Downtown at the University, Dan Humphrey is back to being a general idiot, not knowing anything about Enchanted Knights or the movie-star he just happens to meet seconds after admitting ignorance of her existence.
Episode four of this season signals a return to the Gossip Girl we’ve been missing since last season: a world where New York City is a small place where your family and friends are always trying to screw you over.
Now we’re waiting for the institution of NYU to start screwing our characters over, because that’s what the bureaucracy of John Sexton does.
Blair, Serena, Jenny, and Dan all got reminders of who they really are in the great scheme of things last night, so let’s see what NYU really is, shall we? Let’s go!
Season 3, Episode 4: “Dan de Fluerette”
Aired: 10/05/09
We Went To NYU: 2003-2007
On Gossip Girl:
One week seems to have had a drastic difference on the Ehrlich Residence Hall interior. The walls are a sickly maroon and posters are nearing wallpaper status. Above, this week’s Blair-in-her-hallway shot, below: last week's.
At NYU:
As far as we can remember, the only thing that ever changed about the halls our freshman year were the RA-made posters by the elevators (and where are the elevators, BTW? Blair Waldorf does not use the stairs!), and even those had a low probability of sticking around. Changes in dorms usually don’t happen without a long renovation period and they certainly don’t happen during the first weeks of school. Take the Weinstein Residence Hall renovation of 2004 that had to be shut down because paint fumes were asphyxiating students. No way all the hallways of the dorm were painted. Unless Vanessa did it and huffed out some brain cells while everyone else was out partying. We'd believe that.
The rest after the jump!
On Gossip Girl:
A montage of actually NYU locations from Washington Square Park West to Washington Square Park South includes another shot of the “Bursar’s Office.”
At NYU:
In case you missed last week’s post, this building is NOT part of the NYU campus that we can tell. Most NYU buildings in the campus area have NYU flags which have been strangely absent from Gossip Girl’s exteriors. Is NYU not kosher with the Gossips invading or are they trying to avoid a Felicity-like rush on admissions?
Da7e: Now this is bugging me. The address is 51 and the building is MOST CERTAINLY called Quinn and has a Bursar’s Office in it, it’s just not a NYU building, right? Where is this shit?
Muse: I seem to remember some business about how NYU has insanely strict filming policies. Though In Good Company got away with exteriors, why can't Gossip Girl? Sidenote: In Good Company is also guilty of getting the interior of NYU dorms completely wrong. And since the film was telling us ScarJo lived in Hayden aka my Freshman year dorm, I was EXTRA peeved. At least the only dorm GG is making look bad is a fake one (though yes, based on Ruben.)
On Gossip Girl:
Blair finds the Masters of the Universe club at the local coffee shop thinking they are Wall Street wannabes.
At NYU:
First off, us geeks don’t really hang out in the cool coffee shops to have our meetings. Take this above example. This is one of a series of Flickr images of the NYU Sci-Fi club realizing one of their male members can fit inside a shopping bag. THAT’s the NYU geek clubs we remember.
Da7e: While looking up what it actually takes to form a club (much of it including needless bureaucracy, which means geeks would totally get their shit together and make clubs out their asses) turned up some hilarious NYU typos. Observe:
“he Student Senators Council and their standing committees, the University Committee on Student Life and their standing committees, the Inter-Greek Council and their member councils, the Inter-Residence Hall Council and their hall councils, the Program Board, the school student councils, the school clubs and the All-Square clubs are eligible to register with the Center for Student Activities, Leadership and Service.” [D: The has a “t” in it]Muse: I have an idea. Hey Gossip Girl, HERE'S A PICTURE OF AN NYU GEEK.
“School student councils most recognize school clubs wanting to register with Student Activities.” [D: Most = must, right?]
Now go suck it.
On Gossip Girl:
Dan and “Kate” (Hilary Duff’s Olvia) walk down the street.
At NYU:
Shit. Let’s get into the Olsens. At this point, we have to.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were the celebrities of the moment when they decided to attend NYU. There were sightings, sure, and Ashley’s first day of classes she wandered into the wrong one, possibly to capture the “real college experience” that celebrities seem to think they can have. Mary-Kate and Ashley lived in a building on the west side, about a block-and-a-half away from NYU’s Greenwich Hotel dorm. After less than a year, the Olsens called it quits, Mary-Kate was the first to go, and on campus rumors actually had Ashley studying well. But, when you’re famous you give up some things, like a “normal” college education.
