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[Tim the Wiz]

What's this? I'm only aware of him falsifying and exaggerating his life for that memoir.

Frey targets desperate MFA students to write YA books under his publishing company with $250-advance, no ownership rights or name credit contracts where production and marketing costs come out of their share of profits. To be fair, it's not a new tactic - publishing factories and ghostwriting have been around for centuries - and he's hardly the only "publisher" out there preying on new writers as cheap outsourced labour. Even Random House tried introducing similar contracts with their YA/genre e-book imprints this year - with name credit, but zero advance - except the outrage shamed them into improving their terms.

But it looks like the guy hassling Hannah for her e-book is an editor at a lit magazine wanting to establish an imprint through their website. So, it makes sense they'd be tight with money and threaten to sue given how many lit mags go belly up these days.

 

[kingocfs]

If I'm feeling real charitable, I could maybe argue that this finale wants us to see the 'hidden reverse' of the romantic pairings, and how self-destructive or parasitic they are, but even that feels off considering some episodes are very overtly exploring those issues. I'm not sure you can have it both ways. It starts feeling like Girls is a faux-intellectual exercise in saying everything and nothing at once, and letting the very existence of external conversations about the show give it meaning.

Well, nobody is really saying that it's well written. I don't think it's much of a stretch to read into that last scene as being Hannah's sad, cheap way out of her poorly sold downward spiral.

 

[Dan]

http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/69474/

Frey targets desperate MFA students to write YA books under his publishing company with $250-advance, no ownership rights or name credit contracts where production and marketing costs come out of their share of profits. To be fair, it's not a new tactic - publishing factories and ghostwriting have been around for centuries - and he's hardly the only "publisher" out there preying on new writers as cheap outsourced labour. Even Random House tried introducing similar contracts with their YA/genre e-book imprints this year - with name credit, but zero advance - except the outrage shamed them into improving their terms.

Ugh. What a sleazeball. I like how he talks a big game about literature and then reveals himself to be a slimy capitalist exploiter. It's sad that the schemes have been gaining traction in a lot of different industries, particularly in entertainment.

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Times on the finale
- Yahoo on last night's episode
- 20+ minutes of Girls S2 discussion with Ryan McGee & Myles McNutt on the Ryan & Ryan podcast this week

 

[LordCanti]

Someone needs to replace the music played while Adam is running with the theme from Chariots of Fire. If I weren't watching this show for schadenfreude, I'd probably be legitimately upset that the solution (no matter how short term) to her out of the blue mental state was a shirtless glistening Adam running half way across New York to save the maiden fair foul.

Marnie and Shosh's endings were pretty much as expected. If I were Charlie I couldn't have said no to Marnie either, even if she refuses to disrobe during sex. Poor Ray got short shrift from Shosh, but at least he's moving up in his career.

 

[PhoenixSFT]

Someone needs to replace the music played while Adam is running with the theme from Chariots of Fire. If I weren't watching this show for schadenfreude, I'd probably be legitimately upset that the solution (no matter how short term) to her out of the blue mental state was a shirtless glistening Adam running half way across New York to save the maiden fair foul.

Marnie and Shosh's endings were pretty much as expected. If I were Charlie I couldn't have said no to Marnie either, even if she refuses to disrobe during sex. Poor Ray got short shrift from Shosh, but at least he's moving up in his career.

Damn, if I was Charlie, I would have turned Marnie down. Seriously, they're "old fogeys"? They're like, 24. Get out a live a little. Charlie has a great career, and Marnie is lost without anyone to attach to. I like that Hannah's pretty much become the series antagonist. It's a shame about Ray though, he's my favorite character.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Damn, if I was Charlie, I would have turned Marnie down. Seriously, they're "old fogeys"? They're like, 24. Get out a live a little. Charlie has a great career, and Marnie is lost without anyone to attach to. I like that Hannah's pretty much become the series antagonist. It's a shame about Ray though, he's my favorite character.

I see what you did there.

 

[inm8num2]

I see what you did there.

I don't. What did he do?

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I don't. What did he do?

