This year my favorite new thing to listen to has been this hip-hop/folk band from Berkeley, CA called Why?
They released an album in March called Alopecia, which is musically and lyrically spectacular from start to finish. I was watching this video of them playing Song of the Sad Assassin live, wondering how tough it must be for one to sing, play the xylophone and snare all at once.
It was a good run.
5 days of heartbreaking teen angst.
And contrary to how impossible I’ve found it to not make fun of, I still think it’s a great show. But to be honest, it’s getting a little weird.
I’m finding it tough to do another one. I just watched The Zit and deleted every sentence I wrote, realizing how much of a pain the process was becoming. I hate quitting, and would almost rather put myself through it just for the sake of the thing. But realistically there’s a hundred other more important things on the agenda.
I know what you’re thinking. What could be more important than blogging about something as important as this show? To that question I have yet to come up with an answer, but will be searching the world over until I can answer it accurately and completely.
Enough excuses, and I’m sorry again to all three of you who might have thought it was a good idea. Maybe we’ll do it again sometime, next time with Freaks and Geeks or something.
Summary: Even the Grateful Dead coming to town won’t stop Angela from giving Graham the “silent treatment,” until a beef with Rayanne starts her thinking. Meanwhile, Patty has to deal with her own dad when the IRS comes calling.
Father Figures is the third consecutive episode to use alliteration within the title. It’s also the weirdest and heaviest one yet. Tons of familial drama. Honestly, it’s kind of painful to witness. If I had the option, I’d even probably sit in front of Dawson’s Creek before watching an episode like this again.
This time we don’t start in the classroom, but with Angela’s childhood memory of being excited when her father comes home from work. Now she’s pissed for some undiscovered reason. Graham gives Rayanne cooking tips and bonds with her over how amazing the Grateful Dead is (it’s sort of a weird exchange). Mom flips (big surprise) after he gives the two girls his concert tickets. He did it at least partially to recover from Angela’s contempt.
Oh, right. So she’s upset about the possibility of her dad having an affair (I almost forgot. So much has happened since last night.). She looks everywhere for proof but can’t find any. Mom’s dad (who also plays Cheryl’s father on Curb Your Enthusiasm) shows up. You can see where the feistyness comes from (but still can’t forgive her for it). Evidently this guy built the family business and has now led the company into some serious tax trouble. Finally, Angela scalps her tickets (can’t blame her for that). She has to play it all like she’s still going to this show, which gets interesting when her dad wants the tickets back.
Is it over yet? I wish.
So anyway, Angela thinks all these melodramatic problems are really bad for her, until she realizes they’re overshadowed by those of her friend’s families. She has this really bad habit of walking away mid-conversation from people who really care about her. The show ends with Angela talking to Graham while he fixes the house shudders, and things are finally a little more lighthearted and happy. Funny, but she can still be kind of adorable wearing Bongo jeans (thought that was impossible). He asks her what music she’s been listening to, and she gives him the kind of stock answers you’d expect. I still love it that she’s not freaking out about the Dead, which I was slightly afraid would happen at some point.
That really wasn’t much fun. I kind of feel like I should undergo some extensive group therapy now. Better luck tomorrow with Episode 5 – The Zit
Got a late start today. Looks like it’ll be tough to exceed my episode a day agenda, with being busy and all. Last night I got the disco, and tonight went to see Matthew Mayfield play after a long day of painting and fixing things around the apartment. Finally sitting down with a bottled water ready to go through with this, hopefully before I fall asleep.
Summary*: A gunshot in the hallway and a rumor about Angela and Jordan has Liberty High School buzzing. Angela finds out what it’s like to be hot news, while eyewitness status puts Brian on the spot…and Rickie on the stand.
(*Note: If that description sounded like it was stolen from the DVD back cover, it’s because it was. Expect that from now on, since the network copywriters do as good a job as I ever could of summarizing.)
Feels like I’ve seen the Pilot several times now, as the opening credits segment is a montage of scenes taken from it. But I’m attempting to say nicer things this time around. We begin in History with Angela thinking about how the generation before hers knows where they were when JFK was shot, and how she’s never had that kind of opportunity, to remember where she was when an event of equal importance happened. Then a gun shot is heard in the hall, and Brian’s just standing there looking at this 9mm- or whatever it is- laying on the ground. And then, more girls than what seems humanly possible are crammed into a bathroom to talk about it. Seriously, there must be a million fire codes broken here. Not that the school authorities would be thinking about fires when there’s gun around. And gossip. Not that I would know anything about hanging out in girls bathrooms. Okay, maybe just a few.
My So-Called Life Fact to Remember:
Roughly 30% of important dialogue happens in the women’s bathroom.
Angela is still super expressive, not only with her bodily contortions, but her features in general. The only other young actor I can think of who even comes close to challenging these facial expressions might be the cheerleader chick from Heroes. Was definitely feeling the time warp when Angela was playing The Cranberries song in her bedroom right before Mom’s awkward sex talk. Wish it could’ve been the Wild Sweet Orange cover of the song instead.
