An Easy Fix for a Broken Keyboard

Victor Kerlow

Dear Diary:

A couple of weeks ago my boyfriend spilled hot tea on his computer keyboard. He Googled a few computer fix-it places in Manhattan, then called them to ask how they might handle the repair.

The quickest and cheapest solution by far came from a small company in TriBeCa. Explaining the problem to their service person, my boyfriend added, “Now about five keys don’t work at all.”

“Oh,” said the service person as if it should be abundantly clear to anyone with half a brain, “Just don’t use those keys.”

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Matthew Weiner Discusses the ‘Mad Men’ Season Finale

Jaimie Trueblood/AMC Matthew Weiner and Jon Hamm on the set of “In Care Of,” the season finale of “Mad Men.”

When a “Mad Men” season begins with references to Dante’s “Inferno,” you know that at some point Don Draper is going to be put through hell. Abandon all hope, ye who read any further without expecting to have the season finale of this AMC drama spoiled for you.

In Sunday’s episode, Draper (played by Jon Hamm) was finally called to account for the very bad behavior he’d exhibited all year: he was placed on a leave of absence from his job at Sterling Cooper & Partners, following a pitch meeting gone awry; he pulled out of his plan to move to California, instad offering the opportunity to his rival Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm), but straining his marriage with Megan (Jessica Paré); and his relationship with his daughter, Sally (Kiernan Shipka), never recovered from her discovery that he was having an affair with a neighbor (Linda Cardellini). With no place to go but up, Draper started come clean to his children, and the season ended as he drove them to the house where he grew up as Dick Whitman.

Jaimie Trueblood/AMC Not divine, and not too much comedy: Jon Hamm as Don Draper on “Mad Men.”

As a! lways, Draper’s descent â€" and possible redemption? â€" is orchestrated by Matthew Weiner, the creator and show runner of “Mad Men,” who directed the season finale and wrote the episode with Carly Wray. Mr. Weiner spoke last week about this episode and the events of the past season, one that elicited a wide range of reactions, some positive and some strongly negative, from longtime viewers. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q.

The season finale felt like a long-awaited comeuppance for Don, though maybe not the one we were expecting.

A.

Basically, we started the season saying, Society is in revolt. Don Draper is in a place where he has been before, and his anxiety has never been worse because he knows he’s been there before. Cetain things are conceived as twists - you definitely expect Megan to find out about his affair, and it’s Sally [who does]. That felt like that would be the worst thing that ever happened to him. His central problem, as you learn more about him, is this childhood and that anxiety of who he is and how he feels about himself and sex, and why he can’t get into that life that he wants, and he’d be forced to - not necessarily change, but at least the admission of who he is. Looking in the mirror and saying, “Oh, yes, this is who I am.” What a gigantic step for anybody. Most of us never get there.

Q.

But there were some strong hints, going all the way back to the doorman’s heart attack in the season premiere, that Don was going to die.

A.

Oh, I wanted you to think that Don was the one who was dying. Death can be literal, but death can be a transformation. I don’t know if it’s my concept of the tarot ! or what -! the death card is always about change, and people get scared when they see it. But it’s about the death of a condition or a state of things. As things in America, theoretically, go back to the way they were, with Nixon’s election and every one of these revolutions and movements for social change being tamped down by the end of 1968, mostly through violence, people turn toward the things that they can change. In the Martin Luther King Jr. episode, a lot of that was about  people being driven together by this tragedy instead of being broken apart, and turning to the part that they could control or find joy in. Sally having her image of Don destroyed like this was irreparable. I think he realized that he had to recognize that he was keeping a secret that was destructive for them.

Q.

Is Don’s marriage to Megan over? Has he lost his job at the agency?

A.

No. I think his job is what it is. It’s a leave of absence. It looks bad. But there has o be some punishment for the way he behaved. Firing their most important client, forcing them into a merger and then waging war on his partner, and the destructive swath that he cut through the agency, killing the public offering and everything else, that cannot go without punishment. The Hershey’s meeting has little do with it. You have to be way, way more intrinsic than Don was this season to get away with that kind of stuff.

