Much as I like the portrait of Don Draper as an adult survivor of child abuse, and his (and society's) failure to cope with that, my great love is the ad agency stuff. And right now, I think SOMEONE has just shot himself in the foot. ( Spoilers up to 'The Strategy'. )
It was published in 2010, but I only found it today: an insightful, intelligent article about Betty Draper, what she represents and why people who hate her are kind of missing the point. I want to print it out and cuddle it and maybe marry it, or at least have a brief fling that ends with the occasional amicable lunch date.
First there was Festivids, and now there's ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
halfamoon the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
white_lotus Lunar New Year Fest, which means there have been a whole lot of really great vids that need reccing.
So! First up,festivids!
Clue
Another One Bites the Dust by [ANON]. There is a warning for comedic violence, and the summary is, "Flames. Flames on the side of my face." And I was sold.
Joseon X-Files
Illumination by [ANON]. Joseon X-Files is a Korean sci-fi historical drama, about UFOs and aliens in 17th century Korea and the Handsome And Honest Magistrate And Mysterious And Beautiful Lady Steampunk Engineer/Bad-Ass Bookshop Owner who investigate them. This vid is gorgeous and haunting, making use of the series' high production values, and successfully persuaded the House o'Squid to watch the series. (There's a summary/review of the first episode here if you're curious.)
Mad Men
Let It Be by [ANON]. Tracing Don and Peggy's relationship, and their personal and professional journeys.
halfamoon!
Multifandom
Tightrope by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
such_heights. Every year, halfamoon throws up a couple of multi-fandom vids about female characters, and I eat them up like a spoon. (I think there are fandoms for which my entire knowledge comes from these vids.) This is one.
She's a Rebel bykaydeefalls. This is another!
They both have, like, snappy cutting and stuff. Vidders love snappy cutting and stuff.
It's been a long day.
white_lotus
Avatar: the Last Airbender
Watershed by [ANON]. I've been thinking about this vid all freaking day. It's maybe a little heavier on the talky face than I like, but that kind of doesn't matter, because the song is so very, eerily perfect.
halfamoon the white_lotus Lunar New Year Fest, which means there have been a whole lot of really great vids that need reccing. So! First up,
festivids!Clue
Another One Bites the Dust by [ANON]. There is a warning for comedic violence, and the summary is, "Flames. Flames on the side of my face." And I was sold.
Joseon X-Files
Illumination by [ANON]. Joseon X-Files is a Korean sci-fi historical drama, about UFOs and aliens in 17th century Korea and the Handsome And Honest Magistrate And Mysterious And Beautiful Lady Steampunk Engineer/Bad-Ass Bookshop Owner who investigate them. This vid is gorgeous and haunting, making use of the series' high production values, and successfully persuaded the House o'Squid to watch the series. (There's a summary/review of the first episode here if you're curious.)
Mad Men
Let It Be by [ANON]. Tracing Don and Peggy's relationship, and their personal and professional journeys.
halfamoon!Multifandom
Tightrope by
such_heights. Every year, halfamoon throws up a couple of multi-fandom vids about female characters, and I eat them up like a spoon. (I think there are fandoms for which my entire knowledge comes from these vids.) This is one.She's a Rebel by
kaydeefalls. This is another! They both have, like, snappy cutting and stuff. Vidders love snappy cutting and stuff.
It's been a long day.
white_lotusAvatar: the Last Airbender
Watershed by [ANON]. I've been thinking about this vid all freaking day. It's maybe a little heavier on the talky face than I like, but that kind of doesn't matter, because the song is so very, eerily perfect.
It was just going to be a quick lie down, but after an hour of dozing I got a call from Dad to say he's thinking of coming to Melbourne for Christmas and is that cool? And that threw my pattern out, so when I went back to sleep, it was for three more hours.
On the upside, I had a dream that there was a movie about River Song and Prince Zuko going to a waterpark together, and having to save a baby (...possibly theirs) from a shapeshifting villain who sometimes looks like Mr Snuffalupagus. No, I don't know either, but it was awesome.
If I didn't stop to sleep for four hours in the middle of the day, I'd probably get more done. Like, I have a project that I should probably make a start on one of these decades. But it's been a long few weeks, and it's nice to have a day where I don't have to go anywhere or do anything.
Here are some thoughts on television, re: small things that are quite significant, but the audience is left to put the pieces together:
Avatar: In the flashbacks in "The Storm", Aang is playing pai sho with Monk Gyatsu, and he's employing the white lotus tile. A couple of episodes (and a hundred years) later, Iroh mentions that the white lotus and associated gambits are considered outdated and old fashioned.
