You guys!!! It’s almost here! The movie event I’ve been waiting (like so many of you) MONTHS for is nearly upon us! The Great Gatsby premieres Friday and I’d love to know, do you plan on seeing it too?

I won’t be making it to opening night (boo!) but have plans for a weekday girls’ get-together soon to take in the film in all its 3-D splendor. I don’t even care that the critics aren’t being kind in their reviews … this is one I have to see for myself. I’ve been enamored with the novel since high school, the Jazz Age (and all its excesses and failings) is my favorite time period in American history and I lurrrvvvve Baz Luhrmann. With this cast, too, I just have a hard time understanding how this can go wrong!

In the meantime, I’ll continue to soak up all the ways in which Gatsby (Gatsby? What Gatsby?) has become this nation’s latest pop culture craze.

A round-up for you, if you please …

• 10 Great Quotes from The Great Gatsby
• Vogue’s cover story with Carey Mulligan about playing the role of Daisy (a MUST READ)
• This soundtrack — OMG, how have I failed to talk about how fabulous it is? That Lana del Ray song really gets me.
• The Forgotten Childhood of Jay Gatsby
• Five reasons Gatsby is the great American novel
• Anyone care for some 1922 eyewear? Yes please!
• ’20s craze culminates with in release of ‘Gatsby’

And just curious, how many of you are re-reading the book? I picked it up this week for the first time in years and am struck at how much I still love the story. I am such a fan of the way F. Scott Fitzgerald crafts sentences— a true literary genius. I have my old copy with the iconic cover that I love so much, but I found this New York Times story on the controversy over the book with the film’s tie-in cover to be an especially interesting one.

In keeping up with my trend of making May the month of all things Fitzgerald, next up on my reading list is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, a new release by author Therese Ann Fowler. I have an obsession with the creatives who made up the Lost Generation (their spouses as well) and I have a feeling this book will hold my attention every bit as much (possibly more) as The Paris Wife did a few years back!

Wellllllllll, did you all watch last night’s Season 6 premiere? What’d you think? Admittedly, as someone who is a HUGE fan of the show, I was disappointed (as I know many others were). It felt….slooowwwwww, right? My boss (knowing I’m a Mad Men connoisseur) even felt compelled to pop his head in my office this morning to ask, “Did I miss a season on Netflix or something?” He, too, felt as if we viewers weren’t getting a full story to start this new season — just odd little peeks at life since we left this gang last year.

But for those of you who’ve binge watched your way through the first five seasons of Mad Men, have faith! When you watch this series in real time, it’s a slow burn kind of viewing experience. At times, you can be so angry with its wunder-creator Matt Weiner for drawing its storylines out. But in a few months, if you were to go back and binge watch this season, I’m confident you’d be just as hooked as you were with all the rest!

So what were your stand-out moments from the premiere? How about that CREEPY conversation Betty had with her husband? Or what about Don losing his lunch at Roger’s mother’s funeral? I got really confused at the way they shot the doorman’s heart attack…oh, and if you, too, were thinking the woman Don ends the episode with looked familiar, well, that’s because it was Linda Cardellini (from Freaks and Geeks and ER)!

And the real reason I’m writing this post is to share with you that if I’ve learned anything from watching Mad Men religiously over the past five years, it’s that the Internet LOVES to talk about Mad Men. Every Monday, I look forward to the following reviews of the show —which ALWAYS make me think a little harder about (and love just a little more) this fabulous TV series! Oh, and in addition to these two sites below, this Vulture interview with Weiner on the premiere was a must-read for me! (Vulture also has their own page for all things Mad Men, just FYI)

FAVORITE MAD MEN REVIEWS & COMMENTARIES

What’s Alan Watching: Alan Sepinwall is my favorite TV critic on the Internet. His articulate, thoughtful reviews of Mad Men were what hooked me to following him on Twitter — but I also loved following his reviews for Friday Night Lights too … the man has good taste in what works on TV. I promise you his thoughts on the show will be part of your watercooler buzz if you let them….(Case in point: His observations about the lighter getting switched in last night’s premiere? TOTALLY missed the significance of that! Not to mention the way Alan helped point out all the doorways used in an episode titled as such…)

Tom and Lorenzo: This fabulous gay twosome delivers amazing commentary on Mad Men too. Their reviews of each episode are always, always must-reads for me. But even better than their reviews? The way they deconstruct, episode by episode, the characters’ wardrobes for the show. Don’t believe me? Pick just ONE of these style reviews from last season and prepare yourself for the obsession!

Photo source: Mashable.com

Seven years. We’ve waited a looooong time for Justin Timberlake to decide he could sing again, haven’t we? (I always think of this video). My running iPod now just skips over tracks from FutureSex/LoveSounds because they’ve been played and played …and played too many times. So like a lot of fans of his, I was giddy at the news of Justin’s new album, The 20/20 Experience.

