I could not have discovered this show at a better point in my life. An affable woman in her early 30s with too many degrees and an unsatisfying career has the chance to relive key moments in her life? Sign me up, please.
The good:
- Many of the time travel parts take place in my favorite decade of all time: the 90s! The fashion, the hair, the music… it’s all there. Sometimes it feels like I am watching my own cringe-worthy history played out by better-looking people.
- It’s Canadian! And I have a long and storied history of loving all things Canadian.
- Erin Karpluk is really fun to watch — she often reminds me of Linda Cardellini on Freaks and Geeks.
- It captures what it is like to be an early 30-ish metropolitan woman in a way that no other show I know of does.
The bad:
- With all the time traveling, you really have to suspend your disbelief with the character’s ages. For some reason, I’m okay with it when the characters look too old to be in high school or college (probably because we’re all so used to seeing older people play young on TV) but it is really ridiculous to watch a 20ish-year-old play a 32-year-old. Especially when the 20-year-old in question is known for playing a teenager on a different show. That being said, some of the actors really can play any age — Erica’s sister in particular.
- Some of the characters are super cartoonish, particularly the work ones.
- Erica herself can be a little annoying.
- Dr. Tom and his mystical one-liners drive me up a freaking wall.
- The “what I learned” wrap-ups at the end of each episode can be a little cheesy.
The ugly:
- Scrunchies. Bad bangs. Chokers. Early 00s boy band hair. Need I say more?
Which five celebrities would you bring to a party?
My husband’s list:
- Shaq
- Aziz Ansari
- Andy Richter
- Alec Baldwin
- An Olsen Twin (either one)
This was a very easy exercise for him.
I am arguably much more immersed in celebrity culture and I found this task nearly impossible. Sure, I could have just listed a bunch of my celebrity boyfriends… but it’s a PARTY, so you need party people with fun stories and crazy antics, not just a situation where I stare dreamily at John Hamm for several hours.
I had SUCH a hard time with this list. Everyone I could think of was either a) dead b) fictional or c) long past their prime. (My original choices included all of my feminist rock idols from the early 90s). Here’s who I came up with upon first try:
- Andy Samberg — he is funny and short and cute.
- Anthony Bourdain — he would know exactly where to go for greasy food afterward.
- Chelsea Handler — as long as she wasn’t making fun of ME, I think she would keep the drinks flowing and the party hopping.
- Rachel Maddow — this may be ridiculous, but I have read often that Rachel Maddow is really into preparing classic cocktails. Plus I’d like someone who just seems whip-smart and witty and goofy there to hang out with and discuss current events in an alcohol-fueled haze.
- Justin Timberlake — honestly, I was pretty lukewarm on this choice all along.
Now I’m not sure I am feeling Andy Samberg so much anymore, either. Based on my more recent media consumption, I think I’d like to swap him out for Donald Glover and J. Tim for Carrie Brownstein. This exercise can be pretty insightful — and probably slightly more appropriate than my favorite standby icebreaker, sex/marry/kill!
Filed under celebrity boyfriends celebrity girlfriends
Also, SO MUCH WORD to the brilliant Forever Young Adult commenter who pointed out how much these look like awkward polyamorous engagement photos.
So worth checking out the whole strange thing at Vanity Fair.
What in the world is this? Hunger Games tributes take a break from killing each other in horribly gruesome ways to go shopping at The Gap?
Filed under Hunger Games Movies Books
The obsession with celebrity baby bumps reduces women to their fertility — and causes a whole lot of unnecessary kerfuffle whenever some waify actress decides to partake in half a donut and a beer. Sometimes women become mothers, sometimes they don’t.
The only thing more insulting than the baby bump obsession is the “Pose in a bikini approximately fifteen minutes after giving birth” obsession. Normal people can’t do this. Babies are awesome, but they are also hard work and not just some trendy accessory. Pregnancy is not a status symbol. And sometimes people just get bloated. Sheesh.
I can’t possibly describe how much I relate to this article:
We identify with some of Gen X’s cynicism and suspicion of authority—watching Pee-Wee Herman proclaim, “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel,” will do that to a kid—but we were too young to claim Singles and Reality Bites and Slacker as our own (though that didn’t stop me from buying the soundtracks). And, while the proud alienation of the Gen X worldview doesn’t totally sit right, we certainly don’t yearn for the Organization Man-like conformity that the Millennials seem to crave.
And while I identified with Lindsey Weir (Mathletes notwithstanding) much more than Angela Chase, much of this rings true as well:
So even though the themes of the show are in many ways timeless, today, My So-Called Life also seems like a time capsule, and not just because of the Scrunchies. There’s no texting; Jordan leaves a note for Angela in her locker. There’s also no Facebook or instant-messaging or cyberbullying (just regular old bullying). It was a show that most accurately portrayed my high school experience, minus the dating of Jared Leto, in part because it aired while I was actually in high school.
Claire Danes’ Angela—and Heathers’ Veronica Sawyer and Freaks and Geeks’ Lindsay Weir—also fall into a trope of television and film that’s an especially apt representation of Generation Catalano (or at least those of us who were white and from the suburbs): the girl who doesn’t know where exactly she fits in, because she’s smart (full disclosure: the struggle Lindsay has over whether to stay on the Mathletes hit a little too close to home), wants to be popular, and has to leave her old, dorky friends behind.
I miss the 90s.
Filed under TV My So Called Life Freaks and Geeks
Oh my God. Madonna is 53 years old. YOU GUYS.
Filed under Music Madonna
An oldie but a goodie.
I saw the Ides of March last night, saw Drive last week. Conclusion: even in depressing movies, Ryan Gosling can cure depression.
Filed under Ryan Gosling Movies
