It’s 2011, y’all! Remember the 90s? Neither does anyone else!

I spent the holidays in a choose-your-own-adventure state of bliss, where I let the impulse of each moment dictate my activities. For someone like me, who tends to me very scheduled, this was a bizarre and wonderful experience. It took me a few days to get used to the fact that I didn’t have any obligations at any time, but once I did, I flourished. Workout at 11:00 PM? Sure! Impromptu board games with a friend who just flew in from Israel? Yahtzee! Crossword puzzle in the bathroom? Yee-haw!

Oh… and watching things? You’d better believe it. Here are some brief thoughts on the television series and films I saw at the end of the year… including my reaction to finally starting Mad Men.

(What did you watch over the holiday?)

(1) Mad Men

Long-time readers may know that I missed the beginning of the Mad Men hooplah. I’d started to assume it was too late—that I could never catch up with the show—and frankly, I was starting to resent the gasps that often greeted my admission that I’d never seen it. I was this close to never watching, just to prove a point about not doing what the culture told me I had to do.

I’m glad I got over that. Because it turns out that Mad Men is a fantastic fucking television show. Perhaps you heard?

As of this writing, I’m two episodes away from finishing season two, and I’m practically twitching with anticipation about going home tonight and seeing what happens next. (On Saturday night, Andrew and I watched five episodes in a row.) Happily, I’ve avoided all spoilers, so I have no idea what’s coming next. By the time season five premieres this summer, I’ll be caught up and ready to discuss!

(2) True Grit

First of all, I saw this movie on New Year’s Day at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. If you’ve ever been there, then you know that any movie gets 20 percent better just by being screened in this palace of a cinema.

But even if I’d seen True Grit in the back room of a tick-infested naval base, I’d have enjoyed it. It balances the cool-eyed skepticism of No Country Coens with the surreal comedy of Burn After Reading Coens, resulting in a film that’s tart, sharp, and witty. Oh, and human. And empathetic. After last year’s A Serious Man left me impressed but irritated, I was grateful to see the Coens once again make room for kindness. By the end of the film, we know that Mattie Ross, teenager seeking vengeance for her father’s murder, has an honest-to-god connection with crusty Rooster Cogburn and prissy LaBoeuf, who help her hunt the muderer, and we can feel the complicated love flowing in all directions. But we don’t feel pandered or lied to… which is what happens when artists as gifted as the Coens allow love to exist in their world. (Now I want to re-watch O Brother Where Art Thou?, which is the other Coen movie flooded with unsentimal affection. Is this because both films are adapted from material that was originally written by other people?)

(3) The Town

Did I watch Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort primarily because it’s been generating Oscar buzz for Jeremy Renner’s supporting performance? Or was it because I like pulpy crime movies that feature interesting actors like Renner, Rebecca Hall, and the late Pete Postlethwaite? The answer is… yes. And while I’m not sure I understand Renner’s probable Oscar nod—his performance as a bank robber’s crazy friend strikes me as effective but one-dimensional—I certainly appreciate the movie for being a solid piece of entertainment. I won’t remember its crime-and-redemption-and-Boston-accents story in six months, but it was still good fun.

(4) The Red Riding Trilogy

I’m only halfway through this three-part crime saga that appeared on the BBC in 2009 and played in American theaters early last year, but I’m fully absorbed. Exploring police corruption in a British town in 1974, 1980, and 1983, the trilogy sports excellent acting, moody cinematography, and compelling twists… not to mention a scorching sex scene starring Andrew “Social Network” Garfield, who makes cub reporting in England seem like the sexiest job in the world.

(5) Law & Order: UK

As I said on Twitter, watching this show is like seeing a stranger in your mother’s clothes: It’s both familiar and unfamiliar at once. Like its American inspiration, the British version features lickety-split pacing, chung-chung sound effects, and conveniently timed phone calls that provide crucial information about a witness who just happens to be standing right there. Unlike the original, it also features British actors, British locations, and prosectors who wear wigs in court. Honestly, I don’t know if I can keep watching, becasue I find the similarities so unnerving. It’s like when I tried to watch the British Office after watching the American version for years. I was so used to what I knew that I couldn’t handle a creepy echo. (I know the American Office came second, but what can you do?)