Advance Reading Copy

"Not for sale!" raves Uncorrected Galley.

Easy to see why it's currently ranked #95, 937 on Amazon.ca!

Mad Men Emmy Nominations

The Emmy nominations are in and Mad Men gets good love!

Not only did Jon Hamm receive a nomination for Best Actor in a Drama, he also scored one for Best Guest Star in a Comedy for his run on 30 Rock. Tina Fey has reason to celebrate, as her sitcom raked in an impressive 22 nominations this year.

All in all, Mad Men brought in 16 nods, which ties the number from last year.

The high yield of nominations for these quality shows (as well as nods to Damages, Dexter and, possibly best of all, Breaking Bad), goes great lengths to improve the image of the Emmys. At the very least, it goes a long way to counter nominations bestowed on sub-par shows like How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, and the douchiest of all, Entourage. Why not Gary Unmarried for Christ's sake?

Here is a full break down of the Emmy nominations.

Season 2 on DVD

A month in advance of the new chapters, season 2 of Mad Men is now available on DVD. Reasons to own the set:

• frame-by-frame analysis of Fred Rumsen peeing his pants
  
• pause on Sal's reaction when Kurt admits that he's gay
• pause on Sal's reaction when, moments earlier, he realizes there is a box of lemonaires in the break room
• review the dinner party in "A Night to Remember": did Don really make a fool out of Betty?
• apparently you get a nifty shirt and tie with the discs

Most importantly it will get you all juiced up for the new season.

In the meantime, here's a write up in the New York Times and the official entry on the Maple Pictures site.


PS -- according to IMDB, the first two episode titles for season three are "And Now With More Commercials" and "Love Among the Ruins".

Sixes & Sevens

Numbers

This just in: Kings of Madison Avenue ranked on the Amazon.ca best-sellers list! As of today, it is #18, 226! Take that Rachel Ray's Yum-O The Family Cookbook.

Also just in: ranked at a somewhat less inspiring #312, 655 on Amazon.com. But who cares about numbers, right?

End of the Line?

I hate to say it (or write it) but I think I'm done revisions on the book. As far as I know, the final mark-ups went to the printer on Friday, so I'm hoping that means it is just about signed, sealed and delivered.

Keith submitted his final final version of the cover which makes the sleek fantasticness of it all even more fantastic. See for yourself:



I will soon post an interview with Keith Berry about his inspiration and work on the cover.


Tete a tete?

Also, I may have news of a possible event for Kings of Madison Avenue that will also celebrate the debut of season three of Mad Men. I won't go into details, but it includes a book store and two guys on stage talking about the show, one an author and the other a national TV critic.

Hint: one of those guys might be me.

Crossover?

Check out Nikki Stafford's repost of musings on the mid-summer TV lull.

http://tvblog.ugo.com/tv/what-ifdon-draper-was-on-lost


Otherwise, things are quiet on the Mad Men news front. Nothing but quiet until the third season storm I suspect, but I did come across this interesting tidbit while trolling for information. Not right on target, but still somehow apropos.

Things Change

There are many aspects to publishing a book that I did not expect. Not that strange as it is my first, but in all that time imaging the process, there are a number of things that I did not foresee. Most disquieting is the constantly shifting finish line: much of that can be attributed to my neurotic "writerly" tendencies, which manages to hate giving up the text for review but can't wait for an opportunity to edit. As much as I love to cut and craft sentences of mine, I have endured a strange dislocation when turning in the manuscript (Finished!) only to be reminded that of the editorial process (Not so fast, bub!).

And thank God for that process. So far, it has resulted in correcting the following issues:

• first editorial pass of the manuscript reveals more than a few tortured and convoluted sentences meant, I can only imagine, to impress people with my vocabulary and syntactical prowess, but that instead lead to confusion and frustration in the reader: also abandoned was my theory that the entire second season was a dream of Don Draper's ... and I really thought I was on to something
  
• second editorial pass from the proofreader reveals my unfamiliarity with the Chicago Manual of Style, despite the presence of said tome next to my desk: in all fairness, it's a really big manual and I'm really lazy: upside is I learn the meaning and power of the word "stet" and wedge it into everyday conversation (for audience reaction, see "confusion and frustration" above)
• third pass from the typesetter exposes a pathetic reliance on "typecasting" in the cast bios, as if that is the only spine on which to build the body of someone's life and work: I also discover that I have a bizarre reliance on the phrase "pop culture landscape", as if I am the Mercator of unauthorized television guides

Perhaps just as interesting to me (and possibly nobody else) is how the book has changed from pitch to publication. Notably, there are a few things I wanted to cover in the book that I didn't. They are almost all in the realm of literary reference and context, and I admit that I wish I'd had the time to cover Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and W.H. Auden's The Age of Anxiety (although the latter would have been quite a stretch, refracted through the title bestowed on the works of Richard Yates). I also didn't write a chapter on the Gaslight Cafe, as I felt it was too season one centered, and the same with a proposed chapter on the mainstream acceptance of psychoanalysis.

