Rescuers of Every Stripe

So now the tables are turned. You might remember the time Steed was laid up with an injured knee from falling down the stairs. Turned out there had been a trip wire place across the bottom step by a diabolical mastermind, to prevent him from joining me for weekend of bridge with Sir Cavalier Rusticana—-...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/29/2007     Steed, television   

L.B. Jefferies Live Blogs Mad Men Tonight

Last Thursday was the great Mad Men fake out, when AMC unnecessarily reran episode 5. So I'm still in the catbird seat over at newcritics tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET. My intro essay last week (scroll down under the detective teams) referenced Leave Her to Heaven. I'm afraid tonight it is Rear Window--call me Jefferies. I fractured my ankle last night running, then tripping, flying and falling, enroute...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/27/2007     blogs, Film, television   

Bobby, Alex, Tommy, and Barbara

As a longtime fan of the Mystery! series and the Law & Order franchise, I must report I have detected a striking parallel between beloved police duos on both sides of the Atlantic: Barbara Havers of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries is the British Alex Eames, of Law & Order: Criminal Intent....

Read More

 Mapeel     9/23/2007     television   

Live Blogging Mad Men: Madness Directed

Last week’s Mad Men episode began with a sunny shot of Betty in striking sunglasses, and ended with the crazed Bonnie Parker in pink Fredericks of Hollywood out for the 1:00 p.m. kill-the-neighbor’s pigeons session. It felt to many that we had taken a turn into David Lynch territory, because these two...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/20/2007     blogs, Mad Men, television   

QQF: Fresh Mint

A nosegay of fresh mint in the fridge is a magical mood lightener. I cannot smell its deeply aromatic leaves without smiling, no matter what has befallen me throughout the day enroute to the evening’s escapade in the kitchen. I find the scent of mint wildly heady—-it is a burst of freshness and hope and LIVING, all within a simple waft of its greenness.Mint is so beautifully flexible and unfussy to...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/18/2007     QQF File   

The Emmys: Our Annual Fear and Loathing in the Living Room

It's not that the Emmy had any actual meaning before yesterday. But there are lines that get crossed, in terms of the world not making sense to me, that frighten me. And James Gandolfini not earning an Emmy for seven years of inspired, thrilling, serious achievement in the art of acting, frightens me. Overreaction? No. Because it means that the judgment of a group of sentient adults, who supposedly...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/17/2007     television, The Sopranos   

TV Notes

Chuck and Triple Chuck.The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz likes the name Chuck. He has an NBC pilot called Chuck, and a new series on the CW called The Gossip Girl that has a character named Chuck. I’ll definitely watch the NBC one, hoping to maybe learn what the hell the "Anvil Chorus" is doing in the promo.Not to be outdone, the go-to Mozart Requiem "Lacrymosa" is in the Cane promo. Is classical music...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/15/2007     television   

And Now for Something Completely Denkkerent

I like to think that I have a good sense of humor, but it rarely manifests as a laugh. I'm trying to lighten up and not be encumbered with phrases like "manifests as a laugh."But for now, it is rare for me to laugh aloud, particularly when reading something.And yet, there is this classical pianist named Jeremy Denk, whose writing is so imaginative and strangely witty that I have found myself actually...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/12/2007     blogs   

For Moments of Silence

8:46 first plane hit North Tower9:03 second plane hit South Tower9:37 Pentagon hit9:59 South Tower falls10:03 Shanksville10:29 North Tower FallsGod help all who struggled in that inferno and died, and all who are left to mourn. This was an unprovoked attack on civilians of monstrous proportions, and...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/11/2007     9/11, current events   

September 11, 2007

In July I was walking along the stunning waterfront of Lake Maggiore in Stresa, Italy, with some Californians, when a piece of sculpture caught my eye because it was an American flag running vertically. We went over to look at it, and the plaque said that it was a 9/11 memorial, dedicated to the victims...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/09/2007     9/11, current events   

Live Blogging Mad Men: When Don Met Sal and Dean

“. . . .and I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles.”Yesterday was the fiftieth anniversary of the publication...

Read More

 Mapeel     9/06/2007     blogs, literature, Mad Men