Martin Schneider writes:

One more quick thing about the most recent episode, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword." The news that SCDP would be handling Honda's nascent automobile division could not but remind me of Randall Rothenberg's engrossing book Where the Suckers Moon. That 1994 book detailed the circa-1990 process whereby Subaru hired a new advertising agency for its upcoming campaign and, as such, is an essential resource—one I haven't seen mentioned enough—for anyone who wants to read more about Don Draper's job description (albeit 25 years later).

Mad Men's description of Honda's new cars as "motorcycles with a frame around them" (or whatever) immediately brought me back to Rothenberg's account of Subaru's early years. At the time—an automobile enthusiast could confirm if this is still true—Subaru was kind of the ignoble stalwart on the lower end of the Japanese automobile market. Their cars were clunky, cheap, and reliable, and they were also known for pioneering the four-wheel drive. Somehow I can't help but think that Weiner and Co. are obliquely referring to Where the Suckers Moon here; it's just too close.

Martin Schneider writes:

It's interesting how positive a reaction the Honda shenanigans got from all the pro bloggers documenting every detail of the Draper Saga. During one commercial break while watching the most recent episode, "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword," I commented to my co-watchers, "What is this, Three's Company?" It reminded me of the Ham Scam from s04e01, after which Don scolded Peggy, but good. Nobody I read pointed out the parallel. The Honda sequence was as rich and enjoyable as everything that happens in Mad Men, but I didn't enjoy it more than anything else on the show.

I was more taken by the plight of Sally Draper, whose predicament is getting more gut-wrenchingly alarming by the scene. I think what skewers our hearts so damnably about Sally is that nothing is really under her control. Her supposedly "rebellious" act of cutting her own hair seemed just beyond

Martin Schneider writes:

A few days ago I got involved in an online argument with two impassioned "birthers"—people who believe that, for a variety of reasons, Barack Obama is not eligible for the presidency. Against all expectations, I was able to put forward some arguments that, I think, confounded my opponents, and I learned something along the way too. It was an unexpectedly constructive exercise, I thought.

The venue was Ezra Klein's blog at the Washington Post. Klein, who is extremely prolific, always throws up a "lunch break" blog around midday with some frivolous content. Last week, on President Obama's birthday, he made a joke in his "lunch break" post about Rush Limbaugh having made fun of the indeterminacy of Obama's birthdate and put up a YouTube video of Louis Armstrong (whose

Martin Schneider writes:

Watching Mad Men the last two weeks ("Public Relations" and "Christmas Comes But Once a Year"), it's been a shock to see how thoroughly its creators have used the plot point of a new office environment as an opportunity to pivot from what I've been calling the 1950s/"Sinatra" side of the 1960s to something closer to, say, Swinging London, not to mention Woodstock. I had once assumed that the show would find this transition difficult—at this point, I think this show can do anything.

The sight of the airy, sleek, symmetrical, somewhat plastic new SCDP office, with its Eero Saarinen furniture and Op Art wall decor, puts me in the mind of a possible key influence none of

Martin Schneider writes:

A few days ago Timothy Noah of Slate and conservative writer Byron York engaged in a Bloggingheads.tv "diavlog," as they are called.

What to do when you are an "intelligent" conservative confronted with the proposition that FOX News is essentially a bunch of partisan liars whose work cannot be taken seriously? I don't know—that's not my problem. Byron York doesn't handle