islanded in a stream of stars

Many happy (belated) returns to st_crispins!

And now, for something entirely different.

Why is it that all of the really good ideas come when you're taking a shower?

I don't meant that in a pervy way. But I now have some good ideas to incorporate into my paper rewrite. The lovely thing about my consumerism class is that I can put my normally useless knowledge of 60's spy shows to use.

I am being really inconsistent about replying to messages and such; this second round of midterms have turned me into a procrastinating workaholic, if that makes any sense. (I know it probably doesn't. But I've done all of the reading for 3 out of 4 classes for the rest of the semester, which I'd like to think counts for something.) Once I turn in this paper on Thursday, I swear I will get better about the social niceties.

Loud delivery truck or some other large motor vehicle + 200-300 sorority rushees gathered outside my dorm in the middle of the night (?) + a singing guitar-playing duo RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR = A

Construction on the building across the street + room facing the sun with blinds that won't close + roommate who woke up early even though she doesn't have class until 2 PM = B

A + B = so much for trying to get some extra sleep. Well, at least I'm never bored.

And aparently there are people on my floor who have never heard of Nietzsche. As pretentious and snobbish as that sudden remark may appear to be, I only bring this up because I write some kind of vaguely amusing quotation on the whiteboard outside my door on a regular basis. The last one I put up was the quotation on dragonfly66's sweatshirt:

God is dead. -Nietzsche
Nietzsche is dead. -God

I saw that someone scrawled "Who the f*** is Nietzsche?" when I came back from the library last night; however, when I came back to my room this afternoon another person scribbled "Nietzsche is God." I've also been encouraged to vote for Anna as PR rep of who knows what.

I forgot why I'm writing about any of the above in the first place; I suppose I just feel like being random and pretentious as I often am.


I've officially now had all of my classes and generally like them. I ended up dropping the RA counseling one because I missed the first class session to go to the College Honors Society dinner at the Natural History Museum, and I figured that if I missed the first section of a class I'm not even officially registered for it's probably too late to take it on. I love all my core classes, although having to read a lot of Marx's Capital for two different classes may flatten my brain into some unrecognizable shrunken version of what it used to be. My writing seminar sounds really intense (there are one on one tutorials a few days before papers are due, so I actually have to start writing rough drafts more than a week in advance), but the format and the structure is a lot like the upper-level high school English classes. My problem is that I've come to really dislike writing about literature for academic purposes; I'll be happy to write about pretty much anything else but high school killed my love of literature classes. The psychology lectures can be a little dry-apparently the other professor is more interesting, but switching into that class would cause major scheduling conflicts. Or maybe it just seemed more boring last time because I was sitting near the back, and the guy next to me fell asleep for most of the lecture. At least the subject matter is interesting.


And now for something completely different: I just discovered The THRUSH Evil Overlord's Guide. There's a copy of it below the cut.

( Building a Better Tomorrow Through Anarchy )

You know the speculation about Chris Eccleston playing Number 6 of the Prisoner? Well, it's official now. Britain's Sky One tentatively plans to broadcast 6-part the Prisoner remake in early 2007.

cross-posted to cult_tv_lounge and originally taken from the_village

And I have been way too distracted from Euro studying by all of this, argh!

The Electric Penguins (Unofficial Campanologist Society) have been resurrected! In other words, we actually have music for the first time in months! It's mostly suitable female choir pieces, but if I ever become unlazy I might actually bother to write down the arrangements that I made up of random songs. Hopefully it won't get stolen like our last three sets. And maybe we'll have enough players so that we don't each play four chimes, although one's coordination does improve quite a bit in the process.

I attempted to give myself a crash course in music theory (and I mean really basic stuff) with some help from shakeitdown. Reading David Cooper's Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo has proved to be amazingly useful in that I've already seen most of the complicated jargon involving complex dissonant chords and whatnot. That doesn't mean I actually understand all of the pitch and rhythm stuff but I need to write up an independent study proposal first before I get thrown into medieval plainchants.

