#becoming an adult has just been a whole roller coaster of 'surprise you were masking the whole time' realization

[chestnutpost]

Life Isn’t Perfect, But ‘PEN15’ Is

This post was originally published on this site

It’s hard to believe it has been nearly two decades since 2000, but watching “PEN15” makes that year seem like a long-lost relic. The new Hulu show, which follows two best friends navigating junior high, brings back dial-up internet, landlines, locker mirrors and nascent AIM relationships. Happily, it has more to offer than easy nostalgia.

What keeps it fresh is the twist in its casting: Adult women Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who created the show with “Take My Wife” director Sam Zvibleman, play the two main characters (also named Maya and Anna), setting an off-kilter tone for everything that follows. If watching teens freak out over a furtively passed note from a love interest is funny, it’s even more hilarious to see 30-somethings do it. 

Maya and Anna are social outcasts determined to make seventh grade their best year yet. It begins on a rocky foot, with Maya being labeled that year’s UGIS, or “ugliest girl in school.” It only gets wobblier as the duo face intimidating cool girls, young love, periods, masturbation, family drama and their diverging identities.

From “Big Mouth” to “Everything Sucks!” to “Sex Education,” there’s plenty of teen fare out there. So what makes “PEN15” worth your precious bingeing time? The specificity of the early ’00s references provides instant gratification for elder millennials, while the perspective that Erskine and Konkle bring to their characters elevates it beyond a simple “Remember when?” kind of show.

HuffPost writers Matt Jacobs and Jill Capewell gushingly address the question everyone has on their minds: Should you watch it?

Matt: I haven’t loved a comedy as much as I love “PEN15” since … I don’t know when. Maybe the first season of “Orange Is the New Black”? The time Selina Meyer walked through glass? Our first glimpse of swole Chidi on “The Good Place”? Anyway, it’s been a while. How much do you love it, Jill?

Jill: Matt, I love it so much! The promise of gel pen references drew me in, but the love Anna and Maya have for each other — and the hilarious ways they show it — kept me there. Plus, I was in seventh grade as AIM was coming out and cargo skirts from Delia*s were cool, so I am probably the exact target demo for the show. I had major flashbacks when I saw Anna’s two face-framing wispy strands of hair.

There were so many perfect references to that time period in the early aughts, when the internet was new and clunky and the best thing we knew to do with it was ask each other “a/s/l?” in chat rooms. Maya’s “diper911” screen name, for example, nails the freewheeling, random nature of how we saw the World Wide Web back then and how we presented ourselves on it in turn. We didn’t yet view our social media personas as “personal brands.” Plus, lol, diaper emergency. How did it feel to see the awkward early teen years (let’s face it, we were all awkward) played back for you in such exacting detail?

Hulu

Matt: Such excruciation, but even more than that, it felt like a real swoon, honestly. Maybe it’s because I’ve had such existential dread about social media lately, but revisiting a world where AIM is the nearest source of anxiety was comforting in a way that transcends easy nostalgia.

“PEN15” is a show built on gimmicks, and it rises above every one. The off-kilter casting, the 2000 setting that requires clichéd Y2K-era signifiers, the whole “let’s revisit how awful middle school is” ethos that “Eighth Grade” did as recently as last year. Magically, it all works.

I think casting Erskine and Konkle gives the central characters a nuance the show otherwise couldn’t hope for; they bring a perspective to the roles that teenagers wouldn’t. What’d you make of them playing 13-year-olds opposite actual 13-year-olds?

Jill: I was also thinking that “PEN15” is able to stand out among the many “awkward teen years” offerings out there, and I think it is helped in part by having adults play the two main characters. For one, it’s delightfully absurd to see — I cackled when Maya and Anna were trying to cuss out an actual teen on their first day of seventh grade. Seeing adults posturing as brace-faced and bowl-cut adolescents never gets old.

