In our last exciting episode, we covered 3 relatively new, but tiresome words that are drummed into our heads every business day: “millennial,” “innovation,” and “content.” Now we’re going to take on four more candidates — words that make you … GAG! And the nominees are … 4. Disruption It... Continue reading

How often does this occur to you when sitting in a business meeting? “If I hear that word one more time, I’m going to strangle somebody.” Why is it that we speak in normal parlance in everyday conversation, but in our work lives turn into robots — spitting out clichés... Continue reading

You’ve felt the pain… You come in for a client meeting to review copy and find yourself in a conference room with 20 eager junior “team members.” Each wants to make his or her mark — on your content. You’ve written the perfect headline that comes back “tweaked” and now... Continue reading

Here’s a pet peeve many have with television commercials and marketing in general. Often when aiming to be creative, marketers overwork an idea to the point where consumers want to throw a missile at the screen every time the spot airs. How many times can you watch the Dominos commercial,... Continue reading

Neuroscience has brand marketers lining up to out-psycho-babble each other in an effort to sound savvy on the many ways to manipulate this science. And who can blame them. The revolutionary advances in the study of the brain are thrilling. Neuroscience books are flooding the market. The discoveries they reveal... Continue reading

The low-talking in Blade Runner 2049 offers a clue to the film's meaning. Continue reading

Your audience is hurting. It doesn’t matter if you’re addressing lawyers, tech innovators or marketers. If your thought leadership piece has any chance of gaining traction, it needs to demonstrate, right from the jump, that you feel their pain. Next you need a solution, followed by a real-world example. It’s... Continue reading

Why you need one, too. The Talking Heads drew a wry picture of life without a manifesto in their classic song, “Once in a lifetime”: You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack You may find yourself in another part of the world You may find yourself behind the... Continue reading

If you're in town, please stop by! Where and When: ZINC BAR Sunday, May 7th, 5-7PM 82 W. 3rd Street NYC Who and What: Three poets read to celebrate their new books: David Lehman New Book: Poems in the Manner of... (Scribner) David Lehman is the series editor of The Best American Poetry, and is also the editor of the Oxford Book of American Poetry. His other books of poetry include New and Selected Poems, Yeshiva Boys, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. His most recent nonfiction book is Sinatra’s Century. He teaches at The New... Continue reading

In addition to bravura performances, the Feud miniseries offers surprising insights into our current political mood. Continue reading

What the filmmakers of "Arrival" added to Ted Chiang's novella, "The Story of Your Life", is just as intriguing as the original tale, especially in light of the 2016 U.S. election. Continue reading

Laura Riding's poem "Beyond", offers a fascinating meditation on how our words can't keep up with our experiences. Continue reading

Recently, a TV spot for Toyota's Tacoma (a pickup truck) caught my eye. Its combination of music, sound effects and imagery prompted all sorts of warlike and post-apocalyptic associations in my mind. Check it out: You probably recognize the score that these truckers sing along with -- Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." The same tune was used in an iconic movie scene: the helicopter assault in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Film blogger B. Ruby Rich once wrote about the film that, in it, Coppola was "playing at war with all the passion of a schoolboy, relishing its spectacle." With... Continue reading

GEICO's iconic campaigns offer some valuable insights on integrating Direct Response with Brand Advertising. They also show how to keep your offer fresh, year after year, even if it doesn't change. Continue reading

The final poem of Michael Lally's moving new collection, Swing Theory, keeps coming back to my mind. I think this is because it illustrates so well what's uniquely cool about poetic thinking. Check it out: SWING THEORY: 5 When I first read about string theory I thought What about swing theory? The ways the uni- verse is secretly governed by the same laws that sparked The Big Band Swing era, park swings and taking a swing at something or someone. I thought of "Swinging on a Star" or Swing Time I mean the ways reality swings not just in the... Continue reading

Recently, a wonderfully witty and satiric book of poetry came my way -- Paul Fericano's The Hollywood Catechism. Among other things, it takes a playful look at the way celebrity worship almost resembles a religion. Here's the first poem: The Actor's Creed I believe in Brando, the Godfather of enormous weight, creator of mumbling and angst, and in James Dean, his only ward, our Jim, who was sold into celluloid by Jack Warner, born of the hustler Strasberg, suffered under Rock Hudson, was speeding, died, and nominated; descended into gossip hell; and on his third film was chosen again from... Continue reading

Wallace Stevens' essay on Marianne Moore suggests how poetic vision can breath life into the often dull world of prosaic fact. Continue reading

A.R. Ammons' poem, Sphere, seems to predict, poetically, the concept of "memes," which Richard Dawkins invented a few years later. Ammons' poem also points ahead to the fascination around the idea cultural evolution. Continue reading

William Bronk's poem about changelessness is oddly relevant for a time like ours, supposedly marked by rapid transformation. Continue reading