THERE IS I IN WORRY

Sunset Safe

2011-12-26T07:06:00.001-05:00

One thing we haven't dwelt on is the heavy sense of security we feel and see everywhere, especially at 5-star places but elsewhere too. There may be absolutely no one enforcing driving laws on the roads, but at hotel entrances, your car is searched underneath, in the boot, and even the glove compartment. And nearly every mall, building, train station and hotel has a metal detector. Here, during our last sunset there's a guard protecting the sunset. (Then again, the service here at the Park Hyatt has been bizarre since we arrived.)

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Sunset Safe

2011-12-26T07:04:00.001-05:00

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Taste of the Lower East Side: Mojitos, Meatballs and Men from Zagat

2011-04-30T09:09:00.000-04:00

Taste of the Lower East Side: Mojitos, Meatballs and Men from Zagat

Moving to Tumblr

2011-04-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

Trying a new platform so come join/subscribe at Tumblr: There is only one t in mat

The new Goodsie is here

2011-04-27T18:37:00.002-04:00

Goodsie.com from Rob Morris on Vimeo.

I love Goodsie, from the makers of Flavors.me

Summer Programs. Extra-Wide Shoes. Big Lessons in Small Space Ads.

2011-04-17T17:01:00.000-04:00

New column up at The Faster Times about small space advertising, something I think big and small businesses could be better at and do more of. I recount my observations about the New Yorker and a campaign I ran for a photographer twenty years ago which has stuck for me. I even dug up the headlines and tagline for it.

Summer Programs. Extra-Wide Shoes. Big Lessons in Small Space Ads.

Guest writing on Bryan Fuhr's blog

2011-04-09T11:07:00.000-04:00

Bryan is looking for guest bloggers so naturally I signed up. My first post is here, about him, me — and microwaves. He's got a bunch of categories around food, cooking, restaurants, New York City, digital strategy, technology, shopping and more. Contact him at his blog if you're interested.

At American Red Cross HQ

2011-03-16T11:47:00.001-04:00

Sent from my iPhone

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We Want an ECHO Week 3: Stunts

2011-03-05T14:14:00.000-05:00

DMA Echo Awards Call for Entry

2011-03-05T13:53:00.001-05:00

Calling for entries for the DMA Echo Awards

At Echo Index, you can also download the app from itunes to rate your own work or others.

See the guys desperate to win their echo by you entering for your echo -- or something like that. On YouTube and follow them on Facebook. Or just hit up dma-echos.org and enter your best work in about a dozen industry categories. Judging works as 30% strategy + 30% creativity + 30% results + 10% mojo.

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Call for Entries: Echo Awards

2011-02-20T17:50:00.002-05:00

Here's the launch video.

There are tons more videos coming. Join Tim & Keith's group We Want An Echo on Facebook. Easier to get updates and see the new clips released every week as they desperately try to get more people to enter. There also are presentations being posted on Slideshare by Ashley, the "account coordinator." You can also submit and rate work you find at the Echo Index, either by using the Bookmarklet in the browser or downloading the free iphone app at the itunes store (Search for Echo Index). Stunts are promised too. Keep watching.

VOICES: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me

2011-02-15T17:22:00.000-05:00

I just contributed a piece to the new "Voices" section of Canada's Ad Buzz, my favorite new industry blog. It covers what I wish I had learned starting out in the business. It's terribly candid and most of it quite true.

Let's Move : Mom Was Here Campaign

2011-02-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

Today Michelle Obama celebrated one-year of her Let's Move initiative and included the debut of the Ogilvy-created campaign we did: "Mom Was Here". It's TV, digital, print and OOH with the Ad Council. Hopefully you'll see it soon on air, in print, or in person.

Mom Was Here :: "Blackout" (:30)

Mom Was Here :: "Wallet" (:30)

Q&A: Direct Marketing News

2011-01-09T17:54:00.001-05:00

For January 2011's issue of Direct Marketing News, I reviewed four different campaigns/work submitted and answered some questions on where I thought marketing was headed. Here's the link to the abbreviated interview:

Q&A: Mat Zucker, chief creative at OgilvyOne NY - Direct Marketing News

Top 2010 Food + Music Lists:: From Bryan Fuhr and Adam Rosenberg

2011-01-06T23:12:00.004-05:00

Bryan Fuhr, on his Clipping Service blog, posted a holiday favorite of foodie experiences we had. From Eleven Madison Park in NYC to French Laundry in the west (with Istanbul, Israel and Paris in between), he captures our year and some of the amazing places through which we've eaten.

My friend Adam posted his top 2010 music on Finest Work Songs. Adam's always been a huge music fan and while we share some bands in common we love like R.E.M, I've never been that knowledgeable nor as passionate. My favorite moment was telling him that I just moved into the same building as Michael Stipe. He really thought it was such a waste.

2010: What I Saw, Read and Experienced

2010-12-27T09:49:00.009-05:00

At the end of each year, I catalog books, films, museums, movies and more that I was lucky enough to experience. For me, it's a good way to keep track, take stock and also suggest to others. This year was especially a big travel year with jaunts to Istanbul, Israel, the West Coast and multiple trips to France, including Paris and Provence. Will probably update more as more things come to mind. Sorry if it formats like crap; trying to update the look of the blog at the same time.

Also: Be sure to see Bryan's great holiday message around food on his blog.

BOOKS

Fiction:

Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
This Is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper (good family funny)
Attention. Deficit. Disorder, Brad Listi (and my tnb publisher/editor)
Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart
Then We Came To the End, Joshua Ferris (Finally read this — hilarious)
Overexposed, Susan Shapiro (My writing prof)
Imperial Bedrooms, Bret Easton Ellis

Nonfiction:

The Mesh, Lisa Gansky
How the States Got their Shapes, Marc Stein (interesting)
Everything is Going to be Great, Rachel Shukert (funny essays)
How Did You Get this Number?, Sloane Crosby (funny essays)
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace
Everything Is Wrong with Me, Jason Mulgrew

FILMS

Precious (January). Disturbingly good.
An Education (January). Haunting.
Client 9: Eliot Spitzer. Couldn't get through the second half but a good history.
Exit Through the Gift Shop: Banksy. Is it true or not? Love the mystery.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Good rental.
The Kids Are All Right. Love strong women.
Kick Ass. Surprisingly funny.
The Social Network. This was surprisingly good.
Greenberg. Funny, but not that funny
Iron Man 2. Silly.
Eat, Pray, Love (August). The food is as pretty as Julia.
Fair Game (November). Good melodrama, acting. Love spies.
The King's Speech (December). Stunning and funny.
Tron (December). Fun to watch but weak plot. Galactica spoiled us for Sci-Fi.
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (December). Just awful.
Somewhere — (December) Stunning Sophia Coppola and Stephen Dorff.

ART & MEMORIALS

Israel: Well, the whole country is a dig. Not sure if I'd consider Masada a museum, but it is a UNESCO site and a huge experience. Yad Vashem of course too. (Incidentally, one cannot find shaving cream in Safed.) Just go if you haven't. Some photos here.
Lisbon: The Museum of Tile/Azulejo (Seriously)
Istanbul: Hagga Sophia, Basilica Cistern (stunning), a 16thC Synagogue with permission in advance and too much time at the Four Seasons. A few photos here.
The Modern Kitchen, MoMA, New York
Le Louvre, Paris (November)
Avignon: Palace of the Popes (July); the Museum of Corkscrews
Raymond Depardon photography at Le Biblioteque Nationale Mitterand, Paris (November)
Julia Child's Kitchen, Smithsonian, Washington, DC (October)

CONCERTS + UNIQUE EXPERIENCES

From The Rally for National Sanity
on National Mall, Wash., DC

Rally for National Sanity in Washington, DC. (October) Unique experience on The Mall. Thank you, Julia, for flying in for it.
Carmen, at the MetOpera in HD (January)
David Sedaris reading at the Apollo Theatre (November) Hilarious. He also collects jokes.
Jonathan Franzen reading from Freedom at McNally Jackson
Pop-Tech in Camden, Maine (October). Science meets social engineering. Read the TFT post.
Agency.com Wake. The very very final end of a very long story.
Delivering the keynote on creativity at Belgium Direct Marketing Association in Mechelen, Belgium. Read the TFT post.
A week at The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio (Thanks, John)
Sam's Bar Mitzvah (!)
The Search for the World's Greatest Salesperson, including two live TV interviews in Australia and Philadelphia. Story behind the experience here.
Shorning of the Sheep at Blue Hill at Stone Bars
Creative Workshop at Chateau du Touffou.
Gay Youth Pride Concert (December). Charming, but not Glee.
Ben Folds performance at The Beacon, NYC (December). This surprisingly sucked.
The lights of Dyker Heights with Eitan and Dina. (December)

FOOD EXPERIENCES (gets its own category)

Lunch with Bryan Fuhr, Julia and Rachel at The French Laundry (October).
Lunch under a tree at vineyard Michel Schlumberger
Thanksgiving in Paris :: Le Retour VII. This year, the theme was Renaissance. Still not exactly sure why. Ann's photo collection here.
Learning to eat Raclette with Bridget and Thomas
Eating at Bisto Au Coin, Washington DC, forgetting we were there 10 years ago

PUBLISHED

"How to Talk to My Dog", The Bark
Embrace Branding, The Jewish Forward
"Spare Me Your Shekels", "When Should We Get Naked?", "A Good Sport", in The Nervous Breakdown
"Second Chances" on This I Believe about how my first boss Dennis Ferrone taught me to write ad copy.
Tons of columns in The Faster Times, now bi-weekly.

Untitled

2010-10-24T20:35:00.001-04:00

New posting up at The Nervous Breakdown:

Spare Me Your Shekels

have a look at this one and the earlier ones.

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PopTech : Blog : "Marriage Was Invented to Get In-Laws"

2010-10-23T08:11:00.000-04:00

Spent several days at the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine. Theme this year was around Necessary Failures, Accidental Discoveries.

Well-orchestrated, series of sub-topics around emotions, violence and gulf stories. Expert talks from both science and social entrepreneurs. Here's one great one by Stephanie Coontz from Friday.

PopTech : Blog : "Marriage Was Invented to Get In-Laws"

Secretary Clinton: "Tomorrow Will Be Better"

2010-10-19T22:41:00.000-04:00

Advertising Places: the Local, the Proud, the Disappointingly Bland

2010-10-03T20:50:00.000-04:00

New column up at The Faster Times. Wanted to cover more about marketing cities, states, countries and the idea of "Place." A recent JetBlue campaign, integrating the I Love New York icon, was the catalyst but it brought up lots of famous and utterly forgettable efforts. Please share, comment at the article and retweet it for me. Would love to get some good discussion going. For the article:

Advertising Places: the Local, the Proud, the Disappointingly Bland

Embrace Branding at The Forward.com

2010-09-29T20:05:00.001-04:00

Published my first op-ed in The Jewish Forward, part of guest editor Sam Apple's Insane Ideas for Jewish Future series. Wrote it in Safed, Israel of all places. Have a read and please share and retweet.

