Althouse: "Joan Didion and her husband had, like, a safe word when they were at a party and they wanted to leave. It was 'White Christmas.'"

November 9, 2015

"Joan Didion and her husband had, like, a safe word when they were at a party and they wanted to leave. It was 'White Christmas.'"

"This night is now magical because of that scarf. You look mean, but like, mean in the way where I want to know you...."/"Like we'd be close, but I'd still be kind of cruel..."

This is the best ad I've ever seen:

Love Zosia Mamet. As for Anna Kendrick... never noticed her before, so for me, this is her breakthrough role.

46 comments:

Michael Fitzgerald said...: That's two words.; 11/9/15, 5:27 PM
Paul Snively said...: Am I the only one who was absurdly touched by "I don't know why women don't say 'Hi?'" Maybe because it's not women, but seems to be an urban thing, like we have so few opportunities for alone-time that we end up carving them out by studiously avoiding interacting with strangers when we encounter them. Then that becomes habitual, and then a source of annoyance when someone breaks the spell and deigns to actually talk to you when you sit next to them in your unassigned Southwest Airlines seat, or what have you. It's a phenomenon I've regretfully observed in myself—a small-town midwestern transplant to Silicon Valley and then LA—over the years.; 11/9/15, 5:31 PM
Etienne said...: They didn't offer him a spring water...; 11/9/15, 5:32 PM
Virgil Hilts said...: I have always liked Anna Kendrick and her reaction to the Sony iphone hack was pretty funny. She is the only movie star worth following on Twitter.; 11/9/15, 5:37 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Paul,

Then that becomes habitual, and then a source of annoyance when someone breaks the spell and deigns to actually talk to you when you sit next to them in your unassigned Southwest Airlines seat, or what have you.

Yep, as a transplanted Southerner (actually DC isn't exactly "the North", I, too, notice the Cone of Silence effect. If I can without being too forward, I try to initiate conversations, and some of them have been wonderful.

I got asked to move once on the Acela because a huge Hasidic family got on train at Baltimore, and they wanted to sit together. Well, that gave an immediate topic of conversation for me & the Midwestern Russian-America lady I sat next to. She was much happier to have me as a seat mate than some squirmy 10 year old Hasid.

Another time, on a 6:30 AM flight from Huntsville, AL to DC, the guy next to me was reading a book on Guadalcanal that I had also read, and we started from there. When 2 hours later, we landed in DC, the guy in the seat in front of us turned to us and said "Gentlemen, that was the best damn conversation I've ever eavesdropped on in my life!".; 11/9/15, 5:42 PM
CWJ said...: Funny. Just the opposite. I know Anna Kendrick, but other than assuming Mamet was the daughter of a celebrity, she meant nothing to me. Still I agree. Great ad!

But if you think this is somehow Anna Kendrick's breakout role, it's you who are behind the curve. Not us. Nonetheless, better late to the party than never arriving.; 11/9/15, 6:10 PM
Robert J. said...: The brunette strikes me as the Bryn Mawr type. The blonde is definitely Smith.; 11/9/15, 6:19 PM
Michael K said...: I got through about one minute and then had had enough.; 11/9/15, 6:32 PM
bleh said...: Wow that was awful. I made it one minute.

Like nails on a chalkboard.; 11/9/15, 6:33 PM
CatherineM said...: I have seen Kendrick in a few things, most notably "Up in the Air" with George Clooney. She also a good singer.; 11/9/15, 6:33 PM
MikeD said...: Who are these people & how can anybody bother to watch an almost four minute "ad"?; 11/9/15, 6:39 PM
Beldar said...: They're both adorable.

But as for it being the best ad ever seen:

I have no clue what this ad is selling. Is it an ad for a limo company? Is their pitch that you'll make friends hiring them, because you'll have to let strangers share your ride and you'll have to wait while your driver goes to pee?

