Actually,

I suppose I do not have that much to say re Gilmore Girls in its entirety dropping on to Netflix tomorrow.  Other than, I am ecstatic, and I could really use a giant dose of Gilmore Girls right about exactly now.

But, I was perusing fauxluxe for past Gilmore Girls posts, and happened to notice that I never talked about the show directly.  It was always a train a thought somehow connected to the real subject of the post.  That is fine, and perfect, actually, for the loony, stream of consciousness, insanely pop culture referenced, His Girl Friday dialogue of the first five essential seasons of the program.  

So here below is an annotated list (with links) to three Gilmore Girls posts from fauxluxe.  One each from 2011, 2012, and 2013.

This is from 2012, and is actually one of my fave fauxluxe posts ever. Here I compare Lena Dunham's Girls to Gilmore Girls, and I get it all horribly wrong about Veep.  Veep is obviously the best thing on television now, and Gilmore Girls is nine million more times better than Girls, which was already coming apart after just two seasons.

This post is from December 2013.  Here I compare Gilmore Girls to Scandal, which I think is a pretty decent observation, as well.  Plus, Liza Rebecca Weil, who played Paris in Gilmore Girls, was a large part of Scandal's first season.  I still have a very soft spot in my heart for Scandal, even if I do not think it is a world beater as a teevee program.  This post also has some great Pinterest/Tumblr Paris gifs/memes, which I will prob post onto friendface later today or tomorrow.

Finally, this post is from May 2011, right after the Wife and I got married.  Now, I am talking about seeing Bridesmaids the day after the wedding, and how much I love Melissa McCarthy, who played Sookie on Gilmore Girls.  Even though I am not particularly crazy about the blockbuster films Ms McCarthy makes these days, I can not tell you how proud I am of her that she is now the number one box office draw in American film comedy today.  She and her husband deserve all of their success.  

************

I do not think I will binge on Gilmore Girls starting tomorrow, but, will prob enjoy a more leisurely pace, and could even skip around from season to season, like I do with The Rockford Files, Peep Show, The IT Crowd, etc, ... Sometimes I am going to want to be at Yale (The Paris years!), and sometimes I am going to want to be back at Stars Hollow when Rory was still at high school.  

It is going to be a lot of great fun, though, whichever way I do it.  Gotta keep my ears open.  I want to catch every single reference or spoof all over again.












Mwah, ...

Dear Renee, Here is what happened after you left for work:

You are never gonna believe this!

So, Ward went ahead and got the pet store owner to open up after nine PM, just so he could rent the annoying parrot for one day.  He was convinced to do this because June, his wife, told her own personal sob story to him, about how when she was at boarding school, she was so lonely and homesick that she told all the girls that her mother was a big time movie star, Laverne Laverne.  Her mother found out, and instead of backing her up, made her tell the entire school that she had made it all up.  June was obviously still carrying shame over this incident, and encouraged Ward to get the parrot, and trust that the Beav would realize the error of his ways, and never put his parents in that kind of spot again.

The Beaver took the parrot to school for the Pet Fair, and won the Blue Ribbon, much to Judy's utter disgust.  After the whole class left, Beaver tried to return the Blue Ribbon, explaining the whole situation, about how he lied because he was embarrassed his family did not own a pet. His teacher, Miss Landers, told him that was a very silly thing to be ashamed of, and that his parents were pretty great for backing him up like that.  The Beaver told Miss Landers he would never put his parents in such a spot again, and he accepted the Blue Ribbon, after all.

I do not think anybody mentioned the new pet hamster ever again.  They probably killed it.

************

In the next episode, Wally had to stay home all weekend and study for his history exam, instead of crash Mary Ellen Rogers house with Lumpy and Eddie Haskell.  They were supposed to "listen to records and eat junk".

Lumpy and Eddie went to Mary Ellen's house without Wally, and told him they were not worried about the history test.  They had it covered.