Pretty much love everyone on the show, and am starting to get wrapped up into their lives more. (Hard to say that without sounding cheesy.) Love Rickie, and hate that he gets pushed around. Might’ve been wrong about Bryan though, who likes to spread rumors about Angela and Jordan. Guess I’ll continue having mixed feelings about the guy. Hate Jordan all the more for continually being a double-dueche. I hope Angela ups the ante in the future with better romantic interests. Don’t tell me what happens, by the way. I can’t know, and promised myself I wouldn’t jump ahead or look at the episode summaries.
I’ll talk about the Mom a little more, and then try to drop the subject altogether (I’m calling her Mom again, by the way, to distance myself from her, which should help me enjoy the show more fully.) I really think she might be in the running for most unlikeable character in television history. I’ll admit I almost swayed my opinion when she nearly became buddy-buddy with Rayanne’s mom, if that’s what was happening, but it turns out she was seeking information about her “troubled daughter.” She should feel lucky and not worry about her daughter so much, even if she reads poetry and wears a lot of flannel.
Going to bed now, but will return tomorrow, moving on to Disc 2 to watch Episode 4 – Father Figures
At the request of Carrie, I’ll be starting out with a brief summary for now on. Very brief.
Summary: Jordan creates a fake ID and brings it to Brian’s house, where Angela is supposed to be helping out with a science project. Also, Mom gets a haircut and suggests ballroom dancing, thinking both will help save the marriage.
Gotta say I’m getting used to the music now. And just in time for the fake ID episode (not to be confused with the fake ID episode from Saved by the Bell, where Kelly dumps Zack for her boss, Zack goes for a college chick, and Screech makes them all fake IDs so they can go clubbing, where they witness Kelly’s boss cheating). This one certainly stands alone.
The first interior monologue made me laugh the hardest. “I’ve been kissed 3 times. No, 4 times. No, 3 times.” I wake up and say this every morning too, only I substitute it with much higher numbers. Definitely a Science motif going on here. We’re learning about galaxies and cutting hearts open (symbolism, anyone?). Oh, and don’t forget “Frozen Embryos,” the band Jordan Catalano says him and Tino* are supposed to start. (*Note on Tino: I guess I knew more than I originally professed to about the show, since I vividly recall girl-classmates talking about this fella who never shows up).
So, unlike Tino, Jordan Catalana always seems to show up, causing Angela to shake in her boots (or her mary janes with socks, or whatever). I think he’s an arrogant asshole. When he tried to get all kissy-kissy on her it confused me. His excuse for doing so without knowing her was that he’s quiet. Quiet? Sorry dude, but that doesn’t fly with nice girls. Props to Angela for stopping him, saying he has to “work up to that”. She gets a high-five for that one. And Angela, if you’re reading, I would like you to be a little nicer to this curly-headed biker/rollerblader neighborhood boy. You know him as Brian Krakow. I know he’s strange and slightly unsettling, and I can’t say I’d want to work beside him on this apparatus project either, but extra credit can be good, and you never know when you might need him for something else. Your other friends aren’t good for anything besides keeping you from boredom. But maybe that’s all you can hope for in high school.
My catchphrase meter went off when I heard Angela say “In my humble opinion.” This was the third time it popped up. Also, Graham’s younger brother Neil is introduced here. He seems pretty cool, but I don’t have much to comment on about him yet. I’d rather talk some more about Mom. Guess I should start calling her by her real name, Patty. The writers are trying to fill out Patty’s character and make her more likable it seems, but I can’t say it’s worked on me yet. Maybe it’s the personality. Or the haircut. Or the pants (the way she wears them in her household, or just the pleated khakis in general). Or maybe it’s the other haircut. But hey, I wasn’t a Sawyer fan before season two of LOST, and now I love him. The whole episode kept coming back to this super-short haircut while I was trying my best to forget it ever happened. I guess they pretty well documented America’s absolute worst hair trend of the past 100 years. How’d middle-aged women ever think this somehow made them attractive?
See you tomorrow when we watch Episode 3 - Guns and Gossip
I guess it’s an odd time to start with today being September 11th. I didn’t really plan it like this, but I guess it’s also a good time because since the month has 30 days, even if I only do an episode a day, I’ll still finish the series before October. Then you can wake me up when September ends. Oh man. Alright.
So Claire Danes is really young, huh? How adorable. I remember days like these. Grunge rebellion days. A girl only had to dye her hair dark red to be considered ‘alternative’ and ‘edgy’ by peers, or to worry her parents sick. If the show were filmed in 2008 (or 1998 for that matter), the writers would probably feel the need to up the ante and make the lead character a sexaholic or coke dealer (which would take away some of the sweet charm I guess, but like I told you earlier, since I’ve never seen the show who am I to say none of this will happen later on?). If they tried to introduce Angela with the “Crimson Glow” hair on the show today, the first kitchen scene would have to play something more like this:
ANGELA
(Walks by the refrigerator sheepishly sporting her new hair)
Mom, this is Rayanne and Rickie.
