26 Comments
User's avatar
CKWatt's avatar

Oh god, Helen is dying and she'll only survive if we yell at her to live on the computer! Everyone, yell at Helen to live! We must save her as we saved Tinkerbell by clapping!

Benjamin Ryan's avatar

What I love about Lena Dunham's book is that it really is the only celebrity memoir I've ever read that characterizes in such exacting terms the profound cost to the celebrity's family and personal relationships of their fame. I really appreciated how she described how she found old friends started excluding her from things and never asked after her well-being. And how she compensated for her sudden wealth by always paying for shared dinners out. I appreciated her candor and profound self-awareness about the toxicity and absurdity of her sudden and very early success and fame. I also argue that HBO was correct to snatch her up and make very good use of her obvious talent, which I believe is a byproduct of her tormented mental state. She is the Anne Sexton of her generation. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm eager to hear Helen Lewis's.

My file's avatar

I can never get over how normal she looks. It's always so shocking.

Benjamin Ryan's avatar

How did this happen??

My file's avatar

It makes you realise how not normal looking everybody is on TV, even actors whose whole thing is looking 'normal'.

DJ's avatar

This reminded me of Mike Myers' documentary "Supermensch," about his manager, Shep Gordon. During press tours Myers called fame a toxic byproduct that can destroy your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF0jKEMSDGw

Beki's avatar

Question for Helen: she has to be stuck in a lift for an hour with either Nigel Farage or Zack Polanski - which is she choosing (seppuku whilst understandable is off the table)

Brilliantly Oblivious's avatar

Suppuku is the only answer, although I might pull off a hypnotic trance if forced to encounter Zackie.

Beki's avatar

Be aware if you are hypnotised around Zack you may come out with bigger boobs.

Alphonse's avatar

AI would be infinitely better if it was Helen Lewis.

Ullr's avatar

Anyone else remember the HBO show Dunham did with gender diverse or rather obviously in hindsight body dysmorphic women and a professional tailor. At the time I remember being curious to hear women talk about using clothing to help tell their story. And wondering why the taxi driver seemed to be keen to remove her breasts… the black woman lawyer trying to hide her hips, and being really horrified by the extreme surgery and awful pain that the nurse who was marrying her girlfriend felt was necessary to match her idea of feeling like her female body parts were alien.

I genuinely wonder if this interview/ personal essay show would feel transphobic now to a younger generation?

deranged scold's avatar

Oh god. Again?

Find some fresh material

calocha's avatar

Follow up to the last bisexual would-you-rather Helen was presented with:

Lindy's personality in Aham's body, or Aham's personality in Lindy's body?

Crazy Elf's avatar

I still want to know Helen's top three video games. And I want Katie to ask her, because I want to hear how disgusted Katie is when she realises that Woodblock isn't on the list.

JorgeGeorge's avatar

Helen, looking forward to your session with Katie (ooh, sounds hot!) tomorrow. Can you remind yourselves (especially Katie) not to talk so fast please?

There's no timeclock.

YOU'RE SELF EMPLOYED! DUH!

Also, I'm a new paid subscriber to your newsletter but all I've seen are posts of you on vacation. Seriously? I'm not paying money for you to have fun. And did you really spend my money to travel around the world (ooh, sounds hot) to look at bird feces? Is that a UK thing?

I thought the Germans were into that. And don't you have birds in the UK? The animal ones, with feathers and wings, not human girls with feathers and wings (ooh, sounds hot)?

Seriously, your awesome! Just be awesome a little more slowly please.....

deranged scold's avatar

Looking forward to another lighthearted, giggly discussion of Pakistani rape gangs!

Kazzah's avatar

I’m dying to discuss this book with someone, but nobody in my real life has read it, and I suspect some of my opinions would get me booted off Reddit. (Sorry, but Lena’s sibling comes across as an entitled brat)

I hope Lena’s doing better now, she seems to be, but I do worry that she’ll find it very hard to cope if Margaret Qualley ever gets pregnant. She’s kinder to Jack than he probably deserves, and meaner to Jenni than she probably deserves.

Kevin's avatar

So, extra reading - but does Dunham's book back up the viral argument that Lorde and Jack Antonoff had an affair, and that Lorde's album Melodrama is really about that: https://dfta.show/files/Lorde%20and%20Jack%20Antonoff%20-.pptx%20(2).pdf

Kazzah's avatar

She says she’s seen the PowerPoint, and reached out to the person who put it together - who then invited Dunham on her podcast. Jack spends a lot of time in a locked soundproofed room with the teenager.

Kevin's avatar

Jack Antonoff's "dumb hetero normative gossip" retort to the rumours is very funny and very 2010s

Melissa's avatar

Is there some sort of online Barpod style drama that is prompting this discourse?

Ronny's avatar

Who would win in a fight Lena or Lindy?

Beepy's avatar

ofmg Heln Luce is my favorite