Archive for the 'Music' Category

Mad Women

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on September 5, 2008
in Indie, Mad Men, Music, Pop, TV and TV Drama
. 3 Comments

The newest episode of Mad Men was another great one (as if I would ever say anything different, please!), and because Mad Men is such a strongly visual show for me, I just can’t resist posting plenty of pictures for you to enjoy. This set focuses on the fabulous women of the show, who were very much the focus this week.   The episode, titled “Maidenform,” grabbed me from the first scene, which showed a sequence of Betty, then Joan, then Peggy putting on their underthings in the morning, all set to The Decemberists’ “The Infanta.” I don’t believe they have ever used contemporary pop in the soundtrack before (have they?), but it fit the sequence and the episode perfectly.


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Still Not Sad, Just Nordic

Still Not Sad, Just Nordic

Joan Would Never Wear White Lace Underthings!

Joan Would Never Wear White Lace Underthings!

Peggs, Unremarkable (for Now)

Peggs, Unremarkable (for Now)

In a fashion show scene at the country club, viewers were reminded of those halcyon days of yore, when models had actual boobs and hips and were not wasted, hollow, stick-insects.

Oh, Hello, a Real-Sized Lady

Oh, Hello, a Real-Sized Lady

Okay, lady!  You are working your polka-dot bikini! (On another note, how awkward would it be to model in the midst of a lot of Country Club Sallie’s drinking tea? Eek!)

Unfortunately, all was not perfect this week. The horrible Bobbi Barrett continued to sully the show with her brash over-confidence and her over-abundance of accessories.

Accessory Overload

Accessory Overload

Bobbi is just too much, I tell you. On an unrelated note, do you watch Big Brother?  Doesn’t Bobbi remind you of the Dawlin’ from New Awlins, Renny?  I love Renny, though, and hate Bobbi.

Moving on!

In this strange and surreal scene, Betty fixes breakfast for the family in a bright yellow bikini she bought at the country club fashion show.  That’s not the strangest part, though:

Betty Serves Breakfast in a Bikini

Betty Serves Breakfast in a Bikini

Please to note Little Bobby Draper marching around in the background with a bucket over his head.  That kid is weird.  It reminded me of that effing classic scene from Mermaids, where Christina Ricci staggers though the house with a pumpkin on her head and then tips over on the kitchen floor.  Hilarious.

Finally, this post on the women of Mad Men would not be complete without a photo of Peggy looking freaking fantastic in this gorgeous blue silk dress.

Peggy Acquired Fashion by Looking at a Lot of Different Kinds of Fashion

Peggy Acquired Fashion by Looking at a Lot of Different Kinds of Fashion

Hot damn, Peggy!  (Too bad this particular scene went in such a creepy direction at the end, however!)

And because there were a handful of other things I wanted to show you from this week, I’ll be back later with some of the furniture, props, and pets of the episode.

What did you think?

What I’m Listening to Tonight Makes Me Wanna Go and Fuck Shit Up

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on August 30, 2008
in Indie, Listening Tonight, Music, Pop and Rock
. 1 Comment

Juliana Hatfield’s Hey Babe was one of my favorite albums in high school.  The summer before senior year, I saw her play in the college town somewhat near where I lived, and it was my first real concert.  In spite of the drunken frat boys shouting for her to “Play some Skynyrd,” I couldn’t have enjoyed it more.

While Hey Babe was her first solo album after the Blake Babies split, she of course went on to be quite prolific and the many, many albums that followed it have all been great. I’m not sure this is her best album, but it’s for damned sure the one I remember most fondly.

The backing crew is fucking amazing.  (No, really, see for yourself!  Among others, there are Evan Dando and Mike Motherfucking Watt! I know!)  The album is tight as hell, and it just plain rocks. There can be no denying it, unless you are iTunes.  Apparently, iTunes can deny it all they want.

I pretty much figured that after the demise of my cassettes and cassette players that this album and I were destined to live separate lives: I alone with my sadness, and the album alone and neglected in the used CD bin at some corner store in an unknown town where I would never chance to be.

