P. Dinger

You should know by now that i'm kind of obsessed with AMC's original dramatic television series, Mad Men. If you watch it, you know that it is deeply dramatic and that the heart (and heat) of the deep dramaticisms is the character of Don Draper, who is played with seething intensity by Mr. Jon Hamm. If you don't watch Mad Men, this is me sticking my fingers in my ears and yelling 'LALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU YOU'RE NOT TELLING ME THIS I REFUSE LALALALALAAAAAAAAA'. And if you don't watch you probably have no idea who Jon Hamm is, because he was virtually unknown when AMC cast him as Don 'Deep Drama' Draper. You may know him as the classically handsome dude that keeps winning Emmys and Golden Globes for his work on a series that you are not watchingGOODLORDWHYAREN'TYOUWATCHING????????

Okay. i'm calm now. i had some juice and now i'm calm.

So this is mostly for the Hamm fans out there. It's a little outdated, since Mad Men is launching season 4 later this year and this piece takes place on the cusp of season 2 before the viewers learned about THAT ONE THING OMG! and THE THING WITH PEGGY! and HOLY CRAP! WITH THE DUDE! and stuff. It is an interview betwixt Paul Rudd (he of the often crass Judd Apatow comedic films but also the stepbrother in Clueless) and Jon Hamm and it is deeply, dramatically, hilarious. If you only know Jon Hamm as Don Draper, your eyes will be opened and you may have to read the interview twice. The second time you will weep with joy.

Friends, the interview takes place in a mall.

i'm pretty sure nothing substantial gets accomplished besides making the world a little better through funnyness. i think you should read it even if you're never heard of Mad Men (*this is me glaring at you*) or Jon Hamm (*looooong, heavy sigh*) or interviews. HERE IT IS AND YOU'RE VERY WELCOME. Send cookies.

Snippet:

PR: I want to know about Jon Hamm.

JH: Fine. I am an open book.

PR: You are. You're naked.

JH: I kind of thought that's how we were supposed to do these interviews.

PR: When I said, "Jon, I hope you're ready to get naked in this interview," I didn't anticipate that you would actually be physically naked.

JH: Well, it helps me to be emotionally naked if I'm physically naked.

PR: I see.

JH: Thank you, by the way, for also being naked.

Unicorns

(not to be confused with Rainbow Unicorns, the smash hit single by The Pretty Pretty Princesses)

Finally saw Avatar in 3D, and have many thoughts, the foremost is this:

Is the perfect movie too much to ask for? Is it possible? Is it ever-elusive?

Okay, that was three thoughts, but my name's on the url and yours isn't.
Avatar. "Changing the movie industry forever." James Cameron didn't just write and direct this little film, he invented the technology that made it possible, built the camera, spent years making it, etc. He created new species of creatures, had a completely original language written for the natives to speak, and made it all look really, really spiffy.

But.

With alllll that originality and imagination and creativity, there were some significant retreads. Por ejemplo: it could be called "Pocahontas Dances With Wolves and the Last Samurai in Fern Gully" because the story is not original. Also not original? the use of Papyrus. All those millions of dollars and no custom font? Weak. Also? In the story, the baddies are trying to bulldoze the good guys in order to gain access to a very valuable mineral that is otherwise very difficult to obtain. The completely original name for this mineral? "Unobtainium." As my friend Daniel pointed out, why didn't they just call it "Can'tHavesies"? Trust me, the dialog was clunky enough that the mineral could've been called "Wsdvdsoiewfjnig709" and we still would've understood the situation. Also? some of the stockest stock characters seen on a major movie in a long time. You have the trigger-happy cigar-chomping militant who just wants to blast everything to kingdom come, and believes that anyone in a disagreement is an pie-eyed hippie. You also have Mr. Soulless Corporate GreedyPants, who can't see anything but dollar signs and is ignorant enough to call anything non-white a 'heathen' or 'savage' or 'fly bitten'. There are a host of other stock characters, and really, only about 2 characters in the entire cast undergo any arc at all. Everyone else is what we call 'flat', as in, no dimension. Can't really do that on a movie of this size, Mr. Cameron. You gotta have story and dimension.

i enjoyed the movie, it was a visual feast and was fun and thrilling and all that, but it also made me sad, because it could have been SO much better; it could've been perfect. If time and creativity were applied to the story and characters as diligently as it was applied to EVERYTHING else, i would proclaim it Most Worthy of Every Accolade Ever.

Does the perfect movie exist? i realize that one person's 'Anchorman' is another person's 'Gladiator', and there are certainly some excellent films out there. Let's limit our thinking to more epic fare because a film small in scope of time/space/species can be quite close to perfect. Can an Epic Blockbuster also be a Perfect Movie?

(i don't know, that's why i'm asking you.)

On Decency

So you've probably heard about Pat Robertson's asinine declarations about Haiti and the earthquake. If you're unfamiliar, Pat Robertson is a Southern Baptist minister and the host of the Christian tv program, The 700 Club. Here's what he said:

There are many responses, some of which involve throwing the laptop through walls, windows, etc. Fortunately, i'm too tired and so the laptop and marriage remain in tact. Also, author Donald Miller already handled it well enough at his blog. Here is the entire post, here is an excerpt:"You seem angry and tired. Christ loves you. He is not impressed with your religious posturing. He really loves you. You don’t have to hide behind anything anymore. The good news really is that good."
Elsewhere, Jon Stewart reacted to Robertson and the equally tactless Rush Limbaugh, who decided to declare that "[the unspeakable disaster] would play right into Obama's hands" and that Obama's administration could "use [the unspeakable disaster] to burnish their credibility with the black community," both light and dark-skinned. (i wish i were joking, i really do) Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central, threw the book at these two jackasses on their respective Christian and Conservative networks. And by book, i mean The Holy Bible. Observe:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Haiti Earthquake Reactions
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Thanks to Misters Miller and Stewart and the Bible they quote, i have nothing to add beyond the plea to Robertson's and Limbaugh's fans to please reconsider your allegiances.