Lag

It's not a big thing, this time. Not the constant drowsiness of getting to L.A. in September 2009; Nor is it, thankfully, headaches and stomach cramps like last Christmas in Greece. But if ever I've -soberly- felt like my brain should partake in the Special Olympics, that time is now.

Things I Blame on Jet Lag

1. Trying 6 pairs of 32" waist shorts at Topman to find none of them fit.
   
2. Thinking I could hear my own pair of comfy 32s crying on the floor.
3. Ordering tomato, mozzarella and basil gnocchi to receive spaghetti carbonara.
4. Enjoying Get Him to The Greek (first 90 minutes).
5. Hating Get Him to The Greek (last 19 minutes)
6. This post.

And my foot just fell asleep for no discernible reason. Excellent.

Lady Gaga - Alejandro

So, Lady Gaga is a dictator's wife, king's daughter or dictatrix queen in her own right and the guy dies and she mourns with her grief pipe and widow's goggles on (as you do) and then she's a red vinyl nun who eats her rosary and a white vinyl saint with an inverted crotch-cross, while also fucking some ladydudes in the butt without taking her underwear off (as you do) and then she kinda goes dark ABBA and sprouts titrifles (or are they bayonipples?) and she has Tootie's haircut and then... she becomes part of the revolution maybe and gives a big guerrilla rousing speech while pantsless (as she does) and then she's a marionette and a dude has a golden gun penis and the film itself burns because that's what being Lady Gaga is all about.

Bring on the summer.

Skins 4x07- Effy

You think you're going mad, so you came to see me to see what a mad person looks like.

What the fuck, Skins? You'll think that oh so many times while watching Effy. It's unfortunate that "what the fuck?" is also all this episode leaves behind. Especially, when its purpose was to contextualize Elizabeth Stonem's descent into madness. There is an interesting attempt at threading Effy's breakdown back to her brother, Tony, getting run over by a bus in the amazing Series 1 finale.



Problem's that the attempted connection snaps, under the weight of heavy-handedness. There have simply been no previous signifiers that Effy struggled with Tony's accident. Asking the penultimate episode of Series 4 to convince us of that in one fell swoop leads -again- to a forced and melodramatic effort. It feels as though Brittain, Elsley and Co. pulled this episode's script out of their collective ass. An expression which I hate to use in reference to such a beloved show.


Don't be upset Ef.


Things look bad now.


But it'll be okay! Surely.

It's just that when the last "what the fuck?" moment comes, right before the credits roll, you're left trying to shake off a bitter, copper-y taste. This is bronze medal, third place stuff. It's not a "WHAT THE FUCK?" not a "What the fuck?!" even... it's lowercase, tired and disinterested. But who knows? As is evident by the screencaps a SMOOB is still a SMOOB even in the clunkiest of episodes. Maybe in the finale Skins pulls off a routine so intricate and well-executed that it brings Series 4 home with the gold.


Maybe, right?

Then again, maybe not.

Kinda Great Guy will (try) to get back to its regular rambling installments ASAP. In the meantime, please enjoy these weekly Skins mini analyses, starting with this post.

Skins 4x06 - JJ

(Captain's log):
Lifeform was wearing really nice earrings today.

That's JJ in a nutshell. And it's a good thing Skins gave us his episode at this point in the season! As the dust of Freddie imploding under the weight of its own gravitas settles, the unbearable lightness of JJ is exactly what's needed to give the sense that we can rebuild. And (thankfully) even if the plot and drama had not been better balanced this episode around, there were just so many delicious SMOOBs that... Oof! Let's just take a look:


JJ is a sweet boy. (He even works at a candy store).


He's got a newspaper for a dad and a (lovely) overly-involved mother.


He gives the object of his affection (Lifeform) water-soluble vitamins (when she is ill).


He thinks about her when he plays (with) his ukulele.


He tries to impress her, taking his friend's (bad) advice.


He stops short of making the metaphor literal, though. (That's up to Cook).


But he does commit a grand faux-pas in taking Lifeform to meet the torn-asunder by infidelity Naomily. (Look at that! What a simple portrait of convoluted awkwardness).


He and his ukulele have the best intentions (and are beautifully photographed).


They serenade Lifeform (with Spandau Ballet's True).


Which, yeah, sounds all kinds of ridiculous. But if (it weren't under copyright and) I could put the video on here, as if JJ were singing to you, underneath your window...


You would melt too. (Really).


And then you'd do him (in a very photogenic way).

Line of the night:
I don't want you to see my pornography mother.
(And I know you've been looking).

Kinda Great Guy will (try) to get back to its regular rambling installments ASAP. In the meantime, please enjoy these weekly Skins mini analyses, starting with this post.

Skins 4x05 - Freddie

Last year, Freddie was boring as fuck. Tonight, he continued his smokin' hot streak of being astonishingly soporific. In most TV seasons there's gonna be at least one dud and Skins is no exception. But this last episode managed to hit all the wrong notes of being at the same time boring, cliché, overly dramatic, and still entirely unaffecting.

As always, the saving grace comes from the pretty pictures. Let's take a look at them:


The thing about Freddie is that he's in the dark.


The boundaries of himself are defined by those around him.


Namely: Effy.


He doesn't exist without her. And he realizes that.


Which is why he tries to make magic for her.


Not getting it into his thick skull that she is fundamentally broken.


Thank fuck that Effy is insane...


And decides to explode him.

36 minutes of whinging later, the episode skates close to an emotional climax that is mostly unearned from said previous 35' of emo prettiness. And while the photography is probably better than in any previous Skins episode, the story just doesn't connect in that special way that has imbued so many eps before with true SMOOBs.

Even Cook and Katie as devil and angel, respectively, doesn't sit well. Despite the random street party, that brings about these costumes, being one of the most impressive set-pieces Skins has done, the weakness in Freddie makes the masquerade feel like nothing more than pandering.

In summation:

Pretty. Boring.

Line of the night:
Do what you can now, forget what wasn't done then.

Which is what I intend to do with this episode...
Good night ladies and germs!

Kinda Great Guy will (try) to get back to its regular rambling installments ASAP. In the meantime, please enjoy these weekly Skins mini analyses, starting with this post.

Skins 4x03+4 - Cook & Katie

Welcome to a double installment of Why You Should Totally Be Watching Skins 2010. Ready? OK.

Over the past two weeks, Skins explored the inner workings of one Mr. James Cook and Ms. Katie fucking Fitch... Last year, Cook's story was about destruction. This season, the question is raised: Why destroy? Meanwhile, Katie and twin sister Emily spent 2009 fighting for dominion in a game of light and dark. Now, that they've broken free of each other Katie's wondering "Who the fuck am I?" Let's roll.

O Jimmy Cook, Jimmy Cook, wherefore art thou Jimmy Cooke?

Denied thy best friend for he fucked your mum.

When thou got stresséd, you were but shirtless love

So I'll ignore the visual foreshadowing.

'Tis but thy past that is thine fuckery:

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

Sorry, I couldn't think of something stupidly clever for that last one. The episode was depressing, yo. As was the one that followed but in a different way.

What?


Yes.


No!


Fuck.


Don't wanna be lke your mother?


Then don't dress like that.


Seriously.

Also:

If you've lived in England you know this is funny.

And everyone remember:

I love you more than I love cheese!

To catch up on the whole Skins thing hit this post. Kinda Great Guy will (try) to get back to its regular rambling installments ASAP.