I love chick flicks. Lots of them. There are so many amazing movies about women and for women, some about love, and some about life, that are labeled as chick flicks. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve watched them more times than I can keep track of.

So with that in mind I thought I’d dedicate this week’s weekly ten to my favorite chick flicks of all time. Some are recent and some are not so recent,  but they’re all pretty damn great.

10. Miss Congeniality. Oh Sandra Bullock, how I love you! It’s refreshing to watch a movie and see a woman who’s more comfortable holding a gun than she is walking in heels. She doesn’t need a man, but she gets one any way and that’s kind of great. Don’t you think?

9. Thelma and Louise. Girl power, ladies. Girl power. This is a story about friendship and fun (and felonies). Even if they do end up driving off a cliff together at the end of it, they do it together, right? Oh don’t look at me like that. It’s a fun movie.

8. Sixteen Candles. Every girl needs to see this movie at least once. It should be a rule. Because yes it’s outdated and yes no one would ever forget a girl’s sixteenth birthday anymore (She wouldn’t let them), but  this one is still so relatable. At the very least, we should all be forced to watch that dance scene before heading off to our own first big dance. It totally puts things in perspective.

7.  Dirty Dancing. Nobody puts baby in the corner. So that line might be a little bit cliché, but it’s also iconic. There’s no way I could make a list of the best chick flicks ever and not have the movie that gave us the time of our lives on here somewhere. Plus, you know, it’s Patrick Swayze.

6. When Harry Met Sally. Can a guy and a girl ever be just friends? Well the answer is absolutely not. And the evidence? This movie. But not only did this chick flick tackle that age-old question but it also gave us Meg Ryan faking it in a restaurant. Best. Scene. Ever.

5. The Devil Wears Prada. It’s Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. Together these two could make anything work. But they didn’t need to do much with this one, a chick flick that wasn’t just about the romance, but rather about the struggle to find a balance between work and real life, and trying to determine how much you’re willing to give up along the way.  Plus, the clothes are  fab.

4. 10 Things I Hate About You. Heath Ledger. Need I say more? But no, really, what could have been just another teen movie, another chick flick about a girl and a guy and prom, does something different.  With its strong female lead, quirky characters, and Heath Ledger singing “I Love You Baby” on the bleachers how could anyone not love this movie?

3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It’s Audrey Hepburn. I don’t think it’s even possible for her to make a bad movie. But it’s probably the rain scene that lands this one the third spot. That and the adorable cat named cat. Who actually does belong to someone. Just like Audrey.

2. Bridget Jones’ Diary. When it comes down to it I probably love this movie because it’s a modern day retelling of Pride and Prejudice. But also because she tries to keep a diary. And because she tries (and fails) to keep the same new year’s resolutions as all of us. And a little bit because of Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.

1. Pretty Woman. My absolute favorite chick flick of  all time. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love this movie (which means I was probably watching it when I was way too young.) And sure you can laugh at say it’s completely unrealistic and it’s about a hooker who falls in love with a sleazy business man. But that doesn’t matter. I love this movie. Because of “I want the fairy tale” and “Big Mistake. Huge” and the infamous piano scene, and a younger, cuter Richard Gere.

What are you favorite chick flicks, ladies?

So let’s be real, we all cried a little bit when we found out Brad and Jen were splitting, and some of us are still sticking pins in our Angelina Jolie voodoo dolls not over it. In fact, thanks to our obsession with celebrities, faux-lebrities and TV/movies, we often find ourselves more invested in Hollywood/fictional couples than we do in our own relationships.

But who can blame us? It doesn’t take a Patti Stanger to know that our hot-wings-eating, HALO-playing, Edward-40-hands-lovin’ boy toys pale in comparison to the romantic, doting, sexy Prince Charmings we see in our weekly tabloids and primetime TV shows.

