OK, so I’m finally getting into “Mad Men,” after being called dirty names by all my friends and colleagues who watch it. (Peer pressure, I know.)

After watching the first three episodes of the first season on DVD (which has a clever container I can't stop playing with), I have to say I’m impressed by what I’m seeing. I’m now getting what everybody, from the critics to the its cult of fans, sees in the show.

But there is one thing I’m kind of surprised the media hasn’t hopped all over, since they’re consumed with everything else on the show, and that’s the theme song. It turns out it comes from one of my favorite rappers. That’s right — your favorite show about ‘60s nostalgia has a hip-hop song for a theme. It’s called “A Beautiful Mine” and performed by West Coast MC Aceyalone. It’s from one of my favorite hip-hop albums of the past couple of years, “Magnificent City,” produced by the great RJD2. Since the show uses the instrumental, I’m assuming they got it from the “Magnificent City Instrumentals” album.

The song fits quite well with the stylistic tone of the show. So, why hasn’t it been celebrated the same way A3’s “Woke Up This Morning” was when it became the theme song for “The Sopranos”? I mean, we knew who sang the song and everything! The music supervisor of the show doesn’t even talk about where the theme came from in this recent interview. I’m just gonna guess the television media isn’t that savvy on their hippity-hop to recognize where the song came from.

All I know is, if somebody let me know this was the theme, I would’ve gotten into the show a whole lot quicker. You can download the full, hip-hop version here or the instrumental version here. 

According to the N & O's daily blog-traffic report, my post on Script Girl and her weekly, low-cut lowdown of Hollywood script acquisitions was the most viewed post on my blog, and one of the most viewed blogs in the whole features department, last week. So, in my further attempts to get more folks over to the Crizzle side, I'm posting the latest Script Girl report, along with a couple of earlier ones. And if you want more where those came from, she has an entire YouTube channel full of them.

The cool part about all this: she's actually dispensing news. So, no one can complain about this being just another salacious, tawdry, online time-waster. (It still kinda is, but you see where I'm getting at with this!) Unfortunately, it's news about the latest awful movies Hollywood will be making soon.

No wonder she wears such revealing tops — to give you something pleasant to enjoy while she's hitting you with the sad, sad truth.

More when I get back in the office tomorrow.

Local cinephiles who punish themselves for not watching enough good cinema may want to check out the "1,000 Greatest Films" list over at the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They site. That's what the online film community has been doing for the past week or so.

Colleagues of mine have spent precious time compiling how many of these films they've seen. And some of them (like my boy Matt) don't know whether to beat themselves up or congratuate themselves for having a life outside moviegoing.

I know I haven't seen every movie, so I'm not even thinking about counting off all the previously-viewed movies on this list. I'm content in the fact that, as a man in his early 30s, I have a lot more films to see in my lifetime.

But the list is there if you want to take the plunge. Good luck and try not to curse yourself out for not seeing the complete canon of Ford or Bunuel. They're just movies, playa!

Finally, a reason to care about what goes on in Hollywood. (Good looking out, Joe.)

Apparently, yes.

I don't know how if any of this is actually true (chances are, it's probably not). But it has caused enough of a ruckus online to make this my favorite semi-news story of the week, possibly the year.

All I gotta say is, you know Billo is getting his chops busted about this over at Fox Snooze. (Somewhere, Keith Olbermann is grinning like the Cheshire Cat.) Right now, he's probably wishing people would start talking about this forever-uproarious blooper again.

(ED: I wrote this for another publication. They never printed it. Here you go.)

For reasons I still can’t fully explain, I found myself one Saturday evening taking in repeats of the premiere episodes of “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated” and “Living Lohan,” E!’s newest reality-show mind-numbers. By the time that foul-mouthed Richards got through introducing me to her “complicated” life, trying to get her pet pigs to mate and reminding family & friends that she still has a thing for well-endowed dirtbags, I was already lying on my hardwood bedroom floor, barely taking in Dina Lohan constantly explaining that she won’t let anyone exploit her kids — while appearing on a reality show where she exploits her kids.

Seeing — or should I say, zoning out during — these shows had me thinking on how reality shows featuring so-called celebrities (you can’t zip through your basic-cable package these days without hitting one every hour on the hour) are worse than reality shows featuring nobodies. Here are people who are supposed to have some modicum of talent (or, in the case of Richards and Lohan, good cheekbones). And instead of going out and finding work, they just do a reality show where they try to act like everyday people.

And “try” seems to be the operative word. While it’s no secret that most of these shows are heavily planned affairs, their urge to resemble live-action versions of Us Weekly’s “Stars — They’re Just Like Us!” section is more annoying than eye-opening. May I remind you that just as the things you do during the day is often tedious and mundane, so is watching some moderately famous person do it. But these shows aren’t about catching celebs at their most candid. These shows are merely weekly appointments for the celebs in question to satisfy their jones for fame and notoriety. These shows aren’t here for your entertainment — they’re here for their indulgence.

And that’s why I adored “The Comeback,” Lisa Kudrow’s short-lived yet memorably acidic HBO sitcom that bitterly sent up celeb reality shows. Kudrow played a has-been TV actress (earnestly but ironically named Valerie Cherish) who practically couldn’t function as a human being unless she knew she was on TV every week. So, she basically pushed her way back into the public eye, even when no one really wanted her back. It’s funny — and a bit sad — that the pitiful desperation and brazen attention-craving that Kudrow mocked celeb reality-show stars like Richards and Lohan blatantly, almost shamelessly, cop to. These stars may pretend to be just like us, but I think I speak for most of us when I say we’re not that pathetic.

Hello, kids!

Sorry for the lack of blog posts, but as you've probably noticed, we've gone through a few changes (among other things) in the N&O's blogging system. So, until I figure out how to master all of this, I'm gonna lay low around here.

But, if you must know what I'm thinking at any moment, you can always go to my Twitter page. That's right — I've finally succumbed to Twittering. (As I said in my inaugural post, I officially believe every thought I have is worth sharing.)

You can access my Twitter page at twitter.com/unclecrizzle. 

And, for those who've been wondering, I'm not gone — yet.