How to survive without 'Mad Men'

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No "Mad Men" until 2012? It's true:

AMC's negotiations with creator Matthew Weiner took much longer than expected. So what's a committed Draper-holic to do? Go cold turkey? Of course not! It takes a little hunting, but the spirit of "Mad Men" is all around us. Here are a few suggestions on how to while away the hours until Don Draper and Co. come back.

Read 'The Fashion File' by Janie Bryant



Are you a Joan or a Betty? Want to dress more like Joan or Betty? Peer inside "Mad Men's" closet with the show's Emmy-winning costume designer, Janie Bryant, and her book on style. In it, Bryant offers advice on how to get the perfect look for your personality and shows how to be inspired by the looks of the famously fashionable cast.

Enjoy a new side of Hamm



Don Draper might be on hiatus, but Jon Hamm sure isn't. Fans might lose their minds over his evil brain surgeon role in the new Zack Snyder action movie, "Sucker Punch." Even better, a shirtless Hamm goes to bed with Kristen Wiig in Judd Apatow's "Bridesmaids" comedy. And next up, Hamm is teaming with his real-life love Jennifer Westfeldt to make the film "Friends With Kids."

Listen to 'A Beautiful Mine' by Aceyalone and RJD2

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Who knew that the theme music to a show about an upper-crust, all-white ad company in the racially divided '60s came from a hip-hop song? Well, now you do. Music from the opening credits is torn from the instrumental beat canvas of "A Beautiful Mine" by rap veteran Aceyalone and RJD2 (from Aceyalone's 2006 album "Magnificent City"). Despite its recognizable rhythm, the song snippet on the show is understandably bereft of Ace's booming baritone and lyrical street wisdom. The strings in the song are a sample from "Autumn Leaves" by legendary composer Enoch Light, who would have been alive during Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce's rise to power. But fans of the show should know that if it weren't for the hip-hop remix, that theme music would not be nearly as hard to get out of your head.

See January Jones, superheroine



When January Jones plays Emma Frost in "X-Men: First Class," you might not recognize the prim and proper Betty Draper that she portrays in "Mad Men." But that is indeed the same actress, and her talent will be on display in this Kennedy-era prequel.

Read Stephen King's '11/22/63'

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/11-22-63/announcement/

Watching "Mad Men" has made more than a few of us wish, however fleetingly, that we could live in the heady days of Camelot. The good times may have ended for the Mad Men during Season 3, but Stephen King is doing his best to keep the Kennedy era going in his coming novel, "11/22/63" (out Nov. 8), about a Maine high school teacher who discovers a way to time travel back to the '60s and decides to stop the John Kennedy assassination from being carried out. According to the publisher, this latest King opus weighs in at nearly 900 pages, which means there will no doubt be plenty of time to luxuriate in all the pop culture and ephemera that "Mad Men" re-creates so well.

Listen: The Dum Dum Girls channel '60s-era rebellion

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The Dum Dum Girls have a direct line to the 1960s. The band's manager/producer Richard Gottehrer rose to industry fame in the '60s, having writing credits on such hits as "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy." There's a girl-group vibe and a vintage feel to everything the act touches, including the recent EP "He Gets Me High." A new album is in the works and should be in stores in the fall - just when the "Mad Men" withdrawal is in full swing.

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I have the Mad Men rap and instrumental on my iPod and whenever the song comes on I play a guessing game as to which one it's going to be. Cool story. I also know all the words to the rap.