Forgotten Photo 04: It's the Mystery Machine!

We see a lot of these awesome vintage cars in the campus all the time. I almost feel like I'm in an '80s Filipino crime-romance-comedy movie when I walk around.

The most painful scene in Sex and the City 2

(See this post for context.)

The promise to go to dinner is fulfilled, and over tacos and hummus (loljk, iunno what they ate) Aiden and Carrie recall the good old times. There's flirting and sly smiles and "you look good"s, and on the way out of the restaurant, in the middle of the seven arches that represent the seven arab emirates...

...they kiss. It's a long, drawn-out, open-mouth (not sure if there was tongue) kiss, not a shy smack, and Carrie pulls out of it too late (although, really, it was already too late when Aiden leaned in).

Carrie runs back to the hotel and confers with the girls. Samantha tells her not to tell Big—"it's only a kiss"—but Carrie knows better. At least she has the good sense not to keep Big in the dark about it.

It has to be hard having to talk about something like that when the two of you are on either end of the world. The conversation goes downhill from when Carrie says something like, "I saw Aiden at the spice market." Big is understandably distraught and tells her he has to go back to work. The next time they speak is when she gets back to New York.

Carrie's visibly guilty about the whole thing. She opens up to Charlotte about how she'd been complaining that their marriage had become boring of late, but that Aiden reminded her of her former self, "running around New York" without a purpose and that she was more than happy with Big. The sentiment feels nice, but you still have to think, bitch you kissed Aiden.

Big: Tunay Na Lalake. Carrie was afraid the kiss would be too much for Big to take, but he gives her a black diamond ring as punishment. A diamond. For punishment.

Then again, were this story set in the Philippines, it wouldn't have ended that way. Malaki would have forgiven Carina without incident—the emotional equivalent of deus ex machina—and they would have locked lips as the camera pulled out slowly and a corny string score played into the closing credits. No fancy jewelry or make-up vacations to scenic islands—they couldn't afford them. #firstworldproblems

Allow me to rant about "Serendipity."

Yeah, it's sweet and all, and the notion of the whole universe existing to bring two people together is irresistible. But if you spend seven years thinking about and tracking down a chick with an accent (or, in Sara's case, a funny Jewish boy) even though you have a happy, stable relationship, then you have serious issues. On another point, they were, in any case, chasing serendipity, looking for the signs and not just waiting to come across each other.

Five minutes after you walk away from the film you're starry-eyed; five hours later you realize everyone in the film was kidding him/herself. And that you probably were, too.

Maybe there is a universe that exists for the union and happiness of two people, but it isn't the one we live in, kids. Over here, the stars may give you a little nudge now and then, but a happy relationship is the product of two people's fierce commitment to stay with each other and work things out, not fate and happy accidents.

Fyeah Ari Gold!

The guy who played Aidan, Carrie Bradshaw's other major romance in Sex and the City, appeared here, too. Apparently the only role he's capable of playing is the laid back hipster with a hint of douchebag.

I took notes, both because I was bored and because I'm taking a Film class this semester. I be reading all the subtle hints the director's trying to throw at me, y'all!