Inbox of Immaturity

As mayhem ensues about a 20-minute walk away (at the Apple store), here are some late links to keep you from doing that last bit of work. Most importantly and immaturely, this picture, which may keep you from sleeping as well.

Farley's back.
Here's some research that Jake fully supports.
No, that's de butt, and I also like tennis. Peep Slate's Blogging Wimbledon.
Disappointing and upsetting sports news this week in hot dog eating and pro wrestling.
More fun was this year's NBA draft - though who knows if Oden will make this list in a few years. Well, at least it's better than this contract.

Things I Missed/Didn't Miss About NYC

The weeknight casual drinks.
The weekday/workday casual hangover.

In lots of other places, you just don't socialize during the week like you do here. (Though I bet the Brits would say our inability to take down a pint or two during lunch is weak.) I'm in the place where after a margherita and 3 draft beers I'm not really going to feel drunk, but I'm going to feel pretty dehydrated the next morning (manana por la manana if you will). Thankfully last night ended pretty early, but most casual drinks end around 11:30PM (assuming you don't want to be called a wuss or worse). Plus, it's impossible to pull an Irish Goodbye with a smaller, less intoxicated group.

No the image does not quite match the copy but I had to add it in order to ask if you or one of your friends used to pull Absolut ads out of your parents' magazines and collect them. Seriously. One of my friends did - how ridiculous it seems now. I used to collect the Penn tennis balls print ads. Nerd alert.

Bahamavention Is Back

A moment for self- and others-congratulations. As those who know me know, I spent the last couple of years in Minneapolis working at Fallon and specifically on three great pieces of business. I use agency speak because it was not three companies nor only three people. I spent my days helping Purina Beneful, Travelers, and The Islands Of The Bahamas find the best way to move each of their respective brands forward. And I got to collaborate with some amazing people both at the agency (including the guys who did the Citi Identity Theft work) and client (including the visionary Director General).

So all sappiness aside, The Bahamas team got some really good news this weekend. Our TV campaign was recognized in Cannes with Silver Lions. The spots - Monte, Maureen, and Lyle - were in some really great company (The Mac and PC campaign and the Cingular dropped calls campaign, which you know from the US as well as other commercials from around the world). See the list here.

I'm really proud helping the Ministry of Tourism see the value in a differentiating idea both for the category and the broad advertising landscape. (Our integrated campaign had print, OOH, Online, a 30-minute infomercial, and Bahamavention kit.) Hopefully a planning award or two is in our future. Now here's Monte:

Movies You Can't Turn Off

Everyone has a few of those movies you've seen way too many times. You don't necessarily own them and I wonder if that may be part of the reason they're so appealing each time you hit TBS on Saturday afternoon. For example, I'm not embarrassed to say I've watched Mean Girls, Save the Last Dance, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Though now that I've typed it, I realize maybe I should be.

Anyway, I think it often happens with 80's movies. They are just so bad, they're actually good. Like Teen Wolf. Not just because I identify with Scott Howard's high school awkwardness (and perhaps hairiness) but the sweet kegger party scene with 7 minutes in Heaven with Boof and Styles' van surfing are reason enough to invest 2.5 hours (yes, we all hate movies with commercials - in fact, I've always thought if one company could just sponsor all these cheesy movies and make them commercial free, it'd go a long way...maybe the company that makes slap bracelets). Plus, the guy in the stands who has to zip his pants after Scott hits the winning free throw actually exists unlike Aladdin telling Jasmine to take off her clothes at the end of their magic carpet ride.

So, here's another one of those movies that maybe I shouldn't admit I've seen in the double digits. But I will caveat that I watch just for this scene. (The same way I watch 106 and Park Freestyle Friday battle.)



Look how funky he is.

POLL: What's the one movie that gets you every time; that you really can't turn off?

Inbox of Immaturity

Let's get it going. First, a new movie which may or may not be coming out. And may or may not be sued if it ever does. Yes, that's me in the middle looking mysterious and sneaky (I think you're underestimating my sneakiness), Eric on the left and the master-art director Scott on the right in a bunker in the Golan Heights. Toda, Scott.

Aki hit me off with the perfect song for a Friday morning in New York.
And then to get your energy back up, time to go to Funkytown.

Cox won't let this train get off track. Commuting doesn't have to suck anymore.

Naturrre. Goulet. My friend Jake dropped a lot of science this week:
snakes and flying fish

You will not beat this kid in Pop-a-Shot.

And one final thing to make you disgusted then superior then angry then happy, the MySpace page of one of the Gotti boys. I have to hope it's the youngest after reading this article about sibling IQ's.

