matouenpeluche

Four things I've learnt so far this weekend...

1. Pantone have decided emerald green is 2013 personified. Yes, Pantone have an "it" colour for 2013 and it's green number 17-5641.

Image from here.

2. When author Gabriel García Márquez was writing One Hundred Years of Solitude he listened to The Beatles for inspiration. In fact he says he played some of their records so much he wore them out.

Image from here.

3. Mad Men season six is really wonderful. I watched the first two eps. and they were super fine!

Image from here.

4. Steven Soderbergh’s Liberace bio pic Behind The Candelabra: The Secret Life of Liberace looks like it could be a lot of fun. See the just released trailer here. 

Images from here.

Mad Men Season 6 approacheth

Pass the smelling salts! The creators of Mad Men have been releasing publicity stills for season 6! 

...and Banana Republic has released a late 60s mod Mad Men inspired clothing range called Mad Men capsule collection. Nice!

How am I going to distract myself until season 6 is aired? I think I'll have to take up macramé or something.

 

Mad Men stills from here and here. Banana Republic images from here and here.

Bits and Pieces

This is a post dedicated to what I've been admiring on-line and doing off-line.

First of all, I've been very much enjoying the collections at New York's fashion week. There's been a lot to like! Something that really caught my eye though was this utterly lovely fabric that designer Monique Lhuillier used for her evening gowns. It's malachite, isn't it? Swoon!

Images from here.

I have also just finished (*sniffle*) watching possibly the very best detective series/ noir thriller I've ever seen in my life. It's from Britain and it's called The Shadow Line. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly gripping, exciting and well done it is. The story begins with the murder of an underworld drug lord and the rest of the eight part series is about the subsequent investigation by both the police and the criminals he associated with into who murdered him. It sounds like a fairly ordinary detective series, doesn't it but it is really dark, dark, dark stuff and I loved it! Here is the trailer for it and here are some clips and info about it on the BBC website. ...and here's a mostly spot on review of it from The Guardian. 

...and Rafe Spall. Wow wee - my new favourite British actor!

Images from here, here and here.

I've also just finished series two of The Hour. You can read my review of the first series here. This second series is much, much better but still deeply flawed. Again, it was very lovely to look at, but the plot...hmmmm. Still, when the plot started to irritate, there was always the lovely Bel and her wardrobe to admire! I mostly don't agree with this gushing review of it on The Guardian.

Images from here and here.

I've also finally started reading a book I've been keen to start for ages: Don DeLillo's Underworld. If you haven't read it, it's an enormous historical novel about the bomb, the Cold War and a baseball amongst other things. The story opens in 1951 at an important baseball game in New York that is being watched by Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason and J. Edgar Hoover. It then jumps forward to 1992 and then goes back and covers the decades between. There's a good review of it here. So far, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Image from here.

I've also come across the following bits and pieces that may or may not be of interest:

1) Punctuation marks I'm in two minds about. 

2) Dr. Seuss had a passion for quirky hats! Who knew? 

3) This story book castle - The Swallow's Nest. 

4) Lori Practico's portraits.

5) This pretty use of mirrors in a house in North Queensland.

Happy weekend!

This just in: epic blog drought broken!

Pardon me, gentle readers, for that unscheduled epic blog drought! I'm not quite sure what brought about that non-bloggy episode, but here I am again and will strive to blog more regularly and more frequently.

So, what have I been up to? Well, here is a pictorial explanation of what's been going on at the house of Matou. Please see below cartoon for a fuller explanation of events.

1. I have been surviving the wondrous Sydney winter! By golly has it been chillin' here in Sydney town! Have essentially been wearing a blanket to keep out the chill.

2. I have been reading up on that elusive bit of something "the God particle" or the Higgs boson. Still not 100% sure what it is, but am in agreement that it is important.

3. I have been scaring the local flora and fauna with my enthusiastic gardening skills. Actually, gardening for me is essentially weeding, sweeping and trimming. Occasionally I've been known to plant something, but it is a pretty rare event.