What girl wouldn’t yearn for her very own vampire (think True Blood, not Twilight)? Or an Upper East Side romance? The picture perfect couples are everywhere we look, and even if we aren’t half of one, it’s the holiday of looooove (duh, Valentine’s Day, people) so let’s melt, ooze and swoon over some of our favorite duos.

Assuming you haven’t been living in a cave (or being Amish, but then you probably wouldn’t be online) you’ve probably at least heard of the premise of When Harry Met Sally and the big question it poses – can men and women just be friends? Looks like the debate’s on again – did it ever really stop? – and it’s time we had our say!

On the “Yes!” side – Sure men and women can be just friends (and yes, for the purposes of this argument, let’s assume that said man and woman are both either straight or bi, no cop outs!). I know lots of guys I’d call friends that I never have and never would sleep with and I imagine most women do, too. Which is when you get into the “maybe you don’t but he wishes you would” part of the argument which is a pretty cruel generalization. To say “guys will have sex with any girl who will let them” basically says that guys have no filters or systems of judgment beyond woman=sex, and while that may be true for some men, most of the guys I’ve known, ever, just aren’t like that. If we’re not all frigid bitches, then they can’t all be horny bastards. And saying that two people of opposite genders can’t simply enjoy one another’s company without there being a sexual issue is essentially arguing that the only reason I’m not having sex with all my gal pals is that I’m not attracted to women – which is patently ridiculous.

But, there’s a reason this argument has gone on for so long and that reason is:

The “No!” side – I can’t explain it, I really can’t, but I cannot think of a single (straight) male/female friendship I know of where one person has not, at some point, at least considered having sex with the other. I mean, I’m really trying here! The main reason it doesn’t happen is because one – or even both – of the people don’t want it to, either because the attraction isn’t mutual or they don’t want to wreck the friendship. Even if they’re not having sex, the sex thing is still there. There’s no really good reason I can think of that it shouldn’t be possible for men and women to being platonic friends, it’s just that real world evidence seems to prove that any who do are in the vast minority.

What do you say? Will sex always get in the way? Or can you have a close friendship like that without considering more? Is it idealistic to think that we could – or should – ignore the sexual side? Duke it out!

This past week has been a blur of free time that only comes in the brief break between finals and when summer school, internships, and jobs really get busy. With the weather being cold and rainy outside (it’s like it KNOWS that finals are over and has sent the sun away to hide…), my plans for a group trip to the beach turned into a movie afternoon. Everyone met at my apartment, which was a chaotic mess that only comes with 2 girls moving in while 2 girls are still in the process of moving out. That meant there was only one DVD anyone could find (the one in the DVD player) and that, to the chagrin of all the boys, was “When Harry Met Sally.”

As much as the boys complained, they refused to go back out into the downpour and grab another movie, so we settled in, put our feet up on some boxes and watched. The boys made fun of it and threw popcorn around (don’t worry, I made them vacuum later…) as Billy Crystal stood on the ridiculously large television screen (sadly only in my apartment until June 1st, don’t get too jealous), trying to convince Meg Ryan that men and women could never just be friends.

My gut reaction the one time that I’d seen this movie before had been to stay on Sally’s side during that initial debate. A younger, less jaded version of myself was so certain that girls and boys could of course be just friends. I remember being appalled at the idea that my guy friends wanted to date me. They were like my brothers and the thought of even kissing them made me feel icky inside.

Now, though, I’m not so sure.

I’ve had quite a few guy friends from high school on, but with the transition to college the dynamics have shifted. Thanks often to the influence of alcohol, accidental hook-ups between ‘just friends’ seem astoundingly common in the college world. Many of those accidents continue to happen and often lead to friends with benefits situations (a whole other topic unto itself) which further blurs the lines of friendship between girls and guys.

What my high school self didn’t realize at the time is that there very well might have been feelings somewhere deep inside between me and my guy friends, but without the aid of alcohol no one ever acted on them or even let themselves identify them. Fast forward a few years and it’s a whole different story.