I feel the onset of a Man from UNCLE obsession coming as Ellie rented the first six episodes from the library this afternoon. I've always wanted to see this series so that I could see non-British cult 60's spy shows and be less of a snobbish anglophile, among other things. So far it seems a lot like an American Avengers with two male leads but it's rather addictive all the same. Unfortunately there aren't any other MfUNCLE episodes at the library, so would anyone happen to know where I could find more on VHS or DVD?

There's something mildly disturbing about being this excited about a history project, the make-your-own-document-based question. You ask a question about a certain time period and have various primary source documents that must be incorporated into the essay to back up your points as well as incorporate outside knowledge about the era. Since we're allowed to branch off and examine aspects of history that normally don't get covered on the AP exam, I'm choosing the portrayal of the Soviet Union and communism in film and TV during the late 50's and 60's. Essentially, it's an excuse to put my love of cult spy series to academic use. It's a pity that I'm mostly familiar with the British ones, but I can sort of get away with how British spy shows were tremendously popular in the US.

So at the moment I'm considering the following:


Fear of Nuclear Holocaust:
Dr. Strangelove-what else can you say? I'm trying to find some good quotations to use to illustrate the political tensions, perhaps when the Russian ambassador is first explaining the Doomsday machine?

Fail Safe-I haven't seen this one yet, but it's supposed to be Dr. Strangelove's more serious counterpart.

-Thunderball: especially since it's based on true events that took place during WWII in Gibraltar?(!) Really usure about this one, although I know quite a bit about it as it's one of Dad's favorite Bond films.

-that one with Burt Lancaster as a mad general? I have no idea what the title is and have never seen it.

Those damned commies! (well, not quite):
-Danger Man: This one is tricky because it can be used in many different contexts.
"Parallel Lines" has some good clashing of Soviet and British ideals.
"Fair Exchange" is more overtly political with the Eastern Europeans torturing the British agent and foiled assassination attempts and more fun at Checkpoint Charlie.
"The Man Who Wouldn't Talk" is a pretty gritty episode with torturing British agents and those mercenary communists.
There are others, but those are the best, I think.

-A Funeral in Berlin: Unfortunately I've only seen the first Harry Palmer movie, widely considered to be the best one anyway. I have some nice quotations that I can use from this one courtesy of the IMDB with their sharp portrayal of the defecting Colonel Stok.

-the Spy Who Came in From the Cold: have yet to see this one and have no idea what it's about. dfordoom, perhaps you can tell me as you've recommended it before?


More (but not entirely) sympathetic views on the Iron Curtain:
-From Russia With Love: Finally, something that I really know about! SPECTRE was used as the villainous organization instead of Russia in order not to stir up too much political tension. Tatiana Romanova comes across as a very sympathetic, naive young cypher clerk dedicated to serving Mother Russia. As for Colonel Klebb as the double agent for the KGB and SPECTRE, well, I happen to consider her to be one of the creepiest Bond villainesses to date.

-Man from U.N.C.L.E. Alas, I know virtually nothing about this show except that the two main characters are American and Russian, and that Ian Fleming helped create the character of Napoleon Solo. Anyone know about this one, perhaps eldritchhobbit?

-One, Two, Three: A satirical look at American capitalist forces in Eastern Europe though still skewering communism, and plenty of good quotations. It's tremendously funny and is one of my favorite Cold War comedies.


Mostly I need to search for posters and/or quotations from said films/TV shows. I've got some good ones for Danger Man, and Funeral in Berlin, but that's it so far.

I'm a little disturbed about how enthusiastic I'm feeling about this already; it's due in one day less than two weeks! This reminds me of my freshman movie project when I got away with doing a kung fu film because I didn't give the badly dubbed version to my then teacher. It's amazing what you can get away with in foreign films :P

Dad accidentally dropped the cutting board on my middle and ring fingers of my right hand. I didn't break any bones or blood vessels or anything, but I do apologize for making more typos in advance as I'm avoiding using those two fingers for the moment.

