Oh, Sandy

Could we have ever imagined the amount of grief the name "Sandy" would bring us in 2012?

My mouth gapes open, my heart is in a vise, my throat catches, tears flow.

Widespread devastation along the east coast in late October wiped away entire communities leaving people homeless and businesses decimated. In an already terrible economic time, this blow by Mother Nature was especially cruel. Over 250 lives were lost. Sand and salt water took down steel and concrete. Memories of summer days "down the shore" washed away in an instant.

Hurricane Sandy damage can be fixed. It can be swept up, hauled away, rebuilt. Time and money can repair most of the material damage. It will never be the same for sure, but we can heal. In some cases things will even be better. A new "normal" will resume. I don't mean to trivialize the lives lost here. They are a significant loss. NYC Mayor Bloomberg and NJ Governor Christie should be commended for their swift action and warnings that surely saved a significant number of lives.

When I heard the news about Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday it literally took my breath away. What started as a mind-numbing breaking news story while watching "The Today Show" hit me like a sucker punch minutes later. I barely gave the news a second thought when it was first reported: a school shooting, the killer is reportedly dead, three injured. Fifteen minutes later a flash news update on my phone, 18 children dead. Before I could turn the TV back on, the count went to 27 dead including 20 children. Six heroic teachers who put themselves between the gunman and the kids.

NO! How can we wrap our minds around this tragedy and even begin to get back to "normal"? How can we remember all those names and keep them in our hearts? We may not know anyone personally affected by these deaths, yet we are rocked to our core because they were leading the lives WE lead. OUR kids in school, Our teachers, OUR community. Innocence lost.

What can we do to sweep up this tragedy and rebuild? Gun control and mental health care are starting points for discussion. These are polarizing issues and I don't like to argue.

Instead, I like the idea of practicing acts of kindness. We can't clean up this mess, but maybe we can make our new angels proud of us. Let's try.

Quentin: Have your people call my people

Just like you, I invent celebrity encounters. You know, like what would you say to Channing Tatum if you saw him in an elevator, how you would counsel Lindsay Lohan, etc. One celebrity encounter I have prepared for is to meet Quentin Tarantino in a restaurant. Since I live in Los Angeles and eat at restaurants, I have reason to think this is a possibility.

I was reminded recently of why I wanted to meet Quentin after seeing the very cool Tarantino timeline on www.miramax.com created by fusioncreativela.com. Can you believe it has been 20 years since Reservoir Dogs was released? Believe it, and check out the Tarantino XX 20th Anniversary Box Set.

This pop art graphic trip down Tarantino memory lane brings back disturbing highlights from his movies in a good way. The only thing missing is a soundtrack and that is what fuels my fantasy meeting.

I don't think I can ever forgive Quentin for what he did to the part of my brain that retains the melody for "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel and the images from Reservoir Dogs together. Deep down, I know Quentin and I have similar taste in pop music, although he definitely "sees" things differently than I do. I was grateful to hear "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time" from the Delfonics in Jackie Brown and "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield in Pulp Fiction.

So I decided to play into Quentin's dark side with my song suggestion. I first heard it on a British 60s compilation CD. "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" was a #5 hit in the UK for Gene Pitney, better known in the US for his hits "Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "Town Without Pity." I was hooked on the song from the minute I heard it. There have been several covers and even other recordings by Pitney, but it was the version on this compilation album that caught my attention. There is a haunting quality to the song with an incredible crescendo that would go perfectly well with a Tarantino inspired slaying. Envision Tom Jones' "Delilah," only not so obvious. Check out Pitney's best version on iTunes in "The Brill Building Sound."

My entry on the Tarantino timeline would simply say "2013: Chance meeting with crazy fan inspires  script for "Heart."

I'm too late for Tarantino XX, stay tuned for Tarantino XXV.

Chair Potato is the New Couch Potato

After attending the ThinkLA Trends Breakfast (#ThinkTrends) earlier this week at the Beverly Hills Hotel, all I can think about is that I'm going to need a new chair. Right now I'm sitting on a dining room chair with an extra cushion and it still is not very comfortable. My office chair hurts my back.