And another component is that crucial perspective you mentioned. The audience is constantly reminded that this will end up just being a phase in these girls’ lives. Having Erskine and Konkle playing teenagers lends an odd believability to the series, as wild as the optics are: You know they lived as the outcasts they play on screen, so I can trust the foibles and emotional roller coasters the characters go through. Plus, it speaks to the fact that we never truly outgrow our weird teenage selves.

I was concerned about how they were going to pull off Anna’s first kiss — but some camera-angle magic took care of that.

One thing that really surprised me as I got further into the series was how much heart it has. The show is able to segue from pure nostalgic joy to resonant truths about growing up without feeling like an after-school special. The arc of Anna’s parents fighting more and eventually getting divorced reminded me how crushing that can feel when your parents are your whole world. What did you think of the show striking a balance between pure fun and these bald truths about getting older?

Hulu

Matt: “PEN15” does get bittersweet by the end, but I also love the touch of sadness that’s nestled into its humor. Its physical comedy ― Maya’s timpani solo, for example, or the girls’ hallway catwalk on the thong episode ― is “I Love Lucy”-level good. But even within those moments, I felt pangs of melancholy, in part because it reminds us of the intimacy inherent in adolescence. Even a great adult friendship lacks the connectedness of a bond based on youth, when you get to learn about the world alongside classmates and neighbors who are just as uncertain (even the ones who mask that uncertainty in bullying tactics). We don’t realize what our teenage kinships mean until it’s too late, and that’s something Erskine and Konkle tap into without ever saying as much.

Jill: I think you hit the nail on the head, Matt. It’s easy to brush off your teen years as a wasted time of being young and dumb, but it’s really when we start to become who we eventually are. What I think makes this show feel so revelatory is the respect it gives to aspects of teendom that don’t often get treated with importance. No stray feeling is too inconsequential, because it didn’t feel inconsequential then.

Hulu

Matt: That’s right. Things are only ridiculous with hindsight. An internet romance is serious business, and so is your first cigarette or your terrible haircut or your shared thong. A middle-school relationship can be almost entirely silent and avoidant and still feel like the most meaningful thing you’ve experienced, like Anna and her band boyfriend Brendan, who scribbles notes but can barely sustain a conversation.

The last few years have been a golden age for popular culture about teens who feel isolated from the world around them. But most of the genre has been character studies built around one protagonist (“The Edge of Seventeen,” “Lady Bird,” “Eighth Grade,” “Skate Kitchen”). Here we get to see how two girls’ lives intersect and diverge, and the way they vow to share every moment along the way. (“Broad City” is probably the aptest comparison, but that show has faced narrative limits that “PEN15” can more easily avoid.) It’s in that very togetherness that we see them as individuals just starting to figure out what sets them apart. The beauty, for us, is knowing how long and fruitful that journey will be. I almost don’t even want a second season because I’d rather imagine it for myself; the limitlessness is poetic, ya know?

Jill: I understand what you mean — on one hand, I want more of this great show, but on the other, I just want to imagine Maya and Anna side-by-side learning how to shave in the tub before the school dance forever. I don’t want them to age, even if they’re 31 in real life. We can’t go back to 2000 and, honestly, I’m not sure I’m ready to, but with “PEN15,” we can always pay a quick visit. That is, if our mom gets off the phone so we can use the dial-up.

This has been “Should You Watch It?” a weekly examination of movies and TV worth ― or not worth! ― your time.

RELATED COVERAGE

The post Life Isn’t Perfect, But ‘PEN15’ Is appeared first on The Chestnut Post.

from The Chestnut Post https://thechestnutpost.com/news/life-isnt-perfect-but-pen15-is/

[sincerelymrnaked]

Deep talks with a Las Vegas stripper: I think I’m in love...

“How bout you sit there.” I point to the seat next to me. She looks at me with a flash of confusion — a look that wonders if I’m happily married, gay, or both. Why else wouldn’t I let her bare ass sit on my lap?

 “Um…okay, that’s a little different.”

“Yeah, to be honest, I don’t want to waste your time. I’m not planning on spending anything tonight.”

 “So why you here?” She leans in close. I really like her schoolgirl plaid skirt. Her legs are long and glowing, and her foot is rubbing against my ankle.

