I was excited to write this story but then I realized that we didn’t really have a good angle on Alexis Bledel’s engagement ring. I’m including the blurry, super-cropped photo of her engagement ring below, but you can see a much better photo of it here at Us Weekly. Us Weekly describes the ring as “huge”.

Is that “huge”? CB and I were debating it. If we saw a lady with that ring in real life, just walking around, we would be like “Awesome ring, so big!” But as far as celebrity standards go, this ring seems like it’s on the small side. Like, I kind of think it’s under 3 carats. Which is totally fine, and Alexis is a small woman with small hands, and the size probably suits her just fine. My guess is that she probably prefers her “normal” ring as opposed to some huge rock that she always worries about losing or that she can’t wear to certain events because the size makes it seem tacky and inappropriate (cough… Angelina).

These pics are from the red carpet premiere of Remembering Sunday, the TV movie Alexis did with Zachary Levi. Us Weekly spoke to her on the carpet about her ring, and she said: “Vincent picked it out.” The ring is described as a round-cut diamond on a platinum band. Simple. Classic. Vincent Kartheiser has surprisingly nice taste. And I like that he picked it out and he seemed to really think about what ring would suit her. Alexis also said that she and Vincent are planning their wedding “together” but they “haven’t started yet though.” Aw. They’re a really cute couple. Oh, and Alexis’s dress here is Pamela Roland.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Yes, there are LOTS of hair issues in this post (my God…), but there’s also really, really good news! Vincent Kartheiser and Alexis Bledel are engaged! Sources confirmed the engagement to Us Weekly, and other sites are running it like it’s totally confirmed, so let’s go with it. I know a lot of you love Alexis because of Gilmore Girls, but I never watched that, so my only real exposure to her was on last season’s Mad Men, where she guest-starred as a really mixed-up young wife and mother, like she was someone out of a Sylvia Plath poem (the Plath references were heavy in those episodes). Her character had an affair with Vincent Kartheiser’s Pete Campbell and it was a mess, but they had a lot of chemistry together. But that’s just me – although Pete is such a douchebag, I love Kartheiser and I think he’s incredibly talented. Vincent and Alexis have been together for about a year, and now they’re engaged?

Rory may have turned down Logan’s proposal at the end of Gilmore Girls, but in real life, Alexis Bledel is happily engaged! Alexis, 31, said “yes” to boyfriend Vincent Kartheiser, 33, “a few weeks ago” and is proudly showing off her “huge” engagement ring, Us Weekly is reporting.

And it sounds like Vincent’s proposal had been in the works for a while. The source adds that when he and Alexis attended the wedding of David Cross and Amber Tamblyn — who co-starred with Alexis in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies — he was telling fellow partygoers that he hoped to put a ring on his then-girlfriend’s finger soon!

“He was saying they might elope and do parties in New York, L.A. and her hometown, Houston,” the source reveals.

One of the biggest killers of Hollywood marriages is distance, but it sounds like Alexis’ husband-to-be has that all figured out.

“The most important thing for us is to make sure that we see each other in the flesh at least every 10 days,” Vincent once told the mag. “I’m a really lucky guy!”

[From Hollywood Life]

Aw. I think it’s cute. And I think this is probably for real too – although I’m doubtful about the size of the engagement ring. Vincent seems like the kind of hippie/granola guy who wouldn’t spend the money on a huge rock. But who knows, maybe he’s changed? Maybe he has a working toilet now. Maybe he just fell in love HARD and he wants to give her everything.

PS… Am I the only one who thinks Alexis could be a Deschanel sister?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Now that I’m more than a week out from Mad Men’s Season 5 finale, I feel like I’m seeing the season as a whole more completely. It’s amazing how much faith I have in Matthew Weiner – yes, he does take some detours and we don’t always know where things will end up for these characters, but I still hold that Mad Men is like a living novel – how we speak of it, how we write about it, what we think about these characters, the debates, the disappointments, the triumphs… it’s not a normal TV show. The investment is different.

