Sure, it’s neither an irresponsible recap nor even a particularly timely GIF, but we’ve gotta break up the blog doldrums somehow, right? Right. Besides, this might not be Peggy riding on a motorcycle (and really, what is?), but at least it’s a step in the right catching-up direction, right? Also right.
Sure, I had a few bones to pick with the last season of Lost, never mind the series finale I couldn’t shut up about before it aired (because of all the excitement) and couldn’t much remember afterward (because of all the gin and tonics–just kidding! It was on account of the rage strokes). I also recognize I’m still tragically behind on this past season’s irresponsible Mad Men recaps, so perhaps this comes as something of a blog beat FAIL, but no matter. The internet has blessed us with video where Lost‘s Hurley and Mad Men‘s Don Draper attempt to carry on a conversation with their respective verbal tics. As a video smash-up, it’s pretty much what you’d expect (amusing, but in a very interweb sort of way), which is precisely why it’s totally worth your while:
What an insightful and riveting conversation, guys! I wonder what happens next?
Hurley: Dude.
Don: What?
Hurley: Dude.
Don: What?
Susan Surandon: Doctor Scott!
Just like that. Back and forth. FOREVER.
Much love to Buzzfeed for this one.
Well, well, well. The Emmy nominations are out today, and Todd Haynes’s adaptation of Mildred Pierce is the leading contender with a whopping 21 nominations. Given the pedigree and the attention to period detail, this doesn’t strike me as a big surprise, but meh? I admit that I never got past the second episode, and a dear friend whose taste I can reliably trust insists that the final episode’s a doozy, but I honestly found myself bored. The pace felt plodding instead of deliberate, everything looked like a museum exhibition instead of a part of the contemporary times, and I ultimately decided a better use of five hours would be rereading James M. Cain’s novel while imagining Joan Crawford as Mildred. Sorry, Mildred Pierce (2011), but congratulations all the same!
That said, there is a single nomination that may actually get me to give a flip for once and tune in to the Emmy’s this year:
Why it’s Randee Heller, Miss Blankenship, from the fourth season of Mad Men! Ms. Heller is up for Best Guest Actress in a Drama against Cara Buono (Mad Men), Mary McDonnell (The Closer), Joan Cusack (Shameless), Loretta Devine (Grey’s Anatomy), Julia Stiles (Dexter), and Alfre Woodard (True Blood), which makes this the only Emmy category I’ve any investment in, because it’s Miss motherfuckin’ Blankenship!
Sure, I kinda dropped the ball with my irresponsible Mad Men recaps this past season, but I’ll if I hadn’t, those recaps would’ve been a Miss Blankenship love train until *SPOILER ALERT* she headed off to the big S&M dungeon ad agency in the sky, at which point those recaps would’ve been group therapy sessions for our (my) irrepressible case of the boohoo crybaby tears. My point is that the Emmys should give this woman the award. NOW. That way brilliance is recognized, justice is served, and I still will have never watched the Emmys.
Much love to Dlisted for the news, and to Newsweek and Warming Glow for the respective pics.
Obviously this is you right now in light of such news, but calm it down, Sally Draper. Simply put, the decision to bring back Irresponsible Mad Men Recaps has come on the heels of a few pressing issues I’ve been meaning to address:
So fasten your seat belts, everybody. We’ve got four seasons and five months to get irresponsibly recapped and ready for the fifth season of Mad Men. It’s going to be one campy, crazy ride.
Much love to Whitney for the head’s up about Netflix and Moya for the seed of inspiration!
There are many a marvelous Mad Men GIF, for sure. Pete Campbell dancing and Peggy on a motorcycle come to mind, as well as homemade favorites like Sally’s sweet potato tantrum from the fourth season premiere and Peggy’s infinite faceplant. Still, Lane Pryce dancing GIF trumps all because it’s Lane Pryce’s reenacting Megan Draper’s “Zou Bisou Bisou” birthday burlesque. You simply can’t top Lane “Steaks ‘r Accessories” Pryce attempting a sensual French Canadian dance of seduction, y’all. PUT A WIG ON IT AND GIVE IT A DRAG ACT!
Much love to Gifulmination for this one.
While not as enchanting as Lane “Belt Buckle o’ Beef” Pryce’s erotically charged Dance of No Veils (sit down, Salome!), Peggy Olson’s variation on the Twist (let’s call it the Hot ‘n Awkard) with her pinko-rag-writing boyfriend Abe Drexler is certainly the most hypnotic Mad Men GIF since Peggy rode that motorcycle. Really, those moves: so socially anxious, and so hot right now! (“Now” being 1966, of course, though I hear vintage is in this season.) Besides, if nothing else, it’s nice to see I’m not the only one who dances like they’re in desperate need of a neck brace. Dance, Peggy, dance! Shake, Abe, shake! And for the love of those fabulous window treatments, DON’T SPILL THAT MARTINI!
