Reporting from the Girl's Bathroom 🚰

Reviewing the charm and mystique of "THE GIRLS BATHROOM: A DOCUMENTARY"

Neighbors,

Did you hear the news?

The good folks over at the Powder Blue News Network dropped a special report:

Goodbye in 44 Days.

That’s right: Next month, we’re releasing the eighth (and final) print issue of Creator Mag. It’ll be a two-hundred-page coffee table book, featuring stories from the previous seven issues—and a new Editor’s Letter from yours truly.

Wait…did you say final? Yup, you heard that correctly. To mark the end of this era of Creator Mag, we’ll be hosting a 𝖿̶𝗎̶𝗇̶𝖾̶𝗋̶𝖺̶𝗅̶ celebration of life on January 31 in Chicago.

We’ll be sharing more details in the coming weeks, but just know we’ll ask you to come dressed in your best mourning attire. And check out our new website in the meantime—along with the official countdown clock, all stories from Issue Seven are now live online 👀

Alright, that’s enough from me. Moy, take it away for this week’s edition of Neighborhood Watch.

— NGL

P.S. We’re hosting an end-of-year holiday mixer at our studio this Friday! RSVP here.

P.P.S. Last blog, we shared five photos (and the stories behind them) from our 2025 event series. You can read it here.

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Video: ‘THE GIRLS BATHROOM: A DOCUMENTARY’ (2025)

Creator: Mackenzie Chang

Runtime: 9m 0s

Review by: Moy Zhong

A few weeks ago, Nate reviewed “LISTERS,” a two-hour birding documentary released exclusively on YouTube. Today, I’m running the documentary train back. I present to you: “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” by Mackenzie Chang, a nine-minute film on the inside happenings of a women’s restroom. Guys, are you interested? (I promise there’s room for everyone to watch this.)

In a grunged-up pink restroom stall straight out of a 90’s high school flick, a series of women answer the age-old question, “What happens in the girls bathroom?”

And from a girl, it feels like confessional. Women tell stories from their pubescent years to being a young adult of sharing tampons, spreading gossip, doing makeup, smoking joints, and the bonding, bonding, bonding that happens with fellow bathroom-goers.

A dramatization of what’s going on in the girl’s stalls…or is it? / Mackenzie Chang

Though, also from a girl, the film didn’t say anything I didn’t expect (well, there are some pretty wild stories in there). The testimonials were all feelings I’ve felt from being in women-specific spaces—“community,” “safety,” “sacred.” It’s how the film says these things that charms me most.

If anything, some testimonials feel a little exaggerated. Like, “is it that deep?” No, but also, like, yes! It can be, and this leads me to thoughts about reality, fiction, and the Internet today.

When most people think of documentary nowadays, it’s Animal Planet, it’s a riveting true crime spin—it’s anything “real,” “non-scripted,” “raw.” But what’s “real” these days?

Truthfully, nothing is real, non-scripted, or raw on film, my professor emphasized. A camera is an instigator; everyone acts in the presence of one. Unless it’s hidden—which is very unethical—few are truly free in the presence of prying eyes, especially in a world increasingly filled with capture devices, photographers, videographers, eyes. My professor hounded from day one: “documentary is based in contradiction”—things in documentary are both real and not real.

I’ll stop preaching about the surveillance state though, because even though I knowingly grew up in the camera-obsessed selfie era, I still freeze when a lens is pointed at me. I can’t help but throw up a peace sign and awkward smile—it’s so embarrassing! But anyone relaxing in front of a camera is especially hard to come by online with the prospects that anyone (for better or worse) can become seen by millions in the blink of an eye.

And the beauty of videos like “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” and “LISTERS” is how comfortable people are.

The confessional booth of a bathroom stall in “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” / Mackenzie Chang

In “LISTERS,” the documentarians completely immersed themselves in the world of birding; and the access and trust they gained to the birding community was a year in the making. The creators of “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” went the opposite way: they brought women back into a bathroom, decorated it with crass graffiti to sparkly streamers, and made it an intimate private experience. Dramatizations aside, the women don’t feel like they’re acting. Maybe their experiences feel exaggerated, but I think it’s because they feel so at home speaking to the documentarians—who are also women—in this curated, cared-for space.

This feels raw, and I commend the filmmakers for going the lengths went to bring viewers so close to the magic of reality. And to top it off, the incredibly charming title sequences, animations, sets, captioning, and lo-fi camera choices are the finishing details that make this piece really sparkle.

Me too, girl / Mackenzie Chang

One more thing I’ll say about “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” and “LISTERS” is that they feel so of the Internet era. “LISTERS” grows from a challenge not unlike a grand Michelle Khare or Casey Neistat venture… Maybe that’s a stretch, but the font choice of “THE GIRLS BATHROOM” are straight out of early 2000’s “girly games,”¹ and the neon animation sketches remind me of my favorite YouTube animator, vewn. And the humor in both of these, emphasized by clever cuts and cutaways, is just so contemporary, so of now.