I Watched Age of Love So You Don't Have To

You could really stop reading right there. But in case you want some answers, here's what I am anticipating:

What is Age of Love anyway?
It has been dubbed "the ultimate social experiment." One man, ex-tennis star Mark Philippoussis, looks to find one love within a group of 13 women - 7 of whom are in their 40s and 6 of whom are in their 20s. In the end, we will see not if, but how age matters. (Note: one woman is 39, so hopefully he picks her and the whole experiment loses its merit.)


Why did you watch in the first place?
I admit I'm usually quite entertained by reality TV and like keeping up on it for pop culture IQ purposes. NBC is at the top of my consideration set for new programming (though quickly losing ground to ABC after the recent Bachelor and my favorite show on TV, Brothers & Sisters). Plus, I'm a tennis fan.

What did you think of the women?
We've only met the older group, so of course I'll probably watch next week to see the "cat fight" between cougars and kittens --- NBC's words not mine! But the older group did not look their age and some may say didn't act it. I don't know if I'd say the latter. They definitely seemed young at heart, and although there was still the "some of the women are hogging Mark" comments, that seems more about competition and overall the women acted classier than typical/younger show contestants.

What did you think of Mark P.?
He does not have a poker face. He was completely stunned (and not in a pleasantly surprised way) by the age of the women and it showed. He's pretty uninteresting and bland so far. And not in a way that's kind of fun to make fun of. However, in reading up on some press, I experienced shock to find out he's actually 134th in the world of tennis. I had no idea he was still playing. I wonder if anyone will start to call him by his nickname, Scud (for his fast serve).

What's your rating?
1 star of 5.

Why not zero?
Mark's inability to hide his shock was mildly amusing as are the 48 year old assistant to the Lakers president's confessionals. I think the interaction between the different aged women will seemed scripted even by reality standards. Regardless, that tension will just make me feel awkward. As said, I'll most likely watch next week. That's all.

Things I Missed/Things I Didn't Miss About NYC

Walking outside without a plan and finding something/place new and interesting.
Walking outside on that same sunny day (without an umbrella obviously) and being hit by random drops of water.

Inbox of Immaturity

First installment from the new digs. And it comes with an observation. The Gen GuYs have FOOD on the mind. For a sports-fanatical group like my friends, neither baseball nor the NBA Finals made a dent in the inbox nor became the focal point of our conversations.

Perhaps Independence Day plans are being made (last minute obviously) and summer's finally kicked into gear - get your BBQ on people.

Here we go:

This is not too funny, but this was the hot topic of discussions: A burger eating competition at Fatburger in Jersey City coming up on the 28th. If you eat a whole, fully loaded Triple Kingburger (we're talking 1.5 lbs of meat alone here) you win a undisclosed prize, a fatburger gift certificate, tshirt and picture on the wall. My friend Cox is training: "I think I'm ready - i want to be imortalized in Fatburger history. 4 yrs ago I did eat a 40oz burrito and washed it down with a 21 oz iced tea so hopefully this should be a walk in the park."

The secret to Chipotle's success has been identified not by accident, rather by planned marketing. I'm curious to hear how everyone feels about this move?

The hot dog eating record was broken by Joey Chestnut of California. Take that Kobayashi.

Otherwise, there's been some heated Sopranos debate, which Tim Goodman
recaps and offers his opinion. Solid stuff.

And lastly, an MTV Cribs parody you may actually find novel and comical by Michael Gondry.

Please submit link to comments if you think people are missing out on immaturity from the week! Thanks.

Back to Work

Started my new job yesterday at Deutsch. Thus, I guess the first thing I have to do is make "the" disclaimer: The opinions, and especially immaturity, expressed on this site are my own. They don't know I have a blog. Shhh. Sneaky. Most don't know I work here. It's a bigger agency than I'm used to. 400+ on one floor in NYC stretching a full city block (and avenue). Plus, I'm wearing my invisible shades that I stole from the kid in Big Daddy. I'm having everyone call me Frankenstein. There are 3 other Seth's here and FrankenSTEIN sounds Jewish anyway, so I'm not hiding my identity.

For those who care, I'll be working on Starwood and Olympus. I probably won't be talking about them. However, I may ask about The Wood and The Big O. Just keeping it DL and, of course, real.

The people are nice. The location is gr-8. And the bathrooms are O.K. Guess that takes care of that. Can't imagine you have anymore questions, but if you do, type them in the comments and I'll do my best to respond without raising any alarms. Yes, there was a fire drill day 1. Awesome.

"Welcome Home"

After 10 days in Israel, I'm back to my other Jewish homeland - Long Island. It was an incredible trip with fun, respectful, and inspiring people...both Americans and Israelis. Israel is no longer a faceless place across the ocean, and being Jewish is no longer a switch I turn on and off based on situations or convenience.

Thank you everyone on my Israel Outdoors trip. I look forward to seeing you all soon.



Sababa.

Shalom.