The whole world's gone Mad: Mad Men Season 4 premiere this Sunday!

What the new Mad Men S4 photo (above) tells us. (Yes, a body-language expert was actually interviewed for the article.)

It's almost time for an all new season of Mad Men!

Without giving away too much, the first episode will be titled "Public Relations" and -- from what I've read -- sounds like it's going to be amazing. 10pm on Sunday cannot come soon enough. To satiate your fix until the premiere, here's a roundup of my favorite Mad Men links:

SPOILER ALERT (seriously, if you read this article you are going to know exactly where everyone stands in episode 1; read at your own risk): Exploring Don Draper as a single man in Season 4.

New photos are out from the upcoming episodes! Peggy, that haircut is just not doing it for you.

Speaking of Peggy's hair, series costume designer Janie Bryant discusses Peggy's coif choice, Bryant's new mod line and vintage clothing.

A writer at Salon.com admits that she most identifies with Mad Men's "brattiest, least feminist character": Betty Draper.

The NY Post is Mad about the girls. "Forget Carrie Bradshaw," they write, "today's girls are trying Betty, Joan and Peggy on for size."

SPOILER ALERT: The SF Chronicle argues that identity is key to the start of Mad Men season 4 (makes sense; creator Matt Weiner mentioned months ago that this year the characters would all be asking: "Who am I?").

We're in good company: Obama is a huge Mad Men fan. "He wrote to say he enjoyed Season 3," Weiner said. "He was congratulating me on my and the show's success, and I wanted to say, 'But wait, you're the successful person."

Since you've already Mad Menned yourself, maybe you should Mad Men your living room. I know I already have.

Christina Hendricks looks absolutely stunning on the latest cover of LA Times Magazine.

Slate contemplates how season 4 will handle Betty's storyline. Betty Hofstadt Draper Francis? I'm not a fan; drop the "Francis" and we'll talk.

Will Mad Men continue after season 5? If not then my life is over as we know it.

SPOILER ALERT: The Wall Street Journal is obvi still Mad about the Men (as they should be).

For the diehards out there planning to throw a premiere party, here's a how-to guide so you won't miss a thing (note to self: serve Old Fashioneds with Utz potato chips). For more party pointers, the Boston Globe shows how you can toast the return of Mad Men in style and also has tips on wardrobe and hair for your retro-themed party.

Spoiler-free reasons (finally) why you should be excited about the upcoming season.

According to the LA Times, "[Don Draper] may look great, but he has no heart, nor capacity for truth. He's Satan in a starched collar." I (of course) don't agree, especially when the writer attempts to make a Don-Draper-as-devil case by saying he chose that pseudonym because both the first and last name have six letters each and six is the devil's number. Creee-per.

For the fashion-philes out there, Janie Bryant gives viewers a sneak peak at season 4 garb (the costume closet = buh-nanas).

And if you're still unclear as to why 98% of women are in love with Jon Hamm, here's the classic SNL "Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women" video:

Mad Men fashion; or, When did we stop dressing up?

So by this point many of you are probably thinking I'm beyond obsessive about certain television shows (and you're right -- I am, just like I'm obsessive about red nail polish and poodles and George Michael). You're probably also thinking "All right, we all get it. Mad Men is the greatest show ever created. Get over it already." But I can't, and here's why:

The fashion, oh the fashion. Not like the writing and acting and directing already make the show incredible, but head costume designer Janie Bryant truly knows how to round out the storytelling with the outfits she chooses for each character based on their story arc.

"Everyone thinks that Janie’s job consists of picking cool clothes, but she’s really a storyteller. She cares about who the character is and what we are trying to say about them. If I write a fur in there—say, Don gives Betty a fur—I know that we can develop a history of that coat and how it relays a bit of the sad story of their marriage," said Matt Weiner recently to The Wall Street Journal, in a fantastic article describing how Mad Men has not only "reshaped television, but inspired the fashion world, popularizing the clothes of the era, from sharp suits to fitted dresses."

Thank God. I've personally had my fill of ill-fitting denim, tired tank tops, and sad androgynous flats from Urban Outfitters. When did we start thinking "dressing up" was only for special occasions and that it's somehow appropriate to perpetually "slum it"? In my humble opinion men and women should be expected to look...well...like men and women, not like teenyboppers or like they've been home with the flu all weekend or like disheveled vagrants. No one likes the look of a vagrant except maybe Janis Joplin and that strung-out hippie I met recently on the beach, though even he said he was into demons more.

Men: You look best in tailored wool suits with pocket squares during the week or Penguin-brand garb as casualwear on the weekends. Women: Dresses and pencil skirts during the week; if no dresses are on hand then sleeveless blouses and capris for weekend outings, mmk? There's never a wrong time to wear heels. And while you're at it, a little red lipstick never hurt anyone.

Mad Men rules: A countdown to Season 4

In honor of the Mad Men Season 4 premiere this month (July 25th -- set your DVRs!), every Friday leading up to the fated night I'll be running a post related to the show and/or its actors. Today comes a short, fantastic video (via AMC) counting down the "rules" of Mad Men leading up to Season 4. Creator/writer/director Matt Weiner does a superb job of dissecting the basic elements (or rules) that make Men Men so brilliant and shows how those rules will carry into the new season:



My favorite rule? "Only boring people are bored." So true, Betty. So true.

