Well now I'd like to introduce you to Meestavilland, introduced to me by Captain Blood. My dad's been saying for years that Leighton Meester has a classic 20s/40s face. Halfway through watching Captain Blood yesterday, I finally asked who Olivia De Havilland was reminding me of and when my dad said Leighton Meester, the world suddenly made sense, you guys.
These photos are the best I could do. But really, just watch Captain Blood and be amazed. Both as Meestavilland and the fact that it's a great movie and that if it was remade, Fassbenlivier could probably pull of the Errol Flynn role maybe. Maybe?!!?!?!?!! Mmm. Fassbenlivier. Nomnomnom.
Just trust me, okay?
Maybe this will help? She comes in around the 2 minute mark, but you should watch the whole trailer cause it's classic and badass.
Bet you thought you could escape criticism by cramming a whole bunch of NYU fact-checking into this week’s episode, didn’t you, Gossip Girl? This week saw the first inclusions of NYU’s Theater lifestyle, right down to rampant Lady GaGa references. Dan is even looking towards applying to Tisch soon, locking him into the College of Arts and Sciences’ General Studies program.
Sadly, that didn’t wholly distract us from Jenny and Serena both painfully limping through their obvious and repeated plotlines. Serena is like a bitch in heat, unable to keep her sex inside her shoulder-pad dress and Jenny seems to have completely forgotten her time as a High School dropout, when her bad decision making lead her business partner to burning Jenny’s fashion line in a curbside trash can.
Not to mention all the conservative backlash that DIDN’T ACTUALLY HAPPEN when last week’s “threesome” went down was head-faked from this episode where we not only got to see the consequences of not including a stranger as your third sex wheel, but also we peeped more flashbacks to the dirty deed itself.
Oh, and Lady GaGa’s brief and shoddily-edited cameo might have been the most tolerable part of the episode. Did we mention we have an exclusive GaGa video? Yeah. we thought you’d like that.
This week, Muse and Da7e have reached out to another NYU alumni: Sarah. All three of us attended Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, both ladies in a theater conservatory and the penis holding down the written word at Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing. In that sense, we feel we’re all qualified.
But, let’s get down to what we’re here to do, shall we?
Season 3, Episode 10: The Last Days Of Disco Stick Aired: 11/16/09 We Went To NYU: 2003-2007
On Gossip Girl:
Blair wants to increase the size of her student army by recruiting the theater kids. She meets them all at The Bleeker, where they reject her because her stepfather Cyrus isn’t famous enough.
At NYU:
First off: It’s nice to finally get a whiff of the real multi-school drama that lives in New York University. You know how these days, post college, you ask what someone does for a living, then lightly judge them based on that? Yeah, at NYU it was the schools. Tisch kids are arty, and within the arty-ness there are different theater conservatories that makes up the drama program. Each conservatory has its own reputation for a certain type of behavior.
Though we’d love to tell you that NYU makes a list of its conservatories and reputations readily available, we suggest you try navigating Tisch’s website before you judge us for using Wikipedia as a jumping off point.
Undergrad drama students are placed in one of eight conservatories, each specializing in something different:
Stella Adler Conservatory (Focuses on Stella Adler's Technique and spirit of acting)
Atlantic Theater Company (Focuses on David Mamet's "Practical Aesthetics" acting technique)
Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21, focuses on musical theatre)
Experimental Theatre Wing (Focuses on avant garde theatre through an exploration of varied techniques)
The Meisner Extension (Focuses on Sanford Meisner's version of Stanislavsky's System)
Playwrights Horizons Theater School (Focuses on a range of theatrical careers including acting, directing, and design.)
Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute (Focuses on Lee Strasberg's "Method" style of acting)
Technical Production Track (Focuses primarily on design, but also features theatre management)
A student from the Experimental Theater Wing (ETW for short) would be more likely to get naked and take drugs than someone from CAP (Collaborative Arts Project 21), who will be more likely to make you learn the whole soundtrack to Wicked so they had someone to sing with. Got the basic jist?
Point being, Gossip Girl is not interested in compartmentalizing their stereotypes when it comes to NYU’s famous Art school. We get one type of Tischy: The pompus sycophant that thinks they are better than everyone else. We’ll just assume we’re looking at CAP kids, because – really – who else has a rotating cabaret run by a closeted dude who loves Lady GaGa?
Though that same character, if he were real, would not be making the Gaga Ahmadinejad joke. As a matter of fact, we don’t think anyone is that much of a dick, not even real CAP kids.
Sarah:These kids totally don't ring of CAP to me, either. First of all, CAP has time for no one but themselves, and they DO NOT share musical moments with non-CAPers. And no one in Tisch is this blatantly obvious about who their parents are. No one.
Muse:I still vote CAP but mostly because I feel guilty insulting any other studio.
Sarah:Also, can we talk about what these "Tisch kids" are wearing? To quote SNL....really!?! Where are the leggings? The sweatpants? The layers? The incredibly cultivated grungy look? No one in Tisch ever looks this clean.
The rest after the jump! On Gossip Girl:
“We all know who my father is. This is Willa Weinstein.”
AT NYU:
Who is Paul Hoffman's father? We're assuming Willa Weinstein is somehow related to whomever Weinstein Residence Hall is named after, not the producers, right? Right?
Sarah: I can count on one hand how many moguls and movie star's kids went to Tisch. Because usually the sons of daughters of movie stars and moguls don't go to college, gossip girl--they stay in LA, party their faces off, and use their connections to get cast in films. Duh. BUT this episode does raise an interesting question about Tisch--how many students are overprivileged, self-important assholes, and how many are actually cool and talented? The former definitely exist (like the girl, who shall remain nameless, who got her jaw broken during sex) but uh...the majority of the kids I knew were/are talented, and on some sort of aid--or just owe Tisch insane amounts of money. Like me.
