i guess i like old things better than new things

[elapses]

SO CYD CHARISSE DIED YESTERDAY?

Her trademark was always the classy sexy vampy saxophony dances (like the Cafe scene from this same film, and her breakout role in Singing in the Rain) but but but. She was always a ballet dancer. And I've always loved this one (from The Band Wagon, with Fred Astaire) best. It's the very pinnacle of old school falling-in-love-while-dancing movie scenes, and she's all grace and legs and style, and it's just the prettiest thing. I'M SO SAD SHE'S GONE, these people -- these old school dancing, singing, onscreen miracles of people -- made up a good 95% of my film exposure from the ages of 2-8, and now with Cyd, there's only really Debbie Reynolds and Mickey Rooney left. What a generation they all were. AND THEY'RE ALL MOSTLY DEAD.

I don't know. When famous people die the lj tributes always pop up and it's sad but I still don't really bother, but these MGM musical kids -- they're my people.

IN OTHER NEWS, I've been rewatching Alias (apparently when I sit myself down and say, "okaaaaaaay, ALEX. I know it feels like you don't have a lot of TV because none of it's on in the summer, but YOU DO. HAVE A LOT. And you don't need to watch more things to keep up with come fall!", I end up compulsively rewatching old things I loved once but haven't seen in awhile? This is an addiction/withdrawal thing, ISN'T IT? Should I be more worried about myself and my television watching habits?). Anyway, daaaaaaang, but I always seem to forget how much I love the Spyrents. They're the perfect foil to Syd and Vaughn, who are all young and shy and pretty and sweet and charming and OTPish (what later seasons?); and then Jack and Irina -- I mean, she actually broke him. There aren't really any words for that.

I do think Jack/Irina win, HANDS DOWN, over EVERYONE EVER*, for SHEER CHEMISTRY, because the tension between them is so thick and exquisite it actually kind of gets hard to pay attention to their dialogue.

*Exceptexceptexcept I haven't watched one of those kinds of MulderandScully scenes in like, three or four months so maybe I am not the most fair judge. The grand power of MULDER AND SCULLY might beat the Spyrents, but it also might not. I also think the Spyrents might beat them simply because Mulder and Scully kind of have to tone down their sexual tension to a mere hum so they can sort of concentrate on their paranormal crud whereas with Jack and Irina it is always. right. there. Buuuuuuuut M&S might beat them for MOST INTENSE MOMENT. I don't even know my own criteria! Oh god, I'm way way way overthinking this.

Todayyyy is kind of still jenaben's birthday!!! (Here it still is! And in California! And Vancouver! And Alaska! And... some pacific islands! SO YOU KNOW.) I have a super cheesy saying from a list of birthday quotes my aunt forwarded to me awhile ago: "Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." ...so do you feel properly birthdayishly inspired yet???? BUT SERIOUSLY: your boundless articulate enthusiasm is one of the things that makes you the very best sort of LJ friend to haaaaave, and I'm super grateful to have you around. You're still too young for silly colloquialisms and any kind of wrinkles, though, I don't know why I try.

Comments

[modernthirst.livejournal.com]

When I was watching Alias while it was on Jack and Irina were just so old. Like, you know, old people one tv, they're all wise and weathered and I'm happy to have them around, but AGE! It means you can't take your shirt off and flaunt your six pack! Thus they were relegated to the backburner in my mind. I think though if I were to rewatch I would be more interested in them.

So BSG is getting even better for me and I am to the point where I am recommending it highly to you.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

It was the same for me, and I do think I like them more because I'm not... in my early early teens anymore. It's easier to appreciate the complexit of that story, and it was so much harder to care about people who weren't fresh and pretty then! (My perspective on the couple of Sex and the City episodes I watched a bit ago was definitely different from the first time I watched them as well? It's funny how they way you think about things changes in ways you don't even notice! It'd be interesting to rewatch these things again in five more years.)

