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Television and other things...
May. 30th, 2015 07:30 pm1. Been catching up on Gotham, four more episodes left. That is an insanely dark television series. Pure noir. Tone, characters, writing, everything. And graphically violent. Definitely an adult graphic novel for television - it's possibly the only adult graphic novel series on television that I'm aware of. Reminds me a great deal of Frank Miller's "Dark Knight Returns", "Batman Year One", and "Sin City", also Alan Moore's "Watchmen".
Not a bubblegum series like the other superhero shows. Also it's re-imagining the Batman origin story and universe in an intriguing manner. For example? Barbara Keene (who in the comics later becomes Barbara Gordon) is a sociopath. My favorite character is the fierce Fish Mooney, being portrayed by Jada Pickett Smith.
But it's not a show for the squeamish. For example? In one scene, in order to avoid having the people who captured her remove her eyes and donate them to rich folks, Fish Mooney takes a spoon and scoops out her right eye and then stomps on it.
Difficult series to binge watch.
2. Mad Men
Read a description of a Narcissist on Face Book - and it basically is a perfect description of Don and Betty Draper.
Narcissists are quintessential charmers. Their entire psyche is oriented towards creating a false self -- and that false self is JUST what you want it to be.
They are ego-stroking machines -- they find out what you need another person to be and they appear to become it, and in return you must tell them they are what they want to believe they are. (And if you don't, they will punish you -- but that comes later.)
And there is quite a lot of magical thinking and kool-aid brainwashing (narc-wash) that happens, where narcissists convince others that completely crazy things are true, and insane and destructive behavior is OK.
The narcissist has absolute confidence in his/her ability to beguile. The narcissist is confident that people find him irresistable.... The beguiled [target] cannot help but be enchanted by him."
Basically that's Don Draper in a nutshell. Also to a degree Betty Draper Fisher. As Sally states to both of them at one point this past season: "You are all charm. You beguile and charm whomever you meet, until they are enthralled with you. But it's not real. I want to get as far away from you both -- so I won't be anything like you."
It also explains Don's relationships with everyone around him and how he takes on various personas while traveling across country, becoming whomever those he meets desire him to be. From the ex-serviceman with the horrible war story, to the hustler, to the car mechanic/driver, to the commune. "I'm lost, " he tells them and in a way this is true. He is. He has no self. The self he has is just a construct. It's not real. Then he comes up with a brilliant commercial that uses real values and real emotional, and wraps it around a product that is as hollow as he is, that is nothing but caffeine, sugar, carmel coloring/flavoring and fizz.
Great comment on the advertising/marketing/entertainment industry in general, isn't it, if not a somewhat bleak one?
3) Beautiful day here. Not too hot. Nice breeze. Tweeting birds. Sunlight lightly streaming through the window...but just the light making a pattern on the wall, no heat follows it.
Took a walk. Bought groceries. My walks often tend to be productive ones. Read a bit.
Surfed the internet. My Aunt posted a lovely article on my grandfather, which had been published in 1964 in their local paper. My grandfather, long dead, was a carpenter. Didn't make much money. But he made people happy with his work - which was unique and artistic in his own right. Sometimes that's enough I think. Too much emphasis is placed on the monetary value of things. Success is just having the guts to do what you dreamed.
To jump out there, even if it is only for the moment.
Today, I've decided to stop banging on doors. I'm going to wait to see if they open.
And to stop chasing outcomes...just let things be. I love that old Beatles song, Let it Be...it sort of says the same things, I think.
Not a bubblegum series like the other superhero shows. Also it's re-imagining the Batman origin story and universe in an intriguing manner. For example? Barbara Keene (who in the comics later becomes Barbara Gordon) is a sociopath. My favorite character is the fierce Fish Mooney, being portrayed by Jada Pickett Smith.
But it's not a show for the squeamish. For example? In one scene, in order to avoid having the people who captured her remove her eyes and donate them to rich folks, Fish Mooney takes a spoon and scoops out her right eye and then stomps on it.
Difficult series to binge watch.
2. Mad Men
Read a description of a Narcissist on Face Book - and it basically is a perfect description of Don and Betty Draper.
Narcissists are quintessential charmers. Their entire psyche is oriented towards creating a false self -- and that false self is JUST what you want it to be.
They are ego-stroking machines -- they find out what you need another person to be and they appear to become it, and in return you must tell them they are what they want to believe they are. (And if you don't, they will punish you -- but that comes later.)
And there is quite a lot of magical thinking and kool-aid brainwashing (narc-wash) that happens, where narcissists convince others that completely crazy things are true, and insane and destructive behavior is OK.
The narcissist has absolute confidence in his/her ability to beguile. The narcissist is confident that people find him irresistable.... The beguiled [target] cannot help but be enchanted by him."
Basically that's Don Draper in a nutshell. Also to a degree Betty Draper Fisher. As Sally states to both of them at one point this past season: "You are all charm. You beguile and charm whomever you meet, until they are enthralled with you. But it's not real. I want to get as far away from you both -- so I won't be anything like you."
It also explains Don's relationships with everyone around him and how he takes on various personas while traveling across country, becoming whomever those he meets desire him to be. From the ex-serviceman with the horrible war story, to the hustler, to the car mechanic/driver, to the commune. "I'm lost, " he tells them and in a way this is true. He is. He has no self. The self he has is just a construct. It's not real. Then he comes up with a brilliant commercial that uses real values and real emotional, and wraps it around a product that is as hollow as he is, that is nothing but caffeine, sugar, carmel coloring/flavoring and fizz.
Great comment on the advertising/marketing/entertainment industry in general, isn't it, if not a somewhat bleak one?
3) Beautiful day here. Not too hot. Nice breeze. Tweeting birds. Sunlight lightly streaming through the window...but just the light making a pattern on the wall, no heat follows it.
Took a walk. Bought groceries. My walks often tend to be productive ones. Read a bit.
Surfed the internet. My Aunt posted a lovely article on my grandfather, which had been published in 1964 in their local paper. My grandfather, long dead, was a carpenter. Didn't make much money. But he made people happy with his work - which was unique and artistic in his own right. Sometimes that's enough I think. Too much emphasis is placed on the monetary value of things. Success is just having the guts to do what you dreamed.
To jump out there, even if it is only for the moment.
Today, I've decided to stop banging on doors. I'm going to wait to see if they open.
And to stop chasing outcomes...just let things be. I love that old Beatles song, Let it Be...it sort of says the same things, I think.
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