The MTV Movie Awards

I loathe the MTV Movie Awards. Maybe just because it's become the Twilight show, or maybe because teenagers annoy the crap out of me. But regardless, I hate them. I don't want to watch Kristen Stewart kiss Robert Pattinson, I don't want to see Justin Bieber think he's really cool, and I really don't want to see unworthy people win silly awards. So no, I didn't watch it this year. But, faithful to the fashion scene, I did follow what everyone was wearing.

I do like the casual, summery feel of this awards show. Short dresses, cute suits, lots of bold, popping colors. Usually there are some truly outrageous ensembles, but I have to say that this year was pretty disappointing. Not as much color (come on people, it's summer!) and there were some severe mistakes and unflattering outfits. One of the worst, Shailene Woodley.

The idea of this outfit is cute, but the execution here is less than stellar. The top looks too big for her and the pants don't seem to fit quite right. Not only that, but it's and awards show. How terribly boring is this look? Black, plain, no jewelry. And who did her hair?! It looks like she had it up, took a nap, rolled out of bed, and didn't fix it. Tsk, tsk, Shailene. You're young and beautiful, dress like it!

Another disappointment was Julianne Hough.

Midriff revealing dresses were tacky when they were cool in the 90s, so they're ten times more tacky now. We know you have the flattest, most tone abdomen ever, Julianne, you don't need to show us on MTV. In this case, the long-sleeved-mini skirt combo doesn't work, not with the texture of the skirt and the ruffle. This dress just doesn't flatter her; the top is so matronly and the gap at the midriff makes her look wider than she is. And her hairstyle isn't helping the cause; it's dull, boring, and too old for her.

But there were some shining fashion moments on the carpet as well. One of my absolute favorites was Emma Watson.

Not only does this dress fit her impeccably, but it's fun, flirty, and trendy. The mix of prints works in her favor, and the skirt design doesn't make her look hippy, which can often be a problem with the flared out section. But the shoes, look at those fabulous shoes! They complement the dress perfectly and give her a huge dash of fierce. She looks trendy, age appropriate, and smoking hot.

But my favorite, surprisingly, was Emma Stone.

Maybe it's not fair because I'm so partial to her, but in all seriousness when has she ever looked bad? No, she's not following my summer color rules (although the pink lips are fierce), but this dress suits her so well that after looking at all of the celebrities, she is the one I remembered. This look is classy, young, and flattering and while I would have picked a more fabulous shoe, she pulls this off flawlessly. Can I borrow your stylist, Emma?


Like I said, I loathe the MTV Movie Awards. But with so few events, I can't be picky about my red carpet scrutinizing. I just hope that the Video Music Awards are less painful and give me more fashion to work with. But I can promise you will never see Justin Bieber on this blog.


---Rachael

Why 'Girls' on HBO is My Latest Obsession

Normally I try not to get involved in too many TV shows. As a writer, I'm pretty critical and I often get very emotionally invested in characters. As a naive and obsessive 13 year old, The OC and One Tree Hill were my favorites (though both were technically forbidden to me at the time by my parents). I worshiped the characters, yearned for the very unrealistic high school experiences depicted, and spent mornings at the bus stop gushing over them with my friends.

More recently, as a much more mature (though not exactly grow up) 21 year old, I try to keep the following-shows-religiously side of myself on a strict diet, and choose to satisfy the various assets of my personality with shows that match. For my nerdy, book-loving, fantasy pleasure it's by far Game of Thrones. For the intellectual, writer-looking-for-perfection-in-drama side, it's Mad Men. My dark and apparently sex-driven side calls for True Blood and for my trashy, 'reality', guilty pleasure side, it's 16 and Pregnant. Yes, I watch many other shows on and off, most of them reality-based or crime dramas, but these have been my very consistent, watch-every-week, obsess-over-slightly shows for the past year.

And then Girls came along.

I was not looking for another TV show. No, my summer isn't exactly busy but there are other things I should be doing, like:

• catching up with this blog
• working on one of my work-in-progress novels
• preparing to move into an apartment next year like an adult
• learning to crochet something other than a scarf
• learning to cook like an adult
• anything that is more productive than watching TV

But, alas, someone told me that I should really watch Girls; four girls living in New York City, broke and awkward, young and ridiculous. It sounded like a more realistic version of Sex and the City and I figured I'd give it a shot, so I marathon-ed six episodes in one sitting with a glass of wine (or two).