What that meant was that Eddie had come up with some cockamamie scheme to cheat on the test, involving them excusing themselves to wash their hands and get the answers, written on paper towels in the bathroom.

Unbeknownst to all three, the history teacher was wise to this scheme, and had planted a quote from Hamlet on the paper towel, removing the illicit answers.

Wally saw this first, however, because he legitimately had a pen explode on him, and actually had to wash his hands.  Lumpy and Eddie went to the bathroom, only to find no answers, and both failed their exam, both scoring in the low fifties.

Wally, on the other hand, got a 92, one of the best scores in the class.  After learning this, Eddie decided to get even, and wrote a pathetic attempt at an anonymous note, pointing the finger at Wally for cheating.

The very wise teacher, though, saw right through this, and confirmed it to Wally that Eddie and Lumpy were the rascals.

Wally wanted to beat Eddie up, but Ward convinced him not to.  He said Eddie would have to figure it out on his own that had done a bad thing.

Sure enough, Eddie came over right then to apologize to Wally, and tell him he was going to try out "this studying thing" that was working so well for Wally.

The next day at class Eddie amazed everyone with his knowledge of the founding members of the League of Nations.

************

Then, Daniel Boone was captured by the Spanish Army.  They wanted to take back the Virginia territories for Spain.  I had to go to work, though.













Mwah, ... 

John Oliver's new show, Last Week Tonight, on HBO is so great.

It is on HBO most every Sunday evening.














--Ardent (mds)

Man, what happened to intellectual discourse in our country?

Why is being an intellectual considered a crime?

What happened to the days when Sontag, Chomsky, Vidal, Mailer, Germaine Greer, Kate Millet, Joan Didion, and Hannah Arendt would be on the late night chat shows?

What the flip happened?

************

I was just watching HBO's latest doc triumph, The 50 Year Argument, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, which is about the history of the New York Review of Books.

(I do not read the New York Review of Books nearly enough.  I generally only buy it when I am in superb indie bookstores -- which is nearly never now.  The last one I bought was at Shakespeare & Company in Paris! In April!)

Anyhoo, the very fine documentary just made me pine for the 60s and 70s when so many of this nation's greatest thinkers would not only appear in print, but were eager to do television, as well.

The 50 Year Argument then led me to the above full length feature film, Town Bloody Hall.  That film is bloody brilliant.  It is Norman Mailer versus a half dozen leading feminists (and Susan Sontag, in the crowd), and a thousand or so other women in the crowd with Sontag.

You can watch The 50 Year Argument on HBO or HBOGo, and Town Bloody Hall on YouTube.  Great stuff.

Still, what the fuck happened, man? Why is it all FoxNews and Housewives of Wherever now that rule our media world?

From Andy Warhol's "Screen Test" for Susan Sontag

--Ardent (mds)

FINALLY finally finally saw Design Is One last night.

Massimo and Lella Vignelli

And, I am just so in love with the Vignellis.  I just want to hug 'em, you know what I mean? I wish they were our next door neighbors, and the Wife and I could have them over for tea, and they would bring over their awesome tea cups that they designed.  Or we'd have pasta in their beautiful modernist pasta bowls.  We would look at all their catalogues, or architecture books that they designed, or Renee & I would marvel over and play with Lella Vignelli's insanely fun jewelry that she designed. That would be perfect, you know.

Vignelli tea cups

The Vignellis are an Italian married couple that have been changing millions of people's lives every day, without them ever knowing it.  They have been married for over fifty years now, and they are still working as hard as ever.  They design everything.  They are not specialists. Jewelry, flatware, cups, chairs, interior design, a cathedral in Manhattan, architecture books, the US National Park brochures, clothes, anything.

Their personal motto is:  "If you can't find it, design it."

Of course, what they are best known for, though, are the corporate identities that they designed and that Massimo Vignelli designed the New York City Subway and Transit identity.

Many of the corporate identities that they created have still not been changed, forty or more years on.

