Once upon a time, there was a poetry of consumerism. I’m thinking here of how buying stuff was celebrated through the ironic creativity of mid 20th century urbanites. Rather than grousing about the vulgarity of their city, these souls were inspired by its arty and tacky qualities. Informed by a nearly utopian cornucopia of consumer goods, they created witty fables of abundance. Think of the pop artists and their love of such consumables as canned soup, comic books and hamburgers. Or of Frank O’Hara, writing poems about strolling through Manhattan, shopping for a carton of Gauloises, an edition of Verlaine,... Continue reading

Our culture runs on stories. But not all narratives treat their characters well. Continue reading

Dreams aren’t what they used to be. Once upon a time, they had the power to invade daylight. Here’s Walter Benjamin, from the beginning of One-Way Street, published in 1929: “A popular tradition warns against recounting dreams the next morning on an empty stomach. In this state, though awake, one remains under the spell of the dream.” Benjamin goes on to caution that unless there is a definite break between the dream state and waking life “the grey penumbra of the dream persists”, and the daytime and nocturnal worlds get mixed, leading to confused states of mind. My experience of... Continue reading

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