Disqus - Latest Comments for M.A. Peel

Re: Operator, Can You Help Me Place This Call: Great Telephone Songs

M.A. Peel — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:21:37 -0000

Type your comment here.
That is a pretty dim view of what can be a lifeline, literally, for some. What fascinates me is that when someone you know/love utters just the tiniest word on the phone--barely finishes the word "hello"--you know who it is, instantly. I love that.

Joni Mitchell:
I deal in dreamers, and telephone screamers--Free Man in Paris

Tethered to a rining telephone, in a room full of mirrors--Down to You

Re: Thomas Hardy and the Titanic

M.A. Peel — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:04:25 -0000

Dan, I love the Donald Hall tidibt--thanks. I agree Hardy is not a great poet, and I don't choose his work when I need any sort of poetic fix.
Looking at my own bookshelf I was reminded of two things: I.M.Parsons included 4 of Hardy's poems in his superb "Men Who March Away" anthology of World War 1 poets (taking the title of his colletion from Hardy); and that Paul Fussell begins "Great War and Modern Memory" with a piece by Lytton Stachey from 1914 that sounds like he is writing about the war, when he is actually reviewing Hardy's recent volume of poems, "Satires of Circumstances." From that reference Fussell unfolds his whole thesis of the development of irony through the "stages" of WWI literature, and he ends his work with Hardy. So the man's place in English letters is pretty well set.

Re: From Venus With Love

M.A. Peel — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:01:35 -0000

Tom, you wild Arnold scholar, you. Touche.

Re: Miami Vice and the 3 a.m. Soul

M.A. Peel — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:09:06 -0000

Kathleen, the clip isn't a payoff on the specific episode I saw at 3:00 a.m., in fact it's from a different season. I added it because it captures so beautifully the spirit of the series, which makes me happy. And since it's on YouTube, it's always availble, which is comforting, in case there's a future dark night when SleuthTV isn't running Vice.

Re: The Unfinished Epic of Peter O’Toole

M.A. Peel — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 23:30:35 -0000

Claire, blue girl, I will admit there's a tiny part of me that imagines O'Toole's name being called tomorrow--it's the same part that thinks one of these times, Mammy is going to hear Scarlett calling for Rhett in that terrible scene after her miscarriage.

Tom, very glad to see the next generation is on board--

Re: Marty Cares, and So Does the Siren

M.A. Peel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:24:05 -0000

Scorsese said somewhere that in retrospect, The Last Temptation of Christ was "too heavy on the Good Friday," and not enough of the promise of Easter morning, a gloss that many have applied to his world vision in general.

Same could be said about his Oscar agony. Maybe tonight will finally be Easter Sunday for him.

Re: Live Blogging the 2007 Oscars. Action!

M.A. Peel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 21:48:21 -0000

Cagney in Boy Meets Girl--funniest movie ever about writers, costarring Pat O'Brien! Glad to see it in the montage

Re: Live Blogging the 2007 Oscars. Action!

M.A. Peel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:48:13 -0000

Jerry--blowing Ellen out of the water. Maybe next year's host?

Re: Live Blogging the 2007 Oscars. Action!

M.A. Peel — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:27:42 -0000

It's 11:30, and all the major awards are still to come. WHo is producing this mess?

Re: Redeeming The Informer

M.A. Peel — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:21:44 -0000

Yes, thanks for the timely focus.

I saw The Informer as a child, way too young. The print was terrible, because I remember everything was really hard to see. I think it was on the 4:00 Million Dollar movie, that amazing Metro-New York equivalent of TCM before cable.

With help from my older brother, I followed the story. I felt so sad for Gypo Nolan because he was this big, unloved guy, and everything he tried went wrong. It really affected me, getting the first inklings of how the world can be cold, harsh place for some people.

I have neve watched it again. Reading about it now, I should.

As for The Quiet Man, "Homeric"!

