i missed you ;ᴗ;
No internet connection at my house until next week.
I spend my days crying, except even more so now that I don't have internet.
reviews of medias for your eyes
MAD MEN: THE SUITCASE. One day prior, pierreuse and I had had a serious talk about my disappointments with season four. Throughout S1-S3, MM had been, to me, this almost perfect achievement of subtext and subtlety and unexpected cohesion particular to only the most exemplary fiction. But S4 eps like "The Good News" and the totally bizarre "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" had gotten me all un-stoked. I mentioned the weirdness of the Anna-plot, the debutante chick who wouldn't date Don, Don's new secretary, Don's uncharacteristic ham-fistedness w/r/t his old secretary, the vicious entirety of the Betty-plot, and Stephanie. (Could be that the latter is just a jarringly subpar actress, but could also be that Wiener isn't tops at simulating the sentiments of persons 18 and under;;;) But mostly I was just not on-page with whatever Don's doing this season. Like, I got that he's sad (?) and that he now drinks (?) in discomfiting step with Roger "Sterling's Gold" Sterling. But it srs bothered me that the chasm between S3 Don and S4 Don had given his main arc and the new season an air of impatience, or like. Of someone much dumber than Don Draper writing Don Draper fanfiction. But then I stopped, all like, "I still have blind faith! MM season arcs usually wrap up super well in ways you never see coming! Right?" At which point Catie, who had listened patiently for many hours, was all like. "Now shut your mouth and watch the new episode." So then I did and it fixed everything!!!!!! And was moe
Granted, I must still harbor some misgivings because at some point I was like, alone in my house watching the tail end of this, saying DO NOT MAKE OUT!! to my TV. But that's mostly because I am programmed by a lifetime of bombardment from shitty hurt/comfort plot devices; no way would Weiner fuck up that badly while singlehandedly crafting the finest episode of the season and one of the best of the run. I really wish I could find a video clip of Don and Peggy listening to Roger's autobiography -- an unexpectedly Wes Anderson moment [COMPLIMENT]. Plus: "I think I overdid it. And they're self so righteous. I never pissed my pants! This guy Rutledge killed a man with a motorboat! You know what gets you over something like that? Drinking." An episode without Roger is an episode amiss. Further highlights: Duck's attempted dump on Roger's chair followed closely by "I KILLED SEVENTEEN MEN IN OKINAWA!!" as he makes some sort of Tiger-style fist and takes Don to the mat; Peggy's second of hesitation between the Women's and Men's bathrooms before she self-consciously escorts Don into the latter.
The Anna-ghost-thing was a little schlocky, but plausible enough as a figment of Don's suitcase-riddled subconscious. NOT A JOKE: for a long moment I plainly and thoughtfully believed that Don's final drawing of his Muhammad-Samsonite Knockout idea was in fact a drawing of a grave with the Samsonite suitcase as a tombstone. Given the preceding hour's subject matter w/r/t "My uncle said a man should be ready to go at any moment... Wait, was that a metaphor?" I did not immediately find anything amiss with this scenario. Lmao my reasoning was like. Remember the Carousel? The fucking Carousel!!! Don's grief is woven into the rich tapestry of his art, wow, etc. Then I actually started paying attention to the screen again and was like. Oh. Don's actual idea is much, much feebler. Summarily I accidentally outpitched Don Draper because in this season he is a sad alcoholic loser, the end UGH THIS REVIEW IS SO GODDAMN LONG ARE YOU STILL READING IT FUCK SORRY
*
BEFORE SUNRISE + BEFORE SUNSET. My boyfriend, who is usually serious about film, said he'd enjoyed these, so I gave them a shot despite their being critically lauded as "just like Once" and recommended stokededly by my mom. Plus I remembered having gotten some existential wisdom and acceptance of this mortal coil (lol) out of Linklater's Waking Life movie, appreciating his sense for capturing natural conversation. The resulting trend of talkiness is not going to rivet everyone's attention, but I think the rivet/non-rivet percentage split is like 65/35 idk
Actually I was at times bored by Sunrise, because I've had conversations like that, and I would rather participate in than observe them. But I was all doing the dishes and cleaning my house while watching, so I found it overall charming in that 1995, Ethan-Hawke-Is-In-Everything way. Or maybe in manner of a decent podcast? I am probably right at the age where this brand of cynical idealism and life-experience POV seems kind of obvious. Idk you guys who've seen this, do "Jesse" and "Celine" seem particularly sharp-eyed to you? I don't mean to say they are stupid and I am smart obvvv, merely that their immaturity is the main attraction of the premise and I'm not sure that this is entirely commendable. Watch though I'll come back to this movie once old and grey and shed ladytears for the loss of my own youth etc
no I won't
But!!!! Before Sunset is pretty great. (Except hmm unavoidable question: do I only find it nonbanal because I am not yet in my thirties?) Such a necessary sequel coming after something that ostensibly does not need a sequel at all. The ending especially is excellent. I cried. Actually what happened was, I watched it through once and cried, and then I like. Started it over but kept crying. I'm not super sure I was crying about the story though; I think I just really miss Paris.
