Playing Beauty Parlor

I'm fooling around with this virtual makeover thingymabob. Ads pop up - you're warned. I know what looks good on me & so don't really need to do this but it's fun. The only problem is the photo available on my laptop has Julie the Cat in it. She looks great with red bangs (fringe for UK, Australia, etc)

Mad Men is now available on Netflix Instant for those who have it. (Drop in at Basket of Kisses, a Mad Men blog for all sorts of analysis, etc.) I got half-way through the pilot but it slowed down too much. And a guy near me kept looking over at a Don-&-Midge love scene. Euwwwwwwwww. Gave him the stink-eye to no avail. Must work on threatening looks.

(photograph via Pinterest. It sure looks like Christina Hendricks but cannot find the source. If anyone knows, please let me know.)

American Idiot

Billie Joe Armstrong was inspired to write the song after hearing the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "That's How I Like It" on his car radio. Said Armstrong, "It was like, I'm proud to be a redneck and I was like, oh my God, why would you be proud of something like that? This is exactly what I'm against."

Here's the link to the Diane Rehm show. Andy Kohut offered up a detailed reading of the entrails, but after above I blew a fuse. While I was changing it, more people said more stuff. Check the transcript.

Amongst my fuming points: the press (particularly lazee teevee peeps) sat back & watched the Republicans take pot shots at Obama et al & did not follow up with hard, smart questions. The reason I know they're not so smart is because--as Stephen Fry wrote/said about government administrators in UK--"they are the people you sat next to in school..." BTW, the new Republican mantra is "The President still sets the agenda." You know what that means, right?

Some Mad Men Yourself images (I can't turn off the jazzy music. Your computer hasn't gone mad, just be forewarned). French FB group started posting some very nice photographs...there was my leetle self. When the world was in the midst of another awful economic upheaval. It never occurred to me not to vote, even if overseas. I registered before I left & made an absentee ballot request. No computers, no American expat groups (near me anyway), etc. No, I was not preternaturally prepared, either. I was 17. Apparently many younger people couldn't be bothered to haul their heinies to vote yesterday. Wow.

Back to regular programming of research effluvia soon...

Update - one thing that keeps me laughing lately is this cat adoption site in Washington State. The woman who writes/photographs these kittens she fosters, she's hilarious. Here's the latest "Tell Us How You Really Feel, Mimsey." I feel like Mimsey, today.

Week's End - Off-Leash

You do have a leash, as a writer. You're holding a dog. The great excitement is to see what happens if you let the whole thing go. And the dog or the character really runs about, bites everyone in sight, jumps up trees, falls into lakes, gets wet, and you let that happen. That's the excitement of writing plays.--Harold Pinter

Before I let it fly (maybe, probably, next week) I have to clean up the blog templates, work on headers, get legal advice (kidding). I have to finalize plans to meet up with Ralliers for Sanity (not kidding). I...uh. I'll stop there. Back later.

OK, I'm back. For a minute. I have to post my vote. Have you voted if you're eligible? Oh dude,* if you don't & start complaining on 3 November about Teabaggery...I will so not be there/here for you. (*Pops out of my mouth with a disturbing naturalness.)

Some fun: Mad Men Yourself. Here's my beta-version with a little shout-down to naysayers about political satire rallies. (That newspaper in the hand is rolled up for a teeny light swat.) First they want to call the election before it's held (shrieking curses) & now all manner of pontification about Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert. What do these nincompoops (no, not S&C, I'll fix grammar later) not understand about political satire?

You know what? Tough. Here I go: I've lived here for um, a long time. The media-punditiocy w/knickers-a-twist? They weren't invited, those sniffy twits. And now, in the name of a bit of sympathy (only a bit)...

Once upon a time, a youngish editor stood outside her office door. She railed to her boss about the "media." Her boss kept trying to interrupt. They were both talented interrupters--they had to be. Finally the boss pointed at the younger woman who said What, what? Boss: "I'm pointing at your press pass."

Oh. Gulp. Slink away in manner of humiliated Snoopy.

(Tim Walker photograph via one million sites & counting; silly me via AMC)

Reflections in the Water

Sally of Lettuce-eating posted these abstracts last January (2009) & there was much justified enthusiasm. She bowed to the will of the people: Voilà, they are cards. Yours are at Made4Aid's new Etsy shop. No shipping fee, no kidding. Even if you can't buy right now, it would do no small amount of good to "favorite" the shop (or some items you like). I loved Made4Aid auctions last year, but this will be easier for those who did not. (Wusses!)

I'm meandering about & muttering to the cat. About to go say hello to Hazel, who is back from Paris. Thinking about the Mad Men season finale (& whole series) & wondering why people use the term 'soap opera' about it. I had to bite my tongue overhearing people on the Metro. Apparently they grew up in a utopia starring Glinda the Good Witch as Queen. Many of these naifs have discovered Basket of Kisses (my preferred MM blog) recently. Man, I hope I didn't send them over there.

