Aplace

Ferd Reviews: Brothers and Sisters

I like to brag lately about how little TV I watch. But before I brag about something to other people, I like to do a dry-run brag in my head (to ensure I'm casting myself in the best possible light). But when I try to draw up an impressively short list of  shows I watch weekly, I realise the list is actually distressingly long, because there are some shows I watch regularly and forget. Brothers and Sisters is one of those shows.  I love the family on this show. I love the way they look, and their glamourous jobs, and the weird semi-incestuous relationship one of them has with their half-sister (that isn't.) I love how their dead dad is a plot point instead of a quiet and constant pall over their lives.   I love how likeable Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe are in small doses.

The only thing I hate about Brothers and Sisters is Balthazar Getty's character but apparently Mr. Getty has been fired. I think David Foster Wallace said it best: Balthazar Getty is to Leonardo DiCaprio what a Ford Escort is to a Lexus. Also he cheated on his wife with Sienna Miller, an attractive woman with the charisma of a box of Kraft Dinner.

Why I don't want anyone else to like Mad Men

This Boston Globe article pretty much sums up my relationship with most esoteric things I like. I have a tendency to want to keep them to myself, because if only a few people love them then I get to feel special about being a fan.

"Keep your sweaty remote-control-clutching paws off my 'Mad Men,' people. And I truly mean that, too. I don't want to see one of my most cherished objects become dissipated at the water-cooler, made into a "phenomenon" that turns star Jon Hamm into a cover boy and inspires Slate magazine to run brainy weekly analyses. I want to share all good things with you, really I do, but really I don't. Once the universe - or at least planet Nielsen - fully embraces a TV show, that show officially loses its innocence, its diamond-in-the-roughness. It no longer has the allure of the underappreciated."

Mad Men, though, is so deliriously good that it seems almost spiteful to keep it from others:

Well, maybe not entirely. I also kind of hate the show because there are *no* black people on it. I mean occasionally, a black person will pop up and make some super trenchant comment that makes you realise the social injustice of the times blah, blah, blah. But 99% of the time they are merely absent, invisible, much as they would have been to the show's characters if they actually ever existed.

The show is set in the advertising world of Madison Avenue in the early sixties. One of the agency's clients is Jewish and they all seem to have a hard enough time grappling with that. Still, I wish they would acknowledge that the fact these characters didn't see people of colour does not mean they weren't actually there. This is a show that is very concerned with accurately portraying the era it's set in: period phones, period clothing, period cigarette holders. To me, it almost seems as though they are so obsessed with reflecting accurately the invisibility of blacks at that time that they themselves begin to perpetuate it. This is not Jane Austen's England here. The people on this show lived in close proximity to people of every ethnicity, even if they weren't in the office environment proper and I wish that were acknowledged more explicitly. The show acknowledges racism but not people of other races, if that makes sense.

I'm sure there are all sorts of valid artistic reasons for their choices and sometimes (often?), paying lip service to diversity in a fictional work is inappropriate,  but I think, on this particular show, in this particular instance, they could do a better job. To the main characters, blacks are just ubiquitous dark-skinned ciphers, to be alternately ignored or occasionally derided, but to look behind what the characters see would be illuminating. The idea of being so physically proximate to someone without ever engaging with them, it's fascinating. Fascinating.

Hmm...so that was kind of a hatchet job on a show I claim to love. Sorry. It really is fabulous. Just not perfect. Anything worthwhile usually isn't.

From the Vault

Ottawa, February 10, 1992

Star Trek
The Official Fan Club
P.O. Box 111000
Aurora, Colorado
80011
USA

To whom it may concern,

It has been brought to my attention that their there is a Fan club for fans of Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation through the last pages of a Star Trek: The Next Generation publication "Ghost Ship" from Pocket Books. Enclosed is my money order for 12.00 US. funds in order to receive the membership pack. I thank you for creating this Fan club for all those dedicated fans out there who watch the Star Trek: TNG serial assidously [sic]. I know I speak for all of them when I say we are truly thankful for your organization.

Yours Sincerely,

Miss Frédérique

jk/FD

P.S. I would like to write a letter to Brent Spiner, the actor who portrays Lt. Commander Data. Can you tell me how I might go about getting into contact with him? Thanks again.

Welcome to the O.C.