Well, thank dog for illegal downloads, is what I say.

And with that, a few favorite tracks:

Everybody Loves Me But You


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Lost and Saved


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Nirvana


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No Outlet


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What I’m Watching & Listening to Tonight

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on August 28, 2008
in Big Brother, Listening Tonight, Music and TV
. 2 Comments

Tonight’s episode of Big Brother (I KNOW it’s awful, but I simply CANNOT RESIST) could be the best one yet this season: it’ll surely feature a bunch of the chaos and fighting that must have erupted after Tuesday’s Veto Ceremony, and it’ll feature a controversial eviction and a surprise double eviction. All live! LIVE! Thrilling!

But if you think I’ll be watching that instead of Barack Obama’s acceptance speech, you must be fucking insane. My GOD I have been glued to the convention this week. The only major speech I missed was Hillary’s (due to Tuesday night Trivia), but I caught up via YouTube as soon as possible. I swear, I have never watched C-SPAN in all my life until now. I’m pretty psyched, actually, that even with my bare-bones basic cable package one of the twelve channels I get is C-SPAN. Rock on, fucking C-SPAN, rock the hell on!

But! Did you know! That tonight’s events at the convention will include not only my boyfriend Barack Obama’s sure-to-be great speech, but also a speech from one of my many other boyfriends, Al Gore, and a performance by my Full-Time Lover, Stevie Wonder? I can barely contain my excitement!


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I honestly can’t express how excited I am and how perfect, FUCKING PERFECT it is to have Stevie singing tonight. My stomach is rumbling with anticipation already. Tune in tonight, shake your ass, shed a few tears. This will be some of the BEST TV EVER.

Presidential Pop Culture

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on August 10, 2008
in Music and TV
. 4 Comments

Well, readers, it’s finally happened! Obama and McCain have quit nattering on about their energy polcies (yawn) and other inconsequential blather only of interest to themselves and the ever-multiplying infestation of political pundits, and have finally started talking about something real: pop culture!

In this article at Reuters, each nominee discusses his taste in music, movies, television, superheroes, and fictional presidents. Obama’s taste in music could have come straight off my own iPod, with Bob Dylan and John Coltrane on the list, while McCain picked such snooze artists as Linda Ronstadt and ABBA (and while I may have exhibited a weakness for ABBA in the past, my heart is permanently steeled against them after having suffered through the horrors of the unforgivable Mamma Mia!).

Their taste in television reversed the score, though: Obama picked M*A*S*H and The Dick Van Dyke Show, both of which are before my time (although classics, I’ll allow), while McCain picked straight off my favorites list with Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Dexter (though I think we can all agree that a president inspired by Dexter, great as the show is, might not be such a good idea).

Now if only we could get an interview where they both comment on the noir influences visible in Veronica Mars, or perhaps engage in a Spike vs Angel debate, we could get some more interesting answers!

Oh, who am I kidding? I could never vote for a candidate who listed ABBA and Linda Ronstadt as his favorite musicians. Obama FTW!

More Musical Gadgets for You to Enjoy!

Published
by
Alfina the Vague
on July 22, 2008
in Meta-Blogular and Music
. 1 Comment

That’s right, there’s more free music for you to listen to. You may have noticed my list of recently played tracks there in the sidebar — it magically knows what I’ve been playing on my computer, iPod, or phone — courtesy of last.fm, a great site for anyone obsessed with music and self documentation, like, say, me. It will occasionally allow you to play the tracks I’ve been listening to, provided they host full versions of the songs. Sometimes, though, all you get is a 30-second clip. How disappointing, right?

Well, be disappointed no more! I added a little widget below my recent tracks that plays my so-called “radio station”: you’ll get a random assortment of my tracks, and all are full versions. You can skip the ones you don’t like, and, for the ones you do like, you can click the little link to have last.fm play you more similar stuff. It’s a great way to find new music. Go on and check it out!

P.S. Since my profile over at last.fm is not anonymous, I disabled all the links to it, so those elements of the widgets don’t work. Everything else should be functional, though.

P.P.S. These only show up on the main page, not the individual post pages.