Archive for the ‘News’ Category

GIRLS: SEASON 2, EPISODE 3

Monday, January 28th, 2013
Snort a line and switch your shirt with a stranger, it's Girls recap time   It's great when Girls gets goofy. When Hannah goes nips out in a yellow mesh tank top, hopped up on drugs and tells Marnie that "maybe I don't care about being polite because it's a Wednesday night, baby, and I'm alive," punctuated with a chest pound. When Elijah shares his aspiration to raise show dogs. When Marnie describes a creepy doll as dirty talk. When Jessa tells some irrelevant story about "one of Tom Petty's heartbreakers." When Shoshanna says, "Ray."   It's Apatow's slapstick sensibilities colliding with Dunham's dry wit in a magical way. Although the characters of Girls take themselves incredibly seriously, no one else does.     Going beyond the realm of Girls, this episode makes fun of New York's 20-something freelance writers who exploit their hot mess lives for pageviews. This isn't about New York anymore. This is about New York as it exists on the Internet. This is about unique visitors all over the world who picked up the not-so-subtle nod to Jane Pratt, xoJane.com and Cat Marnell when Hannah interviews at JazzHate.com. It's online subculture as pop culture. It places Girls in a very specific time period: the era of pageviews.     At her editor's request, Hannah decides to do a whole bunch of coke and write about it because she feels iffy about a threesome with strangers off Craigslist. A quick stop at Jessa and Shoshanna's bootleg stoop vintage store, a pop-in at sketchy ex-junkie Laird's pomegranate juice palace and Hannah starts railing lines with Elijah before dinnertime.   Sidebar: what could Laird possibly do for a living? That pomegranate juice is expensive. Is "cocaine guardian angel" a paying gig?     Hannah's coke adventure  power clash outfit, inspired by a girl Elijah went to middle school with who "fucked both her uncle and her step-dad," would be a stellar Halloween costume. The way Hannah wears clothes with reckless abandon is truly amazing.   Even more amazing is Lena Dunham's ability to throw herself into Hannah's character. She's not afraid of Hannah's ugly side whether that means looking like a hot mess in the soap aisle of Metro Drugs or acting like a self-absorbed asshole when Elijah confesses to his "couple of pumps" with Marnie.   It's always been a selling point of Girls that Dunham explores the negative personality traits of her characters. Is it possible that the audience's appreciation for Dunham blinds us from outrightly hating Hannah?     At this point, is Hannah likeable at all? Every action in this episode is steeped with selfish intentions, reactions and explosions. The conversation between Hannah and Elijah in the drugstore is uncomfortable because Elijah is right. It's his sexuality and his relationship with Marnie, but it's as if we're suppose to suffer from the same brand of tunnel vision that makes Hannah so upset.   During that scene, it occurred to me that I'm able to stand Hannah because I like Lena so much. Her real life presence on social media outlets, at award shows, in press interviews, saves Hannah from being completely vile. It's meta characterization.     Let's shift over to Marnie because we've been patiently waiting for an end bracket to Booth's "because I'm a man, and I know how to do things," line. Turns out, the artist's bedroom game consists of locking Marnie in a video chamber of babies crying and animals eating each other then reverse starfishing her while she stares at a sad-faced doll.   Congratulations, episode co-writers Dunham and Sarah Heyward, that scene is amazing. It's a rite of passage to have terrible sex with that-guy-in-that-band or that-guy-who-owns-that-place or that-guy-who-plays-for-that-team or that-artist-who-sells-bloody-dollhouses-for-thousands-of-dollars. Sexual tension does not equal good sex, nor does celebrity. It's an important lesson for us all.     That being said, we don't know for sure that this was terrible sex for Marnie. At the end of the episode, she still seems under Booth's spell. Booth & Marnie Forever? Probably not but I find Booth so hilarious that I'd like a few more scenes.     Speaking of a few more scenes, what's with Shoshanna and Jessa? They have both been heavily neglected in season 2 and it continues in this episode. Girls has turned into Hannah and I'm not about it.     Thoughts? Feelings? Coke rant? Lemme know.   Oh and here's the mix AndrewAndrew made for Girls:       Read last week's recap of Girls here.     -Jess Bloom

