the once and future tropie

So you have heard me telling you that you should watch The Hour and thought one of a series of things:

- but what the hell is that, anyway?
- isn't that just a Mad Men knock-off?
- dude, I tried, but it's like The fucking Wire in there with the characters already.

In order: an excellent show that just concluded its first season examining journalistic ethics and ideals of democracy and espionage in 1950s England, featuring an superb cast; I THINK I JUST ANSWERED YOU, and also, just because it's a period piece doesn't make it Mad Men ffs; OH HERE I MADE YOU A PRESENT:

( A Brief History of Characters from The Hour, ft. minor spoilers for the pilot. )

It's only six episodes and they're all excellently plotted, so if you don't have anything else going on this weekend (vacation, a hurricane) it's a good way to spend an afternoon. Go forth and enjoy!

Here is an update! It is in list form, because lo, I am lazy:

* allchildren and I have been watching The Hour the past couple weeks, and ohhhhhh my fuck, that show! It's been described (and I am guilty of this as well) as "British Mad Men, which isn't really accurate except that they both are period pieces dealing with entrenched social mores and an industry undergoing a revolution, but...that's kind of it. The Hour is also part spy thriller, kind of, where Mad Men wants to focus more on emotional turmoil. Four episodes in, The Hour is super super great, and filled with all of the ridiculously intense faces you could ask for, and ughhhhhh, every week after we watch it I am filled with feelings to the rafters and don't go to sleep for many hours past when I should. This essay on tumblr is a better primer than I could manage, though in the interest of full disclosure, "Guppy" is Burn Gorman, who everyone probably knows from Torchwood but I first saw in Bleak House in which that was his character name. And, uh, there are likely more fitting nicknames out there, but I'm hard pressed to think of them right now. Last night's episode was particularly intense and I'm pretty sure I have still not recovered.

* I am 1.5 weeks away from being finished with this internship (though it's likely going to continue at a very small scale into the fall for a bit), and the start of my with-any-luck LAST SEMESTER of grad school! I've begun the harrowing process of job searching, which has of caused caused my old friend anxiety to stop by with such exciting conversational topics as, BUT WHAT IF YOU HAVE TO LEAVE PITTSBURGH? WHAT IF NO ONE WILL HIRE YOU? THAT WAS A LOT OF MONEY FOR A DEGREE FOR NO ONE TO HIRE YOU!! Shut up, anxiety, no one wants you here.

* We are like 90% of the way to having set a date and booked venues (plural) for the wedding. The closer we get, the more weirded out people seem to be that we aren't going to have rings, and the more people feel the need to sell us on why they have them. I know! It's okay! I get it! Just not to the extent that I want them myself! It's also far enough along that I've started calling friends to tell them, but I never know if I should leave it in a message or whatever. Probably you don't say that in a voicemail, right? Urgh. Call me back, friends! I don't want to send out a mass email!

* I think that's all. Is it? I went to the new Target around here to get a lamp for my desk at long last, and oh my god it was the fanciest Target ever! They very cleverly made it two levels, with the ground level being the parking lot and the top being the actual store, but you enter at the ground level to a staircase, escalator, an elevator, AND SHOPPING CART ESCALATORS, whaaaaaat. It was ridiculous.

* Oh! I remembered the other thing. I am 6% finished with my 101 in 1001, yes!