Dramatically Speaking.......... of Mad Men, MLK, 1968. & Another Anniversary, A Niner!

Mad Men is the only TV drama we currently follow "live" (as against on DVD). We caught up on the first four seasons via DVD, then went "live" last year, with attendant frustration caused by plentiful commercial breaks. Mad Men, though we're mildly hooked on it, really is no more than a polished time-warp of a soap opera. It does try, and sometimes succeeds, in being a bit of an arty-farty soap opera, using barely hidden metaphor and crafty insider references, which simple-minded dum-dums like me have to discover later from reviews.

Action of classic soap operas, at least those with which I was familiar in the UK (Coronation Street, everyday story of working class folk in the north of England; Eastenders, everyday story of working class folk in London's East End; Emmerdale Farm an everyday story of country folk in Yorkshire for example) took place in the present day. Real world disasters and dramatic events had to be factored in in retrospect, if at all. Mad Men, an everyday story of advertising folk in New York is set in the 1960s. In Season 6, now showing, the year is 1968.....yes THAT dark and dreadful year for the USA! Matthew Wiener and his writers have the luxury of hindsight - long distance hindsight at that. They now are aware of how those dramas and tragedies of 1968 fit in to the pattern of action in ensuing years and decades. That fact is a good thing in some ways because, after all we're watching fiction, not fact; in other ways though, treatment of such events as the murder of Martin Luther King is necessarily going to be affected by "what we know now". It's something akin to revisionist history, I guess. Revisionist historians know how the story ended, those playing their parts during events in question didn't. Key factor!

Sunday's episode of Mad Men had MLK's murder as its set piece. I cannot say how true to life or how skewed the depiction of reactions of the Mad Men gang were. I was living in the UK at the time, in a small apartment, no TV, only a portable radio whose batteries blacked out regularly, and I seldom bought newspapers. My only source of news from the USA was from chat at the office with my boss or visitors from other departments. I have no memory at all of the reporting of MLK's murder, whereas I do still recall where I was when JFK was shot around five years earlier. I asked my husband if he could recall where he was when MLK was shot - he couldn't, but like me he had clear memories of where he was when JFK died.

Now, and for many years, Dr King's death has become such a key event in our consciousness, everyone, not only African Americans have seen and appreciated the full weight and worth of his teachings and speeches. So, if Mad Men did portray its characters' reactions differently from how they would truly have been, or if the writers felt uncertain, then it's easily understandable. In this episode there was hushed shock at a radio announcement during an advertising executives' gala dinner. There were people wondering next day whether offices should be closed as a mark of respect. The couple of fairly newly added African American cast members were shown, accurately I'm sure, in states of numb shock and despair. One secretary responded warmly to her female boss's hug, while another seemed coldly unable to respond to a similar show of condolence. In another scene lead character, Don Draper, took his son to the cinema to see Planet of the Apes as a distraction from the sadness of events that day. The now almost iconic final scene of that movie (y'all know it) added even more pathos for we viewers in 2013 than it would have in 1968: All the time it was... we finally really did it. [screaming] YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW IT UP! OH, DAMN YOU! GODDAMN YOU ALL TO HELL! (camera pans to reveal the half-destroyed Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand).

What I craved immediately the episode drew to a close was to see Across the Universe again. I remembered the very same day in 1968 being a part of that movie too, but in a different context, and using songs written by those (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison) with personal knowledge of the dramatic 1960s years. So, as husband never refuses a chance to hear Beatles music, we watched our DVD once more. This is one scene from the film and aftermath of that fateful day in 1968:




Actors: Martin Luther (singing) and Jim Sturgess




POSTSCRIPT

Today, 30 April = 9th anniversary of the day Himself and I married in 2004, back in the UK. The civil ceremony was held in a room at the Town Hall of the coastal town where I then lived, and was streamed over the internet. My husband's family members, in the USA, were able to watch the proceedings over breakfast at 8am, in the UK it was 2pm. Just him, me, car driver and photographer who acted as our witnesses, that was the cast. No grand wedding, none of the usual fal-de-ral (never did go for any of that, even in my youth). The music I chose made up for other lack of grandeur:

Thanks for 9 lovely years....and counting, Anyjazz!

SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT

The movie "Across the Universe" - a story written around, and drawing in, many of the Beatles' songs spawned a similar movie, which actually originated on stage, and centers around the songs of Abba: "Mamma Mia". I recently read that there's another, initially stage-bound show in the same genre coming soon:

"American musical theater's latest collaborators – Twyla Tharp and Frank Sinatra.......Atlanta's Alliance Theatre says it will present "Come Fly With Me" – a new musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Tharp. The show, which concerns four couples who fall in and out of love, uses more than a dozen classic Sinatra vocals backed by an on-stage 17-piece band." (Here.)

How long, I wonder, before that one hits the silver screen? I'll be waiting! I wonder, too, if this type of movie/show is something we'll be seeing more of. I can imagine stories being written around the songs of Simon & Garfunkel, Beach Boys, Neil Diamond.....and several others.



The BBC published a list of 100 of the the nations best-loved novels. I'm not an avid novel reader these days, but was surprised to note that I'd read about one fifth of them.

I wonder how a list of the USA's favourite novels would match up? I suspect quite a few would appear in both lists, "Little Women" and "The Grapes of Wrath" for instance.


Brian May's website and blog often has interesting input - click on "Brian's Soapbox" for the blog proper. He had something to say about the asteroid impact on Jupiter recently. (PS: Don't forget that he's an astrophysicist as well as an ace guitarist.)
Brian's opinion of astrology might leave a lot to be desired, but his views on guns are spot on ! See his entry of 20 August about the song "Put Out the Fire".



Lastly, a website where handmade items of all kinds can be bought and sold:ETSY.
More about it at Wikipedia, here.

UNIVERSAL

"The cosmos is a vast living body, of which we are still parts. The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins. The moon is a great nerve center from which we quiver forever. Who knows the power that Saturn has over us, or Venus? But it is a vital power, rippling exquisitely through us all the time."
~D.H. Lawrence

I am part of the sea and stars
And the winds of the South and North
Of mountains and Moon and Mars,
And the ages sent me forth.
Edward H. S. Terry

The spirit of the universe is at once creative and destructive.. it creates while it destroys and destroys while it creates, and therefore it remains to us a riddle. And we must inevitably resign ourselves to this.Albert Schweitzer

A live performance of John Lennon's "Across the Universe" with a starry lineup of performers, at the Grammy awards in (I think) 2006. I love the way they adjust the lyrics near the end, and sing "Something's gonna change my world".....and it did - on November 4th 2008 their prediction came true!!

-SLash
-Bono
-Stevie Wonder
-Norah Jones
-Brian Wilson
-Alicia Keys
-Scott Weiland
-Billie Joe
-Tim McGraw
-Steven Tyler
-Allison Kraus(violin)
-Dave Kushner(guitAR)
-Matt Sorum(drum)
Duff McKagen(bass)

"Across the Universe" - the astrology

Yesterday we visited a cinema in a neighbouring city to see "Across the Universe". I've wanted to see this movie ever since a trailer at our local cinema whetted my appetite months ago (mentioned HERE).

I'd like to think that the release of the film at this point in history might herald a resurgence of that spirit which coloured the 1960s. My wishful thinking that the Beatles' wonderful music may, in the manner of a snake charmer, raise awareness and a spirit of rebellion and determination to right wrongs once again stayed withme long after the movie ended. Maybe it is wishful thinking. Maybe not.

The film, "Across the Universe", is an unusual kind of film. A musical, a love story, a chronicle - but much more than that. I found it affecting and memorable. The story will appeal to British and American audiences alike. The screenplay was written by Dick Clement and Ian LaFrenais, brilliant authors of numerous British TV comedy series, both of whom are old enough to remember those legendary days of hippydom.

First, a look at the astrology of those hippy years of the 1960s, with Skip Stone from his "Hippies A to Z"

"Beginning in October, 1965 we witnessed a rare, powerful conjunction of Uranus and Pluto (it happens about once every 200 years or so). Uranus represents the urge to be free. It brings sudden changes usually by destroying the old to make room for the new. It replaces outdated attitudes with new, more constructive ones.

Pluto forces us to transform and regenerate. It takes that which is sick, no longer of value and either destroys it or transmutes it via healing and cleansing into something useful and positive. When the two planets are conjunct (aligned together) their energy intensifies and focuses. Since the aspect occurred in the sign of Virgo, this means the focus was analytical, and critical with an emphasis on communication and service to others. The whole astrological scenario was extremely conducive to revolutionary ideas and activities, if not outright revolution.

Indeed revolution was on the agenda, and might've happened, if not for another very profound astrological event that occurred in September 1966. This was a sextile (60*) of Uranus (again) and Neptune. This is another positive aspect that represented an unusual combination of powerful energies at work during the period. Again we have the need for freedom combined with sudden destruction of the old ways (Uranus), but this time creating new opportunities (sextile) for spiritual growth, artistic creativity, and idealism (Neptune).

