"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do." -- some idiot
that moment when you realize someone whose tumblr you like shares both your blog theme and your first name, and you start following each other
[a gif of me looking disappointed in myself, logging out of tumblr, and resuming work on this each-minute-more-past-deadline article]
LA Vampires & Zola Jesus
“Searching”
From LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus
nice one amanda!
(via likeapairofbottlerockets)
thanks to nate o-g for tipping me to this one
Since people I follow posted other people’s photos from copro I thought I’d post mine
Ok, so I broke down and watched Girls. Here are yet one more white man’s thoughts that mean nothing and no one cares about, but I figured I know one dude who would read em (Hi Dave)
…
2. The opening scene is really strong, but I see why it engenders such a visceral…
Ah yes, self righteous and actually too dumb to get the jokes
That must be it!
CLEARLY there is no racism involved, we’re just all a bunch of dumbbutts who don’t understand REAL SMARTPERSON SARCASM
ugh fuck you
I’m not sure if this directed more at Dave (rawkblog) or myself, but if it’s re: my original post: I’m not trying to discount that conversation, and I certainly don’t think people who don’t like the show do so because they’re too dumb to get it or anything. When I talked about how the deadpan subtlety could be misinterpreted, I was referring to my own ambivalence about it at first!
I wrote this in 20 minutes while watching the show on youtube, at work, you know? I never tried to marginalize that discussion. Undoubtedly my own privileged status is a [or the] factor in why my first response to the show wasn’t immediate disgust and turning it off due to it being racist. I watched one 25 minute episode! I haven’t read all the articles or anything, this was quite literally just one person’s gut reaction to a TV show, not some great cultural statement, and I’d appreciate it if we all calmed down a little bit about it. I don’t want to say fuck you! You’re great, I’m sure. That said, upon further reflection, you’re probably right, even if you could have been nicer about it.
This was an email I sent right after writing the post when I realized (yes, on my own) that I hadn’t touched on the total whitewashing of the show:
I’m not sure where to stand on the lack of diversity on the show - on the one hand, yes, it’s all whiteys, BUT the idea that this is some sort of conspiracy only on the part of Girls (as opposed to, you know, an industry-wide problem stemming from deeply rooted structural imbalances in society), and one that needs to be solved right now, by Girls, and by Girls only, well it’s all a bit rich to me. Especially since last time I was in NY I quite literally ended up grabbing a drink with 3 girls I know from college who could very well have been cast for this show. That’s the reality for a segment of the population. The show can’t represent something it isn’t. Perhaps the beef should then be “Girls is a shitty show that shouldn’t even exist at all,” but quite frankly that’s not on Dunham to address. She made the show that she wanted to. A more valid complaint would be to ask HBO why they don’t have any even remotely equivalent shows featuring more non-whiteys. Or to ask that of every network, ever. I guess I feel like people get really mad when asked to appreciate something that is flawed but overall worthwhile - like, WHY ISN’T THIS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT/PERFECT, rather than pushing for a broader sea change. Maybe if Girls does well, there will be more room for lady-centric shows, including ones outside the whitey-sphere.
that said, shit like this is hell of insufferable
Ok, so I broke down and watched Girls. Here are yet one more white man’s thoughts that mean nothing and no one cares about, but I figured I know one dude who would read em (Hi Dave)
1. Oh god, Lena Dunham is so young. She’s actually a year older than I am, but this is the first time I’ve seen “young people” on a TV show who actually felt my age or younger – not just a function of my own [decidedly limited] maturation or whatever, but because most “20-somethings” on TV come across as the coke-inspired daydream of a 37 year old who hasn’t left their neighborhood in 6 years. Because that’s what they are. And they’re usually played by 29 year olds who are on their way to that.
2. The opening scene is really strong, but I see why it engenders such a visceral response, for better or worse.
“And then I am busy trying to become who I am, who you want me to be,” says Dunham in blowing off her parents as retaliation for them cutting her off. So, so petulant.
I see why people might have that grumbling, bile-forming disdain: that’s a hell of an opening scene to take in without context. If you’re not an obsessive internet reader and tumblr person, it’s so deadpan that you could easily think Dunham is being totally earnest here, as opposed to taking the piss out of herself. Of course, maybe she’s being less self-satirizing than I’m giving her credit for because I want to like the show, and it’s actually just awful, but that’s not my impression at first glance.
3. I think a lot of the backlash stems from the money question – i.e., people want to know: How did two professors bankroll two years of NY rent, insurance and cell phone? And I’m assuming 4 years of NYU? Do professors make a lot more money than I realize? Should I be going back to school?
I mean, even I couldn’t help but be a little annoyed - my family probably has somewhere around as much money (maybe one or two notches down the totem pole) as Dunham’s fictional family, but “Move to NY and we’ll pay your rent” wasn’t ever put on the table as feasible option for 6 months, let alone two years. Maybe it’s an only child thing? I was told I could live at home until I figured out how to support myself living where I wanted, and I recognize I am profoundly lucky to have been given the advantages I had, and it worked out pretty alright. But still part of me is all, “Hey, you had this great opportunity, why didn’t you do more??” Of course, I could play that game with my own upbringing until the crippling depression comes home.
And quite frankly, while working for what you have makes you grow up, it certainly in no way will inherently make you a kind, respectful human being or someone who is an amusing subject of a TV show
And of course, if for some reason I had been given the option to live in NY after school on the parents’ dime, damn straight I’d have been there.
4. The neutered nice guy/dickhead-dickmaster dichotomy is both amusing and terrifyingly penetrating for overly self-aware dudes who kind of look like them, mostly because the point is you wouldn’t ever want to be either of them, and the chances are slim as fuck that your reality is the sainted middle path of nice guy who exudes sexual magnetism at the same time.
5. That said, there were plenty of moments where I wanted to shake a character and be like “YOU HAVE SO MUCH GOING FOR YOU. STOP MAKING IT SO HARD. LOOK FOR A JOB BEFORE QUITTING YOUR INTERNSHIP. DON’T QUIT ON ACCIDENT. UGHHH.”
Still, I’ll probably watch the next one. These will keep being on youtube right?