Embrace Branding – Forward.com

New posts up at The Faster Times, The Nervous Breakdown and This I Believe

2010-09-11T08:51:00.002-04:00

Vacation in Israel got me behind in essay writing but now I'm catching up.

First, to be timely, it's politics and election season. I know it's not a very nice (and admittedly, possibly naive) thing to say but here's the new The Faster Times ad column: Advertising Politics: The Best Ads are the Negative Ads. In it, there's also a personal anecdote from a college campaign which just came back to me.

On a more personal side, a recent overdue visit to the dermatologist had me thinking about our expectations when we go to the doctor. So up is my second post at The Nervous Breakdown for which I'm now a contributor in the memoirs and essays sections. I love this online magazine, some really terrific writers, writing, book reviews and even a book club you can join. On the trip, I started TNB creator Brad Listi's novel Attention. Deficit. Order which I recommend. Quite good + funny. You can also keep track of my TNB posts here.

Separately, I just learned from This I Believe that my essay was accepted. Really honored; it's such a storied show and project capturing voices and deeply held beliefs. Mine is about an important lesson I learned from my very first boss, Dennis Ferrone, which has stayed with me. You can find the essay here.

Caples Awards : Entries are Open

2010-09-09T22:00:00.000-04:00

The deadline for the John Caples Awards, the biggest international creative direct show, is Sept 30 with a late fee for Oct 4. I'm the head US Judge and exec committee member and I have to tell you from the inside that it's surprising how few of the hard-core digital agencies enter this show, especially when they could do so well. The categories are varied (by medium) and the judges are all creative directors from around the world. It's worth a lot of points too towards Won Report, which is like the Gunn Report.

Each year I judge and look at the winners, I'm impressed by the work but a bit annoyed that so much of the top winners are from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Germany and the UK. The US really needs to do better and enter more. I think it's unusually unknown in the US, probably drowned out by not just One Show but the Andys, the Addys, the New York Festivals and more.

Please help spread the word and get your awards coordinator and creative director to consider the best work to enter.

Advertising Print: This Will Be A Brief Piece

2010-08-23T22:00:00.002-04:00

New column up at The Faster Times. A depressing experiment looking at magazine advertising. Please share the piece, tweet it and add any thoughts or comments at the bottom of the article itself.

Advertising Print: This Will Be A Brief Piece

Lycos is back! Alta Vista lives!

2010-08-16T21:35:00.001-04:00

Do you think e-Rewards needs to update
their search engine questionnaire?

Just took an e-rewards survey for something and was wondering why the questions seemed odd (Broadband vs. Narrowband?) until I got to the last one about which search engine I used.

Not only was Google not listed, but Netscape, AltaVista, Hotbot and Lycos were.

Who knew the old web was still the new web. Very exciting.

Emergency Fabulous

2010-08-14T15:57:00.000-04:00

New piece published on The Nervous Breakdown. Inspired after a party at which I shared our go-bag and realized how many items had expired or needed to be replaced.

Advertising Small Business: Feng Shui from Graceful Space (Part 2)

2010-08-10T20:59:00.001-04:00

Now the series in The Faster Times advertising column on small biz gets specific with features on individual businesses, like my buddy from high school, Gwen's. Be sure to read it, retweet it, share and comment (there, not here):

Advertising Small Business: Feng Shui from Graceful Space (Part 2)

Advertising Small Business: Adventures in Overwhelm (Part 1)

2010-08-02T22:10:00.001-04:00

New series focusing on very small businesses and how they approach marketing and advertising.

Please comment (at the article on The Faster Times, not here), retweet and share. Plus, there's a LinkedIn discussion group you can apply to join. You might help an entrepreneur and a dream. Advertising Small Business: Adventures in Overwhelm (Part 1)

Movie Advertising: ‘Now More Than Ever’

2010-07-26T21:36:00.001-04:00

New The Faster Times column up about film promotion. The topic seemed fairly obvious after two brutal weekends in a row of heat and taking refuge indoors. Please comment and share (at the column, not here) if you can or if you like it or have other thoughts. Eager to hear. Here's the link: Movie Advertising: ‘Now More Than Ever’

Advertising Health Care: When Worry Works

2010-07-19T20:34:00.001-04:00

New The Faster Times column up, post-Cleveland Clinic experience. Check it out and please retweet, comment (there, not here) and share.

Advertising Health Care: When Worry Works

Cannes Seminar Finale Intro Video

2010-07-01T21:24:00.000-04:00

Some old radio spots

2010-07-01T08:13:00.001-04:00

Stella D'oro Baked Goods: Leslie & Louise (:60)

Download now or listen on posterous

StellaDoro_LeslieAndLouise.mp3 (1259 KB)

Stella D'oro Baked Goods: My Sister Liz (:60

Download now or listen on posterous

StellaDoro_MySisterLiz.mp3 (1264 KB)

Nathan's: Becky (:60)

Download now or listen on posterous

Nathans_Becky.mp3 (1422 KB)

Nathan's: Four Brothers (:60)

Download now or listen on posterous

Nathans_4Brothers.mp3 (1412 KB)

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Cannes Awards: Follow-up from Festival

2010-06-30T06:58:00.002-04:00

New in The Faster Times: Cannes Awards Roundup: More Blogging, Less Bragging. Please read, share and comment (there, not here). Plus check out the new membership offer if you chose me as your favorite writer.

ShortTakes: Gigondas, France.m4v

2010-06-25T13:10:00.000-04:00

OgilvyOne Worldwide Seminar Promo

2010-06-17T23:22:00.000-04:00

Promo to our live event on Monday in Cannes.

At the NYCWC Write Your A** Off Write-A-Thon

2010-06-12T12:26:00.004-04:00

Gwen, her friend Pauline and I are the New York City Writer's Coalition annual write-a-thon Raising money for free writers workshops across the city. Writer Nicholas Dawidoff is lunchtime speaker. Picture of is 'prompt station' if you get stuck. We're also doing a workshop at 2PM.

The space in midtown is the library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen and the Center for Independent Publishing. Beautiful.

Worked on a submission for This I Believe and next week's column for The Faster Times.

What We've Learned So Far

2010-06-10T21:57:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

What We've Learned So Far

View more presentations from OgilvyOne Worldwide.

Internet Week, Tire Safety Month and Father’s Day: June is Busy with Awareness

2010-06-06T12:22:00.001-04:00

Publishing the new The Faster Times advertising column a day early this week: Internet Week, Tire Safety Month and Father’s Day: June is Busy with Awareness

Talks about Internet Week in New York City but also about all the awareness weeks and months in general and what they accomplish. Please add your comments and thoughts on this at the article (there, not here) since I think it's a rich topic and I'd be curious for other data and thoughts you've seen in doing work around them or inspired by them.

Photo by Shapeshift

New on The Faster Times

2010-06-01T05:59:00.001-04:00

Writing the advertising column now for The Faster Times, publishing on Tuesdays (or Monday nights). Second column up called Advertising Jobs: 5 Great Careers You Don't Know. Trying to make each one timely, fresh, useful and insightful.

Please read, share and comment (there, not here).

Posted via web from matzucker's posterous

Advertising Jobs: 5 Great Careers You Don’t Know

2010-05-31T18:25:00.001-04:00

Second column in The Faster Times: Advertising Jobs: 5 Great Careers You Don’t Know

Hope you'll read it and comment (there, not here) and even join The Faster Times as a member — and choose me as your favorite writer when that's setup. I think this is a great topic and I'm sure my summaries don't do the career paths justice but opening up opportunities especially during such a tight job market hopefully is help to some people who want to get into the business but don't see all the openings that actually exist.

Faster writing

2010-05-25T06:13:00.004-04:00

Excited and honored to become the first advertising columnist in The Faster Times. Great paper. I try to lay out my principles for it in the first post. I'm trying to do it weekly or bi-weekly depending on how much of a groove I can get into but Tuesday looks like it'll be my regular publishing date.

Support The Faster Times by becoming a member, and choose me as your writer! There are great bonus gifts too for all levels of membership from $12-60.

There's a slew of good columns so I must be in good company.

The Generic Foods Investigation (readers voted among two choices the investigation could be between)
Brief Observations by Sarah Silverman (!)
Unsolicited Advice by Rachel Shukert
Nostalgia by Eryn Loeb

The NthWord

2010-04-24T21:19:00.004-04:00

My favorite new magazine is one I'm admittedly I'm in.

The nthWord issue #6 is out with a piece by me on advertising getting back to selling. I wrote in this winter even before The Search for the World's Greatest Salesperson debuted but selling was obviously on my mind.

I like the creativity and sensibility of nthWORD. If you flip through the current issue and the archive you'll see what I mean about what they choose to include and how they present it.

From their mission statement: The nthWORD is an online magazine that serves as an exhibition for writers and visual artists. Our purpose is to transmit a juxtaposition of visual and textual information to people who are passionate about ideas, words, and images.

Thanks nthWORD for letting me a part of Issue #6.

Jamie Oliver's TED talk: Teach every child about food

2010-04-10T11:53:00.002-04:00

Watch and support ABC's "Food Revolution," story of Jamie Oliver trying to help reform food behavior in Huntington, WV. Airs Friday 9pm or watch whenever.

Some tips on selling from Ogilvy

2010-04-06T16:32:00.001-04:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Some tips on selling from Ogilvy

View more presentations from OgilvyOne Worldwide.

The Search for the World's Greatest Salesperson

2010-03-29T22:14:00.001-04:00

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Yes I was in a fraternity

2010-03-19T00:26:00.003-04:00

This might surprise you since people are more comfortable with stereotypes, but yes, I was in a fraternity.

I liked it - Sigma Phi Society at Cornell. Ezra Cornell IV was a brother too. I've been thinking about this lately because it was a period of my life where I deviated from the traditional route and did what I felt like doing.

Some really terrific people and a strong entrepreneurial business bent. It also opened me up to a non-Jewish world which I think I needed from where I grew up.

And yes,the house was gorgeous, we had a cook and an endowment — and there was a squash court.

