Roger Federer hit another shot between his legs. Now he's just showing off. Here's last year's.



Via Jonah Keri.

Recently, the Tampa Bay Rays wore plaid blazers, or BRayzers, on a road trip.


Recently, Alan Cumming wore a plaid suit to the Creative Arts EMMYs.



Recently, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones went back on tour.

These can not all be a coincidence.

I don't know how to start this week's recap, so I'll just remind you that every week, I write a Mad Men recap, while Chris Piascik draws one.

-"It's an idiom. Did you know that?" Don and Peggy are barely able to conceal their disdain in the interview with Roger's wife's cousin who wants a job. His book is all one idea and then ads he's pulled out of magazines for inspiration. "Don't you ever tear things out of magazines?" We've seen Don tear things out of magazines at least once. That fact foreshadows the theme of the episode. Nice to see the Lemon VW ad make another appearance.
-"It's a relief to see someone worse than me." Peggy has never been happy for long. She has a chip on her shoulder about her status in the firm and did at Sterling Cooper, as well. This is probably what drives her, huh?
-They're hitting the Roger not doing anything pretty hard this episode. In 2 scenes he's rambling about Howdie Doodie and chocolate ice cream respectively. I guess he's writing a book now? Also, are Roger and Don friends again? They seemed pretty jovial today, even before the award.
-Flashing back to Don selling furs and the story of how it all started. We'd seen a flashback to that time in Don's life before, but it hadn't been fleshed out. Roger looked younger, and they changed up the wardrobe. I hadn't really thought of this before, but it seems that Don made his way to the top of Sterling Cooper in about 6-8 years, and probably less. Mad Men Season 1 started around March, 1960, and the Korean War ended in 1953. Even if Don was among the first wave of soldiers in Korea, there would have had to be some time for convalescence, time to get found by Anne Draper selling used cars, time to work all that out with her, to move to NYC, etc, etc.
-Don was super eager to get a job and included a book of his work in the fur coat to Joan. So I guess she's been there for a while.
-"Make it simple, but significant." Indeed.
-I liked Roger ripping on Ted Chaough ("Isn't that a lot of extra letters" and "Chagagag"). Not really sure why Ted is so uppity.
-"Don't talk to me right now." Don is so mean to Pete Campbell. I think everyone loves it!
-Oh, hello, Duck Phillips. Did someone over-serve you?
-"Who claps for themselves?" The addition of an Art Director character was a bit jarring. Sal played such a big role in the firm (and in several episodes) that it seems like we should have heard from this character before tonight. In any case, I like how Peggy puts him in his place stripping for him and forcing him to concede the point. "Win the prize for the smuggest bitch in the world."
-You all saw that after both Don and Roger were holding Joan's hand under the table, Don kissed Joan on the lips before going up to the stage, right? She was definitely surprised. It was more than just a celebratory kiss. The victory kicked off something of a bender. During the Life cereal pitch, Don was super-eager and pretty full of himself. He wanted to prove he could close a pitch while drunk (which I'm actually surprised hasn't been shown before), and kept rattling off lines until he used one he had heard earlier in the day during the terrible interview. Oops.
-"If everyone set?" "That's my word for it." Oh, Lane.
-More Mrs. Blankenship comic relief. She wears a wig and was surly. Why hasn't she been replaced? She's the Jar Jar Binks of Mad Men.
-"Award or no award you're still Don Draper." "Whatever that means." I thought we might get through one episode without a question of identity. I guess not.
-"You've crossed the border from lubricated to morose." Ladies and gentlemen, your designated moral compass, Joan!
-Good to have Ken Cosgrove back and Pete Campbell feeling threatened. Cosgrove good naturedly dealing with it. Campbell obviously feels threatened, and always has. Would he be Ken's boss?
-"Then he sucks on Vick's." Real subtle, guys.
-Another subtle moment in the episode was Don badgering Roger into letting him buy him a drink. Probably reading too much into this, but Roger didn't seem totally comfortable with drinking with Don so early in the day. Maybe he was playing it up, but wouldn't it be an interesting wrinkle if Don was the bad influence all these years? This idea was reinforced a bit with the scene between Don and Doris. He's obviously been overdoing it for a long time, even before getting to Sterling Cooper. Though Doris called him Dick at during the scene. When could that have been? I thought he ran away from home and went straight into the army. He was Don Draper when he came home. Someone help me with this one.
-Roger > Don > Peggy > Danny. This progression was pretty clear through the episode and is, I think, the main theme from tonight. Everybody comes from somewhere, gets their start somewhere. Roger didn't remember hiring Don because he was drunk. Don was drunk and used Danny's line forcing his hire. Roger told Don he forgot to tell Roger he couldn't have done it without him. According to Peggy, Don wouldn't have been able to do it without her because it was her idea. And he wouldn't have been able to seal Life Cereal without Danny's line. Danny is really, really short.
-Don is still out of control, but on the evil scale, he didn't really move backwards at all, and you have to consider that a positive. He did forget to pick up his kids, but as long as he's not hitting on the nieces of dear friends, or sleeping with his secretary, he's winning, right?

