TV. mad men

after reading so many great review of this amc channel original show, and after it, and its leading man, both won golden globes, i figured i should check it out. over the past several weeks amc has been rebroadcasting the episodes in their original order, so i tivoed them. this past weekend i had a little extra time, so i took the plunge and watched the first three episodes.

first a little background: the show is set in the 1950s and follows the a handful of employees of a new york ad firm. it shows the life and working work of the 'big city' back when women were suppossed to have a roast and a drink ready for their husbands the moment they arrived home from work.

its cool to see the period recreated so perfectly- the offices look perfectly like the retro-futuristic look of the 'modern' 50s, all the cars are huge and wing tiped, and all the men drink like fish and smoke like a chimney. seeing all the characters smoke non stop is such a stark difference from how things are today that its very strange to see. also, its quite jarring to see all these men so openly harass and look down on the women in the office, and show little respect for the wives at home. im sure the rolls are exaggerated, but its still quite strange to see.

so far the storyline has been interesting, watching all the different men deal with the pressures of the job, and trying to deal with their emotions in such a restictive setting. these men arent allowed to show any emotion other than confidence. the ways they deal with whats going on often is the cause of their problems, and often leads to relationships becoming even more distant.

the story is engaging and the perspective on the time period is interesting. it seems they have gained a new viewer.

TV. craigs a citizen!

after a couple years of him joking about it, craig ferguson finally became an american citizen! hes always had jokes like 'i better be careful what i say, they could deport me!' and just a few months ago he challenged everyone to ask their local mayor to accept him as an honorary citizen. he finally took the test, and he passed! last week they showed him at a mass meeting being sworn in, and now he is a full fledged citizen, he can vote and everything!

as a way of celebrating him now being an american, he had on a really cool scottish band called the wicked tinkers. its a cool band made up of guys playing drums, bagpipes, digeridoos, and other strange and fun instruments. they have been on the show once before, they performed on the show as a tribute to his father soon after he passed away. it was really a very moving episode, to be honest. but this time they were there to celebrate! and boy, did they. craig even loosened his tie, grabbed a drum, and joined in! they actually played two songs, and it was a riot! it was fun to see craig genuinely excited and loving it- it was very contagous!

TOYS. hellboy figure

ive been a hellboy fan since about 2001 and have been collecting anything related to him for almost as long. i have half a dozen or more figures, some from the comic, others from the movie. i have all the trade paperbacks of the comics, and the three disc version of the movie, i even have the hardcover 'art of hellboy' book. but recently i came across the coolest hellboy thing ive ever seen: its an 18 inch figure of hellboy. the detail is positively amazing! he has a leather coat, with real working snaps, actual pockets, detailed trinkets hanging from his belt, and even an amazing looking 'samaritan' gun. even the box art is amazing. here are a few more pics of it. its so awesome...

TV. super bowl commercials

i, like many others, watched the super bowl last night. now, im not much of a football fan, but i do enjoy watching every once in a while (and once a year is just about right). the game was fun, it was always close, and for someone who doesnt care who wins, that makes is more enjoyable. mostly though, i watch for the commercials!
here, in no particular order, are my 10 favorite, and my reaction to them:
1. pepsi max- in this one everyone was falling asleep, heads bobbing, while the song 'what is love' played in the background. they become wide awake after taking a sip of pepsi max. kind of funny, but the clincher was when they woke up they kept head bobbing, but this time like the guys from 'night at the roxberry', and then chris katan shows up and is pissed 'aww, come on!' funny!
2. bridgestone tires- a squirrel is in the middle of the road and a car starts coming and he screams, as do all the forrest animals as they watch in terror. the best was a really tiny bug screaming in a really high voice. quite cute.
3. Audi r8- a guy wakes up in his bed and sees a strange dark liquid on his hands, he pulls back his sheets and in his bed is the front end of his jaguar. he screams. a silly take on that 'godfather' scene with the horse head. oh, and the new audi car looks amazing!
4. fed ex- a delivery company uses carrier pigeons instead of other transportation. a guy asks 'how do you ship the big packages?' the camera pulls back to reveal twenty foot pigeons flying around dropping packages and terrorizing the residents of the city. humorous.
5. tide- a guy is being interviewed for a new job, and has a stain on his shirt. the stain starts talking giberish over top of the guy being interviewed. probably my biggest laugh of the night!
6. budweiser- every year they have thier clidsdale horses in a commercial, and this year they show one of them not making the line up and the dalmation telling him hes going to help him train for next year. then we hear 'eye of the tiger' and a rocky-eque training sequence, and the horse getting picked the following year. a smile.
7. iron man- they showed a new preview for the upcoming 'iron man' movie with robert downey jr. now, ever since i saw the first preview a couple months ago i have been giddy as a school girl for this movie! i dont really care for iron man as a comic book character, but for some reason this movie has me geeking out big time! awesome!!!
8. corolla- a guy is put into the car with a sleeping family of badgers and told if he wakes them they will attack him. they they proceed to fire off a cannon near the car. its so quite inside that they dont wake up. then his cell phone rings. oops! kind of funny.
9. sobe life water- a woman starts drinking and all kinds of lizards start dancing. kind of lame, except for the fact that the song playing is michael jacksons 'thriller', and the lizards are doing that cool zombie dance. kudos for the mj nod.
10. amazon.com- justin timberlake gets pulled around to all kinds of crazy places. eventually its shown that a couple girls just downloaded his song and it takes him there. cool effects, but kinda a dumb commercial.

all in all, i would say that the iron man commercial was the best!