As I looked around the room at the guys, I saw two guy friends that I had accidentally kissed (while intoxicated, and only once with each of them!), another that I had kind of faux dated at the beginning of the year but now just studied with, a boy that I had been crushing on all year but had yet to break up with his long-distance girlfriend, two that I really did just think of as ‘just friends’ (granted one had tried to ask me out earlier, but I think we’re past that now) and this random friend of a friend who had been recruited to help us start the grill at the now flooded beach.

Yowza. Those aren’t very good “just friend” odds. Especially when you consider how cute grill guy was….

The more I think about things, the more aligned I am with Harry. Truly platonic relationships between members of the opposite sex are the exception and not the rule. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either naive or hiding a secret crush.

What do you think? Can guys and girls really just be friends? Or will there always be a little something to complicate it? Or do I just have way too much time on my hands without homework ?

And who could forget Meg Ryan’s character in When Harry Met Sally producing the most infamous fake orgasm in movie history (if you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it now). In that scene, Sally proves she’s not only a great actress, but she also points out a rather sad but realistic fact  — “most women at one time or another have faked it.”

To do a little research for this article, I made my way over to Google and searched the simple term “faking it.” I was shocked –  there were at least 4 results on how to fake an orgasm, how to hide faking an orgasm, what it meant to fake an orgasm, and only one link on how to have an actual orgasm. And that was just the first page. Wait… what?

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: while we all have our reasons to fake it, if you want your partner to do what they need to do to make you have a real one, you have to stop faking your orgasms. Women get themselves into a vicious cycle once they fake it. It usually starts with good intentions because no one wants to hurt their partner’s feelings with the dreaded “I don’t think it’s going to happen.” So you fake it, everyone’s ego is intact, and you can carry on with your day. But here’s the problem – if your partner thinks they’re doing it right (right enough for you to finish) how will they know to change what they’re doing so you can actually get there? Well, that’s the thing, they won’t.

The biggest problem a lot of people have with their sex life is that they are afraid to communicate. As a woman, I know that we’re subliminally told that “nice girls” don’t ask for what they want in bed. There’s still a bit of 1950s mentality when it comes to women and sex, and that’s something that needs to change. If it’s not happening for you, talking to your partner about what you need is really the first step. Nicely, of course. Something along the lines of “hey, I saw this thing in a movie once and thought maybe we could try it…” or “I think (insert what you want here) would be really cool, let’s try it!”

So what if you’ve been faking it for three years and don’t know how to tell your partner? Well, that’s easy… don’t tell them. I know, I know, it sounds awful, but not as awful as your partner will feel when they find out you’ve been lying to them for three years. But you need to stop faking it. Pretend that not being able to finish is something new, and you don’t know why all of the sudden it’s just not working. How weird! But hey, maybe if your partner tries (insert what you want here), it might do the trick. And voila, hopefully there’ll be fireworks and toe curls and loud (authentic) screams in no time.

But all of this seems like a lot of work to reverse a mistake you made in the first place. Just don’t fake it, enjoy sex for what it is and try to take the pressure off. It helps to understand that it doesn’t have to end in orgasm every single time. And for you ladies who’ve never had an orgasm? Don’t worry, I’ll touch on masturbation and self exploration next week

Got a guy question that’s tearing you up inside? Don’t trust your girl friends to give you honest advice (because they’re afraid if they tell you the truth you will freak out and throw things at them)? Just want to try and understand what a guy is thinking?

We’ve got the dude for you. Send your questions to AskTheDude@CollegeCandy.com and he’ll give it to you straight. Because you can’t throw things at him, no matter what he tells you. Our dude is answering questions every Wednesday, so ask away!

Dear Dude,

The other day, I randomly met a guy at a bus stop who just got back from Europe. We clicked immediately, and hung out for about 2 hours (instead of studying for genetics…). He has my number and email, but is it a bad idea just to ask him to hang out? I have no interest in a romantic aspect, and my female friends say I’m nuts. This is legit, right? I can just ask a guy to hang out just to solely hang out…
Or am I just being an idiot?

