Let's Get Our Nerd On

I consume culture and cocktails and have some thoughts of no consequence.

[newmethos]

FX's "The Bridge" and the Twin Peaks Disaster

I wish I could just assume that when I say "the Twin Peaks Disaster" or "Twin Peaks Syndrome" or something similarly diseased and/or catastrophic sounding, you would know what I meant. If you don't, you should be spending your time watching Twin Peaks instead of reading this silly tumblr. Ok, Ok, it's when a show is great and intriguing and awesome because of a central mystery, which subsequently loses all of its narrative force once that mystery is solved. That thing. There's probably a German word for it.

The Bridge landed on me at just the right moment in my life. I had just finished Roberto Bolaño's unfinished epic, 2666, which is about, in a sidelong kind of way, the missing girls of Juarez. It's semi-mystical, opaque, poetic, scary, and brilliant. Then The Bridge comes along and promises to be a long, drawn out, in-depth, procedural investigation of the lost girls of Juarez. I was hooked, the show was great. Diane Kruger was fantastic (even if her American accent is still pretty bad. This former Germanist can spot a German accent like an eagle spotting a baby turtle). Demián Bichir was a revelation. It was spooky, moody, brutal and filled with fantastic characters. And then they ruined it. Turns out, The Bridge didn't have any mystery in it at all, just a crime that needed to be solved and that is the crucial difference between 2666 and The Bridge. For Bolaño, the missing girls of Juarez is an existential question with an unknowable answer. The people who devote themselves to the question are driven to dark insanity. It is a mood that grips the city. It is mysterious because it is everywhere and nowhere. No court will ever convict anyone of it, no hero cop will kill the supreme villain responsible. There simple is a malevolent force parked over Juarez and the missing girls are its meat. And The Bridge had that former cop partner out for revenge. Yawn. But there is a season 2. There is time to fix it. And I need to binge watch the crap out of it. But once you lose the magic, it's hard for me to go back, even if I think it has earned the chance. We'll see. There's always something on TV, though. 

[newmethos]

How I Stopped Worrying about Whether to Love the Big Bang

I went to a nerd school. "Where the odds are good, but the goods are odd." We debated the nerd spectrum endlessly. Who has more social skills the nerd, the dweeb, or the dork (a dork has better social skills, obviously)? So I should love Big Bang Theory, right? Well . . . I really, really don't.

I can't completely hate on the show, to be completely fair. The writers are talented and devoted to their science. I can't tell you about details, but their science jokes are always in the ballpark, well-researched and current. They hand some of the best one liners in the show to the nerds, while they practice being smart.  But I can't help but think that the producers, or at least the executives who keep the show on its multi-million dollar path, don't really want the nerds to win. There are still just a few too many jokes ABOUT the nerds and their social skills (to wit, their lack thereof). The writers keep the show from sinking beneath the weight of nerd stereotypes, but those stereotypes are definitely there. 

Sheldon is symptomatic of my issues, really. He is an Ur-Nerd, but he is also, essentially, a sociopath. His behavior often makes him an antagonist, or at least the main impediment to the character's desires. And his nerd-dom is pathological, rather than intentional. He cannot embrace an identity, he is simply a bundle of (stereotypical) neuroses. 

To outright steal a phrase from latter-day feminism, The Big Bang Theory isn't anti-nerd, but it's not entirely nerd positive either. It doesn't free itself from the patriarchy. Ok, that one got away from me. The bottom line is, as a nerd, albeit a high functioning one, I can't escape the uneasy sense while watching The Big Bang Theory that somebody involved in the show is laughing at me for thinking these nerds weren't such bad guys after all.

[newmethos]

Lost Children of Writing

Some this Nietzsche quote on Twitter and it reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of writing from a play I wrote that will never be produced (because it's terrible). Drew: It's like the man said: You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star. Charlie: Jesus, those are the ravings of a syphilitic. (Beat) Drew: Doesn't mean he's wrong.

[newmethos]

The Hurricane

The Hurricane and I were destined to have a poor relationship. It all started with the passion fruit syrup, the spiritual core of the Hurricane. No one sells it. Finding it locally has been basically impossible, finding passion fruit at all has also been next to impossible, so I couldn't even DIY it. In an act of desperation, I ordered a Fee Brothers passion fruit syrup on Amazon. It arrived, having split open and tarted up the other things that I had ordered and it turned out to be violently red and vilely flavored imitation syrup. So I buckled down, got the Torani version and went to work.

The Hurricane, like the Planter's Punch, has a thousand variations many of which don't even begin to resemble one another (this Serious Eats post is a good primer, as is Rum Dood's). I tried to settle on the most basic version (remember, suitable for intoxicated mixing at a party). 2 parts rum (either a light/dark combo or just all dark), 1 part passion fruit, 1 part lime juice. Very simple. 

