I have loved Mad Men since before it even aired – advertising, and the early sixties long being two of my biggest fascinations.

But I was a little let down by the shallowness, darkness, and the seeming lack of humour of the last two seasons. A parade of pretty vintage dresses interspersed with misogyny was not so entertaining for me. I missed the complexity and subtlety, punctuated and contrasted by hilarity of the first season. I missed the real story telling, the character studies – especially on the women of the show who weren’t Betty.

My main disappointment, was that it seemed to be refocusing on the sixties as an extremely exaggerated pre-enlightenment dark ages, when all the men were boors, and all the women were victims. It was becoming a cartoon, a parody of itself.

So, if you’ve been watching this season so far, you’d know that it has me so very happy, and re-enthused!

And Peggy! Oh my little Peggy! How I love her again. She has definitively, and finally gotten her groove back, and I love everything she, does, thinks, says and wears, no matter how flawed (and can we talk about her hair – finally a cute haircut for her!).

Which doesn’t even address how in LOVE I am with the new Sterling Cooper Draper Price offices, as filled with mid century fantabulousness as they are.

So why am I posting this Malcom Gladwell Ted talk from 6 years ago?

Because it touches very much on some themes brought up in the last few episodes. Particularly last weeks episode focusing on coming up with a campaign for Pond’s Cold Cream. Don Draper will turn out to be prophetically right  (not simply arrogant) when he said that people don’t know what they want, and that it is his job to show them.

(Although, it is interesting  to note that it increasingly seems the real prophetic at SCDP is Pete Campbell.)

Because I love Andrea Dorfman (the director of this video) so much, and because the video is so lovely, I’m stealing it from Kickpleat so you all get to see it!

Enjoy!

I’m a sucker for a good mystery. I have been known to watch, well, most of the better “detective” shows on TV at any time. House, Bones, Monk, Psych, Numbers, CSI… Yeah, it’s pretty much an addiction. But I think there is an amazing amount of innovation that can be accomplished, even within the constraints of an hour long mystery – one only need take a look at how many Emmys Dr. House and Mr. Monk have between them to see proof of that.

My latest little addiction is The #1 Ladies detective agency (an HBO/BBC co-production – and folks, it doesn’t get any better than that).

It just contains so many elements that I adore – Jill Scott (yes, the amazing singer), Africa, intrigue, humour, great performances, impeccably colourful production design, delightfully illustrated credits, and large quantities of bush tea drank out of dainty teacups.

It’s definitely worth checking out. Even the kitties liked it.

I bought the May 2006 issue of British Vogue while I was stuck at the airport during a particularly nasty lightning storm, waiting for my mother in law to arrive. I used to read British Vogue all the time, as it’s editorial attitude was much more fun than American Vogues (that changed soon after – now they’re largely the same, unfortunately).

But this issue.

I picked it up particularly for a certain photo-shoot inside:

It drew me in. It captivated me. I loved it. I had to have it (even for rather expensive import magazine price of ten dollars!).

A few days ago a fellow blogger posted a few scans of it online (click through the image to see more) and I was reminded of it’s vibrant beauty – and realized that some percentage of the inspiration for my wedding was sublimated somehow from it – even though I had forgotten about it. That whimsical, faded, colorful, thirties thing? Well that could certainly also describe my wedding.

And it’s made me decide, that I think I’m going to need to have balloons, certainly.

I was worried they’d look a bit like a kids birthday party, but this has proved to me that the can instead look quite, well… couture.

Productivity has become a bit of a hot topic in my life for some reason this week, so I’m going to share something with you all that has changed my life.

No, really.

It probably has something to do with the onslaught of wedding planning, as well as the capabilities of my iPhone, as well as the inability of my brain to hold on to pertinent information, but I am becoming a sucker for any and all automated ways to keep my life organized.

The number one way I do that these days, is with iGoogle.

Some of you more tech savvy kids out there are going to be nodding with me and going: yeah, duh, Google is the greatest thing in the universe.