Much love to Stories by Michelle by way of Pajiba for this one.
Goodbye, other Mad Men GIFs. Yes, you’re all amazing in your own special ways, but only one GIF can be my spirit animal, and Betty Draper nom nom nomming on Bugles ’til the end of the interwebs is that GIF.
Much love to Max Silvestri’s tumblr (by way of his Twitter) for this one.
F***ck, and I do so love the way Betty Draper loves her ice cream. Bugles are out! Ice cream sundaes are in! Betty, stop bogarting the sundaes!
Much love to leo & television for this one.
The question isn’t “Who would want a picture of Betty Draper Francis and a bowl of sausage gravy?” No no, the question is “Who wouldn’t?”
Put on your eatin’ dresses, stop all the music, and be sure to save room for ice cream! “Fat Betty” is the only song we’ll need from here on out. EVER.
Much love to Vulture for this one.
Seeing how I love Mad Men almost as much as I abhor waiting for things, I’m naturally torn by these on-set photos taken during the filming of the fourth season. Sure, it’s assuring to know that (SPOILER ALERT!) Jon Hamm’s Don Draper is still capable of setting your genitals to stunned by wearing a two-piece suit:
But the problem comes in the fact that Jon Hamm doesn’t require a suit to start a five-alarm fire in your pants. Seriously, you can stick him in a white tee at a craft services table and that won’t stop me from losing all sense of focus and wishing I was coming home to a Duncan Hines Brownie Husband. For example:
I’ve just spent the past four hours staring at this picture trying to decide if I’d rather order the General Tso’s chicken or be the General Tso’s chicken. I mean, if a lack of Jon Hamm sexiness in my life is making me crave my local Chinese restaurant’s combo special (it comes with fried rice and an egg roll!), then I shudder to think what Christina Hendricks queuing up for some lasagna would do to me, and I’m doomed if Elisabeth Moss is spotted going back for a seconds on cheesecake. Seriously, feverish anticipation for season four of Mad Men is a feeling just like any other, which means I can eat.
The only difference is that this one might put me in a Rascal.
Much love to Best Week Ever for finding all this deliciousness.
News sources are reporting that the fourth season of Mad Men premiere has been officially confirmed for July 25th. Added to that, Mad Men‘s utterly brilliant third season? The DVD set’s going for a mere $17.99 on Amazon, which means we can all stuff our faces silly with Trudy’s scrumptious hats and slices of apple pie with cheddar cheese with Henry Francis and Don and Betty’s spicy meatball of an Italian vacation (oh, and let’s not forget that side of fresh foot), and that’s far more sustaining than yet another order of the General Tso’s. Even Don Draper agrees:
Seriously, when you’re as starved for some good Mad Men news as I am–particularly in light of Mattthew Weiner’s claims that the next season will probably be no homo and that Mad Men will end after its sixth season–I’m pretty sure this news is my personal enthusiasm equivalent of finding out about free root beer floats at Sonic:
Kirstie Alley knows precisely what I’m talking about. At least until she announces a second season of Fat Actress, at which point I’ll freak my freak in ways that makes this tweet look like a lesson in understatement.
In the mean time, though, just don’t ask me quite where we’re supposed to RRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN. Amazon’s packaging facilities? The Betty Ford Institute for Impatient Bitches? Hell if I know. I just know I’m inordinately excited right now.
Much love to Videogum for the Kirstie Alley tweet that never grows old.
Well will you lookit what Vulture dragged in? It’s a new poster promoting the fourth season of Mad Men:
YES. (Obviously.)
I mean, I could try and prattle on about the way the washed-out New York City backdrop recalls the striking minimalism of Mad Men‘s glorious opening credits, but I’m too distracted by Don Draper pensively staring out the window (which, like Don Draper doing absolutely anything, is sexual catnip) and the fact that the fourth season premiere is so close (JULY 25TH!), so let’s just leave it with the fact that this poster has my SQUEE!s of anticipation rapidly approaching SQUEE!CON 1 (Catastrophic Ear Bleeds Imminent).
Besides, I’m still mourning over the recent retirement of Amanda Bynes, actress extraordinaire. Now we’ll never find out what zany hijinks Daphne Reynolds gets herself into in What a Girl Wants 2: Bangers-and-Mash Boogaloo, so LET ME WEEP IN PEACE!