After giving it a listen, can we all just agree we’re glad Mr. Timberlake is back? And back in a BIG way ( I’m already excited to hear about his plans to release a second 20/20 album later this year). Did I love all the tracks? Ehhhh…not necessarily. Strawberry Bubblegum—with its ridiculous lyrics and Barry White overtones—made me roll my eyes a bit. But on the flip side, I looooove Pusher Love Girl, That Girl (no doubt about his new wife, Jessica), and Mirrors. Overall, it’s nice to see Justin delivering an album that’s as smooth and polished as this new crooner image of his.

For those of you giddy souls who joined me in giving the album a good listen today, I’d love to know what you thought! What tracks stood out to you? I admit I was missing the club/dance vibe of FutureSex/LoveSounds, but I can get down with this soulful version of JT, too. Oh, and how many of you actually bought the CD/vinyl album of 20/20? I saw a couple folks mention on social media today this is the first CD they’ve bought in years. Crazy!

• Stream the album for a listen
• A few reviews: Rolling Stone // NPR // Pitchfork 
• In case you missed Justin’s week-long appearance on Jimmy Fallon, my favorite spots were their History of Rap: Part 4 and a barbershop quartet take on SexyBack. Classic.

Remember the days when you’d wait in anticipation of watching your favorite show that night in primetime? Thursdays were always my favorite day of the week because they meant new episodes of Friends and Seinfeld (and ER…at least, during the Clooney years for me :) )

Who watches TV in real time anymore? With the exception of an occasional episode of Modern Family or Parks & Rec, most of the TV Nick and I watch these days is online. We’ve joined the ever-growing segment of the population know as “binge viewers”. Not familiar with the term? Here’s how the Wall Street Journal describes it:

Technologies such as on-demand video and digital video recorders are giving rise to the binge viewer, who devours shows in quick succession—episode after episode, season after season, perhaps for $7.99 a month, the cost of a basic Netflix membership. In the past, such sessions required buying stacks of costly DVDs ($66.99 for seasons one through four of “Mad Men”) or special broadcast marathons.

Thanks to our Netflix subscription, Hulu and the ease of Amazon Prime (we LOVE their streaming video capabilities), Nick and I have binge-watched a number of shows in recent years, from Friday Night Lights (best.drama.ever) and Dexter to Homeland and Happy Endings.

Binge viewing is a hot topic these days — the New York Times recently reported on Netflix’s decision to release all 13 episodes of its new drama House of Cards (which I hear is fantastic) at once (here’s hoping they decide to do the same when they release Arrested Development later this year!)

My favorite ode to binge viewing is CBS Sunday Morning reporter Luke Burbank’s recent confession. He writes:

Working through an old season of “Homeland” or “Mad Men,” when one episode ends, there’s always another one waiting for you, begging you to watch it. “The Sopranos” . . . “The Wire” . . . “Dexter” . . . Months, maybe years of my life, lost. And just when I thought maybe, maybe I was getting back on my feet, “Downton Abbey” came along. Damn those loveable, hateable, watchable Upper Class Brits!

As someone who also binge-watched the entire first season of Downton in a week, I just had to laugh at that last line!

So what about you guys? What’s your favorite TV to binge watch these days? I have friends who have gone through entire seasons of Mad Men and Parenthood on Netflix in a week (two of my FAVORITE series). As for me, I still have high hopes of someday getting around to binge-watching the entire series of The Wire. Before that, maybe Nick and I should finish what we started and catch up with Walter and Jesse by binge viewing the remaining seasons of Breaking Bad.

It’s that time of year again: When the pages of celebrity ‘zines fill up with pictures of Hollywood’s glam ladies and dapper men. When everyone’s buzzing about the year’s best films. When you can’t escape the television and its promotion of awards shows. And you know what folks? I’m a sucker for A-L-L of it.

The Golden Globes are on tonight and I told my husband he knows where he can find me come 8 o’clock—in my PJs, on the couch, a bowl of popcorn in my lap (and probably Tweeting my two cents about what everyone from Angelina Jolie to Natalie Portman are wearing). I’ve been an awards season junkie for years now. Decades, really, as I can’t recall the last Globes or Oscar ceremony I didn’t watch live. To be honest, I don’t know what it is about this season that makes me such a glutton. To watch a show like this for hours when, for a lot of folks, the idea itself would be like punishment. But we all have our own version of the SuperBowl, don’t we? And so, let it be said, this is mine.

For fellow fans of the Globes and the Oscars, who do you think will take home the big prizes? Who’s going to wear the best dress? Give the best acceptance speech? My picks are as follows:

Best Actor: Colin Firth (he’s SO great in The King’s Speech)
Best Actress: Natalie Portman (while I didn’t love Black Swan the way I wanted to, I’m pretty sure she’ll get every award possible just for the amount of dedication to her role in it; if I had my pick though, I’d hand it to Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone…what a performance)
Best Picture: The Social Network (this movie had an energy about it that I don’t think any other film in 2010 did…was totally fascinated by it and Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for it was fantastic)
Best Dressed: I think Natalie is going to look amazing and, in my book, Michelle Williams can do no wrong on the red carpet–other ladies who I think will hit it out of the park? Emma Stone, January Jones (Mad Men better sweep those TV categories tonight!) and Anne Hathaway….(also looking forward to seeing some of the guys looking all suave as well (helloooo Jon Hamm ;) )

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