His marriage to Megan, you’ll have to wait and see where that ends. I loved her showing some backbone and I loved her realization that he is the problem. When he went to California and was on hashish, you saw his fantasy version of her, which was her pregnant and tolerant of his philandering, and quitting her job. He’s beyond old-fashioned. What he proposes to her in the finale and when he reneges on that, even though we know it’s for more noble reasons that she thinks, I was glad to see her not just roll over and take that. I don’t know how much hope there is ! for their! relationship, but I would not take that as a definitive ending.

Q.

Where did this season’s subplot about Bob Benson and his rivalry with Pete Campbell come from?

A.

We really wanted Pete to have an underling, that there was someone nipping at his heels, but was really, really good with people. Someone who, even without any substance, had a blind affection for Pete, almost an obsession with him. I don’t even think it’s gay. I think he honestly just loves what Pete represents, because Pete has everything that he wants. I’m not saying that he has not had that kind of experience, I don’t know how he knows Manolo. But what I think the American employment structure allows for is completely, let’s say, unsubstantiated success. [Bob] has lied about everything, and I loved the idea that Pete would find this out and realize tat there was no point in going against this guy. Because he had lost this battle with Don, and he was outmatched in some way by someone who was that wily. I’m not saying that Bob doesn’t have a diabolical side. You can see it from the finale, that he definitely should not be messed with. [laughs]

Q.

The season finale seems to suggest that Bob could be back in further episodes.

A.

I would not say that we’ll never see Bob again. We only have one season of the show and I have a lot of people to juggle. But I would love to work with James [Wolk] again. He was fantastic.

Q.

So you’re committed to the idea that the next season of “Mad Men” will be its last?

A.

I am. I don’t know much about it, as a season. But I definitely am committed to that, yes. I can tell you that if you don’t want to repeat yourself, a show gets harder and harder, and we’re at Episode 78. And I! think it! ’s time to come into the home stretch. I am not prepared for it emotionally. And there’s been no discussion of anything other than ending it. I am just going to take a couple of weeks off, and regroup, and we will get back in it.

Q.

You told me this year that you had stopped reading the online commentary on “Mad Men.” Were you able to maintain that throughout the season?

A.

I really did that. It was better for me. Because I can’t get involved in that conversation. I don’t have any control over it. All the commenters who are writing about it, it’s not a voice that you need in your head. People have found a way to tell me about it, and I’ve never received such a positive response to the show. The themes of the show this year really seem to capture the mood that people are in right now, which is one of anxiety and the loss of confidence, and fear of the future and a kind of curiosity about what we have to do to not feel this way.

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Rapping About Darwin, for Knowledge and Glory

School was out for the week, but the lessons were just starting. Jahleel Cephus, 17, a sophomore from Validus Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, swayed to a hip-hop beat and dropped science: “Bioclast, foliation, and that granite,” he rhymed. “I can tell you something ‘bout an aphanitic.” On a screen behind him, the last word linked to a note explaining that it meant a volcanic rock. Students whooped in appreciation.

Jahleel was one of about 300 students from nine New York public high schools who participated this semester in an experimental pilot program called Science Genius, which used hip-hop to teach science to urban teenagers. On Friday night, the best students from each school met at Teachers College, Columbia University, in a final battle for citywide supremacy.

At stake were pride, bragging rights and some srious swag - the winner got a full day at the Museum of Natural History and a full day in a recording studio with the rapper GZA, of Wu-Tang Clan, who has been a vocal advocate of science education and a figurehead for the Science Genius program.

“Going into schools, I’m just as nervous to be around them as they are to be around me,” GZA said. “There’s no difference.”

Onto the stage the students filed, spitting rhymes about DNA, mitochondria, the big bang, natural selection, reproduction, digestion, the solar system and a “burner named Bunsen.” Lyrics for all the raps appeared on the popular lyrics Web site Rap Genius.

Tara Ware, 27, who teaches earth science at Validus, said she had hoped using hip-hop would help her students retain vocabulary, especially those who spoke English as a second language. But other benefits soon became apparent.

“They learned problem-solving s! kills,” Ms. Ware said. “And it really tested their work ethic. All my kids love rap, but some aren’t good at it, so they really had to work at it. It took more time to write a rap than write a three-page paper.”

The program was developed by Christopher Emdin, an assistant professor of science education at Teachers College, as part of what he calls “reality pedagogy” - reaching minority students through their culture. Eight volunteers, mostly graduate students, worked with teachers to incorporate hip-hop into the curriculum. In a very limited study, Mr. Emdin said the students in the classrooms that used hip-hop outperformed those who did not.