Ellie recorded the Ipcress File for me even though I didn't realize it was playing on TCM. I am tempted to keel over joyfully. The last time I saw this was on a really old VHS tape from the library on the wobbly TV set from the 80's in my parents' room. I shall hopefully figure out how to make the DVD recorder work and make myself a copy.

I almost forgot how much I love John Barry's score for the film. The Ipcress File soundtrack is the only soundtrack for which I paid $40-and it was worth every penny. Then again, I got the Japanese rerelease so that the sound quality was cleaned up and I didn't get the awful dialogue bits that crop up on Ryko release. This is one of the few monothematic scores (OK, there really isn't such thing as a completely monothematic score, but whatever) that I really enjoy. One of these days I'll actually come up with a good review for it, once I actually pick up some jazz terminology.

I for one actually like the strange camera angles as well. Funnily enough, my dad has the same coffee-maker as Harry Palmer.

I need to get a time machine to go back to the 60's.

59. If there's classical music playing, something sinister is going on. Villains like listening to classical music because they think it sounds classy and/or can play things like Ravel's "Bolero" really loudly to cover up the sound of a gunshot (although that also works for other kinds of music). Marches and waltzes are only played in remote places in the middle of the ocean, i.e. on an oil rig.
60. You will be sealed alive in a coffin at least once, but your colleagues will always find you; you're not Beatrix Kiddo, so you don't have to kick your way out. If you're in a crematorium committed to the flames, you can save yourself if your enemy agents discover that you handed over fake diamonds to them. Then again, agents also have been buried alive for using diamonds as payment so you probably want to stick with cash from now on. If you're supposed to be in a funeral home, your partner will hand you some champagne to while away the time.
61. The tech/gadgets guy will save you in the field when you turn rogue agent to pursue a personal revenge mission or if the rest of your colleagues are in lockdown.
62. If you're female, you'll have to do a really high dive on a mission. If you're unlucky (which is probably the case), you won't have a bathing suit on you. Sorry.
63. British generals can always be trusted, even if their personal lives can be a bit sketchy. Russian ones tend to be wild cards.
64. Female spies drive sports cars. If they're especially classy, they've got convertibles.
65. Agents never die in car accidents. They're either kidnapped and are supposed to be presumed dead to the outside world, or they've staged the accident to throw off suspicion.
66. Most agents are lousy dancers unless they work for the Ministry of Defense, in which case they may have to go undercover as dance instructors. Female agents typically specialize in more exotic styles i.e. Arabic or Cuban.
67. The only agents who know Asian languages work for the CIA or MI6. Only the CIA agents speak them, though.
68. If you looked great in black and white, color probably doesn't suit you as well.
69. If the opposition has "dealt with" someone, that person is guaranteed to be dead. If you "deal with" someone, you're either negotiating some deal involving buying some sort of weapon or decoder/finding employment within their organization as a mole or you've knocked them out over the head. If you're in the CIA, you're more likely to kill off henchmen types.
70. You will find yourself at some sort of ninja warrior school owned by the opposition at least twice. You'll be asked/forced into showing off your karate moves at least once.
71. You'll imitate one of the opposition's voices at least once to lure your prety into a trap, and even if your phony accent isn't so great they'll fall for it anyway.
72. If there's a world map in someone's office who isn't your superior, then that person can be safely assumed to be a member of the opposition.
73. You never carry around your real passport with you. Your department can and will supply you with a plethora of fakes guaranteed to fool passport officials. Police officers in foreign countries are more likely to see through your cover and may threaten to deport you, but you don't need to worry about them interfering too much in your assignment.
74. There's no such thing as an ordinary toilet kit. Toilet kits are perfect for disguising gadgets and explosives and such without arousing suspicion when passing through airports. Electric cordless razors (no agent uses any other kind) should actually be able to be used for shaving, though, because you will actually need to use it for that purpose.
75. Anyone who prefers a certain kind of smoke, i.e. Cuban cigars or Russian or Turkish cigarettes, is very dangerous.
76. You will never be injured when jumping through a glass window. The opposition will.
77. Female Japanese agents will appear in a kimono at least once during a mission. They are also capable of swimming long distances.
78. Come to think of it, all of the Asian women you come across are experts in some form of martial arts.
79. Speedboats are your friends, unless you're being pursued by a helicopter and/or a white weather balloon.
80. If you do go to Japan, you will either visit Tokyo or some remote island populated by fishermen and ama pearl divers.