Very dull. I've decided that this is two-fold problem. First, my rums are not nearly rich enough to balance the fruity tart of the passion fruit citrus combo (though even using the Lemon Hart 151 with Appleton V/X couldn't do much to liven it up). I'd have to invest in the Appleton 12 year and an El Dorado to get anywhere near the flavor levels, and that's for the light side of a combo. Second, Torani's passion fruit syrup is a bit blah to be so exposed in a cocktail. 

This was going to be a crisis for the party until I learned of the existence of the Bermuda Rum Swizzle and all became right with the world. It's a party; it's imperative to use the word "swizzle" as often as possible.

[newmethos]

Planter's Punch

I have managed to trick my friends into letting my make cocktails for them in large groups. The mixology habit is rewarding on its own merits, but it takes on new meaning when you can use it in the service of a greater purpose, like tricking your friends into drinking the good stuff.

However, this time, I may have been tricked. I've been working on classic Prohibition-era cocktails, with it's heavy emphasis on gins and whiskeys and white rums. I've been avoiding rum, except for the white stuff, because tiki drinks are a completely different rabbit hole you can disappear into. Alas, my friends are into rum and like Alice, I'm going to chase that damn rabbit. 

One of the first nuts I am learning to crack: Planter's Punch. It's a tough drink to nail down. When you look at A Mountain of Crushed Ice's list of eight recipes, what strikes is the range of variables. I need a basic recipe that I can replicate quickly, so I went with the Remsberg variation over Wondrich's because sticking with lime juice is easier for the evening and because I like Angostura bitters in damn near everything.

But then you have that quintessential rum problem: which effin' do you use? Sure, I can go with straight Jamaican rums like Myers and Appleton Estate (the V/X) and they are both awesome. The Rhum Barbancourt and the Pyrat XO are less full bodied and less interesting this guy's palate. The more you learn about rum, the more you realize that the vast majority of rum isn't useful for spirit-first cocktails; it's just not flavorful enough. The darker, the more aged, the better for any of these tiki cocktails like the Planter's Punch.

[newmethos]

This is still not enough different types of rum . . .

[newmethos]

A New Name and a New Topic

Welcome! Thanks for sticking around. It's early days and experiments are thick on the ground. I realized two things for the future of this obscure corner of the Internet. First, I needed a title. I left that alliterative thing in place because Tumblr demanded a title. 8 posts later, every single one of them starting with, "Let's Get Nerdy On," and we have a good catch title. Thank you for allowing me to entertain you while we get our nerd on.

Second, my most expensive hobby is not the consumption of culture, but the consumption of alcohol. A great deal of my time and thought is spent on the topic and it would be a shame to rob you of my ultra-nerdy thoughts on obscure liqueurs like Swedish Punsch (I've found Kronan to be increasingly available, we'll talk more later) and the best workhorse gin around (that would be Beefeater). Hell, I just twisted my friends arms into making these bourbon cocktails for them. Enjoy!

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: #Psych

As much as I have enjoyed getting nerdy and dirty on #PrettyLittleLiars, I have seen all I can on Netflix, so I am forced to move on to another binge watching candidate. Don't worry, when season 4 of #PLL drops, we'll get back to Spencer and company. In the meantime, I want to transfer my attentions to another show that I love because it is an incredibly dense intertext, this time without quite as much pleasant cognitive dissonance: Psych. As a GenXer, the constant stream of 80's and early 90's references and homages of this show are already in my wheelhouse, but the manic way that they are dropped demands our CultureNerd attention.

Plus, as a massive bonus, Psych has wrapped up its phenomenal TV run, so we won't run into cliff-hangers or problems catching up with seasons (I'm looking at you Dr. Who). Good times to come.

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: #PLL

Pretty Little Liars hooked me because I realized that, at its foundation, the show is about us, as human beings (well, American human beings, but still). We take on the perspective on the Liars immediately and any one of them could be their own villain, based on their secrets, their pasts, and their current choices (Spencer is a cheater, Aria is involved in an illicit romance, Hannah is a shoplifter, etc). "A" certainly treats them as villains in their own right. But the punishment that "A" metes out is out of all proportion to whatever crime the girls are accused of (a crime that the show never actually lays out in its entirety, a crime that we know was primarily committed by Alison, professional super bitch). And I immediately sympathized, even as they made horrible choices in their personal lives, I was immediately on their side. They were navigating a tough situation and they made constant mistakes, but we got to see why they made those choices and that's exactly like real life. We all make mistakes, I certainly fear that every mistake I make will have profound consequences that I can't control. That might make me more neurotic than the average bear, but only insofar as I am willing to admit that fear in public. I think that Sara Shepard and the creative team behind the show understand that fear and that the painting they are working on is all about finding ways to be empathetic, to understand the mistakes of others, and to make better choices ourselves. So we don't end up in insane asylums or pushing cop cars into lakes. We have the Liars for that.

