Entertainment - Monday, October 20, 2008 3:31 - 3 Comments
Rachel Zoe Is An American Hero
Rachel Zoe is stylishly soulless. Her seven-episode Bravo reality show, The Rachel Zoe Project, which concluded last Tuesday, offers a glimpse into her relentlessly superficial world. A world in which her small frame practically sinks in a coupling of her own making: aggressive work ethic and excessive materialism. But Zoe proves herself to be more than an older Hills co-star; she is an American hero! A bonafide careerist who spared no moral expense in becoming the exact person she wanted to be, pulling it all off in a fur vest with a bedroom-eyed half-smile. Explanation for Zoe as a manifestation of the American Dream, after the jump. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, October 14, 2008 6:28 - 17 Comments
Mumblecore Is A Movement For Boring People
So, the generation that includes our older siblings has finally come up with something creative: mumblecore. The film movement is the voice of the homelier, semi-smart white people squeezed in between Millennials (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and Gen X (Winona Ryder, Douglas Copeland, et al.). The sub-genre is basically founded on a single tenet—everything on screen should be a mirror image of the viewer’s life, given that that viewer is white, 25-29, works a low-paying job, and laden with boring romantic troubles.
Example mumblecore film: Ugh, remember that one time my girlfriend drank that beer even though I asked her not to? We broke up six months later.
Mumblecore’s “greatest” hits are after the jump. Continue…
Entertainment - Friday, October 3, 2008 15:17 - 1 Comment
Gawker Cries Economic Hardship, Cuts Fat
Ugh, as if the world didn’t have enough problems: Gawker Media man Nick Denton (pictured) announced today—via blog post on Gawker, of course—that nineteen beloved bloggers have been cut from their jobs. Denton attributes the raw deal to “the recession.” While an economic blow to the blog industry might seem surprising (like, honestly?), Denton is known to take the finance side of his online empire rather seriously.
Almost notable names resting in internet peace: Moe—until Radar resurrects her, ’cause you know they will. Thus far, Sheila, Richard, and my beloved SlutMachine (of Pot Psychology fame) are safe.
Man, and here I thought blogs were dependable. Good thing I’ve got that Cultural Detritus niche here at NYULocal to justify my pay, right? RIGHT?!
Photo by Flickr user scriptingnews used under the Creative Commons
Entertainment - Monday, September 29, 2008 3:29 - 17 Comments
How Gawker Lost Its Edge
Blogger Emily Gould once mused, over a bold-faced headline, “When isn’t Jimmy Kimmel visibly drunk?” This simple, slanderous inquiry was enough to make Mr. Kimmel inform Gould, on national television, that he would “hate to see [her] arriving in hell and somebody sending a text messaging saying ‘guess who’s here?!’”
These days, it’s tough to imagine a world where Gawker, current media gossip mega-site and “flagship” of the Gawker Empire, had enough chutzpah to really piss people off. Sure, at the apex of its nastiness, the site was often difficult to read without guilt—inspiring cover stories about “The Culture of Bile” and even the wrath of George Clooney, who vowed to send fake sightings to the Gawker Stalker.
When Gould resigned from the site to tend to her karmic existential crisis—the boomerang affect of throwing so many anonymous barbs—even loyal readers let out a sigh of relief. But now that Gawker has been sanitized, the angry underclass has found itself with no outlet. Oh, where have all the bloggers gone? Continue…
Entertainment - Wednesday, September 17, 2008 10:34 - 11 Comments
I Un-Ironically Like Sarah Palin (But Nobody Believes Me)
O.M.G. I’ve got to be kidding, right? Since I’m an NYU student and not visibly retarded, I can’t possibly think that John McCain’s media-hyped veep, Ms. Sarah Palin, the gun-totin’, flag-wavin’ hockey mom, is anything but a joke. Liberals are so quick to write Palin off on the basis of her redneck qualities alone (while also lamenting that real issues aren’t being taken seriously by the media), that they must find it sort of inexplicable that millions of Americans actually don’t hate her.
But such is the case: Palin is really only a joke to isolated placed like New York City, where a domino effect allows residents to convince each other that they’re right. The real issue with New York’s reaction to Sarah Palin’s candidacy doesn’t cement that she’s a bad candidate for vice president, it just shows that somewhat self-righteous New Yorkers are a bit out of touch with the United States and its needs, values, and visions. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:24 - 5 Comments
In Defense of the Blog
Aristotle’s classic how-to-tell-a-story text, Poetics, encourages a great writer to bring a reader to emotional catharsis in a mere three sentences. (Example: Blair’s mom asks her to model the Waldorf clothing line. Blair’s greedy mom tricks Blair’s recently reunited best friend Serena into replacing Blair as the model. Serena realizes what has happened, and the two go shopping and take pictures at The Plaza! Whew, I feel better.) Of course, those three sentences must be fleshed out into a full, preferably hour-long piece of media, but the ever-influential Greeks believed that a clear idea was at the heart of moving people.
Perhaps this is not so different from the modern blog. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, September 9, 2008 14:15 - 1 Comment
‘The New Yorker’ Gets into Bed with Marc Jacobs, Discovers his American Apparel Underwear
There’s nothing an intellectual magazine writer loves more than a Bret Easton Ellis-ian fashion designer. The demigods of Paris make for some of the most over-the-top contemporary profile pieces. But in last week’s New Yorker, a much-e-mailed article about Marc Jacobs’ MySpace-couture lifestyle added little to an already-established paradigm of presenting the larger-than-life persona of fashion designers. Instead, it continued to inflate the ego of one of fashion’s most vulgar personalities. Continue…
Entertainment - Tuesday, September 2, 2008 8:49 - 3 Comments
Open Thread: Gossip Girl Season 2 Premiere
Good morning, Lower East Siders.
Entertainment - Monday, September 1, 2008 22:28 - 5 Comments
What We’re Watching When We’re Watching ‘The Hills’
To first address the most prominent critique of MTV’s highest-rated television show: The Hills is only as surreal as reality. Sure, one-time galpals Lauren “L.C.” Conrad and Heidi “backstabbing, boy-crazy, ‘feminist hero’” Montag didn’t actually meet aspiring rock groupie Audrina Partridge poolside at their condo—MTV producers did. But is this less “real” than how friendships are “organically” formed? Continue…
