tom.shea

"I break bread, ribs and $100 bills"
Thoughts on the Mad Men: Season 5 Poster. Matt Weiner & co. use a simple, stark and foreboding image to promote the fifth season following SCDP. A bit of a departure from previous season’s efforts (see here and here), this season’s poster uses less Don Draper but doesn’t skimp on the core existential conflict driving the series. The poster’s language echos the series opening sequence - a smart move to trigger familiar memories since the show has been off the air for 18 months. The line leads our eye down towards the premiere in familiar Mad Men coloring and font.  While I’m sure AMC would have preferred to keep Jon Hamm’s baby blues as the face of its Mad Men comeback, I admire the understated approach to hype. I’m ignoring my inner-cynic that says AMC designed the poster this way to save $100K on a day’s photoshoot. It’s all part of Matt Weiner’s masterplan, right? I see the negative space situating the man (read: Don Draper) in not only an existential free fall but in a wider environment, a broad and expansive cultural scope. Don Draper isn’t only fighting himself, he’s fighting the changing world around him. Whereas seasons three and four hint at the growing cultural murmur threatening the world Don Draper and Roger Sterling inhabit (i.e. rising water in season 3), season five poster alludes to a full on culture war.  Presumably taking place in 1966, I think we’ll see season 5 being the most “60’s-ish” of the Mad Men seasons. Hippies. Hash. LSD. Vietnam. Black Panther Party. This is what the popular opinion on the “60’s” might conjur up. But in many ways, the early Mad Men seasons reflect a carryover from the 1950s. The youth movement, feminism and the counterculture have been creeping in for three seasons now - season five will see the most direct conflict. Mad Men loves to place its characters in the every day arc of history and I can’t see Matt Weiner & co. NOT capitalizing on some of the monolithic events that occurred in 1966: First acid test in SF. (Don Draper tripping on Haight Ashbury? Yes pls.) Escalating conflict in Vietnam, explosion of anti-war protests. Miranda v. Arizona case Sniper shoots 13 from University of Texas belltower Star Trek premieres. NFL-AFL merge. “THAT’S WHAT THE MONEY’S FOR.”

Thoughts on the Mad Men: Season 5 Poster. Matt Weiner & co. use a simple, stark and foreboding image to promote the fifth season following SCDP.

A bit of a departure from previous season’s efforts (see here and here), this season’s poster uses less Don Draper but doesn’t skimp on the core existential conflict driving the series. The poster’s language echos the series opening sequence - a smart move to trigger familiar memories since the show has been off the air for 18 months. The line leads our eye down towards the premiere in familiar Mad Men coloring and font. 

While I’m sure AMC would have preferred to keep Jon Hamm’s baby blues as the face of its Mad Men comeback, I admire the understated approach to hype. I’m ignoring my inner-cynic that says AMC designed the poster this way to save $100K on a day’s photoshoot. It’s all part of Matt Weiner’s masterplan, right?

I see the negative space situating the man (read: Don Draper) in not only an existential free fall but in a wider environment, a broad and expansive cultural scope. Don Draper isn’t only fighting himself, he’s fighting the changing world around him. Whereas seasons three and four hint at the growing cultural murmur threatening the world Don Draper and Roger Sterling inhabit (i.e. rising water in season 3), season five poster alludes to a full on culture war. 

Presumably taking place in 1966, I think we’ll see season 5 being the most “60’s-ish” of the Mad Men seasons. Hippies. Hash. LSD. Vietnam. Black Panther Party. This is what the popular opinion on the “60’s” might conjur up. But in many ways, the early Mad Men seasons reflect a carryover from the 1950s. The youth movement, feminism and the counterculture have been creeping in for three seasons now - season five will see the most direct conflict. Mad Men loves to place its characters in the every day arc of history and I can’t see Matt Weiner & co. NOT capitalizing on some of the monolithic events that occurred in 1966:

  • First acid test in SF. (Don Draper tripping on Haight Ashbury? Yes pls.)
  • Escalating conflict in Vietnam, explosion of anti-war protests.
  • Miranda v. Arizona case
  • Sniper shoots 13 from University of Texas belltower
  • Star Trek premieres. NFL-AFL merge.