Re: Redeeming The Informer

M.A. Peel — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 22:43:25 -0000

Tom, Siren--what a riot! The quotable Quiet Man. "Marquess of Queensbury rules!" "No patty fingers now . . proprieties at all times." And from Father Lonegen: "I knew your people, Sean. Your grandfather died in a penal colony in Austraila, and you father, he was a good man too."

Re: A Reason to Go On Living: Jeremy Brett’s Holmes

M.A. Peel — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 22:52:53 -0000

Neddie, I was dazzled by this series too. The production was exquisite, from the re-creation of London to the theme music. But it was all about Brett. There were 2 different Watsons along the way, if I remember correctly. The episode "The Blue Carbuncle" stands out in my mind, because it's Holmes at Christmastime, and the "Bruce-partington Plans," when they go to meet Mycroft.

Re: Green Beer and English: The Actors and Poets of St. Patrick

M.A. Peel — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:36:21 -0000

Perhaps it should be the very definition of irony: the Irish became masters of their slave language. "Speaking well is the best revenge."

There is a good play by Brian Friel on Broadway right now called "Translations," about how the British systematically went through the country renaming things. We could have had "The Rocky Road to Baile Atha Cliath" but the Brits decided it would be Dublin.

I was in Galway 2 years ago for Christmas, and the amount of Irish being spoken on cell phones in the streets and cafes was astonishing. Constitutionally, Irish, or Gaelic Irish, is the nation's offical first language, with English as second offical language.

Re: Green Beer and English: The Actors and Poets of St. Patrick

M.A. Peel — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:04:26 -0000

Tom, 2 thoughts:
I'm with Tom K that English literaure does not encompass Irish and American lit. Unless it has changed since I was in college, an English major takes a core in Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare, etc., and must take a designated "Irish lit" class or "American Lit" class to study any of those writers. American Lit is usually its own major.

And, I just heard in a review of "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" there's a scene where the Black and Tans, in the 1920s, beat a man to death for not speaking his name in English.

Ken Loach is attesting to the struggle of the Irish to keep their identity through language, even as the Irish Free State was being born, primarily in English.

Re: The Departing Sopranos

M.A. Peel — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:04:09 -0000

estiv, I hadn't heard about the ninth. It's certainly one of the most anticipated arcs in tv history.

Neddie--the premature end of Deadwood is one of the greatest creative shames in tv history. Still fuzziness about what happened between David Milch and HBO how this happened. Here's a good article about John From Cincinnati, the project Milch abandoned Deadwood for.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/11/21/more-on-milch...
And a more recent article on the set of John. Turns out one of the Deadwood writers is Kem Nunn, author of 3 surf noir novels. Hmmm.

http://surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/on-...

Blue Girl--Drea de Matteo talking about Adriana was definitely a highlight of the evening. Someone asked when her character knew she was going to die, and she said when the car turned down the road. It was very chilling just hearing her talk about it.

Re: Sabah El Kair Iraq: Good Morning Iraq

M.A. Peel — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 10:00:20 -0000

Tom, we're looking at developing a piece of it for web. What it really opened my eyes to are the commercial satellite services that are available, like Dish TV and Link TV, which really are helping to bring world media into people's living rooms almost as easily as signing up for HBO.

Re: Sopranos Watch: The Wild Ducks at Coole

M.A. Peel — Wed, 23 May 2007 20:41:40 -0000

Tom, have you noticed that many, many critics/blogger/posters feel that the Sopranos is NOT about an Italian-American family (and of a very specific type, at that) but is a broader commentary on the broader idea of American family dynamics, etc.

I agree that the series reaches universal themes, but I'm baffled as to why people don't want to acknowledge the specificity to those universals. And I argue that these families are not like yours and mine, (beyond the fact that they are fictional) because they murder as a matter of course. Every family dynamic that we might share is ultimately shattered by that fact. My bad, frustrated day doesn't result in someone being killed. And we shouldn't cheapen the import of that fact in our understanding of the series.

