you get it, you got it, you know it's good

I had the phrase you get it, you got it, you know it's good from The Beastie Boys stuck in my head all day yesterday. I think it's from Hello Nasty, but I'm not sure. Fun, but I haven't listened to them in ages -- why do they keep floating up to the surface of my mind? It's a December MYSTERY, is what it is. The sentiment is appropriate, however -- I'm finally rested up from my Long Week and everything looks better.

I have done zero decorating for Christmas! Today is the day, or else. (... or else something dire -- maybe no cookies.) Part of the problem is that I have been up to my eyeballs in Christmas junk at my far away sad crazy lady job since HALLOWEEN. Before Halloween! (She hates halloween! I told you she was crazy.) Between the weird It's Been Christmas For Three Months time-warp and the new library job-having, I am entirely time-discombobulated. I'm not stressed about it, though. It will all work out and I'm sure I'll be looking at colored lights in no time. (colored lights are my favorite. colored lights and cookies.)


And now, a list! Here's some of the stuff I've been watching --

This Film Is Not Yet Rated: oh, this is a good one to watch if your blood pressure is too low or if you need a little extra shot of outrage to get you through the day. I found it to be resonant with some of the issues of mega-conglomerate studio control that have been coming up during the writer's strike. (once again I am amazed at what a freaking MIRACLE it is that good movies ever get made at all -- when you think of all the places it can go wrong, of all the people that are involved in such hugely collaborative enterprise -- and that's just in the making-it process, not even mentioning all the places it can go wrong after it has already been created!)

This film is a documentary looking into the inner workings of the MPAA -- the movie ratings board. The members are SECRET their screenings are SECRET and their rules are BIZARRE and smothered in SECRET SAUCE. The filmmaker launches an investigation to uncover some of the whys and wherefores. The official line is that rating films is voluntary and a service for parents to help decide which films are appropriate for their children. This sounds so reasonable, but the truth is that the MPAA is the only game in town, they undergo virtually no review themselves (since it's a voluntary rating rather than a government rating), and if your film is given the dreaded NC-17 you are in the position of either trying to re-cut to get an R (which may not work), or just face that many theaters won't show your movie because they don't show NC-17 or unrated films. You can appeal, but the appeal process sounds like going up against the Spanish Inquisition or the Illuminati.

Watching this confirmed my suspicion that in the United States violence is rated on a far more lenient scale than sex. Some sex is okay (especially if you are on your way to blow some shit up or crash some cars or shoot some people or are a heterosexual man obsessed with apple pie), but once it gets to the realm of pubic hair or female orgasm, forget about it. The filmmaker talked with John Waters (who was delightfully frank as always), Wayne Kramer and Maria Bello, Atom Egoyan (surprisingly hilarious), Kevin Smith, Kimberly Peirce and many others. Director Kramer and actress Bello had some interesting insight since in their film it was to her naked body the MPAA objected, but I think they undercut their argument by saying "our movie sex was okay because these characters were in love," which, hey -- great for them, but it obscures the larger point -- the standards for ratings are purely subjective and based on criteria that appear to have been pulled directly from Jack Valenti's ass. Anyway. It was thought provoking.

Dirty Sexy Money: I finally saw the first episode (I came on board during the second or third episode) and I love this show! It fills the season 1-2 of The OC shaped hole in my heart. (I know some people love Gossip Girl for this particular void, but I couldn't get into it.) The cast of Dirty Sexy Money is excellent and they've got enough stuff going on that it's not just samestorysamestorysamestory like Grey's Anatomy was getting to be for me (although I heard that it's been getting better... is it true?). It's not like The Wire or anything, but I find it very entertaining and prefer not to miss it.


Pushing Daisies: I still love this so much! Olive is so great -- they all are, but she is filled with great lately. She's angry, heartsick and scheming, yet also generous (it's an effort), helpful (ditto) and scheming (because she just can't help herself). This is the show I will miss the most when they run out of episodes, which I think they just did. Sigh. Paul Reubens as Oscar Vibenius, olfactory expert who happens to live in the sewer and wear goggles for some reason? fantastic! Chuck's wardrobe still makes me green with envy, none of them are perfect and they all act like jerks from time to time... it's just so fun. They've got a lot of plates spinning at once, but I think that's how they keep any one element from overwhelming. Yeah, it's a big old candy-colored fairy tale or romance or quirky drama, but it's also an honest to god procedural! They solve crimes! bake pies! have Hitchcock homages! And somehow there is still time for synchronized swimming, knitting and beekeeping. It's funny and weird yet truly dark around the edges. I heart you, Bryan Fuller. This is by far my favorite show this season.

Bones: Aw, Bones! I like this show a lot. In fact, this list is inspiring me to try this crazy thing where I only watch shows I enjoy. Anyway -- they are always reasonably clever with the mystery every episode, but what keeps me watching is the interpersonal chemistry. They've got a great team and I like to see them working together. I like new-guy Sweets (the psychiatrist) because he was that little tiny kid from Freaks and Geeks, now hugely tall. I love that Ryan O'Neal is recurring as Brennan's jailbird dad. I'm enjoying how they are spooling out the Brennan and Booth relationship. They're friends and colleagues who respect each other, but there's that physical chemistry bubbling up all around. I appreciate that they're trying to vent some of that energy with the recent mistletoe adventure, but I found it kind of ... contrived. (because a character who suddenly had the power to grant the one thing that Brennan wanted (a family jail-christmas for her jailbird brother) was feeling "puckish" and insisted that they kiss?? Really??) They wanted to have their five steamboat cake and eat it too -- which isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it, because I did. I just felt cheap.

and now I'm off to unearth the christmas lights. Happy Sunday!