Chairs were not a trend discussed in the "We Are Connected" theme by three dynamos of the Digital Age: Ciaran Bossum, Director of Digital Strategy & Brand Participation at Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles; Jonah Peretti, Founder and CEO of Buzzfeed and Co-Founder of The Huffington Post; and Dr. Jeffrey Cole, Director, Center for Digital Future at USC Annenberg School for Communication. Over 500 attendees were privy to the presentations, almost all of whom were clutching their smartphones and multi-tasking as the behavioral charts projected on room monitors said they would.

Bossum’s message focused on the shift in consumer behavior to multi-platform and second screen experiences. We watch TV while simultaneously multi-tasking and the primary content delivery vehicle is our phone. We are used to shifting across platforms from our big screen TVs to our laptops and iPads (sequential usage). Consumers are now comfortable purchasing on line, but we better be able to do it on our phones or the deal may be off.

Our social behavior is changing the way we use our devices too. We want to share our experiences with our friends by tweeting or posting comments with others watching an event at the same time (simultaneous usage), especially during live events like the Super Bowl.    

Peretti, who shared his hilarious journey from taking on Nike on “The Today Show” to his Rejection Hotline http://bit.ly/Ww83zW , is an expert on how things go viral. BuzzFeed is the first true social news organization that provides a pioneering mix of breaking news, entertainment and shareable content. Once thought of more for its humorist lists like “13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day,” BuzzFeed recently hired Ben Smith of POLITICO as Editor-in-Chief and scooped the news media when President Obama visited Afghanistan.

Peretti encourages adding to humor to the mix. He compares the current social media landscape to “Publishing is now a Paris Café.” It’s okay to read Sartre and and pet the dog. He says it’s about fun and the human experience. 

Cole traced how the mass medium has shifted from radio to TV and now to digital viewing. When TV became the focus we started watching three hours a day. That time came at the cost of family conversations and reading a book or magazine. Now we have expanded our viewing time from 16 hours to 44 hours a week and he expects this will go to 55 hours. 

It was Cole's discussion about e-commerce and our use of the internet that made me think about getting a new chair. Cole said while we were reluctant at first to purchase online, now it has become such a part of our daily lives that we are making even the most mundane of purchases because we will get them in 48 hours. Amazon is pushing that delivery window to same day--order by 10am, receive by 6pm. Why go out in the rain to buy kitty litter if I can have it delivered to my door? Cole predicts that Amazon will deliver cars to our doorstep in the near future. 

Another point Cole made is that we can't escape the internet. For every hour we may surreptitiously surf at work, we spend three hours at home working. We sleep with our phones. Now we fluctuate between "FOMO—the Fear of Missing Out" to wanting to turn it all off with what The New York Times called "JOMO—the Joy of Missing Out."

So I ask you, is your chair comfortable enough to handle these digital trends? We already work from home and shop from home. I'm not sure I'll need a car delivered to my home, but I know I am going to need a better chair!

Print and Social Media Marketing: So Many Questions

I came across my job search notebook from 2006 when I was laid off from NBC and I'm amazed by both how much has changed and how much is still the same.

Six years ago Monster.com was THE job search engine, now I barely look at it. The first iPhone was released in June 2007. I was not using Facebook or LinkedIn, neither were my peers. Social Media Marketing and blogs did not even exist!

One question I asked myself then is still valid today: Do you think your current job will exist in five years?

Print was still a robust industry in 2006, full of car books, annual reports, magazines and books. The paper industry was not viewed as a public enemy. Home Entertainment was phasing out VHS tapes for DVDs. People bought books in real bookstores and from Amazon.

Now the print industry is getting back on its feet after a drastic decline in 2008. We lost some of the best printers in town over the past five years, but thankfully, many have remained as robust as ever. The Advertising Production Association of Los Angeles, my original social media marketing source, once with over 700 members has declined to 250 members and will mark 2012 as its final year. The paper industry has a tough job in convincing America that it is the sustainable resource it always has been.

