The Tech of Mad Men
Gizmodo has a nice video collection of some of the obsolete items that are featured in Mad Men (to those of you who are unindoctrinated: the show takes place in an advertising office in the 1960s). My ears perked up at all the mentions of Rolodexes in the first episode of this season — as in, “Just see how you’ll manage without my Rolodex once I’m gone.” Rolodexes, of course, were—up until awful recently— a metonymous way to refer to contacts. Saying, “I’m going to take my Outlook Express with me,” doesn’t pack the same punch. Nor does any reference to all of your Twitter fans. Also, neither of the newer contact aggregators make the same pleasant thud when ceremoniously tossed into the trash.