Re: Storming the Gates

M.A. Peel — Fri, 25 May 2007 09:59:34 -0000

Type your comment here.

Re: Storming the Gates

M.A. Peel — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:03:23 -0000

Very existential--hitting submit on an empty comment!

I was going to say, I think that Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve should become a catchphrase for bloggers.

Re: Sopranos Watch: Tony, Meet Danny Ocean

M.A. Peel — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:36:29 -0000

Tom, thanks for the link. I've never read anything about Chase talking about his own experiences or awareness of the mob in Jersey or New York. Maybe after the series.

Re: The Sense of an Ending

M.A. Peel — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:36:12 -0000

Can I evolve my own opinion? I was talking with a colleague, and saying that the change in tone bewteen Tony entering the diner in his leather jacket, and the Tony sitting in his golf shirt at the table, is so strong, maybe something else is going on.

I noted that Tony is smiling and relaxed. But it's more than that. He seems like the mild-mannered Ray from Everybody Loves Raymond. Is that who Tony really thinks he is? Is that whole scene in his head?

Another colleague doubts it was a Mafia hit (besides the fact of who wanted him dead) because a mob hit is from the front, so you see who is killing you.

Re: Father’s Day with John Ford

M.A. Peel — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:16:28 -0000

My father was also a huge Ford fan, but the two movies that elicited the most emotion from him were Going My Way--when Barry Fitzgerald's 90-year-old mother, whom he hasn't seen since he was 20, comes in at the end--and the Alistair Sim Scrooge, when he gets giddy at the end because he hasn't missed Christmas.

Nice to read a positive thought about How Green Was my Valley. It has been maligned over the years for beating out Citizen Kane for best picture Oscar.

Re: My DadÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Letters from WW II

M.A. Peel — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:30:43 -0000

It is a privilege to read this personal correspondence. Thanks for allowing us.

Ken Burns's 20-hour epic documentary on World War II is coming to PBS this fall. I saw some of it in progress--it follows the stories of 4 individual men, because personal experience is the most powerful way to explain the enormity of that war. You think there can't be anything new to say about WWII, but he has some amazing footage and stories. I recommend it.

Re: Institutional Cinematic Sensibility, Updated

M.A. Peel — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:48:23 -0000

For all you Vertigo fans, I will feel guilty that I visited Robert Harris and Jonathan Katz in 1995 when they were restoring Vertigo. They had one of the internegs they had made from the original that they didn't need any longer, so Harris gave me 6 frames of Madeleine at the Golden Gate Bridge. He also gave me 3 frames of Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady.

Re: Madison Avenue Revisited

M.A. Peel — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:03:24 -0000

Tom, you're right that this is a very stylish fantasy land of very un-p.c. attitudes for men. It will be interesting if the gender divide becomes an issue for the series, in terms of audience and ratings.

Re: The Road to Oklahoma

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:07:24 -0000

Yes. BWWWWAAA. Fabulous. But as he says, "These are questions each of us must answer in our own way."

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men - Darren Stevens or Cary Grant?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:19:42 -0000

From some angles, John Hamm bares an uncanny resemblance to Ken Olin.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men - Darren Stevens or Cary Grant?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:31:40 -0000

Did the Marlboro Man exist yet? Don seems to have just described him.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men - Darren Stevens or Cary Grant?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:38:22 -0000

Oooh, jewelery. He's a keeper.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men - Darren Stevens or Cary Grant?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:47:11 -0000

Is Sartre an uncredited contributor to the script?

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men - Darren Stevens or Cary Grant?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:50:29 -0000

Did we just fall into a Dennis Potter piece?

Re: Shirts and Skins; Jets and Sharks; Horcruxes and Hallows

M.A. Peel — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:35:25 -0000

Claire, I saw a little of the Dateline with Rowling. She said she had written the last line of the book--which is in the epilogue, years ago: "The scar had not pained Harry for 19 years. All was well." She wanted to underscore that Harry had completely won.

