Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Mad Men Season 2 Finale: Mad Conversations

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on October 29, 2008
in Mad Men, TV and TV Drama
. Closed

The Season 2 finale of Mad Men certainly delivered: it was an episode full of great conversations and confrontations, some of them very long awaited.  Here are a few of my favorites (slightly spoilery):

Francine (played by the lovely Anne Dudek, who gets many props from me based on last season’s finale of House alone) and Betty visited the local beauty parlor.  Aside from the gratuitous design eye candy this allowed, there was also funny and pointed dialogue about the impending Cuban missile attacks.

It's keeping Francine from chweing off her fingernails.

It's keeping Francine from chewing off her fingernails.

FRANCINE: Betty, you look wan!  You want a Miltown?

In the Sterling Cooper boardroom, the big confrontation between Duck and Don was ready to go down.  We’d been waiting for this the whole time Don was away.  What would he do about Duck’s shady machinations?

Free to drink since abandoning his dog, Duck is probably drunk RIGHT NOW.

Free to drink since abandoning his dog, Duck is probably drunk RIGHT NOW.

DUCK: La la la, I think I am in charge of this room right now.

Probably also drunk, but in a fashionable way, not a pathetic or despicable way.

Probably also drunk, but in a fashionable way, not a pathetic or despicable way.

DON: Not so fast, fucker. What would CHAUNCEY have to say about all this?!

Suffice it to say the scene was awesome.  I have been forty-seven shades of pissed at Duck ever since this episode, and it was nice to see him finally getting his comeuppance.

We’ve also been waiting for some kind of confrontation between Pete and Peggy for, oh ages now — definitely since the part of Season 1 where it became clear Peggs was pregs and not just fat — and this episode was more than satisfactory in that regard.

Please to note how Pete sits down on the couch, all sidling up to Peggy:

More Smarming in Action!

More Smarming in Action!

Peggy is clearly not having any of it.  She is perched on the edge of that cushion, ready to make a break for it should Pete begin his usual smarm tactics.

I’m not sure Pete was really all that smarmy in this scene, though. Sad, lonely, desperate, deluded — maybe.  Annoying — of course.

Stoically Resisting the Urge to Feel Bad for Pete Now

Stoically Resisting the Urge to Feel Bad for Pete Now

The frustration and chagrin on his face as Peggy leaves the room was just as satisfying a comeuppance as Duck’s.

Finally: Don and Betty:

Betty Stoically Resists the Urge to Plunge Her Fingernail into the Soft Flesh of Don's Palm

Betty Stoically Resists the Urge to Plunge Her Fingernail into the Soft Flesh of Don's Palm

What the hell.  I don’t even know if I want them to make it.  At the end of last season, I did.  (I mean, if Don couldn’t be with Rachel Menken, that is.) Now, I just don’t know anymore.  Looks like they don’t, either.

And now no more Mad Men until Season 3. WEEP.

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on October 26, 2008
in Country, Indie, Music and Pop
. Closed

I am generally so out of the loop as far as album releases and tours — I never see anyone play or buy any record in a timely manner because I just never hear about things.  In the case of Jenny Lewis’s latest solo album, Acid Tongue, I basically didn’t even know it was in the works.  Let it be said, though, that as soon as I figured it out I purchased it with a quickness.

It’s gone in a different direction than Rilo Kiley’s last album, Under the Blacklight.  While that one was very polished and conceptual, this one is a little more ragged (due to being mostly “recorded live”).  Some of the songs, like the first track (Black Sand) are thinner in terms of instrumentation and production.  On that one, Jenny sings with an airy sort of falsetto.  The overall sound that results is not the polished pop or stylish folk/country I usually expect from her.  In fact, I found (find?) that track a little off-putting.  I generally prefer her sound when it’s richer and more complexly layered.

