Never let 'em see you cry

Magnet #1110 - No Crying, Mad Men

This button magnet is from my Mad Men: The Illustrated World NYCC set. Great book by @dynamoe, definitely check it out.

I figured what better to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day than with one of my favorite quotes from Mad Men's Joanie Holloway Harris.

One of my favorite quotes from the show, but also my number one rule in business. It's the one thing I tell any female colleagues, whether they like it, or me, or not:

If you think you're gonna cry at work? Get your ass to the bathroom. Take a walk around the block. Leave the floor. Go sit in the stairwell.

But don't you dare sit at your desk, your office, the boardroom or the breakroom and cry over something work-related. NO.

It's something every girl must learn when first joining the workforce. I've broken it once or twice literally - but that was once or twice too many. That's how it became my number one rule.

You can't expect someone to take you seriously if you're welling up at something they've said. You can't have them look you in the eye with any respect if your bottom lip is quivering. And they'll always have that vision of you sniffling into your tissue. It's weak. It's unacceptable. Do all things to avoid it.

I must say, to this day, it's one of my pet peeves, seeing any female cry at work over something work-related. I've been called inhuman because of it. I've been called a bitch. I've been called a bad example over it.

I don't care. Here's some tissue.

Wipe away the tears, get out there and be strong, dammit!

A girl & her [Belle Jolie/Merle Norman/Cover Girl] lipstick

Magnet #1090 - Mark Your Man

Oh, Peggy, your Belle Jolie lipstick line was pretty good! My sister got me this Mad Men magnet for Christmas. Pretty snazzy, no?

What is it about a girl and her lipstick?

I've had the same lipcolor since college: Berry Kiss dual lipstick/lipliner from Merle Norman. I haven't used the lipliner side in a dozen years, but I love, love, love that lipstick and that color.

I love that I can apply it, and not even have to look in a mirror. I love that I can order from the Merle Norman in Salisbury, and they ship to New York.

What? I'm a creature of habit. I recognize that most girls don't keep the same lipcolor, or apply make-up without a mirror. But hello, I keep a magnetblog, would you expect any less?

Turns out it could be hereditary - the same lipstick thing. We've just searched every CVS, Walgreen's, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Target, Wal-Mart in Salisbury and Charlotte for #565 lipstick from Cover Girl, for my mother. They must be about to discontinue that color, because where'd we find it? All the way in Washington, DC. For about two bucks each.

I'd cry if MN tried to discontinue Berry Kiss.

Me and the grannies, anyway.

Hello, 2011!

Magnet #1044 - Gangbusters

My sister got me this Mad Men magnet for Christmas, let's hope it's true.

For some reason, I thought that 2010, with its even number, would be the most terrifical year, like ever. Since that wasn't true, I'm determined that 2011, with its odd number, will be the most terrifical year, like ever.

See you here next January 1!

Only boring people are bored

Magnet #130 - Betty Draper Francis

This Betty quote from Mad Men: The Illustrated World is something I've heard all my life. It's why I try never to be bored. I can forgive a lot of things, but boring people, not so much.

Besides, there's always something to do...even if it's sleep. You just have to find it.

And, that's how I ended up at Matthew "No Refunds Here" Weiner's discussion with Thane Rosenbaum at the 92Y last week. (For those who don't know, the 92Y started out as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, and has grown to be one of the premier cultural and community centers in town, with some incredible programming.)

Remember how I don't like to read too much into anything? That I take art for art's sake? For the most part, that extends to television and film. Which means that I enjoy what I'm watching, but don't really think too much about the cultural ramifications or "statements" made by any show. I make no apologies for it: It's television. It's film.

It's how I was surprised when creator/ep & showrunner/headwriter Weiner managed to put Mad Men into much more context than I'd ever thought about before. The conversation centered around how the show is a pretty great love letter to New York in the golden age of the 60s, using advertising as a useful and interesting backdrop for some really screwy, but always human characters.

Which I always knew...but for me, the ad agency shenanigans was my entree to the show. I've always overidentified with the characters within advertising construct, with their crazy lives secondary. Or, if I'm honest, tertiary, really, if you consider the cultural history of the 60s that's more interesting for me.

Don't get me wrong - I love (almost) all of the characters, and can get pretty invested in their lives, but it was always the advertising - the clients, the presentations, the creative work, the dynamics between the account/creative/management teams - has always been what drew me in and repulsed me at the same time.

I find myself unable to get too deep into a retelling of the night, otherwise, it gets into a debate on Jewish culture, advertising metaphors, why Don Draper isn't naked more often, the Bay of Pigs, and the decaying of New York.

Just know it was a great session...of course, now with this new insight with which to watch the show, I feel like I need to rewatch Mad Men from the pilot all the way through.

What? So far, that's only 52 hours!

