Here's a pretty good Matthew Weiner interview, apparently the first of a series:
http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/07/mad-men-calvaca.html
This made me appreciate Mad Men's first season a lot more. No need to worry -- no spoilers.
No, no updates on Shannen Doherty . . . Two other actors have joined the cast of 90210, though: Meghan Markle, apparently best known as #24 on NBC's Suitcase Or No Suitcase (er, Deal of No Deal), and Kellan Lutz, who plays Emmett in Catherine Hardwicke's upcoming adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight (which I am reading right now).
Here's the story.
Dear Jenny,
Did you know that Mad Men is On Demand? I have watched 11 episodes over the last day and a half. I should be ready when the second season premieres later this month. Will you?!
What do you think? I'm still deciding. Yes, I think it's that good. It's not always the most interesting or exciting thing I've seen, but it always looks and sounds great. Some of the early episodes maybe lingered a little too much, almost pornographically, over the period details. I get it, I love that stuff, too, but let's get going already.
I don't know how I feel about the gender stuff. Obviously, the misogyny we're seeing is kind of the point, but are we seeing much further into the emotions and aspirations of the men than we are into those of the women?
I feel like each of the major female characters is a cypher, to a certain extent. I've loved Elisabeth Moss for a long time -- remember her on Invasion? -- but here I'm not getting enough. We're starting to experience more of Peggy's internal life now, though, and maybe her blankness if kind of a point. Every once in a while, we get a flash of something new and exciting from Betty -- such as the pigeon-shooting incident -- but I feel like so far she's either a cliche or somehow stolen from The Wapshot Chronicle. For me, the stand-out is Joan. I think the writers like her, too -- she gets all the best lines.
There are no words for the amazingness of Jon Hamm.
Love,
-- Pete
This week was so much better than last week, in terms of entertainment -- each couple performed two routines, which meant almost no filler. In terms of dancing, this was maybe a little less strong. It seemed like most of the couples weren't quite up to learning two entire routines (in addition to whatever group number they'll do to open tomorrow night's episode, plus the solo "Dance for Your Life" routine six of them will need to perform).
I am still finding this format tough, though. It's hard to watch 14 of these in a single night and then try to remember and talk about them afterwards. Fortunately, I watched with our friend A., who had some vivid remarks.
Will/Jessica. Wow -- I can't remember both of their numbers. There was the shirtless one, grace a Mandy Moore. That one was good, but showed up Jessica's limitations (per usual).
Thayne/Comfort. Thayne is so much more bearable paired with Comfort. I know -- a lot of that has to be my pro-Comfort bias, but also, he seems to be toning down the overblown, fakey smiling. I thought the judges were unnecessarily harsh on the first routine; the second one they liked for some reason, although I found it boring.
Matt/Kourtni. I think these kids are done. They keep landing in the bottom three, plus the judges seem to have had it with Matt, particularly his "flappy" (per A.) hands.
Mark/Chelsie. Hated the first routine (which the judges loved), but liked the second one, even with the awful, ill-fitting dress. A.: "That girl is what? 12 years old?"
Twitch/Kherington. Twitch was pretty shirtless throughout. Both of these struck us as pretty gimicky. The second one (no surprise -- it was Mia Michaels's), at least, was emotionally compelling.
Joshua/Katee. The first one was unbelievable. I thought the second one completely sucked -- it got better, but still . . . The costumes were gross, too.
Gev/Courtney. Both of these were pretty fun, but Gev seemed a little overmatched -- is that the correct term? He was having to work too hard to keep up with Courtney on the first one, then on the second one, he seemed always a step ahead.
I think that the Weinstein Co. is about to make a horrible mistake. Variety reports that Bunim-Murray is close to signing a deal to succeed Magical Elves as the producers of Project Runway, effective season six (ie, the premiere Lifetime season, scheduled for late 2008/early 2009). Have you ever watched those Real World/Road Rules depressing reunion challenges? They suck; the challenges suck. This is bad news.
Dear Jenny,
I think this is what the kids today call "live blogging." I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance and I'm typing. Oh God. I'm already falling behind.
My highlight, week after week, is seeing what Cat Deeley is wearing and what she's doing with her hair. Today she's wearing what looks like a wedding dress, only super-short, and her hair is a little rough.
Adam Shankman is the guest host, which means we've got some Mia Michaels choreography coming up. So cool. He just said "Adam Sandler Christmas movie," though, which is deeply weird and is making me very anxious.
Cyd Charisse is dead, which is sad, although I'm guessing she was quite old. Cat Deeley is only 5'9". The Hell? Are all these dancers dwarves?
Commercial break, thank God. I am also making dinner, as the kids call it today. That Eddie Murphy movie, though . . . You know.
