July 2010
13 posts
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4.1: We Chat About Self-Loathing
(“Me” in this chat is Elise.)
walton: It is a funny thing about the self-loathing
me: but then id have to determine: what’s self actualization for don?
walton: It stems from his class insecurity
me: yes be already got past that problem. Self-actualization is truth, right, or being as close to your truth as possible (at least that’s what it would be for me)....
4.1: Advertisements of Myself
I’ve been stewing over the first episode since Sunday and have few good ideas to communicate. I can say the obvious: the opening teased with threads and patches that will be sewn into whole cloth as the season progresses. Additionally, the premier was a reminder that Mad Men is founded on principles of beauty and narrative — the glassy, new, open and bright office spaces, Joan...
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4.1: The Lost Year of Mad Men
Did you know that on Jan. 11, 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General said — for the first time — that smoking may be hazardous to one’s health. And later, on Jun 24, the Federal Trade Commission said that, starting in ‘65, cigarette companies have to put warning labels on their packaging. Given that Lucky Strike is 71% of the firm’s business, isn’t that huge? Is that...
What the Journal Would Really Ask Don Draper →
If we could have our hour with nothing but Mr. Draper and a spiral notebook, here’s what we would ask him:
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4.1: That Blowup with the Bikini Guys
That blow up with the Jantzen (bikini, er, two-piece) men represented an important transition for Don, and a signal of the time we think about more commonly as ‘the sixties.’
His whole point, in storming out after they insisted his campaign be more “modest” was that customers are going in a certain direction (smaller bikinis), and you should catch the wave - not with...
This AdAge Interview is Boring
But relevant.
http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=145094
“No. 1, we never did interviews over lunch; No. 2, we didn’t take notes in shorthand; No. 3 we didn’t ask cute-ass questions; and No. 4, our pictures were never bigger than our stories.”
Boo Urns.
-Tim
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4.1: How Cosgrove Will Come Back
Re: Thought #5: That’s how Weiner will write Ken Cosgrove back into the show! I mentioned in my stray observations that Aaron Staton’s name still appears in the opening credits (but poor Paul Kinsey’s does not). When Tim mentioned the firms going head to head, I realized that’s the most natural way to bring Cosgrove back into the fold. But…now that the old SC is...
4.1: Five Quick Thoughts
1. Favorite line of the night came from Harry, not Roger. “I wish we really did have a second floor so I could jump off it.” 2. When Don came home to drop the kids off and had to wait, I immediately assumed he’d open the garage and find Betty and Henry dead in the car from carbon monoxide poisoning. Um, I guess I was wrong about that. 3. Seriously, if this guy is walking around...
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Alan Sepinwall interviews Matt Weiner →
Alan Sepinwall of HitFix.com spoke with the show’s creator about the premiere, some leftover business from last season and his latest thoughts on how long the series might go.
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4.1: Whoa, we're not at Sterling Cooper anymore
“We had this catastrophic end to the first season, and there were consequences to it, and these are what the consequences are.” -Matthew Weiner
I’m glad most of the gang is back, but geez, I felt so out of sorts in the new setting and in the new time. Season three’s finale - the start of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce - was just before Christmas 1963, and we’ve ...
“It’s almost like this first episode is a new pilot.”
– Jared Harris, on the fourth season
Season Four
Just in time for the premiere of season four, I’ve summoned my friends Walton and Reeve to start arguing with me throughout the season. We haven’t set up the style we’re going to use yet, but I think we’ll include the episode we’re writing about in the post titles from now on so that it will be easy to keep track of what we’re talking about.
My background is in...
