YouTube held its first Music Awards Show this past Sunday night and was streamed live on youtube.com. The disheveled show was full of a variety of live performances, presentations, and some comedy sketches. The show drew from popular videos and music with no specific purpose. The nominees for each category were voted on by fans. You can see the winners here.
Spike Jonze was the creative director as well as the director for some segments. Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts hosted the hour and half show, which had performances from Lady Gaga, Eminem, M.I.A., Arcade Fire, and more. There was even a weird segment that Lena Dunham wrote to go along with Avicii's performance. It was a "choose-your-own adventure short" directed by Spike Jonze, with Vanessa Hudgens and Michael Shannon. I enjoyed the writing as I normally do with Lena Dunham's work, however, it was a very strange segment that ended with the audience choosing the outcome of the story.
I wouldn't take the time to watch the entire show, however it's worth looking up a few performances. My favorite was Arcade Fire's performance, or "live music video," as they called it, of "Afterlife." The director, Spike Jonze, camera operator and focus puller all did a wonderful job filming this live. Greta Gerwig also does a fantastic job dancing awkwardly but beautifully. Take a look:
Last week the trailer for season two of HBO's Emmy winning show Girls was released. I for one, am super excited since this was one of my favorite shows last year. Girls is the brainchild of writer/director/actor Lena Dunham and is produced by Judd Apatow. Before Girls Dunham was also known for her Indie Spirit Award-winning 2010 mumblecore flick Tiny Furniture, which she released 2 years after graduating from Oberlin College (basically putting us all to shame). Girls, which first premiered last year, follows Dunham's Hannah and her three other college girlfriends living in New York City as they navigate their way through careers, relationships and finding their way in life. Among Dunham the show stars Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, and Jemima Kirke.
The reason I love this show so much is not only because its hilarious, but because it is so REAL. The characters and situations really resonate with my generation especially, as we are all about to face the "real world" after college. Though many critics have had problems with nepotism in the casting (Brian Williams, David Mamet, Bad Company's Simon Kirke), I don't think its a very legitimate argument against the show, since the presence of nepotism is something that everyone has to deal with in any industry. Plus, all of the girls are great actors anyway, so its not like they didn't deserve getting cast. Another controversial factor in the show is that it doesn't feature many characters of color despite taking place in New York City. Dunham said she has made an effort to change this for the upcoming second season. However, the show is loosely based on Lena Dunham's own life, so the characters we see is her own reality.
I think some people love to hate Girls because they don't like seeing a young woman make it as a writer and director in a male dominated industry. The reality is this show is extremely well-crafted and the dialogue is very smart. Dunham's been compared to Woody Alllen in her writing style, which I can definitely see. I'm going to make a bold statement and say that Girls IS one of the best shows out there right now. I would definitely recommend watching the first season, and I can't wait for January!