I in stanbul

2010-02-27T08:41:00.009-05:00

Bryan Fuhr and I were in Istanbul. Jotting down experiences & places before I forget them:

26 Thursday — Bryan and I walked to Ortakoy Pier until we could check into our room. Nap. Cab to Taskim Square to walk along Isikai Cardessi, the main pedestrian shopping street. (more Flatbush than Champs Elysées) Western chain stores. Big crowds. Had rooftop drinks at 360, a modern bar/restaurant in the Masir Apartments followed by dinner at Boncak in the little streets nearby. Good local, inexpensive place, seafood. "Full of cheer" remembers BJF.

27 Friday — Started with breakfast at the hotel before taxi to hunt for the 15th Century Ahrida Synagogue in Balat, the Jewish quarter. We had secured permission to attend in advance and a had a 1030a appt. The taxi driver had no idea where it was or what it was and was about to drop us at a Greek Orthodox Church until we realized that the cross is probably not the right symbol on the door. Took another 20 min. before we saw the Hebrew letters. There was no answer at the gate to the synagogue complex but a man found us there and went to get the woman with the key. She arrived with four dogs, very pleasant but odd. It wasn't a tour but an self-serve appointment. She double-checked our identity and showed us in, pointing us to the sanctuary. "No photos," they both reminded us. The sanctuary was imacculately restored with benches and a raised podium, a Sephardic tradition. Bryan says it was like being in Noah's Arc, which is an apt description in Turkey, especially considering the Sephardic design can connote resembling the boats used to transport them there from Spain and North Africa. We stayed just a short while, and on the way out asked if we could make a donation. She realized I meant Tzedakah and went and got the Tzedakah box. Glad we set this up in advance since it was an unusual and meaningful detour.

Asked our next taxi driver to go to the Grand Bazaar. "Gate 1" we said, just like the concierge recommended. The bazaar was exciting and nicer than I expected. Only a few doors in, we found ourselves in a carpet store (SLRD predicted "You'll buy a rug even if you don't mean to") and, then, there we were in their larger gallery around the corner having Turkish coffee and traditional tea. Omar, Kurdish, from southeast Turkey introduced himself, and explained the tradition of making rugs. We learned a lot about what to look for in terms of stitching, color, the use of carpet (introduced to hurt the animals less whose back it was draped across). It was fun and not much pressure though we realized we would buy something which was fine. The stories and knowledge were worth it, anyway, plus his line about dowry and finding a wife: "First, look at the mother; then get the daughter." We decided on a rather unusual inexpensive rug for our foyer -- minimalist, using goat hair and black sheep ink. We left happy and with it in a smart, portable tote.

At some point, we realized we had been in the Arasta Bazaar, not the famous Grand Bazaar. We were embarrassed, of course, until we read in one of the books that this was the alternative bazaar for those overwhelmed by the Grand one. Now we felt like insiders. The afternoon was wandering the rest of Eminonu and the old city, finding the real Grand Bazaar (where I shot a Short Take - will be up soon; Youtube is blocked here), the Spice Market (less aromatic and impressive than we expected, though we did arrive during prayer and lunch hour when things got quiet) where I tasted my first non-allergic Turkish Delight candies.

28 Saturday — Started the morning with a 20-minute ferry ride from right next to our hotel to the Asian Side to Kadikoy. It was a commuter ferry so it was fun. Bryan wouldn't let me sing "Let the River Run" but we did get great city views and perspective about the city's relationship to water. Passing the Selimiey Barracks where Florence Nightengale lived and worked, we spent only a few minutes in Asia but went to the old Haydarpasa Railway Station where the Orient Express used to pick up service. There, we got a ferry back to Eminonu, where we climbed up to the Sultanahmet and visited the Haghia Sophia, Justinanian era structure which was later turned into a mosque. The church is stunning and beautiful and the book says for over a thousand years, it was the largest enclosed structure in the world. Afterwards, we crossed the street to the Yerebatan Cistern (underground cistern), which is a stunning marvel. You can wander among the underground water system and at the far end, see two unusual Medusa sculptures, one upside down and one on its side.

Spent a little more time wandering the Sultanahmet, sitting in the park, visiting the other Four Seasons Hotel (good bathroom spot) and then wandered back down the hill and crossed the Galata Bridge. I thought this famous crossing of Golden Horn would be more significant but it was kinda gross and just crowded with fisherman. We walked up the edge of the other side to the Istanbul Modern where we stopped for lunch in the nice bistro. Explored the museum a tiny bit but then cabbed back to the hotel for R&R before going out again in Beyoglu for dinner to Changa.

29 Sunday — Bryan and I started the day with an architectural tour of mosques via Context Tours (same amazing travel tour we used in Rome). Also on the tour was the wife of a colleague who's also a fan of this tour company. The first was 16th Century Sehzade Camii (Prince's Mosque), then the dramatic and enormous Suleymaniye Camii, built just 10 years later, then down the hill to the 17th Century Yeni Camii (New Mosque), which has the distinction of having been built by a woman (a Sultan's mom, if I remember correctly). Max, our guide, made special note of the increased use and different use of tile throughout the mosques.

Walked across the Galata Bridge, taking the funicular up the hill to shopping street Isiklal Cadessi again where we hunted for the cool little cafe, Kafe Aya (photo left by Bryan Fuhr), Max had recommended to us for lunch. It's on a little side alley right off Yenacarsi Cadessi, off the main drag of Isiklal Cadessi. "Take a right at the ugly monument at the intersection of Isiklal and Yenacarsi Cadessi and a quick right at the bookstore" were Max's directions.

Took a taxi back to the hotel and ended up in one of those situations everyone talks about but now we've experienced first hand. the driver took a very long route back (via the beltway) to our hotel, resulting in a fare about triple it should be. When we were far north of the Bosphorus Bridge, it was blatantly obvious to us. We called him on it but it was a challenge with the language barrier. We got back to the hotel and told the valet about it to help us negotiate out of it. We explained what happened and offered what the fare should be from the Taskim area and got him to take it.

Bryan's headed to the Hamam and oh, no, work starts now.

Let the knowledge flow

2010-02-17T21:48:00.005-05:00

Recently came across Flowtown, a new service which gives you social network info on folks you know or don't. It's helpful in marketing, of course, because it gives us better behaviorial insights - a tighter picture of what you really use and how you consume media. Just from an email address.

This is a big deal in connecting the one to one email model and its databases with the looser modern world of social media networks. They've operated so separately, I think we can all expect to see more of these connections moving forward.

Aside: My first reaction hearing about the service before I saw it was wasn't excited; in fact, admittedly, I was a little creeped out. A guy from work told me about it in a bar and I panicked coming home to check it out and see what I could find on myself. I think it was that private eye seminar I took at the Learning Annex a few years ago. Through Flowtown, I saw my own social network memberships but frankly it's no different from what people can learn about me otherwise. One can opt-out of a lot of stuff and the service seems very much on the up-and-up and plenty of brands are starting to tap it for more sophisticated social marketing.

What was funnier was today's postings via twitter about how foursquare has begat the Please Rob Me site, which can help robbers figure out when you're not home. Now that's a social marketing backfire.

Getting picky about retailers

2010-02-15T23:47:00.008-05:00

We're getting choosier about at which retailers we spend our money. First, we started to focus on more local businesses -- the hardware store around the corner on 9 av (it's funny with hardware stores, rarely do we remember the actual name), Murray's Bagels, New London Pharmacy instead of the big chains all around us. The Huffington Post brought to attention the Move Your Money effort, which got us very excited and has re-focused our attention on the choices we make. This also includes our food, wanting to know where it comes from and what ingredients are in it.

Competing with my locally-minded fetish, though, is my long-time obsession with rewards programs which are best provided by the big scaled retailers. I like Duane Reade's rewards program, so I sneak in there a fair amount. Those $5 coupons are as addictive as the scratch-off cards I buy on Fridays. CVS stores are always nice, clean and carry lots of what I need in a semi-attractive way. Their self-check out is also innovative so they get points for that. I would probably join the CVS program if I wasn't already committed to DR's. Only so many little tags can go on my little keychain.

What I know I don't like is Rite Aid. Despite the constant surveying with every receipt, Rite Aid seems to not only not care about the state of their stores, but worse, they don't carry much in terms of green-friendly products. Try buying toilet paper made of recycled paper there. The several I've been in don't carry it and when I ask floor staff, they don't really care. Today, I tried again and was so frustrated I put back another $35 in products I planned to by and walked out. I found what I needed at the supermarket and then wrote in a note to their customer service.

Target, of course, has been a long-time favorite store and a destination when we leave the city. It's a cult favorite for millions. The first few years, it was fun to shop there and we'd pile up the cart with all sorts of things, discovering do-gooder Method brand there and also their house brand, now called Up and Up. This past week, though, we both realized we were kind of tired of Target. Was it really worth the effort and shlep? Was the idea of it and the commercials for it more fun than the actual experience of going there? Shouldn't we spend our money at neighborhood stores instead? The answer, so far, is yes.

Going to think more about which retailers are in/out for me and why that is. I'm not trying to be complicated; just trying to be thougtful.

2009: Culture Year in Review

2010-01-02T19:05:00.018-05:00

Every year, I post a summary of a lot of the things I saw, read, did, experienced in the last 12 months. I'll add a little commentary and links where I can if you want to see more or buy the book at my Amazon store or elsewhere. Share your favorite experiences from 2009 too please.

BOOKS

Nonfiction:

King of Madison Avenue, David Ogilvy biography, by Kenneth Roman -- poignant and detailed biography of the legend. I read this the month before I came back to Ogilvy and it was worth it.
Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Susan Shapiro
Only As Good As Your Word, Susan Shapiro -- good advice for writers from my writing teacher
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (memoir)
You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, Augusten Burroughs
How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer
The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferris -- shocking approach to life, including don't watch the news. If something's important, someone will tell you.

Fiction:

Speed Shrinking, Susan Shapiro -- hilarious & my teacher's recent novel.
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout (Short stories) -- excellent collection. Won the Pulitzer.
It's Beginning to Hurt, James Lasdun (Short Stories)
East of Fifth Bliss, Doug Light (novel) - great East Village story, and by former colleague at Ogilvy
The Vast Fields of Ordinary, Nick Burd - first novel from a great writer. Recommend buying it, reading it plus also good way to support emerging writers.
How It Ended, Jay McIerney

FILM

Objectified — a documentary about objects
Julia & Julie — The better Meryl Streep vehicle in 2009
Where the Wild Things Are — stunning
A Serious Man - Quirky Cohen Brothers picture
The September Issue, documentary — The real Devil Wears Prada
A Single Man — Tom Ford's film. Beautiful and haunting.
Up in the Air — killer opening credits and music
The Hangover — finally saw this
Avatar — didn't see it in 3D and it was still good.
OSS 077: Cairo, Nest of Spies - French sendup of Bond and Austen Powers. Not great.

