“Who is Don Draper?” People have been wondering that for years, not excluding Don himself, but no one has expected such a straightforward answer as the journalist from Advertising Age looking for material for his article on Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s superstar creative director. Like many before him who have asked in one way or another, he doesn’t get an answer. Don is not only still guarded and reluctant to hand out details, but seems genuinely mystified why anyone would care about him apart from his work. But Don’s life and work has changed over the past year, and this episode of his life is about him learning to understand what’s happened and how to change with it.
For some time now, I’ve felt there’s an uncomfortable fact lurking in the corners of fandom that no one has yet brought out into open discussion, and I’ve decided it’s time we face its probably unpopular reality. I’m sorry to have to break the news to you if you’ve so far lived in blissful ignorance, but here it is: almost all, if not every one, of Princess Leia’s hairstyles are impossible to pull off in real life.
I know it’s hard to process. Perhaps you’re a young man who persists in the hope you may one day meet a nice lady proficient in foreign galactic braiding techniques. Perhaps you’re a grown woman with fond memories of bobby-pinning rolls of hair to the side of your head and a secret conviction it looked awesome. But, alas, it’s time we embrace the truth. It just doesn’t work, and I’m going to explain exactly why.
Commemorating the life and work of an individual by carrying around a towel for a day is a little bizarre. But an individual who leaves behind such a unique legacy deserves no less a unique tribute. Which is why Towel Day seems well-suited to honoring the memory of the late Douglas Adams.
Adams, the author of several books including The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, died quite suddenly in 2001 at the age of fifty. At that time, I was not much more than a geeky fan saddened that the man who had written books I had treasured since I was thirteen had so prematurely departed the world. As the years pass, however, I gain a deeper understanding of what was really lost - namely, a vibrant, exploring, creative mind dedicated to technological optimism, the power of science, education and ideas, and the capacity for and responsibility to human progress.
In 1941's Citizen Kane, journalist Thompson is on a quest to discover what the last uttered word of recently deceased media magnate and American cultural giant Charles Foster Kane means in the context of Kane's entire life. That final word, as breathlessly reported by newspapers and newsreels, is "Rosebud." However, Thompson's own employer believes the word itself is meaningless unless they can report and understand to what it refers. So Thompson interviews all of Kane's living associates, combs through the diaries of those who are not living, and doggedly pursues the key that he believes will unlock the secret of Kane himself: who, or what, was Rosebud? At the end of the film, even though all of the film's characters are still and will remain in the dark, the audience is let in on the secret. Rosebud - spoiler alert! - is Kane's childhood sled.
It's difficult for me to pick a woman to write about for Ada Lovelace Day. While, as I grow older, I continue to meet and discover women in technology who are naturally, admiringly wonderful at what they do, they were so lacking in my immediate environment when my impressions were being formed that no particular one stands out as someone who impressed upon me such a thing was possible. No one heroine, no one woman to thank.
However, there is one individual I think about a lot when I think about cultural expectations, pressures and possibilities for women in STEM fields. She's not a woman, not quite yet. But she will be. And considering what her life and opportunities will be when this is the case is why the inspiration I have to offer for Ada Lovelace Day is my four-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Growing up in the wilds of northeastern Ohio (and I mean that only slightly tongue-in-cheek), my exposure to independent and art film during my teenage years was limited to IFC and the painfully small local library selection. So it was a fairly exciting thing for me to finally, in my early twenties, make it to my first Cleveland International Film Festival. Barring weather or family emergency, I've gone back every year since. And, every year, I sit down and make a list of the films I'm interested in beforehand.
I'm preempting the promised Brick edition of Noir Monday because I managed to get to the theater to see Scorsese's Shutter Island. Proper noir it may not be, but it uses enough classic noir elements - and deliberately so - that it's worth talking about. Also, it just happens to be a good film.
First off, let's get the spoiler alerts out of the way. There's a significant plot twist at the end of this film, and I'm not going to take pains to avoid it. If you're allergic that type of thing, read no further. But I'm not going to go much into covering the plot anyway, because I can't really be bothered. In case it isn't desperately clear by this point, I don't do formal film criticism, folks - it's just me tossing out some thoughts. You're welcome to toss yours back in return.
On one level, Shutter Island is a throwback B-movie thriller made with A-list talent. On another level, it's a throwback B-movie thriller made with A-list talent. Which is a convoluted way of saying you can enjoy it just as a stylish and skillfully-made thriller or as a cinematic love letter to the classic genre film. It's no towering epic or profound statement. It's a thriller, in the full, movie-definition sense of the word. It could have used a bit more editing and/or restraint in places. But, of course, had it been more edited and restrained, it, and the audience, wouldn't be able to revel in those B-movie indulgences that made it such a fun theater experience in the first place.
I'm much better at internet housekeeping than real housekeeping. It's been a little while since I touched base about what I've done site-wise lately, and especially since I think there's quite a few new readers lately, it seemed time for a bit of a updating. In no particular order, here are a variety of things that seem worth mentioning:
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