From the makers of Entourage (Stephen Levinson and Mark Wahlberg) comes an exciting new show entitled How To Make It In America. From reading reports online it appears it hinges on a similar path to Vince and crew out in LA yet set in the Big Apple. With two industrious 20-somethings in New York City striving for success I'm looking forward to this, from what I've gathered it holds a slight context of sneaker obsession and skate culture.
Plus it stars Kid Cudi, now while he's been forced into the monolithic shadow of Drake in recent months, I've gone back to the mixtapes, not quite as excited as I was when he first burst onto the scene, but excitement nonetheless. Now I'm no longer engulfed but the swan song of hype that pretty much killed off Cudi for me, I can simply get back to the music.
Check out this cameo of Cudi on stage with his co-star from How To Make It In America Bryan Greenberg. It's a little different, but I think the vibe on this record compliments Cudi and his talent.
Clever Coca-Cola advert from the States. American advertisements are often very bland, cheesy, clean-cut, smiley faced, all singing and all dancing cliches. This however is a clever, dark and impressive commercial. We in the UK tend to lead the rest of the World when it comes to creative advertisements. As consumers us Brits are cynics, and see-through the "this product will change your life..." pitch. We want to be engaged between programs, and often the ads become more of a talking point in the living room than the actual show itself. Especially in comparison to the States, we have far less advertisements, and begrudge the short ad break half-way through our scheduled viewing, so we need to be entertained. Coca-Cola have certainly ticked all the boxes with this ad.
Since the end of Sopranos and The Wire a massive void has taken some time to fill on the TV front. I've flirted with the West Wing, delved a little deeper with Entourage and neither truly sufficed. I do enjoy the West Wing and Entourage is easy enough viewing and can be quite funny albeit overtly corny, slapstick with no shame. I like the concept, what self-respecting male wouldn't like going to parties, sleeping with beautiful women and giving all his mates jobs in his crew while he sets out to concur Hollywood with little or no effort. West Wing is a whole lot of walking from room to room, an interesting pursuit of the inner-workings of the White House and with Martin Sheen as President adds a nice touch, but neither D.C nor LA truly engross me the way the Sopranos and The Wire captured my imagination for 6 and 5 series respectively.
This however is amazing television, something truly crafted with care and grace, Mad Men is easily the best way to spend the cold, wet, and dark evenings leading up to Christmas. While the credit-crunch nips and bites, stay in, relax and watch a truly gripping, daring drama. Set in 1960s New York, care-free smoke happy advertising executives battle it out for top dog and unprecedented glory. Chauvinism is rife, so is the booze, young PAs get seduced by the suits and slick talking, this is a sexually charged, fast flowing drama of the highest merit. If you haven't watched it; start! A must view for anyone interested in good writing, better acting, wit, humor, slick-suits, fast talking hotshots and the beginning of mass-consumption, mass-media led advertising.
Isn't it ironic that right now on BBC 1 we have Nicholas Cage's film 'Lord of War' while on Channel 4 we have Cherie Blair's 'The Truth About Street Weapons' as apart of the 'Disarming Britain' series?
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