ROUND UP

Friday, October 26th, 2012
Hello, sweet weekend Right-wing folks freak over Lena Dunham's sex joke in a Bahama campaign commercial. [Gawker] Jane asks Jesus for some help on her old pal. [XO Jane] Remember this guy? [Dummy Magazine] Patrick McGuire of VICE has taken a special interest in the Amanda Todd case. Listen to him speak his mind on CBC. [CBC Radio] Everyone should lay off Chan Marshall and realize that rock n' roll is a loss of control. [Noisey] Alison Mosshart is pretty much a mega babe. [Style]

Round Up

Friday, May 20th, 2011
The world can now relax their face muscles. The Botox Mom who supposedly gave her 8-year-old daughter "cosmetic" injections is lying, or is she. [Jezebel] Jane Pratt's new website, xoJane  launched this week with stories about sleeping with Terry Richardson and why the Babysitters Club changes lives. Check it out and let us know what you think. [xoJane] Speaking of sex, IUD's are on the rise. [Parlour] Fashion is about to get interested in the stock market a whole lot more. Prada is officially going public. [The Cut] Trash has never looked better. [The Hairpin] We wish someone would pay us $134,500 for our love letters. [Refinery 29] Our Editor-in-Chief Hana May plucks some colorful chambray pieces for summer. [Elle]