Muse: Tisch kids aren't ALL the sons & daughters of important/famous/industry people, hai exaggeration. Only the ones from LA had parents that remotely fit that category and I can still barely think of any. The only "my dad's famous" NYU students I can think of from our era are Sting's son & the daughter of the bassist for AC/DC. Not exactly "Willa Weinstein" territory.
Da7e:I'm going to go off the reservation here and make a way-out-there connection. Ready? I propose that Willa is supposed to be one of the Weinstein's kids but her first name is actually a hint about who Paul's father is (Weinstein daughters, in case you care: Lily, Emma, Sarah and Nicole). Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who I know lives in NYC because he locked his bike on one of my exterior sets where I was shooting, is in a relationship with costume designer Mimi O'Donnell. They have a son, Cooper Alexander, and two daughters, Tallulah and... Willa. Mystery solved? Is this show calling Cooper Hoffman gay?
Muse:That's really awkward, Gossip Girl. Cooper Hoffman is like, five.
Sarah: What does ring true here is how small and incestous Tisch is. And maybe this is just the acting department, but I knew everyone in my year, and a good number of people older and younger than me--some just by name, and some were my best friends, but still. It's also the kind of school where everyone knows everything, instantly. Like that girl who got her jaw broken while having sex. Or who just came out. Or who's sleeping with an acting teacher. And yes--we do talk that much shit--but no one in Tisch dresses like these kids. Ever.
Muse: I have a new theory that every single person from our Tisch class knows that broken-jaw-during-sex story. It's THE urban legend of Tisch c/o '07.Except it's true.
Da7e: W.T.F is this jaw thing? Jesus! I see why Dan had such a problem with his threesome, you talkative, cryptic actresses who won't sleep with me.
On Gossip Girl:
“If I wanna act, I can do it here at NYU with the best theater department in the country.” – Olivia.
Sarah: Undergrad? Really? Better than Julliard? There is no such thing as this, it changes every year depending on who's heading the department and who's IN the department, etc.
On Gossip Girl:
Instead of an establishing exterior of the fictional Ehrlich Residence Hall, we get a shot of One University Place. And SPOTTED: Our first NYU flag.
At NYU:
Neat-o! Our first NYU flag barely visible in the upper left hand corner of the screen just goes to show you that the show does occasionally shoot on campus, even if all evidence suggests they aren't allowed to show real university signage.
One University Place has the same awning as an NYU building, but it isn't, despite being right next to Weinstein Residence Hall with it's two interior dining halls that our characters will never use, apparently.
On Gossip Girl:
Blair and Olivia talk in the hall.
Da7e: I'm sorry, but I put this in just so I can talk about that still. First off, I'm digging Blair's over-the-top teater outfit. Second: who puts up "Shhhhh! Please Be Quiet" signs in a dorm room? After mid-terms? Never. Third, and final: whomever is rocking the dorm room opposite Blair's with the curtains on the door is awesome. I hope it's Monica, the girl who magically transformed the Metallica logo into her own personal calling card. B-, set designers.
On Gossip Girl:
Olivia lies and claims she signed Dan and her up for the Bleeker Inn Cabaret a month ago. She’d blow it off, but Dan wants to apply to Tisch and it’s great “exposure” for him.
At NYU:
The lie about signing up a month ago is much more accurate than a sudden change of heart for our little Olivia. Not only because the Tisch website very clearly states: "Space Request in the Department of Drama is a two tiered process which involves notifying the Production Department of your production as well as filling out one of two available Space Request Forms." Also, if Olivia was asked to be involved in this, that means she's in a conservatory already, right?
Sarah:Are we sure Olivia is in Tisch?Because it seems to me that a star of her magnitude would so obviously go the Olsen twin way--spend a semester in Gallatin, surrounded by your security, and then drop out to go back to LA and party.
Muse: She did say earlier that she could act at NYU...and certainly not through CAS or Gallatin if she knows what's good for her...so I'll assume Tisch for the time being. Though, it's true, current famous people don't attend Tisch, only former child stars like Haley Joel Osment (ETW) or Mara Wilson (Playwrights).
Da7e:I peg Olivia as an Atlantic or Playwrights girl.
Muse:Atlantic's schedule wouldn't have allowed Olivia to do half the things she does on this show (they are strict as hell - like lock the door if you are 30 seconds late and mark you as absent strict as hell) and at least in my experience, it's the Playwrights kids who tend to engage in threesomes ;). Playwrights it is!
On Gossip Girl:
Obviously Gay Paul tells a group of cabaret newcomers at The Bleeker that they have 8 hours to adapt their fairytale and it better be good because Tisch faculty and a “legit agent” will be there.
At NYU:
The difference between going to NYU's art school and other art schools around the country is that the differentiation between "agent" and "legit agent" is something all of your peers would understand.
However, Obviously Gay Paul seems to forget he's talking to the star of Endless Knights 1-3, Fleur and the upcoming Bitches of Eastwick! How can he be so star-fuckery when he's talking about a Weinstein but oblivious to our Kristin Stewart stand in?
...wait. Now that we threw the Kristin Stewart thing in, it makes sense. Also, since we've met Olivia's bitchy agent.
Sarah: His line is amazing. Because Tisch students who already have agents mention it whenever possible.
Muse:Having a legit agent (as opposed to a commercial agent) is a badge of honor for Tischies. Nice one, GG.
On Gossip Girl:
Blair has a great idea for a Snow White musical featuring the music of “Tisch alumna Lady GaGa," cuz Paul loves his GaGa.
At NYU:
Time to clear up some shit regarding Stefani Germanotta and her NYU attendance.
