"Mad Men," the Annotated Edition

While watching Sunday’s Mad Men premiere, a very dirty Japanese print hanging on an executive's office wall caught my eye; I knew I’d seen it before, but couldn’t quite place it. But now, thanks to the “The Footnotes of Mad Men [3]”—and to kottke.org [4] for pointing me thataways—I know that it’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife [2], by Hokusai.

I have yet to hop on the Mad Men bandwagon, but if this blog keeps up—it only launched a few weeks ago—the annotation-loving nerd in me could very well get hooked. Check out the most recent post, pegged to Sunday's episode: a vintage American Airlines ad [5] with a stewardess curled up in a Saarinen chair, the text exhorting passengers to “Think of her as your mother. She only wants what’s best for you.” Kind of puts a queasy spin on Don’s hotel romp, doesn’t it?

Image of The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife by Hokusai, in the public doman.