To some, I may be born yesterday. Technically, I was born last week. That was the first time I watched sequential "Gossip girl" episodes. I survived life so far without ever seeing a single episode of "Grey's Anatomy" despite its infamy. But when by happenstance I came across Jessica Zafra's review of "Gossip girl," I knew I must get around seeing it sometime. Further, I had an educated hunch the show was going to be good since Ms. JZ in my book happens to be the Queen of all Cultural Snobs and she gave Gg (for brevity) a sort of a positive review in a major broadsheet. This last weekend, my lovely wife and my brother-in-law were watching a Gg DVD and I watched along. Unlike them, however, I still have to stop watching.
Now this peice is not going to be review on Gg--just watch the show and decide for yourselves as to whether or not the same is any good--but rather an in depth look into two of the peripheral characters in the persons of Rufus Humphrey and Lily Van der Woodsen.
Rufus is the father of Dan--who dated the lead, Serena Van der Woodsen--and Jenny, a.k.a. "Little J." Rufus is also the estranged husband of Alison, who is now living in Hudson, presumably getting fucked daily by his neighbor whom she met when she ran away from home under the pretense of moving out of the family environment in order to further cultivate her art as she is a painter. Finally, Rufus is the first great love of Lily Van der Woodsen, mother of Serena who had already married four times after she and Rufus broke up sometime in the early Eighties.
Rufus is a NYC small gallery owner by day and a songwriter/guitarist on the weekends. I have seen a fender Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul and a really cool, worn cherry Gibson ES135 which he actually played in gig in one of the episodes in season 1. He sends his son Dan and daughter Jenny to a geared-towards-Ivy League High School in Manhattan attended by kids coming from America's richest and most famous families, such as the Waldorfs, the Archibalds, the Richashell, the Whatelsehaveyous. How he does it? I don't know. He must sell a whole damn lot of those abstracts and hideous wrought-iron sculptures at his gallery. Well, you know the rich, they tend to actually buy all those stuff which ordinary people like you and me would just be satisfied by admiring them in museums and public art galleries. So the plot, while somewhat unlikely, is still plausible if you stretch your imagination a little bit.
Now I don't really care too much about the main corny-ass teenybopper story, as I find it a cross between 90210 and Sex in the City, but strange as it may be, I have a long standing fascination in the City of New York and through the years, have developed a certain propensity of watching movies and TV shows set in the Big Apple. To me, NYC is the City of all Cities, and someday, I hope to visit and it and be a part of the audience for the Late Show if David Letterman is still alive or haven't retired. BTW, how old is DL today? A hundred and twelve? Anyway, The Humphreys live in Brooklyn while Van der Woodsens and the Waldorfs are from Uptown Manhattan. They are all, however "Upper Eastsiders."
While not actually portrayed or acted out in the series, Rufus in his youth got to know young Lily an fell in love like star crossed lovers not unlike Romeo and whatsherface. Nevertheles, fate is always never that kind. It is not clear on exactly how they broke up but it is pristine that the root was the immense gap between their families' fortunes vis-a-vis the lack thereof. Rufus is from a working class family, and Lily, is a Van der Woodsen--the kind of family whose children never have to manually toil to earn their daily bread, as their ancestors had secured their futures a long time ago. To my eyes, their relationship could have worked though, if only Rufus had more balls and Lily wasn't too much of a damsel. Perhps due to the shortcomings of their youth, what love they had failed to hold together their relationship.
Peculiar, however, is that even after more than seventeen (17) years, it is apparent that they still have some feeliings for each other. Is it true that a person's first great love never really dies? Who knows these things anyway? It's like asking why is sea water salty. In one episode, right after Rufus finally broke up with her slut of a wife Alison on Christmas day, no less, he called Lily while standing outside the courtyard of the Hotel(!) where the latter lived (while the snow was falling hard and the former was without a jacket) just to tell her he misses her. Unfortunately, Bart Bass (father of Chuck Bass, and major a-hole) on that exact moment was unvieling an engagement ring that makes that given by Jay-Z to Mariah look like a cheap wal-mart deal. A few days after that, Lily, having found out that Rufus and Alison had gone their separate ways (finally, for the love of God) agreed to run away with Rufus over the weekend and see what would happen if they try to rekindle what they had. But as sure as the taxi cabs in NYC are yellow and not red like in HK, that plan failed to push through. As Lily was packing, her daughter Serena caught her shining with an uncharacteristic glow in her face, and the former confessed to her daughter in not so many words that she's going away with Rufus. Serena pleaded cryingly to her mother that Dan (Humphrey) is the most important thing in her life and that she would rater have Chuck Bass as his step-brother than Dan, begging her mother not to do it (whatever it is) to her. There, Lily's decision was made. Lily arrived the place where they were supposed to meet but not as Lily but as the rich Mrs. Van der Woodsen who saw Rufus as poor Mr. Humphrey from the Bronx. When Rufus left, Lily stood there lone at the corner of 86th and 9th contemplating whether or not she made the same big mistake twice in her lifetime.
Rufus still loves Lily and vice-versa. Perhaps they have chosen not to be together so what they had can never be spoiled and ruined by the mundane realities of life. Maybe they have chosen to be friends because they are truly soul-mates and they know deep inside their hearts that nothing can take away their love for each other no matter how many marriages one goes through or how many neighbors will fuck their spouses. In one bizaare episode, Rufus was taken along Lily's wedding gown shopping trip. When the latter oppened the fitting room curtain, the star-crossed couples' eyes revealed what I have just written. Towards the close of the first season, it is revealed that Rufus and Lily made love the night before her wedding, prompting her to have to make a decision between him and Chuck's father. Rufus surprises Lily in the brides chamber and offers to call off the wedding. Lily tells Rufus she loves him and then walks down the aisle to marry Bart Ass, I mean, Bass.
