Brand Mix

It's the all-mad edition. From mad scientists to mad art, mad artists, mad politics and Mad Men:

1) The chosen research areas of mad scientists (1810 - 2010): Mad Science

What do mad, fictional scientists research? Annalee Newitz decided to look into this important question and reports on the results of his own mad research going all the way back to Frankenstein in the 1810s. Key findings: There are lots more mad scientists out there than there used to be, biology and biotechnology are the most popular fields of research and mad chemistry never goes out of style.

2) Visualizing Madness: The Art of “Howl” NeuroTribes

NeuroTribes interviews painter and graphic novelist Eric Drooker. He created images for "Howl," a feature film starring actor James Franco as a young Allen Ginsberg. His images formed the basis of the digital animation that visually represents the surreal, incantatory language of the poem.

3) Casey Affleck levels about "I'm Still Here" Roger Ebert's Journal



For all those who were worried that Joaquin Phoenix had gone completely mad, this week brought relief. It was all an act (including this Letterman interview)--an Andy Kaufman reprise. Roger Ebert was one of the many who originally thought the "I'm Still Here" movie that documents Phoenix's performance was "real" but, to his credit, this interview with Casey Affleck is mainly inquisitive, not accusative.

4) Stephen Colbert draws attention to self, then farmworkers during Hill appearance Yahoo! News



Oh, the truthiness of it all! Stephen Colbert, in character, performed and testified in Congress this week about an immigration bill he had not read, “like most members of Congress.” His appearance guaranteed a sell-out crowd and possibly the highest rating ever for a CSPAN 3 broadcast. Some were amused. Some weren't.

5) Freud. The rebranding: McSweeney's
Jim Stallard imagines Anna Freud visiting Sterling Cooper to ask Don Draper and his Mad Men colleagues to help rebrand her father's work as it continues to lose share to that annoying upstart, behaviorism:

FREUD: Society is changing. At our last board meeting, we decided we have to reposition ourselves. We want to promote our expertise in dreams. We want people to see them as the means to discover themselves, and that Freud will show them how.

PEGGY OLSON: When I was a girl, I always lay in bed in the morning thinking over the dream I just had. It was the happiest part of my day.

FREUD: (Brightening) That's the feel that we're looking for. People want a lift, and we give it to them.

OLSON: You could have a slogan like, "Dare to Dream." Or "Full Dream Ahead."

DRAPER: (Annoyed) That sounds like a carnival ride.