MOM
Hello. You dyed your hair. OK. Here’s some cheese.
ANGELA
(Removes her Blackberry and reads a hateful text message from Sharon- her former best friend from childhood)
You hate it.
MOM
I never said that. I was actually wondering if you had any extra. I’m looking for something to cover up the gray.
I have no qualms with the 90’s-ness of the show. It seems at least kind of representative of how I remember things, which is to say not that well. I keep thinking of a lot of questions I’d like to ask fans, like who is the band playing during the party scene? Are they real or are they fake? I want them to be real.
So far two characteristics stand out that really bother me, and hold me back from taking the Pilot serious. I mean pilots are never the best representations of shows, but I have to say I really hope they change the scored music at least slightly by episode two. It’s horribly loud, intrusive, and impossible to ignore. Also, does anyone else find it strange watching Claire Danes contort her body? It seems unnatural to me how she does this, doing things like standing around or putting her head in her hands on her desk like some sort of acrobatic, which is only emphasized more by all the strange camera angles and slow-mo shots. Not to say I don’t find it impressive.
I was surprised when the whole arrest scene went down. In retrospect it doesn’t seem implasusible that it needed to happen, for her to see right away where this life of crazyness and danger can go if she’s not careful. That’s when I was really starting to get wrapped in, despite the desire I always have with a new show to remain detached. I was legitimately afraid of what Angela’s mom (who I already hate, by the way) might say or do, and was relieved when the cop gave her the benefit of the doubt and decided against walking her to the door. It was a guesture only a nice cop would offer, which could not happen in anywhere other than pre-1995 Pennsylvania.
So when I first decided to do this, I thought the show was only a half-hour, which made me figure tonight I could watch a couple episodes, maybe finish off the first disc. But after an entire hour, I was exhausted and needed to stop. Another question for fans: Is every episode an hour, or just the premiere? Instead of watching any further, I spent the next several minutes Wiki’ing the show (careful not to skip ahead and read any spoilers). I found out some interesting facts. Did you know one of the reasons they never fought to keep the show on after the first season was because Claire Danes kept saying she didn’t want to do it? That girl likes to call her own shots from what I can tell.
3 Examples of Claire Danes Doing Whatever the Hell She Wants:
I still can’t help but love her though, or feel dirty when I find myself accidentally checking her out once or twice while watching*.
*Does it count if she’s 29 now?
See you tomorrow when we watch Episode 2 – Dancing in the Dark
When My So-Called Life first aired on ABC, the year was 1994 and the world was in an entirely different state. Politically, socially, aesthetically.. you know. I was in the sixth grade at the time, and like most sixth graders, I had a couple flannel shirts and hid certain albums from my parents. But if I can recall our living room at the time, the TV was mostly playing TBS and TGIF. I preferred The Wonder Years and my sister religiously watched Little House on the Prairie (I pretended to loathe every minute, but secretly had to know what would happen next after every cliffhanger, since they aired the episodes in chronological order). It’s possible my sister may have watched My So-Called Life at that point too (she would’ve been in the tenth grade then, the exact age of lead character Angela Chase), but if she did, she never once mentioned it to me. Perhaps she was a fan only in secret, or perhaps not one at all.
As for me, I tend to fall behind when it comes to so many things, and then to play catch-up later only if it feels like I really missed out on something. Such is the case with this teen drama, which at the time was something The Village Voice called “the first to get adolescence right.” If there’s a perfect candidate for someone existing apart from My So-Called Life’s direct influence, it would be me. I hardly know anything about it apart from the logo, a ton of my friends like it, and of course that it’s a show about high school real life during the 90′s. In the past, when someone would mention the show at a party, I’d look for an escape of another group talking about a safer topic, like the Olympics. I feel the same way when people reference Seinfeld episodes I haven’t seen, which happens about 3 to 5 times every week. I’m completely aware this diary will be boring for most people- (I take that back, for everyone)- but it’s important for me as it will be an honest account of finally sitting down to watch each and every episode (shouldn’t be tough, there are only 19) with nothing more than the TV screen and a blank MSWord document in front of me.
Starting tonight, I will attempt to chronicle my thoughts regarding the ups and downs of this so-called high school experience, fourteen years after the fact, and post them as they occur chapter by chapter on The Gulf Scream.
I have yet to grab a copy of the new Brian Wilson album that dropped yesterday. Apparently the vinyl edition has already been out for a few weeks. Things’ve been so busy with the move to Birmingham that I forgot all about it (not to mention updating my blogs in the first place). A couple songs are streaming at his MySpace page, which have been looping in my headphones for the past thirty minutes or so.
Supposedly That Lucky Old Sun has some Mount Vernon and Fairway-equivalent narration segments, which haven’t hurt the reviews as much as I would’ve expected. I’ve been putting off buying a plane ticket for a few years now to see Brian somewhere, and am afraid I may have missed my chance for a Pet Sounds or Smile performance in entirety.