Mad Men: I think it's a second or third season episode that opens with a montage of characters getting ready. Betty and Joan, women of the fifties, are wearing stockings. Peggy is pulling on pantyhose, which was at the time very new.
It's this unspoken attention to detail that make both shows so deliciously rich to me. Even though the second half of the third season of Mad Men is unspeakably boring, andbaggers and indeed say I'm not allowed to skip ahead to the last two. THEY ARE SO MEAN, GUYS.
And Avatar has committed the unspeakable rudeness of being only three seasons, and, as with Babylon 5, rewatching has failed to magically produce more. It's getting to the point where I might actually watch the movie, if only for the bits with Dev Patel. Because he's amazing, and should play the Fourteenth Doctor. Which, if Airbender represents the calibre of scripts he's getting, he might actually do.
I know the whitewashing of the characters is well and truly old meme, but here's something I only realised today: so whitewashed is the cast that Gran-Gran is played by Katharine Hepburn's niece.
I've watched The Sarah Jane Adventures the last couple of weeks, and enjoyed it just fine, but I feel like Avatar has really spoiled me for quality early-teen TV. Compared with Avatar, or even season 5 of the mothershow, SJA just seems very small and confined. Stories set in 21st century London? How quaint! I didn't hate the first couple of stories, they just didn't touch me at all. And Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra get better every week, which is lovely to watch (and they're my main reason for still carrying on with the show), but it does rather highlight Elisabeth Sladen's inadequacies.
STUFF I HAVE READ:
Two of Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar novels, in which a legal historian and a troupe of barristers solve mysteries. I love these books, and occasionally wonder if the judicious application of necromancy might bring about more. It's as if Enid Blyton and Jane Austen got together to write legal mysteries, starting out over tea and cakes but then getting into the gin.
Speaking of necromancy, I just this afternoon finished Dust by Joan Frances Turner. Which shall at some point get a proper review, but mostly at this tage, my main reaction is go to O_O and !!!! and -_- a whole lot. I don't read horror much, so there were whole sections where I was effectively hiding behind the sofa. Which, may I add, is TOTALLY USELESS when you're reading a book. But it was amazing, and I'll get around to recommending it properly as soon as I achieve coherence again.
Now I'm halfway through The Art of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is very informative and interesting, but there's also a lot of stuff about architecture, when what I really want is stuff about characters. Also, it's not really a book you can stick in your handbag and take to work, so I should probably check out my to-read pile. Orpiecesofalice's.
On the upside, I had a dream that there was a movie about River Song and Prince Zuko going to a waterpark together, and having to save a baby (...possibly theirs) from a shapeshifting villain who sometimes looks like Mr Snuffalupagus. No, I don't know either, but it was awesome.
If I didn't stop to sleep for four hours in the middle of the day, I'd probably get more done. Like, I have a project that I should probably make a start on one of these decades. But it's been a long few weeks, and it's nice to have a day where I don't have to go anywhere or do anything.
Here are some thoughts on television, re: small things that are quite significant, but the audience is left to put the pieces together:
Avatar: In the flashbacks in "The Storm", Aang is playing pai sho with Monk Gyatsu, and he's employing the white lotus tile. A couple of episodes (and a hundred years) later, Iroh mentions that the white lotus and associated gambits are considered outdated and old fashioned.
Mad Men: I think it's a second or third season episode that opens with a montage of characters getting ready. Betty and Joan, women of the fifties, are wearing stockings. Peggy is pulling on pantyhose, which was at the time very new.
It's this unspoken attention to detail that make both shows so deliciously rich to me. Even though the second half of the third season of Mad Men is unspeakably boring, and
baggers and indeed say I'm not allowed to skip ahead to the last two. THEY ARE SO MEAN, GUYS. And Avatar has committed the unspeakable rudeness of being only three seasons, and, as with Babylon 5, rewatching has failed to magically produce more. It's getting to the point where I might actually watch the movie, if only for the bits with Dev Patel. Because he's amazing, and should play the Fourteenth Doctor. Which, if Airbender represents the calibre of scripts he's getting, he might actually do.
I know the whitewashing of the characters is well and truly old meme, but here's something I only realised today: so whitewashed is the cast that Gran-Gran is played by Katharine Hepburn's niece.
I've watched The Sarah Jane Adventures the last couple of weeks, and enjoyed it just fine, but I feel like Avatar has really spoiled me for quality early-teen TV. Compared with Avatar, or even season 5 of the mothershow, SJA just seems very small and confined. Stories set in 21st century London? How quaint! I didn't hate the first couple of stories, they just didn't touch me at all. And Daniel Anthony and Anjli Mohindra get better every week, which is lovely to watch (and they're my main reason for still carrying on with the show), but it does rather highlight Elisabeth Sladen's inadequacies.