Blair is right in the sense that Lady GaGa went to Tisch, though there is some debate on the internets as to which studio she ultimately attended. Some say she was in the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, the most recent addition to the Tisch family of schools, which probably could have been shoe-horned into the music department outside of Tisch, but it wasn't. Those of us who went to school with Ms Gaga recall her as a CAP 21 student.
However, Blair is wrong to call Stefani an alumna, as evidenced by this ELLE interview:
ELLE: You dropped out of NYU at 19. Why didn’t you want to finish?
Lady Gaga: I loved NYU, but I thought I could teach myself about art better than the school could. I really felt New York was my teacher and that I needed to bite the bullet and go it alone. I wasn’t interested in going to frat parties and doing those sorts of collegiate things. I was really interested in the music scene and waitressing and cleaning toilets, or whatever the fuck it was I was doing.
Before Steffie left the NYU scene to become Lady GaGa, she DID perform in an NYU talent competition not unlike this week's Gossip Girl cabaret. And we are happy to have scored the exclusive video, for the first time ever on the internets, here:
On Gossip Girl:
Rehearsal at…The Bleeker?
At NYU:
If there is one thing you will see on campus regardless of where you are it's rehearsals. In the hallways, in the parks, in your dorm, but NEVER in a coffee shop and NEVER during business hours. Bonus points for the geek's "The Internet Is For Lovers" t-shirt, though.
Sarah: AH! Rehearsal space. Yes, we would rehearse any and everywhere. To the point where it was a known fact (at least in Adler) that the entire 5th floor of the Tisch building is completely deserted. And perfect for scene study rehearsal.
Muse:Half of the dorms have their own rehearsal spaces, plus every studio and Tisch itself. Even though the Tischies are inexplicably putting their show on at a coffee shop (don't worry, we'll attack that later) there is no way they'd be rehearsing there all day. What coffee shop closes down during prime student-caffine-intake-time so a bunch of strange NYU freshmen can stumble their way through a stupid musical a GSP student wrote two seconds ago. I call bullshit.
On Gossip Girl:
The show breaks its style by confusing us with a blackmailing scene.
On Gossip Girl:
Before our Bleeker Cabaret is shown, we get a nighttime exterior of…One University Place again?
At NYU:
Once again, this is a residential building, not a NYU one. Nor is there a coffee shop that could reasonably be The Bleeker anywhere near this corner building. Though now you know where the closest ATM to Washington Square Park is, and that's saying something.
Muse: I laugh when I think of all the high school students who are gonna scout One University Place for The Bleeker when they visit NYU. At least when Felicity tread through this territory, the coffee shop existed. And guess what I did when I visited NY as a high school junior? I went to Dean & God damn Deluca and pretending I was Felicity. Gossip Girl, can't you hear the hearts of millions of 15 year old girls breaking with your lies?
On Gossip Girl:
The performance goes down at The Bleeker.
At NYU:
We have theaters for that shit!
Anyway, it looks like O.G.P's legit agent didn't show up, but the lukewarm attendance consisting of people who were in the other plays and under-acted and under-sung performance is pretty straight up. Especially when they could have gone the Glee route of auto-tuning Hilary Duff for her unmic'ed entrance into the play.
Sara: This looks like shit I put on with my friends in elementary school. No Tisch acting student would appear in some short play that is this insanely horrible. I mean, we do experimental, weird theatre, but damn if it isn't amazing.
Muse:WHY oh WHY is this performance being held at The Bleeker? Tisch freshmen have their shows either at studio or in the Tisch building. I mean, sure, at some point we had to start renting out actual space in a non-NYU owned building, but as a Freshman? Hells no. When NYU offers you free space for being a student, you take it.
On Gossip Girl:
Willa Weinstein yells “Kiss Her!” in the middle of the play.
At NYU:
Bitch! Don't be heckling! Where do you think you are, watching Transformers 2 at a midnight showing with a bunch of classless urbanites?! You're a Weinstein, goddammit!
Muse:Did you get the feeling that the "Snow White Dan & Vanessa Old Friends Kiss" bit was an homage to the Saved by the Bell episode where Zack and Jessie, old friends, do Snow White and kiss on stage and then realize they like each other?
Da7e: That's an obscure reference. Or just evidence that this particular episode of Gossip Girl was derivative and horrible.
On Gossip Girl:
Gay Paul says he’ll give Dan notes on his sample for when he applies to Tisch.
At NYU:
We're going to guess that Dan is talking about applying to the Department of Dramatic Writing at Tisch, because that'll be the place he'd apply if he wants to be a Playwright and not learn anything about theater.
Dramatic Writing is also the program Da7e attended, so we have the ability to be more informative this way. Also, we have some evidence to back us up. Something like an acting conservatory has a long application process and inter-school transfers are difficult without losing any time. Not for Dramatic Writing, however. Feel free to switch over to that awesome program by applying before March (so says the rules):
Applicants must fulfill the requirements specified by New York University. Send a nonreturnable portfolio of 5 to 25 typed pages that shows your abilities as a writer. Send us your stories and your play and film scripts. Please do not send poetry, or one short poem at the most, and also no personal essays. Show us your narrative abilities; your way with language, metaphor, imagery; and the way you evoke feeling. Ultimately, we are looking for writing that allows us to see your abilities as a storyteller. The early decision deadline is November 1, 2009. The deadline for internal transfer students (students already enrolled at New York University in another school) is March 1, 2010 while the deadline for all remaining transfers is April 1, 2010. The deadline for all other undergraduate applicants' portfolios is January 1, 2010.
But I wouldn't take advice from Obviously Gay Paul.
Da7e: I think my application was 25 pages single spaced. And you better believe it contained personal essays. I don't know what this new application shit is all about.
Muse: Hey, your program isn't called playwriting, right?
Da7e:No.
