Pot has evolved from rebellious drug to mildly rebellious drug to widely legal aperitivo, but popular notions about what constitutes the best of stoner culture too often predictably rehash the Pink Floyds and Spicolis of the world.
So let's expand our minds. With a perspective that acknowledges both the classics as well as the recent outpouring of weed-centric entertainment (and looks deeper than Cheech and Chong — those movies do not hold up), here are 101 cultural keys to unlocking the zonked headspace.
15. Cars 2 (2011)
14. Brave (2012)
13. Monsters University (2013)
12. A Bug’s Life (1998)
11. Cars (2006)
10. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
In honor of the series finale of Mad Men this Sunday, we polled a number of actors, writers, and directors on their favorite Mad Men memories. Their answers range from the obscure (that time the elevator disappeared) to the show-defining (that time we found out Don is not actually Don). Ahead, Sarah Silverman, Danny Strong, John Slattery, and many more share the moments that stayed with them.
“Talia [Balsam] and I shot a scene that never aired, and I wish that they’d unearth that thing. It was a scene in a car, and we were coming home from a dinner. The first dinner in that first episode, with Don and Betty and Roger and Mona, where they kind of go their separate ways after dinner and then debrief in the car and talk about how ridiculously attractive they were. And it’s a really funny scene between Roger and Mona that, for time or whatever reason, they never shot. And I think it would’ve been a really good introduction into the character of Mona. Man, I wish … we should go back and shoot that, I think.” —John Slattery
“Season five, when they’re at the museum and Sally gets her period, and she pulls down her pants in the bathroom and there’s blood in it. I don’t think I’ve ever, in any R-rated movie, in anything, seen period blood, especially a girl’s first period, and they show it. And it’s so good — that episode was so brilliant and that was a moment that was so indelible for me — to show that part of what every woman experiences on television was pretty far out. I thought it was so awesome.” —Sarah Silverman
“When I punched Roger Sterling in the balls. I mean, he had it coming. That’s right.” —Danny Strong “I love when they, in the dark of night, moved the office to their new office. They had to steal all the files. And for one moment they all got along, and it felt optimistic. That was like a happy time for me. There were just digging in and doing the work, and all the pettiness went out the window.” —Matt Walsh “The elevator doors opening up, and then the elevator isn’t there, and then they close again.” —Timothy Simmons
“I liked when the daughter got all bitchy and hated her mom.” —Norman Reedus
The second-to-last episode of Mad Men begins and ends, like so many episodes, with shots of Don Draper alone.
We asked David Letterman and 23 of his former writers for the best jokes that never made it on air.
For the Director's Guild's spring magazine,Sopranos creator David Chase gave a lengthy interview about what was going through his head when he set up the final scenes of the series. [Spoilers follow if you haven't gotten around to watching the show in its entirety.] Tied to the finale's upcoming eight-year anniversary, Chase unpacks how he built all that tension at the end of "Made in America," how he perfected the pacing and flow of the last few scenes, why Tony always has to have eyes in the back of his head, why the framing and shot selection was so important in the diner, and how the "big moment," always out there waiting, played into all this. We recommend you read the full breakdown, because it's all an illuminating take on one of the most hotly debated moments in TV history, but here are the highlights.
With just five episodes of Mad Men to go, Don Draper is enamored by a woman much like himself — Diana (Elizabeth Reaser), a fellow divorcee trying to forge a new identity. During a break from rehearsing her new Off Broadway play Permission, Reaser called Vulture to talk playing the waitress, “sexing it up” for her audition, and the fan reaction.Spoilers ahead.
From The Feminine Mystique to Rosemary’s Baby, from Portnoy's Complaint to The Penny Wars, the creators of Mad Men have squeezed in references to some of the most celebrated literature of the 20th century. On Sunday night's premiere, we get our first reference when Don and Roger are served by a diner waitress with a copy of John Dos Passos's U.S.A. trilogy, published in the 1930s, tucked into her apron pocket. ("Do you have anything by John Dos Passos?" Roger teases her.) Billy Parrott, managing librarian of the art and picture collections at the Mid-Manhattan Library, has been chronicling the meanings behind some of Mad Men’s most iconic literary references on his blog for the New York Public Library, The Mad Men Reading List, over the past five years. On the U.S.A. reference, Parrott noted, "It's that time period where things change. It was the end of innocence [for] that particular generation." Likethe song that bookends this episode, the trilogy is a perfect fit for Mad Men's themes, and as Matt Zoller Seitz points out, an acknowledged influence on the show.
Spike's Lip Sync Battle — the spinoff competition show based on a similar game from The Tonight Show — premiered on Thursday with a real barn burner of a match-up between Jimmy Fallon and Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. By the Wrap's account, the Rock crushed it. Judging by this "Shake It Off" clip, it also would appear that the Rock crushed it. He is forever indebted to Taylor Swift, and vice versa probably.
According to Alex Gibney's Going Clear, which airs on HBO Sunday night, the Church of Scientology is a vindictive, repressive cult responsible for decades of criminal harassment and abuse. But, as numerous Church members will tell you, that's just half of the story. The other half is the testimony of Scientology's devoted celebrity members, who credit the religion with extraordinary healing powers. Their stories are literally incredible!
According to its adherents, Scientology can ...
Cure dyslexia. Tom Cruise struggled with dyslexia throughout his childhood, and says he was "functionally illiterate" when he graduated high school. That changed in 1986, when Cruise discovered Study Tech, L. Ron Hubbard's educational method that emphasizes learning through physical representations of subjects. (Educators have called it "moronic," but "fairly harmless.") Cruise credits Study Tech with curing his dyslexia, and has since started the Hollywood Education Literacy Project to recruit others to the cause — of literacy! "It is definitely the most satisfying feeling ever," Cruise told Access Hollywood in 2009.
Source: vulture.com
Why “The Arrangements” Is the Quintessential Mad Men Episode
Written by Andrew Colville and series creator Matthew Weiner, and directed by Michael Uppendahl (who has directed many signature episodes), it's a great example of Mad Men's ability to operate on several different levels and make several different points about many different things, and somehow make them feel coherent without distorting, omitting, truncating, or otherwise mangling any individual element. It hangs together in the manner of some of the best American literary fiction from that period. Expertly shaped and paced, "The Arrangements" just sort of glides along on a vibe, casually deepening some of the show's key themes (including the persistent but low-level fear of death that hangs over every adult character's life, and the profound influence that parents have on our personal development, and their anxiety about that influence) while always seeming as though it's not trying to make or score any particular points, just watching the characters be.
The X-Files is officially coming back for a six-episode "event series," Fox announced today. There's no air date yet, but the show goes into production this summer, and Chris Carter, Gillian Anderson, and David Duchovny are all onboard. Light up your Morleys and celebrate.
Source: vulture.com