Super-late Friday post due to me being pooped earlier. That’s what happens when you get up at 4 a.m., but can’t tear yourself away from the X-Files at night early enough to get a decent night’s sleep.
Yes, that’s right. The X-Files. I never watched the full series before so I’m watching them now in the name of pop culture edumucation. And hoooooboy is there some serious stuff wrong with that show. For one, why does Mulder always drive? But I use my magic patriarchy-filtering, laser-beam shooting eye shields to screen all that out, because Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny are both smokin’.
Ahem. Anyway, to distract you from that disturbing little overshare, here’s some Friday adorableness!
You know the drill, folks! Talk amongst yourselves in the comments, and feel free to scold me on any number of items, including but not limited to how I haven’t gotten to your reader request yet. (Refer to above “pooped” excuse.)
Today’s questions-to-get-you-started are X-Files related:
- What’s your guilty pop-culture pleasure? I have too many to list. It’s truly horrifying. I’ll make a list soon so you can feel superior, I promise.
- What’s your guilty “harm-reduction/patriarchy-indulgence” thing? You know what I mean – like wearing makeup/shaving your legs/walking around in stilettos or getting strapping young men to help you move heavy things. Or if you’re a straight man, do you do anything that goes against your nature to conform to society’s expectation of dudeliness?
Expound in the comments, dearies. Dooo eeet! The unicorn award goes to the bestest comment of the weekend. What’s the unicorn award, you ask? There’s only one way to find out.
if you're a straight man, do you do anything that goes against your nature to conform to society's expectation of dudeliness?Aging (my 69th b-day next weekend) has simultaneously made me seem less sexual, which isn't entirely wonderful, but also reduced my gender anxiety, thus relieving me of dudely expectations. I was never athletic; now it would look very odd if I were. Nobody cruises me, but nobody questions my manhood either, in both cases because it's assumed I haven't got any to speak of. One of those mixed blessings you hear so much about.
Also: my pop culture guilty pleasure is Joan Crawford flicks. Another illustration of how I no longer care if anybody thinks I'm a fag.
I love your weekend open threads!"What's your guilty "harm-reduction/patriarchy-indulgence" thing? "Long hair. I have wavy/curly hair and it doesn't look as good short thanks to a few funky curl patterns on my head.
I don't wear makeup or heels or shave my legs so this is sort of like my one ultra-feminine indulgence. (Not that there's _anything_ wrong with being feminine – I just grew up in a small, rural community that didn't believe in letting people pick and choose from among these types of things. You were either suppose to embrace everything or nothing at all…preferably the former.)
John, how interesting you bring up the athleticism part of dudeliness. I remember thinking as a kid how glad I was not to be a boy – because if I had been, my complete lack of interest in sports would have been even more difficult to deal with. On another note, I have never seen a Joan Crawford movie – not even Mommie Dearest, which doesn't really count.
Lydia, I am in-process of growing my hair out after October's chopfest because I'm finding it takes more work than long hair to maintain. Kind of. Basically if you are going to style your hair, it's better to have it short, but if you're not, it's better to have it long. Messy works with long, but doesn't with short. Since I hate styling my hair, I think I need to keep it long – messy buns or ponytails can be worn daily and scarves and headbands can be thrown on once in a while too. Plus, women's haircuts are expeeeensive.Currently I'm delighting in the fact that I can almost-almost put it in a ponytail. Hooray!
Depending on your hokum threshold, here are some Crawfords I like:"Mildred Pierce" (actually has some cogent things to say about class and gender roles and motherhood, though it won't let go your sleeve while it's saying them)"Johnny Guitar" (they don't make apple butter like this any more; you can't get ingredients like Mercedes McCambridge, for one thing, or cooks like the daffy director, Nicholas Ray. Careful your jaw doesn't actually get dislocated by frequent sudden drops.)"Humoresque" (if you're going to walk into the ocean as an act of generous self-sacrifice, it's nice to have a Long Island mansion to walk from)"Sudden Fear" (she's a playwright who won't cast Jack Palance because he doesn't have leading man good looks, so he tries to kill her. Well, of course.)In fact Jack Warner refused to renew her contract in 1941 or so because he said she no longer had leading lady good looks. She turned around and won a Best Actress Oscar for "Mildred" and made a ton of money with several subsequent pictures; like other studio-era stars she began playing variations on Joan Crawford in all of them ("Autumn Leaves,""Possessed"–the postwar one–"Woman on the Beach" etc.) but that was what sold tickets. Finally she let herself be cast, alongside Bette Davis, in a few grotesque-old-lady parts–I can't watch them, the misogyny is too raw and the stars' humiliation too painful. Some of her prewar movies–"Rain," "Chained"–are fun too, and "Strange Cargo" is one of Hollywood's all-time oddities, with mysterious apparitions of Jesus. Not everyone shares this peculiar taste so your mileage, etc., but try "Mildred" and "Johnny Guitar" and see if you like her.
Someone asked Julia Child what her guilty pleasures were. She responded: I have no guilt.
That must be why she is so awesome. I made her supremes de voilaille aux champignons Friday for dinner. I am not a big fan of chicken, but I am a big fan of this chicken. I could eat it for breakfast it's so good.
John – Will watch some Joan Crawford on my next long trip away from home and report back here on the results! Thank you for all the recommendations! Also on my to-watch list are Babs films, which apparently have accidentally avoided my whole life somehow. I am so far behind in my self-appointed pop-culture appreciation course. I blame the rare sunshine this weekend.
Babs = Barbara Stanwyck? Stop whatever you're doing and watch "Double Indemnity" immediately.
I HAVE SEEN THAT MOVIE! And it is incredible. I would watch it again. I love noir so so so much. Also? There is a mention of Medford, Oregon – which is where I was living when I first saw that movie. I think I actually stood up and pointed at the telly and shouted something unintelligible in incredulousness.
"I'm a Medford man, Mr. Keyes, Medford, Oregon."There isn't a dud in that movie, I think–even the bits like the elevator operator and the Diedricksen's housekeeper ("They keep the liquor locked up") are memorable. There's a sort-of remake, "Body Heat," that's also a favorite of mine. Billy Wilder (who directed and co-wrote "Double Indemnity") came to the US as an adult but unlike a lot of the Hollywood emigrés he really found a cultural second home–he said he taught himself colloquial American speech by listening to baseball on the radio. Check out his "Sunset Boulevard" and the amazing "Ace in the Hole," also known as "The Big Carnival."