My way of thinking about the future has changed. In 2006 I was asking myself "What do I want to do for the next 20 years?" Now I realize the old model of remaining with a company for the "rest of my career" is no longer viable. I have always been the loyal employee, working 5 or more years, but those relationships are no longer the norm. Now I want to focus on what is new and how I can contribute in a fresh way.

One question remains personal to me from 2006 and now: How can I help the print industry? Is there a function I can take on as the voice of the print industry that will help both vendors and buyers connect to what's next?

There are so many events offered for personal and professional growth. I wonder who has time to go to them all. And if one goes, what happens to that knowledge? I would like to be the person attending informative events and reporting on them to my industry peers. That's why I started Pinkyonthepulse.com. Can Print and Social Media Marketing work together?

One last question: What's next?

TEDxUCLA: Red Balloons Lead to Open Minds

When is the last time you allowed yourself a day of learning completely new ideas? The TEDxUCLA "Ideas Worth Spreading" event on October 27th lived up to its promise. TED (www.TED.com) is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. This was the second annual TEDxUCLA event and I couldn't have dreamed of a more interesting experience.

From the minute I pulled into the UCLA campus I knew I was in for a treat. Red balloons paved the path from the parking lot to the venue. I usually have trouble figuring out what building my classes are in at UCLA, but not that day! 

The real theme of the day was "OPEN" and I learned this important lesson before I even got to my seat. As I was walking to the building a man rode by on a double decker bicycle with all sorts of gear attached. I thought to myself, "There's got to be one of these oddball guys on every college campus." Inside, I saw a woman with a headset waiting to get in and thought "Geez, she can't even put her phone down for an hour?" 

They turned out to be Rachel Kann, an earthy, quirky spoken word poet and event emcee and Bobby "Tall Bike Bobby" Gadda, a bicycle activist and performance artist, both of whom entranced the audience with their independent, spunky spirits. 

The rest of the day was peppered with over a dozen unique, awe-inspiring takes on Science, Technology, Education and Design including a cardiologist who learned to be a better doctor by studying animal hearts and behaviors; a mechanical engineer with a PHD who explains science through comics; a professor of English Lit who brought Shakespeare to a maximum security prison with extraordinarily moving results; a scientist who studied cell textures to discover that cancer cells are softer than normal cells; and a law professor who challenged her students to view a case from all angles and helped free an innocent man.

Bookending the speakers were amazing multi-cultural performances featuring musicians, artists and our own time-lapse muralist Chris Rutterford, working in Scotland via Skype. Rachel lead us in a meet and greet stretch break and a kick-ass game of hot potato with 525 people from ages 20-80 tossing red TED beach balls around. 

Not an ordinary Saturday for me. I left invigorated and awestruck, clutching my red TED beach ball to remember the day.

SheSays LA: Step Left!

I learned early on in the digital age that there are two types of people: Those who love what they do and want to teach you everything they know; and those who don't want to teach you anything because you might move ahead of them. Luckily, the room was full of the former for SheSays LA's free event "Start Your Engine" last night at the super cool SapientNitro offices in Santa Monica.

Luz Plaza(@LuzPlaza) moderated a well-balanced panel of Start Up experts including Elizabeth Osder (@osder), SVP, Strategy & Business Development at JumpTime; Sheila Darcey (@art1st1c), Client Executive and Delivery Lead at SapientNitro (and a very gracious hostess); Kayla Green (@kaylagreen) Senior Global Account Director at iconmobile LLC; and Heather Seal (@hseal) Experience Designer at BLITZagency. I'm pretty sure Kayla and Heather will have new jobs before you finish reading this article--that's how fast moving this industry is!

Luz quoted a recent article in Forbes stating that women comprise less than 3% of top creative positions. Elizabeth wasn't surprised by that figure. She said she has often been the first woman to show up and she has the history to prove it. Elizabeth was the first female legally allowed to play in Little League!

What is it like to work for a start-up? Kayla described it as "fun chaos, like misfits in the wild, wild west." Heather said she took a risk and jumped in, leaving behind stability and a regular salary. Elizabeth likes to go where she will learn the most, not just for a better title. Sheila has taken on many roles in one company from HR to program management to the account side.