Further evidence: I snatched the movie from a Megaupload link and accidentally got the French-dubbed version. Which, ok, I thought would be in keeping with the spirit of the piece. Except in the first half I had so much trouble keeping up with the language that I regretted making this mistake over a movie composed entirely of conversations lolol. By the end, however, my brain had made the necessary switch and I was back in the zone. LA ZÔNE. Crying etc. Then I had to start the movie over to watch the previously cryptic first part again, which I now understood almost perfectly. Brains are so weird! Oh yeah and then I walked around my house crying because I want to go back to Paris, which feels the way Moscow felt when I was small. It's a little like coming home to a place that shouldn't exist anymore.
*
DEADWOOD: FULL SERIES. I finally finished all three seasons! My goal. Deadwood and Mad Men, its thematic and aesthetic inversion, are as of now tied for favorite TV show of all time (of all time!!!!); MM because it is brutal yet warmed by its tiny hot heart, and this because it is so uplifting yet tempered by the most violent shit ever oh my goddddd remember Dan vs. the Captain and the camera split-framing to dangling-eyball-vision? OK I guess you don't because maybe one of you is with me re: Deadwood :C
I've made my attempts to discuss what this series does well and why, and how marathoning several episodes in a row programs you to be all, "My bicycle masters boardwalk and quagmire with aplomb. Those that doubt me... suck cock by choice." I said "I reckon" in actual conversation, lmaooo (The Final Fantasy 12 Effect). But I have yet to suss out many complexities not already covered by Todd VanDerWerff's episode-specific doctorate, so I'll just say that the Deadwood TV show is one of the finest arguments for Socialism ever made.
*
See I have too much time to pen my essays and my stories ughn come back internet. NEXT POST 30 DAYS and I think I owe a nice person some scanlations~ ♫♪♩
I spend my days crying, except even more so now that I don't have internet.
reviews of medias for your eyes
MAD MEN: THE SUITCASE. One day prior, pierreuse and I had had a serious talk about my disappointments with season four. Throughout S1-S3, MM had been, to me, this almost perfect achievement of subtext and subtlety and unexpected cohesion particular to only the most exemplary fiction. But S4 eps like "The Good News" and the totally bizarre "Chrysanthemum and the Sword" had gotten me all un-stoked. I mentioned the weirdness of the Anna-plot, the debutante chick who wouldn't date Don, Don's new secretary, Don's uncharacteristic ham-fistedness w/r/t his old secretary, the vicious entirety of the Betty-plot, and Stephanie. (Could be that the latter is just a jarringly subpar actress, but could also be that Wiener isn't tops at simulating the sentiments of persons 18 and under;;;) But mostly I was just not on-page with whatever Don's doing this season. Like, I got that he's sad (?) and that he now drinks (?) in discomfiting step with Roger "Sterling's Gold" Sterling. But it srs bothered me that the chasm between S3 Don and S4 Don had given his main arc and the new season an air of impatience, or like. Of someone much dumber than Don Draper writing Don Draper fanfiction. But then I stopped, all like, "I still have blind faith! MM season arcs usually wrap up super well in ways you never see coming! Right?" At which point Catie, who had listened patiently for many hours, was all like. "Now shut your mouth and watch the new episode." So then I did and it fixed everything!!!!!! And was moe
Granted, I must still harbor some misgivings because at some point I was like, alone in my house watching the tail end of this, saying DO NOT MAKE OUT!! to my TV. But that's mostly because I am programmed by a lifetime of bombardment from shitty hurt/comfort plot devices; no way would Weiner fuck up that badly while singlehandedly crafting the finest episode of the season and one of the best of the run. I really wish I could find a video clip of Don and Peggy listening to Roger's autobiography -- an unexpectedly Wes Anderson moment [COMPLIMENT]. Plus: "I think I overdid it. And they're self so righteous. I never pissed my pants! This guy Rutledge killed a man with a motorboat! You know what gets you over something like that? Drinking." An episode without Roger is an episode amiss. Further highlights: Duck's attempted dump on Roger's chair followed closely by "I KILLED SEVENTEEN MEN IN OKINAWA!!" as he makes some sort of Tiger-style fist and takes Don to the mat; Peggy's second of hesitation between the Women's and Men's bathrooms before she self-consciously escorts Don into the latter.