If I can't tell what's being advertised, I'm going to be hard pressed to agree that it's the best ad I've ever seen. And if it's an ad for the limo company, I definitely disagree.; 11/9/15, 6:46 PM
mikee said...: Anna Kendrick's breakout scene in her breakout movie, "Pitch Perfect," ended with the following dialog between her and the other nude female in the shower stall:

Brittany Snow (pointing at herself): "I'm sorta confident about - all this."
Anna Kendrick (glancing at her): "You should be."; 11/9/15, 6:47 PM
Milwaukee said...: Ann,
FYI: You are of the female persuasion. The only guys going to see this are men trying to make their women happy. What a mess of emptiness. God pity their souls. God pity the souls of the men trying to make their women happy. God bless the women just because they are women and so are delightful.

I thought the beer commercials for "men of the square table" were really excellent. Those commercials with the horses playing football in the snow are pretty cool too (no pun intended). Naturally, the Dos Equis guy lend themselves to many memes.; 11/9/15, 7:01 PM
Clyde said...: I thought Anna Kendrick was pretty good as Cinderella in the movie version of "Into the Woods."; 11/9/15, 7:07 PM
damikesc said...: I adore Kendrick.; 11/9/15, 7:15 PM
sane_voter said...: I don't see what is so special about Zosia. Gratuitously weird but boring. The other girl Anna was entertaining and cute. Dont remember seeing either one before.; 11/9/15, 7:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: I loved it. One more reason everybody knows it takes more than surgery to create a Woman. (See, Bardot, Bridgette.); 11/9/15, 7:48 PM
Paul Snively said...: sane_voter: I don't see what is so special about Zosia. Gratuitously weird but boring. The other girl Anna was entertaining and cute.

I thought the point was that they're playing (exaggerated versions of) themselves. We get a quick character sketch—Anna is the bubbly extrovert; Zosia is the quiet, quirky introvert from the moment she has to explain her unusual name obviously for the billionth time—but things start to change with Anna's remembering her from another party and sweetly self-deprecating "I don't know why women don't say 'Hi!' to each other." The bit with the scarf is wonderful; Zosia is being funny but can't help still looking rather severe, and Anna notes the severity but sees it as somehow alluring, which Zosia gets.

Or so goes the script, anyway. I don't know how much of it was written and how much was improvised. Come to think of it, it wouldn't surprise me if it was written for them by Zosia's famous-for-his-natural-dialogue father.; 11/9/15, 8:02 PM
narciso said...: she's had an interesting career, first as an underling to George Clooney, in the corporate
comedy 'up in the air' then a small role in the Twilight series, and of course, the pitch perfect series,; 11/9/15, 8:39 PM
William said...: She's this decade's Renee Zwelliger. I've seen a couple of her movies. She's very attractive in a non glamorous way. ....,.Im with Beldar in that I couldn't figure out what the ad was for. Were they flashing subliminal messages? This is the softest sell I have ever seen. Can someone explain what is being sold? The not knowing is driving me crazy.; 11/9/15, 9:27 PM
Simon Kenton said...: It's a parfum called Ditzense. Very fruity, with the faintest overtone of tuna.; 11/9/15, 9:47 PM
Zach said...: That was really good. Better dialogue than I have seen in a movie theater for, gosh, months now.

Anna Kendrick suffers from the current death of the romantic comedy genre. Cast some handsome schmuck who can flirt a little bit against her and watch the money roll in.; 11/9/15, 11:06 PM
bwebster said...: This is where I first saw Anna Kendrick. A few years ago, my wife and I served as cooks at a young women's (i.e., teenagers) church camp for a week. One afternoon, a group of 20 or so young women and their adult leaders seated at the long bench tables in the open air pavilion started singing this song and doing the cups thing. I was impressed but also baffled. My wife gave me a brief explanation, and when we got back to civilization, I looked up this music video.

Warning: this song is a serious earworm.

https://youtu.be/cmSbXsFE3l8; 11/9/15, 11:17 PM
madAsHell said...: Whiskey.
Tango.
Foxtrot.; 11/9/15, 11:29 PM
Anonymous said...: It's for Kate Spade. I had to get my niece a Kate Spade iPhone wristlet last year (by specific request). It's my job as aunt to get her the stuff her parents won't. I got her a Kate Spade card to match which cost about a million dollars by itself. This definitely represents the brand. Not that she'd get the Didion reference yet.; 11/10/15, 2:04 AM
rehajm said...: The Lilly Tomlin one is funnier....

