According to the opening scene of a new tv show,”Mad Men” is a term coined in the 1960s referring to men in the field of advertising. The ad men coined it themselves.

It was the era when America was obsessed with advertising & glamour, the country flush with post-WWII wealth. It was an era before civil rights, before women’s rights. The age of American excess was just getting started. In the very first episode, the characters debate how to advertise cigarettes, suggesting that despite proof of their harmful effects, there is a part of the psyche that loves the danger of smoking. As I wake up this morning, barely able to stand, utterly hung over, and stumble into the bathroom popping Tums like they’re M&Ms, I have to agree with them. There’s something sexy about pushing yourself to the limit. Don Draper, the main character of this show, spends the night with another woman, and comes into work, opens a drawer, and voila - removes a fresh white shirt from the top of a stack. In that sense it’s 1 part Sopranos and 1 part Entourage - because in addition to the american experience and sex, it’s also about glamour & youth.

From the Executive Producer of the Sopranos, Mad Men is another exploration of the American experience, of manhood in America, but this one a social commentary contrasting sharply with what we take for granted today. And for me, this is an exploration of the glory years for the world that I work in. My job isn’t all that different - minus the attractive secretaries waiting on you constantly - from what these guys do. Back then advertising was it. Now we call it integrated marketing communications, and it’s much broader - covering PR, Advertising, relationship marketing, promotions, distribution, retail, sales, tele-marketing, event marketing, viral marketing, word of mouth marketing, search engine optimization, product design, and user experience. I wasn’t sure what to make of this show at first. I got into it simply because the commercial was captivating, and because it featured an Amy Winehouse song, which got my attention. I DVRed it, and even after 2 episodes, I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but somehow I couldn’t stop. I kept going, slowly getting drawn in. In a Happy Hour meeting earlier this week on the roof of Tia Lou’s, a friend asked me if I thought it was good tv - I told her “I honestly can’t tell anymore.”

After our meeting, I met up with Nimesh at a Martini bar called Tini Bigs, proceeded to get even drunker, and somehow made it home. Drank heavily the next 3 nights, going to Bumbershoot all-day Sunday for the Sean Paul & Fergie concert, drunk in the middle of the afternoon, and then proceeded to go out and drink some more. Woke up Sunday barely able to walk, spent Labor Day recovering in front of new episodes of Mad Men, and finally my lust for this new show was cemented. Then headed out to dinner at Joey’s - our new favorite place because of the good drinks, trendy decor, and waterfront patio overlooking the marina. And now I’m back, after 5 nights in a row drinking. It’s Monday m evening and I’m hard at work, pulling another 14 hour day. Damn I love my life.

I told ya I was trouble, you know that I’m no good.

It’s lonely at the top. But not for long. I picked up the Wall Street Journal this morning, and, to my dismay, China is everywhere, as evidenced by the above political cartoon. China is coming. And I don’t think political freedom and peace for all mankind is on their list of things to do upon becoming the dominant superpower on the planet. Winston Churchill - an idol of mine - said that “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” America is a terrible country with a terrible leader who thinks that brute force can change the world, that we like the Romans before us can control the world and topple everyone who opposes us. They forget that it takes persuasion. It is not enough to win the war, you must win the hearts & minds of the people who opposed you. America once stood for good against evil, for freedom from tyrrany, and although our leaders continue to use these words, their actions bear little resemblance.

Even given that America has not done well, there is hope that the next leader could make things right. Could build new bridges with the rest of the world. But I worry that it will be impossible to do right by the world, to make amends. We have lost something - the halo of a noble purpose - that we once had.

There is a theory in political science that says that there is an equilibrium between national resources diverted to the military and resources that remain in the market economy. If too few resources go into the military, a nation cannot defend itself. If too many resoures are diverted to the military, the market economy suffers and the long-term potential of the overall economy - the lifeblood of the country - is diminshed. According to this theory then, economic might is the source of military might. If a country diverts all its resources to its military, its military in the short run grows larger and more powerful, but in the long run the economy becomes less innovative and less capital exists to build factories that can produce thousands of planes or tanks in the future.

