jonathan richman's dancing was everything that was promised and more. he had them turn off the a/c because he didn't like the noise (i have no regrets in talking about the weather--down here, it is a Big Deal), so it was hot and crazy, but we danced and sang along, esp. to "i was dancing in a lesbian bar." his last tune for the night, "bohemia," was a great little autobiographical bit about how he got started as a teenager (and about how great his parents were about it) that i had not heard before. i would say you shoulda been there, but i suspect this post was the project you were working on, and its themes reasonably reflect what you probably would have gotten out of mr. richman.
in a grim dovetail to your mention in the comments about the nearest murder, there's this disturbing report. keep in mind: it's an average, of course.
i would like to take many of your thoughts on hating oneself and tattoo them across the foreheads of some of my friends.
i don't think any of your questions were dumb, but i think most of them involve
( ... )
i kinda think mad men jumped the shark in a lot of ways this season, but the debate that followed the episode discussed here was a good one. this is the take that's closest to my own, i guess.
p.s. mario, are you really gonna abandon this thing after 8 more updates? you better not! if you do i'm gonna bomb your FB wall with mafia war updates or some shit...
i had not read that, but i wasn't saying that joan had done wrong. the men of sterling cooper did wrong, the man at jaguar did wrong, america did wrong by not being a society where she could sue pete campbell for even bringing it up, capitalism did wrong for giving power to money (so to speak), and so on. joan got hurt (even if she benefited from it monetarily), and that was heartbreaking to see. "guy walks into an advertising agency"... is the wrong episode to cite. i meant to cite "sit down; have a seat," where joan is the one roger calls in to help them create SCDP.
oh whoops... i wasn't posting that to, like, antagonize you or anything. i agree that she got hurt - and this isn't the kind of storyline that fits neatly into some good/bad dichotomy, obviously. i was just reminded of it when i read your comment so i thought i'd pass it along. to be honest, i thought of it because you were saying that joan is the heart-and-soul of the show for you (which i agree with, though i'd also include roger and peggy in that category), and it's a good essay about joan.
nah, i didn't take it that way. it just made me reread my comment and wish to clarify. and i am with you on peggy and roger. it's kind of amazing how likable roger is, considering his role in parts of the show ("my old kentucky home," if i'm not misremembering the episode names again).
yeah, my love of roger is totally amoral, haha! whatever! i loved marlo stanfield too...
i think my favorite part of this season on mad men was roger hanging out with sally at the party. every time i think of the part where he describes some old woman as "margaret dumont over there" i crack up a little. i'm a lifelong marx brothers nerd, and i also love it when mad men does its wonky historical reference stuff. (e.g. i also perked up when betty's husband refers to nelson rockefeller as "rocky." my delight in this sort of thing may be making my GF rethink our relationship...)
here's mah plan, if you're up for it: go for a walk in Audubon Park, den dinner somewhere near th park, den movie @ Zeitgeist @ 8:30 -- of course you can just meet us @ th movie if you prefer
not sure yet where to go after el jaylostcosmonautJune 22 2012, 14:20:36 UTC
i'm w/ that author's perspective on Joan's negotiation of a shitty situation. She's got a babby to take care of, and th men in her life (her husband and Roger) are untrustworthy. As she approaches "a certain age", her ability to capitalize on her looks wanes. That deal w/ th hairy devil is probably her last, best shot @ financial autonomy. However, I remember this part differently:
“Why do they get to decide what’s going to happen?” That’s what Pete Campbell demanded several weeks ago in an episode titled “Lady Lazarus.” “They just do,” Harry Crane responded.
Campbell, frustrated at his inability to pull off a longer-term affair with Beth Dawes, was talking about women as sexual gatekeepers.
When Pete said "they", wasn't he talking about Don & Megan? I thought "they" meant "beautiful successful people to whom everything seems to come easy". Hmm hmm gotta go back and review th tape ...
One incredible thing about Mad Men -- mebbe THEE most incredible thing -- is that both feminists and non-feminists admire it as a truthful
( ... )
i interpreted pete as talking about women, but maybe that's b/c he was talking to harry - the only other womanizing asshole he has access to for this kind of conversation at this point (since don is noble and husbandly now, and since lane and roger hate him).
i mostly agree about the truthful vision, but i think mad men shelved that realism in favor of needlessly hysterical plot developments this season (and really, beginning with megan, who i still think is a bad uninteresting addition to the narrative). even the joan thing, harsh as it was, felt like a ploy to whip up drama in a show i like best when it's just about the everyday dreariness of going to work and enduring all the bullshit that happens there.
