Hedwig van Driel, MSc.

Ok. Now what?

Blogging Buffy – Wrapping Up Season 2

According to the WordPress sign-in window, I am “already hip”. Good to know. In any case, I’m sitting here with a very hip, very cute little laptop my dad bought for my mom, which can almost fit in my pocket. All typos are due to the fact that the keyboard is 85% as big as the one I’m used to.

The reason I’m finally writing up the fourteen (14!) episodes I’ve seen since the last time I wrote a Buffy post (that’s the entire rest of season 2) is partly because I want a clean slate before starting on season 3, the DVD of which I bought today. But it’s also, and mostly, because Noel Murray’s catching up with us. My Buffy-watching buddy is sick right now (get well soon, Evan!), but as soon as he’s better we’ll start racing Noel to the finish.

Mad Men – Season 1 (spoiler free)

What’s this I see? A new post at the fruit stand? Yes, indeed it is. And get used to it: I just handed in the pre-final version of my thesis, and in a mere two weeks I will be officially and unambiguously graduated, which means the blog should pick up steam again. I’ve got a lot of grand things planned. But first…

The back of Don Draper’s head is a fascinating thing. Or rather: it’s fascinating how Mad Men manages to keep you mesmerized, trying to guess what’s going on in that marvelously shaped head. It’s not just that Draper has a secret – though it’s obvious that he has many, and watching them floating to the surface is part of the appeal. But he’s a man you want to figure out, even if he doesn’t always seem to have figured himself out yet. He’s a true mystery: an asshole but not without feelings, seductive but truly messed up, complex and flawed in a way we luckily see more and more in the protagonists of TV shows (see also: Dexter, House, The Sopranos, etc.)

WALL-E

CAUTION: post written after severe thesis frustration, quite a few rounds of movie hints and about a bottle of rosé.

Somehow, I was afraid I would be underwhelmed by Pixar’s latest production, like I was by Andrew Stanton’s previous directorial effort, Finding Nemo. I was afraid that, like with The Dark Knight, I would have had to defend my lukewarm response, my lack of enthusiasm. I needn’t have feared.