Mad Men and its (Dis)Contents

It appears that recapping the television show Mad Men has become something of a cottage industry. And my reading the recappers has become something of a part-time avocation. I believe I may have even blogged about this a time or two before. In any case, here are a few of my favorites:

• Alan Sepinwall of What's Alan Watching over on HitFix.com, who also does a podcast about the show during the week with Dan Fienberg
• The majorly fabulous Tom and Lorenzo, who also do a Mad Style post every Wednesday
• Mark Lisanti on Grantland.com does a Mad Men Power Rankings each week
• John Ramos of Previously.TV has been known to decode the coming attractions to varying degrees of success
• Over on Slate.com, a round-robin of pundits critique every episode
• Matt Zoller Seitz on Vulture has a reliably different take on the show
• My new favorite, HappyPlace.com, has a hysterically funny take on the show called something like "If Mad Men took place entirely on Facebook"

They Say the Neon Lights are Bright

In the past month and 1/2, I've seen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Ann, I'll Eat You Last,  The Assembled Parties, and The Big Knife. More plays on Broadway than I've seen over the last three years altogether (probably). I got to meet and get autographs from Sigourney Weaver (or, as my friend calls her, Signore), David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Nielsen. I got up close to see Bette Midler and Holland Taylor, saw a Q and A with Bobby Cannavale and the cast of The Big Knife as well as the cast of The Assembled Parties, and even saw Lee Radziwell crossing the street on one of my above expeditions. It's as much preparation as I've ever had for the Tonys, I guess. But when I emptied my wallet and found the sound of one nickel clapping, I realized that I will have to be content for the foreseeable future with Golden Girls and Frasier reruns, and watching my cat dance around her water bowl.