Movie Monday: Mad Men Season 4

And now a brief chat on a subject which I don't think is discussed enough on the internet: Mad Men.

I began getting the DVDs from Netflix at the end of July when I signed up, and upon finishing season 3 went straight to watching season 4 on my friend's TiVo. The Season Finale last night  also marked the end of three solid months of consuming Mad Men like a junkie, and I am in the beginning stages of withdrawal.

Gushy descriptions of the writing, acting, and design can be found anywhere, so I will resist the urge to do the same (although I have done so to my family many a time, & for that, Dad, I am sorry). Instead, I will give you my fourth favorite reason for liking the show, and hopefully you won't judge me too harshly for it: I use it as a little bit of an History lesson.

I'm very dumb, so when I learn about a series of events in school, I usually have to make myself a timeline and a flow chart to figure out how all of the things relate to one another. Mad Men has helped me fill in the arc of what (white, employed) people were possibly thinking and doing all though the beginning of the '60s. Being a largely left-brained visual person, seeing a continuum of what people were wearing through those years has actually helped me make a little more sense of photos in textbooks.

Normally I wouldn't allow myself this sort of thing. In costume research, we are only allowed to draw research from primary sources: I should actually watch 'Bye Bye Birdie,' not the episode where Sal (I MISS HIM) makes a commercial based on it. But for solely mind-organizing purposes, I have chosen to trust the intensive research of Weiner, Christopher Brown, Camille Bratkowski,  Katherine Jane Bryant, and the whole rest of the crew (art departments, makeup, hair, pattern cutting... wonderful how many people the arts employ), considering the interviews I have heard about the books they keep to track who is wearing what when.

I know the show hasn't gotten renewed on AMC yet, but I don't see why it shouldn't. However, I have gathered from interviews I've heard with Weiner that he doesn't intend to run the show in to the ground, which I am pleased as spiked punch to hear. Even though I can't get enough, it's nice to let things die when then need to (because even 'Cats' didn't have nine lives). But am I going to go out & buy all of the Season DVDs during the Christmas Sales? You bet.

New Outfit

Fall is truly upon us: Oktoberfest in the Fridge and Apples in the basement mean it's time to avoid the asthmatic coma brought on by raking the lawn & obsessing over school supplies.

For the first time in about 17 years, I didn't get to go back to school. I don't really mind having free time, or essentially no curfew, but there are of course things I miss. So this year, for the first time since middle school I bought myself an entirely new outfit. Not just a new pair of pants to combine with my favorite shirt, not just new shoes that will go with some skirts that I already have, but new everything, down to the eyeshadow.



It's pretty satisfying, actually. I bought the shirt from my very favorite store (click photo for details, this blog is not a catalogue), where I can only really afford to buy one thing a year. I bought this shirt because it has a similar hood to a sweater that I bought for my boyfriend which I steal all the time.

The pants are a concession to the fact that I need more than one pair of pants that I don't hate, especially since that meant I did attic construction last week in Star Wars pajamas.

The boots were infuriatingly difficult to find. Did you know that shoe sellers think women still want to show off their dainty ankles? I can't imagine any other reason they would affix zippers to the sides of every single pair of boots. These were bought in the men's section (these big feet are good for something after all!) where the man on staff only hesitated to serve me because he wasn't sure I actually wanted anything. I've said it once, I'll say it again: I LOVE NEW YORK: what I wear is my business. Well, and theirs, I suppose.

Dream Houses

I work at a Country Club, so sometimes I get to listen to rich people talk casually about their things. Usually I don't listen (because I really don't care), but the other day we had two tables and one of them decided to sit pretty much directly on top of the wait station (seriously guys don't do it), so I got to hear the lady talk to her mother about how they are remodeling their Hamptons house. Or something- the patio seemed to be moving west.

It doesn't really inspire jealousy in me, since I'm sure they've earned it, but it did set me to re-imagining my dream house. We all have one, right? Mine has a big piece of property, a zebra striped bathroom, and a huge work studio upstairs with all glass walls.