Musa Kaira, 20, an immigrant from Gambia, West Africa, was one of those who benefited. A senior at English Language Learners and International Support (ELLIS) Preparatory Academy in the Bronx, Mr. Kaira said he had not liked science and had struggled with the class work.

But once rap was added to the mix, “I started staying after school,and used the lab to make a rhyme about freezing and melting,” he said.

His teacher, Jeremy Heyman, 27, said his students learned as much about themselves as they learned about science. “But their enjoyment and appreciation of science were definitely improved.”

From Bronx Compass High School, three freshman girls calling themselves Dreams Divided were sure their rap about DNA and Darwin was going to win.

“We all hated our science class before,” said Victoria Richardson, 14. “Now I can’t wait till Friday to go to science class.” The challenge of writing credible raps - which require dense allusions - meant that they had to do extra research, and to work together. “You can’t just say, ‘DNA, I want to play,’” Victoria said. “You have to make sense.”

After the last rhyme, the six judges, who included GZA, deliberated long over the winner. Some students had been ragged but charming; some used elaborate metaphors, a trait shared by scientists and rappers! , Mr. Emd! in said.

Finally the judges returned with a winner: Jabari Johnson, a senior from Urban Assembly for the Performing Arts High School in Harlem, for a rhyme about the formula Work equals Force times Distance. With a derby hat pushed back on his head, he brought academic rigor with a touch of hip-hop braggadocio.

Ruby Washington/The New York Times Jabari Johnson, a senior from Urban Assembly for the Performing Arts High School in Harlem, won for his rhyme about the formula, work equals force times distance.

“I’ve been rapping since I was 9,” said Jabari, who plans to pursue a musical caree next year rather than attending college. “It came naturally. When you put science and rap together, you get something beautiful.”

Or, as he rhymed it onstage:

“And now I’m progressing, a natural rap genius

And I’ma get an A if I see this on the regent”

Just in case anyone was wondering whether hip-hop would be on the standardized test.

Jon Stewart as the Jon Stewart of Cairo

Jon Stewart is on a sabbatical from his duties as host of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” but that has not stopped him from appearing on television. Last week, he was a surprise guest on “Al Bernameg,” or “The Program,” the Egyptian equivalent of “The Daily Show” that is filmed in Cairo and hosted by Bassem Youssef. Mr. Stewart was brought on stage wearing a black hood and introduced as a captured foreign spy.

At first, he spoke to the audience in Arabic, his comments, according to CBS News, translated to, “Please sit down, I am a simple man who does not like to be fussed over.” The interview then switched to English, and Mr. Stewart discussed, among other things, “Rosewater,” the film he will direct, the relevance of satire in relation to political discussion and the lack of traffic lights in Cairo. At the end of the segment, Mr. Stewart staged a small coup d’état, forcing M.. Youssef out from behind his desk, and then proclaimed himself as the new host of “Al Bernameg.”

Mr. Youssef has been a guest on “The Daily Show,” most recently in April after he was arrested by Egyptian prosecutors and briefly held for questioning on accusations that he insulted Islam and the president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi.

Monsters and Zombies Overrun the Box Office

Cuddly monsters and swarming zombies, both forcibly marketed, dominated North American theaters over the weekend. The animated prequel “Monsters University,” from Disney’s Pixar, was No. 1 as expected, taking in an estimated $82 million â€" an exact match to the opening-weekend total in 2001 (after adjusting for inflation) for “Monsters Inc.,” which ended up taking in $740 million worldwide.

The well-reviewed zombie thriller “World War Z” (Paramount) was second, with estimated ticket sales of $66 million, a spectacular result that validates the studio’s much-chronicled decision to rework the movie’s ending. But “World War Z,” which gave Brad Pitt one of the biggest opening weekend totals of his career, was also exorbitantly expensive, costing Paramount and several financing partners, including the Oracle heir David Ellison, an estimated $190 million to make (after deducting for tax benefits) and at least another $100 million to market globally.

Third place went to “Ma of Steel” (Warner), which took in about $41.2 million, for a two-week domestic total of roughly $210 million. Overall, it was a huge weekend for the movie industry: Hollywood.com, which compiles box office data, projected on Sunday morning that total North American ticket sales for the weekend will total $236 million, a 43 percent increase from the same three days last summer.