Below, are some of their 'Greatest Hits':

And, on and on and on and on.  Plus, they are just the nicest sweetest people ever.  I just want to hug 'em, have 'em over for tea. You know what I mean?























Mwah, ... 

Lella and Massimo Vignelli

Here is a list of the best films I have seen this year.

First, the films that came out in 2014:

Grand Budapest Hotel, dir Wes Anderson
The Double, dir Richard Ayoade
Obvious Child, dir Gillian Robespierre
Ida, dir Paweł Pawlikowski
Le Week-End, dir Roger Michell
Violette, dir Martin Provost
The One I Love, dir Charlie McDowell
No No:  A Dockumentary, dir Jeff Radice
The Trip to Italy, dir Michael Winterbottom
Gloria, dir Sebastián Lelio

************

Of that list up top, only Ida can hang with the other top older films I have seen so far this year. That "New to Me" list looks like this:

A Nos amours, dir Maurice Pialat (1983)
Zazie dans le métro, dir Louis Malle (1960)
L'argent, dir Robert Bresson (1983)
Pickpocket, dir Bresson (1959)
La Cérémonie dir Claude Chabrol (1995)
Une Affaire de Femmes, dir Chabrol (1990)

************

The four best films I have seen this year are Ida, A Nos amours, La Cérémonie, and Une Affaire de Femmes.

Three are French, one is Polish.  And Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert are in two of those films each.

Still have not seen Conte d'été yet, directed by Eric Rohmer (1996).  That will likely be added to these lists.

Will check back in with you in a few months to update these lists.

Jenny Slate in Obvious Child.  A truly great flick.

Paris

No matter what Joni Mitchell says, I did not see folks kissing on the Main Street.  (I did see an Eastern European twentysomething couple snogging in front of Tour Eiffel one day.)

What I did see a lot of, and it was to beautiful to witness, was that just about every older couple on the streets held hands as they walked down the grand boulevards.  You do not really see a lot of that kind of sweet affection here in Urban or Suburban US of A.

Paris was so wonderful.  When are going back?







Mwah, ... 

First, let me start by saying,

That even though it is likely that I know a heck of a lot more about United Kingdom policies and politics than just about anyone in my immediate circle of friends, that that notwithstanding, the phrase that best sums up my sum total of knowledge of UK policies and politics would be:  I do not know shit about UK policies and politics.  

I think these folks will rue their victory yesterday.

My thoughts on Scotland saying No to independence yesterday are really coming from from my gut, and my realistically modestly cynical view of human nature.

I suspect that the No folks will soon rue this chance that they let slip away.  England, London, and Westminster will not concede anything.  There will be no forgiveness and bonus burgers for Scotland (or Wales, or Northern Ireland.)

I think it is infinitely more likely that England will begin to act cruelly toward Scotland (and Wales, and Northern Ireland) in order to relieve their guilt for centuries of crap.

There will be a good deal more punishment than pleasure for Scotland because of what they did.

I watched the BBC report on CSpan last night, and just about every single Talking Head there was so smug and mean spirited.  They had one Yes pundit on, and he was never allowed to speak, constantly being cut off for returns or the dude next to him interrupting him in dissent.

England got exactly what they wanted, and I figure they are going to find ways to make Scotland pay for their even thinking about leaving the UK.

Just my gut.  Take it for what you will.








mds

Two quick things for folks today:

One,

I am so frickin' torn.  Even though I know it might not be a good idea, at all, part of me would really love to see Scotland stick it to the English, and go out on their own.

Nick C and I even have a great idea for their new currency:  The 'notes' (bills) would be called The Scots Dram.  And their coins would be called Rocks, like the ice in their drams of whiskey.

And, two,

Even though the Wife does not believe me, I have officially suspended my support for the NFL for an indefinite period of time.  We are through.  It is just too much shit to take, and I would not be surprised, or even that upset, if the NFL ceased to exist.  I am done with it.

