"A Little Madness Now and Then . . . "

Greetings,

Well, it's been one of my traditional busy, busy, busy weeks here at the office - and I apologize for going somewhat 'radio-silent' these last few days.  Working on a little something that's going to be quite exciting - when, and if, it all comes together.  I'll keep y'all informed as thing start coming together.

But, despite my last posting (which was about being 'lazy'), I'm back in the saddle and ready to continue our adventurous tour through the alphabet in the "Love Letters" series.

Now, 'm' was easy.  

It's something that I do every week.  

Sometimes in private.  

Sometimes I even do it in a larger group.  

It's easy to do - but, it DOES take some focus.  

And it seems like it's ALWAYS on my mind.  

And the topic of endless conversation amongst my friends.

"M" is for . . . 

"Mad Men"

Jon Hamm, as Don Draper.  

I'm not quite sure how many of you are watching this every Sunday night on AMC - but, I almost can't begin to recommend it highly enough.

Witty.

Intense.

Nostalgic.  

Clever.

Ironic.

And easily some of the best writing on television today.

And clearly, some of the best costuming and set design anywhere.  Ever.

A great deal of the stories take place in an advertising agency during the 1960's.  

And revolves around the life of one, Donald Draper (as seen above)

War hero.  Award winning advertising genius.  Cad.  

(and not always what, or who he appears to be)

The delicious Jon Hamm.

And one of my favourite characters, Peggy Olson.

Brought into the agency as a secretary, but clearly capable of SO much more.

Elizabeth Moss, as Peggy Olson.

When the show returned last month - Peggy was almost unrecognizable.  The time-line had skipped forward just over a year - but, Peggy was clearly beginning to come into her own at the agency.  One of the best aspects of the show - is its incredible attention to detail.  And it's been great seeing the great changes in style, fashion, technology, and design over the first few seasons as we've progressed from the early - to now the mid-60's.

Elizabeth Moss

OMG.  And then there's Joan.

Joan Holloway.  Office Manager.  Smart.  No-nonsense.  

and she's curvy too.

When I grow up, I wanna be Joan Holloway.  There, I said it.  

Or maybe I just want to be that confident.  That self-assured.  Maybe even just that SMART.  

You could easily see that if this series took place set in, oh - I don't know, the early 1980's - Joan would be chairman of the board by now.  lol.

Christina Hendricks

The Draper Master Bedroom

But, ok, this is supposed to be a design blog - so we can examine a few shots of the Draper home over the last few years.

One of the many things I love about the show is its intersection with parts of my own life.  If you follow the time line of the show forward - I'm about the same age as the Draper's youngest son Gene.  We were both born in the early 60's.  And seeing his life brings back SO many memories of my own upbringing.  Of my Mom.  And my Dad.  And the way my brother and I dressed for Halloween.  The clothes my Mom would wear to diner parties at the house.  

And a bit more on the design front - The Draper Living Room from the first several seasons . . .

And a screen shot of its new incarnation.  HOW fabulous are those two armchairs?!?!?!?

As a favor to those who might be new to the show and getting ready to start watching - let's keep the spoilers to a minimum in the comments . . . thanks.  I know I like getting my Mad Men fresh.  

Until Sunday night at 10pm,

tartanscot