Mad News, October 9-14, 2008
- Basketcase jw found this amazing article on the typography of Mad Men, finding very small errors in detail which, for an expert on fonts, must be maddening. Author Mark Simonson also addresses the age of props and some other details. Fascinating!
- Basketcase and committed Slatteryophile Shelly let us know that John Slattery is campaigning door-to-door for Barack Obama in Virginia.
- Bryan Batt had an appearance on the Martha Stewart Show October 10.
- AMC has a Q&A with prop master Gay Perello, and this prompted Basketcase Brenda Starlet to find Don’s watch (the Reverso).
- Basketcase Karl sent us the Page Six cover with Christina Hendricks (Joan)! (Okay, just a link, we’d prefer the real cover, and then we’d save it forever.) Here’s the whole article.
- MSN lists Matthew Weiner as one of 10 Guys Who Are Bringing Back Cool.
- NJ.com has an absolutely great interview with Elisabeth Moss. I can hardly decide what to excerpt, but try this:
Q. I’m wondering this season if it’s going to be like the “Thorn Birds,” a love story with Peggy and Colin Hanks’ priest character. They have a weird dynamic.
A. I think he sees something in her and they have more in common than she realizes. As far as where it’s going between the two of them, I can’t say anything except the audience will be completely and utterly satisfied and enthralled with what happens.
- Fits News is in seriously lust with Christina Hendricks. Serious.
- A tie-in-with-real-life article talks about Mad Men and modern day sexism in the workplace.
- Ausiello verbatim:
Negotiations between AMC and Mad Man creator Matthew Weiner on a third season of the Emmy-winning drama are continuing.
- A “real ad men” article in Wired addresses politics and the space race. (And by the way, “read ad men” just became a Mad News topic, like the homeboy/girl article.)
- I was reading the paper while getting a pedicure when I came across an article on cardigans. Yes, cardigans. I love them. And I’ve been noticing they’re back in stores, and I’m so happy about that because some of my older ones are getting, well, old, and anyway, I read this article (reprinted in my local Gannett paper) which credits Mad Men, in part, for the blessed return of the cardigan.
- My son found an old article from August in Blue Blood Magazine about For Those Who Think Young, in which the author muses on the agonies of trying to throw a party for people from different parts of your life.
- Radar Online offers a guide for how to talk about Mad Men like you know what you’re talking about. It’s like a cheat sheet for your friends.
- The Portland Business Journal writes about marketing to women, comparing 1962 marketing in Mad Men to the present day.
- I haven’t read all the recaps yet, and I don’t normally post them, but if Alan Sepinwall’s isn’t the best recap of the week I may be forced to buy a hat to eat.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Deborah, I couldn’t agree more – Sepinwall’s recaps are great – and he ususaly has them up witjhin an hgour or so of the end of the show.
It is hard (impossible) to find the archives of his previous MAD MEN articles from the NJ.com website – so I e-mailed him, and he graciously responded and sent me the following info, which I am happy to pass along:
========================
Peter,
The NJ.com site isn’t very useful in terms of categorizing reviews. I have a mirror site over at Blogger, and you can find reviews for both season two and season one there easily:
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/search/label/Mad%20Men%20season%202
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/search/label/Mad%20Men
Thanks for reading,
Alan
October 14th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
(Sorry for my ugly typos)
October 14th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I think Sepinwall writes his recaps based on screeners, not the live network broadcast. He’s referred to that in the past. That doesn’t take away from his insight, of course.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Peter, “What’s Alan Watching” was on the blogroll (left sidebar) back when we only had 4 links there. That’s the mirror site he’s talking about.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Love the typography article.
That Page Six photo of Hendricks is a “photoshop of horrors” around her breasts. I’m also in serious lust with her.
I love cardigans.
Arthur reads Blue Blood Magazine? Maybe that’s not what it sounds like…
October 14th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Ah. I clicked over to “Blue Blood.” Okay.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
My husband already thinks John Slattery is a god among men…when he hears that Slattery is campaigning for Obama, he’s only going to fall further in love.
October 14th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
@ 4 – Thanks Deb – I never clicked on that one. Great you have it available.