Muse:It's dramatic writing isn't it?
Da7e:Yes.
Muse: And...putting on a lame last second musical at a lame cabaret night thrown together by lame maybe-CAP students who then offer to give you "notes" on your "cample" are not how people transfer into Tisch, right? None of that would any of that have any weight whatsoever, right?
Da7e:No. F*ck Obviously Gay Paul.
Sarah:By the way, since WHEN does Dan want to write plays? Motherfucker got published in The New Yorker for god's sake. Ain't no way he's applying to dramatic writing. No offense Da7e.
On Gossip Girl:
Blair takes everyone to a Lady GaGa dress rehearsal, claims Poker Face is about GaGa playing cards with her stepdad.
At NYU:
This poker face is easy to read: he poisoned both cups, Westley!
On Gossip Girl:
Vanessa says: “I think Paul Hoffman kind of likes me.”
At NYU:
This is what happens to a lot of aspiring art students: they fall for the gay guy. Forever crushing the hopes for people like Da7e, who only appear gay but lose out to those that really are.
Muse: The "I think Paul likes me" bit is either a huge oversight or extremely clever. About half of our friends who would eventually come out, were still in the closet Freshmen year.
Final Thoughts On “The Last Days Of Disco Stick:”
Sarah: Can I begin by saying that this season sucks? Because it flat out does. Watching it actually puts me into a foul mood. Second. I understand *exactly* what the CW is trying to accomplish by having Penn, Vanessa, and Hilary get naked over and over again in this episode, but it is uncomfortable and makes my skin crawl. Yeah, I know they're all legal, but something about it feels so much like kiddie porn.
Da7e: This season has been largely lackluster. How can they make NYU seem like a smaller and more boring world that Frickin' Constance?
Muse:...I like this season...What can I say, I'm easy to please. Though I agree that Dan/Vanessa/Olivia feels like kiddie porn. Can we keep the dirty sex scenes to Blair & Serena please.
Sarah:Could Serena's raging daddy issues be any more apparent? Look, I get your daddy doesn't want to talk to you, but sleeping with ANYTHING THAT WALKS AND LOOK AT YOU FUNNY WON'T MAKE HIM LOVE YOU
Da7e:Hey! You just made me remember that Serena's daddy tried to get in contact with her last episode, though now Lily has thrown herself into helping Little J find a date for some Horticulture nonsense. I wish Jenny would spend an episode in a flower garden, working. Maybe that would make me hate her less.
Muse:One of my favorite moments from the episode was Serena's decision at the bar..."The married congressman I wanna bone is having marital issues for the first time ever? That means I can totally sleep with him now, right? Cause when marriages have one problem, it means it's over and the couple isn't really married anymore, right? Yeah. That sounds good. So I'm just gonna go sleep with your married congressman cousin now, Nate. Bone you in like two episodes when I'm done with him. I'm a slut! Lalala."
Gossip Girl picked up the slack last night with the much-hyped threesome between Dan, Olivia and Vanessa. Yeah, it was pretty great, even if it’s the tipping point that is going to cause Hilary Duff’s exit from the show. Threesome-tension is a great way to propel us into next week’s Lady Gaga guest-starring episode.
Jenny Humprey wasn’t the only Gossip who had a debut tonight. Sure, cotillion is happening for Little J, but it’s the dawn of a new age of Evil Eric that had us excited. What didn’t have anyone excited is Serena’s continued insistence that she has no control over her slutty ways.
Muse: .... I get excited over Serena's continued insistence that she has no control over her slutty ways...when it involves Trip. Nomnomnom.
Are there 15 things we all must do at NYU and have Muse and Da7e conquered said list? Well, at least not together we haven’t. Though, it is kind of weird that having sex with someone you never want to see again is on the same list as “have a threesome.” Wouldn’t it be easier to kill two birds with one stone on that one? Grudge f*ck!
Let’s check themselves lest they wreck themselves.
Season 3, Episode 9: They Shoot Humphreys, Don't They? Aired: 11/09/09 We Went To NYU: 2003-2007
On Gossip Girl:
We’re at The Bleeker (still a fake Think! Coffee replacement) where soon-to-be-sexual-partners Vanessa, Olivia and Dan are “cramming” for their midterms when the Nerd Squad comes over to spread the news of Endless Knights IV.
At NYU:
We don’t know where this coffee shop is, the one where you can sit a few tables away from an international vampire movie star and only notice her when it looks like both your table and hers have been studying for a good 20 minutes at least. The Harry Knowles press release is, sadly, pretty close to truth (though who gets the Twilight scoops these days? Not Aint It Cool.), but the sheer coincidence that two of the geeks wore their Olivia-themed t-shirts just made us groan a little bit.
Realistically, there’s very little chance this is going to take place in a coffee shop. We’ve seen how horrible KC is at being Olivia’s Publicist, but there should be a manager or an agent or a concerned friend amongst the crew she later describes as her “family” that would realize something like Endless Knights IV is the sort of thing you pull your starlet out of classes for. Assuming Endless Knights is somewhere as popular as Twilight, which it might not be because Olivia is in school at all. You don’t see Kristin Stewart attending Brown.
Da7e:Who has that boring-ass Fleur t-shirt? That’s so sparsely designed, I’m guessing it’s a knockoff or a press giveaway. We’ll never know because, despite being less than a month out of the release of Fleur, Olivia hasn’t been leaving school to do press for it.
Muse:Geeks aren't the type of people who wear shirts specifically worshipping all of one actress' films. Let's say some geek guys are, well, geeky enough to constantly wear a Twilight shirt. Would those same guys also spend their days wearing In The Land of Women apparal? I mean there's geek and then there's creepy-as-hell-what's-wrong-with-you. If these guys are supposed to fall into the latter category, then I cease to complain. But I expect a hot Battlestar loving chick to appear on the show soon to give NYU geeks a good name, Gossip Girl.