ART & ARCHITECTURE

Musuem of Art & Design, New York
Brooklyn Museum
Rubel Collection, Miami (Feb)
Shepard Fairey Exhibit, ICA Boston (April)
Museum of Handbags & Purses, Amsterdam (March)
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (March)
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam (March) - Book tickets in advance!
Congress Hall, Philadelphia (April) - Went with Adam. Ran for president.
Dwell House Tour, Brooklyn (May)
Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit, Guggenheim (June)
Intrepid Museum (July) - not as good for kids as you'd think
Sistine Chapel, Rome (Sept) - worth waiting on line in the rain for 2 hrs
Roman and Imperial Forum, Rome (Sept) - worth doing a private tour
Salk Institute, San Diego (Oct)
ArtHome, Palais du Tokyo, Paris (Nov) - food meets design/art. Read the review.
Louvre, Paris (Nov) - re-visited Venus de Milo, Winged Victory & La Jaconde
Cite L'Architecture, Palais Chaillot, Paris (Nov)

THEATRE/MUSIC

Met Opera Backstage Tour (March) - we took my parents on a saturday afternoon and it was a good way to see behind the scenes.
Alan Cumming, Rose Hall (Feb) - if you can ever see him in person or perform, do it.
Next to Normal (June) - thought it was going to be another coming out musical but it was not. recommend it if you love bold lyrics and heartbreaking story.
U2, Giants Stadium (Sept) - amazing spectacle
Aida, Met Opera HD - got to eat popcorn and watch live opera. (November)
Brief Encounter, Noel Coward, St Anne's Warehouse Brooklyn (December)

WROTE/PUBLISHED:

Minding the Snore, New York Press
Talk to Me About My Pet, Our Town and West Side Spirit
Clean Plates -- I only named it. Jared Koch wrote it. Fabulous guide to healthier eating too
Real Simple Life Lessons Essay -- on my mugging when I first moved to NYC (waiting to hear)
Advertising Age DigitalNext pieces (5)
Lots more - will update

Major League Dreidel

2009-12-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

On the second night of Hannukah, we attended Major League Dreidel at the Knitting Factory in Williamsberg. Bryan and Leslie signed up to compete. Among about 200 participants divided into groups of six, they spun driedels in the 'spinagogues' for the best time, trying to avoid 'spinterference.'

Competitors had names such as "7 Deadly Spins" (also champ in 2007), Challah At Me, Gelt Digga and Jimmy Gimel.

Short Takes: Paris stops

2009-11-26T11:13:00.000-05:00

Good book to read if you're interested in Shakespeare & Company: Time Was Soft There, by Jeremy Mercer. Documents the experience of living and working at the famous bookstore in Paris.

You've Been Selected for Inclusion into The Who's Who of Executives and Professionals

2009-10-26T22:26:00.001-04:00

i think this is really good direct marketing. you've been selected!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Strathmore <info@mktgsystems.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Subject: You've Been Selected for Inclusion into The Who's Who of Executives and Professionals
To: XXXXXXX

Dear Executive,

You were recently chosen as a potential candidate to represent your professional community in the 2009-10 Edition of Who's Who among Executives and Professionals.

We are please to inform you that your candidacy was formally approved October 12th, 2009. Congratulations.

The Publishing Committee selected you as a potential candidate based not only upon your current standing, but focusing as well on criteria from executive and professional directories, associations, and trade journals. Given your background, the Director believes your profile makes a fitting addition to our publication.

There is no fee nor obligation to be listed. As we are working off of secondary sources, we must receive verification from you that your profile is accurate. After receiving verification, we will validate your registry listing within seven business days.

Once finalized, your listing will share prominent registry space with thousands of fellow accomplished individuals across the globe, each representing accomplishment within their own geographical area.

To verify your profile and accept the candidacy, please visit here. Our registration deadline for this year's candidates is December 31, 2009. To ensure you are included, we must receive your verification on or before this date. On behalf of our Committee I salute your achievement and welcome you to our association.

Sincerely Yours,

J. Edward Simmons
Vice President, Research Division

Strathmore's Who’s Who
26 Bond St.
Westbury NY 11590

Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail communication and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged information for the use of the designated recipients named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this communication in error and that any review, disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of it or its contents is prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please delete the communication and unsubscribe from the mailing using the options available in this email.

This message was sent to XXX by info@mktgsystems.com

Email Marketing by

23-35A Steinway St, Astoria, NY, 11105

Posted via email from matzucker's posterous

re:direct launches

2009-10-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

At the DMA Conference in San Diego last week, OgilvyOne launched re:direct, a movement to reinvigorate creativity in the direct marketing industry.

Above is the video we played at our cocktail reception. It was part of a print->mobile ad experience as well as PR (guest column in AdAge, press release) and social media. The re:direct blog is here and you can follow us on twitter @re_direct.

Rory Sutherland at TED

2009-10-20T09:37:00.001-04:00

Very funny+smart perf by Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy UK Vice Chairman, including highlights of Diamond Shreddies towards the end (14:00ish).

Short Takes - Torrey Pines

2009-10-18T09:21:00.000-04:00

Ezra Pound in Print

2009-10-15T22:23:00.000-04:00

The West Side Spirit and Our Town published a piece of mine about dog parenthood, featuring Ezra. You can find it in this week's street boxes on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan, or over here.

Early firsts : Ecommerce and Dayparting

2009-10-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

I think I’m getting sentimental or just paranoid of my memory going. I’m thinking back to early digital experiences and realizing how early on I emigrated from advertising to the web.

In 1995, America On-Line was very precious and didn’t allow anything commercial (this would be amusing years later when it became a shopping mall), but CompuServe had an online store where you could, get this, buy directly. I was a copywriter at FCB and for our client Rayovac Batteries, and with Sean Connolly and Adam Gargani, we set up a mini-store in what would be one of the first ecommerce plays for a packaged good. I wrote sell copy in formats I had never done before, and within a few weeks, we had sold thirty (30!) sets of rechargeable batteries. I remember being excited, feeling the rush of actually selling something directly to people.

Just a few months later, Nabisco wanted to be among the first corporate web sites, so my art director Miguel and I concepted a Nabisco “town,” where Town Hall would have corporate and HR information, the park would have Oreos, a cafe would have Cream of Wheat, and so on. We created the design comps but to program it, we went over to then-True North partner Robert Greenberg & Associates on West 39th Street, who seemed to be the only ones in town who knew how to actually program it. (I would return ten years later to work there as a creative director when it was hot interactive shop R/GA). Realizing that people could come to nabisco.com at any hour of the day, we suggested it go dark at night and those crazy programmers were able to do it. Yup, this is one of the earliest examples of day-parting on the web. Later, there were tons more virtual towns for brands but this was before all that.

I'll try to update this with screengrabs but my images are all on FLOPPY disks ;-)

The Puma Index: Direct Sexponse

2009-09-26T13:24:00.000-04:00

The latest and greatest in lead capture -- The Puma Index. To showcase Puma Bodywear, your choice of female or male model will take off their shirt if the market goes down. So if you lose your shirt, so do they.

While attention-grabbing digital pieces like this have existed before, this requires your email address before getting in. This helps make it less hit-and-run advertising-like and more substantial acquisition leading. Will be paying attention to what they do with my address and see if it was worth it.

Notes from the OMMA Panel on Social Media Creative

2009-09-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

The panel I was on at the OMMA Global Conference as part of Advertising Week was interesting, though it felt like we didn't really tackle the topic: "Best 2009 Creative Social Media Campaigns." Wonder if we disappointed the audience.

Hosted by Greg Christian from SamnLori recruiterswe covered a little bit of work and each chimed in about challenges facing creative development in social media and what agencies and clients need to do in the space to succeed this year.

Cathy Taylor from MediaPost was in the audience, and afterwards, she wrote an article about things she heard throughout the day, including what I spoke about for creating nimble creative teams for social media.

Advertising Week 2009

2009-09-21T20:27:00.000-04:00

This week is Advertising Week; if anyone had any sense, they'd rebrand it Marketing Week. But advertising is more glamorous so we'll let it own the week (just as it's hijacked brand ;-)).

Tuesday, I'm on an OMMA panel at the Marriott Marquis called "Best 2009 Creative Campaigns in Social Media" if you're attending. Come and cheer or jeer. Probably will mention Skittles.com, as most would expect.

3 Years: Remembering mach

2009-08-23T14:32:00.000-04:00

of course we remember.

the wisdom. the laughter. the warmth. the trouble-making.

it's absolutely crucial we do.

for ourselves, for those we'll teach and guide.

the impression he made in so many of us was deep and indelible. (even if it was in lowercase ;-0

mach, we miss you.

Minding the Snore in the NY Press

2009-08-16T11:17:00.001-04:00

Last year's sleep test experience just got published in The New York Press's 8 Million Stories column, "Minding the Snore."

Please go read, rate and comment it.

Email Jacking Lessons from Mom

2009-08-07T21:22:00.000-04:00

My mother taught me how to "email jack" — using a form letter created by an organization one does not agree with and changing the pre-purposed content to something more amenable to your views and then sending it on. This one was a form letter from an AFA Action Alert to complain to the AAA that they had recognized gay couples as, get this, real married couples in their coverage. I simply edited the pre-filled in text to thank the AAA for recognizing gay couples as real married couples in their coverage.

Now I'm on the listserv for AFA Action Alerts which are amusing and creepy. The next one I saw was anti-health care.

Digital pays Direct back

2009-07-23T07:53:00.000-04:00

New piece just published in AdAge's CMO Strategy column, "How Digital Marketing Can Help Reinvent Direct Marketing." It talks about digital as good apprentice who has grown up, while direct is a bit stuck in one-to-one of a perfected past. Provides some lessons which we're going to apply at OgilvyOne to direct marketing and unstuck it for the modern era.

I had submitted it with a more provocative title from Bryan: Digital has learned so much from direct. It's time to pay it back.

Instant Gratification Was Fast Enough

2009-07-21T23:16:00.000-04:00

I just finished my five-week writing class, "Instant Gratification Isn't Fast Enough."

Let by Susan Shapiro, it was a terrific hands-on, uber-practical, no-nonsense dive into the world of creating and selling your work to publications. She does a great job of demystifying publishing and also fostering a workshop-like environment and giving tough critique to work we bring in based on her curriculum. Excited, too, to have so quickly built up a bit of a better nonfiction portfolio and know better how to creatework that sells and even have started to send out some of the essays, op-eds, and service pieces.

Sue Shapiro, a journalism professor at The New School and NYU, also has a new book Speed Shrinking coming out August 4. Pre-order it here. Sure to be hilarious.

Where is my bus?

