game to analyze this person of your interest.

 Now guys mostly like to act like they are above the analyzing and waiting for the call/message rituals but trust me half my good friends are men (gay and straight, both) and when they truly like someone, they do feel the need to analyze the actions and the messages. You do have the tendency to lose your confidence. If you are not the least bit self-conscious, it is probably because you are just not that into the person. Did you watch Gerard Butler’s The Ugly Truth? Ignore the film’s romantic clichés and pay attention to how his character’s actions and expectations change when he really falls for the girl…

Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl in The Ugly Truth

Now, notice how I am talking men and women at the same time? Although the book is targeted to women, the basics of the relationships/dating/flirting triangle are pretty much the same. There are some vital and very obvious signs that tell you whether that the other person likes you or not. Now, the book is full of little pages of facts about the situations we get into. Every page ends up with “He is just not that into you”. But make the “he”s she, and the “she”s he and you will see that the book works very well for both sexes.

The movie is inspired by these facts but they throw in the perspectives of both sides- and how the book has correctly made the assumptions. The authors have worked on Sex and The City episodes. Now, this movie might be as categorized as a romantic comedy but trust me it is not a typical one. And the book proved right with every guy I ever had, every guy I wanted but couldn’t have, as well as the ones who wanted me.

Before I go into the characters and the plot of the movie, let me talk about some basic advice of the book. Guys if you are reading, feel free to adapt the lines.

*If he is playing games and making you guess (playing the hot/cold routine with you or if he is just acting like a jerk), he is just not that into you.

*If he says he is not the marrying type, it just means he doesn’t want to marry you.

*If he is cheating, he is just not that into you.

*If a guy likes you, he will ask you out. The complications don’t matter. If he likes you, he will make it happen. If it’s not happening, he is…. Yeah, you can fill in the blanks and you do get the idea.

…

Of course the book uses a much more entertaining (or painful- depends on your condition) language than my paraphrased and summarized version.

The Movie starring Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long and Drew Barrymore

He’s Just Not That Into You was released in 2009, directed by Ken Kwapis. Written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein, based on the book of the same title.

Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) has grown up believing in the all the wrong myths about men. She has gotten used to the drama and making up excuses whenever a guy doesn’t show up or call as he promises. She has a what she thinks to be a promising date with real estate agent Conor (Kevin Connolly). But Connor is barely interested in Gigi. He has always had a major crush on his bed buddy Anna (Scarlett Johansson). But to Anna, Conor is merely a safe bet to hang out and have sex with whenever she feels like it. She is much more excited by Ben (Bradley Cooper), a guy she meets at the supermarket. OK, so he is married to Janine (Jennifer Connelly), his college sweetheart. But Anna feels like he could be the one for her and that his marriage is a mistake. Ben embarks a dangerously tempting platonic friendship with Anna. She is just the opposite of his wife. Anna is a feisty, sexy and curvy blonde who is full of life whereas Janine loves her rules and seems more interesting in restoring the house they bought more than anything.

Beth (Jennifer Aniston) has been with the loving, considerate and loyal Neil (Ben Affleck) for 7 years. Their relationship is just perfect, except for Neil’s one big flaw: he is never intending to marry Beth- and Beth seems to be or at least pretends to be okay with this.

Mary (Drew Barrymore) takes care of Conor’s advertising business though they have never met in person. She is also Anna’s best friend. She of course knows about Anna’s major crush for Ben and being the good friend, she encourages her to pursue him after all, just because he is married, it doesn’t mean that his wife is the love of his wife. Does it?

The  teachings of the book are implied through the very beginning of the movie where women of all ages, shapes, sizes and cultures feed each other the same stories and excuses that Gigi has grown up over. Excuses are made for guys’ actions whereas the explanation is plain and simple: it is in the movie’s title. It takes a chance encounter with Connor’s best friend Alex (Justin Long) for Gigi to face the reality. Alex notices that Gigi is a nice, pretty yet a disillusioned girl so he decides to enlighten her about how guys really think. Now that Gigi has wised up, she shares her wisdom with her work mates Beth and Janine. Everything gets more complicated as women reexamine their relationships. Gigi also befriends Alex- who becomes her guide to understanding men.

The movie is funny and it has characters from all stages of all sorts of relationships: Marriages, dating, flirting, long relationships- from the perspective of both men and women. The observations are pretty accurate since the writers consist of a man and a woman. Just relax and enjoy. It is not all sweet and happy endings for everyone. You just have to watch and see what happens for each one of the characters.

The cast is very good and the script is funny. It is not life-altering of course but it gives some really good pointers that we should keep in mind when it comes to sex and romance.

How Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Matthew Macfadyen's Darcy Ruined Women Forever

Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in 2005's Pride and Prejudice

Well, I love Jane Austen. I haven’t read all her novels, and I do have a sneaking suspicion that I won’t fall in love with her other stories as much as I did with Pride and Prejudice. I read the novel, watched the 2005 film with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen and later went on to watch the 1995 TV series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. And maybe because I watched the movie first, for me the perfect Darcy is Matthew Macfadyen. I love Firth to bits, but my heart is Matthew’s with this one. (I do like Darcy's awkward and adorable lawyer Mark Darcy, though.)

I am a romantic, and I do watch a lot of romantic movies. So far I wrote reviews for a lot of them and even started an article series called Too Romantic for Your Own Good. It has parts 1 and 2.The 3^rd installment is on its way.