One of the “WTF?” detours that Mad Men took this season was the Alexis Bledel storyline. Alexis appeared in a handful of episodes as a sexy, bored young housewife named Beth Dawes – obviously too young for her older, insurance-salesman husband and ripe for a torrid affair with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s resident sleazy pimp, Pete Campbell. SPOILERS!! Pete became obsessed with Beth, even convincing himself that he was in love with her, I think. Maybe he was. But in the end, their affair was wiped clean from her memory using a convenient storyline straight out of some Sylvia Plath nightmare. At first I thought Alexis seemed much too young for the role. But in the end, I understood the choice. Weiner wanted an actress who combined a child-like “doll” quality with a young woman’s powerful sexuality plus a dash of insanity, and Bledel filled the bill admirably.

It seems Bledel’s costar thought so too – according to a report from The Mail, Vincent Kartheiser (who is a laid-back, grungy hippie compared to his Pete Campbell character) and Alexis Bledel are now a thing.

It seems Mad Men is proving to be something of a dating agency in real life. For actor Vincent Kartheiser, 33, was ‘seen smooching’ with actress Alexis Bledel following her guest stint on the hit AMC show.

The 30-year-old Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants favourite played a depressed housewife who had an affair with his smarmy character Pete Campbell. Her character memorably appearing at his office wearing nothing but a fur coat and pearls.

While that dalliance did not end well, it seems he has become very friendly with the Gilmore Girls star away from the cameras, as they were seen getting very friendly on a flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Los Angeles.

A source told Crushable: ‘They came over to the gate right as I was boarding and I saw him first. His hair is fuller and he’s got a beard, but I recognized him right away. Then he walked over and a girl with him sat down and it was Rory Gilmore. They are not sitting in first class but him right in front of her in middle seats. Guess they booked last minute. He was leaning over the back of his seat talking to her and leaned over and kissed her.’

It will be the first high profile relationship among the cast of the show since it began in 2007. The MailOnline contacted the Vincent and Alexis’ representatives, but has yet to receive a response.

[From The Mail]

I don’t hate this pairing. Probably because I’ve never seen an episode of Gilmore Girls, thus I don’t have any strong feelings about Alexis Bledel. To me, she’s just a cute, age-appropriate girl who seems to be good for Vincent Kartheiser, who I actually like a great deal. I hope this is real. I hope they’re a real couple and they stay together for a while.

Photos courtesy of AMC/Mad Men and WENN.

Earlier this year, Vincent Kartheiser of Mad Men told UK publication The Guardian that he doesn’t own a car in LA, and lives in a home that is “just a wooden box” without mirrors or even a toilet. Kartheiser does his business at his neighbor’s house when he needs to go. He claimed that his commitment to living a simple lifestyle started as a reaction to all of the free swag that people were giving him that he didn’t want or need.

Kartheiser was interviewed recently as part of MSNBC’s “green week,” where he explained that he honors his commitment to the environment by being a vegetarian and by vowing not to have children.

Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on ‘Mad Men’ and does not own a toilet, appeared on MSNBC Wednesday afternoon to talk about his “green choices,” which include avoiding driving, eating meat and having kids.

He said he stopped driving four years ago, when his car flooded and he found that taking the train instead “actually enriched my life. It made my life better to slow down a little bit and walk through the city.”

Vincent talked about other choices he has made to minimize his impact.

“I’ve been a vegetarian for four years and I have chosen not to have children, which are both green choices in my life,” he said. “I also xeriscaped my lawn.”

[From The Huffington Post]

A friend in the US once told me that he wouldn’t have children because he was committed to “zero population growth.” (He was older and married, and I wasn’t dating him or anything.) I had to look it up as I’d never heard of it before, but a lot of people think having children is just about the worst thing you can do to the environment. I’ve read that it’s not necessarily bad for the environment if you have one or two children and raise them to respect the earth.

I’m a materialistic person in many ways and I love shoes and clothes, but I do try and do my part by recycling, bringing my own bags to the store and eating meat only occasionally. When I lived in the US, I had friends make fun of me for washing and reusing ziplock bags. Now that I live in Germany, I appreciate how that sort of frugal approach is just part of the culture. More people take public transportation, almost everyone brings their own bags to the store and you buy less when you shop because you have to pack your own groceries. Things are just set up in a way that’s better for the environment, which can seem very inconvenient when you’re coming from the US.

