reviews of some stuff that everyone else saw at least a year ago

I’m taking some sick time right now, but it’s the kind of sick where I can’t really get away with not checking my work email, and, clearly, I’m well enough to blog. There’s a big stack of books next to my bed, but mostly I’ve watched a lot of DVDs.

Cyrus is a fascinating study of nice people with no boundaries. “They’re way too enmeshed” is how AK described the characters. Now that she’s a grad student in psychology, she has all sorts of diagnoses for our pop culture friends (and a few for our real ones…but not you, of course. You are 100 percent well adjusted).

Easy A has an endearing cast and some funny moments, but Emma Stone is just too charming and confident to be believable as a victim of any high school rumor mill. The whole thing has that scrubbed, over-saturated quality of sitcoms; if it were just a little more absurd, it would be like an episode of Glee or Popular, and I’d be down with it, but the movie has just enough nods to realism to draw attention to its overall lack thereof. Also, at what contemporary high school are girls labeled sluts just for losing their virginity? If my casual study of the media is correct, we live in the age of hook-ups, first-date BJs, amateur porn and pregnancy pacts.

As part of my casual study, I’ve been watching Gossip Girl, which would not normally be my cup of tea, but Nicole had the first season on DVD. Usually if I’m going low-brow, I go straight-up Real Housewives. I want to be stunned by the trashiest our culture has to offer, not the second trashiest.

So is the mere existence of a script and actors the reason I’m finding Gossip Girl kind of good? Or is it because it’s at least partially about female friendships, which I always find addictive and underexplored? And even though revealing a villain’s secret hardships is hardly an unused plot device, Gossip Girl does a pretty good job of it. Plus let’s not forget the obvious: Blake Lively is gorgeous (I so appreciated the episode where Blair grows tired of Serena’s constant if well meaning thefts of the spotlight—who hasn’t had that friend?) and the clothes are fabulous.

I’ve been wearing the same Pennekamp School I Heart You T-shirt and gray sweats for two days now (and these are my good sweats, the kind you can go to the doctor in), so maybe it’s no surprise that putting on a drapey mini dress and a headband seems like an absolute dream come true right now.