One recurring theme from the discussion was about taking risks with your career. More than one panelist talked about taking a step to the left, taking the road less travelled and having confidence in what you do. Sheila advised "You are a walking brand. Be influential in your message." The old school model of staying several years at one company or in one position is frowned upon. Now, two years is the average stint.

Luz asked the panelists to share the best advice someone told them. Elizabeth said "You're OK, you're in the right place." She joked "be willing to learn what you pretend to know!" Sheila said "it's a career, not just work. Leave the heaviness behind and have fun." Heather advised "You can do anything and go anywhere. Life is too short to be unhappy with your situation." Kayla paraphrased FB COO Sheryl Sandberg, "Don't climb the ladder, scale the jungle gym. Take a step left and right and experience the whole thing."

Thanks to SheSays LA and the four panelists for their inspiring insights into the paths they have taken.

Rate Me!

Do we have to rate everything we do, every service we are subjected to, every person we meet? Are any of these ratings really true? So much of the popularity of website like YELP and Amazon depend on our ratings. Are you going to go to a 1-star restaurant or read a 1-star book?

In the past few weeks I had to rate myself in my performance review, rate a series of speakers at a seminar I attended, rate an AT&T worker and review my brother's book.

I struggled with my self-evaluation. Last year I gave myself a slightly higher rating fancying myself as "a unique and beautiful snowflake." I received a positive, yet grounding evaluation. I marvel at those who give themselves and truly believe they deserve a 5. I know what kind of snowflake I am.

I attended a seminar in June on "Women, Wealth and Wisdom," in which the keynote speaker was a widely recognized spiritual leader and best-selling author. I was excited to hear her speak. While I marveled that she spoke without notes, I did not jot down any nuggets of wisdom. I felt that she eloquently spoke about "nothing." In the Q&A that followed, a woman who obviously admired the speaker, asked a question making broad generalizations about men in business. The renowned speaker artfully chewed her up and spit her into pieces for five minutes. Other much more inspiring speakers spoke throughout the day. When I filled out my questionnaire rating the speakers, I lied and gave her a 5. I didn't want to insult my host whom I admire. And I did learn a valuable lesson: don't believe the hype surrounding a public figure. The real 5 belonged to a female heart surgeon who literally had us all in the palm of her hand. I gave her a 5 +++.

After a mis-scheduled appointment with AT&T I was patiently waiting in my 9-12 window making sure I rushed to get everything done before 9 (meaning: get dressed). At 10:30 I checked online only too see the server was down. My guy showed up at 11. He got to work and told me he had to dispatch another tech to fix the phone line and he would go to lunch for an hour. Was that OK? Did I mention, this was a Friday and I was waiting to go to work? He finished up around 1pm. I gave him a 4 on his review. His supervisor called me to ask why I didn't give him a 5. Really? He was not "a unique and beautiful snowflake" either.

My brother was upset that someone gave him a 1 star review on GoodReads for his book, "Trading Manny." I had honestly just finished reading it and felt it had some great moments. While I agreed with some points in other reviews I didn't feel it deserved such a "hater" review. I wrote a review and gave him a 4. Unfortunately, my first and last name showed up. The haters are going to love that one!

So read between the lines when you see stars. Feel free to rate me but only if you are going to give me a 5.

Confessions of an Emmy Voter

It is my favorite time of year: Emmy Season! Since April I have been getting surprise packages in the mail. Every year I fear this will end and networks will go digital. I especially love to see the creative packaging since this what I do for a living too.

I am a member of the Television Executives branch of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences  http://www.emmys.tv/ --go figure! I worked at NBC for 13 years and I continue to pay my annual dues so I am eligible to vote for Programs.

I love TV and watching TV shows on a TV. I'm trying to embrace other platforms like my Kindle or laptop, but I am by large the traditional sit-in-my-lazyboy with dog on my lap kind of TV watcher. I still love Fall Launch (memories of my NBC boss saying every year, "This is the most important fall launch ever!" and she was right). The older I get, the more fickle I have become though. If I am not hooked after a couple episodes I move on.

There are a couple of shows I never started and wish I had like The Good Wife and Breaking Bad. I count on my friends and co-workers to keep me informed and will take buzz-worthy shows into consideration. Every year I have the same good intentions to watch everything I get in my coveted packages but I fall far short of my goal.