“THAT’S WHAT THE MONEY’S FOR.”

Melanie Laurent - “Inglorious Basterds.”  I love when this film becomes, for a split second, a gangster picture. 

Melanie Laurent - “Inglorious Basterds.” 

I love when this film becomes, for a split second, a gangster picture. 

animalstalkinginallcaps: YOU REMEMBER HOW UNSTOPPABLE LIL’ WAYNE WAS IN 2007?  HE OWNED MUSIC FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. HE WAS ON PEOPLE’S SHIT THAT DIDN’T EVEN WANT HIM THERE. IT WAS LIKE … THE JINGLE FOR CAP’N CRUNCH CEREAL (F. LIL’ WAYNE), O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL (F. LIL’ WAYNE), LIL’ WAYNE RAPPING OVER LIL’ WAYNE SAMPLES SLOWED DOWN 400%. AND HE STILL KILLED IT ON BASICALLY EVERY TRACK. IT WAS A WONDERFUL TIME TO BE ALIVE. WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW, THOUGH? LISTEN TO DRAKE? PFFFFFT, NO. DON’T BE RIDICULOUS. LET’S GO CHASE THAT SQUIRREL AND TALK ABOUT HOW AMAZING BUSTA RHYMES HAS BEEN THESE PAST COUPLE YEARS. WORD. I’M GOING TO MURDER THAT SQUIRREL THE WAY BUSTA MURDERS GUEST VERSES.

animalstalkinginallcaps:

YOU REMEMBER HOW UNSTOPPABLE LIL’ WAYNE WAS IN 2007? 

HE OWNED MUSIC FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR.

HE WAS ON PEOPLE’S SHIT THAT DIDN’T EVEN WANT HIM THERE. IT WAS LIKE … THE JINGLE FOR CAP’N CRUNCH CEREAL (F. LIL’ WAYNE), O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL (F. LIL’ WAYNE), LIL’ WAYNE RAPPING OVER LIL’ WAYNE SAMPLES SLOWED DOWN 400%. AND HE STILL KILLED IT ON BASICALLY EVERY TRACK.

IT WAS A WONDERFUL TIME TO BE ALIVE.

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW, THOUGH? LISTEN TO DRAKE?

PFFFFFT, NO. DON’T BE RIDICULOUS. LET’S GO CHASE THAT SQUIRREL AND TALK ABOUT HOW AMAZING BUSTA RHYMES HAS BEEN THESE PAST COUPLE YEARS.

WORD. I’M GOING TO MURDER THAT SQUIRREL THE WAY BUSTA MURDERS GUEST VERSES.

Can’t Hardly Wait

Some deft 90’s era cultural analysis and research courtesy of Katie Baker and Grantland on the teen classic “Can’t Hardly Wait.” I wouldn’t put it above “10 Things I Hate About You,” but this cheap, sugary film has aged well.

I sat here, day after Christmas, flipping through Joe Brown and Levy, Phillips & Konigsburg asbestos-litigation commercials, when I came across what I think is the catalyst for the rash of teen flicks in the late 1990’s: Can’t Hardly Wait. Jennifer Love Hewitt in her prime (and when promise rings meant something), the great Ethan Embry, Jamie Pressly dressed similar to her My Name is Earl character, Lauren Ambrose pre-Six Feet Under, Peter Fascinelli, the Swedish exchange student&  I believe this movie influenced everything that came after it. (American Pie was great, but the virginity thing was just one of like six storylines in Can’t Hardly Wait.) I don’t think the movie gets its proper due. Your thoughts?

 

— Ryan P.

John Hughes just rolled over in his grave. Still, I completely agree that when it comes to that specific late-’90s era of high school films, Can’t Hardly Wait was superior to comparables like She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You (although the latter earns additional ’90s points by virtue of a Shakespeare-derived plot).