More things to expect:
24. You haven't become a real agent until someone's tried to drug your drink. Female agents tend to be the drink-druggers. The classic move is to momentarily distract the female agent and swap glasses.
25. A proper English gentleman carries a brolly (umbrella for you cultural barbarians out there :P) which always has some nifty built in feature i.e. a foil for when you really need to get rid of an opponent, a built in tape recorder with playback, a built-in gun, etc.
26. You will come across some sort of deadly gas that can be used to exterminate a lot of people once during your career.
27. You need to be able to speak/understand at least two languages other than English, enough so that you can play baccarat (that's all the French you'll ever need!), order drinks, hail a taxi, check into a hotel, and make reservations. The only things Russians tend to say in their own language are assassination orders or military commands involving killing people. So if a Russan agent starts speaking in his/her native language, you better get the heck out of there.
28. If it involves Singapore, then the opposition is up to its dirty tricks. Nothing good ever seems to come out of Singapore.
29. Many Russian agents speak excellent English, often with perfect British accents. They've probably been to a cultural assimilation school in Hamden Colony 3 or belong to the gentleman's training ground called S.N.O.B.
30. None of your male contacts will ever come from Canada.
31. No matter how good you think your cover is, someone will break into your hotel room and rifle through your belongings. It's always a good idea to check for bugs beforehand.
32. The best covers for an agent are in world travel, import-export, finance, and journalism. Science and diplomacy are also OK but require much more specialized knowledge.
33. Scientists will never live to the end of your mission. They are all quite brilliant and come up with discoveries and inventions that have a lot of deadly consequences because nobody pays them enough to produce less harmeful things. If they are employed by the opposition, they're either mercenary and will be killed as soon as they're paid, or they've been tricked into thinking that they can benefit mankind.
34. You will disguise yourself as a hotel waiter or maid at least once during a mission to escape from a room or illicitly enter a member of the opposition's room.
35. There's no such thing as an ugly hotel receptionist.
36. If you're male, you'll wear a military or naval uniform at least twice during your career.
37. Come to think of it, you'll also wear a tuxedo (black much more often than white) fairly often.
38. I hope that you're a good dancer; otherwise you'll be stepping on a lot of important toes.
39. Shoes are tremendously useful tools. You can store a tracking device or microfilm in a false heel, and you can easily conceal a knife in the tip of your shoe or in your sock.
40. At least one of the villains you will come across will be wheelchair bound. These types tend to have some very efficient hired assassins to carry out their dirty work, so watch out.
41. You should be suspicious of anyone who is the guardian of a daschund or a white Persian cat with a diamond collar. If (s)he owns multiple cats or is in charge of a cat rescue and recuperation center, make sure that any cats given to you by this person have their organization collars removed. Oh, and the daschunds only attack pretty young female French helicopter pilots.
42. I hope that you like defusing complicated bombs because you'll come across them fairly frequently.
43. Safes are very easy to break. Your department will usually supply you with some portable safe-cracking tools before you go out on assignment. You can easily swipe security cards and get fingerprint molds once you're close by to the safe.
44. You may be a secret agent but you often have to deal with blackmail cases as well. These usually end up being more interesting than they appear, so don't be disappointed.
45. Assassins-for-hire groups tend to be quite popular. At least once you'll end up busting one of these murder rings by hiring yourself out as a target.
46. If you see a convertible, it is almost always owned by a woman. If it's red, then it's definitely owned by a woman.
47. Killing people really isn't that necessary. Knocking them unconscious is so much more humane; all you have to do is punch them across the jaw or whack them over the head.
48. In a tight spot if you need to get special access, just knock out of the many little henchmen types running around the villain's lair and steal their clothes. This is a time-tested strategy that is guaranteed to work until you finally get into the place that you were trying to access in the first place.
49. You'll be placed in front of a firing squad once during your career. Just at the last moment even your sketchier and less-reliable allies will come in to save the day. Aren't you just lucky.
50. Girlfights tend to be really intense. Don't underestimate them.
51. No agent ever dies; they merely find new ways to go into hiding.
52. If someone asks you to carry a book for him, there's guaranteed to be a microdot hidden somewhere inside.
53. All agents must be trained in the medical sciences to give CPR, inject the right drugs, remove bullets from bodies, and stop bleeding from bullet wounds.
54. All agents will be tied up to something at least once during a mission. The opposition can be a little kinky sometimes.
55. Abandoned houses are to be viewed with the utmost suspicion.
56. In a pinch, air ducts and haystacks make good hiding places. However, if there's a massacre going on, kitchen cabinets are optimal.
57. You will be pursuited at least twice by the opposition on motorbikes shooting at your car or at you directly.
58. Anyone who doesn't work in your department who invites you over to dinner at his/her place is out to kill you. Drinks, alcoholic or tea and/or coffee, are often much safer. If a woman offers to bake you some sort of dessert, you can definitely trust her.

