Mad Men - something I'm loving on

I admit, I don't often blog too much about my daily goings on - it's just too boring when I start writing about it (Get up, drive to work, walk to work from where I have to park - 10 minutes away from where work IS, work, lunch, walk back to the parking lot, deal with d-bag drivers on the road, dinner, lounge/internets/tv, sleep, rinse, repeat) but every so often I'd like to mix things up and discuss something I've been loving on. And currently, that thing is the show Mad Men.
Right from the get go, the design of the title sequence is so compelling - this mixture of modern, homage to Saul Bass' title sequence style, the jazzy/depressing music - I'm hooked.

The main character of the show is Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm. He looks EXACTLY as if he was plucked from that time period (60's). Everything he does, I completely believe - and also completely distrust. He's a high level ad man with a seemingly perfect life - beautiful wife (a ringer for Grace Kelly!), 2 kids, but he's got a past he has hidden from everyone, and cheats on his wife incessently. We all got problems, right? Even the perfect people from the ads in the 60's do too. Sopranos did it well, of course, but I am much more interested in this world - maybe it's because I work at an advertising agency?

And the SETS and the COSTUMES and the, well, EVERYTHING! Attention to detail, all the props, just...breathtakingly good. I can't believe this world existed just a short 48 years ago. Yeah, that's a lifetime. But it's a lifetime that I never got a chance to see.

On a sidenote...

...yeah. Wow. What a knockout. Go Christina Hendricks. I loved you in Firefly, and I'll love you in this.

I'm sure many other people are much more eloquent about their analysis of Mad Men, but I'll just be much more simple about it - one of the best things on TV right now. Their second season just started this past Sunday, and I'm almost done with the first. Can't wait to see what happens...

The Dark Knight

Saw it...



...loved it. The more I think about it, the deeper it gets. The characters, which were expertly set up from the first movie had so much to lose in this movie, and everyone had to make tough choices. Which made it feel even more real. The Joker really blindsided me, I know he was going to be crazy but he took it way beyond my expectations. It's that blind, unwavering crazy that makes you want to look away but you can't, like watching a slow motion train wreck. With a knife.

Nolan is a great director - I rival this movie to Memento as his best written and directed film. Christian Bale is great as usual. The supporting characters were all solid - I love Michael Caine's Alfred more and more, and Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox is the moral ground that represented us, the audience. Harvey Dent really surprised me as well, how easily likable he was and how that pulls at your heartstrings when it's all taken away from him. It's the mark of a great movie.

I'll probably see it again, in theaters, thus breaking my "why see it twice in theaters when I can rent it a few months later?" rule. It was that worthy of my money. I, however, will NOT see it again at the Arclight. Not that it wasn't a good place to go see it opening night (thanks to Bryan's friend Yasmine for suffering through Sex in the City to purchase tickets the first night they were available!) but there were problems with our viewing:
1. They seemed not to turn the A/C on. It was very uncomfortable with all the people in the theater, and I was sticky and sweating by the end of the movie. I should never feel that way watching a movie in a theater.
2. They screened the movie too low, (title safe?) so subtitles were cut off at the bottom (when some of the characters speak Chinese. I knew what they were saying but it still detracted from the movie.)
3. The sound was uneven. Sometimes I couldn't hear the dialogue because the bass of the music was overpowering and too loud, and would drown out what the characters were saying. Bah!
4. There was blood all over the women's bathroom floor. Before I had gone in there, I guess a girl had gotten a bloody nose. There was an employee warning us entering the bathroom that there would be blood (ha! another great movie) on the floor, but why wouldn't said employee just clean it up instead of warning me? Even putting up some signs and placing paper towels on top would at least suffice temporarily.
5. Paying for parking. I'm used to paying nothing (the Landmark) or 2 dollars (the Bridge) for parking. 2 dollars was the MINIMUM that I was going to pay for parking at the Arclight, it ended up being 6 dollars, with a validation.
6. Hollywood. That place is hell. Traffic is hell to get there, and I hate crowds.

Anyways, aside from technical difficulties, The Dark Knight is probably my pick for THE movie to watch this summer. Now if I can make it to the end of the day to take a nap...

It's Pikachu.....

...G**D DAMMIT!!!

Tom Selleck Cake

Dude. How freakin ingenious is this? This girl made her friend this cake for her birthday. I am super jealous of her skills.