So even though the movies I listed in those articles involve some really great male characters, let’s face it- they don’t hold a candle to Darcy. Well, if you need a memory check on the movie, this is the place to go.

Now that you are all with me on the story:

Darcy is…..(again based both on the book and the movie):

*Confident.

Though he comes off as arrogant at first, he is actually reserved and a little shy when he fist faces an encounter. But he is so confident; you could never tell he was just a little bit shy.

*Romantic

Oh my God, do you remember how he declared his love? Sure there were moments when he pissed us off with some of the stuff that came out of his mouth (and he was spot on about her mother), but the way he tells Lizzy he loves her…and when he tells her. Oh, the rain…

And obviously how he tells again at the end. Okay, in case you want to relive the moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R-Zg5es7mg

And then the second declaration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIgc3WAsSk&feature=related

*Handsome.

Tall, dark, brooding, blue-eyed, gorgeous British man who also happens to be caring and romantic... And upon that, he actually is cute. Go figure.

*Nice

Well, he corrected his mistake and made sure Bingley and Jane got the happy ending they deserved. Then he prevented a scandal for one of the sisters. Yes, he was doing it for Elizabeth.

*Rich

OK, with this qualities, any sane woman would not care about his finances. But he also happens to be rich. Oh. My. God. Seriously.

**
Yes, this is a fictional character created by a woman. And Darcy just is played by the adorable Matthew Macfadyen. But this doesn’t change the fact that millions of women are still in love with a character created hundreds of years ago. The problem is, even though we have lowered our expectations for the guys we run across in real life, Darcy still is the “dream” guy. It is how a guy should be. He doesn’t really have to be rich or insanely handsome but he has to be able to feel as intensely as Darcy , and has to have the guts to tell them to you, screw the consequences…

This the fairy tale story and ending (and casting) that ruined us all. And yes, deep down, I will always be wanting Darcy. So the next time a guy complains about all women being hopeless romantics, you can just show him how it all started. Tell him to blame it on Austen.  Women and our  “extremely unrealistic” expectations…Poor(?!) men. How are they going to keep up? I mean we do want them to be sensitive and impulsive and romantic and loving…oh, and nice and consistent.

Have you met him?  If you did, and you are into him, do marry him! Or date him forever. Whatever suits you;)

All Posts Feat. Matthew Macfadyen

 Death at a Funeral starring Matthew Macfadyen

Pride and Prejudice Movie Review

British Actors We Love

Ewan Mcgregor Movies: 10 Films Featured and Only One Recommend

Older Women dating Younger Men vs. Older Men Dating Younger Women

This is a subject that has always intrigued me.  When I was younger, I used to think people should date people their own age or people really close to their age. Now, I really couldn’t have cared less. In fact, I am in favor of dating older men (men who are 15 years older than me are OK) . Well, obviously I don’T find any older man attractive. I like a guy who is energetic but also know who he is, what he wants and is sick of playing games with the opposite sex. Plus, I think that men usually mature a little later than women. You might disagree, but all the men I know seem to prove this.

Image via susansarandon.net. Interestingly, she was the older one. I thought Tim always looked older, especially after the white hair thing.

Now, I am not dating younger men either. While it might seem contrary to what I say earlier, I am not against being proven wrong. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher seem to be working out just fine. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins dated more than 20 years. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are still together. 

Society strangely still seems to favor men dating younger women. Well, the romantic and the feminist in me couldn’t disagree more. Obviously there is no way I’d approve a 20 year-old dating a 80 year-old, a 10 or 15 year age gap seems trivial if the couple seems to be getting along. Hell maybe even 15-20 won’t matter. But I recently watched a lovely stint on a comedy show:

A husband and wife are really having difficulty getting used to the fact that their son will bring home a girl to meet them. He is in college so they know it is time. However they are shocked when they realize the girlfriend seems a good 15 years older than him. Since this is comedy, they throw around hilarious jokes around, universally reflecting the opinions on age difference:

Dad: Really? Why did you bring your girlfriend’s mother to meet us?

Dad: Are you sure you want more salt? Maybe you want to watch the high pressure?

Dad: Our son is failing history? Why doesn’t he ask you?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While you laugh your head off, it makes you think. Then the guy’s uncle comes over. He seems to think that this is a prank. He even calls the woman “stale”. But guess what kind of girls the uncle is into? High school girls!  

**

Cougar Town's Courteney Cox with David Arquette. They are separated now, but they got along fabulously for over a decade. He is 7 years her junior.

Another fun example that you might have caught on TV is Courteney Cox’s show Cougar Town. The show is fun and you can read my review on  here. But, to directly talk about our topic: In the show Courtney plays a 40-something-hottie of a single mom. She is newly divorced and nothing is holding back from dating. Although there is one issue: The men her age are either married or they are dating much younger women, including her newly divorced hot neighbor Grayson (Josh Hopkins). And younger men seem to find older women hot and intriguing. So she starts dating younger men. 

Thankfully Hollywood movies seem to carry less double standards nowadays. Did you notice how Michelle Pfeiffer's on-screen romantic partners are get younger as she grows older? 

So I want to know what you think. Would you date someone much younger? Older? Have you ever dated someone younger/older? I once dated a 32-year-old when I was 21 and it was so much fun.

Or what kind of men/women would you break your own rules for?  Yes, celebrity examples count. We need to visualize, right?