I gesture to my boys sitting in the booth. Derek is getting a dance from a brunette with a pink skirt. Matt is talking to a blonde in black fishnets. Calvin is kissing a redhead’s hand. Pete is leaning into a Latina girl’s ear and making her roar with laughter; I wonder if she’s laughing for real. Probably not — he’s really not that funny.

“My friends insisted. And where else would you end the night in Las Vegas?”

“I guess that’s true. But you’re just going to sit there?”

“It beats losing all my money on roulette.”

I’ve already lost thirty dollars on red. I know that’s not a lot, but I don’t really have much money to lose, being a writer and all.

“Is it? At least with roulette you’ve got the chance to walk out richer than you came in. Can’t say the same about here.”

“Can’t say the same about roulette, either.”

I’ve discovered the hard way that losing is inevitable. Even when you win.

When we first got out of the cab, there was a big sign: “Sapphire: The World’s Largest Gentlemen’s Club.” I heard this is the biggest in Las Vegas but is it really the “largest in the world”? Or is that just one of the many sale strategies that litter the strip? Just another flash of dishonesty?

I had gotten into a little argument with boys back in the hotel room. “Why would anyone pay to see boobs?” I shouted.

 “Dude, are you serious? That’s literally how Las Vegas was built!” shouted Calvin. “The mob, gambling, and boobs!”

“People pay for boobs all the time,” reasoned Pete. “But paying for a dance is less expensive than paying for dates, hotel rooms, diamond rings, and weddings.”

“What did you say your name was again?”

“Francesca,” she says, folding one leg over the other; the other foot is still rubbing against my ankle.

Great stripper name. Completely original! I wonder if you have to register those to avoid too many Francesca’s from clogging the strip. 

“Well, Francesca, do you mind if I ask you something?” I lean in and move my leg away from her game of footsie. I try to signal that I just want to talk.

She straightens up, serious. “Yeah…what’s up?”

“Do you like it here?”

“In Vegas, or,” she points to the floor, “here?”

“Um…both…”

That’s the moment she snaps out of her sexy school-girl act. She stops pursing her lips and batting her eyelashes and looks at me like just another girl lost in a confusing world.

“It can be a little much sometimes.”

“How long have you’ve been here?”

“Three weeks.”

“Have you lost your soul yet?”

She laughs, but not flirtatiously. I think she actually found the cliché funny. She doesn’t seem like she’s selling herself anymore; it’s the first I’ve felt that from anyone since I got here. Who knew it’d come from a stripper?

“All of it can be a little…extra sometimes.”

I nod my head in agreement. When I first got here I immediately asked myself why I came. This place seems to represent everything I hate. It’s a city of immediacy, high-rolling external validation, a desert of chaos — though in a charming way, a destructive way just the same. It can throw a smile of amazement on your face the same moment it sucks the life out of you and keeps you penniless and confused.

Vegas is the mugger that entices you, arouses you, and fucks you without buying you dinner. It seduces you with its flashing lights and big watches and rooftop pool parties; it buckles you aboard an endless rollercoaster of exhilaration that’s always looking for the next drop and always on the verge of flying off the rails. It’s a system that strives for people’ instability excused as versatility. It’s a world that capitalizes on the raw urges of human psychology.

“And here?” I point to the floor.

“It’s good and bad. Depends on the night. Some guys could be really big assholes. Some just blow money they don’t have. But the coolest part of this job is when I get to understand people.”

This interests me. “What do you mean by that?”

“I get exposed to people for who they really are. As the night progresses, I get to see a shift in personalities.”

“Douchebags become sweethearts? Other way around?”

“More than that. Confident guys end the night crying into my shoulder. They open up to me.”

“Wow! You’re a psychiatrist, too.”

“Exactly!”

“Guess that’s not what you signed up for.”

“Nope,” she says. “But it gives me good content. I’m a writer.”

I look at her with a dropped jaw.

“What?”

“Are you really?”

“What, strippers can’t be writers? You think we’re all illiterate or something? Only know how to shake our asses?”

