I was recently asked by the blog The Agency Post to give some advice to college grads interested in pursuing an advertising career. I did it but think the advice also applies to just about anyone in the market for a job, the kind with paychecks.
Please give it a read. Feel free to add your own advice. It’s fun to be philosopher king.
Now that Robert Kraft has ratted-out Rooskie leader Vlad Putin as a no goodnik thief, I want to tell my story of how the commie head cheese stole from me.
It was April, 2004. I had been invited by the red bigwig because Facebook had recently been launched and the Vladster wanted to know if he should join–– and if so, what his “friending strategy” should be.
As was my habit back then, I traveled with my second place spelling bee trophy from the fourth grade class of St. Pat’s Elementary School in Hubbard, Ohio. Although I was a junior in high school when I had won the trophy, I was proud of my incredible accomplishment and recognition.
Anyway, I showed the trophy to Putin and he was impressed with its heft. “I could kill someone with this,” he quipped.
“Yes,” I said, “and then write a letter-perfect obituary for your victim.”
Vlad liked my joke and he crouched low and began doing that crazy Russin kicking dance. Then he kick-danced out the door with my trophy in hand. I went to follow him but six large K.G.B. agents surrounded me. “Bad idea, comrade,” one of them said to me. “Let it go, dude,” said another.
So I did nothing. Later at a meeting, I requested that the trophy be returned, but Putin just looked at me, cocked his head and said, “And you are?…”
Four years later, Putin finally did join Facebook and he “friended” me. I’ve yet to respond.
I want my Buster Buzzy Bee-Bee back!
What’s the deal with these “Star Trek” actors? They never seem to age. In fact, like fine wine, marshmallows and certain strains to sauerkraut, they just get better with age.
Take William Shatner. Wait until you see him in this new movie Star Trek Into Darkness–– dude looks great. And Leonard Nimoy, well his ears haven’t lost their edges nor has he lost his legendary hunkiness. Plus, he’s still smart as the dickens and quick as a whip. He could vulcanize rubber for Goodyear.
Sulu, Doc “Bones” McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, why they all look phenomenal in this movie, I mean for actors who have to be pushing 90 or 100 years old. Whatever they’re doing in Hollywood–– the legal weed, macrobiotic seaweed diet with seltzer enemas, yoga organic antioxidant kelp-infused orgies, hair plugs with vitamin-enhanced roots–– it’s working.
Why, these cats seem to be going back in age like some sort of Ponce de Leon party trick. Check out this movie and see for yourself.
Oh, and this film takes place in the future somewhere in outer space. Maybe that explains the space ships that seem to play a central role in the plot. Could be space travel is the secret to turning back the hands of time, like old Alfred Eistein said in his theory of relatives and their activities.
The recent discloser by Edward Snowden, a defense contractor consultant, that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been monitoring phone calls of all Americans has caused a kerfuffle in Washington. Many citizens view the monitoring of calls made and duration of call times as an invasion of privacy, even though these actions are authorized by Congress under The Patriot Act.
Washington politicians are also up in arms. “Look, I voted for The Patriot Act three times but I had no idea that it gave the government the right to spy on us,” said an anonymous Senator. “It was a huge damn document and like all the other lawmakers, I didn’t read it because I figured there’d eventually be a Cliff Notes version of it or a movie, but now that I’m finding out the powers it grants the government– I’m outraged. I may have to actually read this sucker! I can’t believe we’ve freely given the government these powers to invade our privacy!”
Later that night, records show that the Senator called some escort services and surfed some porn sites.
Ain’t that a bitch?
It’s not on TV, either. It’s on HBO.
The movie is Behind the Candelabra, the story of the rocky 6-year relationship between Liberace and his young lover, Scott Thorson.
Michael Douglas is incredible as the caped crusader, as is Matt Damon playing his prudish (by Liberace’s standards) boyfriend. Steven Soderbergh directed this perfect jeweled biopic, and he says the movie may be his last. Let’s hope not, the guy is a gifted filmmaker.
The story is your typical boy meets boy tale, boy gets boy, boy gets bored by boy, boy finds new boy and chucks old boy to the side and then that boy tries suing his old boy into oblivion. I’ll say no more.
It’s a fascinating account of Liberace, a talented performer who was Mr. show business but lived sequestered in the closet and struggled to be who he was. It’s a tragic tale with memorable performances by Dan Aykroyd as Liberace’s agent and fixer, Scott Bakula as a hanger-on with the drugs, Rob Lowe as the creepy plastic surgeon who was also Dr. feelgood and sweet Debbie Reynolds as the piano player’s overbearing mother.
Check this film out and see some performances for the ages. It’s further proof that sometimes the best movies are simple human stories without a billion dollars of special effects.