2009-07-19T12:27:00.000-04:00

I was so excited to see how Chicago bus systems let you track your bus from your phone, so you know how long you have to wait for the next bus. Especially helpful if you're in the cold or in a rush and debating between bus, walking or cab. Apparently, Portland and a few other cities are also already doing smart stuff like this.

New York's MTA was planning on rolling out something like it and started with a test starting in 2006, but in February, the MTA p ulled the plug on the pilot for GPS for NYC Buses. So disappointed about this, especially now that I'm commuting mostly by bus to work on 11th Avenue.

New York should be on the forefront of innovation. Will research the excuses.

NPR's Place + Memory Project

2009-06-06T09:12:00.000-04:00

I love this Place & Memory Project, just launched by NPR.

The site says it is "recreating those places from our past that made their mark on us–but no longer exist."

There a phone line you can call into, a map you put a pin in and other ways of sharing or marking your place and story.

Working on what I submit which might/ might not include:

Terry Lou Zou
"Toilet Bowl Hill" at Baltusrol Golf Course
Springfield Nurseries fields (tricky since the Nursery still exists further down the road)
Cul-de-sac on Ashwood Road
Brewbar NYC

Most people post businesses so I might think of a few of those too.

Community CRM

2009-05-30T22:33:00.000-04:00

Neighborhood shops along Ninth Avenue by my house bond together for opt-in list for customers.

Not sure how each of the stores or all of them are going to back-end the data so they can share it and use it, but glad they're doing it. It's always a shame to me when everyone reinvents the wheel themselves when together, they could be stronger with little overlap and more combined power.

Incentive to fill out: Win a $250 shopping spree at the shops. I happily did it and I'm sure others did too. Will try to find out the results.

Thanks to you, I got to write my a** off

2009-05-16T17:33:00.000-04:00

Today was the 4th annual New York Writer’s Coalition Write-A-Thon. Called “Write Your A** Off,” it’s the second year I participated, independently raising just over $500 for free writing programs in New York for disadvantaged youth, seniors, veterans and others who can’t afford workshops.

About fifty writers attended. Hard to tell but seems mostly amateur writers like me who simply want to get in the habit of doing more and need support from each other. Two I recognize from last year.

10-30-5.30PM

The writer-friendly, loosely-structured day was hosted at the charming Library for the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesman. Beautiful room of books and wood. They provided tables for writing with power supply, free workshops upstairs led by instructors, endless coffee and lunch plus a guest speaker -- published author Jennifer Belle — to talk about the craft. She was hilarious, and I’ll have to look into her work, such as Little Stalker and High Maintenance. She warned us against outlining things, holding back, forcing oneself to get up at 6a.m. to write because we heard we should, and most of all, from getting an MFA. She also talked about how publishing has changed recently, how contracts and deadlines really matter and plenty of writers have had books pilled for missing key milestones. Her deadline for her fourth novel is in about eight days. She cited exercises she gives to get people going when they’re stuck: Write about a friend you hate, or your favorite alcoholic. She also suggested agentquery.com to find a literary agent which I didn’t know about.

Got a fair amount of writing done -- deeper into a story I started a few weeks ago, some ruthless editing of an essay I want to resubmit some places, and some rough prose from the workshop exercises, each of which could become something.

The race for the top spot

My fifth place finish in fundraising gave me a choice of many unusual and tempting prizes. I chose an astrology reading with a woman in Oregon. By phone.

The executive director, Aaron Zimmerman, had gotten a google alert about my posting on Friday on AdAge’s Digital Next column, so I explained to him my experiment in fundraising. He's also been trying different things as well.

Next year: Join me

Definitely doing this again next year and if you want to do some writing and be a part of it, I encourage you to do it. Thanks to all those who donated money -- not only do you a good tax deduction but you did a lot for me and for the writers across NYC who will benefit from your generosity.

Return to the Red Carpet

2009-04-20T06:57:00.000-04:00

Today, I start as ECD of OgilvyOne, New York.

My brief is to reinvigorate creative in response and reinterpret it for the modern, digital age using online and offline channels. It's a fantastic job, and there's no place I'd rather do it than Ogilvy.

David Ogilvy said direct marketing was his first love and his secret weapon. As many people know, I was at OgilvyOne for nearly six years starting in 1999. I straddled both OgilvyInteractive and OgilvyOne with one of the first hybrid digital-traditional groups covering a range of brands from Cisco to Enfamil. For me, Ogilvy has what great modern creative needs: the understanding of brand, the rigor of direct, the experience of digital.

After four years at two very different digital shops, I'm also returning for an integrated job. The past two years at Agency.com and the previous two at R/GA, have been rich with challenges, people and work — always busy, often innovative, occasionally breakthrough. I hope to bring some of the entrepreneurial spirit and behaviors back to Ogilvy. I am grateful to the people and clients at both shops who were so supportive of what I wanted to achieve with them and who gave me very long leashes to try things, to trust me with their brands, their briefs and the responsibility of helping run a very large piece of business — or even an entire office.

Read the Ogilvy press release here.

Stick, then Carrot: Scare to Response

2009-04-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

"It's not safe to fill your prescriptions at multiple pharmacies," the bottom of my Rite Aid receipt read today after buying some new super-strength Febreze.

Then:

"Transfer all your prescriptions to Rite Aid so we can monitor for dangerous interactions. Talk to a pharmacist today. Plus, ask for your $20 appreciation savings coupons."

Not sure how I feel about the execution of this strategy. Raising the issue of drug interactions and mistake is timely and good support for digitizing records (of which I am a big advocate). But scaring people with that clunky headline doesn't appeal and seems off-brand for service and neatness-challenged Rite-Aid, though admittedly I don't really know what the brand does believe in (though I do for CVS, which I adore). Unlike CVS or many Duane Reads, Rite Aids in the city are usually kind of sloppy and disorganized which doesn't reassure they're so perfect behind crucial counters like the pharmacy, though I'm sure they're fine as anyone.

The $20 coupons might get some response though but they seem oddly connected to the scare point above. If Rite Aid believes so much in the headline, then they should offer Safety Coupons or Clarity Coupons or something else that ties in.

This is the same space for the dial-in sweepstakes of which I was so fond and have yet to win. Though they could call any day.

Sponsor My A** Off

2009-04-17T07:06:00.000-04:00

May 16 is the next annual Write Your A** Off, a day dedicated to writing to raise money for the NYC Writers Coalition.

They're an amazing group who bring writing classes and workshops to the underserved, including homeless, disadvantaged kids, elderly and more.

We spend an entire Saturday writing and talking about writing. Here's my experience from last May if you want a taste of it. We raised $37,000 in one day.

This year, I am trying to raise at least $400 as my part, which is modest but these are tough times for people. At the event, unless I'm deep into a storyline, I plan on twittering as well or perhaps doing a closed status update to the people who sponsor me.

It's easy to put in $5, $15, $25, $50 or more. Please, please sponsor me here.

Timely Bulls and Bears

2009-04-11T17:29:00.000-04:00

This is a painting I've always heard about but finally saw last month with my friend Suzanne. "The Bulls and the Bears" is an allegorical painting from 1879 about the turbulent market by William Beard. Setting is Broad Street, where the current NYSE is on the left. See it for yourself at the New York Historical Society on the upper west side. It doesn't have the wall space and drama it deserves but it's really exciting.

Customer service and flow: A good experience in NYC

2009-04-08T13:40:00.000-04:00

A friend from Paris was visiting this week, and since we both were on vacation and had long lists of clothes shopping to do, we had plenty of time to discuss shopping patterns and customer service, a favorite topic of mine.

Bloomingdale's flagship Men's Store on 59th Street used to quite unpleasant to visit -- dark, creepy, crowded and disorganized labyrinth in the basement. The utterly revamped and redesigned Men's Store, however, is much better, starting right at the subway door and moving up three levels from jeans to designer collections, suits and beyond. Lighting is improved, there is more space between collections, better grouping of collections, better signage and a more comfortable flow to move one self through. On the weekday morning of our visit, it was also semi-empty which was depressing for them but convenient for us.

Our first sales guy in jeans proactively told my friend about a perk neither of us knew about and from which he could benefit: Bloomingdale's 11% discount for out of country visitors.

This is really terrific and Macy's might have it as well.

Meanwhile, I was using my tax return money to get a new suit with a 30% discount as part of a pre-sale the following week (I can get the discount now but won't be charged or can't pick it up until then). The sales are confusing but at least the staff tried to help me figure out which one was best for me to use.

Over lunch — after visits to Calvin Klein and the required pilgrimage to Barney's — we discussed service experiences between the US and France; my friend noted that in Paris, one would never have "pre-sales" event like that; it's an American invention. In Paris, the sales person would simply tell you to come back next week. Pre-sales, though, seem great for businesses getting you to buy stuff ahead of time and perhaps more of it.

Calvin Klein's flagship store on Madison Avenue, in comparison, was clean and sparse but the tomb-like design and sterile feel was uncomfortable and life-less. Staff were friendly enough, but followed you around like you were going to steal something. Clothes were displayed on hooks hanging from the ceiling. Men's underwear were the only thing on sale and were displayed coldly in recessed shelves, leaving little reason to buy them here when you can get them on sale nearly everywhere else from Bloomingdale's to Century 21 (suggestion to CK: hire models for the flagship store. Now there's a reason). Leaving, unimpressed and hungry for the real world of emotion, we took the elevator too far down and found women in the Home department who seemed like they were in prison. We didn't spring them free, though; we simply left and with our many bags, went downtown to SoHo for more stores and a lovely lunch.

Street Parking in NYC

2009-01-24T11:35:00.000-05:00

We pulled our Mini from the garage two months ago to try out street parking.

Spaces on the weekend in our neighborhood aren't difficult to find, often right in front of our house. The week, however, is much trickier both because our street is blocked off during school days and street cleaning requires alternate side parking. Each street from south to north has a no parking window, like "No Parking Monday & Thursday 9-10.30AM." Then the next street north would have "No Parking Monday & Thursday 9.30-11AM." The opposite side of the street has "No Parking Tuesday & Friday 9-10.30AM."

Bryan has how and when and where to move the car down to an elegant effortless science, but when he goes out of town and I have to move the car, it becomes an inelegant effort — with the car ending back up in a paid lot.

Yesterday morning at 10AM, I take our car out of the paid lot where it had been for 24 hours (I gave up on Thurs), to move it. My plan was brilliant — find a spot that will be legal in 30 minutes and just sit in and wait. I put on NPR and start to circle blocks but am finding nothing. Suddenly, there's a great little spot my Mini can fit in in back of the school. After I smartly and snugly park, I get out to realize that it's available only because one cannot park there because of the school. I get back in, continue to circle, listening to NPR's analysis of the the governor's Senate pick, and circle and circle.