4. I have been gossiping to my Dad's cat on the phone. Harry is a gentle soul. I think I shock him sometimes with my news!

5. I have been watching TV series like there's no tomorrow! Mad Men season 5, of course, has been the light of my life recently. I have nearly finished it (*sniff*), but will be watching it again no doubt like the tragic Mad Men fancier that I am. I have also watched another series, though, called Our Friends in the North which is from Britain about four Newcastle Upon Tyne pals and their lives over four decades. It stars a young Daniel Craig - my word he's good! A very fine series and I recommend it to all for a fab weekend in.

6. I have been re-acquainting myself with some stand out albums on You Tube. The illustration shows the author listening to Led Zeppelin IV.

7. I have been enjoying Vanity Fair! Who doesn't? Show me this person!

8. I have been boring the socks off fellow colleagues, students and random passers by with my smart phone dilemma. The dilemma being which one to buy. I think I should just bite the bullet and get on with it, don't you? (*crowd cheers in the background*)

So, that is what I've been up to of late. I will endeavour to be less non bloggy in the future! Happy weekend!

 

 

Liz Lemon's Hair

Sometimes I get a whole series of 30 Rock from the video store and watch it back to back. I laugh so much and for so long that by the end of it I'm an absolute wreck. You should try it sometime! Hey! I also found out today that I have the same birthday as Liz Lemon! How cool is that? ...and here, from those kooks at Flavorwire, is the history of Liz Lemon's hair with a few choice quotes thrown in for good luck. Viva Liz Lemon and all things 30 Rock!

Viva Mad Men!

Snazzy jackets - Mad Men episode five season five.

I've been downloading Mad Men season Five almost hot off the press via i-tunes. Usually down here in Aus we have to wait an eternity for new seasons to become available, but this time we're only an episode or three behind. Absolute bliss!

So far I have thoroughly enjoyed the first double episode Little Kiss, but haven't so much enjoyed the next two: Tea Leaves and Mystery Date. I thought episodes two and three were a bit forced and melodramatic. I was actually feeling a bit concerned for the whole series, but then along came episode five! Signal 30! Wow wee!

Please note---> if you have not already seen episode five you'd better look away now.

There's lots to like in this episode. Essentially it is Pete's in a way:

1) Pete fixes a leaking faucet and flirts outrageously with a young thing at the driver's education class.

2) Megan and Don go to the 'burbs to a Pete and Trudy Campbell dinner. Megan, as always, looks ravishing. Don gets all macho and fixes Pete's faucet as it...springs a leak.

3) Ken Cosgrove, we discover, is still writing short stories. He writes in the sci-fi/ fantasy genre. Cool or what? We also learn via Peggy that one of his stories is about an alien woman who lays eggs. It just doesn't get any better than that.

4) Lovely Lane Pryce scores a dinner date with a potential new client: Jaguar. He doesn't do terribly well, and so the boys are called in: Don, Roger and Pete. Everything goes swimmingly between the three big guns and the client, however, the next day everything goes horribly wrong and the client is lost. This results in: a fist fight between Lane and Pete! Awesome stuff!

5) And then...after the fisty cuffs Lane kisses Joan who is most mature about the whole thing. Lane says memorably: Is there no end to my humiliation today? Although, in retrospect, I don't feel Joan totally rejected Lane's kiss...hmmmm...

6) Pete cries in front of Don in the lift on the way to lunch after the fight. Clearly Pete is losing the plot a little.

7) "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is featured which always makes me feel good and reminds me of A Clockwork Orange which can never be a bad thing.

I've been reading reviews of this episode and critics have been raving about it. So, it's not just me then. It is a pearler. I, for one, am going to watch it again!

All images from here.

Mad Men countdown

Website amctv has a Mad Men countdown clock. As I write, Mad Men season 5 is approximately 28 days, 6 hours and 51 minutes away. Be still my beating heart!

