MAD MEN 6

When Mad Men returned to the air waves (and all those second and third screens) last year, nearly 18 months had elapsed since the previous season. Die-hard fans like me barely survived the overlong wait. When the premiere date for season five was finally announced, I decided to celebrate with a month-long blog event. Sunday Night is Mad Men Night was a joint effort with four blogger friends who each assessed the award-winning series from a different point of view:

Sunday Night is Still "Mad Men" Night

As the fourth installment (the 2 hour premiere covered two episodes) of Mad Men Season 5 approaches (see below for Episode 4 update), there are no signs of waning interest from its audience or the rapt media. In my travels through cyberspace over the past two weeks I've come upon a wide assortment of posts about the new season of this most intriguing series. Here is a sampling - click on titles for links...

A Meditation on Mad Men

 "...nostalgia. It's delicate...but potent...in Greek, nostalgia literally means 'the pain from an old wound.' It's a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone."

Creative director Don Draper, of the Sterling Cooper ad agency, is pitching his promotional concept to Kodak, a prospective client, for its new product, a wheel-like slide projector. As images of his own young family flash by, one by one, on a projection screen, he continues his inspired dream-spinning:

"This device isn't a spaceship. It's a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. It takes us to a place where we ache to go again."

Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly

by guest contributor Motorcycle Boy

“A personality marked by traits of compulsive and habitual use of a substance or practice in an attempt to cope with psychic pain engendered by conflict and anxiety.”

~      definition of addictive personality, Mosby’s Medical Dictionary

  

“Mad Men glorifies alcoholics.”  This statement was made to me by an acquaintance, clearly meant as a criticism of my favorite television series.  He went on:  “It seems the writers take every opportunity conceivable to shove a glass in the hands of the actors.”

Mad Men Style

by guest contributor Christian Esquevin

The thing that makes Mad Men such a perfect television series is its “all-of-a-piece” quality. It has all of its elements operating at a high level and fully integrated into a drama geared towards adults. This goes well beyond high production values, or even great writing – it is a seamless creation mixing fascinating characters, interesting plots, evocative sets and costumes, a down-to earth reality needing no gratuitous violence. It is a perfectly pegged recreation of the Zeitgeist - not just of the world of advertising - but of urban America at the turn of the 1960s. Despite its very real display of sexism in society and in the workplace, including the very negative consequences of that mindset, Mad Men is mainly the story of one man and his perilous perch high atop the hierarchy of a corporate ad agency. The series title is a play on “ad men” and Madison Avenue, where the big ad agencies were located.

The Feminine Mystique Of Mad Men

by guest contributor Whistlingypsy

“Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern.”

 - Frank O'Hara, Meditations in an Emergency

Although the title might suggest the notion; this is not a discussion of feminism in Mad Men’s very male dominated industry. The inspiration is, in part, taken from the photograph above: a provocative portrayal of beautiful women and men perfectly accessorized and stylishly coiffed. The division of these individuals into feminine and masculine, light and dark, personal and professional, implies not only different natures and different worlds but a separate mystique.

Mad Men: Now and Then and Back Again

by guest contributor FlickChick

Watching Mad Men is a bit like time traveling with one foot dipped in the past and one firmly planted in the present. Viewing the actions of the "then", we can't help but measure them against the "now." The fact that things were like that in the past usually means things are not like that in the present. We judge if those things are better or worse now as the story of the Sterling Cooper (Draper Pryce) gang unfolds.

Dine Like a Mad Man - Book Giveaway...and a Sweepstakes

Betty's "Around the World" dinner

With many thanks to veteran cookbook author Judy Gelman and SmartPop/BenBella books, Eve's Reel Life will give away a copy of Gelman's new book (co-authored with Peter Zheutlin), The Unofficial Man Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars and Restaurants of Mad Men.

Sunday Night is "Mad Men" Night...a blog event

AMC’s Mad Men begins its much-anticipated fifth season on Sunday night, March 25, after a long and, for some of us, parched nearly two year hiatus.

This means that Sunday night will once more be Mad Men night in my world. At last. But I’m not alone in my joy, and a few blogger friends have volunteered to contribute guest posts to The Lady Eve’s Reel Life in celebration of the series' return. So...three Sundays and one Saturday in March, a different take on Mad Men will appear:

Sunday, March 4 – FlickChick with Mad Men: Now and Then and Back Again

Sunday, March 11 – Whistlingypsy on The Feminine Mystique of Mad Men

Sunday, March 18 – Christian Esquevin on Mad Men Style

Saturday, March 24 – Motorcycle Boy with Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly

...plus...

Sunday, April 1 - The Lady Eve with A Meditation on Mad Men 

Coming soon: Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence...

Click here to return to the Reel Life main page.

Thanks, Dawn, for the Stylish Blogger Award

Dawn at “Noir & Chick Flicks” has kindly honored Eve’s Reel Life with a “Stylish Blogger Award.” Many thanks to Dawn, a real fan of Golden Age classics!  Here’s her URL – http://dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com/

Those honored with the “Stylish Blogger Award” must reveal seven facts about themselves… here are seven things about me that may or may not be interesting:

Bette in Now, Voyager

1.   I’ve loved Golden Age classics since childhood. I believe I inherited this addiction from my mother – along with “Bette Davis love”…her favorite of BD: Now, Voyager

2.  TCM is the default channel at my place, though I’m delving into Comcast’s On Demand Premium Channels/Preferred Selections (thanks to Rick of the Classic/Cafe)

3.  I own very few DVDs…I used to own lots of video tapes and then realized that technology will only change again and again…now I watch movies any and every way I can

4.  I work in TV and have worked in the entertainment biz most of my life

5.  Because of my line of work I’ve met or come into contact with a few of the famous…the most memorable was Loretta Young

6.  My love of film extends from silent era to present day classics, including foreign cinema

"Mad Men"

7.  I am a “Mad Men” fanatic and just found out today that there may be no 2011 season and no new episodes till 2012…NOOOO!

Those chosen as “Stylish Bloggers” are asked to name seven more stylish bloggers – here are my picks:

Distant Voices & Flickering Shadows - http://distant-voicesandflickering-shadows.blogspot.com/

Bit Part Actors - http://bitactors.blogspot.com/

Twenty Four Frames - http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/

Kevin’s Movie Corner - http://kevinsmoviecorner.blogspot.com/

Bette’s Classic Movie Blog - http://bettesmovieblog.blogspot.com/

Amateur Film Studies - http://amateurfilmstudies.blogspot.com/

Tales of the Easily Distracted - http://doriantb.blogspot.com/