Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know: Mad Men, AMC, 2007/2008

The opening sequence of Mad Men floats across the screen like a slick, successful Everyman executive’s nightmare: the silhouetted man reaches his expansive office, which slowly crumbles as he freefalls, past giant advertising billboards towards what end, we are unsure.  His doom?  Utopia?  Only the final episode will tell.

By referencing indelible images of the past (9/11, Hitchcock’s Vertigo) and soundtracked by David Carbonara’s haunting instrumental theme, the scene is set.  Madison Avenue.  New York.  The 1960s.  Nixon is in power and a young Senator by the name of John F. Kennedy is making his mark.  A time when men are men – and on Madison Avenue, they are the masters of the universe – and rarely seen without a cigarette or a drink in hand.  A time when women are housewives, mothers, daughters, secretaries, mistresses and shopgirls and occasionally, artists or divorcées – but never equals.  When children are seen but rarely heard.  When hippy beatniks and their ‘art’ are irrelevant and peripheral.  The Beatles have yet to hit America, the Summer of Love is almost a decade away and Vietnam was simply an exotic destination in East Asia.

Engaging in liplock, sir? You’re nicked!

In news to cheer the hearts of all broken-hearted, lonely folk  beseiged by the media and marketing pre-Valentine’s Day blitz last week, one UK train station has imposed a kissing ban.

It’s All Gone Too Far

Facebook is a wonderful (if not invasive) phenomenon. Each bulletin board shrine to our good selves can update a multitude of people – our ‘friends’ and ‘network’- as to where we’re at in a nanosecond. And conversely, we can apprise ourselves as to what our friends, family, acquaintances and stalkees are up to at any given moment. Many of us acknowledge this as a fairly useful, sometimes necessary, addition for keeping up with folks in our busy lives. And Microsoft seems to have confirmed this with a rumoured deal of US$250 billion for a minority stake in the networking site.

When I Grow Up

As the year lazily plots it course, the reappearance of another birthday on the horizon inspired a period of quiet introspection; stock was taken of last year’s events and what I had learnt, and there was much contemplation of what the new year may bring. With this reflective mindset and the annual ’sloughing off of the old self’ fast approaching, off I trotted to Digitise or Die: What is the Future of the Book?, a discussion between Margaret Atwood, Andrew O’Hagan, Erica Wagner, the literary editor at the Times and Stephen Page, chief executive of Faber & Faber at Southbank on a topic close to my heart.

Retro-itis

Refugees from other eras – yes, they still exist. Admittedly in this era of the long tail where anything goes and fashions from decades past are continually plundered and recycled, they’re a little harder to spot. But occasionally, you’ll spot a woman of a demonstrable age coiffeured in a particular style or attired in a certain mode or, more commonly, middle-aged men wearing suits cut from days past, oblivious to Hoxton or Harvey Nicks, much less the high street.

Protected: Schmoozing with Rupes

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Protected: Rupert’s Bee-yutch

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Bush (and Blair) on the brain

Just a quick one… it’s late and I’ve still got some pieces to churn out, so I can get a head start on my Blair / Bush relationship research tomorrow. Yep, it’s three days into my work experience placement at a national Sunday paper… and I am up to my eyeballs in it. Though thoroughly enjoying the experience.

After all, it’s not often when you overhear a workplace telephone conversation (between an editor and a Middle East-based correspondent) end with “Right, give me a call back when you sort out the problems with your armoured vehicle.”

And now I can also tick off my ‘Life – to do’ list, the box marked ‘Call the White House Press Office and be stonewalled all afternoon’. The final upshot: after pestering them for the umpteenth time, I was told emphatically that the White House did not have the information I was after.

One step closer to becoming World President…

In case you’re not a music fan or the news has not trickled beyond the confines of the British Isles, Paul Hewson aka ‘Bono’ of U2-type fame, has added yet another string to a CV already bulging with ‘genuine bonafide stadium sell-out RAWK star’, ‘activist’, ‘environmentalist’ and ‘political big man’. The be-coloured-sunglassed one painted Tuesday’s Independent newspaper ‘RED’ during a one day stint as Editor. It seems that the Indy, always a sucker for a celeb – particularly celebs and their causes – had succumbed lock stock and barrel to one of the biggest celebs in the world and his cause. Needless to say the rather left of centre enviro-centric paper was even more chockful of doom and gloom re Africa, global warming and dying coral reefs, not to mention particularly annoying ads for ‘RED’ motorola mobile phones. Bono’s edition also featured a rather unenlightening interview of Giorgio Armani by Stella McCartney, and an interview of Eddie Izzard by Bon Bon himself which i scanned quickly through and a rather self congratulatory sanctimonious declaration that the Indy commissioned Banksy to stencil an image of a maid sweeping something (humility, perhaps?) behind a curtain on a wall in Chalk Farm.

All well and good. But does this mean I’ll have to front an internationally successful rock band, not to mention start hobnobbing with Nelson, Dubya and Tone (or Gordo, as the case may be) before I have a decent crack at editing a national?

Hello World and all that…

I've gotten widda programme, become 'citizen journalist', so to speak, and joined the blogging masses…

More fun than email updates and wordpress.com seems to have a suitably slick aesthetic – much better than xanga.com which looks a little amateurish now although it was fun at the time. (I've yet to figure out how to actually get a copy/file of all my xanga posts/photos before deleting that blog – any tips would be useful). I also preferred wordpress.com's look to blogger.com but only time will tell how everything will work out. I've read that wordpress.com is particularly susceptible to spam.

Anyway, it's been a tiring couple of weeks getting out and about, seeing people, meeting a new baby, and generally taking advantage of London's improving weather… although by 'improving' i actually mean i can ditch my woollen coat for a jumper and jacket, preferably a waterproof one!

Still, London is its usual buzzy self despite the continuous mist of precipitation. I still love the fact that if I've decided i'm keen on underground Burmese wooden puppet animation circa 1926, there would probably be a relevant exhibition or film on somewhere.

Also quite looking forward (in a geeky anorakish sort of way) to exploring the wonderful world of blogging!

To infinity and beyond, wot.