I received Mad Men seasons 1 and 2 for Christmas this year. I enjoyed both season 2 and 3 of this marvelous show previously, but after watching season one this weekend, I have to say this.
Mad Men may be the best drama that I have ever seen.
All the characters are perfectly developed, from the lowly secretaries getting sexually harassed in order to land a husband all the way up to the main characters. Every glance, every word has meaning. For those who idealize the 60s as some sort of utopia before the hippies came along, Mad Men tears a huge hole in that theory.
Don Draper, the big swinging head of the Sterling Cooper ad agency, drinks, smokes and cheats his way to the top of Madison Avenue. He's a strange sort of anti-hero, but while watching, you can't help but love him. Actually, all the characters are sort of reprehensible, but that is what makes the show go. They are real people, or at least as real as people on TV can be.
Draper also has a good run of mistresses. His wife is a sexy robot type, but he seems to pick women with substance. The Jewish department store owner. The beatnik chick. The teacher. All are compensating for the shallowness of a supposedly perfect life. Just another layer of complexity in this brilliant show.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Albums/Singles of the 2000s
Loyal readers,
I would like some submissions for albums/singles of the last decade (2000-2009). Length can be whatever you like, choices can be whatever you like (diversity breeds goodness). Please email your submissions by 12/31/09 to JDE1112@hotmail.com.
Oh, and no jokes. I don't want a top five consisting of Nickelback songs.
Thanks,
Jake Eickholt
I would like some submissions for albums/singles of the last decade (2000-2009). Length can be whatever you like, choices can be whatever you like (diversity breeds goodness). Please email your submissions by 12/31/09 to JDE1112@hotmail.com.
Oh, and no jokes. I don't want a top five consisting of Nickelback songs.
Thanks,
Jake Eickholt
Monday, December 07, 2009
Vampire Weekend - Everywhere (Cover)
80s Fleetwood Mac sort of sucked, but it had its moments..."Everywhere" was one of my highlights. And Vampire Weekend straight up kills this cover.
I Want You Back
Sometimes I reminisce over my life and this reminiscence comes back to one overwhelming thing: products that no longer exist that I wish did. Well, either that or drunken times in college. ANYWAYS...here are a few things I wish came back from the dead.
Cookies and Creme Twix-God, these things were good. It was a cookie layer and a cream layer covered in chocolate. The good folks at Twix started pimping PB Twix, and that was the end of the Cookies and Creme
Apple Slice-Pepsi used to make Apple, Cherry, Orange, Lemon Lime and Dr Slice. Then it was just Orange, Lemon Lime and Dr. Now, its none of the above. Apple Slice tasted like Apple Snapple, only carbonated. It was heavenly.
CD Singles/45s/Cassingles-If only for the B-Sides. I remember buying the singles from the first Third Eye Blind album just for the B-Sides (and yes, that album is incredibly underrated). You just don't get that value added with digital downloads.
Instruction Manuals for Video games-I remember getting Super Mario 2 for Chirstmas when I was 8 and reading about the transsexual dinosaur named Birdo that shot eggs out of its snout. Sure, games still come with manuals, but where are the crazy ass backstory to confuse an 8 year old boy?
Snack Wells Yogurt-Especially the chocolate cherry variety. I would throw one of those joints in the freezer and it was like frozen yogurt but only better.
McPatty Melt from McDonalds-A quarter pounder on rye bread with fried onions and Cheez Whiz. I remember eating 2 of these during a blizzard on the way to a North Stars-Maple Leafs game and falling in love.
An Alt-Rock Radio Station in MPLS-Sure, we have the Current, but I can only stand so much sub-par dead air from DJs and mindless twee pop. I want balls to the wall stations like Zone 105 and The Edge, stations that only had 30 song playlists and featured a "flashback lunch".
Anything else, loyal reader(s)?
Cookies and Creme Twix-God, these things were good. It was a cookie layer and a cream layer covered in chocolate. The good folks at Twix started pimping PB Twix, and that was the end of the Cookies and Creme
Apple Slice-Pepsi used to make Apple, Cherry, Orange, Lemon Lime and Dr Slice. Then it was just Orange, Lemon Lime and Dr. Now, its none of the above. Apple Slice tasted like Apple Snapple, only carbonated. It was heavenly.
CD Singles/45s/Cassingles-If only for the B-Sides. I remember buying the singles from the first Third Eye Blind album just for the B-Sides (and yes, that album is incredibly underrated). You just don't get that value added with digital downloads.