In my defense, I have quit major sports before.  I quit the NBA nearly ten years ago, and have not watched a single regular season game all the way through since then.  I have seen some Mavericks and Warriors playoffs games, but my interest is pretty weak.  I am barely engaged, and hardly even know the players these days.

As for college football.  Well, if the Sooners sucked, I would probably abandon it, as well.  The Sooners are a weakness I might not be able to defeat.  Maybe the Sooners could win it all this year, start sucking next year, and I could kick American football all together!








--Ardent

Yup! Here is your GOP, hard at work!

Russell Pearce, who has already lost a recall election in Arizona because he is a Supreme Asshat of the very first order (plus there was the usual graft and lying) thinks that any woman who applies for government assistance should be sterilized and tested for drugs.



The asshat resigned yesterday from whatever stupid state GOP job he had.  But, sadly, this is what just about all of these GOP asshats believe, but do not, generally, have the guts (or stupidity) to say out loud.  And, there are probably a fair amount of asshat citizens who agree with Asshat Pearce. (Plus, another one of Asshat Pearce's great ideas was Arizona's "Papers, Please" legislation.  Asshat Pearce hates everyone not white or male, apparently!)



We keep electing these guys!



Get your asses out to the midterms people! Let us take our country forward, and shed ourselves of these ... well, ... asshats!














AZ GOP vice-chair calls for sterilizing poor women: If you want a baby, get a job



Yours,

mds

Nicole Stéphane, Another Woman Michael Loves!

Ms Stéphane was actually a Baroness and a member of the Rothschild banking family.  Her acting CV is not very long, and in one of her finest performances, Le silence de la mer, she does not even say a word.  After a car accident, she retired from acting, and concentrated on writing and theatre and film production.

Nicole Stéphane in Les Enfants terribles

She is best known for Silence, like I mentioned, and her imperious mischievous incestuous truly regal turn in the excellent Jean-Pierre Melville film, Les Enfants terribles.

Stéphane in Le silence de la mer

But what you might not know about her, is that she joined the French Army during WWII, and was captured in the Pyrenées by the Spanish whilst trying to hook up and coordinate with the Free France underground.  

Another awesome fact about Ms Stéphane is that she lived above Susan Sontag in Paris in the early Seventies.  They were lovers for a spell and were off and on artistic collaborators until Nicole's death in 2007.  

Truly, a Woman Michael Loves!

Mwah, ... 

Ida,

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, is the sort of so special film, that as it unrolls before you, you are occasionally taken out of the picture, desperate to watch the film again, just after it has finished.

And, who the hell is Agata Kulesza? Where did she come from? (Poland, sure.) But, her performance is absolutely to die for.  Every single acting choice she makes as Wanda is inevitable and surprising at the same time.

And the young woman who plays Ida, Agata Trzebuchowska, is breathtakingly impressive, as well.  

This masterpiece of a motion picture was an absolute joy to behold.  Every single set-up for the black and white photography is so thoughtfully and perfectly chosen.  One of the best things the team did was to have many of the close-ups, or two shots with the subject(s) in the bottom right hand corner of the frame, suggesting that what we were seeing was not the entire (big) picture, but a detail, instead.  That there was a whole other truth outside the frame that we are not allowed to see.  That we must decide for ourselves the truth, must decide for ourselves how the puzzle all fits together.

The film is done with such economy, too.  There is not a single superfluous scene.  There is not a single moment that does not impact the viewer, or count.  In fact, some scenes you would expect to see are not there.  Once again, letting the witness flesh out the tale for themselves, making Ida and Wanda's story part of your story, a new unexpected part of you own personal history.

It is stunning.  An amazing masterpiece.  What great work by this team.  All should see this.










mds

London

The fifth series of Downton Abbey debuts in the US in January of 2015.  I already adore the program -- even if sometimes I have issues with it -- but I adore it even more after a visit to Ealing Studios in London in April.