Now this peice is not going to be review on Gg--just watch the show and decide for yourselves as to whether or not the same is any good--but rather an in depth look into two of the peripheral characters in the persons of Rufus Humphrey and Lily Van der Woodsen.
Rufus is the father of Dan--who dated the lead, Serena Van der Woodsen--and Jenny, a.k.a. "Little J." Rufus is also the estranged husband of Alison, who is now living in Hudson, presumably getting fucked daily by his neighbor whom she met when she ran away from home under the pretense of moving out of the family environment in order to further cultivate her art as she is a painter. Finally, Rufus is the first great love of Lily Van der Woodsen, mother of Serena who had already married four times after she and Rufus broke up sometime in the early Eighties.
Rufus is a NYC small gallery owner by day and a songwriter/guitarist on the weekends. I have seen a fender Stratocaster, a Gibson Les Paul and a really cool, worn cherry Gibson ES135 which he actually played in gig in one of the episodes in season 1. He sends his son Dan and daughter Jenny to a geared-towards-Ivy League High School in Manhattan attended by kids coming from America's richest and most famous families, such as the Waldorfs, the Archibalds, the Richashell, the Whatelsehaveyous. How he does it? I don't know. He must sell a whole damn lot of those abstracts and hideous wrought-iron sculptures at his gallery. Well, you know the rich, they tend to actually buy all those stuff which ordinary people like you and me would just be satisfied by admiring them in museums and public art galleries. So the plot, while somewhat unlikely, is still plausible if you stretch your imagination a little bit.
Now I don't really care too much about the main corny-ass teenybopper story, as I find it a cross between 90210 and Sex in the City, but strange as it may be, I have a long standing fascination in the City of New York and through the years, have developed a certain propensity of watching movies and TV shows set in the Big Apple. To me, NYC is the City of all Cities, and someday, I hope to visit and it and be a part of the audience for the Late Show if David Letterman is still alive or haven't retired. BTW, how old is DL today? A hundred and twelve? Anyway, The Humphreys live in Brooklyn while Van der Woodsens and the Waldorfs are from Uptown Manhattan. They are all, however "Upper Eastsiders."
While not actually portrayed or acted out in the series, Rufus in his youth got to know young Lily an fell in love like star crossed lovers not unlike Romeo and whatsherface. Nevertheles, fate is always never that kind. It is not clear on exactly how they broke up but it is pristine that the root was the immense gap between their families' fortunes vis-a-vis the lack thereof. Rufus is from a working class family, and Lily, is a Van der Woodsen--the kind of family whose children never have to manually toil to earn their daily bread, as their ancestors had secured their futures a long time ago. To my eyes, their relationship could have worked though, if only Rufus had more balls and Lily wasn't too much of a damsel. Perhps due to the shortcomings of their youth, what love they had failed to hold together their relationship.
Peculiar, however, is that even after more than seventeen (17) years, it is apparent that they still have some feeliings for each other. Is it true that a person's first great love never really dies? Who knows these things anyway? It's like asking why is sea water salty. In one episode, right after Rufus finally broke up with her slut of a wife Alison on Christmas day, no less, he called Lily while standing outside the courtyard of the Hotel(!) where the latter lived (while the snow was falling hard and the former was without a jacket) just to tell her he misses her. Unfortunately, Bart Bass (father of Chuck Bass, and major a-hole) on that exact moment was unvieling an engagement ring that makes that given by Jay-Z to Mariah look like a cheap wal-mart deal. A few days after that, Lily, having found out that Rufus and Alison had gone their separate ways (finally, for the love of God) agreed to run away with Rufus over the weekend and see what would happen if they try to rekindle what they had. But as sure as the taxi cabs in NYC are yellow and not red like in HK, that plan failed to push through. As Lily was packing, her daughter Serena caught her shining with an uncharacteristic glow in her face, and the former confessed to her daughter in not so many words that she's going away with Rufus. Serena pleaded cryingly to her mother that Dan (Humphrey) is the most important thing in her life and that she would rater have Chuck Bass as his step-brother than Dan, begging her mother not to do it (whatever it is) to her. There, Lily's decision was made. Lily arrived the place where they were supposed to meet but not as Lily but as the rich Mrs. Van der Woodsen who saw Rufus as poor Mr. Humphrey from the Bronx. When Rufus left, Lily stood there lone at the corner of 86th and 9th contemplating whether or not she made the same big mistake twice in her lifetime.
Rufus still loves Lily and vice-versa. Perhaps they have chosen not to be together so what they had can never be spoiled and ruined by the mundane realities of life. Maybe they have chosen to be friends because they are truly soul-mates and they know deep inside their hearts that nothing can take away their love for each other no matter how many marriages one goes through or how many neighbors will fuck their spouses. In one bizaare episode, Rufus was taken along Lily's wedding gown shopping trip. When the latter oppened the fitting room curtain, the star-crossed couples' eyes revealed what I have just written. Towards the close of the first season, it is revealed that Rufus and Lily made love the night before her wedding, prompting her to have to make a decision between him and Chuck's father. Rufus surprises Lily in the brides chamber and offers to call off the wedding. Lily tells Rufus she loves him and then walks down the aisle to marry Bart Ass, I mean, Bass.
You have just got to see Gg to believe it.
x o x o,
The Rainmaker
x o x o,
The Rainmaker