I was immediately terrified and enthralled.

The first episode opens with Hannah, an English-degree bearing, unemployed writer whose parents cut her off. This is all too realistic for a college senior with a major that is basically English that plans on being a writer and is, at the time, basically being supported by her parents. Too real too soon.

Hannah is writing a memoir; essentially a collection of essays from her experiences in high school and college She lives with her roommate Marnie, who has a boyfriend named Charlie, and Hannah is have sex with the very strange and rather unappealing Adam (who for some reason never wears a shirt). Hannah and Marnie have remained best friends from their days at Oberlin College and are living the dream of being young in New York City.

Their world, or mostly Marnie's, is rocked by the return of their free-spirited, careless, and promiscuous best friend Jessa, who has apparently been traipsing around Europe. Jessa has returned to live with her younger cousin Shoshanna, a flighty, naive, excited student who thinks Jessa is the trendiest thing she's ever seen.

Awkward is the best word to describe the situations these girls find themselves in, from Marnie's boyfriend making a song out of Hannah's diary, to Hannah watching Adam jerk himself off and then asking for cab money home. But the strangest thing is, this show is relatable. It's so gritty, awkward, funny, cringe-worthy that it feels like real life. 

A lot of this has to do with the characters. Hannah's neurotic personality combined with the lack of a filter between her brain and her mouth can boost your self-esteem one moment (wow, I'm glad that isn't me) to having you feel like you're looking in a mirror (I have done that and I will probably do it again). She has a self-sabotaging quality, from being too forward with a boss to completely screwing up a job interview with an inappropriate rape joke. She's "the voice of our generation, or a generation" or so she claims. Well, she's speaking to me.

Marnie, the most level-headed of the four, takes on the position of being the responsible voice of reason. She's the friend you want to have when you're in a shitty situation, but the friend you don't want to have around when you're PMSing because she's always dressed and put together impeccably. She's not perfect; she's indecisive, slightly judgmental (particularly when it comes to Jessa), and hasn't exactly figured out what she's looking for. Which makes her just like many of us.

Jessa, with her legs that go on for miles, British accent, and ability to pull off any garment she chooses to put on makes her that trendy, hipster fantasy that Shoshanna surely sees. There's a bohemian-like quality to her, but she's crass, careless, and and incredibly self-destructive with behavior like chain-smoking and becoming a bit too close with a married man. It's the carelessness that's both appealing and unappealing; she's had the ability to just pack up and go, do whatever she wants all of the time. But it's made her a crappy friend and in my suspicions, hate herself a bit.

And then there's Shoshanna, who sticks out like a sore thumb amidst her very trendy, hipster counterparts (I hate to throw the word 'hipster' around so often, but I go to Emerson College and that's just what I'm surrounded by). Shoshanna is incredibly feminine, incredibly upbeat, and incredibly self-concious. She compares herself and Jessa to the characters of Sex and the City, loves the romantically set game shows on GSN, and wears a lot of preppy, pink, girly clothing. Yes, she's a bit annoying, a bit naive, and talks a lot, but she's hard to hate. It doesn't seem like there's a bad bone in her body. And her optimism is kind of infectious.

On a personal level, Hannah and Shoshanna are so scarily relatable that at time it makes me want to vomit. Hannah is a writer and she's unemployed, which is the future for myself next year. Not matter what job she falls into, it's not what she wants to do, because she wants to be a writer. We also happen to be the same size. And then there's Shoshanna in her girly clothes and notions about love, who says and is interested in things very similar to what I say and do. Not to mention that she's a virgin, humiliated after telling a guy that she's hooking up with to only have him reject her. Ouch. A fear of mine.

They're four girls in their early twenties living in New York City, doing early twenties things. They make up words (such as 'Crackcident' in this latest episode) they embarrass themselves  in front of men, they analyze communication via various types of mediums like Facebook and texting, and do things they know they will ultimately regret. They are the early twenty-somethings of our generation, and we are a generation that loves watching other people do all of the screwed up things we do. So yes, I'm obsessed. I love commiserating, and judging, and loving these characters. I love the snappy, realistic dialogue and being able to put my friends and I in similar situations. 

Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow, your are the voice of my generation. Or a generation.

---Rachael