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Roger Ebert’s greatness
The number of people who can speak authoritatively about what it’s like to be a Chicagoan has dropped by one. Roger Ebert at O’Rourke’s talking with Tom Wolfe (© Jack Lane) Roger Ebert’s death is on...
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Disney’s new modern princess: Still a tough sell with hipster pre-schoolers
Nathan, age 4, whose T-shirt read, “COOL BEYOND MY YEARS,” declined to share an opinion. via Sofia the First: Disney Junior Test-Markets a Modern Princess – WSJ.com * Fascinating story about Disney’s...
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The 11 people who still work at Time Out Chicago
On Monday, most of the staff of Time Out Chicago was laid off as the magazine began the transition to an all-digital model. Last night, I noticed Laura Baginski, former features editor of Time Out...
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Today in life lessons lacking good timing
“Abigail, do you want to pick out your pajamas?” “No! I don’t want to!” “Abigail, you can either own your destiny or have others determine it for you.” “Go away!”
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Will Yahoo let Tumblr be Tumblr? Can startups go big and stay cool?
Can Tumblr still be Tumblr if it’s owned by Yahoo? It’s a complicated question. Even someone who thinks about this stuff all the time like Mathew Ingram at GigaOm acknowledges it “makes a certain kind...
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A new opportunity, presented as a challenge
I was laid off from Ogilvy yesterday. It wasn’t completely unexpected as there were some layoffs last week and I was new on the team. Plus, the position wasn’t a particularly good fit for me. I know...
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Don’t build a brand, build a business
The other day my friend Veronica Arreola of Viva La Feminista asked this on Facebook: Hive mind….Instead of talking about “building a brand,” we should say [fill in the blank]. I’ve heard people say...
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Superman, Man of Steel: A failure of storytelling
Art is subjective and Superman belongs to all of us and none of us. The Superman of Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is not my Superman. Nor is the recent New 52 Superman. Even the widely hailed...
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Why you should care about what happened with Texas’s SB5 bill
Yesterday, a senator in the Texas legislature named Wendy Davis attempted a thirteen-hour filibuster to prevent the passage of SB5, a bill that would have placed such onerous restrictions on clinics...
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Working again
I’ll keep this short: This Monday I start a new job at Cramer-Krasselt, the second largest independent agency in the country. At C-K, I’ll be leading content strategy for clients and developing...
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Friday Night Lights, binge-watching and super-fandom
Does binge-watching a television show’s entire run in a matter of months – instead of devoting that same amount of time to it over a number of years – mean you become less of a superfan of the show? I...
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“The Art of Sexting” – Funny Ha-Ha: 05.04.13
This is the piece I read at Funny Ha Ha in May. As you can see, I got to share the stage with some incredibly talented people. Due to a busy week of work in the days leading up to the event, I wrote...
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Scientist admits his life’s work has made people dumber
In 1982, polls showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created human beings in their present form. Thirty years later, the fraction of the population who are creationists is 46 percent. In...
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Ben Affleck and the Batman Armageddon
Ben Affleck will be Batman in the new Superman film (or whatever it is Snyder’s making since the title is still a mystery). This post will be one of 1,438 you will read just today on this topic so I’ll...
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This week, over and over
It’s outrageous, I tell you. You know what I’m talking about. The thing that happened on television the other night. The whole thing has me so pissed off. I mean, it’s not enough that…right, exactly....
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Why bad cultural consumption writing makes writers so mad
Yesterday, CBS Local published a list of the best martini bars in Chicago. I had a few things to say about it. The piece is poorly written and not well-informed. Even if you concede the popular use of...
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Learning to climb
There’s this Steve Wynn song called “Bruises” that’s stuck with me ever since I heard him play it at South by Southwest in 2006. The first verse goes like this: Bloodshot, tired and torn apart I’m at...
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Content marketing that wins: Making brands, readers and Google happy
As part of my day job at Cramer-Krasselt, I presented at Social Media Week Chicago on the topic of content marketing with my colleagues Steve Radick and Nick Papagiannis. Steve summarizes our talk here...
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Silence is a strategy sometimes
Thing I did this month: Ran through Napa Valley and took this picture I swear this will not turn into a blog about my work. This has been a month of work trips, live readings, volunteer projects and...
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A Silk Road to ruin: The Paper Machete – 10.05.13
I’ve said this before but one of the reasons I like performing at The Paper Machete is its hard-and-fast deadline and word count. The show starts at 3pm. If I’m going to make it to The Green Mill on...
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