Oddly, the one thing that didn't change for me was the title of the book. Fortunately, it wasn't until well after writing the book that I realized how close the title was to an autobiography by advertising legend David Ogilvy. I'd like to say I was savvy enough to hope for accidental search engine hits, but that'd be a bald-faced lie.

I did craft a list of possible title alternatives. I think you'll agree I was right not to change it.

Madison Avenue Swells
The Show in the Gray Flannel Suit
Madison Avenue Freak-Out (for when the series hits the late sixties)
Ring-a-Ding-Ding: The Cool Cats & Kittens of "Mad Men"
How to Succeed in Advertising Without Really Mussing Your Hair
Kings of Madison Avenue, Princes of Sterling Cooper

Matthew Weiner Spills Everything About "Mad Men Season 3" (not really)!

Rolling Stone has just posted an interview with show creator Matthew Weiner. Of course, it is more about summing up the previous two seasons than anything else, but in between the lines there is a sense of the upcoming direction of Mad Men.

I'm always struck by the big-picture take he has on American history, in particular his ability to separate the ironic aspect of the viewer to the present-tense take of the characters. He's right about personal drama superseding global tragedy: I remember on September 11th that I worried more about my mother trying to fly home from Mexico than just about anything else. Gloom regarding the horrific devastation settled in shortly on the 12th.

On a personal note, I'm glad to read Weiner's last comment about the end of "The Jet Set" episode, a point I make myself in Kings of Madison Avenue. Nyah!

Answering unasked questions.

There might be a few of these that you might have with regard to a book like Kings of Madison Avenue. In an act of supreme generosity (or is it hubris?), I have taken the liberty of asking and answering a few in one fell swoop.

I will have this Q&A take the form of me interviewing myself. It keeps things light and airy, plus I love the sound of my own voice.


JM: What lead you to write this book?

JM: Good question. Really, top notch.

JM: Why thank you. I spent a lot of time working on that lead question ... direct but chatty, nothing too heavy right out of the gate.

JM: Well, bravo. And nice shirt, by the way.

JM: The stripes, right? So slimming!

JM: I wrote the book first and foremost as a fan of Mad Men. It's a series that is written and directed quite elegantly, but is also chock full of historical and cultural references that demand further investigation. I grew tired of spending so much time looking in disparate places for the information I wanted, so I tried to find one book that might contain it all. When I couldn't find it, I wrote it.

JM: You know, I don't used the word 'brave' often ...

JM: But when the shoe fits ...

JM: Why an "unofficial" companion guide?

JM: It's sexier when you don't have permission, don't you think?

JM: Scamp!

JM: Guilty as charged! No, in truth it's a matter of speed and efficacy. The hoops one has to jump through to write an official version of this book would delay publication by years, even if it was actually approved. Also, there would be a great many more masters to serve with such a beast.

But here's the other thing: with an official book, you could look forward to an episode guide that is a recitation of plot and nothing else. When writing a book like mine that kind of thing is off limits, so what you get is more in-depth analysis of each episode. It's more work to be certain, but it leads to a greater reading experience.

JM: Genius.

JM: An overused word, but apt.

JM: Why Mad Men?

JM: I think I covered that quite well in the first question. I said that it is "written and directed quite elegantly" and I think that about covers it. Were you paying attention?

JM: All right, take it easy. I'm just trying to get a sense of you, the author.

JM: No personal questions.

JM: I'm just curious how you--

JM: No questions with the word "you" in them.

JM: How would ... one ... go about writing a book like ... one ... has?

JM: It's a calling. Such a book is an opportunity to utilize a personal history steeped in navigating the pop culture landscape and pair it with a lifelong yen for learning. As I believe most fans of the show are cut from a similar cloth, this book is a natural fit for a yawning void.

JM: Rapid fire portion of the interview. One word questions, one word answers. Ready?

JM: Hit me.

JM: Two words, disqualified. No points.

JM: Wait ... points?

JM: Hat?

JM: Fedora.

JM: Drink?

JM: Scotch.

JM: Purple?

JM: Vestments.

JM: Abbott?

JM: Lewis.

JM: Lightning round ends.

JM: How'd I do?

JM: (tallying score) I'll post it on the wall after final period.

JM: Nuts.

JM: Any last words to people you think might like your book?

JM: I'll go you one better. Not only is it a great read with terrific sidebar sojourns into the cultural and historial context of the show, it also makes a great gift for anyone you know who's a fan. So go out and buy two!

JM: You're a shameless whore.

JM: What happened to us? This started off so well ...

JM: You're like a steeping cup of green tea, McLean: you start well enough but always finish off bitter.

JM: Ouch. Accurate ... but ouch.

JM: Until we meet again.