This goes on for more than an hour before I give up. There's still time to make this experience worse, and I do. I drive the car with me to mid-town to work and only find no spots and a more expensive garage for the day.

Brilliance fades — I am novice.

Ethnography-wise , it is fascinating.

Walk along a street 30-60 minutes before the deadline and you see people smarter and earlier than I was, sitting in their cars, waiting and waiting. It becomes a cultural habit, and if you look closely, you can see that they're listening to the radio, doing their nails, talking on the phone, drinking coffee, reading a magazine.

I want to knock on their windows to solicit advice, curious if I'll be warmly welcomed into this brotherhood of street parking or if the secrets are kept because the competition is so fierce.

Yoga : Just breathe

2009-01-09T00:04:00.000-05:00

I started my beginner's course in Yoga, and it's not a stretch to say it's good for me.

Bryan's been into it for awhile, and he suggested I try it at the Joschi Body Bodega, which offers a four-week beginner's course. I did this on the one condition that no one expects me to become a vegetarian (my unspoken fear is the movement is a cult to vanquish cheeseburgers).

First breaths, first stretches

The first lesson, this past week, was really stimulating, and despite a challenging stuffy nose, I arrived on time with my own mat (mat on the mat, i know) and a class of about 8.

The instructor is friendly, clear and helpful. She reminded us to do what feels right to us, not try to do everything right. The first class was warm-up exercises and you could feel your whole body work into it, stretching dormant muscles as you figured out to breathe in and out with the right moves.

We introduce ourselves and she probes any injuries of which she should be aware (I ask if she means "emotional or physical?"). Several people in the group are not really beginners but luckily the guy to my right is not only a beginner, but he is incredibly inflexible, sent here by his daughter.

Even after just one hour and half lesson, I have a favorite pose — the one where you thread your arm under the other and lie down fetally on your side. It pulls on your shoulder but if you focus a bit, you could really rest (i.e. nap). The famous downward dog is no problem, though I utterly lack grace getting into it and out of it. The plank position is brutal and it gets me very close to flashbacks to pushups from brutal varsity tennis training. I am looking forward to when I can smoothly move from pose to pose; it must be very gratifying.

While I am not particularly athletic, I like to think I am.

For one, I can wear an 'athletic fit' Hugo Boss suit. I also played tennis a lot throughout childhood and middle and high school. What most people do not know is that I did gymanstics as a kid. In fact, the only reason I really stopped was because my favorite exercise was the mat exercise (another mat on mat joke goes there) and I was furious to learn that boys weren't supposed to do their floor routines to music the way girls did. It's utter discrimination, no? I mean, how can you have a theme song if you have no where to play it publicly?!?! (I think there's a piece of blog journalism in this alone.)

I'm trying to figure out if yoga is more of a fitness or spiritual thing. I asked this in class, and I got a "whatever you want it to be" answer. Yoga is like that. Anything goes, suggestions, but no direction. Everything's just terrific and everyone's wonderful. But do this. Try this. Touch your toes. Even trying to figure out where you stand in the class is a big no-no. Competition is antithetical to yoga.

I try not to think of where I rank out of the eight... as I do the sun pose.

2008: Year of Culture in Review

2008-12-20T13:15:00.001-05:00

Each year, I like to track what I've seen, read and experienced.

It's a great way to share ideas with others, not to mention capture the year that was. Especially if you don't have a great memory like me. (It's more of a list than commentary, but a few things have ** were just terrific. Things with a ^ were awful.) I also put in some links to some I have on my Amazon store if you wanna buy them directly.

BOOKS

Fiction:
Family and Other Accidents, Shari Goldhagen

Mergers & Acquisitions, Dana Vachon, silly novel
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahihi's new book of stories**
I Just Want My Pants Back, David Rosen
Music Through the Floor, short stories, Eric Puchner**
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers: Stories, Yiyun Li**
The Secret Servant, Daniel DiSilva** (now I'm into this genre)

Big Slick, Eric Luper*
The City of Your Final Destination, Peter Cameron
The Indian Clerk, David Leavitt^

Exiles in America, Christopher Bram

NonFiction:
Fair Game, Valerie Plame Wilson

Hot, Flat & Crowded, Thomas Friedman**
Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, Tony Judt**
When You Are Engulfed In Flames, David Sedaris**
Have You No Shame? essays, Rachel Shukert**
I Was Told There'd Be Cake, essays, Sloane Crosley*

Things In My Life I Have Learned So Far, Stephen Sagemeister
If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland
No Plot? No Problem, Chris Baty
What's That Job and How the Hell Do I Get It?, David Rosen
Pay It Down, Jean Chatzy* (for one of these type of bks, it's pretty darn good)
Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Meets Lord of the Flies
Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business
Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life, Sally Hogshead**

FILM
Sweeney Todd (better on bway)

Iron Man

The Savages (weird to watch on a plane)

Persepolis*

Sicko
No Country for Old Men**
The Other Boleyn Girl
Sex and the City
John Adams miniseries on HBO**
Helvetica
La Vie En Rose**
Mama Mia!^
Religulous* (Bill Mahr's piece de resistence)
W (James Brolin vehicle)
Quantam of Solace (not as good as Casino Royale)
Milk (Yes, Sean is great; narrative a bit halting)
Slumlord Millionaire** (utterly stunning)

Gosford Park (again, Maggie's great)

Casablanca (again)

It's a Wonderful Life (again, oddly timely)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*

Lust, Caution (Ang Lee)

ART & ARCHITECTURE
What I Would Rather Be Doing Exhibit, One Club (January)

Murakambi, Brooklyn Museum

DaDa at the MoMA

Brooklyn Designs exhibit, DUMBO (April)

Interesting New York (Bryan spoke)*

Musee Quai de Branly, Paris

Musee Orangerie, Paris (Monet Waterlilies)**

Foundation Cartier, Paris (Migrants exhibition)

American Cemetary, Normandy** *(Nov)

Gilbert & George Exhibit, Brooklyn Museum (November)

THEATRE/MUSIC
August: Osage County** *(probably the best theatre I've seen in a decade)

South Pacific**

James Blunt, The Beacon (February)**

Rufus Wainright, Radio City Music Hall (February)

James Taylor, Tanglewood (July)

Paul Simon with appearance by David Byrne, BAM

Charlie & Chocolate Factory (Sam's musical)**

NYC Gay Men's Chorus Christmas Concert at Carnegie Hall (bit of a downer this year)

David Sedaris, Avery Fisher Hall**

New Angle of Paris

2008-12-02T22:11:00.000-05:00

Returned from our Paris annual trip.

Usually, we go towards the end of the week for our traditional Thanksgiving, with our friends Alain and Ann and 15-20 of their friends.

Bryan has a lot of great pictures from this past week, which I'll link to where appropriate. He's become quite a good photographer.

This year, we rented an apt in the 3rd right near them and had a full week in Paris instead. We started with a weekend in Normandy to see the D-Day beaches, American Cemetery and museum and stayed at an inn in Bayeaux.

Then, during the week, we organized each day around lunch, of course, and found new things to see and do that we haven't done or seen. New restaurants, museums and walks in the city we've gotten to know so well.

Monday evening, we went back to our favorite English-speaking bookstore, Shakespeare & Company, which is in the 5th, though this time for their Monday night reading upstairs by a Shakespearean expert with a new book out. We also finally found The Village Voice, another good bookshop, in the 6th on Rue Princesse.

Tuesday evening, we met a childhood neighbor and her boyfriend who live in Paris for dinner, and a few other nights we just brought in dinner at our friends. All breakfasts started at charming and beautiful Cafe Charlot on Rue de Bretagne in the 3rd, where we became quite regulars, some days visiting 2 or 3x. Friday night at Alain and Ann's was the 5th annual Thanksgiving feast, Le Retour V. Each year we add a new dish or decoration (last year Pilgrim hats, previous year sweet potato pie). This year we revised the toast and speech ("le discours"), to the delight of the crowd, to include the Hugenot story in St Augustine FL.

Some more highlights of specific spots if you're lucky enough to go to Paris soon:

New neighborhood explored: Canal St-Martin. Even after 15+ trips to Paris, never realized there was a working canal running through the city just to the east of Republique.

Best meal: Lunch at Le Cave Gourmande du Marc Singer (10 rue du General Brunet) out in the 19th. Not usual place most people go but worth it out there.

Other Best Meal: Le Timbre, 6th. British chef, French fare.

Most disappointing meal: Chez L'Ami Jean in the 7th. Great soup (emulsion) but crappy service and overpriced.

Best new sight: Foundation Cartier, 14th. Jean-Nouvel designed exhibition building, currently showing footage and studies of migrants. Compelling.

Best old sight: Waterlillies at L'Orangerie, 1st. Seeing them especially in this space is pretty incredible in the oval room, just as Monet wanted, with no end or beginning.

Best outside, worst inside: Musée du Quai Branly. Another Jean-Nouvel building is the enormous and dramatic Branly on the Quai Branly, just east of the Eiffel Tower in the 7th. Walking up to it is really exciting since it's glass and grass design and landscaping are so cool and innovative. Inside is a huge collection of artifacts from Pacific Rim, Africa, Asia and North America. The thing is, it's so overdesigned that it's really dark and not to be an old person complaining, but I could barely read the descriptions.

Worth seeing though crumbling a bit: Musée Rodin, 7th. Bryan had never seen the Rodin so we went to see The Thinker and see the other great sculpture in this big place. It's in crummy shape though.

Neighborhood not worth walking around: The 1st, near Place de la Madeline and Opéra. We tried to do a walking tour but got really bored fast.

Favorite new wine I have to find here: Brully. Light, white, quite delicious.

DRAWING AT THE MET

2008-11-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

To become an artist, one should learn from the masters. So, with a thirty-dollar credit to adult education’s The Learning Annex and a free Sunday morning , I signed up for “Drawing at the Met.”

The course description said the class would cover “Light and Shadow,” “Perspective” and “Color,” which all sounded fine, but a lot to do in just two hours. Armed with my graphite pencils, fat eraser and blank sketchbook, I hailed a cab, directing the driver as if I were simply going to brunch: “The Met, please.” (A few blocks later, self-conscious I was being too cavalier, I added: “Not the opera one.”)

The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a sight — steps up to a Greco-Roman façade, beneath proud banners announcing exhibits spanning the centuries. At the information desk, two students had arrived, but not yet our group leader. After about ten minutes, Ralph showed up and introduced himself, apologizing for being late, and said we could run a little over to make up for it. Like any art student, I compared his looks to my expectations: clean cut for an artist, thirty-something, handsome, khakis, blue checkerboard oxford and a pair of severe black eye frames.