Ohhhhhh, REALLY TRULY? I still have (completely irrational) qualms with it, butttttttt. EVERYONE LOVES IT. Maybe later this summer.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

OLD HOLLYWOOD IS JUST SO LOVELY. So sad to hear she passed away, but there's something so timeless and immortal about cinema from that era. So interesting how things from back then never really feel outdated to me (like things for the sixties or seventies may?) but rather just take on this sparkly classic air of grandeur. So lovely!

Yeah, gotta agree with Anna on the Jack/Irina front in that I wasn't super-crazy about them back in the day, but I was extremely intrigued by their dynamic and history and all that ridiculous tension. Plus they're both so brilliant independently and they kinda really make my mind teeter when together.

The grand power of MULDER AND SCULLY might beat the Spyrents, but it also might not. I also think the Spyrents might beat them simply because Mulder and Scully kind of have to tone down their sexual tension to a mere hum so they can sort of concentrate on their paranormal crud whereas with Jack and Irina it is always. right. there. Buuuuuuuut M&S might beat them for MOST INTENSE MOMENT.
HAAAAAAA. This is awesome. What's their most intense moment, in your eyes? I don't know what I think about this, all I can process is OH MY GOD I'VE STARTED SEASON FOUR FOUR FOUR FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH CHEMISTRY AND TENSION AND INTENSITY AWAITS ME!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

RIGHT????? It's always funny to me how vintage clothes from that era look so dumpy when you have them in front of you, too, because people in the movies always look SO WELL-DRESSED. And yet if you took the clothes out of the film it wouldn't work anymore? There's something magic about the film of the 30s, 40s and (early) 50s.

Oh I wasn't either -- they were like a mildly interesting distraction from the ALL-IMPORTANT SYDNEY AND VAUGHN but I do think a looooot of it has to do with my maturity level? I mean, not that I'm mature now! I just really really wasn't the first time I watched this show.

OH GOD, off the top of my head? A (NOT AT ALL ALL-INCLUSIVE) LIST: the waggly eyebrows moment in Drive, the look he gives her at the verrrrry end of all things, the wink from across the room in that one season 1 episode at her friend's cello concert, oko-BO-gee, the bench in Home, the end of Elegy, and OBVIOUSLY the Walking in Memphis sequence.

(But it's so hard to pick with them! Because so much of the time they're just being normal wordy bantery them and then a split second later Scully will lean in a little and Mulder will lean in FAR TOO MUCH and then they're having some kind of sexual blinking contest and you're left wondering WHAT JUST HAPPENED??? It's so RANDOM. And frequent!)

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally agree. One of my older sisters was big on 30s and 40s cinema when I was younger, so it'll always hold a special place in my heart. I think my faaavorite movie from that era has to be The Philadelphia Story. UGH ITS JUST SO SO GOOD. But yeah, it's pretty hard for me to dislike any thing from the 30s-50s.

But it's so hard to pick with them! Because so much of the time they're just being normal wordy bantery them and then a split second later Scully will lean in a little and Mulder will lean in FAR TOO MUCH and then they're having some kind of sexual blinking contest and you're left wondering WHAT JUST HAPPENED??? It's so RANDOM. And frequent!
This is so so great. AND TRUE! And I love your mini list of moments-- this show never ceases to amaze me with how awesome it was.

HAAAH, I so had SV blinders on like crazy back in the day. And I remember seeing/hearing Jack/Irina folks getting so into them and thinking, "UM...do you not see Syd and Vaughn?!" Good times.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH, Philadelphia Story!! That's one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME. It's such a compelling story, and you cannot go wrong with that combination of talent.

And THEM. Almost everything about them kind of casually passes by all the other ships ever. Seriouslyyyy, Mulder and Scully are the only show that can believably stretch their UST across THAT MANY seasons. With most shows it just gets tiiiiired after two or three seasons of it.