The above picture is from this year when Robert Pattinson tried to film on the NYU campus, mere blocks from where Dan and Olivia are casually strolling. Pattinson’s the famous star of a vampire romance series, so is Duff’s Olivia. Yet in real life, the rabid fans always know where you are.
Da7e: When I lived at Greenwich Hotel, we’d lean out the windows with binoculars to catch a glimpse inside the Olsen apartment – they kept their blinds closed. What’s even more unrealistic is that Duff’s Olivia would be walking down the street on campus. The Olsens were shuttled from their apartment to University buildings via black suburbans with tinted windows. They would literally pull up and an Olsen would RUN into the building. No joke.
Muse: Seriously. If GG is trying to claim that Olivia has K-Stew/R-Patz fame status, they need to work a liiiitle bit harder. I don't care how many hats the cast of Twilight might wear when they go out, everyone on the streets on NY would still know who they were. I liked that Dan mentioned people were staring at her, but that's not enough. MK Olsen was in my room constantly for a two week period Freshman Year because just about every two weeks, the general student body figured out whose room she was hanging in & started stalking her. As soon as GG's NYU student body figures out where Olivia is living, everyone in the school is gonna be signing into Hayden and hanging out on her floor. Or at least, that's what would be accurate. We'll see what happens.
On Gossip Girl:
Chuck and Blair seem to think that boys at NYU wear sandals.
At NYU:
Yeah. They got us there. In the case of one of Da7e’s old roommates (above), even right down to the tie-die. Though Crocs is where the real douchebaggery lies.
On Gossip Girl:
Olivia’s publicist gives non-disclosure waivers to everyone on Oliva/Vanessa/Blair’s floor.
At NYU:
Actually not that far off. Star Magazine offered big money for students who would snap photos of one of the Olsen Twins actually studying, then NYU countered by telling students that they shouldn’t take pictures of other students to sell to tabloids but should really make their payments to the school on time, fuck you very much.
When the Olsens finally left NYU, Mary-Kate claimed that students had sold her personal life for…school credit?
Mary-Kate said she left because "she didn't feel safe" and was "freaked out by the kids who were selling anecdotes to tabloids, in some cases even getting school credit for it," according to New York Magazine.Da7e: Selling the Olsen’s secrets for credit couldn’t have been easier than my Socialist Theory class. No papers, one grade. MUCH easier than tailing a celebrity for a day with my camera phone. Oh, and WTF is a celebrity doing in the dorms?
In the end, she did not want to deal with the academic pressure. "[The less stressful life] is what makes me happy, you know?" she said. "Like, [school] papers don't really make me happy."
Muse: You had a class with no papers?! Why wasn't I in that class?! Blast it! Hey, I wonder if Haley Joel Osment & Mara Wilson stayed in the dorms.
On Gossip Girl:
Blair starts her own “club” with a vaguely Asian girl and the Amanda Peet twins.
At NYU:
Good thing Blair moves in groups of three, seeing as how that’s the maximum number of guests allowed in your drom room per roommate. And with Georgina gone, she’s at her max.
Muse: I also don't think NYU club meetings are allowed to be held in dorm rooms, are they? Every meeting I ever almost went to (I wasn't big on school-sponsored activities) was happening in a public place. Isn't saying "Meet in my dorm room" code for "Let's all have sex! It's technically an NYU club, so they pay for our condoms!" Just found a tad bizarre is all.
Final Thoughts On “Dan de Fluerette:”
Da7e: It’s nice to see Gossip Girl get back to their backstabbing and double-teaming (is that the right phrase? Let’s say yes), even if they have to depart from hilarious NYU for awhile. I’m still looking forward to some mention of NYU specific schools or majors (because who doesn’t want to nit-pick that or make fun of some Stern business students?) and – of course – the dining hall. But, I’m guessing I’ll have to wait until Rufus breaks his waffle-making hands first.
Muse: Although it must be mentioned - while this week seemed to mark a return to awesome for GG, it also marked an extremely poor judgement call in the form of Tyra Banks not only guest starring, but guest starring as someone other than herself. If I want to watch Tyra Banks act, I'll put on some old episodes of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. But I never want to see her act, so I won't ever do that. See what I'm saying? Absolutely anyone else could have played that part and I would have enjoyed it. But Tyra Banks?! Really?! Also, between Serena & Melrose Place's Ella, being a personal publicist is suddenly a totally sexy Hollywood job. When the eff did that happen?
Cross Posted at My Inconvenient Life
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