She also said that it was important that she show that Teddy Lupin was okay, since she had orphaned him. She got chocked up as she spoke of it.

Re: How To Make a TV Show That DoesnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t Suck (Part One)

M.A. Peel — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 10:30:45 -0000

Dan, Jason, Kathleen--I hope you are brining these lively opinions into the live blogging fray tomorrow. BG is on board--

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: Your Fantasy, or Mine?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:20:49 -0000

Gentlemen, will someone refresh my drink?

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: Your Fantasy, or Mine?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:40:32 -0000

Yeah, the Munster-like kid is another fantasy buzz kill for me. Not a very satisfying episode--

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: Your Fantasy, or Mine?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:12:57 -0000

I agree if they focused on the workplace alone it would be stronger and more interesting. It's one decision the L&O franchise made that was a good one.

Re: Go Raibh Maith Agat, Tommy

M.A. Peel — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:58:30 -0000

Brendan, somehow I missed this sad news. I was raised on the "Hearty and Hellish" album, and "The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone." What great part-sing The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were. Genuine musicians, all of them. Must go put on a DVD now.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:19:13 -0000

I called "mad brother in the attic" 2 weeks ago--who knew that it was Dick/Don who was the crazy!

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:23:08 -0000

Scary sign of the time: putting "famous novelist" infront of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:26:51 -0000

"Her." That is one cold son. Huge mother issues--what a cliche.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:39:46 -0000

There's a blog on the AMCtv site, and there is so much love for this show, it's truly unbelievable. I think people are projecting a lot of themselves into what they are seeing. That may be a huge part of the strange phenomenon surrounding this summer series.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:51:36 -0000

Is he going to kill him?

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Debt to Cary Grant

M.A. Peel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:59:40 -0000

All right. That was one nice fake-out. I hate to see people/characters like Adam being crushed by morally bankrupt, evil people.

What would have been so wrong to have that nice guy in the family? I'll just wait for Matt to explain in the postlude--

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:13:09 -0000

Yeah, and don't forget Steve Martin: "born in Arizona, moved to Babylona, King Tut"

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:10:16 -0000

Guys, I leave the urine joke in your capable hands.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:20:15 -0000

Tom, I agree. Now Don and Larry Tate's underage daughter--that's a taboo

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:21:21 -0000

Steverino--touche.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:28:34 -0000

This chicken is not happy with these morons right now

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:38:43 -0000

Did men really call women chicken in that sweeping way? Tomatoes I've heard, but chicken is too much.

Was brainstorming a new thing back then?

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:45:13 -0000

Blue Girl, you Mad Woman you.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 22:53:42 -0000

This is becoming very Sorkin here

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 23:06:07 -0000

Tom, hahahaha!

Never has a writer/producer done so little with so much potential. Oh, wait, that's the Sorkin school of tv.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: By the Waters of Babylon

M.A. Peel — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:30:08 -0000

Karen, what a riot.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Nixon Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:11:25 -0000

Ohh, Roger isn't so dusty

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Nixon Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:20:50 -0000

There's just not enough sustaind drama in the ostensibly dramatic scenes

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Nixon Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:26:04 -0000

Someone get the Block That Metaphor police, please

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Nixon Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:37:42 -0000

"He doesn't even wear a hat." One of the most interesting sartorial changes of the last century. Imagine if Kennedy had worn a hat--you guys might all still be sportin'.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: The Nixon Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:55:55 -0000

Rosemary Clooney--best part of the show

Re: Two Women for the Ages

M.A. Peel — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 21:29:20 -0000

Viscount, thanks for the note. Mother Teresa does continue to be an inspiration in many ways, even moreso now that we know how very heavy was her burden.