The rest after the jump!
On Gossip Girl:
While Olivia is talking to her parents/manager/3-of-her-agents, Dan and Vanessa plan to complete as much of the 15 Things Every College Student Must Do Before Graduating that is printed in their stupid, fake school newspaper.
At NYU:
Best to take this list one at a time, as they come, because we’re not sure if we got all 15 listed for us in the episode. Can we just start out by saying a few things? Like: this is a really stupid idea for a list to print in the paper, yet it totally sounds like a Freshman Year journalism assignment? Ok.
1. Cheer Yourself Hoarse At A Sporting Event
That’s kind of hard at NYU since we don’t have a lot of cheer-able sports. Look at these lists of Men and Women’s varsity sports:
Yeah, there’s basketball. But if I want basketball and I live in New York, there’s this team called The Knicks and they play professionally. You know, instead of watching Stern Business students with fitness fetishes attempt to play at the same level as athletes who gave up their dream of professional sports in exchange for a NYU BFA.
Da7e: I remember doing more cheering at the annual secret concert, where an up-and-coming indie group would play at the gym. I don’t think I saw a single NYU sporting event, though I did participate in intermural softball, albeit drunkenly.
Muse:There's no way in hell that's on an NYU-centric 15 Things to do in College list. I can't name a single person I know whose been to an NYU sporting event. Not one. Lies, Gossip Girl. Lies.
2. Get Sick After A Beer Pong Tournament At Bar None
This is the second time Gossip Girl has mentioned Bar None. They did last week as well. Bar None is still located on 3rd Ave a few blocks south of 14th street, and – yes – they still have beer pong. But any list of things Dan and Vanessa hope to accomplish in ONE DAY should not include “Get Sick.” Just Puke And Rally!
Da7e: I spent my high school experience in Colorado playing beer pong. Yeah, I miss it occasionally, but this game is best with space, NOT in the back of Bar None. Different strokes though, I’m not hating.
Muse:I discovered Beer Pong and played it whenever possible at NYU, but not at Bar None. I didn't even know they had Beer Pong, because I've been there, ohhh, once. Senior year. Because I knew it as "the loud crazy drinking place for people who wanted to go to a party school not NYU" and I prefered the "low key, cheap drinks, only your friends are there, we're kind of artists" experience of Four Faced Liar. Where's FFL on your damn list, fake newspaper?!?! That's way more up Dan & Vanessa's alley.
3. Have Sex With Someone You Don’t Want To See Again
Once again, knowing what we know about the pending threesome on the end of this list, it seems odd to have 2 sex-themed items. That being said, having sex with someone you never want to see again is probably more of a college experience than a threesome, right?
Da7e:I usually was that someone they didn’t want to see again. I told the story of the crying girl in a previous post right? Yeah. Well, she didn’t want to see me again and I didn’t mind not seeing her. We did eventually see each other, but it wasn’t until 3 years later. It wasn’t until we were shaking hands that we both looked into each other’s eyes and remembered that we had slept together early-on Freshman Year. Then she said, really loud and attracting the attention of my surrounding friends: “You’re the guy who slept with me Freshman Year!” I didn’t like how I had somehow slept with her instead of it being a mutual experience, but I was too mortified to protest.
Muse:Who is that girl?! Oh curiosity! I never slept with anyone I didn't wanna see again, cause I grasped onto my virginity with every fiber of my being until the summer after Junior year...it was a point of pride for a while, not gonna lie...but I certainly made out with said embarrassments. More or less everyone I made out with only once in college I would elect to never see again. ::Shudder::. So. Does that count?
4. Falafel at Mamouns
Ok. I guess we’re dealing with a NYU-specific list. Mamoun’s Falafel has two locations on campus, one on McDougal Street, right off Washington Square Park and one on St. Marks Place between 3rd Ave and 2nd Ave. They are really just cheap falafel and have been facing stiff competition from places like Chickpea early this millennium. That said, Mamoun’s is one of the 1001 Places To See Before You Die, that book that makes less sense to us now that we know it includes the dingy-but-tasty falafel joint.
Da7e:Yeah, I’ve had this shiz. It’s good. And cheap (more importantly).
Muse:Never had it. Not a Falafel fan. But the Shwarma at Yatagan is to die for.
5. Frat Party at Coral
BUZZZZZZ! Thanks for playing – and the accurate dormitory shout out – but, this particular item makes no sense. Coral Towers is the NYU Dorm located above the Duane Reade on 14th St and 3rd Ave. The only problem is that Coral Towers doesn’t host any Greek Life, and therefore no Frat Parties. Lafayette Hall holds all the Greek Life as evidenced by its website:
Lafayette is home to the Fraternity and Sorority Life Communities, housing 11 Fraternities and Sororities on the upper floors of the building.
Da7e:The first and only Frat Party I attended at NYU was a Tri-Delta affair during my visit before I had enrolled in the University. My student host ended up bringing a girl back to his room with us. I slept on the floor. They slept on the bed. I remember thinking “I’d love to go to this school,” though describing it now, I’m not sure why.
Muse:The only time I ever went to Coral was to shoot a scene from a webseries a year and a half after I graduated from NYU. Though I did attempt to go to a sorority party at Lafayette once! After we arrived we discovered it had been canceled, but we didn't get the memo. Bullshit. Also. Why exactly would "Go to a frat party" be on an NYU list? When only 10% of the population is in a frat? "Go to a Motherfucker party" would be a more accurate debauchery suggestion and I don't even know many people who did that.
On Gossip Girl:
DORM PARTY!
