In Character
I have long been a fan of the “In Character” section of Vanity Fair. It dawned on me the other day that it might be a good exercise to combine my writing and photographic skills.
Randomly Awesome
My son schools me on the power of words.
Pride and Prejudice
Sometimes, the best way to cope and get what you want is to play the part.
Brandlore
Brandlore is Larry’s third book, due out at the end of 2009. It explores the myth and the promise of exceptional brands, and offers a practical strategy guide for the modern business manager.
4rty
The years trudge on, but I find that words can breathe life into otherwise bleak situations. So, I dabbled in some poetry to celebrate my 40th birthday. If you can’t turn back the clock, turn out some verse.
I am a Pasadenan
Pasadena has been our home town for nearly 20 years. I commute over 30 miles to work, but I do so out of love for my city.
Celebrating Cocktails
The Internet Cocktail Database is the brainchild of Martin Doudoroff and Ted (Dr. Cocktail) Haigh. Unlike a lot of online cocktail sites, this is a repository for the serious imbiber.
Wireless Jones
I’m about seven months behind on my usual geek quest to have the latest gadgets, but today I discovered my newest favorite technology: Eye-Fi. If you are a shutterbug and you haven’t already discovered this handy advance in digital imaging, add it to your holiday wish list or just make your way to the local [...]
Wordle
Wordle is a very cool web tool that helps you map text into clouds (the kind that transform a jumble of words into design patterns, not the kind that hover over the planet and sometimes rain). Pictured here is a wordle map of chapter 2 in my book, Legendary Brands. Word maps using tag clouds [...]
Crazy Tasty Sign of the Times
There are many cultural indicators of bad times. Demand for Spam strikes me as one of the most interesting. I’m not sure what I find more shocking — the fact that more people are buying Spam or the fact that the production line turns out 149,500 cans of spam a day. I ate a lot [...]
Genius! Sort of…
I’m a big Apple nerd and this post is about the new ‘Genius’ feature in the latest release of iTunes. As I fiddled with it more and more, I decided to scan the web and see what others are saying. The reviews are mostly positive. But a few reviewers discovered the same flaw I accidentally [...]
Blast Off
The (maybe not so) latent nerd in me still gets fired up about NASA and the space program. These photos of a recent Discovery launch are a great insider’s look at how the orbiter is assembled, prepped and launched.
I’m fascinated by the NASA brand. It has such a rich narrative legacy, and yet in recent [...]
Branding and the Olympics
I’ve been at it again — serving as a pundit for the branding world. This time it was on the subject of the Olympics and sponsorship. After decades of evolution, many brands are still hoping for nirvanna simply by association, but there’s more to leveraging Olympic equity than paying a green’s fee.
To the relics!
No. This is not a tribute to Zsa Zsa Gabor. But close. I went to a club in Manhattan today (which will remain nameless so that I don’t get hate mail) for a four-hour planning meeting. This place, embedded surreptitiously within the streets of America’s cultural capitol, is trapped in the 1950’s. Guests are required [...]
Girl Employed
Girl Employed
My daughter is quite good with my iPhone. And a pink backpack. And the hustle and bustle of navigating airports.
The New Little Lady in My Life
I confess. I’m in love with Sandy. She’s smart. She’s witty. She’s organized. And she just seems to have my every need in mind. I’m smitten. Who is this home-wrecking vixen? Well, she’s a virtual girl Friday. Check her out.
So here’s the short version of the story. I pushed the new iPhone firmware to my [...]
Change of Course
Jordan Limelight
I traveled some 10,000 miles to start a novel — roaming through Ireland for inspiration. I was reluctant to write the story I knew I really had to tell. By some weird coincidence, I mentioned the neglected story to a few colleagues, and they went wild. I mentioned the story I’d been writing and [...]
Pining
It’s the silliest thing. Traveler’s disease. I can’t get Ireland out of my head. It’s there. It probably looms larger than it was. But I think of it – browse through my photos, read my journal, ruminate. It’s kind of in the veins, and not in the poignant, saccharine way. I don’t imagine woolen sages. [...]
Still Crazy (for her)
Jeanette and I have dropped off the grid and onto Monarch Beach (without kids) for a few days to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Pretty, charming, smart and downright fun, she’s the reason I haven’t taken to living in a cave, writing a manifesto.
We met a few months after I graduated from USC. I was [...]
Inspired, Part II
The truest source of inspiration emanates from fonts we often overlook. Fifteen years ago today, I stood before a priest with a beautiful young woman who made me want to write and start a family and conquer the world (not necessarily in that order). It was one of the happiest days in my life. Today, [...]
Inspired
A band I discovered in Ireland – The Last Shadow Puppets – awesome! Check them out. An interesting collection of rock and I-don’t-know-what. But I can’t stop listening to them. And the album cover! Jeez. I bought the darn thing just because I thought that picture was cool. Good thing the music was, too.
Dreaming of Ireland
There’s a saying about Ireland to the effect that everyone leaves it, but it never leaves them. A few days after my sojourn onto the green isle, I’m having withdrawal. It would be trite to call Ireland a “magical” place; haunting might be more accurate. Colleagues have asked me what I loved most about it. [...]
What the heck happened?
Where are all the posts from the past? Why did this thing go down for a day and a half?
Well, the sad version of the story is that my blogging software melted down. I have a stable solution, but it may take a few days to get everything back online. Thanks for your patience.
Update: Sierra Madre Fire
The hot conditions and shifting winds spurred the Sierra Madre fire Sunday morning. By noon, we could see the flames cresting the west side of the hills. Helicopters pass over the house at an increasing rate, dropping retardant on the blaze then circling back into the pattern. Evacuations were ordered for homes to the west [...]