Sterling's Gold

Magnet #998 - Mad Men's Roger Sterling

Yep, another one of my Mad Men: The Illustrated World pins magnets that I picked up at New York Comic-Con this year.

I'm using it today for a couple of reasons, mostly because ya'll know I'm supertotally picking up Sterling's Gold this week. How could I not?

If it's anything like Kendall Hart's Charm! or Richard Castle's Heat Wave, it'll totally hit the New York Times list. Although, I will cry if it's as bad as the excerpts that Don overheard on the show. Let's hope Roger's ghostwriters did a great job.

One thing's for sure, Roger would be pleased as punch that as an ad girl 12 years in the business, I haven't read David Ogilvy's Confessions of an Ad Man and I haven't read Bill Marsteller's Creative Management (I own it, so that kinda counts, even though they used to give it to all Marsteller employees.) but I'm about to read Sterling's Gold.

Boy. I can't wait for Don Draper's book to come out.

eta:
Hah! I totally forgot the whole reason I decided to do this magnet this week in the first place. It's because I saw John Slattery's Lincoln MKX ad. Nice to see him in it, cuz he's purty, but it probably wasn't a good thing that I thought it was a very nice companion piece to Kate Walsh's Cadillac spot a couple of years ago. Oops.

Who is Don Draper?

Magnet #969 - Don Draper

[spoilers here]

I refused to read any of the articles or Tweets about the Mad Men finale, so I don't know if everyone liked or hated it. What I can say is that I loved it. Like, loved it.

Who is Don Draper, indeed? It's a question we've been asking since the first time he graced our screens three years ago. And, I gotta tell you, after this finale? It's a question I'm still asking.

I think that's the beauty of this show. We may never know the answer, but we'll sure as hell be intrigued by the journey.

Earlier yesterday, a friend and I were talking about what we thought would be the big cliffhanger, and I threw out there that I didn't think there'd be a big cliffhanger, so all that's left was that he'd propose. Only, seriously? I actually thought he'd settle down with Faye. I'm happier than I should be (and just as damn snarky as Peggy and Joan) that it's Megan, but I really thought he'd do the practical thing and marry Faye and find a house in Stamford or Greenwich. It's what they do, those boys.

I do think I might be the only one happy that he's happy with Megan. Clearly, Don being Don, he won't be happy because he's just feeling all sad about Anna, but I don't remember Don being this puppy dog over any of his many women, so maybe this will stick? Even though, there's a part of me that thinks Megan's a little more devious than we think and that she really might end up as one of Peggy's creatives. (Though a part of me was scared Peggy was gonna go cry in the bathroom over Don, and that's a whole can of worms I don't want to see. Yet.)

The finale on the whole though was just fantastic. Freakin' Peggy and Cos nailing the pantyhose account, with Peggy writing copy on the spot for the clients? Awesome.

Bets freakin' out on Carla, classic. (Though, dudes, tonight, when Don pulled out that bottle from the cabinet? It reminded me that we haven't seen an honest smile from her in years.)

And Joanie, keeping Roger's baby? I kinda figured she'd do it, but damn, to pass it off as hub's? Can't wait til next season, though I'm calling it now. He's gonna get killed in Vietnam, and Joanie (the new awesome DOO at SCDP) is gonna be stuck on her own and Roger's gonna have to deal with the fallout and a new baby carriage.

Overall, I've had mixed feelings over this season. While I know in my head it's fiction, I couldn't help seeing the last year and a half of my career in this season - the beginning of a new agency, the animosity of a new regime, the fighting over office supplies, the fear of losing clients, false promises, beating the bushes for new clients, wondering if we'd be around in the next six days, let alone six months. It's some scary stuff. Watching Don go through it at SCDP has been painful on a professional level.

But, this was a terrific way to end the season...though, I would have loved to actually see the Drapers wandering around Disneyland.

Oh! I'll probably do a longer post on it, mainly because I have five of the six buttons magnets for it, but ya'll need to run out right now and grab this book, Mad Men: The Illustrated World. It's adorable. It's well designed, cutely written in the spirit of the show and the times, and I loved it so much, I bought it twice at Comic-Con.

Seriously. Go. Now.

Just call me Excited!

Magnet #960 - Emotes!

Ok. Who is surprised that within the first 10 minutes of being at New York Comic-Con, I'd already bought my first magnet? Yep. I even went in the back way to the show floor, and still I managed to find this magnet at the Emotes booth.

Of course, I'm going to take that purchase receipt and head back there today to see if I can qualify for the "spend $20 and get the supercute Emotes bag free" deal. What? Hello. I know they're spelling my name wrong, but how can I resist!

Apparently, the mission of Emotes is to teach kids about emotions, and being able to put their feelings into words. It's a little too touchy-feely for my taste, but I am all over the JOI stuff. Plus, how cute are these characters!? I'm already planning on getting one of the books. And maybe the little figurine. And maybe the keychain. Yes. All to get the cute bag.