At NYU:
There’s beer pong and a keg in some dorm room that looks vaguely like Vanessa and Olivia’s, but we know it must be in Coral Towers and must be a frat party if the Dynamic Trio are still working through their list.
First off, getting a keg in Coral Towers is near impossible. The sign-in/entrance area is not big enough to cause a distraction so as to sneak in a whole keg. We’re not 100% on the NYU alcohol in dorms policy, since those who are over 21 are certainly allowed to pack some booze, but a keg? Any keg in a dorm is a stretch of the imagination.
Beer Pong/Beruit does go down because NYU dorms are supplied with a wide variety of boring-colored tables that can be assembled into a Beer Pong surface and Beer Bongs, well, those are winners everywhere.
Also, not to harp on this more than we should, but a Dorm Party with this many people goes down one of two ways: 1) Clear with the housing staff that you will be having a get together and submit a list of guests to the front desk. These approved guests will be allowed to attend without signing them in, or 2) Have people in the dorms sign in strangers to attend the party, everyone with a 3 guest max.
Option 2 is fine, unless your stranger isn’t an NYU student, because then you have to sign them out. That means you better keep an eye on your guest-for-a-night and make sure s/he doesn’t end up puking up a storm in the bathroom.
Da7e:In every dorm room I lived in, my roommates and myself allowed people to smoke anything in our rooms, which made us pretty constant party hosts. Add to mixture the “our door is never locked” policy and I’d wake up in the middle of the night to a party no one threw. Great college experience, horrible for studying.
Muse: I used doors for Beer Pong so many times. One door I never figured out how to get back on its hinges so I just left it sitting next to the closet it once enclosed. Sorry, NYU.
On Gossip Girl:
Olivia says: “This is even more amazing than dancing in the fountain.” Meanwhile, the CW really wants you to buy Leighton Meester's horrible single.
At NYU:
6. Dancing in the fountain.
This refers to the fountain in the middle of Washington Square Park, the central outdoor space for NYU’s campus. Sometimes there’s water in there, and – yeah – it’s easy to dance in it.
Da7e: I’ve never done this. Does that mean I didn’t really graduate? Or did I just have a lesser experience?
Muse:I put my feet in it! Once!
On Gossip Girl:
At the dorm party, Olivia and Vanessa start tossing sexual tension back and forth at each other.
At NYU:
Nothing here, really. We just wanted to spotlight the girl who has obviously taken off her bright-green panties in the background. Nice. Par-tay!
On Gossip Girl:
Vanessa and Dan admit to Olivia that they have no creativity and have been “plucking” the Ultimate College Experience from the school newspaper. Dan says they did the “Beer Boggle” and “Fountain Yoga.” Olivia says they should do their last task “right now” because it couldn’t be worse than “the bathroom at Fat Black Pussycat’s.” Then, she see’s what #11 is.
At NYU:
Beer Boggle? Fountain Yoga? Fat Black Pussycat's?
Only one exists and it's Fat Black Pussycat, though their bathroom isn't any more horrible than any NYC club bathroom.
Muse: I've been to Fat Black Pussycat...a couple months ago for a Bachelorette Party, never in college, and the bathroom was completely normal. So normal in fact, there was a god damn bathroom attendant. Am I missing something?
From the freeze frame, we can kind of see that one of the list items we haven’t heard has something to do with the “Subway Station” and the blurb includes (…possibly lucrative). We’re going to say that is some sort of performance/begging on the subway and has nothing to do with the college experience. As a matter of fact, nothing stereotypically “college” is also possibly lucrative. That’s why school is all about wasting money while you still can.
Our Guess: 7. Play Music In A Subway Station
Da7e: I’ve totally had an improv session with a homeless man when I used to carry around a couple harmonicas. It was sweet.
Muse:My friend Ashley, currently in the Peace Corps, used to play guitar in subway stations all the time. She's also way cooler than anyone on Gossip Girl could ever hope to be.
Also from the freeze frame we can see one item ends with “-ing NYU Gear.” From the blurb we can pull: “…on the 1/9 uptown and…be ultra confused when…Ivy Leaguers.” Sadly, the 9 train has been dead-as-a-doornail for about 2 years. But Columbia is up the 1/9.
Our Guess: 8. Visit Columbia Campus Wearing NYU Gear
Da7e: Sadly, I’ve done this. I wore my NYU hoodie to a Wyclef Jean concert in the Columbia Quad. Luckily everyone (including myself and Wyclef) was too stoned to make a big deal out of it.
Muse: I was at that concert! I was going there to visit David and thought "what the hell is this concert?" Turned out it was Wyclef Jean.
And, of course, the big one:
11. Have a threesome.
Da7e: No. I’ve actually been actively avoiding a threesome. I have enough neuroses to make a single-woman sexual experience nearly disastrous every time, why would I want to add in another X-factor there? Although I guess what Gossip Girl is telling me is that I missed my chance and now I live outside of college in a world without threesomes. Muse:I missed it to too. Oh well. That's what marriages are for, right? Wait, that's not how marriage works? Not a constant cycle of varying third parties? Damnit. So much for that.
Final Thoughts On: “They Shoot Humpreys Don’t They?”
Da7e:Overall, I dug this episode for the Blair/Eric team, though I did spend a fraction of the running time yelling at my screen, trying to get through to Serena. Seriously, can that girl turn off the slut, ever? At least Nate has realized that we’ve always hated his storylines and only pops up when he’s needed as a physical presence and little else.
Muse: I love Serena and Trip. Scandal scandal! Stupid stupid! Hot hot! I'm such a girl. You have permission to kick me in the knees. Except please don't.