Documentary is an expansive and experimental genre that I’m so excited more creators are delving into. Big media is pushing the creative—like Netflix making big waves with “The Perfect Neighbor,” a doc made entirely by sequencing police body camera footage. I previously mentioned Patrick Wiseman who presented fly-on-the-wall footage so immersive that it was cinema. But not every documentary has to be so serious, too—and the YouTube videos I mentioned today add to how malleable this genre can be.²

I think the root of documentaries is capturing the feelings, reactions, and thoughts of a group of real people at a certain point in humanity, and I’m digging what the Internet generation is bringing to this table right now.

Moy’s Score: 4.5 / 5 🧚‍♀️

Dedicated to the books, music, movies, and physical media that played a meaningful role in stopping our scroll.

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Film: ‘Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2025)

Director: Rian Johnson

Runtime: 2h 24m

I was a big fan of the last Knives Out installment, Glass Onion, and Wake Up Dead Man is a worthy follow-up in the series.³ The setting of a small upstate New York church town where whispers can be heard around every corner is a thrilling setting for this mystery, and Rian Johnson has a ball making it his playground for whimsical clues and hijinks.

I will warn that the first half hour is dense with character backstories; the set-up was almost like a whole other film itself. Do not underestimate the sigh of relief when Detective Benoit Blanc finally stepped into frame to let the actual solving begin!⁴ That being said, the richness of the town makes the actual sleuthing more fun of a whodunnit for the viewer, it just takes some time to get to. The end drags a bit too, but again, the payoff’s worth it.

This Knives Out is just as clever as the last. In the end, you’ll think to yourself, “I knew that would happen!” but the how’s and why’s will still surprise you. And be ready for some genuinely intense and spooky parts—why did everyone keep walking into the forest like that!?

Moy’s Score: 4.6 / 5 ⛪️

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Song: ‘pity dirty’ (2025)

Artist: pami

Length: 3m 13s

My partner played this song one day, and I haven’t been able to open Spotify without one play of it since. Now, I am a little shy about sharing it, the lyrics are a bit dirty—but it’s not like the song title doesn’t warn you of that. If you listen to the lyrics too much, it’ll make you blush if you’re one to tend to have your mind in the gutter. But it’s purposefully playful about that, and I like its bold cheekiness.

What really draws me in, though, is singer Pami’s soft vocals over a dreamy soundscape that, honestly, has a similar comforting mystique to a girl’s bathroom. It’s inviting, playful, and it’s no club banger but it coaxes you into falling into Pami’s trap of making you think of something dirty. Well played, singing siren.

Moy’s Score: 3.8 / 5 🍦

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Event: ‘We’re Not Really Strangers’ Party (2025)

My challenges card

Creator: My friend Kevin..?

Loosely inspired by “We’re Not Really Strangers,”⁵ my friend, Kevin,⁶ invited me and twenty-five other friends from various groups to meet at his house in hopes of having us, well, become friends. And yes, most of us were strangers when we walked into the door.

We were challenged with a notecard of different tasks to complete with others in the room; each challenge had to be done with a different person. The person with the most signatures won a prize.

As you can see from my card, I wasn’t the top dog, but that’s because I lingered! I had so many long conversations with people there that I missed a few spots, okay?⁷

For me, thus far, adult friendships have been a lot of “I know a guy who knew that guy who knows my friend, and now we’re all friends,” and this was such a fun way to jump in and meet all of “those guys” at once.

It’s a small world, and knowing one person really you up to so many more worlds. If you’re looking to make friends or bring any together, this was really fun. :-]

Moy’s Score: 👯‍♀️ / 5

Thanks for reading! Shoot us a reply, comment, or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—we respond to them all.

1. I just saw a great video that not only better defines and gives examples of “girl games” but also talks about how to make one!

2. I’ve been ruminating a long time too on defining things like vlogs and livestreams as documentaries too, but that’s another can of worms I’ll open in a later Neighborhood Watch…

3. And remember, Knives Out is an anthology, so every film is a standalone story where you and your friends can watch this movie even if you haven’t seen the first two! (I haven’t seen the first myself.)

4. And Benoit Blanc’s pants in this film are absolutely divine. The bell bottoms with a little bootie heel were a fantastic choice. So dripped; need more men in these fits (can do with or without the Louisiana drawl).

5. It’s a card game that makes players ask each other deep and personal questions to get to know each other better, to “skip the small talk.”

6. Actually Kevin and I have only met, like, once, so we’re kind of strangers too!

7. I also did some without writing them down! Also, I don’t smoke, so for No. 13 we just stepped outside and hung out 😊