moving updates, blue hair, "Mad Men"
After repeated calls pleading for information, I finally got a rock-solid arrival date from my movers: Tomorrow, my stuff and I shall be reunited at last, so I can stop imposing on the depthless hospitality of the generous taraljc and begin the long haul of unpacking. I found out last time that, with real speed and dedication, I can get the job done in about three days, and I hope to match that this time. It would be nice to be semi-settled by the weekend. Living out of suitcases simply is not conducive to writing/calmness/etc. I did get to check out the place post-paint job yesterday, and the colors look lovely in their new home, which in turn is much jazzed up.
As threatened, my hair is now vividly vividly blue. Like that little dowdy blueberry friend of Strawberry Shortcake. (Blueberry Muffin, right? There's another synapse put to good use.) (I remain unscented.) On the one hand, I quite like the color, which looks unexpectedly good on me and is fun. On the other hand, the blue comes off EVERYWHERE, on EVERYTHING, which I think means this is not going to be a long-term choice for me. Also, I don't like this haircut, and I thought having the blue would jazz it up a bit, when in fact it means I've put a spotlight on a bad haircut. But for now I'm enjoying it more than not and will always be glad I gave it a try.
I have been rewatching a lot of "Fringe" since being tempted by the DVD set at Target the other day. There are so many hints as to the Big Reveal! I honestly had thought that was retcon but am beginning to think I was wrong. The extras are brief but fun; I particularly like the brief bio of Jean the cow. (They spell it Gene, which seems masculine to me, though I guess we must remember Gene Tierney.)
Speaking of guys named Gene reminds me of last night's "Mad Men": Another fabulous episode. This season's theme seems to be escape -- every single person is running, or has run, from the place where they began, and while some people's reasons are better than others, almost nobody seems to be making a change for the better.
STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE:
Was there anything? I remember thinking that the Italian guys were really going to have to do a lot better than "he's ugly" when the guy at the other table was played by Jon Hamm. And I was sort of crazy with eagerness to see what was going on with Peggy, but I guess Elizabeth Moss was overdue for a week off. I do think that we need to get a sense of where this Conrad Hilton thing is going, sooner rather than later, but I feel reasonably confident about that.
STUFF I LIKED:
1) This was a fabulous Betty episode, maybe the best since she went shooting pigeons. She achieves what she wants -- political success, a kiss from the guy she's attracted to -- and flees from it on vacation with Don. And this, surprisingly and wonderfully, is a huge success. I don't know why it never occurred to me that role-playing would be a delight for them both, but it so was (and for me too: Hello, hotness). The two of them were completely turned on by the theater of it, and Betty was able to use her abandoned education to speak Italian and to do things that were helpful to Don's career and to look like a movie star all at the same time. The combination of it all even swept Don off his feet. I loved that, the next morning, she wouldn't take "no" for an answer from the exhausted Don, and the way that he kept lighting her cigarette for her even after they got back home. A marriage restored? Maybe in Don's eyes, but it only takes Betty one day to sink back into discontent. Now she doesn't like her husband or her fainting couch, and even her political cause has dulled in her eyes. The fact is, Betty "left" Don, emotionally speaking, at the end of S1. At this point, I'm not sure it matters whether he's tomcatting around or whisking her off to Rome: The life he gives her is not what she wants, mostly for reasons that have little to do with how good or bad a husband he is. Betty wants stimulation and adventure and a life beyond that of a housewife, and while Don is no traditionalist, I don't think either he or Betty is capable of realizing what she really needs, much less acting on it. Yet. Betty's going to get there.
2) Jesus H., I knew Pete Campbell was a creep, but I didn't realize he was that creepy. He raped the au pair, and although at the time I don't think he was cognizant of the extreme levels of her unwillingness, it was because he'd made up his mind not to pay any attention to how she felt (and had gotten drunk enough to get himself there). His guilt about it the next day was striking to me, because Pete is the one character who must not escape -- what he becomes when he's free of Trudy/Sterling Cooper/etc. is something truly ugly, and he sees that. When he asks Trudy to never leave him again, I think he's totally serious, and afraid of what he might become outside the framework of his life, however much he rages against it at times.
Speaking of poor Gudrun, that was an unbelievable scene between Pete and her employer, who essentially said, "You raped my au pair, she's upset, this disrupts my whole day, so please don't do it again, at least not in this building, okay?"
3) Joan! I'm not as big a Joan fan as some viewers are, who seem to have adopted her as a feminist hero despite the fact that up until this point she's been as strongly antifeminist as any of the guys (and more than some), plus racist and a bit vindictive to boot. Don't get me wrong, though -- I like Joan. I just think she's as complicated and occasionally ugly as everybody else on this show. This week, I really, really felt for her; the humiliation of being discovered by Pete radiated from her, even as she handled the situation smoothly and promptly. Joan is utterly trapped right now, and it will be Pete who ultimately brings her back to Sterling Cooper, though I am curious to know how that will go. I like that she's already a manager at Bloomingdale's or wherever he was. I also like how she subtly changed her look to suit her new position.
All in all, a tremendous episode, and I am now convinced that the entire season is building up to some great breaking apart/escape for the characters, but how will it work?