I'm well aware none of you watch the O.C. (and why is that?) but I have to vent about tonight's episode somewhere thus this post. OMG OMG: Marissa shot Trey! Killing his brother will definitely put a damper on her attempts to reconnect with Ryan, I'm afraid

Erk...Somehow despite that emotional bombshell, Mischa Barton has been unable to turn down the suck in her performance. Of course, this is all in the eye of the beholder as a number of people whom I respect think she is a decent actress. To each their own I suppose. Gah... all these season finales mean that I will soon have to take up some hobbies or else be forced to watch the freak parade that are the summer reality shows. Back to work !

Baba Bah !

So I just heard that CSI: New York will have the Who's "Baba O'Reilly" as its theme song. This is clearly wrong. I really like Baba O'Reilly and now it will be piped in to living rooms across America every Monday at 9/8 central. This is like the theme song from the O.C., which is by Phantom Planet. Let me remind you that Laura and I were fans of Phantom Planet back when they were musical non-entities. Hell, Laurk was close personal friends with them at one point ! Anyways, it will be overplayed and I will begin to hate it.

In other news, I am the middle of a terrific book. You may have noticed that I've been on kind of a reading warpath of late. This is because last year when I started on typepad, I promised myself to read 26 non-school books this year. I reached that mark a few weeks back and upped my goal to 35 non-school books. I am at 32 currently but I only have 'til August 7th so I've had to pick up the pace. The book I am reading is Small Island by Andrea Levy, winner of the 2004 Orange Prize. It is about Jamaican immigrants in post-war England and their landlords. Very funny/sad. It also has one of the more striking book covers I've seen in my day.

The only problem with my book reading plan is that I inevitably spend nine japillion years at the bookstore trying to select my next read. Sometimes, as in this case, I am successful in finding something good. Other times I pick up some ridiculousness (like the prequel to the Da Vinci Code) which I tire of after fifteen pages and can therefore not be counted towards my total. I work very well with recommendations, so if anyone has any suggestions for British books I should read, let me know (I've settled on a British theme for the next few weeks, don't ask me why.)

Is there something vaguely childish about this reading race against the clock? Perhaps, but it's nonetheless completely satisfying. In 1998, I was involved in a similar race to see 52 movies. I did not succeed but it was great fun.

Finally, shout-out to Leona. I saw her this weekend. She is moving to the Dominican Republic a month from now to represent our fair nation. She seemed healthy and we went to Winners.

Living in a Shack with Brad Pitt

Last night was the Grammys, and I watched a distressingly large portion of them. The performances were kind of middling I have to say...nothing that blew me away. I did chuckle heartily when 50 Cent got on stage to "congratulate" Evanescence when they beat him in the Best New Artist category. I also loved the bird that landed in Beyonce's hand at the end of her performance: cheeseball, but in the best sense of the word. My favorite performance had to be Justin T and Arturo Sandoval. It was great I was really feeling the music and the mix of pop and jazz was enlightening not a tired mish-mash.

When I was finished watching the Grammy's instead of doing work or going to bed like a normal person, I played M*A*S*H for two hours. Too many procrastinators spoil the broth. We did manage to fix a lock, too. Well, mostly I watched but you know that I'm handy...That can't be denied!

I also saw Mostly Martha, a quirky German film about a cook who takes in her orphan niece and has an epiphany because of it... It was excellent.

Alert

Don't forget, the CBC is continuing to air the amazing miniseries adapatation of "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith, tonight at 11:30 pm. If you're still up.

that won't be necessary

I've noticed that my post titles have just degenerated into nonsensicalness: random lyrics, TV quotes and all manner od pop culture detritus that happens to cross my mind. Speaking of which, Zoey Bartlett is safe and John Goodman is no longer the president which was confusing. On a sadder note, it is clear that Stockard Channing has had work done, as eagle-eyed Katie noticed earlier. Something must have gone awry in the operating room, unfortunately. Sadder still is the fact that the O.C. is now going up against the West Wing which causes serious problems for me. I live a simple life.

in the blue tv screen light

I have cable in my room. 75 channels to be exact. For the low, low, price of 2$ a month. Very hard to resist. So I didn't. Is apocalypse in the offing ? Academic apocalypse, at the very least. I don't plan on watching very often. It's just good to have in case, there's something I have to watch that no one else is interested in. Like the West Wing and Buffy reruns and documentaries on Ronald Reagan. I will keep you apprised of any and all details.