Ealing made some of the greatest films ever, and some of my all-time personal faves.  I have serious crushes on a few of their actresses, too:  Googie Withers, Joan Greenwood, and Valerie Hobson.  Kind Hearts and Coronets, Dead of Night, Pink String and Sealing Wax, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers, It Always Rains on Sunday, The Lavender Hill Mob, etc, are all magnificent motion pictures, made at a tiny studio in the decidedly not posh,  but pleasant London suburb, Ealing.



Ealing ceased as a production company in the Fifties, and sold their sound stages to the BBC.  The Dennis Potter BBC masterpiece, The Singing Detective was shot there.



But, in the Nineties, Ealing became an independent, for hire, studio.  In fact, Shaun of the Dead was shot there.  That is right.  The Winchester was in London!



And, then I found out that Downton Abbey shoots there, as well.



All the "downstairs" servant's rooms, kitchen, etc, is really shot at Ealing.



So, while all the rich posh characters get to shoot at the luxurious manse up north, all the servants are working at Ealing.



I find that hilarious.



Another cool thing about Ealing is that there is a pub, The Red Lion, right across the street, where all the actors, directors, and technicians used to frequent after work.



Oftentimes, the wives of the Ealing folks would call, wondering where their husband was.  The Ealing staff would reply, "He's on Stage Six."



There were only five sound stages at Ealing.  Stage Six was the Red Lion.  The pub even has a nice Stage Six plaque at the entrance now.



And, I have been told that many of Downton Abbey crew and cast frequent the Red Lion, too.





















Mwah, ... 

Before I came to work today,

I watched the first hour of the MGM musical, Meet Me in Las Vegas, on TCM.

Wow.

Meet Me in Las Vegas was made by the Pasternak Unit at MGM, not the Freed Unit.  And not even Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr, choreography by Hermes Pan, and a Sinatra cameo can save this turkey.

It is amazing to me just the difference of quality between the Freed and Pasternak Units at the studio for musicals at that time.

For those of you who do not know, the Freed Unit was Arthur Freed, Vincent Minelli, Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, Comden & Green, etc, ... In movies such as Singin' in the Rain, On the Town,The Band Wagon, An American in Paris, Meet Me in St Louis, etc, ...

It is just not even close.

I am mos def gonna watch the splendid Freed Unit doc, Musicals Great Musicals, tonight.  If you can rustle it up (I got it with My Singin' in the Rain dvd collection), you should watch it too sometime.

Yup, the fauxluxe Summer hiatus is over.  We are back in business!

Mwah, ... 

Here is my new updated Top 8 Rooting Interest List

We are one week in to the tournament and Spain, the defending champions are already gone, so naturally they have come off my list.  

1. USMNT
2. Costa Rica
3. Ghana
4. Italy
5. CH
6. Holland
7. France*
8. Chile

*France are on Official Supporter Probation.  As long as they continue as they are doing they will move up this list.  I expect once they break from their group the probation will be lifted.  

The bottom four are the same, except there were some changes in the alignment:

29. Mexico
30. Belgium
31. England
32. Portugal

Of the Top 8, Ghana is the most likely to be eliminated, and I suspect Germany will take their place in a lower spot by this time next week.  

By July 2, I suspect my list should look something like this (there will only be eight teams left in the tournament):  

1. Germany
2. Italy
3. France
4. Holland
5. Colombia
6. Brazil
7. Argentina
8. Belgium

************

Meanwhile, as for Ingerland, they are sincerely hoping they are not going to be singing this tonight!

Happy World Cup everyone!
Love you all, 
Ciao!

I am going to be a nervous wreck

All day long, a sweaty smelly husk of a human by the time five PM PDT rolls around today.

Unless the USMNT just completely rolls over and gets waxed today by the Black Stars, which is definitely a legitimate possibility, and then I will be less exhausted husk and more very tired rationalizing philosophizing Alibi Ike.  

The key for the USA today is the same as it always for them in the World Cup.  They can not concede early goals in these matches.  For whatever reason, and despite always having World Class goaltending, the USA's biggest weakness has always been conceding early goals in the World Cup.  Much of that has to do with the fact that the US just has not been very good at producing and nurturing top flight defenders, and there probably is a mental thing/nerve sort of thing happening, as well.

