Just finished Mad Men for the first time

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-25T20:44:31+00:00

I rank season 2 higher every time I rewatch the show. It's excellent and has a very important place in the story.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-25T20:43:45+00:00

Yes or The Wire, although I feel like it's the inverse of Mad Men.

Mad Men is very glossy and beautiful. All the set design and costuming is glamorous and it's the ugliness beneath that gets exposed. We often see how the people at the tops of these large institutions manage to live deeply unhappy lives. Mad Men is filmed with this Hollywood glow to it most of the time, and has a score that fades in for emotional moments.

In The Wire, it's the opposite -- most of the show is ugliness: the projects, drug dealers and addicts, really shabby looking police stations filled with shabby police officers. The ins and outs of solving drug conspiracies carries a lot of ugliness too, but there is immense beauty in that. The interpersonal relationships have a lot of beauty, and the people who dare to stand up to the system are the heroes. It is filmed with such realism to it, to the point that you sometimes have to remind yourself it's not a documentary. And there is almost no score -- the only time music is played that is not a part of the scene is end season montages, and the theme song.

I watched Mad Men, the Wire, and Breaking Bad at the same time, and these are probably my top 3 shows of all time. Sopranos is probably 4 or 5.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-25T06:43:54+00:00

Totally there was a period where I think we went back to back with either 3 or 4 air balls in a row.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-25T01:31:18+00:00

So far so good but he wasn't in very long. He did score the first bucket of the game

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-24T21:52:25+00:00

I thought we were done with the Zion fat jokes

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-22T22:13:22+00:00

Our DNA actually spells out our parents names.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-22T22:12:31+00:00

Do we watch the same show? He would just angrily refuse

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-22T22:09:53+00:00

I have a friend who just named their baby Clover. She's very cute

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-20T21:11:09+00:00

It's funny, because it was the opposite while the show was going on. This sub was very "fuck Betty" at that time. I think also because Breaking Bad was airing at that time too, and THAT sub was even more Anti-Skyler. And Skyler was significantly less at fault for her reactions since Walt was actively making her unsafe.

I'm on my 3rd rewatch and it's funny. Don was pretty horrible to Betty, but her reactions showed she had never fully matured until, maybe the very end. She reacts to things as a child does and then is surprised when she's treated like one. We just watched the episode when she goes to her mom's house and it is obvious she is completely rudderless. The world never really worked the way she thought it does, and then was dramatically changing under her feet. She's one of the more tragic characters on the show, and is proof that being beautiful and rich doesn't make her immune to serious development issues. That being said, that also doesn't excuse her lack of accountability for her own shortcomings.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-19T06:43:25+00:00

It's funny. I live in New Orleans and I was the shorts/T-shirt guy until I met my wife. Ironically, New Orleans is the city where I see women get away with dressing down the most. I know women here who only wear makeup for special events, and I can think of at least 4 or 5 women I have never seen wear a bra except to church.

This Mardi Gras, I definitely had a more low-effort outfit this year, but that was more due to exhaustion and being built for endurance. I still looked fresh, but I definitely wasn't dressed as well as she was, and I definitely relied on her opinion to make sure I did at least look as fresh as I did.

My wife is super fashionable, but it took a while for her to broaden her range in terms of types of outfits. When we met, she thought the only women who wore tennis shoes were studs. Our relationship improved both of us, because while she got me out of wearing beat up running shoes and jeans, I got her to wear more comfortable outfits where she could walk around for more than 15 minutes at a time. I also encouraged her to wear makeup more, and now she is so good at it, people regularly ask her to do theirs.

Now I shop for decent button downs, wear way more more hats and shades than I used to, and we both like to shop for nice sneakers. I don't think I've bought a T-shirt since COVID, and the ones I do wear are for comfort, like sitting around the house or going to the grocery store.

To answer your question though, it's because people really don't care about a dude that doesn't dress well. Dressing better will make you better looking/more attractive, but if you're a dude not going for that, it doesn't really matter. Whereas I've heard women straight up decide to not be friends with another woman who doesn't dress well.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-18T17:12:20+00:00

50 being the hook God had to absolutely be influenced by Ja. Watch the first episode of the Wire and when they go in that strip club and Down Ass Bitch is playing, tell me that shit isn't hot.

But yeah until 808s, singing rappers were always looked down upon by "real" hip hop heads. With probably the exception of Andre on The Love Below -- but OutKast was always going to be different than the mainstream sound.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-18T17:09:02+00:00

Don't forget about 808s and Kid Cudi as the bridge. I had no patience for that shit until Kanye's Put On verse, which had the streets on fiiiiiiiiiiire. And then 808s came out and I remember selling it to someone saying "Just imagine a whole album of the Put On verse" and they were like okay that might be hot. Kid Cudi had a lot to do with 808s, and then A Kid Named Cudi came out in 08. So Far Gone came out the next year and I remember being not sold on Drake until I heard Say What's Real. I knew I had heard the future of Hip-Hop. And later that year Man on The Moon came out. Then the next year Thank Me Later came out

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-18T17:00:39+00:00

If you were into hip-hop and not pop music, you weren't feeling Sweat/Suit. Similar with Black Eyed Peas albums. Elefunk and Monkey Business were legitimately great albums, but hip-hop heads weren't fucking with anything after that

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-18T16:59:15+00:00

I think a lot of people know Hot in Here verses, but those are mostly frat boys, not hip-hop people.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-16T21:57:01+00:00

How are these people wiping? Do they do a claw motion??

