Secrets of the “Girls” Melville House Internship Scene: Revealed

Folks with a fondness for indie presses who watched the first episode of Girls may have had a similar experience as they watched Lena Dunham’s character awkwardly attempting to parlay her internship into a full-time job. Specifically, they may have uttered some variation on the following: “Hey, wait a minute — is she working at Melville House?” From the books on the walls behind her, it looks like that might be the case.

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A Girl On “Girls”: Gatorade and Casting all Stones (S1/E2, “Vagina Panic”)

I went into the second episode of Lena Dunham’s Girls with high hopes.  With a week between the abysmal first episode and this one, I figured I could try and look past some of my issues with the show, and the show would have settled into a more comfortable rhythm.  The opening scene between Hannah and Adam is immediately comedic, with the pair engaging in what looks to be bad sex that is also meant to be degrading, though Hannah […]

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A Guy on “Girls”: Derrick Rose, Geographical Woes, and Birbiglia, Bros! (S1/E2, “Vagina Panic”)

What in the the name of Dolores was going on in that cold opening? Full blown boning from the word go is not a problem. But on what planet is the go-to fantasy of Adam (Adam Driver) to have Hannah (Lena Dunham) role play as an eleven year old crack whore? This is not the Brooklyn I know and love, where the nights are long and the truffle oil flows like wine. Look: I’m not here to tell people what’s […]

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A Guy on “Girls”

Full disclosure: I watched “Pilot” through questionable, illegal means. But voluntarily writing a blog review of a show on a network I don’t have because I don’t own a TV or access to the network’s subscription service feels like both a fun challenge and connective tissue to Girls‘ lead character of Hannah (Lena Dunham), the broke, unpaid intern who’s still convinced that her viewpoint matters. “I’m busy, trying to become who I am” is Hannah’s blowoff to her folks after they […]

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A Girl on “Girls”

Before I start reviewing Girls, I have to express my disappointment in Lena Dunham’s casting decisions.  Plenty has been said about how startlingly white the actors are, but that doesn’t excuse the rest of us from continuing to discuss what is a blatantly irresponsible creative choice.  Tiny Furniture, Dunham’s breakout indie film, showed audiences that Dunham is familiar enough with gender theory. Each flash of cellulite and glimpse of adult acne was meant to subvert expectations of what a privileged […]

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Afternoon Bites: Guggenheim Fellows, Rebecca Gates Returns, Colson Whitehead & The Fall, And More

Would you like a recap of Jarvis Cocker’s best stage banter from Radio City Music Hall? Well then, here you are. …that’s “Guggenheim Fellow John Wray” to you. (Also, congratulations to Lydia Millet, Gayle Wald, and Donald Ray Pollock, among many others.) More details have emerged on Wastelanders, the upcoming collaboration between Joss Whedon and Warren Ellis. Alan Sepinwall has some thoughts on Lena Dunham’s Girls. Looks like Colson Whitehead is a fan of The Fall. Hey, look! It’s an […]

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Afternoon Bites: Gail O’Hara On Twee, Francisco Goldman On Chile, Kraftwerk At MoMA, And More

As the zine that she started celebrates its twentieth anniversary with shows in Washington and Brooklyn, Chickfactor‘s Gail O’Hara talks twee with Michaelangelo Matos. The name says it all: James Joyce or Kool Keith? Francisco Goldman’s article on political revolutionaries in Chile is a pretty terrific piece of journalism. Edward Champion interviewing Steve Erickson? We will listen to that. Andrew Leland has the details on a new book on the Oulipo that sounds promising. Lena Dunham chats with her best […]

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History is Made at Night: Whit Stillman, Lena Dunham, and Chris Eigeman at BAM’s “The Last Days of Disco” Screening

Last Thursday night I saw something rare and rich: movie stars not only living up to who you want them to be in person, but behaving the way they do in their best films. Whit Stillman and Chris Eigeman share a rapport that is not only delightful, but feels true to the words that Stillman has been writing for Eigeman’s roles in his movies for over twenty years. As the two bantered back and forth with a kind of artful, […]

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