It's a shame about Ray

The title of episode 4.

 

[inm8num2]

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/03/19/girls-changes-the-game-for-indie-film/

This will be interesting.

 

[The Elite]

Anyway, this was the only enjoyable part of the entire episode......

because it's spot on about how ridiculously irritating Hannah has become.

I appreciate that the characters outside this group actually point out how ridiculous these people actually are.

During the first season this show was billed by a lot of critics as a more realistic version of Sex and the City. Throughout the second season it's proven itself to be anything but. These girls, and the guys around them, yes, even Ray, are a sorry bunch of mentally and emotionally damaged wannabe socialites who are lost in the abyss between adolescents and adulthood. Many of us have been in similar situations but Hannah and her gang are way off the deep end. The dial on their social ineptitude and self absorbed state of mind is turned up all the way to eleven. That's created a disconnect for some of the audience that was willing to accept their quirky, but cute, antics from the first season. Not to mention the absolutely needless OCD story tacked on to Hannah's growing number of social disorders. Give it a rest already.

 

[Rookje]

Has Matt Weiner given his opinion on Girls yet? Really curious on that one.

 

[The Elite]

Has Matt Weiner given his opinion on Girls yet? Really curious on that one.

Christ, I was just thinking the same thing.

 

[Cornballer]

Has Matt Weiner given his opinion on Girls yet? Really curious on that one.

Not that I've seen. He's pretty close lipped in general.

Any particular reason you guys are interested in his opinion on the show?

 

[Rookje]

Not that I've seen. He's pretty close lipped in general.

Any particular reason you guys are interested in his opinion on the show?

Probably because it gets compared in quality/impact to Mad Men and Sopranos a lot. I respect Weiner's opinion more than any other TV writer, so it'd be interesting to see how he'd react to that.

 

[giga]

I appreciate that the characters outside this group actually point out how ridiculous these people actually are.

During the first season this show was billed by a lot of critics as a more realistic version of Sex and the City. Throughout the second season it's proven itself to be anything but. These girls, and the guys around them, yes, even Ray, are a sorry bunch of mentally and emotionally damaged wannabe socialites who are lost in the abyss between adolescents and adulthood. Many of us have been in similar situations but Hannah and her gang are way off the deep end. The dial on their social ineptitude and self absorbed state of mind is turned up all the way to eleven. That's created a disconnect for some of the audience that was willing to accept their quirky, but cute, antics from the first season. Not to mention the absolutely needless OCD story tacked on to Hannah's growing number of social disorders. Give it a rest already.

Fitting description for my views right now. +1

 

[RatskyWatsky]

During the first season this show was billed by a lot of critics as a more realistic version of Sex and the City. Throughout the second season it's proven itself to be anything but. These girls, and the guys around them, yes, even Ray, are a sorry bunch of mentally and emotionally damaged wannabe socialites who are lost in the abyss between adolescents and adulthood. Many of us have been in similar situations but Hannah and her gang are way off the deep end. The dial on their social ineptitude and self absorbed state of mind is turned up all the way to eleven. That's created a disconnect for some of the audience that was willing to accept their quirky, but cute, antics from the first season. Not to mention the absolutely needless OCD story tacked on to Hannah's growing number of social disorders. Give it a rest already.

Did you read Salon's review of the season finale? I didn't agree with everything in the article, but I nevertheless thought that it was a pretty good read. Some quotes:

The initial episodes of “Girls” presented the experience of regular, flawed, affluent chicks, a subject some people adored, and some people hated. A paraphrase of the complaint: Who wants to watch these unlikable, spoiled girls screw and flibbertigibbet around the outer boroughs, like that’s something intrinsically interesting?

This season, Dunham addressed this complaint by ratcheting up: You think Hannah and her friends were unlikable and spoiled before? But in doing so, inadvertently, she gave in: Regular girls may be interesting enough to be the subject of a TV show all their own, but they’re not the subject of “Girls” anymore.

