Too Much To Tweet: Don Draper Edition

I had a quick thought I wanted to tweet out until I realized that there was no way I could keep it under 140 characters, even though it is a short one. Then I realized I have a blog. Expect more of these. 1

After last year’s season finale of Mad Men, I remember reading somewhere an anecdote Matt Weiner had about the Sopranos, which he wrote on before creating Mad Men. More or less, it had to do with David Chase not being able to understand why people continued to love Tony Soprano, despite the awful person that he was. That would compel him to have Tony do something ever worse, and yet the fans still rooted for Tony.

I believe he was making a comparison to Don Draper. Don – although a ladykiller and not an actual killer – is a terrible human being. Yet, through five seasons we continued to root for him. When he showed signs he might be changing his ways, become a better man, the fans reacted. They didn’t like it. When the season five finale implied he might go back to his wickedness, the fans reacted. They were (myself included) excited to see that “Don’s back!” Even through the first few episodes of season six, we seemed to finally recognize our lovable, unfaithful misogynist again.

Yet, as the past few episodes have aired, I wonder if Matt Weiner isn’t thinking of that very dilemma that Chase seemed to struggle with. I wonder if Weiner is telling the audience, “Fine. This is the Don you want? You can have him. But be careful what you wish for.” There’s a chance Don can never go back to that troubled figure we knew just a couple of years ago, and Weiner has found a way to get the audience to stop rooting for this terrible man. He may have made Mad Men better for it. But he may also have alienated many fans because of it.

Though, I wonder if those same fans won’t start feeling sorry for this broken man. They’ll find a reason to love him and defend him because of his massive flaws. The problem with this is that Dick Whitman Don Draper isn’t a tragic figure. He’s just an asshole. And that’s actually a good thing, whether the fans like it or not.

Then again, they we asked for it.

Footnotes:

  1. Both “Too Much to Tweet” and me forgetting that I have a blog ↩

Best. Weekend. Ever.

If I were to write even half of the things I did this weekend, you wouldn’t believe me. Seriously. Not the part about sleeping late. Not even the part about watching a television show on Netflix. Man, I shouldn’t even get into it. A lot of people – meaning all the pals I saw this weekend – are already jealous of me. There’s no need to get the entire internet jealous, too.

Damn. But, if you only knew …

…

…

… and scene.

There’s a comedian – or someone – who made the observation that when someone is a certain age, they will be upset at going a whole weekend having done nothing fun or productive, while conversely, you’ll hit an age when doing nothing fun or productive is a badge or pride. It’s so nice to do nothing. Normally, I fit into the latter camp. I don’t worry about missing out on that party or those events. I’ve had those good times before and I’ll have them again. If I don’t feel like putting on pants to participate in this one, so be it.

This weekend, I fit into neither.

If you couldn’t tell, I’ve been struggling with writing on the blog lately. Not for post ideas, mind you. I’ve currently 35 “Write _____ Post” tasks in my task manager, but I haven’t gotten past a few lines at most in any of them. Obviously, this is an impromptu post; more of an “I’m Still Alive!” post than it was offering of anything substantive. Here’s hoping this week brings with it more words for you to read … and seven checkmarks for me to click on.

How was your weekend?

May Day Rabbits.

I haven’t written here in a while, and now it’s May. Also, I discovered that there’s not one, but two rabbits living in the backyard. So, again, here’s some photos 1 of both rabbits, because reasons. 2

Footnotes:

  1. Most of the shots were taken through a screen door in an effort not to scare them off, so, you know, blurry. ↩
  2. Most of those reasons involve procrastination. Obviously. ↩

Brain Problem: I’m Backlogged, Part I

Wait, what‽

No, not *that* kind of “backlog”. Thanks to my fiber intake, regular hydration, vitamin “regimen” 1 and daily coffee habits, my bowels seem to be doing just fine. And I can’t be more thankful for that, because my eating habits certainly aren’t helping the situation. 2

What I mean by backlog is the fact that I have a number or unfinished posts sitting in my “drafts” folder and I’m worried that none of them will ever see the light of day. Given that, and the fact that I really haven’t written anything substantial here in about three weeks, I thought I’d run through some of these post ideas. Similar to my short-lived weekly “re-cap” posts 3 I’ll write a couple of sentences about the topic and clean it off my slate. Call this a mental spring cleaning, for the lack of a better term. (see? i can’t even come up with good names of things….ugh)

Before I run out of words, I should probably get to it. Keep in mind, I won’t do much editing, and as such, a lot of this will be mindless rambling on each topic. I’ll try to keep it brief, but you’ve been warned:

BEGIN RAMBLE—–

Wasting Time = Wasting Life? (Created October 9, 2012):
This one will be a repeating theme in my blog, I’m sure. At least for a short while longer. I had this grand plan where I would ruminate about my current life situation and the fact that it feels as if I’ve been wasting my time and in doing so, wasting my life. Obviously, as with much writing, it was done in some half-hearted attempt to excise certain inner-demons with the hope that I’d be able to motivate myself and move on from the things in my head keeping me stuck in the mud. Similar to what this post is meant to accomplish. Expect this topic to pop up from time to time, because, well … I’m a person.