Oh, and in tangentially-related-to-this-poster Nobody Puts Baby in a Horner news, irresponsible recaps will most certainly be returning for the fourth season of Mad Men, so rejoice! Now in case you’re uninitiated and in need of knowing what sort of half-crazed, frequently camp beast you’re in for (or you’re just in the mood for a trip down a particularly batshit stretch of Mad Men memory lane), I’ve collected the entirety of the third season’s recaps (along with their corresponding episodes) after the jump:
Really, when you think about it, they’re like the half-lucid musings of a rabid drag queen, and is that something you and all your friends really want to be missing out on? No, I think not.
Much love to Michael Ausiello over at Entertainment Weekly‘s The Ausiello Files for breaking this one.
Remember that one time in Mad Men‘s second season when Kurt proved himself to be Peggy’s number-one ‘mo and gave her a much needed makeover via one ferocious bob? Of course you do:
It was one of the rare SQUEE!-worthy moments on Mad Men that doesn’t involve Joan saying something bitchy, Trudy wearing an incredible hat, or Peggy being be totally gangsta. Seriously, this was one of the great moments in Mad Men that came as such an unexpected delight that you’d never forget it. Unless, of course, you hadn’t got that caught up in the show yet and I totally ruined the surprise for you, in which case you only remember the incontrollable urge to punch me in the face. Rage blackouts: they happen.
ANYWAYS, The Hollywood Reporter‘s blog The Live Feed has a few new pics from the upcoming fourth season of Mad Men. Most of them are of the non-descript, non-spoilery here’s-Don-Draper-in-a-suit variety, but one of them contains a TOTAL GAME CHANGER, by which I mean Peggy Olsen’s rocking a fabulous new ‘do, bitches:
Fuck yeah, Peggy Olsen, WORK IT!
In all seriousness (well, as much as I’m capable of, at least), I do think this is the most telling photo we’ve gotten so far. There’s all sorts of talk that Mad Men might be taking another major chronological leap forward, and goodness knows Peggy’s hair suggests a decent amount of time has passed since the end of Season Three. Her look is more business-oriented and mature than her playful bob from previous seasons. I’d guess at least a year has passed at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and business is doing pretty well. After all, why else would Peggy be up-‘doing for the job that she wants (Baddest-Ass Bitch in Advertising) and not the job he has (Baddest-Ass Bitch in Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Who Isn’t Joan Holloway)? And, more importantly, what do you all think of the new look? Fetching? Grandmalicious? Circa 1964 or 1965? DISCUSS.
Much love to Movieline for the head’s up.
So in case you’ve been under some sad, sad rock where the gentle glow of quality television program does not shine, Mad Men‘s fourth season fast approaches, by which I mean why the f*ck isn’t it July 25th already? Seriously.
Anyways, should your sad, sad rock happened to be buried under a boulder where the interwebs dare not tread, you might not have heard about how AMC has a Mad Men avatar generator over at MadMenYourself.com as part of their online marketing campaign. Well, they do, and it’s brilliant, and now Mad Men Yourself has been updated in anticipation of the fourth season, so you know what that means: it’s time to Mad Men Yourself all over again! Everybody’s doing it, and by everybody, I mean me:
See, last season’s Mad Men Yourself me was all about sartorial simplicity (cardigans and ties) and shameless alcoholism (martinis…EVERYWHERE), but a new season of Mad Men demands a new Mad Men me (and you!), so I decided The Look for season 4 is all about “business pizazz!” (plaid jackets and briefcases) and “slightly more conspicuous alcoholic” (oh, Bloody Mary, the drink that’s never too early to drink and can always just be “tomato juice, but fancy” to your coworkers). My Look also says “Someone’s taken their love of Joan Holloway’s accordion playing one step too far,” but this isn’t a rip-off of a tagline for post-modern slasher, so let’s go see what sort of zany moments from Season Three your Mad Men Yourself you can get yourself into:
Ooh, you too can be the latest member of the exciting new advertising firm Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce! I don’t know about you, but I’ll toast my fancy tomato juice to that, and then I’ll entertain everybody with some accordion, because who doesn’t love the accordion? (Sad Joan Halloway, that’s who.)
Remember when Sal and Don flew to London to work their magic on the London Fog account, and then Sal got some man-lovin’ as well? Of course you do, which is precisely why you want to be a part of this magic moment. Just be sure you don’t forget some pajamas for the flight. International travel can be so terribly exhausting, particularly when you’re biding your time ’til you get to stuff your face with fish and chips and faggots by playing the accordion.