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: #PLL

Ezria. That's the ship name for the incredibly awkward pas de deux between Ezra Fitzgerald (Fitz, to his students and friends) and Aria Montgomery. It's really the emotional anchor of the first season. It's the only romantic relationship that survives the first season, actually. It's also deliciously and ridiculously problematic.

The relationship starts the series off with a bang. Aria gets back into town from Iceland and picks up a hot guy, Fitz who turns out to be her English teacher. Sorry, her high school English teacher. Because she is just beginning her junior year in high school. This makes for great plot material (Will they get caught?! Will Ezra lose his job?!) but also makes for some head-spinningly difficult choices as a viewer. Because when that story is ripped from the headlines, we are appalled at the teacher. The show wants to be distracted by the fact that Aria is the aggressor in the relationship and she has some awful lines about how it feels right and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. And the writers really really don't want to deal with moral issues surrounding Aria's age, which is never explicitly stated, nor is Ezra's. The most generous interpretation possible is that Aria is 17 and Fitz is 22 at the time and the show chooses to focus solely on the fact that he is her teacher and at no point deals with the fact that she is a minor.

For a viewer who is so inclined, that's probably a deal breaker, but then again it is a teen soap directed at young women and the teacher/student love trope is as old as melodrama. The writers are also incredibly clever about depicting Ezria. The relationship is incredibly adult. She spends time at his house, often unsupervised, she cooks, it's the domesticity of co-habitation. It just works because it has momentum, but if you stop to think about it, you get whiplash going back and forth between the but they have to keep it a secret, but she uses the front door, but no one is supposed to know, but they make out in front of these giant windows, but it's weird and inappropriate and no one seems to notice how much time they are spending with each other (maybe Rosewood is on the 48 hour day or something, who knows). Again, if you are a certain type of viewer, the sheer nonsensicality of the relationship will make you look for the remote/choose another binge target. But I love the audacity of it, the high wire act of figuring out how to navigate a patently unrealistic relationship while making us care about the character involved. I love intellectual roller-coasters. I <3 Ezria.

[newmethos]

#PLL: The Drinking Game

Time out: We'll get back to Aria and Ezra and their crazy ship in two shakes. In the meantime, let me introduce you to a little game.

The Pretty Little Liars Drinking Game!

The first (and currently only) rule, suggestions welcome: Every time a character sips coffee, you should sip your drink of choice.

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: #PLL

The show’s whirlwind plot, constant introduction and dismissal of new characters, and breathless pace becomes a thing of beauty to behold in its perpetual motion. I have no invested interest in the whodunit. The plot of the first two seasons relies heavily on the books anyway, so the writers don’t have a ton of freedom there, but I still don’t care. The plottings of YA oriented novels tilt heavily to shock and surprise for people who don’t know anything about literary conventions. If you do know narrative conventions, then there are few surprises from the plot.

But then, and this can also not be understated, the success of most shows isn’t really about the plot. Plot is, and has always been in the hands of skilled craftsman, an excuse to explore characters. If you have dull characters, you need to chintz up the plot, and double down on effects, if you have them. #PLL does not have dull characters. It has soap opera ridiculous characters. The actresses and the writers have a great synergy and each girl is different, brings different things to the table. Spencer, the rich, brainy, sarcastic one is my personal favorite, but if you like 'em sudsy, you can have Emily, or if you like it steamy, you have Hanna, and if you kind of want the whole package, you’ve got Aria.

The whole show makes for an enjoyable intellectual experience, in addition to all the other guilty pleasure thrills of well-crafted pulp. But I feel like I need to provide an example of the audacious machinations and hoops of the show, just how high wire that act is and for that, you don’t have to look any further than the teacher/student love affair (Ezra and Aria, just so we are clear). And that's where we will pick up, next time.

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: #PLL

Let this be a lesson kids: don't start a new blog while working 60 hours a week with a two hour total commute (there and back, chill). You get behind. 

Today is the day to talk intertextuality. Full disclosure, I don't believe that every text is always and only the intersection of existing texts, that's a bit too post-structuralist for my taste. Those folk always think that every text is about the impossibility of writing itself, which makes for some fun criticism, but is hard as a method. The fact is, there are levels of intertextuality: you can try to create a hermetic world that is wholly original (probably impossible, but you can try) or you can go the full post-modern and just pastiche it up, stitch a text together from existing texts (à la Quentin Taratino). And Pretty Little Liars gets pretty far down that axis.