In other Mad Men news, there is an excellent article on the Guardian website in which bloggers, reviewers and commentators write about their favourite Mad Men scene. It really is an excellent read. I found myself agreeing with a lot of their choices. Maybe you will too! Happy Monday all! 

All images from amctv.

The Hour

Part of my break has been spent watching "The Hour". "The Hour" is a period drama/ spy story set in Cold War 1956 London. The story revolves around a producer, a journalist and an anchor man who are working on a BBC investigative news programme called The Hour.  It's said to be the British Mad Men which it most certainly isn't! Actually, I found the first two episodes pretty infuriating for reasons I will explain later, but I perservered and found it improved somewhat with each episode.

These are my thoughts:

Pros

1. It is ravishing to look at. "The Hour" has very high production values. In fact, I think this is what kept me going past the first two eps. The costumes are gorgeous, paticularly Bel's wardrobe which is to die for lovely. The period detail and set designs are spot on. I love seeing bits and pieces from 1956 post war London. The cinematography is superb and the interiors which range from country piles and the  TV studio to modest flats in London are very well done.

2. The acting is very decent. The three main characters of producer, journalist and anchor man played by Romola Garai (Bel), Ben Wishaw (Freddy) and Dominic West (Hector) are well acted. The supporting cast is as equally solid as the leads.

3. The jazzy/ bebop theme music is great and the incidental music throughout the series compliments the action well.

Cons

1. Poor character development. For the first two episodes I felt like I was watching a stone skipping across the surface of a lake. I felt I wasn't given the opportunity to get to know the characters beyond the surface. This is largely due to the script which I find pretty thin at times and down right inappropriate at others.

2. The script! As already mentioned, it is pretty weak in parts and doesn't work hard enough to give  the charcaters a three dimensional feel. It is also very lumpy and jarringly modern. It pulls you out of the drama with its 2011 phrases and expressions. One glaring example is a scene between a distressed Freddy (the young journalist) and his superior, Clarence Fendley, who must be 60 plus years old. The superior takes a distraught Freddy by the shoulders, looks him in the eye and says soothingly "Just breathe". He says this about four times! Really? In 1956? A superior to a subordinate? I think such touchy feely modern ideas about how to relieve stress and the concept of a a caring workplace environment have no place in 1956!! 

3. The Cold War Suez Canal crisis which unfolds during the series is historically interesting up to a point, but quite frankly I found it a bit so what. We know how it worked out and we know it didn't result in World War Three, so how can we feel as anxious about it as the cast? The political scandal surrounding the crisis similarly seems a bit ho hum.

 

So, there are my pros and cons regarding this series. It did improve with each episode, so if you find it a bit heavy going for the first few, take heart : it does get marginally better.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen it and what did you think of it? Have I been too harsh here or not harsh enough? I'd love to hear your views! 

Images from here.

Mad Men *sigh*

I read this morning that Banana Republic has just released a 65 piece Mad Men collection. Swoon-o-rama! Just when I thought I had officially recovered from Mad Men fever and had learnt to cope without it for a year, Banana Republic re-kindles my undying love for that show and now I am pining for it like a circa 1975 school girl pined for *Leif Garrett.

I think these designs are a successful 21st Century adaption of the show's ravishing 1960s period clothes.

Meanwhile, here are some stills from the real thing just in case you forgot what you were missing. *wistful sigh*

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend - many thanks for all the lovely cheery comments and for visiting my blog this week! XO

Top images from the Banana Republic site. Mad Men stills from here.

* Leif Garrett was the Justin Bieber of the 1970s.

 

Happy Birthday Lucy!

 

It's Lucille Ball's 100th birthday today! Amongst the multitude of accomplishments she achieved during her lifetime were being a comedienne, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the incredibly successful sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy.

I used to absolutely love watching Here's Lucy when I was a youngster - even at an early age I appreciated her effervescent charm and stylish clothes.

 

Here are some fab quotes from the lady herself:

Ability is of little account without opportunity.

I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.

I'm not funny. What I am is brave.  

It's a helluva start, being able to recognize what makes you happy.

Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.

Quotes from here. Image from here.