This season “Girls” made itself over into the type of story our culture is comfortable seeing 20-something women appear in — the catastrophe memoir. A series that began by chronicling, so exactly, a type of regular, lived experience, became a show chronicling an irregular, heightened experience, the breakdown of Hannah Horvath (even if the OCD story derives from Dunham’s own experience). The narrative of the 20-something woman with a mental illness (or a drug problem) is one of the few that we intrinsically understand to serve a “function,” to have a “right” to exist, to be the sort of story that is not dismissible as narcissistic or gross or vapid.

In its second season, “Girls” became more painful and searing, punchy and merciless, but it also became less radical, looking away from standard-issue 24-year-old chicks to focus on disturbed ones.

 

[GQman2121]

Probably because it gets compared in quality/impact to Mad Men and Sopranos a lot. I respect Weiner's opinion more than any other TV writer, so it'd be interesting to see how he'd react to that.

But seriously, who the fuck would ever (EVER) make that comparison?

 

[MG310]

That face and crying..the only two things Marnie does.

 

[inm8num2]

That face and crying..the only two things Marnie does.

She also covers up her womanly parts in very creative and awkward ways.

(I'm not someone who thinks she should be nude, but it was funny how in the premiere she pulled the shirt over her chest. Who does that?)

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Mag: Colin Quinn on Girls, Lena Dunham, and Croissant-Shaped Purses

EDIT:
- Alyssa Rosenberg: ‘Girls’ And The Challenges Of Depicting Good Sex

 

[trab pu kcip]

That face and crying..the only two things Marnie does.

yes! I hate marnie! jessa was like the only cool and entertaining one, and she's gone ;_;

 

[hateradio]

The season was disappointing. Maybe it's because they shot it so soon after the first one, but something felt off and rushed.

 

[maharg]

The season was disappointing. Maybe it's because they shot it so soon after the first one, but something felt off and rushed.

I do wonder how many of the problems are related to that. I kind of suspect the finale was intended to potentially act as a series finale, which would explain the ambiguity of the hero's run/wtf they are awful for each other thing.

 

[Rookje]

Lena when she was a kid, lol! She looks the same.

 

[giga]

They're making it really hard for me to give a shit about their insignificant problems. Some of it was relatable in S1, but the extreme nature of it in S2 has left a bad taste. Just feels overdone.

 

[Bossun]

Talk about over dramatization...
That what my idea of spoilt kid not wanting to be adult because that would mean no more "help" from their parents was..

 

[maharg]

Talk about over dramatization...
That what my idea of spoilt kid not wanting to be adult because that would mean no more "help" from their parents was..

that's...

the point...

 

[Four_Chamber]

This second season wasn't as good as the first but was still pretty enjoyable. The Staten Island visit was absolutely hilarious.

 

[Dave Meltzer]

Some people seem to be totally incapable of understanding the idea you're not supposed to think every character on a tv show is in the right and acting in a mature, adult way.

 

[Fry]

Kind of liked the finale. Will keep watching.

Hannah's become insufferable though.

 

[xenist]

that's...

the point...

Shhh...

Don't bother. Save up your fortitude for season 3.

 

[Cornballer]

- HBO Watch: Judd Apatow Confirms a 12 Episode Season 3

 

[Messi]

Kind of liked the finale. Will keep watching.

Hannah's become insufferable though.

Is that not the point? she is immature and spoiled. She makes horrible decisions and then blames others when it blows up in her face

 

[dbztrk]

- HBO Watch: Judd Apatow Confirms a 12 Episode Season 3

Why would HBO approve such a thing. Lena and Judd can barely craft a storyline with 10 episodes. What do you think will happen with 12? I guess they can do a Hannah centered episodes where she farts under the covers and smells her stench.

 

[Macmanus]

Some people seem to be totally incapable of understanding the idea you're not supposed to think every character on a tv show is in the right and acting in a mature, adult way.

Do you think that's what is turning people off? For me that was actually the exact appeal of the show. At least in season 1.

 

[Bossun]

that's...

the point...

Never said it wasn't.
I just hate these characters that's all.
They are all I hate in a person.
Though I think it's a bit too much sometimes and the show kind of lose its realistic feature.

