Bryan Batt plays creative director Salvatore Romano on AMC's Mad Men, and he's emerged as one of the show's most unambiguously sympathetic characters. A talented and expressive professional, he's also a deeply closeted gay man in an era and culture that keeps him very much on the down low -- even to himself. Fans were shocked when Sal was abruptly fired from ad agency Sterling Cooper after rejecting the advances of an amorous client, and his future on the show remains cloudy. Batt's prospects, however, have rarely looked rosier, as he enjoys both critical acclaim and domestic success with his New Orleans decor boutique, Hazelnut (co-owned with Batt's partner of many years Tom Cianfichi). Batt talks with us about his ideal return to Mad Men, hunky National Guardsmen making the best of Hurricane Katrina, and getting dressed to the nines.

Thought you'd heard the last of Mad Men's sway over contemporary fashions? Think again. While talk of the show's 1960 sartorial influence extending as far as Fashion Week's catwalks (think Michael Kors FW08) and countless window displays has somewhat quieted, a new collaboration between the show's costume designer and a classic American brand is sure to reinvigorate the buzz. Janie Bryant, Mad Men's costume designer, has inked a deal with Matchbook Company in order to foster guest design opportunities and licensing. The first such is a collaboration with Brooks Brothers (who has donated numerous suits to the show's wardrobe) on an official Mad Men suit.

● Despite Madonna’s impassioned MTV eulogy for Michael Jackson, the good vibes were not mutual. In recordings with his spiritual advisor Rabbi Shmuley, the King of Pop says Madge is “not a nice person.” [CNN]
● Megan Fox isn’t one of those celebs that has a Google Alert on her name, ‘cause if she did, Fox would be a “complete lunatic, drug-addled and out of [her] mind.” [Showbizspy]
● One might imagine that mechanic James Jimenez stole Kristen Dunst’s $2,000 Balenciaga handbag from her Manhattan hotel room because she’s a big celebrity. Turns out Jimenez doesn’t even know who Dunst is and "doesn’t care about Spider-Man." [NYP]

● There is no god, because if there was, Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami would not average more viewers than Mad Men and bring E! its highest ratings since 2002. [TVbytheNumbers]
● Despite their romance and Spanish vacation getting splashed all over the tabloids, Bradley Cooper would rather not have you know he’s dating Renee Zellweger. [HollywoodCrush]
● Robert Pattinson considers himself single, meaning there’s hope for all those Twilight fans that want to be his Bella. [SocialliteLife]

●That leaked footage of Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart about to engage in a threesome is not a sex tape says their rep Marty Singer, it’s a ‘naked tape’ with ‘at most three people…wanting to have sex!’ [TMZ]
●The actor who starred in an U.K swine flu PSA has been diagnosed with swine flu, oh the irony abounds. [THRFeed]
●David Cook has his sights on an acting career. Let’s hope it turns out more Jennifer Hudson than From Justin to Kelly. [E!]

If we're in a position to spar over which soap made a larger dent on America's collective consciousness last night--the one about vamps or the one about suits--it means that we've finally settled into a new golden era of TV, one which looks auspiciously free of sitcom laugh tracks and Dick Wolf. But in any case, it seemed the decision to sit through the third season premiere of Mad Men was more of an endurance test that may not have lived up to its hype, than the edge-of-your-seat ohmygoddery that was True Blood last night. And last week, and the week before, and so on.

Only another week until Mad Men returns to AMC, and I am so ready. Cable bill is all paid up, liquor cabinet is freshly stocked, and I even managed to pick up a 60s-style cocktail set at a stoop sale, complete with swizzle stick. I can’t wait to mix up some hooch and kick back with Don Draper as he drinks, smokes, and womanizes his way through season 3. And seriously, how much is Betty Draper going to take before she goes bat-shit insane? AMC’s über-promotion of Mad Men is as stylish and decadent as the show itself; you’ve seen the titillating ads all over the subways and bus stops. You can keep tabs on the cast and watch clips using the Mad Men iPhone app, or create a Mad Men-styled version of yourself on the website and upload it to your Facebook or Twitter. Christina Hendricks, a.k.a. sexpot-cum-secretary Joan Holloway, is doing her promotional part with a recent Esquire shoot that borders on soft porn. If you’re not a fan yet, you will be.

● Russell Crowe has made quite a name for himself in films, and now that name has be banned from many pubs in England where he’s throwing tantrums over the bars' strict closing times that somehow even apply to his Oscar-winning ass. [SMH]
● Despite starring in every cheesetastic blockbuster of the last 15 years, Nicolas Cage owes the IRS $6.2 million. [AccessHollywood]
● Drew Barrymore is telling her friends that she was a dolphin in a past life and has surrounded herself with crystal figurines of the mammal. [FemaleFirst]

Elisabeth Moss is a smoldering star on AMC's Mad Men, which happens to be a universe thickly populated with slow burners. As Peggy Olson, Moss fist came across as a clueless naïf in the high-flying world of Madison Avenue in the early 1960s. However, though she seemed like a true tabula rasa in office assistant form, her opaque persona concealed a calculating and at times ruthless ambition. Peggy serves as both foil and reflection for Jon Hamm's Don Draper, and the two embody one of the most nuanced male-female relationships on television within one of the most creatively complex shows on television. On the heels of her own Emmy nomination for best lead actress in a drama -- among 16 other nominations for Mad Men -- Moss talks about awards, life on a "small" show, her devotion to Urban Outfitters, and that thing with Don Draper.

Did anyone know bobbleheads first bobbled their heads in the 1950s, with the craze reaching an apex a decade later? Only recently did Dwight Schrute's favorite desk accessory enjoy a renaissance in popularity. It's fitting, then, that the biggest sixties icons since John, Paul, and the other two have gotten their own bobblehead dolls. Behold! Mad Men bobbleheads! Normally these wouldn't be worth us writing about, but everything Don Draper does these days seems to be newsworthy, and that includes wagging his head up and down. Unfortunately, Don himself couldn't sell these to you, since apparently they aren't for sale.