The very best summation of the new year comes from my friend Caprice Crane via Twitter on January 1st:
"So Chris Cornell tweeted that Soundgarden's getting back together. There. One day of 2010 kicked all of 2009's ass."
By the way, if you're local, Caprice is doing a reading/signing here in a couple of weeks! She'll be at The Book Cellar on Saturday, January 16th at 7:00 PM. She'll be talking about her book Family Affair, a funny, funny story about a divorcee suing for custody of her in-laws. Love it, love her, and I'll be there in the front row swilling cocktails if you care to join.
Anyway, hope everyone had a terrific holiday! (I'm speculating you're all lousy with resolutions if the empty bagged-salad shelves at Whole Foods are any indication.) (And although I hate resolutions, good for you! Enjoy your radicchio!)
Fletch was home for ten days - which is always fun - but we didn't go all crazy-holiday-drinking-season this year as he's still not 100% after surgery. (He had his turbinates removed.) (In theory, this is supposed to eliminate snoring.) (Thus far, it's simply opened his nasal passages enough to really get some weight behind the sound.)
Because we weren't up for a bunch of parties and festive goings-on, we gave each other enjoy-at-home gifts like books and games. For the past few years, everyone's been up our collective asses about not watching Mad Men, so I got Fletch the first season on disc.
Here's a quick FYI - if you've been told to curtail your drinking and smoking while you recover from nasal surgery, Mad Men is not the best show to watch. I've never seen so goddammned much smoking in my life and that includes one awful night in my waitressing career when I had a table of twenty Japanese businessmen who'd light their next butt with the ember of the previous one. The '60s must have smelled like one enormous ashtray. Plus, it slays me how they smoked EVERYWHERE - at their desks, in meetings, while they're chewing, at the grocery store, in the elevator, and my favorite, right as they're going to sleep. (I guess mattresses weren't flammable back then?)
And the drinking? I'm no stranger to a glass of wine (or bottle of gin), but I wanted to check myself into Betty Ford just for having watched. There's no point where the ad men aren't swilling something alcoholic, including the scene where the partners have to fire Joel Murray for drinking too much which they do while drinking before heading out for a night of more drinks. I can't imagine how anyone got any business done back then. I bet people who work in HR have to watch with their hands over their eyes.
After the first few episodes, I decided I pretty much hated this show. I mean, yes, the acting is top notch, the writing superb, and the set design/style beyond perfection, but I found myself thoroughly disliking every character. I despised all the adultery and the blatant -isms (sex, race, etc.) and the quiet desperation of every character. And whenever I finally began to feel empathy towards someone, they'd do something else contemptible. Yet I spent thirty dollars on a Blue-Ray disc, so I was committed to finishing the season.
Long story short, in a week we worked our way through 26 episodes and the third season's loaded up on my iPod. And I still hate everything about the show, but somehow I can't stop watching. I've become fascinated by the stories and invested in all their lives, contemptible though they may be.
The thing is, after spending a week immersed in a different decade, their differences seem less foreign. Not everything about that period was terrible and unenlightened.
Maybe despite all that decade's faults, I'd benefit from emulating their attention to social niceties.
Maybe mid-century modern style isn't quite as hideous as I previously thought.
And maybe, just maybe Brylcreem's due for a comeback.
I'm pretty sure Fletch feels the same way, judging from last night's post on his Facebook page:
"Just finished watching two seasons of Mad Men. When I go back to work on Monday, I'm wearing a suit, bringing a bottle of scotch, and smoking in my cubicle. Jen has been instructed to pick me up by noon after I am inevitably fired."
So far he's good, but hey, they day's not over yet.
And the year has just begun.
I can't wait to see where 2010 takes us all.
(But hopefully it's to The Book Cellar on January 16th.)