Although - can I just say? I've been on this declutter kick in my apartment, and I kept roaming around today rejecting practically everything I saw because I didn't want any more free comics, any more pens, any more totebags in this apartment.

For the most part, I succeeded. Hard to believe, I came home with only ONE new totebag for me. One! Ironically, it's from the publishing company that gave me my first job, but it cracked me up to lug it around. (Full disclosure, I also gave away this other superdupercute totebag, when I realized that while it had superdupercute figurines on one side, it had this trashy half-nekkid chick on the other side.)

The other trouble I'm having is finding superdupercool stuff for STWsis. The problem is that we scored her the superdupercool stuff from San Diego 2 months ago!

Though, the second we get to the floor today, I'm running right over to the Penguin Putnam booth to buy another copy of the really awesome Mad Men Illustrated World book (and another set of matching pins that are totally going to become magnets).

Let's just say that I'm overJOIed about that book!

eta:
OMG. It's JOI and me! It's JOI and me!

Celeb sightings...or not

Magnet #956 - Carmel Beach Club

I bought this magnet out in Carmel, during my Woman on her Own Roadtrip many years ago. I stopped in Carmel, and then I did the Pebble Beach drive (not knowing the significance of the golf course, at the time) before moving up the coast.

But I kid you not, I bought this one in a random grocery store somewhere in Carmel - the same grocery store that I was absolutely convinced that I'd run into Clint Eastwood with his shopping cart.

What? It could totally happen!

I know, it happens when you least expect it. Like today, while having Baked by Melissa mini-cupcakes (you must try, if you haven't) and coffee in Union Square Park, Hope Davis, the guy who played pipe-chewing Kinsey from Mad Men, and the other guy from Veronica's Closet all passed me in the space of an hour. That's also on top of seeing Gilbert Gottfried pushing a stroller in Chelsea this morning.

Mind you, who knows if any of the four were really whom I thought they were - knowing me, I was probably just playing a very good game of Celebrity Lookalikes.

Tastes great, less...wait, really?

Magnet #611 - Oxo with Milk ad

Ok. I just caught up on seven episodes of Mad Men. I know, I know - I'm usually pretty good when it's a show I really love, not just trying to get off my DVR. But I knew I'd want to concentrate while catching up.

And now I know about that John Deere episode that I've been la-la-la-ing with my fingers in my ears. In a word, ewwwww.

But, yay for being caught up.

And so I'd celebrate with this odd little ad magnet that I picked up at the cool Museum of Brands in London that I mentioned a while ago.

I picked it up because at night in London, off in the distance, you can see the giant well-lit letters of the OXO Wharf Tower on London's Southbank. It's had an interesting history, first as a power station, then as a cold storage center for OXO products, and finally, it's been rehabbed into a neat shopping/residential area. I didn't get to visit, but I did just learn that the letters aren't all neon-y, like regular building signs. The giant OXO are actually made out of windows, that are just lit through at night. How cool.

But, I also didn't understand the thing about OXO that "makes milk interesting." So I just looked it up. Classic ad, selling something that you just can't believe. OXO beef products. Apparently, they were suggesting that you mix these beef cubes...with milk. Uhhh, beef-flavored...milk?

Mind you, you're reading this blogpost from the chick who, at the age of 5, hid behind the counter to mix together milk and Pepsi like Laverne always used to do on Laverne & Shirley.

But, dang. I have my limits.

If it doesn't sell, it isn't creative.*

Magnet #213 - Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design

So according to my sister, the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design is a must-see...the next time I'm in Milwaukee. I figured with this week being Advertising Week and the results from last night's Emmys, this magnet fit pretty well.

When Mad Men premiered, I couldn't figure out if I was enamored or horrified watching Don Draper and his associates at Sterling Cooper, and his family a Metro-North ride away. A season and a half, and one Outstanding Drama Series Emmy into the show, and I'm still trying to decide.

I'm enamored because the production itself is outstanding - from the acting, writing, and directing to the costumes, the attention to period details, and hair/makeup.

I'm horrified because the characters scare the hell out of me - the lies they tell, the deeds they do, the imperfections that make them more human than characters on television.

I'm enamored because advertising's the focus - the clients, the pitches, the true-to-life never-ending battle between the Creative and Account folks, and even the tidbits during the commercial breaks are pretty neat.

I'm horrified because when I talk to the older guys in the biz, they say they don't need to watch it...they lived it. Whoa.

Either way, it's been one of the best shows on television, and a defining one for AMC. They took a chance on what was arguably a show that wouldn't have lasted more than a month on regular network tv. But, AMC kept it on, let the show find and build its audience, gaining more and more traction with each passing episode. And yesterday's Emmy proves that everyone's finally joining the party. Yay for Mad Men!

*David Ogilvy, "Father of Advertising"