So is there something sanctimonious about Kartheiser’s commitment to the environment, or is it kind of admirable in its way? I agree with Kaiser’s earlier assessment that he seems weird, but I also like what he said about how there are small things we can change in our lives that will make a difference. I hope the guy has a toilet at this point though. Now that I know this about him he just looks like he smells.

The Guardian/Observer had a fascinating interview with Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser over the weekend. It makes sense that a British newspaper would interview someone who is basically the fourth lead on a basic cable cult hit in America, because from what I’ve heard and read, Great Britain has become a nation of Mad Men worshippers, and more Britons probably love the show than Americans. That, and Vincent is starring in some British production that he’s promoting (that I don’t care about right now because PBS won’t get it for another year probably).

Now, I’ve mentioned my love for Vincent Kartheiser before – he plays Pete Campbell on Mad Men. The character of Pete is so obnoxiously multifaceted – at times, Pete makes me cry, leaves me heartbroken and devastated, and at other times, I think he’s a f-cking psychopath. Vincent plays him so well, and plays the highs and lows so convincingly that it’s not hard to believe Vincent the actor would make people feel queasy, just because they associate him with Pete. The Guardian gets this dichotomy out of the way fast: “Vincent Kartheiser seems at pains to be everything Pete Campbell is not: scruffy, charming, relaxed, witty, unshaven, likable.”

Anyway, the full piece is a great read (Vincent really is a strange duck), but there were a few pieces that people are talking about already:

On playing a good “psychopath”: “I definitely do psychopathic. I don’t try to but it just sneaks out of my character.”

On not having a car in LA: “I go on the bus, I walk. A friend left his car recently at my house and I took it out one day just for 15 minutes and it was terrible. You know why? I felt like I was back in LA again. Four or five years ago, when I had a car and I had been out of the city I wouldn’t feel I was back until I got in the car, you know. But now I feel off the grid. I feel that I am not part of the culture. And because I don’t have a car I don’t really go anywhere to buy things. In fact, I have been in a slow process of selling and giving away everything I own.”

On not having a toilet in his house: “Like, I don’t have a toilet at the moment. My house is just a wooden box. I mean I am planning to get a toilet at some point. But for now I have to go to the neighbours. I threw it all out. It started a couple of years ago. It was in response to going to these Golden Globe type events and they just give you stuff. You don’t want it. You don’t use it. And then Mad Men started to become a success on a popular level and people started sending me stuff, just boxes of sh-t. Gifts for every holiday, clothes. One day, I looked around and thought ‘I don’t want this stuff, I didn’t ask for it’. So I started giving it to friends or charity stores, or if it is still in its box I might sell it for a hundred bucks. I liked it so I didn’t stop.”

On not having a mirror, either: “I was wondering, should I have a screen in my home? It seems like the next step. I haven’t had a mirror for six or seven years, though I admit that causes a lot of problems when I have to tie a bow tie. Or if I have to, you know, comb my hair for something. I’m forever looking in the mirrors of parked cars. I probably should be worried. Sometimes, I look around my house and think: is this normal, Vinny? I mean it’s a bit more than just a remodel…”

On being a “grown-up”: “I don’t think anyone feels like a grown-up. I have four sisters and they all dated guys and they are all married, and all of the guys they dated always seemed to me like grown-ups, you know, but eventually you come to see that underneath they are all little boys really. Grown-up is just a word that kids use to describe someone who is not having any fun.”

Men are a-holes: “Well, men are a–holes at some level, aren’t they?” he suggests, with feeling. “The powerful white male in history is like the most evil entity, isn’t he? Mad Men is a portrait of white men doing their stuff, just as their power is coming under a bit of threat. Don Draper is from a time when he can persuade everyone that what he is doing is right. Pete can’t quite do that. He fears his shallowness. But don’t we all?