And if it's been a while since you've Mad Men-ized yourself (or you simply have no clue what I'm talking about), AMC has a new "Mad Men Yourself" up on their website in honor of the new season! New backgrounds, new clothes and new accessories (because let's face it, there's something so devastatingly handsome about a man smoking a cigarette in a Brooks Brothers suit. At least in cartoon form.)

A letter to men, by Christina Hendricks

"One minute you're on top of the world, the next minute some secretary is running you over with a lawn mower."

In honor of the Mad Men Season 4 premiere in exactly one month (July 25th -- set your DVRs!), every Friday leading up to the fated night I'll be running a post related to the show and/or its actors. Today is an open letter to men penned by Christina Hendricks for Esquire in April.

I love that when it comes to men, Christina seems just as confident as the Joan Holloway character she plays. As copywriter Paul Kinsey said: “Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe — every woman is one of them. ...Though Marilyn's more of a Joan, not the other way around.”

And here's why (in her own words):

We love your body. If we're in love with you, we love your body. Your potbelly, everything. Even if you're insecure about something, we love your body. You feel like you're not this or that? We love your body. We embrace everything. Because it's you.

Speaking of your body, you don't understand the power of your own smell. Any woman who is currently with a man is with him partly because she loves the way he smells. And if we haven't smelled you for a day or two and then we suddenly are within inches of you, we swoon. We get light-headed. It's intoxicating. It's heady.

We remember forever what you say about the bodies of other women. When you mention in passing that a certain woman is attractive — could be someone in the office, a woman on the street, a celebrity, any woman in the world, really — your comment goes into a steel box and it stays there forever. We will file the comment under "Women He Finds Attractive." It's not about whether or not we approve of the comment. It's about learning what you think is sexy and how we might be able to convey it. It's about keeping our man by knowing what he likes.

We also remember everything you say about our bodies, be it good or bad. Doesn't matter if it's a compliment. Could be just a comment. Those things you say are stored away in the steel box, and we remember these things verbatim. We remember what you were wearing and the street corner you were standing on when you said it.

Remember what we like. When I first started dating my husband, I had this weird fascination with the circus and clowns and old carnival things and sideshow freaks and all that. About a month after we started dating, he bought me this amazing black-and-white photo book on the circus in the 1930s, and I started sobbing. Which freaked him out. I thought, Oh, my God, I mentioned this three or four weeks ago and talked about it briefly, but he was really listening to me. And he actually went out and researched and found this thing for me. It was amazing.

We want you to order Scotch. It's the most impressive drink order. It's classic. It's sexy. Such a rich color. The glass, the smell. It's not watered down with fruit juice. It's Scotch. And you ordered it.

Stand up, open a door, offer a jacket. We talk about it with our friends after you do it. We say, "Can you believe he stood up when I approached the table?" It makes us feel important. And it makes you important because we talk about it.

No shorts that go below the knee. The ones almost like capri pants, the ones that hover somewhere between the kneecap and the calf? Enough with those shorts. They are the most embarrassing pants in the world. They should never be worn. No woman likes those.

Also, no tank tops. In public at least. A tank top is underwear. You're walking around in your underwear. Too much.

You don't know this, but when we come back from a date, we feel awkward about that transition from our cute outfit into sexy lingerie. We don't know how to do this gracefully. It's embarrassing. We have to find a way to slip into another room, put on the outfit as if it all happened very easily, and then come out and it's: Look at me! Look at the sexy thing I've done! For you, it's the blink of an eye. It's all very embarrassing. Just so you know.

Panties is a wonderful word. When did you stop saying "panties"? It's sexy. It's girlie. It's naughty. Say it more.

About ogling: The men who look, they really look. It doesn't insult us. It doesn't faze us, really. It's just — well, it's a little infantile. Which is ironic, isn't it? The men who constantly stare at our breasts are never the men we're attracted to.

Marriage changes very little. The only things that will get a married man laid that won't get a single man laid are adultery and whores. Intelligence and humor (and your smell) are what get you laid. That's what got you laid when you were single. That's what gets you laid when you're married. Everything still works in marriage: especially intelligence and humor. Because the sexiest thing is to know you.

New Mad Men Season 4 poster out

I know you've all been clinging precariously to the edges of your seats since last November, hands wrung, breath baited, waiting for Mad Men to premiere again (haven't you? HAVEN'T YOU? ...or is this just me?...). To feed such an unhealthy addiction to a now classic cornerstone of the pop culture canon, the first poster touting Mad Men season 4 was just released today *pulls out tourniquet and prepares for rapturous high*:

(image via EW)

Creator Matt Weiner told Entertainment Weekly today that the new season of Mad Men will find the characters all questioning who they are.

"It’s about stripping away the things these people think define them,” Weiner told the magazine. “Once they’re taken away, they just may have to look at who they really are.”

Knowing Mad Men, this poster is rife with symbolism. It's never as it seems; therefore, this isn't just Don in an empty office. Out of all the office accoutrements to include in this picture, why go with the phone? What is Don looking at? Why does he have a lit cigarette but no ashtray? (Is he looking to figuratively burn the place down?) Why shoot in an office with floor-to-ceiling windows? Is he moving in or moving out? (Perhaps to California to take up permanent residence in that amazing Palm Springs house with the group of jetsetters?)

The imagery may not seem as compelling as the promos for Season 3 (the one where Don's sitting in his office, cigarette in hand, as the tide is rising around him), but Weiner & Co. can't give away too much in this first look. And that's fine with me. All I know is it's nice having Don back in my life (*casually undoes tourniquet and tosses it on coffeetable*).