(#17) Mad World

This is very 2007 of me, but I've fallen in love with Mad Men this week. I've watched the whole first season since Monday and man-oh-man is it great. I really don't want to write a whole long post about it since it'll just be stuff people have been saying for two years, but at the same time I NEED everyone to know how fabulous it is!

I mean, Jon Hamm/Don Draper, come on! At the point in every episode where he inevitably cheats on his wife, I always wonder what the big deal about him is and why everyone loves him so much even though he's so awful and then this happens:

and I'm like "Oh yeah. Never mind." This man is handsome. Liz Lemon was right; he looks like a cartoon pilot. Sigh.

Also, I want Joan Holloway's body. Not like in the lovin' way, more like the I-want-a-perfect-hourglass-figure-so-darn-badly way. This is Christina Hendricks (who plays her) at the Emmys this year, looking gorgeous.

Also, Peggy and Harry are my favorites.

I feel like I should talk about the show and how well-written and -acted it is (and also how I should catch up two seasons) and not just about how cute the characters are but I kind of feel sick and not like writing a lot although I do have two more things:

Today at church Dale was saying that if you're a Christian, no matter where you are in life, you have the opportunity to help someone out. Like, God put you where you are for a reason, whether you're at work or home or school, etc. You always have the opportunity to talk to someone or show them kindness. Well, right after that I went to lunch with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and right after we sat down she started asking me about church and how it was and I was able to talk to her about all the different things that go on there and what we believe and she's going to be visiting with me next-next Sunday! It's awesome how things work out that way.

Lastly, here are pictures of me as a mod/go-go dancer (and my boyfriend as a mildly amused David Bowie):

Getting mod-ified.

The color (not to mention my face) is somewhat wonky in the last one, but it was super-dark so I had to brighten it up the best I could. None of these turned out too well, but it was fun.

(#16) This is (almost) Halloween

Halloween is one-and-a-half days away! As you can tell, I'm excited. I already told you I was planning on going as a mod, but here's all the stuff it'll take to 60s-fy me.

All of this is going on my face.

These are the lovely cheap-o accessories I got at Forever 21 and Claire's (why yes, I am a classy lady, how did you know?).

And this is my four-dollar dress that decided my costume for me back in July.

Cute mods (and Sienna Miller dressed as one):

Okay, so that kind of devolved into a showcase of how adorable The Who was back in the early '60s. Sorry.

(#15) Whip it good!

So I saw Whip It with a couple of my friends tonight, and fell in love with it, for several reasons. (I'm pretty much spoiling this all over the place, so if you haven't seen it and plan to, beware.)



1. It made me want to move to Texas.



2. It also made me want to strap on some skates and beat the heck out of someone (by this I mean participate in roller derby, not just roll out there and start punching random passerby).



3. It had the always lovely Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) in a great supporting role.



4. Come to think of it, all roles, both supporting and main, were amazing.
Kristen Wiig in particular shocked me. I'm so used to watching her act ridiculous (albeit hilarious) on Saturday Night Live every week that her performance as a mom/derby doll/real-life-woman impressed me to no end.



5. Bliss didn't end up with the guy.
This was actually my favorite part about the whole movie. Yeah, there was a cute boyfriend-girlfriend part to the movie, but the boyfriend turned out to be a jerk (as all 19-year-old boys are capable of from time to time). And instead of going the teary forgiveness route and throwing herself upon him, Bliss kissed him, then slapped him a good one and that was that. I have so much respect for the screenwriter's decision to represent the part of the teenage girl population that doesn't feel the need to have a boyfriend to validate their self-worth. (Not that there is anything wrong with having a boyfriend; it's just nice to see a girl onscreen who's able to detect the worthy from the worthless. Also, he had gross hair.)



6. Girl power, baby. A hundred and eleven minutes of it.



7. The whole darn movie was great.
I liked the pageant-princess-turned-derby-darling twist on the coming-of-age tradition. Bliss and Pash were super-close best friends, and Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat really nailed that kind of relationship. The whole mother-daughter element to the story felt real and honest. Marcia Gay Harden can act, y'all. She's always compelling to watch, and just felt so believable in this frustrated but loving mother role. Daniel Stern was great too, as the slightly confused but supporting father Also, I will make sure to pay attention to any more Barrymore-directed films, because she's got a great style. The setting was perfect, the soundtrack was spot-on, and you know, I could go through every name involved in this production and talk about how much I loved them, but how about you get on down to the movie theater and support them yourselves?






7. I almost forgot -- it was truly hilarious. This is a must in my entertainment choices. If there's no humor and joy in something, what's the point of wasting my time? This film was funny, but intelligently so - the best kind.



This has nothing to do with the movie, but we were talking about rockabilly in my rock 'n' roll class on Monday, and the professor put up this picture of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks and asked if anyone had ever heard of The Band.


Can you believe that I was the only person out of an auditorium at least 250 that raised their hand? He said, "well, then you know about The Hawks, right?" and I agreed and that was that. But that just made me sad for the kids I go to school with. Their loss.


ALSO:
I am going as a mod for Halloween and am in the process of perfecting that ridiculous amount of makeup that goes along with it. It's actually a lot of fun. What are you going to be this 31st?



I don't own any of these pictures, obviously.