A-Z of 2010

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
We weigh in on what happened in 2010, with the help of the alphabet. By: Mish Way and Elianna Lev When trying to create this list, we kept trying to think about what happened over the past year and realized those things actually happened in 2009. 90s fashion? Nope, that was 2009. Tiger Woods? Um, 2009. So, what was 2010 all about? We opened our laptops and put our heads together to create this year's A-Z rundown of the last twelve months. We may not have got it all, but we only had so many letters in the alphabet. Honorary mention goes to Wikileaks, clogs, skinny cargo pants, Matt Damon, Tyra Banks, iHollaback, Kotex ads and Nu Sensae. Here's to everything that happened in 2010! A is for Alcoholic Juice a.k.a. Four Loko Four Loko was the bigger, stronger, juice head cousin of Sparks and the life of the party. Available at any corner store for only $2.50 and packing enough caffeine, 12% malt liquor, and other disgusting toxins, to keep you awake yet totally unconscious--this little death trap became known as "Black Out In A Can." Rap songs were made in honor of the drink and a bunch of college kids kicked it due to over consumption. The FDA banned Four Loko about a month ago and people scrambled to the stores to buy up every last can, like the world was ending. B is for Bed Bugs It’s like the Black Plague of our time, except it hasn't killed a portion of the population. Still, those who have them may wish they were dead.  The side effects of these pests include: paranoia, anxiety, sleepless nights, neurosis, lack of friends coming over, and generally miserableness. However, when described by Isabella Rossellini, they seem downright delightful. We still hope like hell we never get them in our lifetime. C is for  Courtney Love's Come Back We might argue that she never went away, really, how could Courtney disappear? However, this year Ms. Love dropped her long awaited solo album, Nobody's Daughter, toured extensively, changed her "look" multiple times, took over social media, lost custody of her daughter Frances Bean Cobain, sat front and center at Fashion Week, ruined the possibility of a true Hole reunion, started a blog, dominated late night television, became a public speaker, pitched a reality show, changed her name and then changed it back and, on top of all this, stayed sober. What did you do this year? D is for Die Antwoord After you realized this rave-rap crew from South Africa were next-level performance artists, that unsettled feeling sort of went away. Because there’s nothing more confusing than when the Next Big Thing talks in a language you don’t understand, looks like exotic white trash and makes music videos that showcase giant erections. Thing is, you can't stop watching. E is for Entitled Rich Girls It got hard to keep track of Lindsay Lohan getting arrested, getting thrown in jail, being required to wear that ankle bracelet alcohol tracker thing and making poor decisions in general. Didn’t mean it got any less captivating to watch. Also, that reality star who was famous for breaking into Orlando Bloom’s house got busted with black tar heroin, after she’d already been in jail once. It all makes being famous just a teeny bit less appealing. What are we talking about? We’d still totally trade places. F is for F**king People still do it! G is for Garage Girl Bands This was the year of lo-fi, beachy, garage girl bands. The three-chord, love song take over kick-started with the Vivian Girls, Best Coast and Grass Widow and soon multiplied into an army of cute dresses, catchy riffs and Converse ads. H is for Haiti The epic life-altering earthquake in Haiti left 230,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 homeless. We watched from our televisions in disbelief as a natural disaster destroyed Léogâne and the towns that surrounded it. K is for Kicked It Too Early 2010 was a shot to the heart for the music world. Jay Reatard, Ari Up, Alex Chilton, Soloman Burke, Dio, Malcom McLaren, Devon Clifford. R.I.P. I is for It Gets Better As if we needed more reason to adore Dan Savage. For years, he used his popular column, Savage Love, to reassure isolated Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgendered youth that life gets better the older you get and the farther away you run from your shitty small town. Then he took this message to the Internet, where it spread like lightning. Everyone from the bitchy queen on ProRo to President Obama submitted a video. It was the warm fuzzy of the year. J is for James Frano Once again, Mr. Franco managed to accomplish more in the last year than your whole family linage has, or ever will, in this lifetime. Including, but not limited to, writing a book, guest starring on a soap opera, working on an MA and shooting a movie down the street from my house. L is for Lesbians who look like Justin Bieber Seriously Lesbians?  You’re always trying to jump on the cultural bandwagon. And once again, you TOTALLY MASTER IT. M is for Montana Fishburne Probably the only porn star in history of porn who chose to use her real name. We think if she just went by Dad Issues, she would have probably accomplished whatever she was originally trying to accomplish. N is for Nicki Minja The newest female rapper to pose spread eagle on an album cover and get massive. She’s crazy and gets to wear pink wigs, like Britney Spears when she went really crazy, except somehow, for Nicki, it works. O is for Oprah Ends Talk Show After 25 years of totally dominating afternoon talk show television, Oprah Winfrey decided to throw in the towel. Well, half the towel since she will now focus her energy on her new network, OWN. Oprah fought back tears as she thanked audiences for letting her into their homes for so many years. Out of all the fabulous things she did, we especially thank her for sitting still while Tom Cruise jumped on her couch like a psycho as we all waited for the blog posts and parodies to roll in. P is for Perez Hilton gets nice Perez was all over the It Gets Better campaign, despite being a really obnoxious, famewhoring bully. Hypocrite! Then he made an appearance on Ellen, and changed his website so it’s all about love and self-respect and less about cum faces and penises in celeb’s mouth. Now he writes lame words of encouragements that wouldn’t be out of place on those stickers you buy for your preschool children. Q is for The Queen is Dead Alexander McQueen, one of the most inventive, daring and genius designers of recent times is no longer here. Your gay friends and your hairdresser who buys those obscure $90 fashion magazines that come out once a year, got really sad. R is for the Riot Grrrl Revival With historical anthologies like "Girls to the Front" by Sara Marcus flying off the shelves, there seemed to be a riot grrrl revival in 2010. Kathleen Hanna made Tavi a sweater and then Jane Pratt teamed up with Tavi to start a new Sassy (which was the ultimate riot grrrl teen magazine). Maybe this whole thing is Tavi’s doing? Critics and writers from all over critizied the movement for being void of politics, while others attempted to figure out what this throw back to “Revolution Grrrl Style Now” realty meant for women today. Others just kept making music. S is for Splitsville Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson all joined together to dance to that Single Ladies song in unison. Or something. Basically, true love didn’t shin through for some, which goes to show that celebs are JUST LIKE US! T is for Terry Richardson When model Rie Rasmussen called out Terry Richardson, claiming he sexually harassed models during photo sessions, a few other models began to expose their stories. Jezebel kept us updated on the fiasco, defending anonymous women who wanted to talk about their experiences with Terry from behind a shaded face. After being virtually curb stomped by feminist bloggers, Terry is still on top in the fashion world. What did we learn from all of this? U is for University Fund for Teen Mom Stars Tyler and Catelynn of Teen Mom broke our hearts in 2009 when they made the mature decision to create an adoption plan for their unexpected child. The teenage couple, whose troubled parents fell in love and got married after the kids got together, had their struggles with adoption, school and life displayed on MTV for the world to judge. When word got out that Tyler and Catelynn--whose dream was to attend college and be the first in their families to do so--might not be able to afford secondary education, Jezebel set up a donation link on their site and raised $15,000 from readers. Cue the water works. V is for Viral Videos Every year we digest a head full of viral videos. Some of the top time waster clips of this year? Double Rainbow, Single Ladies, Brad Paisley falling on stage, the chicken nugget attack and anything on that Fail Blog. W is for Willow Smith Yet another member of that freakily-over-the-top-posicore-can’t-hold-them-down -‘cause-they’re-SO-full-of-talent, the Smiths, had the opportunity to showcase her what she’s got in the form of a hit single “Whip My Hair.” We don’t care how tasteful her song is, she’s ten and she has a successful career. We hate her for that but would still love to be her babysitter. Y is for You! Thanks to the way the world is going, you’re still all over the Internet. But mostly on Facebook, which is not so slowly taking over the world. You know how when people go crazy, they get paranoid about Scientology or the Feds? Well, people should add Facebook to that list because they know more about you than you do. X is for X, like, the band Los Angeles legendary punk band, X, are playing their last show ever on New Years Eve in Seattle. All songs from their first two albums, Los Angeles and Wild Gift, will be put to rest. See you there. Z is for Zingers Quote of the year goes to Ryan Reynolds. "Tattoos are the Walmart of rebellion." Heavy, dude. Heavy. Here's to 2011!