But I also know, quite personally, that some of you are going: Waaaaaah? Eye-whatsa-oogle?

iGoogle, is kinda like MyYahoo used to be (if you ever used it). Except for it works.

It’s a customized Google landing page, where you can add little boxes (or widgets) that gather feeds or information from all the various internet sites you may use from day to day. Twitter, Facebook, GMail, Flickr, RSS feeds for your favourite blogs via Google Reader (which you should also be using!), Google Docs, Last FM, MySpace, BBC news – there is a widget for pretty much everything you could come up with.

No more wasting your time, clicking through all your bookmarks, no more missing out on pertinent information. Every update, for everything, on one page, topped off by one of a large number of adorable themes that change based on the time of day (the one I use is called Teahouse, and there’s a matching GMail theme to go with it!).

So, now you know. Use this knowledge, and thank me later.

If you’re in a celebratory mood (and even though I’m a Canadian, I know I am) here’s some links to revel in:

1. Inside Barack Obama’s iPod

   He has excellent taste in music – he loves Stevie Wonder. So do I Barry, so do I.

2. Beautiful pictures from the Obama campaign

   My all time favourite picture of Obama, is the one of him hanging from a bar in a gymnasium, doing a pull-up (I think it’s pretty symbolic of not just strength, and resolve, but also a good sense of humour) but really there’s a lot of photogenic to go around with this guy.

3. The Speech

   A thorough examination of Obama’s breakthrough 2004 DNC speech. A must-read for anyone interested in not only, how this whole thing got started in the first place, but how Obama’s rhetorical skills were honed (am I the only speech-geek in the room? Yes? Oh. Well, I blame Aaron Sorkin).

4. A More Perfect Union

   His speech on race gave me chills and tears in equal measure, but I do love a good oratory. If you haven’t watched/read it yet, now’s probably the time to do so.

5. Barack Obama, Forever Sizing Up

   A interesting exploration of the personality and possibilities of the future President that will be.

I want to be Kelly Kapoor when I grow up.

I just added him as a flickr friend. He’s so web 2.0!

I would also like an Obama 08 t-shirt at some point, because I think his campaign logo (you know, the O with the swoop?) is some of the sexiest logo design I have ever seen. I like this version, in particular (but for the record, I also like this one, which has nothing to do with politics, it’s just super cute).

Gah. I wish I was American so I could vote in their exciting, history making election instead of our boring, boring, boring and depressing one.

Stephen and Stephane’s respective charisma combined couldn’t match the charisma found in Obama’s left pinkie.

I don’t get how the Euro’s are doing it, but it’s getting to the point where I’m not really bothering to listen to music if it didn’t come from a country where they eat a lot of smoked fish.

Alphabeat are makers of such music. There are pretty much a billion ways I could describe them, so I’m just going to mention the most fun ones:

A Scandinavian S Club 7 with Cyndi Lauper meets George Micheal vocals? Sure.

The Thrills – but from Denmark instead of Ireland and obsessed with New Wave instead of Surf Rock? Yep, that one’s good.

Infectiously-sugar-coated, eighties-pop-tinged, happy-music from the land of modernist teak furniture? That pretty much sums it up, actually.

They also have a pretty cool typographic motif going on, not to mention the cute outfit factor (them being Dansk and all, it’s pretty high).

I dare you to watch this video and not get into a cheery mood.

A well-dressed, well-sauced socialite with a equally well-sauced husband, who trade witty repartee like it’s going to be prohibited shortly, accompanied by the darlinglist dog in all of Hollywood while solving mysteries with aplomb.

We watched the Thin Man last night, and I want to be Nora when I grow up. Liam, you can be Nick (and don’t tell me being a booze-soaked private detective doesn’t appeal to you – it’s only your lifelong dream). Should I remind you that Dame Maggie Smith and David Niven parodied them in Murder By Death? Wouldn’t you like to be parodied by David Niven when you grow up?

