Why a promise doesn't have to be a suicide pact.

Carrie is "Dear Prudence."

Charlotte is "Family."

Miranda is "Jurisprudence."

Samantha is "Shameful Conduct."

OK, definitely better than my choices. --MR … 4.00 p.m. GMT

Tuesday, June 03,  2008

If the Fray were a Sex and the City heroine, which one would it be? Perhaps, like Lord Running Clam, "turns out I'm a Charlotte who thinks he's a Miranda." But no, we can't be that general. We'll judge the women as different Frays (let us know if you have better assignments):

Carrie*********Best of the Fray
Miranda*******.Moneybox Fray
Charlotte******.Poems Fray
Samantha******XX Factor Fray

The movie was being discussed all over Slate, at the "XX Factor" and on Dana Stevens' review, the item on labels, and the  discussion at "IM." "Movies" Fray stalwart lucabrasi (perhaps not surprisingly in view of his Frayname) laid out a great comparisonbetween the TV series and The Sopranos, inspiring Topazz to imagine a fight between Carmela and Samantha:

Carmela would knock her flat before she ever knew what hit her. They could've gotten a lot of mileage out of that ... it would've even had that little touch of Joey Buttafucco thrown in for good measure.

Mikestand liked a threadon the men-women divide on the movie, and was surprised to find "SATC isn't really about, you know, sex with a man, which would seem to be the point as well as the motivating factor for the whole works, but rather a sort of self-contained sex video game, using the concept, imagery, plumage, etc, but not accessing or even necessarily interested in the real thing."

Was SATC just a soap opera? Absolutely not, explainsMarzipan:

Daytime soap opera narratives exist in a world outside of and apart from our own; everything—including designer names and labels—is kept out of the frame in service to what's left in: namely, relationships of all stripes (lovers, yes, equally, family relationships within large,established clans). … Whether or not one perceives as "vapid" television serials whose central focus is relationships (as opposed to those whose focus is, say, police procedurals as per Law and Order) probably depends on one's personal taste. Me, I don't care for the manner in which daytime soaps explore relationships—but I don't consider the subject matter of human relationships to be vapid, in the least.

In fact, Sex and the City's finest moments have been the relational ones. … I've just let the parade of designers pass by in a haze, while I wait for the good—at, least, the better—stuff.

There were some melancholy posts in there: katidid0913 couldn't escape"the feeling of being handed a glass of flat champagne"; some troubleabout the concept of renting the Vuitton; and wmccomninel posted a haunting descriptionof watching the TV series in Iraq ending with a rather desolating line about "those long desperate nights. Turns out that they were actually better than these are."

So—not much about the sex then? Do we need to go looking elsewhere? After reading the " Human Nature" item on oral sex, AmericanAbroad was inspired to share thiswith us:

I want to know if an enthusiasm for oral sex is an American thing. What's the rest of the (adult) world doing? Having watched my share of porn, it seemed the French were into anal, the Germans were into fantasy/costume, the Japanese like it when she looks like she hates every moment. But the Americans are cheerful and happy and going down. Right?

Elsewhere, a  poster read the "XX Factor" discussionon women and adultery and examined her sex drive:

In the interest of science I pulled out my phone list from work and ranked the men in the office (out of 35 men total). I have fantasized about 15 (43%) of them, I wouldn't mind having sex with 8 (23%) of them, 6 (17%) of them leave me cold and there are 6 who I would not want to have sex with. I work in research and development so these are not above-average attractive people in general.

Thisislissa—and we're guessing you're a Samantha—we warmed to you. But then, we don't work in R& D. … MR …1 p.m. GMT

Wednesday, May  28,  2008

Slate readers are tireless and generous: They read our articles and give us their advice and predictions. It's been a busy time for these dedicated commentators, what with (among other items) the finale of American Idol, the return of Indiana Jones, a new Narnia film, a TV program on a Lohan, and a lot of " XXFactor" discussion on sex. So, here's a time-saving guide to the best of their recent comments. (The short, snarky ones anyway. More serious discussion at the end of the articles.)

1) What Spiker has learned about sex: "In the end the sole quality that is attractive in a woman--a person--is imagination…Keep the first deviant with imagination that you find."