Instruction Manuals for Video games-I remember getting Super Mario 2 for Chirstmas when I was 8 and reading about the transsexual dinosaur named Birdo that shot eggs out of its snout. Sure, games still come with manuals, but where are the crazy ass backstory to confuse an 8 year old boy?
Snack Wells Yogurt-Especially the chocolate cherry variety. I would throw one of those joints in the freezer and it was like frozen yogurt but only better.
McPatty Melt from McDonalds-A quarter pounder on rye bread with fried onions and Cheez Whiz. I remember eating 2 of these during a blizzard on the way to a North Stars-Maple Leafs game and falling in love.
An Alt-Rock Radio Station in MPLS-Sure, we have the Current, but I can only stand so much sub-par dead air from DJs and mindless twee pop. I want balls to the wall stations like Zone 105 and The Edge, stations that only had 30 song playlists and featured a "flashback lunch".
Anything else, loyal reader(s)?
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Record Show Journal 12/5/09
The Uptown VFW was once again the host to a record show today. And once again, the collection of folk who like to dig through piles of hot wax did not fail to disappoint.
Record shows usually draw out three broad groups of people. There are the old burnouts who love rambling about seeing Blue Cheer back in '68. There are the smelly dorks rocking Starter jackets looking for first pressings of obscure garage records. And finally there are the hipster kids with their gigantic 80s glasses, skinny jeans and neck beards who sell weird metal and "noise" records. I have a love/hate relationship with them all. I love them due to the fact that I can obtain KISS records for pennies on the dollar from the elitist burnouts and dorks, and I hate them because they have no concept of personal space or public decorum.
The show is always a great place to eavesdrop on stupid conversations about freak pop culture things you would hear no where else. Today, I heard two unwashed 40 somethings talk about NWA Wrestling from Florida for at least a half an hour. I had walked away from the bins in their general area, came back, and they were still talking about Harley Race and Abdullah The Butcher. One actually called Barry Horrowitz a great wrestler. I was also offered "a great price on steaks" by some redneck in the parking lot. Yep, these are the kind of people I choose to spend my Saturdays with.
Today's show was a huge success for me personally due to two factors: one was the place smelled more like hamburgers and hot dogs and less like farts than it usually does, and two was that I got a ton of great records for cheap. Here's the haul:
-The Jam "Sound Affects"
-Bob Seger "Seven"
-The Music Explosion "Little Bit O' Soul"
-Issac Hayes "Black Moses
-Wizzard "Eddy and the Falcons"
-Dead Kennedys "In God We Trust, Etc"
-Dave Edmunds "Tracks on Wax"
-Stevie Wonder "My Cherie Amour"
-KISS "Double Platinum"
Total spent: 27 bucks. Well, 29 bucks if you count the enterance fee.
Record shows usually draw out three broad groups of people. There are the old burnouts who love rambling about seeing Blue Cheer back in '68. There are the smelly dorks rocking Starter jackets looking for first pressings of obscure garage records. And finally there are the hipster kids with their gigantic 80s glasses, skinny jeans and neck beards who sell weird metal and "noise" records. I have a love/hate relationship with them all. I love them due to the fact that I can obtain KISS records for pennies on the dollar from the elitist burnouts and dorks, and I hate them because they have no concept of personal space or public decorum.
The show is always a great place to eavesdrop on stupid conversations about freak pop culture things you would hear no where else. Today, I heard two unwashed 40 somethings talk about NWA Wrestling from Florida for at least a half an hour. I had walked away from the bins in their general area, came back, and they were still talking about Harley Race and Abdullah The Butcher. One actually called Barry Horrowitz a great wrestler. I was also offered "a great price on steaks" by some redneck in the parking lot. Yep, these are the kind of people I choose to spend my Saturdays with.
Today's show was a huge success for me personally due to two factors: one was the place smelled more like hamburgers and hot dogs and less like farts than it usually does, and two was that I got a ton of great records for cheap. Here's the haul:
-The Jam "Sound Affects"
-Bob Seger "Seven"
-The Music Explosion "Little Bit O' Soul"
-Issac Hayes "Black Moses
-Wizzard "Eddy and the Falcons"
-Dead Kennedys "In God We Trust, Etc"
-Dave Edmunds "Tracks on Wax"
-Stevie Wonder "My Cherie Amour"
-KISS "Double Platinum"
Total spent: 27 bucks. Well, 29 bucks if you count the enterance fee.
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