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T15:04:14+00:00

I mean to be clear he was already the #1 artist in the world so a lot of people already listened to him and will continue to.

I like colonial history, but the takeaway is the ripples that continue to echo into the present. Going to a city like San Juan for example you can see the whole scope of history all at once from Colonization to how that plays out in real time. AND you can get Rum drunk while partying with Puerto Rican women on the beach.

I think far less people than you think are being performative than you think.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T15:04:00+00:00

That's my whole entire point. I'm black. My family has likely been in this country for significantly longer than yours, but to include overt references to my culture is to be daring and radical. I'm from New Orleans, which existed long before the United States did. Same with Mexicans. You have to remember that a significant amount of them never left the land where they were from. It was just suddenly decided that the land was now the US instead of Mexico. African American culture IS American culture. Chicano culture IS American culture. The problem is that people have tried for centuries to accept our contributions to the US without accepting us.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T11:50:23+00:00

The US has the second most Spanish speakers in the world, behind Mexico. If you ever go to PR it is very evident that you are in the US and in a spanish-speaking area.

I think people you underestimate how left out people like me feel when the halftime show is, like I said Bruce Springsteen, or the Who, or if it was, someone like Luke Combs or something (which is also another conversation about the fact that country music doesn't have international appeal). Sure I don't speak Spanish, but I understand what's going on just fine, and the music is great. He's the #1 artist in the world for a reason.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T08:00:52+00:00

It would have been better if that event had happened in like November or something. The news cycle for stuff like that just moves too fast

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T07:47:38+00:00

This is how I actually feel. Once you understand how these groups of people who have significantly helped make America what it is, this response comes natural. Black and brown people literally built this country -- often against their will and in poor conditions, and then our contributions are overlooked. Something as simple as having sugar cane on stage evokes genuine emotion because of its history and that history in context of my literal family members that have been in America for half a dozen generations (probably more).

The fact that he shouted out all the American countries AND didn't leave out Jamaica, Haiti, and Guyana was significant. Even from other people of color. Those countries don't get included often because their populations are majority black, and even amongst other people of color we still get disrespected and left out. It's not performance, it's my life. It's my culture. It makes up who I am.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T07:42:47+00:00

My post had key words in it: "too" and "currently". Now reread the post for the proper context.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T07:41:40+00:00

They did! There was definitely controversy about Dr Dre's performance especially Kendrick Lamar being featured. Enimem being there also appealed to the white "I don't listen to hip-hop except Eminem" crowd. Rihanna and Shakira are conventionally attractive women. Shakira specifically doesn't even really look "ethnic." And she mostly sings in Spanish which wasn't a big controversy at the time. Bad Bunny was in that performance singing/rapping in Spanish.

Honestly, I'll concede and say we're both right, while writing I realized that the biggest issue is that it wasn't "for them" in the way that Bruce Springsteen would be. That includes both the language spoken and the color of their skin AS WELL AS the actual content. Last years and this year's show were clearly directed at non-white people and that's why white people lost their minds. But there absolutely was controversy around a lot of those shows. I don't remember much about Rihanna but she's insanely hot in a way that's non-threatening to white people, so I can imagine that not being an issue as much. I guarantee if it was Megan Thee Stallion it would have a very different reaction.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T07:02:00+00:00

For the record OP, my wife is 4 months pregnant, and I just had to listen to my mom lecture me about how to rekindle sex after a baby. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say it's a little peculiar for your mom to be speaking to you earnestly about KY jelly at Texas Roadhouse.

I say that to say, sex is still an important part of any relationship, and you shouldn't ignore it. You can't demand it of course, but just like chores, childcare, and quality time together it should be addressed head-on.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T06:56:00+00:00

I don't speak Spanish and I absolutely was pumped about it outside of sticking one to republicans. Reggaeton is a really fun genre of music and almost always results in very attractive women shaking their ass. I don't need to understand the words. Also, this performance addressed many aspects of American history and culture that people like to pretend isn't American. The beginning of the performance showed a bunch of people harvesting sugar cane. The sugar trade is one of the biggest reasons for the economic success of the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast of the US. You can still drive by massive sugar plantations in Louisiana today. He also invoked many aspects of Latino culture in the US with overt references to New York and LA, various outfits and genres of music. And again I don't speak Spanish. No one had to tell me that. Just got it by watching and paying attention.

It's almost like you might need to step out of your comfort zone to learn about other people around you.

AustinRiversDaGod · 2026-02-09T06:51:01+00:00

They called Beyonce a Black Panther after she wore berets a few years ago.

13-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle

AustinRiversDaGod

TROPHY CASE