**
I am going to run to the grocery, then head down to my apartment to pick up my last GG&K paycheck and maybe buy an alarm clock. Then tonight, laundry and taking it very easy. Big day tomorrow. I expect to be offline for a few days thereafter. For all the ficathon stories I have that are late, I humbly apologize, and triple-swear never to be so foolish as to sign up for ficathons during moving month ever again.
As threatened, my hair is now vividly vividly blue. Like that little dowdy blueberry friend of Strawberry Shortcake. (Blueberry Muffin, right? There's another synapse put to good use.) (I remain unscented.) On the one hand, I quite like the color, which looks unexpectedly good on me and is fun. On the other hand, the blue comes off EVERYWHERE, on EVERYTHING, which I think means this is not going to be a long-term choice for me. Also, I don't like this haircut, and I thought having the blue would jazz it up a bit, when in fact it means I've put a spotlight on a bad haircut. But for now I'm enjoying it more than not and will always be glad I gave it a try.
I have been rewatching a lot of "Fringe" since being tempted by the DVD set at Target the other day. There are so many hints as to the Big Reveal! I honestly had thought that was retcon but am beginning to think I was wrong. The extras are brief but fun; I particularly like the brief bio of Jean the cow. (They spell it Gene, which seems masculine to me, though I guess we must remember Gene Tierney.)
Speaking of guys named Gene reminds me of last night's "Mad Men": Another fabulous episode. This season's theme seems to be escape -- every single person is running, or has run, from the place where they began, and while some people's reasons are better than others, almost nobody seems to be making a change for the better.
STUFF I DIDN'T LIKE:
Was there anything? I remember thinking that the Italian guys were really going to have to do a lot better than "he's ugly" when the guy at the other table was played by Jon Hamm. And I was sort of crazy with eagerness to see what was going on with Peggy, but I guess Elizabeth Moss was overdue for a week off. I do think that we need to get a sense of where this Conrad Hilton thing is going, sooner rather than later, but I feel reasonably confident about that.
STUFF I LIKED:
1) This was a fabulous Betty episode, maybe the best since she went shooting pigeons. She achieves what she wants -- political success, a kiss from the guy she's attracted to -- and flees from it on vacation with Don. And this, surprisingly and wonderfully, is a huge success. I don't know why it never occurred to me that role-playing would be a delight for them both, but it so was (and for me too: Hello, hotness). The two of them were completely turned on by the theater of it, and Betty was able to use her abandoned education to speak Italian and to do things that were helpful to Don's career and to look like a movie star all at the same time. The combination of it all even swept Don off his feet. I loved that, the next morning, she wouldn't take "no" for an answer from the exhausted Don, and the way that he kept lighting her cigarette for her even after they got back home. A marriage restored? Maybe in Don's eyes, but it only takes Betty one day to sink back into discontent. Now she doesn't like her husband or her fainting couch, and even her political cause has dulled in her eyes. The fact is, Betty "left" Don, emotionally speaking, at the end of S1. At this point, I'm not sure it matters whether he's tomcatting around or whisking her off to Rome: The life he gives her is not what she wants, mostly for reasons that have little to do with how good or bad a husband he is. Betty wants stimulation and adventure and a life beyond that of a housewife, and while Don is no traditionalist, I don't think either he or Betty is capable of realizing what she really needs, much less acting on it. Yet. Betty's going to get there.
2) Jesus H., I knew Pete Campbell was a creep, but I didn't realize he was that creepy. He raped the au pair, and although at the time I don't think he was cognizant of the extreme levels of her unwillingness, it was because he'd made up his mind not to pay any attention to how she felt (and had gotten drunk enough to get himself there). His guilt about it the next day was striking to me, because Pete is the one character who must not escape -- what he becomes when he's free of Trudy/Sterling Cooper/etc. is something truly ugly, and he sees that. When he asks Trudy to never leave him again, I think he's totally serious, and afraid of what he might become outside the framework of his life, however much he rages against it at times.
Speaking of poor Gudrun, that was an unbelievable scene between Pete and her employer, who essentially said, "You raped my au pair, she's upset, this disrupts my whole day, so please don't do it again, at least not in this building, okay?"
3) Joan! I'm not as big a Joan fan as some viewers are, who seem to have adopted her as a feminist hero despite the fact that up until this point she's been as strongly antifeminist as any of the guys (and more than some), plus racist and a bit vindictive to boot. Don't get me wrong, though -- I like Joan. I just think she's as complicated and occasionally ugly as everybody else on this show. This week, I really, really felt for her; the humiliation of being discovered by Pete radiated from her, even as she handled the situation smoothly and promptly. Joan is utterly trapped right now, and it will be Pete who ultimately brings her back to Sterling Cooper, though I am curious to know how that will go. I like that she's already a manager at Bloomingdale's or wherever he was. I also like how she subtly changed her look to suit her new position.
All in all, a tremendous episode, and I am now convinced that the entire season is building up to some great breaking apart/escape for the characters, but how will it work?
**
I am going to run to the grocery, then head down to my apartment to pick up my last GG&K paycheck and maybe buy an alarm clock. Then tonight, laundry and taking it very easy. Big day tomorrow. I expect to be offline for a few days thereafter. For all the ficathon stories I have that are late, I humbly apologize, and triple-swear never to be so foolish as to sign up for ficathons during moving month ever again.