I walked by a design store in Soho the other day that prominently displayed a chair so orange my eyes were caught and violently dragged across the street with my body behind them, and that was when I knew:

Dream Orange Backyard by chlorinebeach on Polyvore.com

My backyard will have to include an obnoxiously elaborate worktable setup (with somebody to clean up after me as well, of course). The chairs are big (45 lbs) and plastic, so they will need some contrast color throw pillows, which I will be only too happy to knit for them.

I will also have some gratuitously massive installation sculpture, because what is a five acre backyard without some sculpture littered about like tissues that missed the bin? Dog shit can't be the only thing that collects in the yard.

Movie Monday: "Catfish" Trailer

Most Mondays, My Father & I go to the movies after doing some housework. The matinees are cheaper, & there's practically nobody in the theater.

But I'm not here to talk to you about "The Town," which is what I saw. Oh no, today I'm here to talk to you about the preview for "Catfish."

First of all, let's talk about the tagline. "The last 40 minutes of the film will send you on an emotional rollercoaster ride you won't be able to shake for days." (Rolling Stone? Citation needed) You know what that says to me? That the first half of the movie is something to be endured as I am set up for the ending.

Second, there's the poster: it's a red fish, which says to me RED HERRING. Faulty advertising? Maybe. But not easy to ignore.

Lastly, there's the trailer itself. It's kind of awkward and embarassing in tone: shaky, amateur photography that looks like somebody used a handheld camcorder to record a TV is less than endearing. The trailer is just interesting enough that I want somebody else to go & see it to tell me what it's about. When looking a few things up on the internet for this post, I came across a review that included the end, and was well pleased I will never waste my time or money to see it.

Was there ever a way that they could have marketed this movie to get me to want to see it? Probably not. But the fact that I keep calling it "Red Herring" in conversation is possibly one of the funniest marketing fails I have known in a while.

What I did today

Not that Kind of Girl did an interesting kind of post that I thought I might try to copy in my own, non-scanner owning way. I have attempted to make a little piece of internet art to honor each of the exciting moments in my very mundane day at work and play. Ready? Okay!

8:00 AM

My dog greets me in her usual morning manner, immune to my attempts to brush her off and continue my yoga routine. A few damp ears later, and I retreat to my bedroom to finish.

___

11:30 AM

cream of mushroom soup

created by angry chef

why are you so good?

___

1:00 PM

After looking up trip prices on Kayak (yay for the internet on a point of sale machine), I decide to just keep saving for an apartment & think about taking vacations again in a year.

___

3:00

Seeing everybody's heads turn in sync while they watch the club tennis championship gives me a serious case of the giggles. I have to hide in the kitchen.

___

3:30 PM

Because the members seem to think the club in an all-inclusive babysitting service, I must prevail upon a passle of seven-year old boys to stay quiet while their parents watch tennis. I convince them that filling a hole in the ground with acorns can be a fun activity.

___

5:00 PM

I add Mr. Boston's to my Amazon Wishlist.

____

10:00 PM

I retire to the basement to set the moldings in my vampire teeth. It tastes like garbage, but Mad Men makes an excellent distraction. The dog is unsure.

_ _ _ _ _ _

Well, that was... time consuming. I think I learned from this project that I need to get my scanner working again. I hope you had at least a little fun reading this, though!

The death of the incandescent lamp (Things to Worry About)

What does this mean for the middle class white kid definition of poor- what do you call a bare bulb lamp? How stupid will it look?

What are they going to put up on the marquis' to flash and dance? Will New York become the new neon city?

Will we now be able to pick out historical inaccuracies in movies when they use the wrong kind of bulb for the period? Has the job of every set dresser just gotten that much more difficult? (I guess every future movie that includes bulbs as well as flying cars can be considered doubly inaccurate)

What will I fill with paint and drop onto a canvas?

How will little kids learn about electricity?

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Light bulbs being phased out is a huge problem for me, apparently.

Cooler Than Me (What I hear)

-If I could influence you with my fame and songwriting skills, I could wear you like the accessory you deserve to be
-But you never talk to me or make eye contact, and I have surmised that it is because you think you are better than I am (and not because I am a jackass with creepy entitlement issues).