Here are some of the cool packages I got: a lunchbox from Food Network, ALL of Mad Men, a bunch of HBO stuff which is great because I don't subscribe, a cool dossier for Damages, a fun map of Portland for Portlandia and a douchebag jar from New Girl.

Despite my good intentions, I couldn't watch even a fraction of what they sent me. I couldn't even keep all the packaging and resorted to stacking them on a spindle.

My ballot has been cast and I'll find out on July 19 how my shows did. In August I'll get to do at-home judging for two program categories. I usually pick non-fiction specials because they are interesting and usually something I hadn't but should have watched. Had a tough time even picking 10 shows for best non-fiction series or reality series. Sorry Kardashians, just because you make a gazillion dollars over nothing does not make you Emmy-worthy in my book!

Plug Overload

PINKY is trying very hard to keep up with new technology. I admit to being a slow adapter. I have a TV that still plays VHS tapes. My other TV weighs 200lbs and is far from slim.

I can't listen to my iPod in my 2001 car because the plug always blows fuses. Just as well since I have an early edition iPod that looks like the cell phone construction foremen once carried. It would probably lower my MPG significantly.

I finally gave in a bought a Kindle Fire which forced me to get a portable WiFi gizmo since my 2004 iMac is cloudless.  And because I could no longer do anything but read email on said Mac, I upgraded to a MacBook Air. I soon found out that I needed an external disc drive too. PINKY does not want to think about how much keeping up with technology is costing.

The inside of my house is starting to look like my yard at Christmas when I have 25 lines of lights plugged into 2 outlets. Each gizmo has its own cord and charger, mostly USB compatible but often with oddly shaped ends. Four gizmos are plugged in simultaneously into one outlet. Often I wander from room to room with something that needs to be charged. I have a drawer of oddly shaped cords and plugs that I am afraid to throw out.

Part of the joy of new technology is it's portability. I can take it with me everywhere I go! As long as they are charged that is. Since they all have slightly different functions, there are days when I have all 4 devices with me and all their plugs. I even have a solar charger in my car in case of an emergency. Soon I will need a digital Sherpa to accompany me everywhere.

My friend recently remodeled her office in her 50's style ranch house similar to mine. She had a major problem with wires going everywhere and hated the way they all stuck out. She came up with the perfect solution to hide all those annoying cords (plugged into one outlet!)

The old guitar case trick works like a charm! Luckily, I have one of those too. How are you handling the wires, plugs and chargers in your world?

Social Censorship and Nothing

When I first started on Facebook in Fall 2008 I was in a competition with my office mate to add as many friends as possible. As I mentioned before, I was most thrilled to connect with my former classmates. I still enjoy FB and log in daily to catch-up with my Friends.

I'm going to admit now that I don't even know some of my Friends. And in the course of embracing social media and connecting to everyone one has ever known or known of, does this force us to censor ourselves?

Are we saying what we really want to say?  By being connected to every family member and co-worker are we really being ourselves? And to those who fully embrace a no-holds barred approach to sharing, do you sometimes cringe for them a little?

How many times have you been with your Friends and started to say something and they respond, "Oh yeah, I saw that on your post." No need to talk then! If you miss one of their posts you may be out of the loop on a life-changing event.

We know how important Social Media is to business. It's really our only safe complaint zone (as long as the complaint is not about your own business.) We want to know that someone out there is listening and we get little rewards knowing that they are.

I just wonder if we are all so connected now that we will run out of things to say. I am still trying to embrace Twitter, but I secretly think it is a stream of "nothing." The iconic actress Joan Crawford was known for writing thank you notes and then thank yous for the thank you, etc. She would have loved Twitter.

In the end, will Social Media end up like "Seinfeld," a really great show about nothing? Not that there's anything wrong with that...and don't forget to follow me on Twitter @jetsonlg and I will Tweet you back!

Defending Ink on Paper Vol. 1

I have been in a book club (The Best Book Club Ever!) since August 2010. I have always been very good at buying books, but not so good at reading and finishing them. The BBCE! has changed that for me.

