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Pop Culture

12 Awesome Photos of Cultural Icons at Camp

By Emily Temple on

Now that school is out, kids everywhere are gearing up for one of the most delightful-but-sometimes-harrowing American summer pastimes: going to camp. Whether you have good or bad memories of scrapping through the forest and singing in a log cabin, you might appreciate the fact that some of your favorite cultural icons, from Bob Dylan to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, went through it too. Click through for a selection of charming photographs that might just make you nostalgic for camp — or glad you’re too grown up for it… Read More

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Books

‘Adulting’ Author Kelly Williams Brown’s Open Letters to the Girls of ‘Girls’ on How to Grow Up

By Emily Temple on

This week, the hilarious Kelly Williams Brown of Adulting publishes her first book, Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps, a witty and wise instruction manual for getting it together at — let’s not lie — pretty much any age. To put her skills to the test, we asked Brown to give a little advice to the women in our lives that are most in need of it — the characters of Girls, of course. After the jump, find Brown’s open letters (she’s careful to note, “These letters would be unspeakably rude, if these people weren’t, um, fictional”) to Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna, and Jessa. … Read More

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Pop Culture

12 Actors and Directors on Shooting Sex Scenes

By Alison Nastasi on

This week, we learned that director Harmony Korine cast a woman who could balance “three or four Coke cans on her ass” in his debauched Spring Breakers. It also turns out that star Gucci Mane couldn’t stop smoking weed long enough to successfully perform a sex scene with her in the movie. Vulture interviewed Korine, who revealed that the rapper-actor — who plays a rival drug lord to James Franco’s Alien — fell asleep during his big sex scene. “As he is getting f*cked, I start to hear snores,” said Korine. “He had literally passed out!” It’s an amusing anecdote, but it left us wondering how actors and directors handle those moments on the big screen. Do they really enjoy them? Is it always awkward? Check out the on-screen sex confessions of film and television’s finest past the break. … Read More

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Books

The Most Interesting Writing About Sylvia Plath on the 50th Anniversary of Her Death

By Emily Temple on

Fifty years ago today, Sylvia Plath killed herself, at the painfully young age of 30, and just a few weeks after the publication of her first and only novel, The Bell Jar. Needless to say, we’ve spent much of the day reading about the famed poet, whose literary legacy and personal mythology is as strong as ever, and discovering things we didn’t know. Just in case you don’t have the time to pour over tons of articles today, we thought we’d point you towards some of the most interesting pieces on the poet. Check them out after the jump, and if we’ve missed a gem of an article, link us to it in the comments! After all, you can’t have too much Sylvia. … Read More

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Pop Culture

A Brief Survey of Celebrities’ Crushes on Other Celebrities

By Alison Nastasi on

With industry professionals thriving in a hotbed of talented, attractive people, it’s no surprise that celebs can develop major crushes on other celebrities. Who else can understand the pressures and pleasures of fame more than another pop culture star? Sometimes admiration turns into a deeper attraction and fantasies about powerhouse relationships. We looked at the crushes of ten artists who have a thing for the singers and screen stars working alongside them. It’s cute, sometimes creepy, and always entertaining. Tell us about your favorite celeb-on-celeb crushes, below. … Read More

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Pop Culture

Controversial Cultural Icons Interviewing Each Other

By Alison Nastasi on

The gamine-coiffed creator of Girls, Lena Dunham, is currently on the cover of Interview magazine. Creative comrade Miranda July conducted the chat with the Tiny Furniture director. Both artists have carved their own path in the industry and made careers out of being keen observers, illuminating the unspoken intricacies of the everyday. Each has also faced their share of controversy — arousing criticisms over sex, nepotism, racial insensitivity, and body image, to name a few. We wanted to explore what happens when two cultural icons sit down to interview each other — and we’ve shared the Dunham/July talk past the break. Do these pioneering, celebrity culture makers ask the tough questions? Can they relate to one another, or do they lock horns? Check out the interviews between several controversial cultural icons that we tracked down, and find out. … Read More

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Books

Will Tina Fey’s Readers Make Lena Dunham’s Book a Hit?

By Chloe Pantazi on

Last October, 26-year-old actor, writer, and filmmaker, Lena Dunham signed a book deal for the reported sum of $3.7 million. After Dunham met with several publishers, Random House came out on top in a bidding war The New York Times called “one of the most heated auctions of the year,” purchasing the rights to her upcoming debut essay collection, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s Learned. The Times quoted Dunham as saying that she’s “thrilled to be working with… Random House, and to be among their incredible roster of authors. I look forward to digging deep… to produce the most thoughtful and personal book I can.” … Read More

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Television

‘Girls’ Season 2 Trailer: Is Hannah Finally Growing Up?

By Judy Berman on

HBO has just posted the first trailer for Girls Season 2, and we’ve got a lot to talk about. First of all, there’s Hannah, who we find watching a YouTube video of Adam strumming a little ditty for her: “Standing outside, you destroy-oy my heart. Thanks.” She claims to be in search of “the kind, sexy, responsible boyfriend I’ve always wanted but never had,” but we see her kissing a whole lot of random dudes, and her relationship with Adam clearly isn’t entirely over. Shoshanna and Ray are apparently still happy together, now that she’s no longer a virgin. There’s Rita Wilson giving Marnie motherly advice. And, most surprisingly of all, Jessa seems to be rather enjoying her marriage. No, there still aren’t any non-white people — and yes, that still is a problem. Click through to watch the trailer and let us know what you think. … Read More

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Television

Lena Dunham Explains Why She’s So Controversial

By Judy Berman on

As valid as many criticisms of Girls have been, we often ask ourselves why Lena Dunham — and not so many of TV’s other nepotism benificiaries or all-white character creators — has been so controversial. In a new interview with Esquire, Dunham explains why she believes she’s been a target: “People are ultimately threatened by… Read More

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