Weekend Quotation

Draper? Who knows anything about that guy? No one’s ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know.

—Harry Crane, The Marriage of Figaro

On the DVD commentary at this point, Jon Hamm says “I’m not Batman.” Ha!

 

Basketcase might not be so far off.

Last night I dreamed I was watching my new DVD and saw a scene I didn’t recognize.

This is killing me. Because there was a whole scene in my dream, and had I woken up then, I could have described it perfectly. When I was dreaming it, it made perfect sense… like, it fit in between the storyline. Like, for example, a scene where Harry came home and had a fight with Jennifer and she threw him out. Only that wasn’t it.

All I remember is it took place in the office. And that it definitely fit in with the existing episode. And that it was late in the season, like the Harry/Jennifer scenario.

Now, it’s possible that, had I the opportunity to accurately describe the scene, it would make no sense at all, but we won’t know that, cause of how I can’t remember anything else.

What I do remember is that I was outraged at AMC. ‘Cause it turned out there were other edited (not deleted mind you, but edited) scenes that were missing. But I was also excited because I could now see them.

So I think the main thing we’ve learned here is… I might be fucking nuts.

 

One of those cool prophetic moments

First, let me just say thanks to everyone for your kind words regarding my bad day yesterday. I’m feeling entirely well today! Kisses– rkl

In Long Weekend, in response to the Kennedy jingle, Harry says “It’s catchy like it gets in your head and makes you want to blow your brains out”.

Cut immediately to a family photo of John, Jackie and way down at the bottom, John John. But mostly you see the two of them, the black and white, and to me it immediately drew up the image of them in the car after he was shot. Maybe that was just me.

Chilling.

 

The rest of the Season 2, Episode 1 photos

Roberta can’t stand it. She wants them all posted.

This one is obviously the same day as the Francine picture (same outfit).

This one also appears to be from the same scene.

 

Rich Sommer Comes Out of the Closet

In honor of the supreme court ruling…

The video was made by (and stars) Andrew Zilch, of Zilch Zone. Andrew is (clearly) a friend of Rich’s (aka Harry Crane on Mad Men), and more importantly, a fan of Basket of Kisses!

PS; have a look at this youtube if you want to ‘meet’ me. It’s made by a good friend, and if you have no patience, skip ahead to 2:11.

 

Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers

Eme commented on another post about the appeal of the Mad Men as grownups:

The fact that the men are supposed to be real adult men. Yes, I know that when we discuss these things we realize the real adolescent immaturity at (the) heart of the MM men but nevertheless, doesn’t MM in a way celebrate a culture of sophisticated adulthood? Personally, I’m just dying for a grown man to show up onscreen…

This reminded me of something Matthew Weiner said (back at that thing we saw him speak at where we met him and stuff) about how one thing that drives the characters forward is each of their struggles with where they are in their life cycle. That keeping that ‘real’ (no way did Weiner say “keeping anything real”) was how he could guarantee that this series never run dry, or need to rely on over-the-top plot devices.

 

Could have seen it coming

Ahh, 20-20 hindsight. Writers, of course, plan a season, and know what they’re doing.

In Hobo Code, when everyone is out partying and doing the Twist, there is a teeny quick shot of Harry asking Hildy to dance, and a few moments later you see them Twisting up a storm with each other.

(It also happens to be a bad continuity snag. Harry had, seconds earlier, walked away from Pete with two glasses, heading for refills. I mean it’s possible that he could have put them down because he wanted to dance, but the timing was tight, and really is unlikely.)

Oh, those crazy kids.

 

An Ode to Richard Sommer on his Birthday

Sometimes I write birthday odes. I am trying to stop. There is no way in hell I’m doing them for all the actors in this series. Or even for any others. Just this one.

Richard Sommer was born on my favorite day
When thoughts of spring are first allowed to come out and play

He blogs about things that are funny and quirky
Like scary book covers or some kind of annual meat turkey

Rich is a junior (or is it a second?)
(I’m a Jew so this info is infrequently beckoned)

His daughter Beatrice is among the cutest humans alive
If on a date with her, my nephew Benjamin would drive

Okay I might have made the ode a little about me here and there.

Re, the SAGs: “It’s good just to be in the running”
But the Lovely Virginia was a date beyond stunning.

Richard Sommer seems like one very sweet man
Who remains courteous to me despite the fact I’m a fan

Even glasses and man-panties can’t make him look nerdy
So please raise a glass to Rich on the day he turns thirty

Unfortunately I don’t have the technology yet to include audio. But Rich, if you’d like a personal recitation, feel free to contact me. My birthday odes, not unlike a Shakespeare play, only really come alive when read aloud.

 

Set it and Forget it.

In Indian Summer, Don and Rachel are in bed together. In the previous episode, Long Weekend, they had slept together for the first time. Here, we see that they have gone on as lovers, and they discuss things that reveal the kind of lovers they have become. (This is one of those wonderful bits of writing that assumes us, the viewers, to have intelligence. We don’t need every detail. We really do know how these things work; what kind of promises are made and felt.)

(Another example of that is in the Wheel, when we find Harry living in the office. I have a friend at work who is trying desperately to watch this show, but is confused by AMC’s suckful out-of-sequence episode-skipping sloppiness, and when he saw this scene, he asked me if he had missed an episode. No, I assured him, he hadn’t. Weiner simply didn’t fill in every blank for us. We don’t know if Harry ‘fessed up on his own or if Jennifer found evidence; all we know is Harry is without his wife and it’s bad. But I seriously digress.)

Don & Rachel. She is so happy, and so struggling. She tells Don it’s hard for her, but she also feels badly because it must be even harder on him.

Don: “I don’t think about it. I mean, I try not to.”

 

Congratulations to Rich Sommer

The actor who plays Harry Crane became a father on December 13.

Also, he is a big, huge, famous person.