Now this is weird.

Does my current icon look like to anyone? The writing certainly corresponds to the first frame of my default animated icon, but I've never used that background photo for any of my icons before. Perhaps my computer is posessed?

I have officially gotten into my twentieth "Is number six John Drake?" debate, and I'm trying to come up with some counter-arguments to "John Drake is obviously the same as number six." I first saw the Prisoner and then Danger Man, but the more I watch Danger Man, the less of a Drake vibe I feel from Number 6. But I need to come up with a more polished response than that. This is probably the most polished pro-Number 6 as Drake argument I've come across so far, and I'm trying to come up with a good response to it:

( Read more... )

I simply can't resist making more snarky observations/comments. Terrible habit of mine when watching because it seems that all spy shows tend to borrow off of one another on a regular basis.

On the Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove:
Doesn't this sound a bit like it could have come out of the Avengers between Steed when he's pumping another woman for information?
"You must get so bored with women throwing themselves at your head."
"It's a professional hazard."
"Don't tell me-you're a ladies' hair dresser."
"I'm a travel agent."

-the P has his eyes closed after he fires the gun at the end, upon closer examination. And Mrs. Farebrother has her eyes closed in preparation for the gun to go off. Hee!

-Is it possible not to take an excessive number of screencaps?

-The beginning totally reminded me of the Avengers episode, "The Hour That Never Was" with the whole stopped-time and clock always reading 12 o'clock

On Have a Glass of Wine:
-What is it with the P and jumping through windows? He's done it at least thrice; doesn't it get a bit painful after awhile?

-Wine cellar scene reminiscent of the Avengers episode, "Dial a Deadly Number" and its climatic wine-tasting

-Warren Mitchell: dude, isn't he Ambassador Brodzny on the Avengers? He appears in "Two's A Crowd" and "The See-Through Man" if I remember correctly. And I swear he's wearing Drake's German-Irish encyclopedia salesman hat in one scene. And he tends to represent "the other side" quite a bit.

-Can anyone REALLY believe that Drake's the kind of guy to having "things happen" at a party with a girl? And that his wife's name is Brenda, and she's got a lot of money? Well, his reverse storytelling does work, but still...

-Hee! Drake wearing a Napoleon hat!

-The wine merchant cover is also used by Steed in the Avengers eppy, "A Surfeit of H2O"

-Why do the French agent and the French thugs speak with British accents?