Not being restricted to :30 or 1:00 makes a big difference.; 11/10/15, 4:18 AM
JAORE said...: If I can't tell what's being advertised,

Bingo. Lots and lots of these in the past few years.; 11/10/15, 6:10 AM
Phil 314 said...: Could only watch a minute.

So an ad for Kate Spade.

Therefore nothing lost for the company

Can I go on with my unfashionable life now?; 11/10/15, 6:27 AM
Wilbur said...: Funny how one minute seems to be the breakoff point for so many.

I quit at 57 seconds.; 11/10/15, 6:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: It's a great ad for Kate Spade. The people who like that ad are, I bet, women who love to get gifts branded Kate Spade. Lots of great accessories like, notably, scarves. You don't have to know much of anything to know a scarf is a good gift if you go with a brand the woman likes. Don't be obtuse! It's a great ad.; 11/10/15, 7:24 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'll bet that ad causes many young women, asked what they want for a gift, to say: Get me something from Kate Spade.; 11/10/15, 7:26 AM
Robert Cook said...: "I have no clue what this ad is selling."

That's because you're not the intended audience. It's for Kate Spade, maker of very expensive bags, clothing, and other accoutrements of rich metropolitans.

It was a mildly amusing and charming ad for an obnoxious class of our society.; 11/10/15, 7:30 AM
Titus said...: Anna Kendrick is from Portland, Maine. Started on Broadway when she was like 10.

You need to watch Up In The Air Althouse-she was great in that movie...and it's a good-but sad movie.; 11/10/15, 7:41 AM
Curious George said...: "Ann Althouse said...
It's a great ad for Kate Spade. The people who like that ad are, I bet, women who love to get gifts branded Kate Spade. Lots of great accessories like, notably, scarves. You don't have to know much of anything to know a scarf is a good gift if you go with a brand the woman likes. Don't be obtuse! It's a great ad."

And you can buy it through the Althouse Amazon portal!; 11/10/15, 7:41 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Repeal the 19th Amendment.; 11/10/15, 8:04 AM
Robert Cook said...: I highly recommend a great movie about this same class of people--although from an earlier generation--Whit Stillman's funny and warm METROPOLITAN from 1990.
One of the characters in it coins his own term to describe the social group to which he and his friends belong: "urban haute bourgeoisie."

It was followed by two loose "sequels," (that is, they make up a sort of trilogy), BARCELONA and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO. I did not see either.; 11/10/15, 8:37 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I enjoyed the super subtle alpha-beta dynamics.; 11/10/15, 8:58 AM
Known Unknown said...: Kendrick is amazing and self-aware and certifiably funny. Zosia Mamet was the second best thing (of few) in Girls.; 11/10/15, 9:00 AM
Bill said...: I'm glad you're happy, but I had to stop watching after the first minute, which felt like five. I guess it's a gal thing.; 11/10/15, 9:51 AM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/10/15, 12:32 PM
sparrow said...: BARCELONA was quite good BTW; 11/10/15, 3:11 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Anna Kendrick is very talented, but that ad sucked. If I were a woman it would make me want to buy Kate Spade knockoffs smuggled in from China.; 11/10/15, 6:10 PM
averagejoe said...: AWFUL! Especially hate the fake awkward pauses between words and sentences. That driver was lucky he left when he did- I'd much rather piss than listen to that shit...; 11/11/15, 12:30 AM
Nichevo said...: As usual Ann is wrong and it is a shit ad, which is why she likes it. The ad is for men to know what to buy whores like Ann. But the ad is so rotten the men can't finish watching it. Show a pussy with a lock and. "Kate Spade" in the shape of a key. 15 second ad, 10 maybe. Or just a still.; 11/11/15, 10:06 AM
Nichevo said...: I'm sorry that Zosia is so ugly. Not her fault...but other than that, and the other one at least having the kindness to show some cleave, what a couple of useless mouths. Cook no doubt is planning their trial as we speak.; 11/11/15, 12:52 PM