On monogamy: “I’ve never been monogamous. It might happen, but it never has yet. I don’t understand women, I’m off that kick.” He wears a wedding ring, “just so I can flash it to warn people off if I need to,” he laughs, in a stagey demonic way, “or at least put it on in the morning.”

[From The Guardian/Observer]

I told you he’s a strange duck. I can get on board with the having-no-mirrors thing, I really can. Mirrors are overrated, in general. I can get on board with the no car thing too, although having no car in LA must be a pain in the ass. But I can’t get on board with the no-toilet situation. That’s just… nasty. Even for a dude, who can easily piss on a tree in the middle of the night or whatever. But, ladies, if you went on a date with a guy without a toilet, wouldn’t you run for the hills? Which brings me to another point: Vincent needs to get laid. Big time. I think having a girlfriend would help his neurosis quite a bit. And she would also make him get a toilet.

Vincent in NY on April 22 & August 9, 2009. Credit: WENN.

You may not recognize Vincent Kartheiser. He’s semi-famous right now because he’s on Mad Men - he plays Pete Campbell, the smarmy, pathetic yet sympathetic, old-money WASP accounts manager. Vincent actually has more than twenty film and television credits to his name, but he rules at playing Pete Campbell. It’s like what I think about January Jones – I wouldn’t hate her character so much if January wasn’t such an amazing actress. Vincent gets my respect because I both love and loathe Pete Campbell – he elicits very strong emotions in me, so I tend to think Vincent is doing his job superbly. I’m just giving all of you my little FYI on the guy – I think he’s a great actor, and I’d like to see more of him, and I’d like to see more people show him some respect.

Anyhoodle, Vincent spoke to Us Weekly at the Artios Awards last night (these are photos from the event), and the conversation turned to all of the weddings amongst the Mad Men cast. I’m making it sound more dramatic than it actually is – two actresses from the show recently got married, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks. As it turns out, Vincent was invited to both “small” weddings. And as it also turns out, he wept like a little girl at both. It’s actually a really sweet interview:

Mad Men star Vincent Kartheiser is man enough to cry at weddings — as he did at two recent ceremonies for castmates Christina Hendricks and Elisabeth Moss.

Moss, 27, married Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen, 42, at The Foundry in Long Island City, New York Oct. 26.

“They got right down to the ceremony,” attendee Kartheiser told Usmagazine.com at at Monday’s Casting Society of the America’s New York 25th Annual Artios Awards. “Not a lot of hoopla and waiting around. Really simple and beautiful. Elisabeth said stuff that made me cry.” The actor kept the couple’s words to himself, but explained, “They were really just speaking to each other and the people they loved.”

Hendricks’ Oct. 12 wedding with Geoffrey Arend at Manhattan restaurant Il Buco, meanwhile, “was much smaller,” he says.

“Everyone seemed to know each other. I also cried in that wedding!”

The actor explains that he’s been close to the pair for a while. “I’ve been around for a lot of their relationship. Geoffrey was a really good friend of mine, and when he met Christina I saw his whole life change for the better. It’s an inspiring thing when two people can adapt, give to each other and help each other grow.”

For all his waterworks, Kartheiser, who attended Monday’s event with his girlfriend of one year, Shanna Collins, says he’s “not the marriage type.”

“I don’t get what it’s for,” he says. “What’s the big deal? For some people it works — I don’t know what it would do for me, I’m so confused!”

[From Us Weekly]

Aww… don’t you like him after this? Please? Give him some love! I also like what he says about whether he’ll ever get married. Typical guy. But he sounds like a sweetheart. Don’t believe me? Vanity Fair also ran an interview with Vincent last month – and he started talking about how he was a child actor, and how he always knew he wanted to act. Vincent says: “When I was a kid being an actor was not cool. I’m thirty now and when I was a kid in the 80s that wasn’t a cool thing to be. Now I see with my niece that acting is like the thing. I don’t know if it’s because of the Disney Club or whatever, but all the boys are actors and in dance and stuff and I’m like, Wow, I got beat up every day because I was in ballet and I was an actor and that was, you know, ‘gay,’ or whatever. But I always loved it as a kid and it’s something I’ve always done.” Sigh… good kid.