Trying to be friendly, I shook hands with the three other students: Joel, friendly, fortyish (this was Joel’s third session “Drawing at the Met” -- or second, if you don’t count the time he showed up but went to the wrong desk downstairs and missed the class); Umberto, fiftiesh with a lovely accent; and a young twenty-something woman with frizzy hair who chose not to reveal her name. Mystery is part of the arts, I reasoned, and this is, after all, the scene of the “Thomas Crowne Affair.”

In the Cezanne room in the Impressionist wing. Ralph directed us to choose a painting to draw. He imparted one piece of wisdom: Grip your pencil unlike a pencil so you don’t think too hard.

Confused but excited, I scanned the room of elegant still-lifes, lush landscapes and semi-famous portraits and asked Ralph if we should pick one or the other – for learning purposes, simplicity or otherwise? Ralph looked at me quixotically and said no, it didn’t matter, they were, after all, ALL PAINTINGS.

I thought back to the course description which said Ralph has taught anatomy and perspective. So, seeking to impress, I choose Cezanne’s “Card Players,” a painting of three peasants playing cards with one onlooker. It seemed to have a compelling story about friendship, socioeconomics, and gambling — not to mention it could be drawn sitting down from the bench.

So, on the wood bench in the center of the room, I sat down to copy this piece of art while the other students sought their own muse. Not knowing where to begin, and lacking any direction whatsoever from my well-dressed teacher, I relied on my honed skills from a previous expedition last year with The Learning Annex into art: Cartooning.

I first drew four fat ovals to indicate placement of the four people in the painting. Then, I drew one big square for the card table and small triangles for their noses and ears. For those of you who are neophytes, this is technically known as “blocking.” Or, wait, is that theatre? Over the next fifteen minutes, I refined my sketching and, to my amazement (as well as a tourist next to me), the four people and their scene began to emerge.

Ralph appeared over my shoulder and was pleased. He said, “You are drawing almost like a pro – confident lines, strong perspective…”

Pro?!?! Humbly, I admitted I had taken drawing classes before. He asked where, and assuming childhood classes at the Summit Art Center were not relevant, I said, “Oh through the Learning Annex also: Cartooning for Beginners.” Probably not recognizing the course, Ralph frowned, but offered advice on tone and contrast. He also suggested I get off my duff and get much closer to the painting.

Back up at the wall, I surveyed the room to see how the rest of the class was faring. Umberto drew feverishly, close to his chosen work, a Cote D’Azur landscape; he was chatting with Ralph, seemingly less getting advice and more just talking about art. The woman with no name was barely drawing, moving from picture to picture, still undecided on one. Joel was no where to be seen.

Returning fifteen minutes later, catching me back down at the bench, Ralph didn’t scold but was excited at my progress. “The drawing is coming along nicely,” he said, but was concerned I was thinking about the elements in the painting too much as separate elements. “Think about the negative space within the painting, as well as the continuous lines that let one element flow into the other.”

Perhaps I had a blank look on my face, or maybe I was thinking about lunch, but Ralph suggested I try an old trick of his. “Sometimes,” he explained, “it helps to squint at the work and you see things you wouldn’t otherwise.”

Well, I’ve never been one to turn down an inside tip, so together, in what was probably a storied teacher-student moment (I’ll need to again rent “Pollack”), Ralph and I together squinted at the Cezanne across the way.

Admittedly, I didn’t see much new, but my eyes did get tired, so I nodded gravely that I understood the value of the exercise, thanked him. Getting up to go see about the other students, Ralph told me we would get together at the end to share with each other our work and what we each had learned.

Quite comfortable I was clearly the favorite student, I got back to work with urgency, filling in details on the card table, fixing the men’s hats, and with flourish, drawing more confident dark continuous lines. (Joel, after all, has done the class TWICE.)

Ten minutes later, around the bench, the class gathered. Ralph offered the girl with no name to present her work first, but she declined, uncomfortable with what she had done. I was going to pressure her, but reasoned that maybe she was just there meet guys and perhaps hadn’t drawn anything anyway.

So veteran Joel showed what he drawn, a Renoir still life of fruit. Good varied color, nice black lines. We all offered smiles, encouragement and praise. Umberto then shared his landscape, which was really getting somewhere, and I think he would’ve made better progress if he had spent more time drawing and less time talking to Ralph.

Then I showed my drawing, which got rave reviews, modest applause from Joel, several questions from Umberto, and even a public compliment from Ralph.

Umberto then turned back to Ralph and unleashed a battery of questions on perspective and depth, for the first five of which I stayed. Eventually, though, I needed to eat and interrupted to say goodbye, thanking Ralph and everyone profusely and somewhat genuinely.

At the door, about to enter the Degas room, I was compelled to turn around and observe the group still huddled around the bench. Umberto was asking a question, Joel was listening intently, Ralph was trying to answer, and the woman with no name was looking elsewhere across the room.

I was quite tempted to sit and draw.

Watersheds in Digital: Past + Future

2008-11-03T21:18:00.001-05:00

Just posted this entry to the AdAge Digital Next blog, to which I regularly contribute.

'boards summit: Talent Panel

2008-10-30T02:06:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, I sat on a panel called How to Win the War for Talent at the 'Boards Summit at the Crowne Plaza in New York. Good mix of panelists moderated and led by the fabulous Heidi Ehlers of BlackBag talent consultancy, including Sergio Lopez of Cramer Krasselt, Brian Collins, Monica Buchanan of BBDO, and author Sally Hogshead.

While Heidi had me talk about what to look for in portfolios and how I screen for talent to help digital agencies move closer to brand (I gave out my screening questions for: Screening traditional creatives who can do digital, and screening digital folk who can do brand), others covered how to prepare your portfolio, manage your personal brand, how they sort the fric from the frac, and what the future will require in their agencies.

I had never read Sally's famous book Radical Careering, so I ran and bought it to catch up.

The conference was two days, with lots of good topics and speakers; and naturally, I didn't leave enough time to attend anything but my own panel ;-)

Subscriptions: Passive reading, active choosing

2008-10-26T08:33:00.000-04:00

Most of us are looking over things in our life to cut vs. keep, and magazine subscriptions are the most glaring waste (though I'm not sure how much you really save by cutting). The difficulty is that subscriptions are so inexpensive (e.g. $12-50 for many) compared to buying at the magazine stand. Plus, you can use airline points towards many magazines so the downside ends up being the paper waste and the pain of recycling.

Still, here's my list so far to clean house and mind, not including the freebies:

Keep:

Monocle

The Economist

The New Yorker

Creativity

Glimmer Train

Zoe All Story

Ad Age

Adweek

Could give up:

New York

HBO

Travel & Leisure

Food & Wine

New Republic

This Week

Communication Arts

Did give up:

Showtime

Netflix

The New York Times Sunday

T-mobile hot spot subscription

Plus I'm using those services, like Green Dimes, to cancel catalogs which is starting to work. Catalogs and other junk mail really bugs me, so I'll be curious to see how much this type of service can help. To be most effective, you have to enter specific catalog info as you get receive them, which is a pain but worthwhile if it works.

Fighting the cold: Comparing remedies

2008-10-25T17:32:00.000-04:00

Like many people, I've been suffering from a cold the last few weeks. It started suddenly, brought on by a mix of allergies, cat hair, exhaustion and someone passing it to me. Thanks to a week of back to back presentations and working until 11 or midnight, it's taken longer than it should to kick it.

One positive outcome is I've had plenty of chances to sample different remedies and compare. For basic stuffy head and running nose type of symptoms, I've switched loyalties from DayQuil (a reliable favorite) to Robitussin Cough & Cold. The change to Dr Mom was big for me, but not only is the bottle smaller, it tastes terrific and I feel less dried out than before. This cold, I also went with liquids rather than pills, and for pills I still recommend Tylenol Cold or Sudafed, which can dry you up like a desert. At night too, I started with NyQuil and switched to Robitussin. Without alcohol though, it was harder to fall asleep so I'm not sure this was the brightest idea.

Immunity powders you mix into your water is quite trendy and while I started with Boost for Vitamin C, several kind souls at work left me packets of Emergen-C, which tastes a lot better. I'm also toting around Halls new watermelon flavor, which helps a bit.

Not reviewing tissues. I basically blow my nose in anything handy. Sorry.

Customer Service outlets

2008-10-06T23:01:00.000-04:00

Customer Service is a big pet peeve of mine, and I answer those Rite Aid 800# customer surveys (i could win $10,000e) and the paper surveys at Starwood Hotels and I'll even randomly send in notes to brands I visit with compliments or complaints. It makes me wonder how well we're monitoring complaints and how quickly brands are responding to them and in what way.

I take note of response time, and I'm impressed by recent notes back from Dunkin' Donuts and Jet Blue which uses basic e-mail to respond to queries from their web site. Dunkin Donuts answered my query about styrofoam cups with shared outrage but reminded me that shops are franchises, individually owned. Jet Blue answered my query about breaches in the Customer Bill of Rights, denying that I was due $25.00. I am annoyed by both answers (one, lame; the other, wrong) but I did get a response within 36 hours which helped me feel listened to. Both were sweet-sounding women. I can't tell if they're real or not yet but I am digging.

Of course, there are more modern ways of getting service, such as through microblogging services. Zappos, Jet Blue and BA are on Twitter and are famous for answering customer messages. A savvy writer on my team had Zappos and JetBlue bid against each other for his tax refund. The Consumerist, Pissed Consumer, and the Squeaky Wheel are all about anger and you getting yours out. Measured Up is my new favorite, because it includes amusing stories with the expected nasty ones about Time Warner Cable.

Brands should remember, it's not just what the response is which matters; what matters is there is one at all.

7 years

2008-09-11T05:57:00.000-04:00

I really hate today. I hate remembering today. I hate how this day was, where today led, what today means, how people suffered, how we all did.

Tonight, we go downtown and, even though we hate it, we go to remember.

Middle School

2008-09-07T15:02:00.001-04:00

A good friend from childhood notes that her son now has a locker in what was our middle school. The teachers are mostly all new but do we remember Mr X or Ms Y?

A few of us write back, and of course we are stunned. It's one thing to age, but another to have its progress benchmarked by little ones now big.

Memories flood back, but they're not sharp at all, which is too bad. Springfield has a middle school (grades 5-8), though we tried to pretend it was like junior high school (6-9) on TVs and in the movies or in Millburn which is a much bigger town with great public schools. It's really just a year difference and there are probably books about which is better or worse for kids. Plus, our school system wasn't bad at all and a lot of us even had family working throughout it.

I don't flinch with bad memories or good.