I find the Fox Terrier especially dreamy. That little dog was twice a co-star of Cary Grant and is regularly an answer in the New York Times crosswords. That’s pretty much the finest pedigree there is as far as I’m concerned. When we finally live in a place where we can get a dog, I think I want one.

Well, it’s the first long hot weekend of a long hot summer, so we are going to take advantage of it.

Our weekend is going to be positively packed with farmers markets, and golfing, and shopping, and eating, and probably a little bit of gardening (although, other than a little watering, things are looking pretty self-sustaining at the moment).

To celebrate, you should watch this clip of a pretty good old movie (with a script by Billy Wilder, and opening credits by Saul Bass – how can you go wrong?) about the beginning of another long hot summer in the city (just ignore the slightly racially offensive bit in the middle – kinda hard to find an old movie that doesn’t have a couple moments like those, unfortunately).

And then Marilyn Monroe shows up. You should really hunt this down and watch the rest of it though. It’s one of those classics that’s a classic for a reason.

This is the best outfit I have ever seen on a celebrity (Lily Allen, BTW).

Pink!

Turquoise!

Sparkles!

Bambi!

Who’s her stylist? Hello Kitty?

It’s all sooooo cute! If i had gotten married at the age of 11, I probably would have worn exactly that, pink hair and all. Actually, I will probably still wear something like that when I do get married in the next couple years. I just can’t help it, when I see vibrant pastels like that all in one place, it just makes me happy. It must take me back to some childhood place where Rainbow Brite and Jem and the Holograms still scamper about.

Also adorable: the apology she put on her blog for gettting drunk that night

And I Quote:

“Last time I wrote here, I was defending my honor and dignity, explaining my innocence and also outrage at the press for insinuating my behaviour was embarrassing. This time I’m putting my hands up, I got very drunk last night, too drunk. It’s not cool getting that drunk, I feel awful and I have to thank my little brother Alf for getting me home safely.
Kids, drink responsibly or you’ll end up looking like this, not pretty! Was quite fun though, from what I can remember. Need fry up now.”

Celebrities, they make mistakes just like us!

(Except in much, much better outfits).

We have been told on a number of occasions by people whose opinions we trust that Speed Racer was actually pretty good. Which was surprising, because even though I really wanted to see it, the reviews had convinced me otherwise.

Last night, we learned it was still playing on IMAX and went to check it out for ourselves.

The IMAX theatre here in Toronto (@ John and Richmond) fits close to a thousand people. There were about eight of us when the lights went out. It was like our own personal home IMAX. Pretty awesome.

A lack of audience doesn’t bode so well for the Wachowskis however… which is sad, because you know how – maybe a year ago – you heard rumors about this flick being mind-blowing? They were all true.

The movie was excellent, saturated with colour and movement – the best kind of drug-free head-trip. The plot was easy to follow and entertaining – I didn’t think it felt overly long at all. The races were speedily kinetic and weirdly pneumatic – mesmerizing to watch. The acting was definitely one dimensional, but in a knowing way that perfectly fitted it’s source material – a cartoon. It did all this in a manner that was pretty wholesome and family friendly, so feel free to bring kids along (not too young of course, there is a bit a of implied violence – although no worse than the Home Alone movies). It was like nothing else I’ve ever seen, which is the only reason I can fathom it got such lousy reviews.

It was a great big, larger than life, caricature of the original.

A living, breathing manga.

The way the images evoked the intense world of extreme diagonals, flat characters and dense set-pieces inside Japanese comic books was breathtaking. I could see the black lines dancing at the edges of the actors faces, as though the movie would fall back into ink and newsprint at any moment.

We left the theatre charged up and energized in a way I haven’t felt in a long time – probably since I was a kid and we went to see the big blockbusters and Disney cartoons. I definitely didn’t feel that way when leaving the theatre from Ironman (which I found merely entertaining).

To anyone that is in any way a fan of Japanese art, or art in general, don’t believe Rotten Tomatoes, this movie is a must see (so go see it now if/while you still can).