Neptune is symbolic of the higher form of love. With Neptune in Scorpio, the sign of powerful emotions, enormous latent energy, and strong sense of purpose, it's no wonder there was an explosion of creativity and new ideas in the Arts and Music, as well as spiritual, sexual and chemical experimentation.

These astrological events, because they involve the outer planets, occur over a long period of time, affect a large number of people, influence social structures and can bring about great changes that take many years to manifest. They also affect generations in different ways since our natal (birth) astrology differs (particularly the outer planets). Whereas one generation may be open to the changes, another might be highly reactionary, as was the case in the 1960s. Even though young people in the '60s had virtually no power (the voting age was still 21), our in-your-face, extremely vocal radicalism and the violent conservative backlash only served to underline the hypocrisies, outdated attitudes and serious failings of the system."

Now - back to the present and near future -

In the mid-1960s Uranus and Pluto were both in Virgo. Next year Pluto will be back in an Earth sign, Capricorn, and Saturn will still be in an Earth sign, Virgo - 2 slow movers in Earth, not the same two, as in the 60s though, but still an Earthy emphasis. Uranus and Neptune in mutual reception in Aquarius and Pisces will form a semi-sextile aspect, July to September 2008, just before the US presidential election. Is there a very faint echo of the 1960s contained in this aspect? The semi-sextile is bound to be be less harmonious than the sextile they experienced then, it might well be be more of a summer of challenge than a summer of love.

Astrologer Maritha Pottenger here has this to say about semi-sextile aspects (30 degrees between)

"This aspect is also often ignored. It is “minor,” but significant if close (within one degree). Astrologers differ on meaning. Some will call it a harmony aspect; others a conflict aspect. It can operate both ways. As in any aspect, the most important element is the planets involved: are they naturally harmonious (sextile, trine one another) or naturally ambivalent, in conflict (square, quincunx, opposite one another in terms of the signs they rule)?.......I read the semi-sextile as a potential strength (mild) in terms of us being able to integrate the two planets, houses and signs involved, thinking especially in terms of carrying further with the later ones what was begun or established with the earlier houses and signs.......................From air to water,(as in Aquarius to Pisces)we move from intellectual insight to depth understanding. We perceive not just consciously but also unconsciously. We function intuitively as well as rationally."

I don't for a moment think we shall ever again see anything comparable to the hippy movement, but we might see a pale reflection of it. A movement with updated focus and followers who strain to see deeper than surface considerations. Use of new technology to assist in understanding things as yet unaccepted by the mainstream, which might help and heal us, and the ills we have inflicted upon our planet home by greed and wars.

PS:I highly recommend "Across the Universe" the movie!





"Sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing
Through my opened ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying Love which shines around me like a
million suns, It calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru deva, om."

Across the Universe

We went to the cinema last night, saw "Perfect Stranger", it was not bad, not wonderful either. What gave me goosebumps and has remained in my mind, was a trailer shown before the main feature.

A movie called "Across the Universe", due to be released at the end of September is being advertised already. It was this trailer which touched a nerve for me. The movie is set in the 1960s with Beatles music threaded all the way through it.

During the 1960s I wasn't a hippie or a Beatles fan. My own life was in some turmoil, living through and getting rid of a bad marriage, so I had other things on my mind.

Since I met HeWhoKnows and came to live in the USA I've become a "Born Again Beatles Fan". Surprisingly, for such an avid jazz fan, HeWhoKnows practically idolises the Beatles, as do most of his family. I've been indoctrinated, I guess, because as soon as the trailer began last night with deafening strains of "Hey Jude", and a lad with a Liverpool accent, I got goosebumps, even more so as the trailer progressed into the Vietnam war era.

I remembered that in the late Maya del Mar's piece "The Road to 2012", which I linked to the other day, she had said that the years around 2011 will be
a "breakthrough time of the revolution begun with the Uranus-Pluto conjunction in the 60’s. During this period, the seeds planted in the 60’s can break through to expression. Those people born during the 60’s will have special parts to play."

I wonder if this movie will be an overture to the coming years, a "ghost of revolutions past" pointing the way to revolutions to come. I wonder if the producers and director were 1960s babies with the echo of those years imprinted in their very being.

"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my open mind
Posessing and caressing me ... jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world" (Lennon-McCartney, "Across the Universe")