Twitchington. Some time killing at the beginning. Twitch laughs like a bear and Kherington has a shopping problem. Now we get highlights from last week's Celine Dion baby angel bullshit. Sorry. Viennese Waltz. They get a Tabitha and Napoleon piece this week and not so surprising, it's really cool. Nigel pretends that he's going to have something bad to say and . . . we get it.
Wow. Mary Murphy is sparkly tonight. And it's almost 8:25 and we've had just one performance. This blows.
Gev/Courtney. This was boring, but the judges seem to be going for it. I think these two are very safe this week, if only because Courtney is kind of naked? She's still got the best hair of the competition, which must help, plus we learned that she is learning to be a special ed teacher. Oh, and? I still kind of think that something is going on between her and Gev.
Nigel is like your pervy uncle. Adam Shankman just compared Mary to a disco ball and now he's rambling some . . .Nigel is making a deal about that. He should be happy -- we have a lot of time to kill.
The Dark Knight trailer. I can't stand how much I'm looking forward to that. Ditto Fringe. The Sarah Connor Chronicles? Not so much.
Chris/Comfort. Confirmed: Chris has a weird body. I think this whole thing was a hot mess. (Mary is "disinterested.") I don't think it's the choreography's fault, and neither does Adam Shankman. Comfort, though? Still too big for this freaking show.
Space Chimps. Wow. I haven't seen Wall-E, but I know that Space Chimps sucks. L.C. and Brody Freaking Jenner are shilling for AT&T. Whatever.
Will/Jessica. Holy crap. So the pre-routine patter for them is deeply ironic. Jessica says that Will is a true gentleman -- opening doors and what not. Then Doriana Sanchez says that the routine is all about giving Jessica a chance to shine (because everyone already loves Will); the subtext seems to be, "Shape up, Ariel, because we will not let you be an albatross around the neck of our darling Will." Then Will steals the performance yet again. Unless one of the remaining couples really screws the pooch, these two are going to the bottom and Jessica? Is not coming back.
Julia Ormond is in that Kit Kittredge: An American Girl movie? The one with weirdly blond Abigail Breslin? Julia Ormond is still working?
Matt/Kourtni. New choreographer, piece about superheroes fighting and flirting? I don't know about that, but this was Matt and Kourtni's best performance so far, the only one that I've actually enjoyed -- and it made me like Matt for the first time.
Thayne/Chelcie. Quick step. Wow. I don't care. I hate quick step and these two drive me insane. Nigel says something about them being Band-Aids with smiles plastered on, which . . . has he been watching the past three weeks? This isn't a new development.
Mark/Chelsea. More Tabitha and Napoleon. Sucky music, good routine. I still love these two.
Joshua/Katee. This is actually kind of funny -- Joshua says Katee screams like a boy, which she does. I think I sort of like Katee. Her awkward moment dance thing is funny, too. Huh. Another half-dress. That seems very en vogue this week. You know Nigel is going to like it. Pig. I can't decide what I think about this routine because I'm distracted, thinking that they should have done this to "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" -- which they played during the rehearsal footage. Oh, wait. Oh my God. Nigel is now an equal opportunity harasser? He just drew everyone's attention to Joshua's "bum." Then he directed the camera to Joshua's father's ass as well? And I died? I can't tell which is driving me insane right now -- all of that or Katee's hair. Or Mary Murphy bringing up the stupid hot tamale train again.
I need to lie down.
Love,
-- Pete
P.S. Where is Mia Michaels?!
As GOB said about wireless crapability, this one sells itself:
I wonder how long I can go, using Arrested Development quotes for titles. Anywho . . .
Tricia Helfer has landed a job on something that sounds awesome. Here's the story:
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-helferinseparablecasting,0,5645756.story?track=rss
(Note also her great hair.) We love Shaun Cassidy as a television producer -- even more than we love him as a Teen Idol of Yesterday.
You probably already heard the latest about the Arrested Development movie (probably a go?). This interview with Jason Bateman implies that it's on . . . kind of. Can't really tell. But also? Jason Bateman has really nice kicks. Are they Sambas? Anyway, good talk.
Little Brother, Cory Doctorow. I think this is going to be a huge book. Obviously, young adult literature is where it's at right now, in terms of big sales. I think that this could be a big school book, too, though, something that winds up in a lot of classrooms and summer reading lists.
Doctorow of course is a pretty famous thinker about technology and civil liberties, and so it's not surprising that he's found an effective way of tying that to his career as a science fiction writer. It's hard to spot even a single mis-step with this book. Pacing is excellent -- even when he has to step back from the story to explain some bit of techno ephemera, he never lost me. He maybe pulls his punches a little bit at the end, but I'm not sure how else he could have ended the book. Oh, and he maybe name-checks his organization, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a little hard. There are two separate passages -- one pretty long -- singing the praises of EFF, which . . . fine. I'm a fan of them. I get it. But considering that the book ends with an extensive annotated bibliography including another long reference to EFF?
Whatever. These are small quibbles. Read this book. Find some young person to give it to.