+++
Update: The first 2 comments below bring up an interesting point that I had considered, but decided to interpret differently. Basically they suggest that at 2 points in the episode, characters got into situations where they blacked out. Roger either agreed to hire Don during a blackout, or Don convinced him that he had. Also, Don blacked out and picked up a waitress as Dick Whitman. I don't really want to believe that Mad Men would resort to blackouts as a plot device, which is why I interpreted it differently. I read the Dick Whitman waitress pick up as a flashback to some time in the past. On the other hand, there's too much to imply if we're to believe Don made up the story about Roger hiring him, hoping that Roger would forget. Lots to speculate on this week.

Update 2:
On having occasion to watch the episode again, I'm thinking that it is the same weekend and Don was so wasted, he did tell Doris his name was Dick... Also, I didn't realize this before, but the Life Cereal pitch had notes of the Kodak Carousel pitch. Nostalgia. It was funny to hear the Kodak Carousel pitch drunken and rushed.

This fantastic collection of subway photos from 1970's and 80's New York City are great to look at.

“I wanted to transform the subway from its dark, degrading, and impersonal reality into images that open up our experience again to the color, sensuality, and vitality of the individual souls that ride it each day.” In “Subway”, passengers of the city’s subterranean world are portrayed in detail, revealing the interplay of its inner landscape and outer vistas, set against a gritty, graffiti-strewn background and displayed in tones that Davidson describes as “an iridescence like that I had seen in photographs of deep-sea fish”.

This was all over Tumblr the other day. It's via them.

"It got me under the water but not much because I started kicking at its neck and I came back up again and I'm punching its nose again, punching, punching, punching."

It's pouring rain out and has been for the last 2 days. The fire alarm went off about an hour and a half ago. We all went out for 20 minutes, got soaked, and then they told us we could go back in, but the alarm "wouldn't reset for 15 more minutes." It went on for another 55 minutes. Jon made a video of office antics so you can get a taste of what it was like. I'm the one with tissue in my ears. It worked.

Ragbag decided to determine how much you'd need to be making in a year before it's not worth your time to pick up a coin. Pretty cool.



Via Cosmo Catalano

I saw Click Track refer to Cee Lo's Fuck You as the song of the summer. I'd agree, but on the other hand, I don't remember the last Song of the Summer I liked. Maybe it was that Kevin Costner song from Robin Hood.

Also, I finally had a reason to make a Keep Calm poster.

Each week, I write a recap of Mad Men, and Chris Piascik draws one.

I'm going to watch Mad Men until the series ends. It's my favorite show right now. I'm not giving up or anything, but in a couple years, I wouldn't be surprised if people refer to this episode as the one were Don Draper water skied over a shark. From the first scene with Mrs. Blankenship wearing the silly magnifying glass and providing general comedic relief, to the Italian Job-style montage when they hoodwinking an up-and-coming agency into blowing a pitch, this episode just seemed to have far more fluff than usual. I like the hoodwinking and I'm tired of Blankenship, and this episode was different.