Thanks!
Just Wanna Be Friends

Dear JWBF (I’m too lazy to type out your whole name),

It pretty much goes without saying that men like things big. We like big cars, big explosions, big flat-screen TV’s (with HD and 1080P), and we foster even bigger egos. No matter how obvious you think the lack of chemistry is between you and your newfound “friend,” most men take the When Harry Met Sally philosophy (a Die Hard metaphor just wouldn’t work here) a bit too literally.

Men generally think that any fun, friendly female (continuing to tolerate and speak to him) inevitably wants him. If a lady believes that subtle implications, uninterested body language, or comments like, “I’m so glad I have you as a friend” are going to show a guy things are strictly platonic… she is completely mistaken. Men aren’t mind readers (we probably wouldn’t even read the manual if a woman came with one), so our big egos will inevitably convince us you’re digging us (even if you show an iota of interest).

However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t be friends with a guy…you just need to be 100% up front with him from the very beginning. Don’t subtly imply that there is no chemistry and expect him to figure out the clues. Lay it out for him in black and white from the start. Yes, that means sitting him down and telling him, “I just want to be friends.” If he isn’t up for a friend with “not-a-chance-in-hell” level of benefits, than it’s his loss. But you should definitely pick up the phone and give it a try. You never know – you may end up with an awesome friend… and benefits to spare.

Good luck,
His Royal Dude-ness

I love the idea of the male best friend, but its the reality that I’m torn about…

Love it:

Sometimes you just need to get away from girls. They’re catty, annoying and borrow your clothes without asking. Plus, girls are so dramatic. It’s one thing to watch it on Gossip Girl, but dealing with crazy girl drama in real life just sucks. Guys on the other hand, are pretty much drama free. They don’t PMS, have great perspective on your relationship issues and love chauffeuring you around. They’re also good for reaching things on high shelves, scaring away creepy guys when you’re hitting the bar and carrying around your stuff.

The boy best friend makes a great stand-in wedding date, and your parents probably love him, unlike the last boy you dated. Oh, and it’s really fun to bring up tampons in conversation and watch him freak. the eff. out.

Loathe it:

Have you ever seen When Harry Met Sally? Males and females just aren’t meant to be friends. I still can’t accept that platonic relationships exist. At some point, you’re going to end up liking him, or he’s going to end up liking you. Very often, this happens at different times and one person ends up getting their heart broken. Trust me, it sucks. And if for some odd reason you don’t fall in love with one another, things are going to end the minute one of you falls for someone else. The whole dynamic will be off or, more likely, someone’s significant other is going to feel threatened and the drama (that you attempted to avoid by BFFing with a boy) will begin.

I guess having a gay best friend would be OK, but you’ll probably end up having a crush on him anyway. Or he’ll drag you to gay clubs every weekend and make you be his wingwoman.

The entire thing really seems like a bad idea in the end. But I do like the idea of always havin’ a guy around. What do you think? Is your BBFF your favorite accessory, or is maintaining a platonic relationship just too hard?

Is it OK to find this funny?

Kris Allen is totes crushing on Adam Lambert.

Free software you should be using.

If Chewbacca had starred in When Harry Met Sally.

Is Britney engaged?

It’s the subject of half the love songs out there: soul mates and the idea of a happily ever after that awaits those lucky enough to find the so-called Knight in Shining Armor.  Take Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” for example, the poster child for a happy ending:

And I said,
“Romeo save me – I’ve been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting for you but you never come.
Is this in my head? I don’t know what to think-”

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,
“Marry me, Juliet – you’ll never have to be alone.
I love you and that’s all I really know.
I talked to your dad – go pick out a white dress;
It’s a love story – baby just say ‘Yes.’”

Beautiful, right?  Makes your eyes mist up a bit?  Of course it does, it’s the quintessential love story.  Girl meets guy.  There is drama. Guy leaves. Girl waits for guy.  Guy comes back.  Cue the happily ever after.  Except…wait a second.  He left her, right?  And she waited around for him without any indication he was coming back?  Um, we might need to reconsider this.