Can’t Hardly Wait was a movie so dimly star-studded that Jenna Elfman, Melissa Joan Hart, Jerry O’Connell, and Breckin Meyer were all in it … in uncredited roles. The credited actors are even more amusing to see: Selma Blair played the part of “Girl Mike Hits On #1.” Jason Segel made his debut appearance, before Freaks and Geeks, as “Watermelon Guy.” The movie included not one but two songs by Smash Mouth. I still compare a certain kind of person to Trip McNeely. And of course, the beer has gone bad, nobody drink the beer. I CAN’T FEEL MY LEGS! (That actor, by the way, went to MIT and Yale Law and is now the subject of headlines like “President Obama nominates Professor Korsmo for key administration post.” It’s just like the plot of the film!)

A few other thoughts on this movie and others in its important genre:

  • If it/they came out while you were actually in high school, congratulations: You belong to the forgotten demographic of humans who are neither Gen X nor Millennials, and you are doomed to a lifetime of being unfairly lumped in with kids who are currently 14 years old.
  • Perusing IMDb for the last 45 minutes has yielded sentences like “[Larisa Oleynik’s] big break came when she was eight. She had gotten the part of young Cosette in a production of “Les Miserables.” Her costar was Rider Strong, playing Gavroche.”
  • I know it’s a cliche that youth is wasted on the young, etc., etc., but as I sit here thinking about a movie based entirely around one epic high school house party, I’m getting upset that it’s mainly 16- and 17-year-olds who get to experience the sublime wonder. Sure, when you get older you can still race-drink beer out of ice cube trays through straws while two people you’ve known since first grade fondle each other three feet away; declare seven different people your “new favorite person” over six different joints; squirrel away a tray of pizza bagels and a six-pack of beer in someone’s mom’s bathroom for later consumption; wake up on a pool chair, wipe the drool off your mouth, and mix yourself whatever’s left of the ginger ale and vodka; or hide in the woods wearing only a towel until the cops’ flashlights retreat into the distance. You can still do all those things, sure, but you’ll never again do them all on the same night.

Bro.

  • hey bro
  • bro
  • broski
  • brosicle
  • broseidon, god of the brocean
  • brotato chip
  • brotein shake
  • brosef stalin
  • barack brobama
  • teddy brosevelt
  • don quibrote
  • adrien brody
  • gallilebro gallilei
  • napoleon bronaparte
  • brobo cop
  • leonardo dicapribro
  • broseph mengele 
  • bro nye the science guy
  • selena bromez
  • broey deschanel 
  • bro dimaggio
  • wolfgang amadaeus brozart
  • brohemian rhapsody
  • osama bro laden
  • mighty bro young
  • brodo the hobbit bro
  • broprah winfrey 
  • broby dick
  • abroham lincoln
  • what’s up

(Source: the-vashta-nerada, via murdertramp)

Yes, this is an hour-long piece on Tom Ford. Yes, it’s by the Oprah network. Sure, there’s fashion-y jargon and silliness but my fellow Tom is a smart  and interesting guy. I also loved “A Single Man.” 

allcreatures: This portrait of a cuckoo stealing a reed warbler’s egg from its nest - by Oldrich Mikulica, from the Czech Republic - won the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011 competition. Cuckoos remove their host’s eggs and replace it with one of their own - which is nearly identical in appearance. This one has been caught in the act as stares at the camera for a split second before it drops the egg out of the nest. Picture: Oldrich Mikulica / Caters News

allcreatures:

This portrait of a cuckoo stealing a reed warbler’s egg from its nest - by Oldrich Mikulica, from the Czech Republic - won the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011 competition. Cuckoos remove their host’s eggs and replace it with one of their own - which is nearly identical in appearance. This one has been caught in the act as stares at the camera for a split second before it drops the egg out of the nest. Picture: Oldrich Mikulica / Caters News

“I’m the action on the court/ you’re the gum stuck to the bleachers”

