Saturday, July 28, 2007

Mad Men

I've been watching Mad Men, A new show on AMC about ad writers in the 1960s. Only two episodes into the series and I love it. It follows two characters in a major ad agency, one a rising star in middle management (played by Jon Hamm), the other his secretary, a naive girl just starting out in the field (played by Elizabeth Moss). The show seems to focus on the fucked up sexual dynamics of the middle classes at the time. It takes place at the moment before feminism began to finally push it's way into the mainstream. The main characters all play into the sexual roles society expects them to play, but all show a clear dissatisfaction with how it's working. The series is just starting, and shows glimmers of other social critiques of 60's society. It seems, if anything, a series about how much better society is now then it was back then. It focuses on things characters say and do and allow that would never fly today. With out mentioning modern times, we still automatically make the comparison. A child with a dry cleaning plastic bag over her head "playing space man" elicits shocked giggles at the sight of something the media has terrified us into never allowing. A gynecologist giving a woman a prescription for birth control pills and telling her that if he suspects that she is abusing them and "whoring" herself out, he'll revoke it, causes shock and outrage. A woman with obvious neurological problems is told nothing is wrong and sent to a therapist. The show pays homage to the social advancements of the last thirty years not by mentioning them, but by clearly demonstrating where we were before they came. It is both shocking and beautiful even to a cynic such as myself.

-Brandon

Thursday, July 12, 2007

The bloop


Better quality version is here. http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/large.html
I'm excited for this film. Rumors are that it might be a Lovecraftian horror/Cthulu epic, but I don't know where that's coming from.

Tyler sent me this link which led me to 1/18/08. The bloop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop Fun! Check out the realtime sound here. http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=20613

-Brandon

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

I recently Buzzed my head. Tonight I went to the Yacht Club (a local IC bar with mostly terrible music but cheap drinks and people I know) and was twice asked if I was Andrew Juhl, the sexist asshole who writes "The Ledge (an unfunny column in one of the worst newspapers I've ever had my hands on). I somehow found this more offensive then when a coworker told me I looked like the webmaster for the Aryan Nation. Apparently buzzed hair isn't a good look for me.

Being the worst part of one of the worst newspapers ever is no mean feat. If you aren't familiar with how talentless and horrible Andrew Johl is, here is a sample of his latest ledge. Not his worst, just his latest in his string of atrocities against taste.

"
Bad pick-up lines actually used on women in Iowa City bars
by Andrew Juhl


• Hey! You look just like my next ex-girlfriend.

• Tell you what: I’ll flip a coin. Heads, you have to sleep with me; tails, I have to sleep with you.

• Roses are red, violets are blue. I like peanut butter, let’s [have sex].

• Excuse me, but are you a lesbian? (No.) Well, what a coincidence: neither am I.

• Other than making men drop to their knees and thank God for being men, what do you do for living?

• Hi. I’m sterile.

• For a second, I was confused; it’s midnight, but the sun was out. Then I realized: It’s just your smile.

• Your face or mine?

• Wanna go halvesies on a bastard child?

• Mind if I put my twinkie in your ho-ho?

• I guarantee you an orgasm or your money back.

• Hey, baby, my car and my chest are both waxed. Can I offer you a ride on either?

• If we go home together, I promise that you won’t regret it in the morning; I sleep until 1 (p.m.).

• I’m just transferred here from [smelly Big 12 university], and I don’t know my way around. Could you please give me directions to your place?

• Want to make a quick $20?

-Brandon