 

[Dave Meltzer]

Do you think that's what is turning people off? For me that was actually the exact appeal of the show. At least in season 1.

Maybe. I mean, there's a fine line. I don't think people are wrong if they don't enjoy the show because they don't like the way the characters act, but some people act like its poor writing rather than just effective writing that they happen to dislike.

Personally I like Hannah because she's a mess and kind of annoying. I find that infinitely more interesting than if she was always in the right and anything bad that happened to her was unfair.

 

[Messi]

This season made me dislike everyone except Ray. I was legit happy for him at the end of the season. Sure he said he wanted a new life and 30 seconds later had accepted a higher up position in the same company. But I feel like he was trying to convince himself he had to go to college again in order to maybe win back sosh (why bother, honestly). But he would be good as a manager I think.

I was fine with Adam until he went back to the rape fantasy shit and "saving" hannah.

I did think it was amazing how they had Jessa fuck off and not come back. I was expecting her to come back in the finale. I know she was pregnant in RL but it was still funny to me. I enjoyed Hannah leaving the voice message for Jessa.

 

[Wickerman]

Christopher Abbott — who plays Allison Williams’ boyfriend Charlie on Lena Dunham’s HBO series “Girls” — has abruptly left the show, we’ve exclusively learned. The move comes just as his character seemed to be gaining prominence, with Charlie (a k a the cutest guy on the show) reconciling with Williams’ character, Marnie. But sources told Page Six that Abbott and Dunham began butting heads as the critical-darling series entered production again. “They’ve just started work on Season 3, and Chris is at odds with Lena,” a source said. “He didn’t like the direction things are going in, which seems a bit odd since the show put him on the map.” Abbott’s rep confirmed his departure, telling us: “[Chris] is grateful for the experience of collaborating with Lena, Judd [Apatow], and the entire ‘Girls’ cast and crew, but right now he’s working on numerous other projects and has decided not to return to the show.” Abbott appeared in indie movie “Burma” at SXSW last month. And Dunham’s shaken up the writing staff for the new season.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/cutest_boy_leaving_girls_0IrrLAkGdxV4Nqu1N1JxMI

 

[BertramCooper]

Good for him.

 

[Cornballer]

Huh. That's a bit of a surprise.

 

[i_am_ben]

He'll land on his feet. I've actually been surprised to see him pop up in a few other places. I don't think he needs the show.

 

[sixteen-bit]

On the plus side, there is a leaked shiri appleby cellphone pic where you can see more of her bod than you saw in any ep of Girls.

SHIRI, OPERATE!

 

[dead souls]

Good for him.

Yep. I can't imagine most of the cast is happy with how they're being utilized on the show.

 

[Divius]

Maybe he and the dude who plays Adam should star in netflix´BOYS

 

[BertramCooper]

It would be hilarious to see a Downton-style mass exodus.

Not going to happen, but one can dream.

 

[dave is ok]

Charlie recognizes a sinking ship

 

[Rookje]

Sad to lose him. Curious to hear what he wanted changed.

What are the writing changes Lena is doing?

 

[Cornballer]

- NY Mag takes a crack at writing Charlie off the show

Let's gaze into Vulture's crystal ball and think about the ways Girls might kill off — or just write off, womp womp — Marnie's sad, sad paramour.

Suffocated by Marnie's neediness.
Suffocated by too-tight jeans.
Suffocated by turtleneck.
His weird cubby bed collapsed, killing him.
His weird cubby bed became very popular on Apartment Therapy and he moved to Portland.
Bikes off bridge.
Bikes to Portland.
Explosion at app office.
App so popular Charlie gets crushed to death at SXSW.
Death by oversquinting.
Headband girlfriend poisoned him with artisanal mustard.
Broke both thumbs while trying to snap suspenders, had to move back in with his parents to recover.
Remember his band? They went on tour. Ha-ha.
He decided to go to graduate school. Ha-ha.
Beard infection.
Moped to death with Ray.
The siren song of Oberlin called him back to Ohio.