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Random reflections on a historic day and time in our nation's history...

• Due to a previously scheduled appointment, I was unable to watch the entire slate of festivities yesterday. I was however able to see some via the TV in a doctor's waiting room and fortunately I was able to hear our new President's speech in its entirely in my car.
  
• I found the speech to be thrilling, invigorating and refreshing to use but 3 of the many words one could use to describe such an oration
• From his "mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestor" to his hope to put "an end to the petty grievances and false promises" to his recognition that "more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom" and his proclamation to our enemies "that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist" and on and on... it was ALL eloquently stated with conviction of purpose and determination.
• I said to my wife, as much as I loved what I heard and what I will continue to hear, I only hope people do not become hesitant in their own actions to their own part, rather assuming and hoping that this new President will collectively take us all up in his arms and carry us on toward greener pastures. In other words, I sincerely hope people are not merely content with sitting idly by waiting for their government to save them. Notice the choice of pronouns "WE" and "OURSELVES" in this line from the speech: Starting today, WE must pick ourselves up, dust OURSELVES off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
• Not surprisingly right wingers like Rush used words like "uninspiring" and "generic buzzkill" and "clunker" to describe the speech. Shocking, isn't it? A right wing GOP buffoon like this not liking the new Democratic President's address? Wow... hard to believe. Once a jackass, always a jackass. Not a donkey of course, but a jackass. Big difference.
  

Ok, your turn. Tell me what you think and thought as you watched history unfold yesterday.

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A veritable potpourri...

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Lots to cover today kids. Gonna run the proverbial gamut and in true ADD fashion, will do so via bullet points, cause if you're anything like me, your attention span is next to nil.

• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Be well my friends and here's to having ALL your wishes come true.
• Cop killer not arrested earlier due to "holiday, training and miscellaneous duties." Gotta love Philly...
• Best & Worst Ads of 2008 as per the WSJ. I agree with all of these and like many of you are still wondering just what Microsoft & Crispin Porter + Bogusky were inhaling re: Gates & Seinfeld. Oh wait, CP + B were named Agency of the Year by Creativity mag. But how can that be? How can the "Agency of the Year" be the same one responsible for the Heaven's Gate of Ads? And I would add this spot to one of the best (don't even know if this ran in 2008, but I like it anyway)
  
• Nothing like stating the obvious...
• The other day my friend Drew McLellan, he of the world-famous Marketing Minute (if you're not a subscriber, you're a dope) had a post re: words to avoid in 2009 from a Copywriting perspective as per Susan Gunelius, a "Good friend to the Marketing Minute." Now I do not know Ms. Gunelius but I am quite certain she is a very talented, knowledgeable person. I say that because I know how talented and knowledgeable Drew is.
  

  BUT... I absolutely could not disagree more with Ms. Gunelius and those like her. And by that I mean these "experts" (is it me or are there more "experts" than ever before, hell I was watching the Food Channel the other night and they had a Cough Syrup Expert on, I kid you not)... but I digress.

  And by that I mean these "experts" who declare or hand-down these one-size-fits-all advertising copywriting bulls@#t.

  Look, I have nothing against Ms. Gunelius and any friend of Drew's...

  But MY GOD if I read one more of these types of commandment-esque edicts that everyone should follow devoutly without any thought given to individual needs or scenarios, I am going to REALLY, do some VERY bad damage to my Macbook the first FREE OPPORTUNITY I get, I GUARANTEE it.

  You cannot make these types of blanket decrees, not today, not ever.

  Maybe its because I err on the side of writing conversationally, you know, writing the way people actually speak, not in some tone that implies that we (the writers/advertisers) are smarter than our audience, cause guess what.. we're not!

• Recently discovered an excellent blog called successful-blog.com. It's penned by a woman named Liz Strauss and the other day she had a post called "25 Traits Of Twitter Folks I Admire and 25 Folks Who Have Them." And while I love her entire list, I like even more the one she added later, the 26th Trait... "The social media folks I admire …don’t take their personal value from some list — not a list that anyone makes — certainly not a list made by me."
  
  Kids, remember, all it takes is a URL and ANYONE can brand themselves an expert or authority or a given topic; hand down lists of whose hot, who to watch and all that garbage. Do what you like to do. Do what makes you happy. If others like what you say, great. If they don't, great.
  

And finally, I give you the top 5 Holiday Songs You Will Never Hear on the Radio:

5. "I Saw Rod Blagojevich Selling A Senate Seat"
4. "It Came Upon A Case of Beer"
3. "Frosty the Yellow-Colored Snowman"
2. "Barack-ing Around the Christmas Tree"
1."Georgy the Dim Witted Dumbass"
((Sung to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer))

You know Adams and Lincoln, and Hoover and Clinton,
Truman and Wilson, and Coolidge and Nixon,
But do you recall… the worst President of them all?

Georgy the Dim Witted Dumbass,
He was not the one we chose,
He was so freaking inept,
Now we have lots of foes.

All of the other countries,
Now all laugh and call us names,
They think the US is through,
And we know just who to blame.

Then one foggy September morn,
Osama came to say:
"Georgy with your tiny brain,
Won’t you let me inflict my pain?"
Then how the Muslims loved him,
As they shouted out with glee,
“Georgy the Dim Witted Dumbass
You’ll go down in history."

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A veritable potpourri...