Robert, I'm glad you bring up the magazine angle. I partook myself. I NEVER buy magazines on the stand, and only subcribe to the New Yorker and the Atlantic, and yet I find that I bought the Time commemorative issue from mid Sept. 1997, which covers both Diana and Mother Teresa.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

M.A. Peel — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:14:33 -0000

This series has the most depressing view of marriage I have EVER SEEN

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

M.A. Peel — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:20:28 -0000

PJ Clarke's--I say we have a newcritics meet up there when the series is over to celebrate

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

M.A. Peel — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:32:04 -0000

Don Boy looks so sad, like something out of Jude the Obscure

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

M.A. Peel — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 22:47:23 -0000

Don Boy as a whore child. What did I miss. Why is Mom a whore?

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

M.A. Peel — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:09:19 -0000

Jim, the universe is obviously not indifferent to you--

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:05:46 -0000

The Birds and Grace Kelly--so looking for greatness by association.

Are they in Radio City? Does anyone recognize that foyer/lounge?

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:14:12 -0000

Now we're in the "Make Room for Betty Show"

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:18:59 -0000

Oh Pete, we have news for you . . . .

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:23:11 -0000

Wow. I really had a Barbie with a dresss like that.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:28:50 -0000

Michael Beirut--are you in the house? Can you explain the lighting bolt from Pete?

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:31:56 -0000

Now the bird thing is looking waay too Sopranos

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:39:25 -0000

Peggy looks bigger in every scene--rapidly advancing pregnancy. Hey, that's what happened to Darla when she was pregnant with Pete, I mean Connor. (Angel fans, where are you>)

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:45:18 -0000

Tom, it does feel like we are in the second hour of a double episode

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Here Is New York?

M.A. Peel — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:59:52 -0000

Nice last shot. She was a little Bonnie Faye Dunaway there. But the texture feels like it's from a different show

Re: Grace: The Celluloid Princess

M.A. Peel — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 21:14:16 -0000

I'm glad someone has remembered Princess Grace. A decade ago or so there was a spate of biographies, books about her, and what I remember from the reviews is how isolated she was once she married--a theme that is common to Diana.

The other chilling parallel is that Diana attended Grace's funeral as her first official function--I remember pictures of Diana with Nancy Reagan at the funeral. If only she had been able to see her own funeral in a crystal ball then . . .

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: FAKE OUT

M.A. Peel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:58:17 -0000

I think you are right--AMC's schedule says episode 5. How odd. Let's see waht comes on.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: FAKE OUT

M.A. Peel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:03:27 -0000

Well, I can call the game on account of rain. Tom--are you there?

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: FAKE OUT

M.A. Peel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:05:16 -0000

It's like flipping a book backwards--Peggy is thin again.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: FAKE OUT

M.A. Peel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:09:29 -0000

Nothing but reruns before the season premieres.

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: FAKE OUT

M.A. Peel — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:10:32 -0000

Alright--I'm closing up shop, putting the post away. Goodnight.

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:50:35 -0000

No, but then there are no Cary Grants over there either.

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:22:34 -0000

There is something exhausting about watching MM. It requires so much participation to fill in all the strange holes in the storytelling fabric--

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:36:02 -0000

Oh please, Red and Blonde could do some much better than these guys. This is another male fantasy--

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:51:01 -0000

Does the world end during a solar eclipse?

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:54:56 -0000

Tom, you've got it. What I can't understand is that we are in the minority in this. Many people LOVE this show.

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 22:56:39 -0000

Well that's complex: he was raised by his stepmother and her new husband, after his father died.