And of course, how could you not want to relax after a hot summer’s day of ignoring your children with a Bloody Mary and a recline on your chaise lounge? I mean, Betty Draper covets her chaise lounge. I covet her chaise lounge. Perhaps you covet her chaise lounge too. Regardless of your position on chaise lounges, though, it’s an obvious win-win situation. Unless you’re Bobby or Sally Draper, in which case you should go just occupy yourself with a plastic bag. While I play the accordion.
You can even find yourself in one my favorite episodes from the third season of Mad Men:
You know, the one where Betty and Don take a trip to Italy, and Betty gets her hair styled fabulously (so fabulously!), but then she has an “unfortunate” boating “accident” that’s in no way related to that one scene in Talented Mr. Ripley, and then you have to dash down to the Piazza in your finest attire and console Don a single rose? And some sensual accordion action to set the properly romantic mood? Okay, so maybe that’s not quite the way it actually went down in Italy, but that’s the beauty of more Mad Men Yourself, you guys: it’s just like fan fiction, but with the exemplary stylings of Nobody’s Sweetheart‘s Dyna Moe, and an even less subtles sense of homoeroticism.
Oh, and accordion. So much accordion.
You know what’s only twelve days away? The fourth season of Mad Men. While that’s still twelve days too many in my book, I do manage to console myself with the reminder that at least I don’t get my cable from AT&T’s U-Verse. According to Dealine.com, AT&T thinks AMC is “among the least-watched and most overpriced per viewer,” and as a result there’s talk that U-Verse customers might miss out on the fourth season premiere on account of AMC being dropped from U-Verse’s lineup. This just goes to show that the only thing spottier than AT&T’s wireless service is the logic behind their cable service decisions, which is saying a lot, but I digress. After all, when life gives you the bad-idea lemons, LA Times Magazine gives you gives you fabulous-Christina-Hendricks-profile-ade!
Seriously, it’s quite fabulous, and I could go over the highlights for you, but I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you if you haven’t already read it, even though I know you’ve already read it because you’re so good about being on top of things. Besides, I really don’t need another sadness stroke thinking about how Christina Hendricks filmed Life as We Know It in Atlanta. Honestly, if I had known this was happening, I would’ve flown down for an impromptu “family visit,” which would have in fact look suspiciously like that one time that kid tried to give Megan Fox a rose:
Except with more Chik-fil-A chicken biscuit. Obviously.
ANYWAYS, my main reason for not discussing the article is because I’ve been hypnotized by how stunning Ms. Hendricks looks in the accompanying photospread. Just look at her in this bejeweled felt beano by Philip Treacy:
I WANT THAT.
And don’t even get me started about this wide brim hat from Treacy’s collection, aka the hat I want to wear at next year’s Kentucky Derby Party despite the fact that it’s priced at $1,478:
I hope their website takes Visa, MasterCard, and First-Born Baby, because I’m going to have to pay with all three.
Seriously, though, it’s like I’ve died and gone to a heaven where the angels all look like Joan Holloway and are outfitted in fancy cerulean hats instead of halos. I’m simply too transfixed by the thought to have words right now. Well that, and I keep thinking about of how Trudy Campbell is going to be so fucking pissed, y’all. Hats are her thing, much like how hoop earrings are Regina George’s and crazy trains made out of barely coherent word vomit and homo things are mine.
Much love to LA Times Magazine for the pics, and three-sassy snaps to Megan for the request.
I mean, here’s actress Kiernan Shipka from a photo shoot a for a recent piece about high fashions and the child actresses lucky enough to wear them in Interview:
And here she is in a video interview where she calls Betty Draper “evil,” casually refers to Elisabeth Moss as “Lizzie,” and also makes mention to the fact that’s she’s apparently going to throw a tantrum in the season premiere of Mad Men, which is news so exciting my head just exploded:
Basically what I’m trying to say is that “Who doesn’t love Sally Draper?” is a stupid question with an obvious answer (NOBODY), and if you care to disagree, you can go play in a dry cleaning bag.
Much love to Laura for this one.
Well well well, we finally have a recap for “Public Relations” nearly a week after the fourth season of Mad Men premiered? Looks like somebody has certainly been slacking off as of late, and I’m not talking about Don Draper:
Okay, maybe just a little, but the man’s probably been day drinking, so give him some slack. I, on the other hand, have no excuse save for the fact that irresponsible recapping–much like love or hating on sweet potato casserole–means never having to say you’re sorry.
