Finally, a good reason for a Mad Men prequel

The bikini has one of the best etymological origins I’ve ever heard. From Wikipedia’s entry on Bikini Atoll:

The name was popularized in the United States not only by nuclear bomb tests, but because the bikini swimsuit was named after the island in 1946. The two-piece swimsuit was introduced within days of the first nuclear test on the atoll, when the name of the island was in the news. Introduced just weeks after the one-piece “Atome” was widely advertised as the “smallest bathing suit in the world”, it was said that the bikini “split the atom”.

I hope somebody got MAD PAID off of that.

H-Bombs were tested on Bikini Atoll up until 1958. Makes you wonder what kind of bikini was the worst thing in 1954 after all.

A Helpful Visit

The comic is actually way bigger, so please click here to read it in the hi-res glory that this ramshackle black-and-white comic was meant for!

 

She may not want this, but I’m giving credit to my friend Meredith for the germ of this idea a few months back. I think I had been acting like a smart ass at the time (imagine that).

“I Fell in Love with the Burden Holding Me Down”

Hello! I’m still alive and even listening to music. Here’s the mix I made for the season.

“Happiness in Others” – Winter 2011/12

1. The Drums – How it Ended
2. Tennis – Origins
3. Grouplove – Colours
4. Gang Gang Dance – Adult Goth
5. Radiohead – Staircase
6. Peaking Lights – All the Sun that Shines
7. Talking Heads – I’m Not in Love
8. Jay-Z and Kanye West – No Church in the Wild
9. Drake – Headlines
10. Suicide – Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne
11. The War on Drugs – Baby Missiles
12. White Denim – Drug
13. White Rabbits – Danny Come Inside
14. Elbow – Grounds for Divorce
15. M83 – Teen Angst
16. Wilco – One Sunday Morning

Annotations:

-I don’t think the songs I choose for a season mix are usually very biographical, but this one is kind of an exception. There were a few tough choices between what made it onto the mix and what didn’t based on my headspace a while back.
-Then again, I mean, wow! Look at a bunch of those titles. “Adult Goth”? “Teen Angst”? “Grounds for Divorce”? One of the bands is even named Suicide, for fucking out loud. You might think I had a really bad season! But it was actually pretty good, for the most part. Maybe I just have a thing for depressing music?
-Award for most unintentionally hilarious segue in a while: the spoken outro of Drake’s “Headlines” (must only be on the album version, couldn’t find one on YouTube, sorry), in which he implores us to stop talking about how much something cost vs. how we got it and hey let’s maybe engage with each other more than our money you guys, which then goes straight into a song called “Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne”. Nice one, Meyer!
-I’ve been listening to a lot of M83 lately – especially the new album – but “Teen Angst” was a real standout from when I saw them live last month. Partly because I didn’t even know the song very well before that. There’s a lot to be said for discovering (or re-discovering) a song as the band plays it directly to you – it can be a powerful thing. Maybe next season something new like “Claudia Lewis” or “Year One, One UFO” will make it on here.
-Other close calls: Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s “Fffunny Fffriends”; Ra Ra Riot’s “Too Too Too Fast”; The Shins’ “Simple Song”.