P.S. i am really ending lostcosmonaut as a fictional work but will continue to exist as a human being who enjoys typing
ok, fair enough... but i hope this doesn't mean 140-word-or-less sports updates or whatever.
pete is a sacrificial lamblostcosmonautJune 22 2012, 16:03:51 UTC
a show i like best when it's just about the everyday dreariness of going to work and enduring all the bullshit that happens there. wHAT but it has been a soap opera th entire time
( ... )
Megan fits th narrative because she's somebody who can challenge Don and make him feel not that cool and not that smart but is still overall remarkably sweet to him.but faye was as well, minus a certain kind of sweetness, which (for my money) is just a simile for submissiveness. megan, unlike faye, is "always going to choose don" as she says literally this season. she has the spunk and childlike ambition of peggy, the sophistication of betty and a non-threatening version of faye's intellect. she has everything don likes about faye, only hotter, younger and less independent. all of which fits the show's pessimism i guess - in fact, i loved some of the harsher moments of previous seasons (don firing sal being a particularly inspired bitter pill to swallow), but i was genuinely enjoying don's evolution into someone with substance. megan is the weak-sauce version of that evolution, and (for me) a sign that the show isn't really that interested in transforming its characters. it reminded me of the last season of "the wire," where mcnulty
( ... )
turn on tune in but don t drop out rogerlostcosmonautJune 22 2012, 21:44:31 UTC
your assessment of Megan is on th money, except she's not "always going to choose Don", I'm pretty sure, especially in light of Season 5's finale
( ... )
in a grim dovetail to your mention in the comments about the nearest murder, there's this disturbing report. keep in mind: it's an average, of course.
i would like to take many of your thoughts on hating oneself and tattoo them across the foreheads of some of my friends.
i don't think any of your questions were dumb, but i think most of them involve ( ... )
Reply
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/29/mad_men_joan_did_the_right_thing/
i kinda think mad men jumped the shark in a lot of ways this season, but the debate that followed the episode discussed here was a good one. this is the take that's closest to my own, i guess.
p.s. mario, are you really gonna abandon this thing after 8 more updates? you better not! if you do i'm gonna bomb your FB wall with mafia war updates or some shit...
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i think my favorite part of this season on mad men was roger hanging out with sally at the party. every time i think of the part where he describes some old woman as "margaret dumont over there" i crack up a little. i'm a lifelong marx brothers nerd, and i also love it when mad men does its wonky historical reference stuff. (e.g. i also perked up when betty's husband refers to nelson rockefeller as "rocky." my delight in this sort of thing may be making my GF rethink our relationship...)
Reply
--mza.
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--mza.
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All right!
--mza.
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Reply
“Why do they get to decide what’s going to happen?” That’s what Pete Campbell demanded several weeks ago in an episode titled “Lady Lazarus.” “They just do,” Harry Crane responded.
Campbell, frustrated at his inability to pull off a longer-term affair with Beth Dawes, was talking about women as sexual gatekeepers.
When Pete said "they", wasn't he talking about Don & Megan? I thought "they" meant "beautiful successful people to whom everything seems to come easy". Hmm hmm gotta go back and review th tape ...
One incredible thing about Mad Men -- mebbe THEE most incredible thing -- is that both feminists and non-feminists admire it as a truthful ( ... )
Reply
i mostly agree about the truthful vision, but i think mad men shelved that realism in favor of needlessly hysterical plot developments this season (and really, beginning with megan, who i still think is a bad uninteresting addition to the narrative). even the joan thing, harsh as it was, felt like a ploy to whip up drama in a show i like best when it's just about the everyday dreariness of going to work and enduring all the bullshit that happens there.
P.S. i am really ending lostcosmonaut as a fictional work but will continue to exist as a human being who enjoys typing
ok, fair enough... but i hope this doesn't mean 140-word-or-less sports updates or whatever.
Reply
wHAT but it has been a soap opera th entire time ( ... )
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