The cultural references come fast and thick, both in dialogue and in mood. For example, Hannah mocks a girl by calling her a strung out PowerPuff girl. In my experience, the number of 16 year old who understand the phrase "strung out" as a reference to the consequences of heroin addiction is a small percentage of the whole. And most of them are way to young to know who the hell the PowerPuff girls are. The girls  name check Veronica Mars, an obvious influence on the story and the characters (childhood friend with a dark secret life ends up dead, plucky hero investigates, shenanigans, etc). Beyond the references that characters themselves are making, the show also pays serious homage to Twin Peaks (hello creepy doll hospital, and yes, I see you holding that cup of coffee in your hand FBI Agent Cooper), another show in TV history that Pretty Little Liars has buried deep in its DNA. These connections are so obvious (Mars and Peaks) that it is necessary to acknowledge them; If someone is going to think that thought, you might as well tip your hand that you are thinking that thought to.

As the show progresses, it begins to draw even more explicitly on thriller and whodunit stylistic devices, references, and tropes. The fantastic finale to season 2 features a full on homage to Psycho that goes beyond the creepy guy in the hotel and the shower sequence. The creepy guy's office is full of stuffed birds, the peeping through the wall sequence is there, and the final shot of the episode is a straight take on Anthony Perkins thinking murderous thoughts while the fly buzzes around him. I'm a huge fan of ballsy moves like this because it fits the show, but will fly way over the heads of at least half of the audience. 

The best part about intertextuality, though, is that operates on more than one dimension. The characters mention TV shows and other cultural figures, the plot is a copy of old stories, the style of the show relies on the existence of a genre, and on top of all of that there are the actresses from previous soapy TV shows. Hannah's mother is played by Laura Leighton, a Melrose Place regular; Emily's mother by Nia Peeples, of Walker, Texas Ranger; and Aria's mom is played by Holly Marie Combs, one of the leads on Charmed. That one is my personal favorite. All of these actresses bring their history to the text and add to the layers of connections. The intertext gets further netted into the rhizome (sorry, that might be too nerdy). 

Alright, that's enough intertext. For the next installment, we are going to get nitty gritty on the ancient debate on plot: does it matter whether you know what is going to happen or not? 

[newmethos]

Getting Nerdy On: Pretty Little Liars

Ok, when you drop a term like "intertext" on Tumblr, you have to make up for it, a little bit. So here it is:

Soon, we will actually talk about how deep the intertext goes, I promise.

[newmethos]

Let's Get Nerdy On: Pretty Little Liars

Welcome!

This is the first post in a new series, wherein a recovering cultural studies academic takes pop culture and makes it really boring. I'm going to "ruin" it for you, in the charming phrase of my teenage cousin. There's no better place to start than the most popular show in her demographic (actually, in nearly all of those demographics involving women): Pretty Little Liars

The premise of the show, if you’re not familiar with it (and if you aren’t, like, really?!). Nominally, it is about four girls, united by one super manipulative bitch of a girl, molded into a roiling unit of „friendship,“ who are suddenly bereft of their leader when she goes missing for a year and then her body is discovered. The girls all find that every move they make, every secret they have, every mistake they try to hide, is in the hands of the mysterious text-message fiend, known simply as „A“

Ok, ok, ok. I know, that’s ridiculous. It makes even less sense as you learn more. A’s motives are forever impenetrable and the crime that the girls think they are being punished for involves smoke and accidentally blinding a girl, but they didn’t even do that, that was the dead girl. Why are these girls supposedly being punished by what can only be described as a super villain? (We’ll get to the meta-cultural meaning of A in a later post.) But the bottom line is that you are right: the plot, and there is a shitload of it, is preposterous and unrealistic and forgetful and moves at breakneck speed and it's effin' great. 

Let's get our nerd on: What makes Pretty Little Liars stand out is that is an incredibly dense intertext. You should read Iampolski if you really want to nerd out on a grand scale, but the Tumblr version of intertext is that what is said and done and see in #PLL is an allusion to or a comment on other, previously existing works. It occupies a particular cultural space that you understand because of what it says about all the other things in that cultural space. It's also loaded with subtext, some intentional and some less so, one of the ways Liars achieves this is by juggling 5 or 6 balls at once (thanks, Grantland, geez).

Ok, so there's a lot to chew on here. We'll get to some real meat soon, promise (and there's some day job stuff, I need to take care of, so . . . ). Hardcore examples of intertext, retro-active diaries of a particularly crazy scene, spoilers, Twin Peaks nerdery, it's all coming very soon. Promise.