Other tracks, however, wormed their way into my emotional life after only a few bars. Soon enough, I found myself slumped on the couch in the dark, sniffling my way through the second half of the album and wondering if it was the musical greatness or just my impending Special Ladies’ Time that had me in such a mood.

That night I listened to the album a couple of times, and the next morning I woke up thinking that all I really wanted to do was stay in bed all day and listen to it over and over again — particularly the title track. That song gives me the goosebumps, I tell you.  It’s the kind of music that makes me want to sing really loudly (in a room all alone, because no one should hear me singing that loudly), taking swigs from a bottle of whiskey and occasionally throwing a shoe against the wall. And that’s just the way I like it.

Here are two favorite tracks, the first for the goosebumps and the second for the surprise backing vocals (can you name that singer?):

Acid Tongue


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Carpetbaggers


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P.S. I’ve just listened to these two tracks again to check that they uploaded properly, and I had to come back to say more forcefully: the title track, “Acid Tongue,” is fucking brilliant. Excuse me while I go put it on repeat and find some shoes to throw.

Mad Technology (& More)

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on October 24, 2008
in Books, Mad Men, TV and TV Drama
. Closed

As we are approaching the Season 2 finale of Mad Men, lots of interesting developments are afoot!  This week’s episode was a great one, but before I get to any of my favorite moments from the show, please indulge me while I show you some of the technology:

First we have what appears to be a recording device or, um, Dictaphone.  Something like that.

Dictaphone?

Dictaphone? What is a Dictaphone, anyway?

This device, cool as it may look, was being used for no doubt smug and self-serving purposes by one Pete Campbell. I feel sorry that it had to listen to him blather on like that.  It may only be a machine, but machines have feelings, too.

My favorite technological aspect of the episode was by far the visit from this copy machine repairman:

Are you sure this is plugged in?

Are you sure this is plugged in?

It is now completely evident that the stereotypically condescending and obnoxious IT Guy has been around as long as machines themselves.

–

And now, some of my favorite moments:

What? These vermin are warming my collar bones.

Alice Cooper is a Woman of Fashion

MR. STERLING: Alice…I’m sorry, I don’t know whose eyes to look at.

ALICE: What? These vermin are warming my frail collar bones.

Oh, Sterling, you slay me sometimes. Let’s also appreciate Alice’s No-Bullshit facial expression and perfectly manicured nails.

One of my favorite things to watch all season has been the rise of Peggy Olson.  She’s a strange bird, no doubt, but it appears that one has to be, if one wants to succeed in business while being handicapped by a pair of tits.  I love Peggy.  Her getting her own office (ahead of the men in the company who didn’t have the balls to ask for it) was a great moment, even though it came only after the sad end of Freddy Rumsen’s job.

The reaction when Harry Crane and Paul Kinsey heard the news, however, was almost even better:

WHAT?

WHAT?

Finally, one of the great mysteries of Mad Men was solved:

MYSTERY FUCKING SOLVED

MYSTERY FUCKING SOLVED

We now know who was the recipient of Don’s mailed copy of Meditations in an Emergency.

(On another note: how cool are all the literary references?  Frank O’Hara here, Betty reading Fitzgerald, that girl from last week — who had a voice eerily simlar to January Jones’s — reading Faulkner.  Someone’s got good taste!)

It was strange to see Don Draper out of his usual context, and instead bumming around this woman’s breezy California house in linen and short sleeves.  It was also, however, nice to see him at ease and with, finally, someone who appears to be a real friend.

On a sadder note: Joan, Joan, JOAN. Girl. Call me.

Oчень приятно, Mrs. Palin

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on October 23, 2008
in Comedy and Music
. 3 Comments

This might be my favorite Sarah Palin video yet. It combines two things I love very, very much in life: mocking the stupid, and hilarious Russian accents!

I am lofe it! I am lofe it so much!

TV Boyfriends: So, Do You Think I Have a Type?

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on October 13, 2008
in Film, TV and TV Boyfriends
. Closed