Anyways, the fourth season of Mad Men premiered this past Sunday, which means a whole lot of this was happening, particularly when this scene happened:
Okay, I lied. When Don had The Luckiest Streetwalker in the World (that’s my name for her because that’s what she is) over for a little Thanksgiving stuffing and face slapping, my brain stopped exploding because I was too busy with all the rage strokes. Seriously, someone in Mad Men gets paid to have sex with Don Draper AND slap him across the face, even though anybody in their right mind (or naughty bits) would do that for free? There’s only one acceptable response in situations like this:
Seriously.
ANYWAYS, I could go on about how great it is to have Mad Men back in my life (so great!), the incredible ZING! that Henry Francis’s mother lobbied at him about what a bad idea marrying Betty was, and how much I’m already loving Peggy’s and Joan’s and Betty’s respective hair styles this season (the most!). I could spend a few moments on what a bitchy child Betty has become (a petulant-child uber-bitch) or the fact that I really wish Mad Men had give us more time with the two actresses who fought over the Sugarberry Ham:
Sure, I recognize that Mad Men is not Dynasty as written by an old queen who has a fondness for 1960s’ kitsch and more food cravings than a pregnant woman (aka, me), but how could a catfight over a ham between two middle-aged women not be worthy of one of these. I guess such a scene will just have to be like the second floor of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and/or the Jantzen two-piece swimsuit ad: nothing more than a tease. UGH, digression.
So as I was saying, we could talk about all sorts of things, but it all seems so fruitless when you think about it. The reality is that I’m so happy to have Mad Men back I can forgive the narrative heavy-handedness when Don kicks out the Jantzen execs (we get it, he’s frustrated with Betty, not them!) and the fact that we got no screen time with Trudy Campbell or her hats (I demand holiday-hat ferociousness come the Christmas episode, damnit!), and the only thing more tiring than reading volumes of adulatory gay screech is trying to figure out figure out another way to express how fucking fabulous this show is. So let’s just keep things irresponsible (like there’s any other way around her) and move on with this week’s recap. Besides, much like Don Draper, I’d rather my work speak for itself:
And by “work,” I mean making a GIF of the most perfect Thanksgiving Day food tantrum I’ve ever seen. NO MORE SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE WITH MARSHMALLOWS!
Oh man, y’all. If there’s one thing that’s great about summer Fridays at my place of work, it’s that I get every other Friday off of work. If there’s one thing that’s not the new hotness, however, it’s that putting in the extra hours to get those precious Fridays off has made me a raggedy-ass bitch when it comes to tending to this particular corner of the interwebs. Blog productivity has shamelessly fallen to the wayside, egregious errors have been made, and I still haven’t gotten around to discussing the eagerly anticipated/probable train wreck that is Burlesque. Sure, this little blog may not buy my bacon and eggs, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel obliged to those of you out there who so kindly indulge my crazy. Anyways, apologies are like the Lost series finale (obligatory, yet wholly unfulfilling), so point being: IT’S TIME TO BUST SOME BLOG ASS AND START GETTING CAUGHT UP ON EVERYTHING. (That’s my motivational speaker voice.)
In the mean time, though, let’s all ponder the following important question:
I remain of the opinion that there’s no such thing as being too sexist Mad Men strives to create an accurate–not revisionist–portrait of the 1960s, and leveling charges of sexism at Mad Men confuses the sexual and gender politics of the era with those of the show itself. Mad Men‘s “sexism” is in fact a meta-commentary on sexism, if you will, but that’s just my interpretation. That being said, let’s go watch a short video that attempts to get to heart of the matter:
See? It’s a well established fact that a woman’s place is in the kitchen, which is probably why we even describe pregnancy in baking euphemisms, but even Mad Men knows that nobody should have to do laundry by hand. That’s the sort of talk that some people might say is pinko homo crazy talk, so in other words, Mad Men IS radical feminism.
I know I should be catching up on irresponsible Mad Men recaps as previously promised, and we’ll definitely get there (sometime before the fifth season, guaranteed!) at some point, but sometimes blog promises of catching up are meant to be blog broken, and this GIF of Peggy Olsen riding around on a red motorocycle is one of them. From last night’s Mad Men episode, “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword,” comes the new Mad Men GIF hotness, Peggy riding about on a Honda motorcycle:
So see? I told you it was your new favorite.
And as for GIF of Pete Campbell dancing? You know I love you, baby, and you’ll always be my first, but I think it’s time we started seeing other people.
Much love to Videogum’s werttrew for this one.
UPDATE (8.25.10): As werttrew noted in the comments, the original source of this most beloved GIF is from the fine folks over at ONTD.