Let’s look at some more examples.  Movies like The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, When Harry Met Sally, hell, even He’s Just Not That Into You, and many more all have the same theme of love overcoming huge obstacles.  But are these movies ruining us?  Should we be waiting around for our soul mate to show up and magically make our life into some romantic movie?  Where is our happily ever after??

Well…it’s here right now, if you want it.

You can have your happy ending any time you want and then go out and have another one (and another one and so on).  “Happily ever after” doesn’t have to mean years of pining alone, waiting for your knight to have his adventures and come back for you.  Um, what about your adventures?

I’m not saying throw romance out the window, not even close.  However, romance isn’t only to be found patiently loving your prince from afar, Disney-style.  Sometimes your prince needs to be hunted down.  And guess what?  This sweet world of ours has a lot of princes.  I even met a prince last weekend at a club (he doesn’t speak English fluently, but that’s okay, I don’t discriminate among princes).  The world of our generation is even bigger than Cinderella’s – we have planes, trains, automobiles, and the internet.  Places like plentyoffish.com and nerve.com are pretty much smorgasbords for guys in hypothetical crowns.

Just be warned: in real life, princes are effed-up.  They come from highly selective and traditionally inbred families and are often brought up to develop narcissistic tendencies (um, yikes).  So prince is a relative term and often misunderstood.  Just saying, maybe you should be looking for a nice dude who you can have a good time with rather than some crazy-ass royal.

You have a choice, my friends.  You can sit at home and have your Disney romance (you better have TiVo because you’re gonna have a lot of down time) or you can go out and seize your love life by the balls (literally, if you like).  In my opinion, it’s about time to get a handful of genitalia.

Why do we orgasm?: Truth be told, nobody actually knows for sure. Some say that it encourages patience from your partner because we take so damn long to climax. Others say that the exhaustive effects of orgasm keep the woman horizontal, and thus, keep the sperm from “falling out” of the woman. I don’t need to tell you that both of those have been ruled out as possible reasons for the Big O. Newer theories suggest that orgasm increases the probability of conception and/or the frequency of sex. Honestly, I don’t really care why, where, when and who it happens with as long as it gets the job done.

Orgasm spontaneity: Some women have reported orgasms as a result of non-sexual activity. Climax can be induced by riding a bike or certain types of exercise. Any activity that tightens the pelvic muscles, including yawning and sneezing, may induce spontaneous orgasm. I’m thinkin’ I may just skip my dose of allergy medication today…

Don’t fake it: In one study, 49% of women interviewed admit to having faked an orgasm at least once. And believe me, we’re good at it (If you don’t believe me, watch this clip from When Harry Met Sally). According to experts, however, faking climax may give your partner the wrong idea of what you want. For instance, say that you fake an orgasm to get your boyfriend to stop sucking on your toe. Once you pretend you like it, I promise you he will be all over that toe every single time you hook up thereafter. Instead, just tell the guy what you like and you won’t have to waste your incredible acting skills on an audience of one.

Orgasms are good for your health: Various studies have found regular orgasms to be associated with: heightened sense of smell, reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, weight loss and body fitness, reduced depression, less bodily pain, a heightened immune system, more bladder control, and healthier teeth. (Editor’s note: Healthier teeth!?) Remember, all of these benefits are definitely not worth the risk of contracting a STI, so make sure he wraps it up before you get your daily dose of booty.

We can never have too much sex: Unfortunately, men are not so lucky. While sex firms our buns, tones our abs, and improves our posture, it has been known to cause “penile damage” to our male counterparts. According to an article on MSNBC, “Penile tissues, if given too roistering or prolonged a pummeling, can sustain damage.” So next time a guy calls you selfish for not “returning the favor” just tell him you’re really just trying to protect him from the tragic effects of a penile pummeling.