Sassy Resurrected?

Monday, November 15th, 2010
Fourteen-year-old, toast of the fashion ball, Tavi Gevinson has consistently written about her love for Sassy--a magazine that was thriving while she was still in diapers--and now she gets to join it. According to Tavi's blog, Style Rookie, founding Editor-in-Chief of Sassy, Jane Pratt, has teamed up with her to start a new version of Sassy. A teen magazine that carries the same politics, but fits the current social landscape. Tavi--whose blog receives millions of hits a day--wrote this about the up-coming project: "Of course, it won't be Sassy (or the rebirth of Sassy, or Sassy 2.0) and nor do we want it to be. For one, you can't try to recreate something that good. For another, while I can read old issues of Sassy and relate, the world has changed a bit in the past 15 or so years, and that whole Internet thing happened, and this world calls for something different. Something that will use Sassy as a point of reference for the whole teen-magazine-that-doesn't-suck thing, and something in which Jane Pratt will take part, but something that is not trying to recreate the other something a bunch of us love and don't want to see copied." In the above video, Tavi is giving a speech about the need for a Sassy comeback at the Idea Conference in Toronto. During her speech, which is littered with charmingly awkward "likes" and "ums," Tavi says teen magazines that "sucked" in the 90's don't necessarily "suck" anymore and that the internet has provided a place where people can network and find their niche. While this may be true, there is something to be said for the way a reader trusts a magazine. Amy Odell of The Cut argued that right now isn't the best time to try to get a print magazine off the ground, however having an uber-famous teenage celebrity involved sure helps. Unlike reading online, when you buy a magazine you trust the content set up for you will be enjoyable. You desire that tailored reading atmosphere. While this still exists online, the opportunity to step out of the "pages" is there. Reading a magazine online is like a Choose Your Own Adventure--when you're done an article you can pick which link you will follow next and this transforms your reading experience. Magazines don't offer that same scattered viewing. One isn't better, they're different, but both necessary, especially when trying to promote feminism, popular culture, fashion and music for young women. Something we work hard at doing on this site. We're curious to see what Jane and Tavi dream up. How do you feel about Tavi and Jane working on a new print magazine? Via: The Cut