Don Draper’s Season Five? Fan Fiction Goes Mad!

Daniel D'Addario — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:12:04 -0400

Mad Men is currently mired in contractual disputes between its network, AMC, and its production company, Lionsgate -- only Matthew Weiner knows what'll happen next! Some fans are rewatching their show DVDs, some are plotting blood feuds against the critic Daniel Mendelsohn, who called the show a faux-highbrow soap opera, and some are writing their own plotlines. "Fan fiction" is not a new phenomenon, but Mad Men's melodramatic nature (okay, we admit it, Mr. Mendelsohn!) gives fans plenty to work with when they're creating fake plots: invented characters, romances, and hyper-emotional short scenes, all in another universe apart from the seasons-long context the series provides. Clicking through a fan fiction forum for the show kind of an alternate-world fifth season of Mad Men, one of constant moments of high dudgeon with no lulls in the action.

Here, the best fan fiction about the characters -- but not the exact situations -- of Mad Men.

ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_

Foursquare's Dennis Crowley Talks to Mary Kate Olsen at a Tech Party: A Dramatization

Leon Neyfakh — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:34:17 -0400

Over the weekend Guest of a Guest and Curbed co-hosted a Hamptons party that attracted a funny crowd composed of socialites, tech people, and as Business Insider put it, "straight-up celebrities." Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley came and brought a ton of beer! Union Square Ventures' Fred Wilson was also there. As far as boldface names go, the boldest was probably Mary Kate-Olsen, who wore all black and was apparently unwilling to have her picture taken. Did she mingle with the tech nerds? Probably not, since her pals Carlos Quirarte and Matt Kilegman from The Smile were there to keep her company, but here's what it might have sounded like if she had!

DENNIS CROWLEY: Hi, I'm Dennis.

MARY KATE OLSEN: Hello, I'm Mary Kate.

CROWLEY: Have you been to many tech parties?

MKO: ...

CROWLEY: I go to them all the time so if you have any questions about what to do, or who people are, I could probably help out with that.

MKO: Sorry, and who are you?

CROWLEY: Oh, I'm the founder of Foursquare, the pioneering geosocial check-in service?

MKO: Is that sort of like Facebook Places?

CROWLEY: ...

MKO: It's OK if it is.

CROWLEY: Do you know Lockhart Steele? Guy over there wearing the wallpaper shirt? Foursquare used to lease office space from his Curbed blog empire but we've grown so fast that we had to get a new office and now it's the other way around.

MKO: Wait, are you the ones that have been having all that trouble with scaling and hiring engineers?

CROWLEY: ...

MKO: I read the papers!

CROWLEY: Heh. So have you checked in yet?

MKO: As if! I am really not on board with the whole location thing. Why would I want people to know where I am all the time? What if the paparazzi started following me? You probably have no idea what it's like to be a media darling.

CROWLEY: Well, actually--

MKO: Hey, is that Fred Wilson standing by that pile of colorful shoes? I have an iPhone app idea I want to pitch him.

CROWLEY: Oh cool, sure! What is it?

MKO: Mmm, I'd rather not say too much, but basically the idea is to sort of... enrich the urban experience by connecting users? But to focus just on twins.

CROWLEY: I love it! Here, I can make an introduction no problem. Hey, Fred, over here!

MKO: Oh, God! I didn't mean right now. Could you do it by email later? I need to go say hi to Carlos and Matt, it was nice meeting you!

CROWLEY: Wait, no! Stay! I'll give you your own Foursquare badge!

Observer » Fan fiction

Don Draper’s Season Five? Fan Fiction Goes Mad!

Foursquare's Dennis Crowley Talks to Mary Kate Olsen at a Tech Party: A Dramatization