Whenever people ask me what I thought of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, usually I say I didn’t like it.

Which isn’t directly true – I did like it, in fact.

I just didn’t love it – which I think is the expected reaction to the book (I have similar feelings about Ironman). It was good, but it didn’t capture me. I think it has a compelling narrative, but the unreality of certain elements pulled me away from the whole. I just couldn’t get personally involved with the story, because it was too fantastic.

And I actually think the shock of getting personally involved with the fantastic is what draws people in to this story, and makes them laud it so.

Maybe I’ve just read too much magic realism to be surprised by such conceits.

Something that is fantastic, but wholly real is Yann Martels What is Stephen Harper reading? project/blog. It’s an oldie but a goodie. An entry Of note, is his letter about sending Jenna and Laura Bush’s recent childrens book to our Prime Minister. No mention is made of the identity of the authors.

This I love.

Another good blog find is Jezebel‘s Fine Lines column. If you were a teenage girl in the last 30 years, you will love it too. Unless you were illiterate as a girl. Which I admit, is a total possibility.

Next week they will review The Girl with the Silver Eyes which was one of my favourite YA novels as a fifth grader. It reassured me that I felt like such an awkward, bespectacled, weirdo because I had magical superpowers. Duh.

So I am terribly excited about that upcoming one, in particular.

Past review of note include The Crazy Mixed Up Files of Miss Basil E. Frankweiler, the Little House on the Prarie books, and some of the more obscure Madeline L’Engle titles (not “A Wrinkle in Time,” in other words). Ummm…? Did these people find my diaries from when I was 13?

Since the damn column seems to be effectively spelunking my pre-teen-hood here’s hoping The Mysterious Disapearance of Leon (I mean Noel) makes it on the list someday soon. And maybe some Diana Wynne Jones too.

Another thing I love right now is Okami.

If you have a Wii you should RUN out and get it immediately. It’s definitely one of those games that makes having the platform worthwhile – between this and Super Mario Galaxy we’re pretty happy with our investment.

It has very similar game mechanics to the Zelda games, but takes place in a breathtakingly beautiful world, coated in floating cherry blossoms and pastoral settings.

It is rendered like a brightly coloured japanese print, coated in swashes of calligraphy – which is where one of the more innovative aspects of it’s gameplay comes from – you are given a brush loaded with black ink and must draw on your environment to enact changes. This (as you could imagine) is a lot more fun given the Wii’s controller than on the original Playstation 2 release.

The aspects of Japanese culture and folklore that are woven into the plot are also a welcome and fascinating addition. The game doesn’t spend much time explaining these elements (which will probably be quite foreign to most western audiences) and I actually quite like that about it – you are left to discern, and interpret things for yourself, which leaves the world you inhabit rich, exotic and mysterious.

Most of all I am left hungary for sushi, sake, and miso when I play this game (Katamari has a similar effect on me, but it is more direct since you are left to actually pick up japanese food with your growing Katamari ball).

And finally, you probably missed Reaper this fall. Or you might have caught the first (Kevin Smith directed) episode and moved on – understandably so. The show seemed to drag under it’s premise (a young man must complete tasks for the devil because his parents sold his soul out from under him). It became repetitive and task oriented. Not bad, just not surprising or new, like the pilot held the promise of being.

Well you should have stuck with it like we did, because as soon as it came back from the strike it came back (to quote the show) with a vengeance. Oh, and you know the fat kid from Breaker High who’s in this? Yeah, turns out he’s really, really funny. As is Micheal Ian Black, who guest stars towards the end (but you probably already knew that). As is Veronica Mar’s Ken Marino (you may remember him as Vinnie Van Lowe), also a recurring star. Actually, this show has perfect casting, right down to their chosen devil.

I think the show can now officially pick up the crown Buffy left in it’s wake for pop-culture saturated, supernatural, youthfully angsty show. Although I have to say, with it’s cadre of slacker boys as its core characters it feels more like Buffy as written by Judd Apatow.