On Insomnia (Created August 21, 2012):
This Summer and well into the fall, I was experiencing one of my longest struggles with insomnia I’ve had in my life (as far as I can remember). This post was going to be a collection of thoughts on the subject, written specifically while I suffering through. I’m sure the inspiration for the “Wasting Time/Life” post was very much connected to this one, as well. Fortunately, I haven’t suffered from Insomnia in quite some time. Sure, there are nights where I stay up longer than expected, but stress/anxiety/emotion/etc hasn’t been the cause. Writing, Reading, Cooking (yes, cooking) has kept me up, but I’m okay with that. Especially since I’m getting a full-night’s rest and don’t currently have trouble sleeping when I’m tired. I don’t expect that I’ll never experience insomnia again, but right now, things are hunky-dory in that department.

On the History of History (Created December 9, 2012):
This is a topic I still have some issues with, but seeing as I’m not watching as much television lately, it doesn’t seem to bother me as much right now. I had paragraphs over paragraphs, citing example over example of how the History Channel is horseshit and how frustrating it is to someone who likes history. Referencing early shows like the ones about Ancient Rome and the Revolutionary War and comparing them to the current shows like Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars; taking a quick stop off between 2002-2005 when they decided they were going to air exclusively military-based programming. The History Channel has gone from informative to speculative to sensationalist. It’s a sad state of affairs, but hardly surprising.

I can bitch all I want about how nothing is informative or entertaining anymore, but then I’d sound like out parents and grandparents. It’s the way of life. I’ve always had this theory that if you just removed the tabloids from the newsstands, no one would miss them. Part of me still wants to believe that, that they only buy them because they’re there. The same goes for “reality” television. Then again, what the hell do I know? They’re popular for a reason, right? So, fuck it. It is what it is. I can either bitch about it ad infinitum, or I can take my own advice and just change the damned channel, or, better yet? Turn it off.

I’m Not a Blogger … (Created February 2, 2013)
Parts of this post, not surprisingly, became The Blogging Problem from February 4, and A Blogging Routine from February 11. It’s pretty self explanatory. An attempt at a rededication that seemed to work, at least for a few weeks. Nonetheless, if you’re curious, you’ll get the gist from those two posts.

I’m Doing It Again (Created February 6, 2013)
When Aaron Sorkin mentioned in an interview that he reads comments on articles in websites, David Fincher looked at him and asked, “Why do you do that to yourself?” He responded, “Honestly, it’s a particular disease that I have. I do the same thing with any story involving the Tea Party because, you know, I’ve never been to a Klan rally and I can’t believe my eyes.”

I really try not to read comments to articles on the internet, no matter how innocuous the subject may be. From time to time, however, I can’t help myself. This quote by Sorkin was probably the best way to explain my own experiences, which is what prompted this post idea. “I’m Doing It Again” simply meant I found myself poring (and I mean poring) over comments – almost all of belligerent and uninformed – and not being able to stop myself. I would read one article on a current topic that I was interested to know more about, and would catch a couple of words from the first comment below the metadata. The words I caught would be enough to catch my interest in wanting to understand how those words are used in context of the comment itself, then the article. Following that, of course (especially with a particularly inflammatory comment), I’d have to read people’s responses; part of me hoping that at least *one* person in this sea of indignation would make a rationale argument and shut this whole thing down with a well-articulated thought.

How do you think that worked out for me? I’ll give you a hint: I was preparing a blog post to bitch about the experience.

—–END RAMBLE

There are still a few more unfinished writings sitting there. A couple of them I’m not entirely sure what my original point was, and one of them I’m still determined to finish. The rest I’ll leave for another time. I think this was a good start. Finally dust out one attic corner of cobwebs. I’ll get to the other ones after I’ve had a few more cups of coffee.

Okay. Rambling complete. For now …

Footnotes:

  1. I don’t necessarily take my vitamins every day as I probably should, but I only seem to forget two (maybe three) days a week, so it’s not all bad. ↩
  2. See what happened? Even though this post isn’t at all bout pooping, I managed to write about it, anyway. You’re welcome. ↩
  3. Which may make a come back at any time. There just hasn’t been a lot I’ve either known about or been interested in writing about the past few weeks. I didn’t have anything more to add about Boston, and I’m not sure I’m ready to write about that, so I left it. I think that was a smart move. ↩

13 Isn’t Unlucky. It’s Inspiring. (Right?)

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’ve been feeling quite uninspired lately (as evidenced by the lack of posts). With that in mind, I thought I’d post something inspiring. 43 years ago today, April 17, the event (as dramatized in the following video) happened:

Seriously, Ron Howard did a great job. But the actual coverage was pretty damned inspiring, too:

Enjoy. Maybe I’ll be back later.

Or, maybe I’ll take a nap.