I would like to think that coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, has helped the USA over that jitters thing, but we will not know until about twenty minutes in to today's contest with Ghana.

I am just going to have to see the games.  The USA could very easily look like Honduras did yesterday, rack up a bunch of cards, have no attacking play whatsoever, and get seriously humiliated in this tournament.  

Or, they could score some goals, get some lucky breaks, and make it to the Round of 16, or further.

One thing I can guarantee is that will not get any benefit of the doubt when it comes to difficult or crucial refereeing decisions.  FIFA hates the USA, and always will, most likely.  But I do not want to be like a whinging England supporter.  It is never England's fault when they lose.  They are always robbed of greater glory.  

So, I accept the difficult situations, and I temper my expectations, and ultimately resign myself to answering the question:  Am I proud of them? Did they acquit themselves in an entertaining classy way? 

Today is the day.  We will find out.

-- Ardent

Fact is, manners and politeness these days, is practically done.

But not with me, or at my house.  And, that is because of both my parents, especially my father.  Even if I acted out or rebelled against him as a teen, all those lessons on manners really did sink in, and I am still a loyal polite soldier in a world where lots of folks do not seem to know or care any more.


So, here's to William Andrew Spitler.  Happy Father's Day to a supreme awesome Dad.  And, here is a little Motown for you, too!

Love you, Bud! We will call you today from Renee's folks house.















Michael

Here are the eight nations I will be cheering hardest for in the 2014 World Cup:

1. USA

2. The Cantons of Helvetica (Switzerland)

3. Spain

4. Honduras

5. Costa Rica

6. Holland

7. Ghana

8. Ecuador

The list is descending order, thus, if No 1 (USA) met No 2 (CH) in a match, I would support the USA.  I will support the USA against all possible opponents, and there is only one team that Switzerland could play wherein I would not support them, the USA.  

I like Switzerland because my parents used to live in Basel, and my father still does much of the year; and because I have a weird softness for that bizarre proud country.

I like Spain because their players are beautiful, they play a beautiful brand of football with a goofy nickname -- tika taka -- and they always seem to exude class on and off the pitch.

I like Honduras and Costa Rica because they are tiny nations that seriously over-perform and get very little respect.  

Go La Bicolor!

I like Holland for their gorgeous uniforms, and their exciting lively brand of football (even though lately they have become quite goonish), and the way they always have their fans pull marketing stunts in the crowd to piss off their opposition.

Ghana is my favorite African nation.  They know how to win, and they are the USA's nemesis.

Ecuador is my favorite Central or South American nation because they are a very tiny nation, too, and get very little respect.

This list will have to change as the tournament progresses, and it will, and I will update it over the next month.  It has to change because as even a footy novice will notice, very few of those teams in my Top 8 have any legitimate chance to make it deep in to the tournament.  Only Spain and Holland from my list would count as serious contenders.  Ghana would be a dark horse.  If I had to make a Top 8 of simply legitimate sides, it would look like this:

1. Spain

2. Brazil

3. Ghana

4. Germany

5. Uruguay

6. France

7. Italy

8. Argentina

France is a toughie.  Normally they would be in my opening Top 8, but they kind of broke my heart at the last World Cup, with all their prima donna behavior, and mutiny.  If they are on their form, and keep it classy, they could move up my list very quickly.  

Now, there is a bottom of the list, as well.  These are the four nations I like the least, and will be rooting against.  

29.  Belgium

30. Mexico

31. (tie) England

              Portugal

I can not explain it fully, but I can not stand Belgium.  Mexico are the USA's mortal enemy, and if England and Portugal met in this year's World Cup, I would hope for a power outage.  I hate both of them so much.  Portugal for their crappy sportsmanship, and CR7; and England because of their smug nasty homer xenophobic fans.  

World Cup starts today! Go Croatia!

Ciao!

Ardent