From Harlem and upper Manhattan to Brooklyn, Queens and the Atlantic Ocean – New York citys A Line subway route covers over 30 miles, takes two hours to ride from end to end, and is the inspiration for one of jazzs best known tunes.

via BBC News – Jazz junctions.

You know, Game of Thrones, this is how you do an expository episode. This week’s Mad Men was full of lurking menace in every scene even though the episode was more about character development than one major action piece.

Kenny getting shot in the face in the second scene shocked the hell out of me. I was sure he was dead. And in every subsequent scene, I thought any knock or phone call would be to alert the employees of SCDPCGC of that. When Sally was alone with the prep school girls and they told her not to talk, I just feared for her. Even Megan and Don’s breakfast scene seemed threatening. Bob? Who would have thought he’d turn out to be a silent threat? Pete’s “apology” to Bob… amazing. Get on the good side of those guys.

Don is cracking and acting more sociopathic. I guess I assumed he’d be found out, that his rules would fail, but it seems that he’s changing the game and perhaps wants to take everyone else down first before he falls.

This season has been incredibly dark and I wonder where it goes from here.

This interview with David Fincher about his film titles is really cool.

I saw Man of Steel on Friday and absolutely loved it. I love Zach Snyder’s movies as I’ve said before which may make me a bit biased.

Man of Steel has a lot of CG to it what with all the super-people throwing things around. But the overall look is gritty and handles all the action well. It never looks too bright and Michael Bay-ish.

I really loved the story. I loved the way the characters played out. I enjoyed that the movie set Superman up definitively as an alien. The moral conflict was also well done. In Superman movies and comics in the past, Superman often comes off as too good, too sure of the right thing to do. The only times I winced at events onscreen were when the collateral damage of the battles seemed avoidable.

Movies over 2 hours (over 90 minutes really) usually test my patience. Man of Steel was one of those rare films where I was so involved in the world onscreen that I didn’t mind.

Like at least twice as long as Bret Michaels’s.

Yolo. LTD.

Even though it’s one of my favorite records.

Watch the whole thing.

…if you choose to believe it.

After an extensive phone conversation with Todd K about this episode, I don’t have a lot to say. I think I’m waiting/holding my breath for Don’s collapse. We’ve seen for 5 season’s that it’s Don’s world, we just live in it. This season is the first where we realize, “wait, Ted’s the modern ad executive!” Don is a relic. He’s the old school. He and Roger are the past.

Spoilers ahead.

There were a number of great moments in this episode. That moment when Don tells Megan that the kid can’t keep running. The moment in the photo above where Don is being congratulated after Sally catches him cheating. The opening juggling scene. Peggy killing the rat.

Where is the season headed? I have a feeling that it might get horribly dark right at the end. This season began with Don contemplating mortality. Will it end with that theme as well?