Basket of Kisses

We’ll be talking about the DVDs.

What are you looking for in the extras?

Wow, it’s like Christmas come early!

Both DVD and Blu-ray versions will be available March 23rd. That is really, really early. Typically the disks haven’t hit until about three weeks prior to the new season. We’ll have lots of time to play with the extras; commentaries, pieces on Medgar Evers, the March on Washington, Mad Men Illustrated (featuring Dyna Moe!), and other coolnesses.

TWoP gives us Mad Men’s most outrageous moments.

While in Boston filming, Jon Hamm was spotted buying Mad Men DVDs (as gifts), which he admitted was dorky. But cute!

The Fug Girls guest write at Lemondrop about the Emmys, and criticize Elisabeth Moss for not showing us that she is a young beauty. Which she is, and that dress really didn’t in any way indicate it.

Lobbying for Oceana, January Jones visits Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and John McCain (R-Gene Hosfstadt).  Here’s an alternate picture posted from Sen. McCain’s Twitter (with bonus Grandpa Gene references). McCain also spread the word on JJ’s cause to ABC News White House correspondent — and Mad Men fan – Jake Tapper.

Talk about burying the lede! The Mad Men Live Revue “is expected to expand with a wider rollout over the next year.”

Classic styling for weddings is way better than being in fashion, because those wedding pictures sit on your shelf forever. Mad Men is mentioned as a source for such classic styling.

Mad Men snacks. Fun!

And with those snacks, how about some cocktails?

(more…)

Watched entire S2 DVD this weekend with Matt Weiner.  Well, not exactly with him, but he does commentary on 12 of the 13 eps, and let me tell you, it’s like having him on the couch next to you.  I could listen to the guy talk about his show for hours.  In fact, I did.

One of the things he mentions, rather off-handedly, a number of times is how expensive it is to shoot those various short scenes in which no one says anything.  Examples:  Peggy working late at the office and she stretches and cops a cigarette from someone’s desk.  Or Betty home alone after she kicks Don out and thinks she hears a noise outside and locks the backdoor.  Or Peggy splayed out on her bed after partying late.

It took me a while to understand what he meant by ‘expensive,’ and realized he meant it was an inefficient way to advance the plot of each episode.  You still have to pay set up the shots, light the set, film, edit, etc. but do not have the benefit of dialog to tell the story.  So it eats up minutes within each episode to do these scenes, but he feels strongly that they add that texture to the characters and their stories.

It also gives you a sense of how much pressure there is when running a show to keep costs down and make efficient use of every moment … and how much the small things, like, say, two minutes per episode, really matter.