“No, no!” I throw my hands up in defence. “It’s not that at all — I’m just…surprised because I’m a writer, too!”

“Really? What do you write about?”

“Mostly my experiences. I’m a storyteller... What about you?”

“I was a stripper in New York for six months. I’m writing a book about it. This here is just another chapter.”

“That sounds incredible!“

“Thanks.”

“Reminds me of my favourite Ernest Hemingway quote.”

She raises a brow.

 “In order to write about life, first you must live it.”

“Love it.” 

“You know, I love getting naked, too.”

“Oh yeah?”

 “I haven’t done it for money yet. But I guess that’s always an option. Maybe I’ll write a book about it also.”

“I’ll buy yours if you buy mine.”

“I think the best literature in the world comes from real experiences. I’m starting a blog all about that. Thinking of using a pen name.”

“Thought of one yet?”

“Nope, but it’ll be way more creative than Francesca.”

“Fuck you.” She laughs and punches my shoulder like I’m her big brother.

“I think people become the best version of themselves when their reputation isn’t on the line. When they get to hide behind another identity.”

“Best, or most real?” she asks.

I think about it. “Real.”

“Yeah, well that’s not always their best.” She rubs her thigh, and I notice a small bruise.

“I bet you see a lot of performances,” I say.

“Besides Chris Angel?”

 “Yeah, like lower-middle-class sales associates becoming leading surgeons or lawyers. Surgeons and lawyers becoming professional athletes.”

“Oh definitely. But my bullshit radar has definitely given me an advantage. You get to really understand how people hold themselves here. You can normally see who’s playing a role. Which guys will hide behind their money, which are hiding from their wives and families. Mid-life crises are my specialty.”

“Really?” I find this hilarious.

“Yeah. I can point out a good mid-life crisis the second someone walks through those doors. I can smell that shit from a mile away! It fucking reeks the whole club. I can tell if a confident smile is masking insecurity. I can tell if someone’s uncomfortable in an expensive suit, no matter how tailored and fitted it may be. I know when someone’s not used to throwing a hundred-dollar bill, even as they do it quickly enough to wipe their ass with it.”

“You really are a writer, aren’t you?”

“I try.”

“Tell me something I don’t already know. Anyone who hasn’t been to Vegas knows this is nothing more than a commercialized desert of slot machines and loose morals.”

“It’s also an escape. People come here to start over. They believe this is a new beginning.“

"Seems like a pretty unhealthy beginning if you ask me.”

“Look, the strip can get a little crazy. But that’s just the strip. It’s called an adult Disney world for a reason. Why do you think there’s a roller coaster running through the ceiling of New York New York? That’s the kind of freedom you don’t get in the adult world.”

Maybe she’s right. Maybe the Vegas strip is more than casinos and strippers and endless entertainment. Maybe it’s the only escape adults feel they could turn to. 

Sure, at first thought that can be excused as blunt immaturity. But maybe people’s desire to separate themselves from responsibility is the real engine that drives this city forward. The strip is where you could start over, be someone else, play a new role, take on a new identity, and feel the thrill of moral isolation. But it’s also a place where you could forget the demons of your average life confining you. You could be anyone and do anything. 

But maybe the lack of restriction doesn’t inspire a greater self. Maybe it blurs the understanding of what your self even is. It blinds you from accepting the cards you were dealt and the chips on the table. 

Francesca stands up and extends her arm; I assume she wants me to kiss her hand so I do. “Thank you for the talk,” she says. “You’ve given me a little burst of estrogen.”

I laugh uncomfortably. “So why are you still here? In Vegas?”

“Because it’s better than where I came from. This is where I’ll find happiness.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“Fuck no,” she says with a smirk. “Happiness isn’t found here. It’s bet on. And even when you win, satisfaction never comes. Only a higher-stake gamble. And a bigger one after that.” 

“Keep writing your book,“ I say.

She smiles and walks away. And as she does, with her hips swinging and ass rising, she transforms back into her role. 

Help me. I think I’m in love. 

Sincerely, Mr. Naked.