Totally one to download, or rent when the 1st season DVD comes out.

A teensy post about The Hills (and then I’ll shut up about it forever… er, until next season at least).

This is the most genius article I have ever read about The Hills.

It explains, in a surprisingly intellectual manner, just what is so captivating about about the lives of our Lauren, Audrina, Whitney, Heidi, Spencer, Lo, Justin Bobby and Brody Jenner.

The short story: The Hills is practically Shakespearean in it’s characterization, complex enough in it’s plotting to be called a fine example of post-modernism, and in execution it shares much in common with French New Wave.

What’s not to love?

If you watched the Hills this week, then you probably rocked out a bit to that great French pop they played in between sweeping shots of the Eiffel tower.

Well, I am here to lead you to the source of it’s awesomeness. Although frankly, Jezebel beat me to it.

Her name Yelle, and she reminds me a heck of a lot of a certain other talented young European as she has a penchant for wacky – yet surprisingly flattering – Euro trash fashions and sweet and poppy elecro.

But where Robyn is like Bjork meets Gwen Stefani as raised by Missy, Yelle is like the secret French love child Peaches and Princess Superstar were always meant to have, with Francoise Hardy as her godmother.

When I watched horribly dubbed European childrens shows on TVO as a child, I never imagined that all those wacky/tacky clothes and all that cheesy Casio music would come back to haunt me in the most fabulous way possible.

How do Europeans get away with being so sophisticated all of a sudden, by doing the same things they’ve always done? We used to at least have their weird clothes and musical tastes to make fun of, even if everything else they did was pretty much superior in every way. Great, now you guys have a sizzling economy, unparalleled culture, excellent social programs, and all the good pop music and outfits. Unfair guys, unfair.

(Sidebar: If you’re unfamiliar with Francoise Hardy you should click on this link ’cause Francoise Hardy is the bomb. I can never get over how pretty she was, and how modern she looked and sounded – fourty years ago BTW – and she’s pretty much even hotter now that she’s older – hrmmm… maybe the French have always been good at the whole music and outfits thing…)

And it is this:

I watch the Hills.

BUT

I feel that in this last episode, something important happened: It is no longer important whether or not it’s real. I don’t care. I never really cared, but this episode cemented it for me.

Actually, I think I prefer to think of it all as some constructed fairy tale. It allows me to feel like my own life isn’t so very crappy because I don’t have to compare our realities. Because “reality” on the Hill’s is something along the line of that the worst thing that could possibly happen to you is ruining your ballgown because you were out partying in it at a Parisian nightclub with some French rock stars.

Sigh…

Whose life could compare to that?

Even Carrie Bradshaw’s last trip to Paris kinda sucked it big time.

For those of those unfamiliar, this season premiered with an episode in which our heroine (the adorable Lauren Conrad) jetted off to Paris.

She was in town to go to a ball – and then poor little miss Cinderlauren burned her ballgown and had nothing to wear to the ball – but it’s ok cause a designer simply whipped up an even more fabulous dress for her to wear! Yay!

Then of course, while at the ball (which turned out to be kinda boring, FYI) who do you think shows up? Yeah, a gorgeous French rocker (who is seriously crushing on our gal BTW) in some very tight pants on a very tight vespa. So what does Lauren do? Hikes up her ball gown and goes for a midnight tour of Paris, of course! Who wouldn’t?

Also: who doesn’t love a girl that looks hot in red lipstick, and knows to co-ordinate her nails and beverage accordingly.

Also: Whitney seems like such a good influence on everyone, especially Laruen – who doesn’t exactly have the best track record when choosing friends (to say the least). So astoundingly down to earth. And soo so pretty-pretty. Katherine Heigl pretty. God, I wish she were my BFF/coworker.

The show may be reality TV – but the reality is for the girls who watch it, it’s 100% fantasy fulfillment. Just like reading Teen Vogue. Nobody’s shocked when it turns out to be less than the truth – whether or not Heidi actually thinks she has a legitimate singing career, Lauren does a lick of work at Teen Vogue, or Audrina posed for nude pictures.