Just spotty events like a 7th grade trip to Sturbridge, MA (probably a first night away for most) and how the school was right across the street from our Temple so going to Hebrew School on Tuesday and Thursdays was easy. The 8th grade show was the big performance. Our year, the theme was sections of a newspaper. Beth and I appropriately did the Real Estate Section (singing "In a Mountain Greenery" which I remember ruining) plus I also was Charlie Brown for the comics and sang a solo "Happiness," which was fun rather than humiliating.

Middle school was still an innocent time, perhaps the last period of it, before we went to high school combined with another town where friendship would be re-aligned and cliques broken and re-organized. Just like it had been when we combined from two sides of town for middle school.

But our bodies now were maturing, puberty and spin the bottle and 7 minutes in heaven all over the place, our first lockers to lock, and some classes we actually chose.

Like all periods of my life, I remember my extra-curricular activities much more than my schoolwork:

I was student council president in 8th grade, and had terrific election posters, handmade and everything.
I was at least a writer for and maybe an editor of both the Gaudinews and the Gaudineer Guardian; Since there was no way there were two papers simultaneously, I suspect we rebranded the paper half-way through but I'll ask Suzanne who remembers everything
In one of our first big choices academically, I chose French with the eclectic intellectuals rather than Spanish with the popular kids or Italian with kids who were Italian (Had I chosen Spanish, I suspect entire worlds would be different, especially a higher GPA in high school when it got really hard and I stopped listening.)

The more I write or talk about it, the more that floods back. There was a Girls' Gym and a Boys' Gym. Plus there's hindsight, like realizing that a few teachers were gay after all, and that there's no difference to care about b/w junior and middle school — if you didn't have both.

two years with and without mach

2008-08-25T23:27:00.000-04:00

i knew it was this time of year not because of the calendar but because we were in dumbo, right by his old apartment and i started to say, 'that's where' and bryan finished, 'i know.' there's a starbucks right there and he would be happy or not happy about it but probably happier if it were a peets.

i talk to people a lot about how we act is indelibly shaped by those who taught us. those who taught us wrong or right. mach taught me a lot and i know it was mutual (mostly because he told me).

even though i keep my little green bhudda with me (he gave it to me when i became a cd and left his group), and the silver balls, and thanks to emily, i have a lot of his books, he's not in my thoughts every single day but so very often, i like it and treasure it more because i know i'm doing it.

i like how it reminds me to value design for design's sake. when people ask me what i do, i know it's him i'm channelling when i intentionally say 'writer' instead of creative director or agency person (he always said designer - i did so on my taxes two years but it was silly so i changed it back).

i type in lowercase only because i'm thinking of him. he'd hate that.

if i go somewhere interesting, though, i think how'd he'd like that.
if i wrote something beautiful, i think he'd like that.
if i eat something weird and interesting (allergies permitting), i think how'd he'd like that and maybe even be impressed.
if i meet someone interseting. i think he'd like that person and should meet him too.
i like how mach sticks with me and with all of us.
i like how it's shaped me of the person i have become and what i could be if i thought of him more.

i'm writing a lot more now and i know he'd be very very very happy about that.

but it doesn't mean it doesn't mean it doesn't mean for one even one even one second that i don't miss him.

peace mach. buckets and buckets of peace.

The webs we weave

2008-08-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

I leased my personal zucker.com email years ago and while I've migrated to gmail b/c of the better tools and experience, i kept my personal web site hosted by netidentity.com the entire time with few problems and pretty great service.

Times change, and apparently they sold the web hosting to another company without a) telling people or b) me noticing. My site, matzucker.com disappeared into the void and I've had to jerry-rig a web of pieces from a blog here, a portfolio blog on typepad, a gallery web on .mac/mobileme (which apparently doesn't support Flash!), destination pages from old matzucker.com and more.

The new site host gave me some basic FTP instructions so I could get part of my site's back end files up but it's only partly working and I've temporarily redirected matzucker.com to my mac .me page until i can re-architect the whole mat zucker dot com digital footprint.

Until then, it's several dixie cups and a string forming a, well, um, web.

Bryan interviewed on NPR

2008-07-30T23:35:00.000-04:00

After being interviewed and quoted in The Wall Street Journal about his texting/broken foot/walking dog incident last year, Bryan was interviewed on a new NPR show called The Takeway this past week: More people turning up in ER with injuries after texting while walking.

Pretty funny piece, and only Bryan can tell a skeptical emergency room doctor and expert that he looks at it a different way as multitasking and how people have to move forward.

First sentence at Paragraph

2008-07-20T12:18:00.000-04:00

So I've started at Paragraph, a writer's workspace in Manhattan with a part-time membership. It's amazing, started by two MFA grads who saw a need and started a business around it. There's room filled with cubicles and desks that any member can use. It's super-quiet and orderly with couches in the middle if you need a break or the kitchen/lounge to visit where you can keep stuff in the fridge or make coffee or hang out.

Today is my first day, so I blocked out a few hours to work here on a story I want to finish for submission to some mags. In just the first two hours, I put a really good dent in the editing which shows how much you can get done without any distractions. There's also the tone of feeling like a writer, which must do something on some level. I've just met one other writer briefly and brewed one cup of coffee in the kitchen. Found a bunch of flyers and resources like editors, new books out and members-only events like agents who come by.

iLike the iPint

2008-07-18T23:13:00.000-04:00

Marc Schaad showed me this app on the new iPhone software upgrade, Carlsburg beer's iPint. You play a game to get the beer across the bar to your hands (it can be hard, since your phone responds to gravity) and then you fill the glass and then the kicker is you hold it up to your mouth and can drink it. Then you can send a friend an ipint.

It's silly and fun, infectious and terrific. Skeptics can pick it a part as a non-differentiating etc but screw you, they did it first. We're all jealous. Now I'm showing it to anyone who will listen.

And I'm not even a big beer fan. Imagine what the American think.

A week siesta on the outer cape

2008-07-13T23:18:00.001-04:00

I love this picture Bryan took of man and dog, crashed out in the second bedroom of the apt we rented in Provincetown, right on the water.

Great week of great weather and perfect rental. Mornings with coffee paper and sometimes dog on one of several different beaches. Brought lunch back to the apartment and then hung out on the bay beach outside our door or stayed in and worked on some short stories I am revising.

Off the grid - Pilgrims rule

2008-07-03T23:50:00.000-04:00

So we're off on vacation, thank goodness.

First to James Taylor at Tanglewood, which we've never done before despite Bryan's folks having a house nearby

Then to Boston to see friends before our rental starts in Provincetown. We've rented in Provincetown twice before and it's terrific - fairly inexpensive and close to the beach and the beaches are terrific. Usually, we go early in the morning, bring lunch and then come home in the heat of the sun and I write all afternoon and then start drinking. we don't do the party scene as much as we do the sunset/sunrise scene. We vary beaches along the Cape, visiting others. We love WASPY stuff and the Cape is full of it and them. It's also refreshing to be away from New Yorkers (no offense) and with the New Englanders who are of a different ilk.

This time, we expect to play tennis (bought BJF his first racquet and we need to break it in) plus he'll probably make me bike again. We're bringing Ezra of course and we can bring him to the beach in the morning which is great. We had terrific pictures from last time (2 yrs ago) and I hope to do a few more good shots of him. It's so nice to go on vacation with the pup, and it's like we get to know each other all over again. Of course, sometimes I think every day is the same day for him over again.

Bryan grew up being denied lobster (I, a product of foreclosure banking in the 80s, was shoveled it like Shredded Wheat), so I hope we have lots of it for lunch and dinner.

Otherwise, I have plenty of books to read and DVDs to re-watch.

Today, a sleep check-in

2008-07-01T05:05:00.000-04:00

While I usually look forward to going to the doctor (catching up on magazines, time alone in the waiting room, free water), today I am not enthusiastic at all about today's visit. It's a check-up for my sleep regimen, to the dental specialist who gave me over five thousand dollars in oral retainers. I've been pretty good about the night one but wonder if I'll be scolded or worse if I haven't made any discernable progress. I can't imagine how many more weeks of wearing this thing at night I can tolerate.

I usually know where to go
After years of having doctors all over Manhattan, I decided to consolidate with one street on the Upper East Side. There, along one 2-avenue stretch is my internist, allergist, gastro-interologist, ear-nose-and-throat and of course the Sleep Center. The exception really is this dentist, which is much closer to work on Madison Avenue. I like him, but I hate both my retainers.

Their combined effect, one from day wear and one from night, is to pull my jaw forward which will have things line up more nicely and better air flow at night. This also relieves pressure on my left side of my head, which will relieve the occasional pain I get in my shoulder and also result in my ability to lift dozens or hundreds (I forget what he said) of extra pounds at the gym. This is a correction from how my mouth shifted after my wisdom teeth were removed and from the untold damage from my orthodontics. The braces bit really bugs me since it's more proof of the damage my parents did to me through how they chose medical care; the orthodontist was a client of my dads and they bartered law work and braces.

It's working
Bryan says that he hasn't noticed I'm snoring at all anymore. This means the correction is totally working, or I wasn't really snoring in the first place and Bryan feels really bad.

Open Table for Mobile ;-)

2008-06-22T16:34:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo. I'm an avid OpenTable user and have so for years. The points are fine but the sheer convenience of the service -- being able to browse good restaurants, book exact times, change your mind a 100 times all without a phone call to a reservations line.

Now it's mobile - mobile.opentable.com or even better, the app for your Blackberry or LG phone. Can't wait to try it.

Back from Cannes

2008-06-22T14:46:00.000-04:00

Back from the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

A week of seeing and talking about work, drinking and mayhem. None of our stuff made shortlists but our expectations were low this year. Just this year.

In fact, the only worry I had all week was whether or not I'd make it from the bar to the toilet.

Photo is of Napolean's summer palace, at Eden Roc, where we had a ww work dinner.

I didn't blog because I twitter'd. So there. Some photos at my flickr album.

Off to Cannes Lions Festival

2008-06-15T18:56:00.000-04:00

Leaving tonight for the Cannes International Advertising Festival, in Cannes, France. Cringing with excitement. Will be there about 4 days. Last year went for too long so this year is abbreviated.

Among other activities, will be twittering regularly and posting to flickr.com. Hope also to see fantastic work from around the world in film, press, cyber, direct/promo, radio and more. Yet simultaneously minimize ad-douche encounters. We'll see how that goes.

Night device

2008-06-10T22:49:00.001-04:00

Oh no this is the new night retainer. It's kinda fancy and elaborate. Surprisingly light. Must dunk in warm water before use. It's a living thing. Hello new jaw line in 6 sweet weeks.

Taste the mint

2008-06-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

Really loving mint.com, financial management software.

It's more than a regular (which I was a big fan of 10 years ago), but it also spots trends and makes recommendations along the way. It's alive. Like your money.

Try it out.