Back in the day, I was the sort of person who mentally collected ships like trophies (like those people who list like, seven THOUSAND ships on their profile and you have to stop and go "...wait, really?"), and Jack/Irina was one of the things I always... said I shipped, but didn't... actually care that much about, especially in comparison to Syd and Vaughn? I WAS A WEIRD KID. But whatever, I find them lovely now.

[thatlldopig.livejournal.com]

I don't even know my own criteria!

hahaha...you're cute.

Jack and Irina were uber-awesome.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

THEY WERE. If only they'd been able to stay in their tense but delightful season 2 bubble! But JJ never wanted me to be happy.

[newfangled-sock.livejournal.com]

Spyrents vs M&S?... I think my brain just exploded.

But after picking up the brain bits and stuffing them back in my ear, I think I gotta go with M&S just because there's something so classic and epic about them. Idk, I just can't get over them, no matter how many times I watch The Unnatural or How The Ghosts Stole Christmas.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

SEE, if you compare ALL THE PIECES Mulder and Scully win hands down, but simply on a basis of raw sexual tension -- I don't know. I DON'T KNOW. I think a scientific study needs to be done on this subject. Clearly that would be a great use of my free time.

[luminoso.livejournal.com]

I can't believe she died :( I miss those old Hollywood movies, they're so incredible. The films from the 50s were just so beautiful. Have you ever seen the video of Gene Kelly tap dancing on roller skates from It's Always Fair Weather it's one of my favorites.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Riiiiiiiight? I WISH MOVIES LIKE THAT STILL... EXISTED? Those vast, vast soundstage dance numbers with a million dancers and twelve cameras rotating around the room and big big bands... it was epic in a way films will never really be again? And yeah, I've TOTALLY seen that scene -- although actually not that movie -- and it is phenomenal. Gene, Gene, Gene. That boy always delivered.

[coast.livejournal.com]

Oh no, that's so very sad. Cyd Charisse was amazing. That made me think of another one of my old favourites, Kay Thompson. Her sequence with Fred Astaire in 'Funny Face' is one of my favourite things ever ever ever in history.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

OH, I LOVE THAT ONE. I loved alllll of them? There's nobody LIKE THAT in Hollywood today, and the last few of them are slowly dying off. I was DEVASTATED when Ann Miller died a couple of years ago. Ugh, world.

[famousdeaths.livejournal.com]

We need an Alias eyeinfbi ;)

I have one (ONE! *rejoices*) day of school left and then I'm grabbing my Alias DVD and having a marathon. Spyrents = ♥. I fully admit that I wasn't that interested in Syd/Vaughn, but Jack/Irina? Whoa. Their scenes are just so freaking intense. Watching for the first time not knowing if they'd kill each other, do it or both was so fun.

One of the biggest reasons for my JJ hate is how I never got my Spyrents happy ending. As happy as those screwed up kids could be.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh man, that would be so much fun, wouldn't it? Running just one of them is exhaaausting, though.

UM UM UM YAY!! I'm so glad I'll have someone else who has will have all the early stuff fresh in their minds to talk about this with??? I just watched Passage I & II and I JUST. THIS SHOW!! What haaaappened?

And seriously, WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT? After all those years, the deserved so much more. JJ >:(

[coffeedrops.livejournal.com]

There is no way someone can be better than Mulder and Scully! Haha. I mean, they are the mother and father and uncle and grandparents of every other ship! :O And then, you know, the sexual tension between them since SECOND ONE can't be denied nor exceeded by any other ship evah. Or don't you see, just only after a few hours of knowing him Scully goes and subtly tells him she wants to have his babies? ;)

[elapses.livejournal.com]

Not better, I wasn't really comparing the ships themselves (Mulder and Scully have this thing where they tend to beat everyone when you do that) so much as the actual amount of chemistry you can feel every time the two pairs are onscreen. Mulder and Scully have SO MUCH, but Jack and Irina might plausibly win out over that. BUT I'M NOT SURE!