Still from the new Lady Gaga video, “Marry the Night.”  Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga has pushed the limits of post-2000 music videos more than anyone. “Just Dance” was a Sartre-esque delve into the party people. “Bad Romance” was a twisted revelation. The prison half of “Telephone” was criminally well done (I still can’t forgive the director for keeping Beyonce SITTING IN A CAR when her verse starts). From the costumes and make-up to the otherworldly set pieces, it’s clear the music video is a key component in constructing the Gaga mystique/myth/story. “Marry the Night” is maybe the most complete reinforcement of this story we’ve seen yet. Of course, we’re not just listening to the beat and the melody when we hear Lady Gaga. We’re absorbing her message of self-worth, tolerance, Lower-East-Side-Bar-Fly-turned-Superstar, always-knew-it stardom and the driving eccentricities of the artiste. “Marry the Night” articulates that Myth of Gaga at its finest.  We see her at multiple points along the Fame Index: “Fame”-esque spunky upstart, artistic breakdown (and consequently, artistic rebirth), manic expression of the id, drug-addled bathroom mess, moving out of her parent’s tame suburban house and ultimately, traffic-stopping, big hat-wearing celebrity. Things I like about this video:  Trans Am, fire, explosions, etc.  Editing in the last 40 seconds - multiple setups fill in the bumps along her journey. Grime. This video is filled with it. Think Beyonce/Rhianna/etc would ever allow themselves to be filmed like that? M-M-M-Marry cha-cha move Surpassingly capable direction from Gaga herself Jump cuts during the studio dance scene That look from the ballet dancer when she sees and recognizes Gaga from the audition. A look that says, “What the hell happened to her?” Basically every shot in that bathroom.  This is not to say Lady Gaga is misleading or posing by propagating and strengthening this myth - but rather asking the audience to consider the very post-modern tactics of defining “self” and ultimately, that most unreliable narrator, ourselves.

Still from the new Lady Gaga video, “Marry the Night.” 

Love her or hate her, Lady Gaga has pushed the limits of post-2000 music videos more than anyone. “Just Dance” was a Sartre-esque delve into the party people. “Bad Romance” was a twisted revelation. The prison half of “Telephone” was criminally well done (I still can’t forgive the director for keeping Beyonce SITTING IN A CAR when her verse starts). From the costumes and make-up to the otherworldly set pieces, it’s clear the music video is a key component in constructing the Gaga mystique/myth/story. “Marry the Night” is maybe the most complete reinforcement of this story we’ve seen yet.

Of course, we’re not just listening to the beat and the melody when we hear Lady Gaga. We’re absorbing her message of self-worth, tolerance, Lower-East-Side-Bar-Fly-turned-Superstar, always-knew-it stardom and the driving eccentricities of the artiste. “Marry the Night” articulates that Myth of Gaga at its finest. 

We see her at multiple points along the Fame Index: “Fame”-esque spunky upstart, artistic breakdown (and consequently, artistic rebirth), manic expression of the id, drug-addled bathroom mess, moving out of her parent’s tame suburban house and ultimately, traffic-stopping, big hat-wearing celebrity.

Things I like about this video: 

  • Trans Am, fire, explosions, etc. 
  • Editing in the last 40 seconds - multiple setups fill in the bumps along her journey.
  • Grime. This video is filled with it. Think Beyonce/Rhianna/etc would ever allow themselves to be filmed like that?
  • M-M-M-Marry cha-cha move
  • Surpassingly capable direction from Gaga herself
  • Jump cuts during the studio dance scene
  • That look from the ballet dancer when she sees and recognizes Gaga from the audition. A look that says, “What the hell happened to her?”
  • Basically every shot in that bathroom. 

This is not to say Lady Gaga is misleading or posing by propagating and strengthening this myth - but rather asking the audience to consider the very post-modern tactics of defining “self” and ultimately, that most unreliable narrator, ourselves.

Timelapse test footage from this weekend. Good learning experience. I’ve had good results shooting traffic, businesses, etc with this technique but nature and outdoor photography is a whole ‘nother animal. Each set-up is only 100ish exposures. Nothing I’m that happy with but some good looking views from an always gorgeous Cranbrook.