What I’ve Been Watching In 2012
One of the best things about the sadly departed UK DVD Review podcast was the poll William did every year where he encouraged people to email in and rant at him about their favourite DVD of the year. He’d then tally the votes (giving extra points for the better the rant and the more creatively you bent the rules) and then put them into a nice top 10 countdown. Alongside that he’d also give you his top 10 of the year.
It was patently unfair, you got 1 choice, he got 10. I tell you what though, I thought picking just 1 was hard, picking 10 it turns out is 10 times harder. You see i’ve decided that I want to let you know about a load of things in one go, instead of the 1 every 6 months pace i’ve previously being keeping. So i’m doing my version of the end of year top 10. My rules are slightly different to William’s, this is quite simply the top 10 things i’ve been watching on DVD/iTunes/Tivo this year. So lets get started.
Mad Men : An Introduction
Mad Men:
A term coined in the late 1950s to describe the advertising executives of Madison Avenue.
They coined it.
If you only watch one fictionalised American 1960s period piece make it Mad Men, no other TV show i’ve seen gets under the skin of the period and the American Dream quite like. From a distance the American Dream has always seemed like some of a enigma, a contradiction. It’s roots in the desire to be free, independent and (financially) self sustaining are hard to argue with, but from the outside looking in it can also look like greed, naked ambition and consumerism wrapped up in patriotism to mask its true meaning.
Is the American Dream achievable? Or is it a mirage? Does achieving it bring happiness or is it all a front, a cover to sell soap flakes? These are all the questions you’ll likely be contemplating whilst watching Mad Men. That Mad Men is able to have all of these questions bubbly just below the surface without it being obvious, or preachy or sounding like a history lecture it what makes the show so remarkable. Read more 