Da7e: Interesting observation by one of my friends I was watching with: Concerning the scene where Blair walks in on Chuck and Nate’s “Lost Weekend.” There’s a African-American stripper/whore asleep on the couch and a Caucasian one walking around in Blair’s corset. When Blair exits, she says: “You might want to ring housekeeping. Chocolate leaves a stain.” My friend replied: “Did Blair just refer to that black girl like, ‘chocolate leaves a stain on your dick?’” We had to point out the chocolate truffles on the table beside Chuck in earlier shots, proving him wrong. However, I do like the notion that Blair would sneak some racism into the conversation when discussing Nate’s whores.
Muse:I was slightly distracted during that scene and totally missed the explanation as to who those women were. For a while I thought the African-American woman on the couch was a blow up doll they refused to acknowledge.
Da7e: Have you done the few items on Gossip Girl's list? Do you have your own "must do" tasks in the city or at your college? Leave what you want in the comments. We read that shit. See full post
We got to see an Endless Knights DVD 3-Pack last week as Serena fell ass-backwards into dating Olivia’s fake celebrity boyfriend. Also Chuck and Blair sidestepped a fake liquor license revenge plot and spun it into PR gold for Chuck’s hotel. There were only two blatant NYU offenses in last week’s episode:
Blair had many more people signed into her dorm room than possible, which we keep bringing up. 3 Guest Max, end of story.
This week’s episode has some minor NYU offenses, but is still light on a lot of the repeat questions we keep asking: What schools within NYU do our Gossips actually attend? Do any of them use the meal plan? What about the RAs hanging around the dorms NOT enforcing all these rules? Perhaps most of all: IS ANYONE GOING TO GO TO CLASS? EVER?
Good news for those forward-thinking individuals who realize we’re entering November Sweeps: next week’s episode will probably be an NYU dud when: “Jenny sets her sights on becoming the Queen of all the Upper East Side by landing the hottest escort for Cotillion.” After that, though, it looks like we’ll have an NYU-xtravaganza with the following episode, titled “The Last Days Of Disco Stick.”
Yes, the Lady GaGa cameo is only two weeks away. Lady GaGa is an NYU grad AND it looks like our B plot will focus on Dan and Vanessa writing and directing a play.
God, we’re salivating just thinking of the snark we’re going to blow all over that episode.
But, they’re still two weeks to go. Let’s march in that general direction!
Season 3, Episode 8: “The Grandfather: Part II” Aired: 11/02/09 We Went To NYU: 2003-2007
On Gossip Girl:
The opening montage shows Dan spooning a shirted Olivia in her dorm-room-o-sex-smells.
At NYU:
For a show that is teasing a threesome as the must-see event for next week’s episode, it took Gossip Girl long enough to get to the beast with two backs where Dan and Olivia are concerned.
Last week, we saw Olivia getting free condoms from the school’s Sexual Health cookie jar, which is true: NYU does distribute condoms to its students. However, something that’s changed since our days in the dorms are the official NYC Condoms (Slogan: GET SOME!), which are free most everywhere (Da7e’s favorite pick up is in the Four-Faced Liar, a bar on the north side of West 4th past 6th Ave).
We can also glimpse the offending candles in the background, but it’s not enough to distract from the odd fact that Olivia looks to have fallen asleep fully clothed while Dan decided to spoon her while naked. Awkward.
Da7e:You can’t blame Hilary Duff for realizing she wasn’t blessed with attractively-shaped arms, but I can blame Dan Humphrey for f*ckig in Olivia’s dorm room when all evidence points to him inheriting the Humphrey Family Brooklyn Loft. There you’re allowed to light candles and you don’t have a whole bunch of starf*cker wannabes listening through a NYU Dorm’s thin walls.
Muse:Oh god, she's wearing a shirt because the show realized her arms aren't taught enough?! That's upsetting. My arms aren't as taught as I'd like them to be, but waking up shirtless and showing off your assets in the morning is one of the beautiful parts of hooking up! Olivia should feel comfortable enough with Dan to have her shirt off. Apparently they are already past "Wake up first and brush my teeth while the other is still sleeping" mode, so "wake up and put my shirt on so Dan doesn't see my arm fat" is simply unacceptable.
On Gossip Girl:
Dan yawns: “How long have you been awake?” And muses: “Vanessa’s been completely MIA since she started shooting that documentary.”
At NYU:
Where’s Vanessa sleeping? If we hadn’t just seen Tripp’s campaign moving into the Empire, we’d say she stayed with the campaign. But that doesn’t make any sense. That got us looking for a sock on the doorknob, which you still do when you’re boning in your dorm room (even Georgina knows that).
Da7e: “How long have you been awake?” I’d just wake up and my bed mate would be gone. I’d run into them in the dining hall having breakfast in sweatpants and we’d pretend nothing happened because it was Freshman Year. But that didn’t change the fact that being the big spoon means you’re inhaling hair all night, but you put up with it because it’s college and your getting laid, goddammit. If I only knew then what I knew now, I’d take the mild humiliation that comes with being the tiny spoon.
Muse: I only know what it means to be the big spoon, and that's the way I like it. Also, if I were Vanessa, I'd probably set up shop ANYWHERE other than my dorm if my best friend and roommate were gonna be boning 24/7. As much as I loved my roommate, I hated hearing her (or anyone for that matter) hook up with people. ::shudder:: The rest after the jump! On Gossip Girl:
Dan takes his toothbrush, runs into a black day-player who calls him Bathroom Boy.
The Samuel Rubin International Residence Hall was formerly the Grosvenor Hotel. The structure was built in 1925 and was the home of Willa Cather from 1927 to 1932. Acquired by the University in 1964 for use as a student residence hall, it was named to honor Samuel Rubin, businessman and member of the New York University Medical Center Board.
See? Willa Cather lived there. Can you picture Willa Cather having large, centralized bathrooms on her floor of the building? How about asking guests at the Grosvenor to please share the bathrooms and tip the ethnic attendants?
