Tag Archive for 'Newsweek'

Best reviews of Mad Men Season 3 and why I don’t “Mad Men” myself on Facebook

Published
by
s000z
 on August 21, 2009
. 4 Comments

MadmenBlueStumbled across a Mad Men Season 3 Newsweek review that I found particularly lively, in that it gently interweaves the obvious and un-obvious allegorical nuances of the epic.  Decided to further investigate.  Blogger Dan O’Brien, understandably, prob gets a zillion times as much traffic as I do and his “Why You are an Idiot for Not Watching Mad Men” shows why. I’m cheating a bit by adding my friend Hollie’s blog entry about MM, since it’s actually about Season 1 and not 3 but truth to be told, Hollie’s blog is well worth reading in its entirety. Not only has she gone from being an actor to being a staffed writer on Cold Case in a period of a little over a year due to sheer determination, dedication and talent, but her insights about on-screen chemistry (which come from her acting talent and training) are actually applicable to all seasons, not just 1 or 3. In fact, while we’re backpedaling, I’d have to say that New York Magazine’s patented Don Draper Likability Index covering seasons 1 and 2 is still pretty fresh. Finally, please forgive my laziness (I’m not really lazy but I do really have to get started on my job hunt now, being that its a Friday and everything) if you really want to read Mad Men reviews, this metacritic link’ll be you there is no time flat. If I had more time, I’d try and dig up commentary on the music and on the cinematography and set design but that’d be another entry, I guess. Okay, so one more thing before signing off. For those of you wondering, why –despite the fact I can’t remember being this far gone over a show since Commander-in-Chief (which is actually what got me to start watching television for the first time since I was a teenager) there is a very specific reason that I don’t “Mad Men” myself on Facebook, The Costume was uncomfortable. I adapted.here goes: while I loved working with this creative powerhouse during Season 2 and am not at all surprised to see Janie’s vision going viral in the form of the Mad Men Yourself phenom, I am apprehensive about embracing avatar altering fan rituals because, I dunno.  It’s not really where or who I’m at, I guess.  Then there are also those articles my dad forwarded me about virused Flash downloads and finally, because I’ve already got pics of my Mad Men’d self from the two Season 2 episodes I was in and I got em w/out downloading problematic software!

Click here to read my post about the Mad Men Season 3, episode 12 Kennedy Assassination episode titled “The Grown Ups.”

Click here for a bit of a babbley thought well intended (was new to blogging and didn’t get how spacing for the web and headers worked) and comprehensive description of my experience working as a featured background performer on the Mad Men, Season 2 episodes Three Sundays and Six Month Leave.

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Oscar Roundtable — Insights on Some of the Most Stellar ‘08 Performances

Published
by
s000z
 on January 27, 2009
. 2 Comments

What inspired me most about this interview was the gratitude and dedication to craft that these actors exuded. I was both humbled and inspired by their circumspect attitude these actors took towards public perception and how little the failure/success in the box office meant. Granted, an actor of that level –unlike a producer— has the luxury of deriving merit based on a film’s creative success, alone.

What’s interesting to me, on a personal level, is the fact that downtown theater artists in New York have the same luxury. I say this, drawing from the eight years that I spent making creatively –rather than financially rewarding– theater in Downtown Manhattan, before moving to Hollywood. Downtown theater artists in New York, of course, have this same luxury because the audience is so much smaller that cost and consequently, box office expectations are much lower. Also, as there is no real connection to commercial producers, the value system is also different there.

Ultimately, an artist with the spiritual fortitude to take full ownership of their creative ambitions can and will have the luxury of defining success based on creative merit, alone. And that’s whether or not they are always able to make films that they consider creatively successful. The awareness of what their creative needs are combined with persistence is what ensures their creative needs will eventually get met.

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