 | Wow, what a barnburner of an episode! I have to admit that Season 3 of Mad Men felt a bit ponderous at times for me - even for an already slow-paced show for the most part - but the finale for Season . . . more |
I went to the Mad Men page over at amctv.com this afternoon and this was the banner at the top - talk about nailing your target audience (click to biggify):
What a great banner ad.
Interesting interview with the man behind the magic of Sterling Cooper:
On Point site.
I thoroughly enjoy the weekly exchanges over at Slate's TV Club discussing the latest Mad Men episode. And I especially love this recent passage from Julia Turner, considering how increasingly unlikable Betty is becoming:
I feel obliged to point out, though, that saying Betty is a bad mother is not the same thing as saying she's a bad person, an evil cipher whom we can't possibly hope to comprehend. Her selfishness is absolutely intended as a commentary on (and product of) the isolation of suburban housewives at the time. I'm struck by how many people who watch Mad Men tell me they hate Betty; they can't stand her; they wish Don would just up and leave. To the modern viewer, Betty's sins (being a bad mom) far outweigh Don's (being an absent dad, cheating on his wife, stealing a man's identity, driving his brother to suicide, lying to his wife and nearly everyone he knows about who he actually is). We let the charming man get away with murder, but we wish the cranky wife would just know her place? Sort of makes you wonder how far we've come.Methinks Don has some classic viewer sympathy with the villain going (although: Why?). We dislike much of what he does, yet we root for him. Indeed, what intellectually honest male wouldn't like to possess a touch of Draper charm now and then? But he is, generally speaking, an awful, morally bankrupt person.
There was a lot going on in last night's episode of Mad Men , despite its at-times ponderous narrative (one can say this of the show in general - with periodic scenes of action, intensity, and humor). . . . more
Have you ever wondered what the title song is for Mad Men? I have. Turns out it's the instrumental version of "A Beautiful Mine," by Aceyalone, off his 2006 collaboration with producer RJD2, Magnificent City. Aceyalone's been in the game for over a decade but I've never heard of him.
It's odd to hear those familiar notes followed by Aceyalone's abrupt, earnest lyrics (A beautiful mine/turn water into wine...).
Magnificent City is a pretty cool album. One of my roommates received a burned copy randomly from a friend and thought I'd like it, given my love of Mad Men. It's an interesting mix of beats laced with Aceylone's lyrics - downright eloquent relative to the mainstream glam/booty/gangsta ish out there (cf. Luda's "One More Drink," hilarious and catchy but hardly poetic). The opening track - one of the best, "All for U" - starts off with a few smoky jazz notes, then a beat kicks in and keeps the tempo moving between scratching and horn hits throughout. "Fire" has a funky '70's vibe to it. "High Lights" is an impressive tribute to marijuana, overflowing with slang and pop culture references to the narcotic, its associated paraphernalia, activities, and aftereffects laid over smooth, slow beats. "Soloman Jones" is the eponymous ballad of one night's barroom antics of "big, bad Soloman Jones." "Disconnected" and "Here & Now" are the remaining highlights among a few other mediocre tracks.
Worth a listen.
I meant to post this last week, after the Mad Men trifecta occurred (Jon Hamm on SNL, the Season 2 finale of Mad Men, and yours truly rocking Draper for All Hallow's Eve). It is fantastic:
"Jon Hamm's John Ham" is also pretty good, as is the "Two A-holes at an Ad Agency in the 1960s".
I shall now state my undying love for Hulu.com. I've recently been watching It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. This show is the funniest thing you're not watching. Peep it.
I just caught the latest ep of Mad Men. Wow. How about that final scene with Don and Bets driving home? Jimmy had his best performance that night! This show's amazing, and deserves every Emmy it will receive.
Don Draper and I have a lot in common. In fact, our lifestyles are very similar. I'm pretty much Don Draper - without the money, the women, the womanizing, the trophy wife, the adultery, the carcinogens, the stolen identity, and about 3/4 of the booze.
But I do have my own office.