-The mention by Roger Sterling of Selma probably puts this episode at the first week of March. "You still think they don't need a civil rights law." It was interesting that Sterling was the one to say this to Cooper, as he doesn't seem the most liberal of all the characters. On the other hand, Cooper, while appearing conservative, doesn't seem like a total dick.
-A lot of Sterling's appearances this year have been littered with one liners and jokes. The poop puns at the beginning of the partners meeting is no exception. "Lucky Strike is great, meeting adjourned."
-Who is Dr. Lyle Evans? Seems like it isn't a real historic figure, which... Well, no reason not to make up historical people and send your viewers to Google, right?
-Sally was obviously a big part of the episode, acting out by cutting her hair so Don would like it, and then being an adolescent at a slumber party. (Uh... I don't even think I can write about it, but when was the last time you saw THAT subject matter covered on TV, even on, gasp, cable?) Is there any connection to how Sally is acting out and how Roger is acting out. Sally wants to make a statement about the divorce, and if Pete is right about Roger, Roger wants to make a statement about not being the top dog at SCDP. "The rest of us are trying to build something."
-Oh, Ted Shaw / Ted Chaough, Good luck, champ. "Well, if it isn't the inscrutable Don Draper." He looked like James Spader didn't he? Don played him pretty well with his misdirection. Additionally, the scene where Don goes in to resign the motorcycle campaign was Kodak Kodachrome-level Don Draper... There hasn't been a ton of that energy yet this year.
-"Do you know the river of shit I'm gonna get from her mother." Is Betty Draper the coldest woman on TV? If not, she's in the running. Interesting that both Don and Henry push back on Betty slapping Sally. "That was impulsive, I'll apologize." Don used to call Betty a child pretty often. That got addressed in tonight, as well. When talking to the school psychiatrist, Betty started talking and couldn't stop, and she got that creepy smile when looking at the doll house. Betty needs help. "I feel like Sally did this to punish me." Damn it, Betty, it's not all about you.
-Remember when Carlton slapped that other dude's son and the other dude got weirded out?
-Did you see the sigh Henry Frances let out after Betty went up the stairs? There is a lot of regret in that sigh.
-All of the scenes with Honda were funny. Mostly because of Pete Campbell or the translator, "I don't know what this room is for." "It's a cantaloupe."
-"I'm still wondering what makes you work." Love it.
-The auteur commercial director, is there anyone more annoying? Besides Ted Shaw / Ted Chaough, at least. It's hard to tell if Ted will be a recurring character or not. It makes sense to give Don an external competitor, it seems a little late in the game to introduce a new agency to play that role. We'll just have to wonder, though I'm glad they didn't just the easy way out of using an ex-Draper employee. "And give me 20 different words for pimples."
-"Why does everyone need to talk about everything?" Don started by talking about not seeing the value of talking, and then shared a lot with the good doctor, an "interested stranger". On the other hand, she must find Don pretty irresistible to let him in on her fake marriage act.
-"And when I drop them off, I feel relieved. And then I miss them." Unlike Don regressing into eternal badness, if last week he was neutral, I'd have to say this week he moved forward, towards the light. If only for showing concern after Betty slapped Sally and opening up about missing his kids. The theory that Don was going to continue to spiral downward with each irredeemable act is not looking good right now. Not saying he couldn't continue to fall, or that there were any great reveals this episode, just that the trend was reversed.
-"Since when is forgiveness a better quality than loyalty?" It's hard to know what loyalty means on Mad Men. Sterling is probably the worst philanderer than Don.

My latest @eatBoston event is today and tomorrow. Ice Cream Showdown! The best ice cream shops from the Boston area setting up in a parking lot to support deserving local organizations. This year is 2 days in 2 different parts of town. Full info including participants, T Shirts, etc at the link above.