The Anna-ghost-thing was a little schlocky, but plausible enough as a figment of Don's suitcase-riddled subconscious. NOT A JOKE: for a long moment I plainly and thoughtfully believed that Don's final drawing of his Muhammad-Samsonite Knockout idea was in fact a drawing of a grave with the Samsonite suitcase as a tombstone. Given the preceding hour's subject matter w/r/t "My uncle said a man should be ready to go at any moment... Wait, was that a metaphor?" I did not immediately find anything amiss with this scenario. Lmao my reasoning was like. Remember the Carousel? The fucking Carousel!!! Don's grief is woven into the rich tapestry of his art, wow, etc. Then I actually started paying attention to the screen again and was like. Oh. Don's actual idea is much, much feebler. Summarily I accidentally outpitched Don Draper because in this season he is a sad alcoholic loser, the end UGH THIS REVIEW IS SO GODDAMN LONG ARE YOU STILL READING IT FUCK SORRY
*
BEFORE SUNRISE + BEFORE SUNSET. My boyfriend, who is usually serious about film, said he'd enjoyed these, so I gave them a shot despite their being critically lauded as "just like Once" and recommended stokededly by my mom. Plus I remembered having gotten some existential wisdom and acceptance of this mortal coil (lol) out of Linklater's Waking Life movie, appreciating his sense for capturing natural conversation. The resulting trend of talkiness is not going to rivet everyone's attention, but I think the rivet/non-rivet percentage split is like 65/35 idk
Actually I was at times bored by Sunrise, because I've had conversations like that, and I would rather participate in than observe them. But I was all doing the dishes and cleaning my house while watching, so I found it overall charming in that 1995, Ethan-Hawke-Is-In-Everything way. Or maybe in manner of a decent podcast? I am probably right at the age where this brand of cynical idealism and life-experience POV seems kind of obvious. Idk you guys who've seen this, do "Jesse" and "Celine" seem particularly sharp-eyed to you? I don't mean to say they are stupid and I am smart obvvv, merely that their immaturity is the main attraction of the premise and I'm not sure that this is entirely commendable. Watch though I'll come back to this movie once old and grey and shed ladytears for the loss of my own youth etc
no I won't
Click to viewBut!!!! Before Sunset is pretty great. (Except hmm unavoidable question: do I only find it nonbanal because I am not yet in my thirties?) Such a necessary sequel coming after something that ostensibly does not need a sequel at all. The ending especially is excellent. I cried. Actually what happened was, I watched it through once and cried, and then I like. Started it over but kept crying. I'm not super sure I was crying about the story though; I think I just really miss Paris.
Further evidence: I snatched the movie from a Megaupload link and accidentally got the French-dubbed version. Which, ok, I thought would be in keeping with the spirit of the piece. Except in the first half I had so much trouble keeping up with the language that I regretted making this mistake over a movie composed entirely of conversations lolol. By the end, however, my brain had made the necessary switch and I was back in the zone. LA ZÔNE. Crying etc. Then I had to start the movie over to watch the previously cryptic first part again, which I now understood almost perfectly. Brains are so weird! Oh yeah and then I walked around my house crying because I want to go back to Paris, which feels the way Moscow felt when I was small. It's a little like coming home to a place that shouldn't exist anymore.
*
DEADWOOD: FULL SERIES. I finally finished all three seasons! My goal. Deadwood and Mad Men, its thematic and aesthetic inversion, are as of now tied for favorite TV show of all time (of all time!!!!); MM because it is brutal yet warmed by its tiny hot heart, and this because it is so uplifting yet tempered by the most violent shit ever oh my goddddd remember Dan vs. the Captain and the camera split-framing to dangling-eyball-vision? OK I guess you don't because maybe one of you is with me re: Deadwood :C
I've made my attempts to discuss what this series does well and why, and how marathoning several episodes in a row programs you to be all, "My bicycle masters boardwalk and quagmire with aplomb. Those that doubt me... suck cock by choice." I said "I reckon" in actual conversation, lmaooo (The Final Fantasy 12 Effect). But I have yet to suss out many complexities not already covered by Todd VanDerWerff's episode-specific doctorate, so I'll just say that the Deadwood TV show is one of the finest arguments for Socialism ever made.
*
See I have too much time to pen my essays and my stories ughn come back internet. NEXT POST 30 DAYS and I think I owe a nice person some scanlations~ ♫♪♩