Not important. More debutante balls please. More Paris. More partys. More outfits. More cat fights. More playboys. More rock stars.

It’s an indulgence, and as such it fits into my life alongside my more serious pursuits.

And if I’m supposed to give it up, simply because it’s silly, than I say to you: give up your Will Ferrel movies, your sporting events, your Guitar Hero and your American Idol.

You do all that, and I’ll stop watching the Hills.

Heath Ledger?

Really?

Seriously?

I’ve loved that dude since Roar. He’s like my teenage crush number 2 (number 1 was Christian Bale – so just imagine how excited I was to see him star alongside Batman as Joker – and now it’s just going to be creepy).

And he was an amazing actor to boot – he turned even teenybopper flicks into something interesting and inherently watchable (10 Things I Hate About You for example – and A Knights’s Tale too).

Poor dude had a baby girl.

I mean, hollywood actors implode from time to time, but when’s the last time anyone of actual worth died and left behind a little helpless baby.

Pretty much never.

Can we get Hollywood off of drugs now, please? Damn things are destroying my favourite actors, and acting’s something I actually used to enjoy and respect at one point in time.

Ok, so I don’t normally talk about this sorta thing here but:

a) She might belong to a cult, but did Katie Holmes not look smokingly gorgeous here? Yes. I believe she did.
b) Would I not (with my admittedly chunkier build, but exact same texture and colour of hair) look similarly smokingly gorgeous in a similar haircut? Yes, I think so too.

We rented a bunch of movies over the weekend and, by some fluke, all of them turned out to be perfect for a snow-bound, tree-trimming weekend. Each was very different, but very good in it’s own way.

First we watched a Japanese animated movie called Paprika.

It had that sumptuous, colourful, dense, Hayao Miyazaki style imagery I am really digging these days. The plot was kinda trippy, (a company develops a machine that lets people enter each others dreams – but something is corrupting the dreams of those who use the machine) but not completely unintelligible – at least, not compared to say, a David Lynch movie. Compared to Mullholand Drive this movie was pretty straightforward. The eclectic/electro soundtrack was pretty cool too – the “parade” song in particular is definitely stuck in my head these days.

Then we watched a musical: Hairspray.

They filmed this all over Toronto last year, with the main street scene close to our old apartment in Parkdale. They transformed a whole, actual city block into 1962 Baltimore (the early sixties is my absolute favorite era). We visited one afternoon when they weren’t filming, and it was amazing the attention to detail they put into the thing. I was pretty wary of a big studio adaptation of such a classic cult film, but I was impressed first by their authentic sets, then by the thumbs up of John Waters himself (not exactly an easy thing to get from such a known curmudgeon) and then by the good reviews.

So we finally took the plunge, and gave it a go, and we were impressed. The singing and the plot ebbed and flowed naturally and didn’t take itself too seriously – and the music didn’t even suck all that much – pretty catchy, actually. With the possible exception of John Travolta (who wasn’t even all that bad, considering) the cast was perfect, and any opportunity to see Christopher Walken sing and dance should be taken.

Then we watched a small indie feature: Waitress.

You might have heard of this one, as the woman (Adrienne Shelley) who wrote and directed it was murdered shortly before it’s release – which I would normally be wary of, as films in these situation often get hyped out of control. However, in this case the hype was justified and it truly is sad that this unique voice was silenced.

It’s a bittersweet little film about a young woman (Keri Russell) who works in a pie diner and makes miraculously delicious pies. She gets pregnant by her abusive husband (Jeremy Sisto, duh), and then falls in love with her gynecologist. It reminded me a bit of The Gilmore Girls – snappy dialoge, eccentric small townies (including Andy Griffith!), and a general romantic quirkiness.

I mean, The bottom line is, this movie involves quirkiness and pies, so I am pretty much in love with it.