The beauty for us BasketCases of the first link I show: http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/search/label/Mad%20Men%20season%202 , is that it links to all his MAD MEN articles in one place – not all his TV articles in general…
October 14th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
CH in the Alice + Olivia dress in the full Page Six article (p2): Swoon.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
LOL! This just “came across the wires”: http://defamer.com/5063021/the-cast-of-mad-men-are-looking-to-go-under-par
From the Eleventh Annual AFI MADMEN Golf Classic, El Caballero Country Club – October 13, 2008
October 14th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Here’s a Press Release to the event: http://www.afi.com/Docs/about/press/2008/AFIAMCGolfTourney.pdf
There are a bunch of photos on WireImage.com
October 14th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I, too, love Alan Sepinwall’s recaps, and the commenters on his site are really, really insightful and bright as well.
I enjoyed the typology article, too, though it’s funny how nitpicky it is.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Oooo, the typeface article found a lot of continuity issues! Typefreaks are very, very nitpicky (as Britni points out) and they must just be in a lather over Mad Men. I had noticed the American Airlines ad using a typeface that American introduced in the late 1960s (my dad worked there, so we have a lot of AA memorabilia.) But I thought that was just being sly.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Re the AFI Mad Men Golf Classic:
What a lovely bunch of guys, out to spoil a good walk together.
“No one asked me for advice or to come home with them,” said Jon Hamm.
Yeah, Jon. BECAUSE I WASN’T THERE.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
John campaigning for Obama.
My ultimate goal is to get John himself to run for President someday.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I dunno, some of the blogs, I link direct to their Mad Men stuff, but I also think a lot of our Basketcases are media heads. Not everything in the blogroll is MM-related; like Film Experience or Polite Dissent. If a media blog is wonderful, I link to it. I think all of Sepinwall’s reviews may be of interest here, so I link to the whole site.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:09 am
The best thing about Alan Sepinwall’s recaps is that they are available as soon as the episode ends. So just as you begin thinking through all the layers and themes and motifs, his take is available at the click of a mouse.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Christina Hendricks want to LOSE weight?!? WTF?
Men love figues like hers. She’s only be conforming to the mainstream high fashion industry, which is run by women who hate men and men who hate women.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Also, I didn’t like how Rader referred to Father Gill as Peggy’s “Creepy Priest.” I was an another site and someone asked if he was gay. Why is it all priests are portrayed as gay, evil, pedo, or creepy in movies and tv shows. Mad Men avoided this cliche by actually making him a good guy.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Thank you, Jorge. I’ve thought the same thing about Father Gill.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:49 am
@ Ms. Who: I try to wait at least a day to read recaps, because I want to think it over myself first.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Jorge, I agree. Father Gill may have desires towards Peggy, and he may be behaving inappropriately, but that makes him human, not creepy.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:58 am
I haven’t like, studied this, but I do think that historically there’s been a high percentage of gay priests, and also the pedophiles. My understanding is that there’s always been a kind of gay priest culture, and for the rest… if you’re gay, and you don’t think it’s okay to be gay, then taking a vow of chastity can be your version of taking the high road.
And a celibate community can also be rife with sexual repression. That, combined with the authority and respect of a priest (look at how Father Gil was treated) is a perfect breeding ground for abusers.
Not to say there aren’t good priests, and that there aren’t heterosexual priests. I’m just offering some conjecture as to why the numbers might be high, and that it’s not all invented.
And I am most definitely not comparing homosexuality with deviance. I’m sorry it’s all going in one comment because of how I’m so not saying that.
October 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Sorry but I have to disagree…while i think madmen has had and is going to have a huge impact on fashion, cardigans have been back for a while and we can thank jcrew for that. they made the cardi cool again.
October 15th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Thanks for the recap, but you missed a New York Observer article. After you get past the headline it is an alright article.
I am speculating that Fr. Gil is someone who has always been aware of not having the “correct” reaction to events as discussed in the Flight 1 Inside Mad Men. Maybe his mother was a war widow who resented her husband enlisting and could not feel proud that he died for his country as their friends and family wanted her to. Thereby setting Gil on a mission to let people know that while their actions and reactions are not “expected” it does not cut them off from God’s love and should not break them from the community. Catholicism with a big C and a lower case one combined.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Elizabeth Moss’ comments are very intriguing. I’m speculating from that Father Gill will be the catalyst that reveals and perhaps resolves the issue of Peggy’s child.
Since most fans are itching to know the fate of Pete Jr., that would be very “satisfying.”
October 15th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
John Slattery campaigning door to door for Obama? It’s official – Virginia will turn blue. Now we just need to send Jon Hamm to Ohio and this election is over.
Who would you send to Florida – Christina Hendricks or January Jones? Considering what happened in ‘The Inheritance’, I’d send Jones.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
OMG I live in Ohio! Yes, yes PLEASE send Jon Hamm here.
I promise I’ll be gentle.