If this is true, then China has been investing, to build an economy, while we have been spending like teenage girls, building up our military today, but leaving nothing for our future. The best minds tell us that free trade with China is good; that free trade leads to integrated economies, exchage of ideas, political openness, and mutual dependency. But China is not trading freely. They are the most mercantilistic and protectionist government on the face of the planet, and the same politicians who sputter about free trade leading to peace are in the pockets of businessmen who are falling all over themselves to do business in China to gain access to 1 billion new customers.  But its not just our goods & services they are exporting, it’s also our technology, our intellectual capital, our financial capital, our experience. And to a country that does not espouse democracy and supports North Korean nuclear proliferation.

And so we hope 2008 will bring better tidings.

Currently listening to “You Make Me Better” by Fabolous - who I got to meet in-person at an event in Boston a few weeks back. I’m an absolute sucker for a good harmony. And this song’s got me hooked. You’re barely aware of the music when you’re out at a bar, until you get on the dancefloor, and a song that nobody likes plays, and everyone starts migrating back towards the bar. Then this song emerges, a great beat, but also a beautiful melody, and you feel the need to sway to the music.

Reed was telling me today that of all the genres, rap is hurting the most from the downturn in music sales. The TIME article he referenced suggests not that music is hurting because of piracy, but instead audaciously suggests that it’s the rap industry which has not been innovative enough, and whose primary target audience - suburban white kids - have finally gotten bored with rap’s reptitiveness. The article points out that rap drove sales with sensationalism - Tupac getting murdered in a vegas hotel; 50 Cent getting shot 9 times. This is certainly true, but is rock any better? I wonder if there’s some fundamental difference between rock & rap. Q-Tip, in the article, suggests that the rock industry is set up to nurture various “strains” of rock music, but implies that the rap industry treats them all the same, and churns them all through the same hype machine.

That seems like a plausible theory. Perhaps the rock industry supports strains of rock which fosters well-defined identities, and the music we listen to is part of what defines our own identity, so when we chose a rock band we chose it for the compatible identity, thus creating a deeper & long-term relationship between the artist & the listener. If, instead, rap focuses on hyping the new cool song-of-the-moment, it fosters a short-term relationship. If so, it would make sense that we strop buying rap as soon as it gets reptitive and stops being cool. Thoughts? In any case, this is still my song-of-the-moment:

Have you ever had one of those moments where you’re the last one to see something about yourself? Apparently I enjoy meeting new people. That was a bit of an epiphany for me, but probably something that anyone who has met me on a Friday or Saturday night would have concluded. Over the past year I’ve come to know myself in a new way. I’ve found that I’m passionate about the leading edge of technology. I had always loved technology, but had never really embraced that and made it my own. Today Without noticing, I became a power-user of social-networking tools like friendster, facebook & xanga. I always just accepted those as part of my lifestyle, never questioning if that made me passionate about technology, never thinking to nurture that and build that into who I was.

I was on the phone with Nina this morning, syncing on next weekend’s Vegas reunion, and suddenly she asked me: “so now that I’ve caught you just after waking up, at home in your high-rise downtown apartment, sitting in the sun, is the Wall Street Journal strewn about on the coffee table?” Yes, I answered, surprising us both. In that moment, she and I both knew, I was exactly where I always wanted to be. But in so many news ways, I’m just beginning to branch out. I’ve devoted a year to learning, diving deep into technology. I’m now fairly confident in my knowledge - I’ve now taken the time to nurture my instrinsic passion for the space - now its time to start sharing it. And sharing is really what I’m the best at. In that vein, here goes nothing:

There’s a cool new website I just saw called Tafiti.com. Tafiti means “to research” in Swahili, and so Tafiti.com is a new & innovative way to search and do research on the internet. At the technology level, Tafiti is a Silverlight & Live Search mashup - which basically means its some fancy window-dressing to help you visualize your search results, as opposed to the very text-heavy way Google Search and Live Search normally display results.

But its even more powerful that that - it allows you to sort search results by putting them on different “shelves” and then save them and come back to them later, by logging in when you search, your results can be left on shelves and waiting for you when you get back. You can filter your results in an intuitive way by moving a slider which trims the lowest branches (or least relevant results) of the search “tree.” I think there might be some great educational applications for Tafiti as a tool to help teach elementary schoolers about internet search. Another thing I’ve been working on at work is putting together a curriculum to teach elementary schoolers about online safety, and about not giving out personal information and avoiding websites that might have viruses. Perhaps I should add Tafiti to this project.

So there it is. Something cool you probably hadn’t heard of, and you saw it here first. Happy Labor Day to all, and hope you’re all having a very restful weekend. What other cool stuff have you seen out there?