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.

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!