WHILE WE’RE YOUNG
What Josh’s Alter Ego Teaches Him

Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young is much more than a look at how youth wants to outdo the old. How the older envy youth. Or, how a mid-life crisis leads to all kinds of desperate shenanigans. It’s also the story of 40-something Josh (Ben Stiller) who can’t move forward for complex psychological reasons. And, of…

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MELISSA MCCARTHY & SEXIST REPORTER
A Teaching Moment

A male reporter told Melissa McCarthy that she’s only a good actress when she looks attractive. And that she, in fact, looked “really bad” in her role as Tammy.  She quite understandably was angry. But, Melissa McCarthy took the time to make it a teaching moment. To the reporter’s credit, he listened. He heard what…

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MAD MEN & Don Draper
Don’s Stories
Creating Greener Pastures?

Mad Men Season 7 Episode 12 gives us more to chew on about Don Draper’s (Jon Hamm) greatest talent: creating stories that sell. Sometimes his imagination carries him away, for better or worse. Where did this talent come from? No doubt, Don’s imagination saved him from an abusive and damaging childhood. Imagining being somewhere else…

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GIRLS
OCD # 1 Hannah’s Counting
Why The Number 8?

This is the first in a series of 4 Posts. What’s in Girls & Hannah’s OCD? The word OCD is tossed around too casually in our contemporary culture – as in “I’m so OCD” to mean “I’m a perfectionist.” Or “I like to have things organized and controlled.” Sure, those things can be true of people who…

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