I have been busy taking Personal Financial Planning classes at UCLA Extension the past couple years. I enjoy the challenge, but did not realize how time consuming the courses would be. Reading a 900-page textbook in 12 weeks is not an easy task. So for BBCE! I started "cheating" by listening to some selections on audio books. I figured it wasn't really cheating if the book was unabridged.

I enjoyed Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible" on audio. I had read it several years ago, so I thought an audio listen would be okay. One narrator doing five southern accents gets on one's nerves after disk 8 but I don't think the book lost any impact in translation.

Around this time, Border's Books shut down, limiting my book buying options. A tragic moment in book history.

Our next book, "The Lost City of Z" by David Grann, was a true, gripping account of '20s explorer Percy Fawcett who was obsessed with finding a city in the Amazon. I realized I was missing out on intricate maps and pictures of Fawcett and his crew by being exposed only to the audio book.

I finally broke down and bought a Kindle Fire for our next selection, "A Wild Sheep Chase," by Haruki Murakami. I was thrilled by how easy it was to download the book from Amazon. I greedily downloaded several free public domain books too for my portable library. After carting my 10lb textbook around I was giddy.

But a funny thing happened at BBCE! with this book. There is one section of the book where a character talks inrunonsentenceslike this. I was sure my Kindle was messed up and I was a little pissed. I checked by friend's hard copy and saw that was indeed intentional. The Power of Print, example one. Another friend listened to the audio, so she didn't experience this at all! She also missed out on the one random strange drawing in the book. We all had different experiences reading that book via hard copy, ebook and audio.

What else is being lost in the translations between the printed page, the audio book and ebook? Are you getting the full story?

Password Implosion

I like to think of myself as somewhat creative, but if I have to think of one more password I may implode!

I thought I was clever when I first started using the internet. I loved David Mamet's "The Spanish Prisoner." I knew enough to use my childhood pet's name as a password if I ever opened a Swiss bank account.

I joined Facebook like millions of other baby boomers and was thrilled to connect to my grade school classmates from Penn Yan, NY. I only lived there from Grades 2-7 and had very little contact with them for the past 30 years. I had already resigned to the fact that joining FB made me out my age, but the payoff with connecting to everyone I have ever met was worth it.

I panicked when a friend innocently commented, "I remember your dog Penny when you lived on Hillcrest." OMG, not only did she nail my Swiss bank account password, but also my mythical "porn" name, Penny Hillcrest!

Then I started to wonder how many of us have the same passwords. If you lived in a certain place at a certain time, I'll bet we liked the same restaurants and TV shows.

Since then, I have (and no doubt, you have too) gone through dozens of password naming configurations and log-ins. And quite frankly, I can't keep up anymore. I don't remember what point in time I logged in with that device on that website with that clever password. I only have three pets, I can't keep up!

I'm sure there is an App for my problem but I can't remember how to log into it. Are you having the same problem?

Mystery Date Memories

A brief clip last week on Mad Men brought back a long lost memory that may have had more influence on my love life than I could have imagined. On the show, Sally is watching TV (black and white, but interestingly remote-controlled) when a commercial comes on for the Milton-Bradley game MYSTERY DATE.

Ten-year old girls dreamily played the game taking turns opening the door for their mystery date. Would he be a dream or a dud? The boys in the game were at least 18, if not older, setting us up at an early age for the unattainable or just plain creepy. Not sure if my memory serves me properly on all the guys but I think they were: a skier, beach boyfriend, bowler, doctor, the biggest prize of all: the white dinner jacket clad model. Then there were the duds: a geek named Poindexter and a painter.

Granted, the savvy young player could rig the door handle to insure success. But one character trait I still uphold is honesty, so it was hard for me to cheat, especially at that tender young age. It wasn't the winning or losing that struck me all these years later, it was the horror of liking one of the duds when your girlfriends (and 60's society) clearly did not approve! Did this message follow me into my later dating and non-dating years? Deep-down, I am still waiting for the white dinner jacket clad dream to show up at my door. With my luck, he is now in his seventies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHsQpTbQ9Uo