A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

GREETINGS, GOSSIP GIRL FANS: Yes, we should talk about the hit show a bit more, because I'm not the only one here watching. Can I tell any of the guys apart other than Dan Humphrey and his five-years-older-than-him Dad? Not really. Read this interview with writer/producer Stephanie Savage about pulling off the adaptation, or New York magazine's coverage, and then we can decide whether we're ever going to have a week without a party (did love the Eyes Wide Shut tribute), or whether New York is right in claiming "The generation of tweens watching Gossip Girl, take note: Dan is your Jake Ryan, and believing that guys like this exist can ruin your life," or whether, as Lesley Blume puts it:

Gossip Girl seems to tell us that there's nothing to look forward to, and there will be nothing to look back upon ... except more of the same. We're not just destined to become brittle materialistic adults; we already are brittle materialistic adults by the time we hit puberty. We have no choice. We're wired for misery. If we have money, we're destined to be miserable with it. If we don't have it, we're destined to be miserable without it, and spend our lives with our noses pressed up against the glass.

And this demoralizing little message is the real meanness of the series.

Gossip Girl represents nothing less than the soft death of youth culture and rebellion and self-determinism.

We have many van der Woodsens to discuss, gang.