STUFF I HAVE READ:
Two of Sarah Caudwell's Hilary Tamar novels, in which a legal historian and a troupe of barristers solve mysteries. I love these books, and occasionally wonder if the judicious application of necromancy might bring about more. It's as if Enid Blyton and Jane Austen got together to write legal mysteries, starting out over tea and cakes but then getting into the gin.
Speaking of necromancy, I just this afternoon finished Dust by Joan Frances Turner. Which shall at some point get a proper review, but mostly at this tage, my main reaction is go to O_O and !!!! and -_- a whole lot. I don't read horror much, so there were whole sections where I was effectively hiding behind the sofa. Which, may I add, is TOTALLY USELESS when you're reading a book. But it was amazing, and I'll get around to recommending it properly as soon as I achieve coherence again.
Now I'm halfway through The Art of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which is very informative and interesting, but there's also a lot of stuff about architecture, when what I really want is stuff about characters. Also, it's not really a book you can stick in your handbag and take to work, so I should probably check out my to-read pile. Or
piecesofalice's.Good morning!
Sep. 19th, 2010 08:22 amThat meme where you take a photo of yourself at that very moment, without alteration or Photoshop.
( Without focus, either. )
Life of late has involved copious amounts of (a) work, (b) sleeping and (c) messing with fabric. Yesterday I went tomyniamh's house with weaver to start work on our costumes for Armageddon. As of this moment, I have made two thirds of a wraparound skirt. (Don't laugh; I feel like I've achieved something. Sewing machines and I are not friends, so part of it is even hand-sewn.)
I've also watched all but the last 20 minutes of the first season of Mad Men. It was GREAT. I had seen reviews around the internets about how Don Draper has no business being a series lead, and Pete Campbell is a misunderstood woobie, so it was kind of hilarious to realise that I love Don, in a wanting-to-punch-him-in-the-face way, while Pete Campbell is plainly a nascent serial killer.
I also like the way the question of Who Is Don Draper? sort of folds into the question of Who Will Peggy Olson Become? So that's great. Good work, AMC. If only January Jones wasn't a black hole that sucks in charisma and talent and offers only trace radiation in return, the show would be perfect. But Betty seems very popular, so maybe she gets better? Or maybe fandom has just attached itself to the first bland blonde that comes along.
And I am currently reading a book about the AFL draft, which is decidedly strange, given my general state of ignorance and apathy surrounding football, but it caught my eye at the library, and is very interesting so far.
Which reminds me, speaking of AFL -- someone at Worldcon, I can't recall who, was complaining that hotels here have rules about not letting more than three people congregate in a hotel room, which seriously inhibits room parties? I cited Schoolies Week and the desire to minimise the sorts of situations that lead to underage girls getting raped, but someone --myniamh? -- pointed out yesterday, there's also the issue of AFL players pack raping women in hotel rooms. Minimising rape >> room parties. Sorry.
( Without focus, either. )
Life of late has involved copious amounts of (a) work, (b) sleeping and (c) messing with fabric. Yesterday I went to
myniamh's house with weaver to start work on our costumes for Armageddon. As of this moment, I have made two thirds of a wraparound skirt. (Don't laugh; I feel like I've achieved something. Sewing machines and I are not friends, so part of it is even hand-sewn.)I've also watched all but the last 20 minutes of the first season of Mad Men. It was GREAT. I had seen reviews around the internets about how Don Draper has no business being a series lead, and Pete Campbell is a misunderstood woobie, so it was kind of hilarious to realise that I love Don, in a wanting-to-punch-him-in-the-face way, while Pete Campbell is plainly a nascent serial killer.
I also like the way the question of Who Is Don Draper? sort of folds into the question of Who Will Peggy Olson Become? So that's great. Good work, AMC. If only January Jones wasn't a black hole that sucks in charisma and talent and offers only trace radiation in return, the show would be perfect. But Betty seems very popular, so maybe she gets better? Or maybe fandom has just attached itself to the first bland blonde that comes along.
And I am currently reading a book about the AFL draft, which is decidedly strange, given my general state of ignorance and apathy surrounding football, but it caught my eye at the library, and is very interesting so far.
Which reminds me, speaking of AFL -- someone at Worldcon, I can't recall who, was complaining that hotels here have rules about not letting more than three people congregate in a hotel room, which seriously inhibits room parties? I cited Schoolies Week and the desire to minimise the sorts of situations that lead to underage girls getting raped, but someone --
myniamh? -- pointed out yesterday, there's also the issue of AFL players pack raping women in hotel rooms. Minimising rape >> room parties. Sorry.