Not happening. NYU Dorms have AT LEAST one bathroom per dorm.
Also, neither Dan nor one-line-black-kid are wearing shoes. We may not forgive crocs or thong sandals when worn outdoors, but those types of footwear were INVENTED for group bathrooms.
Da7e:Want to know how spoiled I was Sophomore Year at NYU? I lived in Greenwich Hotel, a former hotel that still had maid service. Yup. We had a woman who would clean our bathroom and common rooms on a weekly basis. I left her chocolates whenever possible because we had some illegal shit going down. Not to mention the one time we covered the bathroom floor in hair (only 5% pubes).
Muse:Again, Gossip Girl, I'll forgive most of your innaccuracies, but pretending we have communal bathrooms is not one of them. 45,000 a year = private bathrooms. The end.
On Gossip Girl:
Nate says: “It’s a step up from Columbia dorms.” Chuck: “Most penthouses are, Nathaniel”
Okay, it’s a tad hilarious that Serena is already painted like the whore she is going to be compared to for the rest of the episode while Dan has –apparently – been brushing his teeth for 30 minutes.
Because we don’t want to keep harping on the guest sign-in policy, we can assume that Serena has special permission as Olivia’s publicist’s assistant. It’s a freebie, but how many times are we going to recognize the failure of show to recognize this NYU bureaucracy?
On Gossip Girl:
Blair enters her dorm to find Serena.
At NYU:
Bikes in the hallways? Not only are they not locked, which means they are essentially community property, but there is no way any dorm would let you stash your wheels in public space. If you want a bike, you hang your own hooks on your ceiling and store that shit in your room
On Gossip Girl:
Blair bemoans at The Bleeker: "Washington Square Park, Bobst Library, Bar None, I even tried spinning the cube in St. Marks Place, but not a friend in sight! I just felt it wouldn't be this hard at Yale."
At NYU:
Washington Square Park? At the center of campus and filled with students. Check.
Bar None? This location on 3rd Ave and 12th St is right down the street from NYU’s Third North Dorm. However, they are aware of their proximity to students and their reputation as an NYU bar is often combated by their strange, Bar Many policy. But, that’s just weekends (and we already know Blair Waldorf does not go out to bars or clubs on weekends to avoid the Bridge & Tunnel townies). NYU students still are frequently not carded at Bar None. Right Yelp?
So oddly enough....the ONLY reason we ventured down to the NYU area and stumbled into Bar None...is because we had a couple youngins with us that had yet to turn 21.
We thought of Bar None as the perfect place to go (totally outdated info, but I'm not at the age to have to worry about this anymore!) is because back in '04 when I was still under age...this was the very first bar I got into in NY, on my very first trip to the city. Does it hold sentimental value to me you ask? Nooot reallly....and the second time around being sober enough to look around me and take in the bar for what it really is...it's not going to be my fav Saturday night hangout or anything. In fact...I doubt I'll ever be back. I mean it's basically 18+, under the table.
But, nonetheless...we got the girls in with no problems at all, and had a pretty good time. There was A LOT of dancing, making out in the corner of the booth (oooohh yeahhhh.......really, it wasn't me) and had a lot of rooms to move around in. The back and front rooms have different types of music going on at the same time. So you can bounce back n' forth depending on your mood.
Great place to take you little sister or brother ;)
And yes they do check for IDs. Just maybe not that closely? I believe back in '04 I was Sara Joiner from California, lamination peeling off. Classy.
Oh, the Astor Place cube! It’s called The Alamo and it’s a rotate-able piece of art. It’s close to St. Marks Place, so we forgive Blair’s mistake, but anyone who doesn’t know this cube is in ASTOR PLACE doesn’t really hang out around the NYU Campus area of the Village. “Meet me at the cube!”
Da7e: Who would meet people by spinning the cube? Most of the time I’m there, it’s populated by homeless people hogging the shade and begging for change.
Muse:I never spun the cube. Whenever I saw someone spinning it, I thought to myself "tourist?" or "high schooler?" Why don't you try out Think Coffee or Four Faced Liar, Blair? Or...oh I don't know...CLASS, where I made most of my friends.
Final Thoughts On "The Grandfather: Part II"
Da7e:There was a lot of NYU up front, but it was abandoned for a political plot and the slow realization that Serena is –and always will be – a whore. Not a prostiture per se, but a whore. I can’t say I dug this episode because it featured plots of my two least-favorite Gossips: Serena and Nate. They both seem to be turning evil, which I’m fine with. I just want more scheming that doesn’t have to do with keeping Dan away from the internet.
Muse: I like the look in Nate's face when he is evil. His "I'm bad now" face is way sexier than his "I'm Nate and I'm a nice guy!" face. Plus, now we know Chase Crawford can make a whole two faces!!! Amazing!
Da7e:And who does back-to-back appearances on Jimmy Fallon almost a month after her horrible-looking “Fluer” movie came out? Two days in a row? And did Olivia really play Scrabble with Rufus and Lily, get left by Dan at Dan’s parent’s penthouse (awkward), then run off to film a second Fallon appearance? God, that makes no sense.
Muse:Not to mention, they were all wearing "I Voted" stickers in that scene. For the past three years at least in NYC, I've gone to every polling place I could find with my absentee receipt and tried to find one of those god damn stickers. No one ever had them and one place actually told me she'd never seen them before. They are easy to get in Los Angeles, but Gossip Girl takes place in New York City so...color me confused. See full post
A group of New York & Los Angeles based Fangirls (and a couple boys) in their early twenties, who are and/or work with various professionals in the genre world, write about the things they love...and hate. Specializing in opinions, recommendations & commentary with some exclusive access thrown in, we're where to come to hear what the Fangirls really think.