I'll take the "no comments" off of yesterday's post in case anyone wants to spill their guts about exciting exits. Extra points if you think it's funny now. You will receive much empathy if you do not think it funny--ever. (photograph by liquid sunny sky via deviantArt; collage made from Made4Aid images)

Making an Exit

Every exit is an entrance somewhere else.--Tom Stoppard

Making an exit, planned or not, is almost always an option. Hold your head high while doing so. If you are pulled together with flattering lipstick & comfortable (but pretty!) shoes, it really helps. Armor thyself. Do not run away as if on fire. (Unless being chased by a lunatic. If you are on fire, believe me, you have other things to worry about. Remember: stop, drop, & roll.)

I've slunk through bookshop & library shelves, wound around corridors, exiting through a catering area more than once. Yes, I was on the ground. Once I crawled out of a club on my hands & knees through the kitchen. (I no longer do these things.) This is in response to a friend who told me that he cannot attend an event because of someone's possible appearance. But I've done the same, so I can't wag my finger at him. (I did not advise him to wear lipstick, no.)

(I'm turning off comments for this post only to relieve people from feeling imposed upon to make them.) OK, pressure's on. Just opened the comments.

(photograph via AMC of Joan/Christina Hendricks because she's putting on her armor here; plus, I can't see the finale of Mad Men until it downloads on iTunes tomorrow - mimph)

Echoes of Hopper

So I'm not a genius (I knew it. Double rats.). But I have seen flashes of "Hopper" in Mad Men shots, themes, motifs. Never more so than a quick frame from last week's episode, Hands and Knees. Just took a quick look at Basket of Kisses before I head out this morning. Here is Art Imitating Art. (image via Tate (UK) org) Update - later that day...another post from last year--they don't miss a thing, those clever Basket Cases.

Bad Apple

Mille grazie to Maria Caterina di Perugia for a wonderful day at her house. She even picked me up & brought me back; I'm rather tottery lately, so this was a huge help. Lovely lunch. Discussed possibility of trip to Bath, Wales, & Cornwall within a reasonable time-frame (well, you have to plan these things). MCat received a gorgeous red-fabric bound set of collected Jane Austen from the Jane Austen Centre for her first anniversary (yesterday). My haul: three kinds of tomatoes, little peppers, heaps of basil, rosemary, sage, black-eyed Susans, & marigolds. Yay. I look forward to house-sitting whilst they are away at the beach later this month. Birds, two cats (one being My Julie), breezy house, & garden. No weirdo neighbor with secret meth lab. (I'm only half-kidding.)

All clean & tidy & happy-ish, claws sheathed, I logged on to see (as I did this a.m.) where/why iTunes had not downloaded the second episode of Mad Men (yes, it is a priority...you should read & look at the stuff I have to, then you'd know why). Thought it was me; no it was not. That was no small sum I paid for a season pass. Bad Apple!

Hope you had a great Monday. If you're a Bachelorette fan, Joanna at Cup of Jo is holding a series finale confab, here. (Me? No, but have a good time.) See ya in the funny papers.

ciao-meow

[Natalie Portman photographed by Ellen von Unwerth, 1996 via bohema tumbr]

Joan

Beautiful photo shoot of Christina Hendricks (aka Joan Holloway Harris), here, via LA Times Magazine blog. The amusing-to-me Mad Men Blog: Basket of Kisses. Normally, I do not care about being nearly a year behind in programs, but I'll watch this season via iTunes. Leaving out details about how familiar this is from childhood. It was a mess but we had some great clothes, some great parties (well, my mother did--we watched from the top of staircase, except for ritual pass-through-in-adorable-pajamas-time. Not complaining.).

Update--the Madness just doesn't end. Here's The Definitive Mad Men Summer Reading List from Flavorwire (first seen on the Poetry Foundation's blog, Harriet). I've been waiting for this, actually. As in, "why doesn't someone make a list about what these people were reading?"

Saturday update--iTunes download/Season pass ready. For people new to watching online (I am), here's the link to AMC Mad Men site. To get ready for Season 4, you can watch Season 3 finale, Shut the Door.Have a Seat for free. Here are all the ways to watch...

Friday update /end of an era - RIP Daniel Schorr.

Girls in Their Summer Dresses

It's so very hot. Perhaps I'll find one more summer dress (on sale). One that assures me it's a dress that does things for me. Well, why would I turn that down? Speaking of advertising, Leslie at Work-in-Progress (lower right sidebar under writers & readers) brought The Women Behind 'Mad Men' from WSJ.com to my attention. I couldn't read the whole thing because it was verging on spilling the end of Season 2. No cable, no show. The Netflix Fairy brought end-of-Season 2 today. And yes, I'm still reading & swimming & yoga-ing (om) & will post regularly & with more juice than lately. Soon. It's hot out, what can I say?

[vintage advert via myvintagevogue - which is a fabulous website]