Re: L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men

M.A. Peel — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:06:52 -0000

Karina, this show is a pop cultural phenomenon of sorts, with a distinct place in the television landscape. We are participating in the phenomenon, in the "intrigued but a little critical" part of the spectrum. As I hope you see in the care and thought I put into the opening essays, I have a lot of respect for the show, but it's like a piece of music that I don't hear the way some others do. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in listening further.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Some Things Don’t Change

M.A. Peel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:08:46 -0000

Nice intro Tom. I hate hangings. Poor bro.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: Some Things Don’t Change

M.A. Peel — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 22:58:15 -0000

Some kid is going to write their American Studies thesis on the symbolism of the glass of water throughout this episode

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: “And you, sir, are no John Galt”

M.A. Peel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:19:37 -0000

Signs of real life in this episode--it's nice

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: “And you, sir, are no John Galt”

M.A. Peel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:21:55 -0000

there hasn't been a commerical yet

Re: Live Blogging Mad Men: “And you, sir, are no John Galt”

M.A. Peel — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:57:13 -0000

Well quite a reveal.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:06:27 -0000

I never remember who the guy with the glasses is. Is it too late to get their backstories straight?

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:12:15 -0000

I hope Rachel runs in to Cary Grant on that cruise, and then they visit his grandmother

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:28:33 -0000

You know, things go out with a whimper. . . This is the most engaging episode to date.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:38:15 -0000

This is certainly a women--of--MM centric episode.

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:39:49 -0000

Ha! the statue on the window sill of the psychiatrist's office

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:44:10 -0000

It would be interesting for the actual person who came up with calling Kodak's slide thing "Carousel" to come forward

Re: Live-Blogging Mad Men: the Final Chapter

M.A. Peel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:53:54 -0000

The fantasy of Don as Father Knows Best. Dylan, the furthest sensibility possible from Don Draper. A strange ending, but not surprising

Re: Surprise Saints of My Generation: The Who

M.A. Peel — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:34:45 -0000

Tom, I can't imagine what it must have been like to be at that concert. This footage is going to blow you away.

Re: Surprise Saints of My Generation: The Who

M.A. Peel — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 01:17:55 -0000

Hey Manny, there's something from Leeds in the film. I don't remember which song. When I watched it again, I was surprised how much talking they did over "Won't Get Fooled Again," which I didn't notice at the premiere, where I was so stunned be the performance.

I've watched the clip repeatedly now on Youtube, and there get a sense of the "transformative moment" Tom talks about.

Re: My Favorite Comedy, Explained

M.A. Peel — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 22:54:20 -0000

I say we make a pact to live blog Interiors the next time it's on IFC.

Re: Westminster Soap Operas: New Labour, Ancient Power

M.A. Peel — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 23:29:04 -0000

Oh House of Cards--that is so worth renting to watch again. Sigh.

I haven't seen The Deal, but I too had a tour of Parliament during my college days. A friend's mother worked for a Scottish MP, and she swooped me through all sorts of rooms to the MP's dining room, where her boss drank me under the table at lunch after an aperitif on the Parliament balcony. Those were still the days when politicians and editors had a liquid lunch. Seems when I finally got "there" myself, everyone was drinking water. Sigh.

Re: Ken Russell’s The Devils and Some Thoughts on the Dinosaur Days of Home Video

M.A. Peel — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:44:19 -0000

I like your intro description about movie-going practices of yesteryear.

From an earlier generation, my mother insists that in Brooklyn in the forties, you never looked for what time a movie was playing, you just went and started watching from whatever point you got there. Which gave rise to the expression, "This is where we came in," and then you left.

So Mom insists.

Re: Your Brain on Music

M.A. Peel — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:25:56 -0000

Not to be reductive, but somehow it all goes back to Bach, the most towering of music's towering geniuses.

I am learning Bach's Mass in B Minor with a small semi-professional group, and believe me, my gray matter is firing on all sides.

Re: Your Brain on Music

M.A. Peel — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:45:52 -0000

Kathleen, yes, I'm singing the alto part. Bach wrote some wildly difficult lines for the alto and basses in that Mass, considered the summation of his musical life.

Re: It’s an Angry Life

M.A. Peel — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:53:32 -0000

David, that's the great thing about Wonderful Life. It will be there waiting for you in 2015. There just isn't much you can count on like that :)

Re: It’s an Angry Life

M.A. Peel — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:26:09 -0000

Karen, dark. That is the word for IAWL. The Mr. Gower hitting young George scene always chokes me up.

