Matthew Weiner is Mad Men

Matthew Weiner '87 (above), former writer/producer of "The Sopranos" and currently the creator, executive producer, and head writer of AMC's excellent hit series "Mad Men", is featured in today's New York Times Magazine.

Among other things, the article observes Weiner's somewhat neurotic control over every creative aspect of "Mad Men", which goes a long way in making the show's early 60's world of New York advertising feel authentic.

Weiner (pronounced WHY-ner) is the creator and show-runner of “Mad Men,” which means the original idea was his: he wrote the pilot; he writes every episode of every show (along with four other people); he’s the executive producer who haggles for money (he says that his budget is $2.3 million per episode and that the average budget for a one-hour drama is $2.8 million); and he approves every actor, costume, hairstyle and prop...

“I do not feel any guilt about saying that the show comes from my mind and that I’m a control freak,” he told me. “I love to be surrounded by perfectionists, and part of the problem with perfectionism is that by nature, you’re always failing.”

Weiner was also a COL major, which seems to have worked out for him:

Weiner attended the Harvard School in Los Angeles, now Harvard-Westlake. Despite his difficulties there — A.P. History was his one success — he got into Wesleyan, from which he graduated in 1987. “My major was a program that combined philosophy, literature and history,” he recalled. “It had no grades, and I remember getting my first comments back and my father looking at my comments and saying: ‘Isn’t this interesting? I can read this comment and I can see that you got a C.’ ”

...After Wesleyan, Weiner got into U.S.C. film school with some direct lobbying of the dean by his father. “He was instrumental in making sure I got in, with my academic major that had no grades,” Weiner said.

NYTimes: "Mad Men" Has Its Moment

Michael Roth's Wife to Teach, Too!

At a time when many departments are struggling with understaffing issues, new president Michael Roth pledging to teach a course came as a godsend. But then, what's this? His wife, Kari Weil, wants to teach, too?! Argus writer Andrew Luglio reports:

Weil has been chair of Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts since 2003. Critical Studies is a non-major program involving a variety of subject-specific and interdisciplinary courses. A professor since 1985, her teaching experience in a variety of fields has prepared her for the unique COL program.

"I'm very excited by COL," Weil said. "Much of my work has been interdisciplinary and coming now from an interdisciplinary program, I know both the rewards and some of the difficulties in working in those areas." Argus writer

Weil received her BA in French from Cornell University and her MA and PhD in comparative literature from Princeton University. Feminism and sexuality in French literature initiated her interest in women's studies, a field in which she has published several articles and written one book, "Androgyny and the Denial of Difference."

Weil's more recent passion in animal studies stems from time she spent in France, where she became fascinated with horses, particularly their relationship to humans and the evolution of their role in society. She is currently working on a manuscript titled "La Plus Belle Conquête de l'Homme: Horses, Gender and the Conquest of Animal Nature in Nineteenth-Century France."

How impossibly, yet endearingly nerdy could this family get?!

Sucks to be you...

Freshmen received an interesting email from Ethan Kleinberg, director of the Wesleyan College of Letters today. At 2:41pm, he writes:

"[...] I would like to remind you that the College of Letters applications are due today, Monday March 26 by 3 p.m. at COL office Butterfied C 411."

Those of you who happened to check your email within the first ninteen minutes after 2:41, I hope you were able to both write and walk really, really fast.

College of Letters Open House

Calling all Frosh! The College of Letters will hold open houses for potential majors on Monday March 5 and Wednesday, March 7 at 4:15pm in the COL Library in Butterfield C.

COL is an interdisciplinary major combining history, literature, and philosophy. Often referred to fondly as the College of Love, COL fosters an uncommonly collegian atmosphere among its students. The major also provides unparalleled opportunity to develop close working relationships with some of Wesleyan's smartest (and most endearing) professors. And you don't get grades! Curious? Stop by tomorrow or Tuesday and talk to COL majors and professors about the department.

The application for admission to the major is due the Monday after Spring Break.

The College of Letters

"What do you do with an English degree?" is an oft-heard jab on liberal arts colleges' campuses, but we're pretty sure that if COL were a more widespread major, English majors would be mocked significantly less often.

So what do you do with a COL degree? Ask Wesleyan's sysadmin, who is (surprise!) a COL graduate and has deemed it "the least practical major ever conceived." Excerpt here:

For instance, in job hunts, one doesn't often see bullet points like the following:

• Must have knowledge of Njal's Saga and basic economic principles addressed in other Icelandic Sagas.
• Working understanding of the difference of falling-towards-death and being thrown-to-death.
• Ability to discuss the sexual aspects of Harold and the Purple Crayon when necessary.
• Must have succesfully read Thucydides' Peloponnesian War without clawing one's eyes out because of the sheer tedium.

Full thoughts here.