Re: WeAreAllWinnie.blogspot.com

M.A. Peel — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:37:36 -0000

Yea. For a guy known for nothingness, there's a lot there.

Re: My One Oscar Tidbit: We Saw the Horses in Realm & Conquest, Too

M.A. Peel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:35:17 -0000

Tina, even more telling, Cary Grant, Clooney's role model, never won either. Maybe George should have aimed more for 2-time winner Spencer Tracey.

Re: Irish Altered States

M.A. Peel — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:17:22 -0000

I'm with Manny that there is something in the Celtic soul that has a natural affinity for the complex and the poetic.

But the devastating effect of the abuse of the British invaders--over centuries--cannot be underestimated. Much of the specifics of that history has slipped out of current memory, which for the work of the Good Friday Accord to keep gaining traction, has to be.

Danica, your amplification of the one line from the psychiatrist I met is fascinating. Understanding what the Irish endured speaks to this national addiction--meaning they are not crazy, they are in pain BECAUSE of outrageous, often deadly treatment of a conqueror.

And still, they have contributed the pinnacle of English language arts (in their enforced conqueror's tongue !) to the world in Joyce and Yeats. Really remarkable.

Re: Brad Braden: ALL Man

M.A. Peel — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:50:46 -0000

Marabunta! I am with you on The Naked Jungle. As you say, great electricity between the two. (Thanks for pointing out my Powell/Parker name confusion, which has been corrected.)

Re: Being A Woman and Cheap Sentiment: Davis at 100

M.A. Peel — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:55:25 -0000

What's also interesting about Skeffington is seeing it in light of Davsis's own fairly famous "getting old isn't for sissies" line.

Re: Comic Suicide: Chekov’s “The Seagull”

M.A. Peel — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:52:50 -0000

Kathleen, I have never seen any Chekov; maybe this is the moment. I would like to see Dianne Wiest, since I enjoyed her performance so much on In Treatment.

Re: Sexy Beast, I Mean Bing

M.A. Peel — Sat, 10 May 2008 17:44:54 -0000

BR, at least given how little he's seen or heard these days, you generally don't have to deal with him!

Re: Sexy Beast, I Mean Bing

M.A. Peel — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:17:08 -0000

Hey Weboy--you would like "Robin and the Seven Hoods" because it's the Rat Pack Meets their own Idol. I do think the worst thing that ever happened to Crosby was meeting John Scott Trotter, the guy who did all his arranging in the forties. That's why I love the Crosby of the thirties--much freer and more raw.

Tina, there is something about Crosby that unites people across generations. I first started listening because of my father.

Re: Back to the Fifties: Curtains & Indiana Jones and that Crystal Skull

M.A. Peel — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:08:29 -0000

Claire, we can only HOPE the X-Files is going to be good. James, that's an interesting plot line. And they could have CGI'd a cameo by Olivier to add some class.

Re: The Titanic in Three Movies

M.A. Peel — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:49:05 -0000

Oh Siren, what a particularly wonderful post.

A Night to Remember is one of my own cherished films. I cry and cry on every viewing. One really fun fact about it for me is that Roy Baker directed seven of the 1965 b&w Emma Peel episodes of The Avengers, including my all time favorite "Silent Dust" and second greatest "The Girl from Auntie."

My other connection to the film is that I live by Straus Park, and the poignant memorial to the couple, called Memory. It's a beautiful bronze sculpture of a larger-than-life size reclining woman, looking into a pool of water. The inscription is from from 2 Samuel 1:23 "Lovely and pleasant they were in their lives, and in death they were not divided." There is a great photo of it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isidor_Straus

But as for Cameron, I must strongly disagree. Worse. script. ever. When Billy Zane pulled out gun at the end I thought I was going to explode.