In Case You Missed Them...Stories You'll Like

Greetings from the grill. Yes, the last day of the season. Time to put away the whites and close your pool. Only a few issues. Half the United States is flooded. The other half is burning and the last half is on fire…literally. Yeah I know, that’s three halves, which only works if you are a catcher for the Yankees. Let’s say I am channeling my inner Yogi Berra.

Think she'll win an Emmy?

So, without further ado, here are some of the top stories from last week.

• How long before they charge us to send emails? Postal Service on verge of going broke, shutting down. The postmaster general says 'If Congress doesn't act, we will default.'  The story is here.
• The media is blamed for low hospital circumcision rates. Where’s a good Mohel when you need one
• Remember when Tab cola was for beautiful people? 10 brand names that time still favors.
• The Muscular Dystrophy Association marches on to the tune of $60+ million without Jerry Lewis.
• The media topples empires…Al Jazeera's Role in Toppling the Dictators One by One…click here.
• The best headline of the week: Obama-Nomics: Half Full, Half Empty, or Just Half Assed?
• There’s hope for college football in the west yet - OU and UT in the Pac 16?
• And finally, 'All My Children' Drama as Susan Lucci Blasts ABC Exec for Cancellation.

See you on Thursday when The Media Guy Struggles dives inside the red carpet to show you what it’s like to be a celebrity handler.

World Portraits: Escape

Maalula Village, Syria—According to legend, Saint Tekla was stalked by an unforgiving, scorned fiancé who tried repeatedly to kill her for her religious beliefs. Eventually she sought refuge in a grotto in the cliff around the bend where a convent -- now named in her honor -- was built. She used this escape route to move freely between the convent and her new safe haven.

Huge Food - What's a Media Guy to Do?

Blueberry Muffin

Then: 1.5 ounces, 210 calories Now: 5 ounces, 500 calories





I ran across Katie Robbins who's a writer for Psychology Today, theatlantic.com, LA Weekly, among others and she had some choice words for the food preparers of America. Her take is simple: Why are we being fed so much?!

"With bucket-sized soft drinks, bagels the size of baseballs, and burgers that you can barely get your mouth around, it's no wonder that, according to the CDC, one-third of adult Americans are currently obese. In the last 20 years portions have been ballooning — and we've been getting bigger right along with them. From 1980 to 2008, obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for children.

Thanks to the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute (part of the National Institutes of Health), we can take a peek back at what portions looked like 20 years ago and compare that to what they look like now. Hint? They've gotten a lot, lot bigger."

Trust me, I've been battling the weight thing forever. Truth is, in the media world, the decision makers like the attractive and the fit. We have a serious issue with being fat in American. It's not healthy for your body or your wallet. Newsweek did a survey in 2010 of hiring managers...check out these perceptions:

• 57% believe an unattractive (but qualified) job candidate will have a harder time getting hired;
• 68% believe that, once hired, looks will continue to affect the way managers rate job performance.
• 63% said being physically attractive is beneficial to men who are looking for work,
• 72% said it was an advantage for women.
• On a priority scale, education came in third. Experience was second, and yep (!), attractiveness was first.

This left me wondering "Where's my inner-George Clooney?" I know this much, I need to continue substituting bananas for breakfast meats and salads for mashed potatoes. I'm not working in the fields buring 3,000 calories a day like my forefathers and now the portion sizes are out of control (see the pictures below).

So what's a Media Guy to do?

I know that to be the Super Hero in Media Guy's clothing, writing clever ad copy and delivering smart campaigns, I have to look the part as well. People want a slimmer, sleeker workforce. At age 40-something I'm ready and on my way. Somewhere Jack LaLanne and Dr. Oz are smiling.

Portion Sizes: 1992 vs. Today

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Then: 1 cup of spaghetti and sauce with 3 meatballs, 500 calories Now: 2 cups of pasta and sauce with 3 meatballs, 1,025 calories

Bagels

Then: 3-inch diameter, 140 calories Now: 6-inch diameter, 350 calories

Fast Food Cheeseburgers

Then: 333 calories Now: 590 Calories

French Fries

Then: 2.4 ounces, 210 calories Now: 6.9 ounces, 610 calories

Soda

Then: 6.5 ounces, 85 calories Now: 20 ounces, 250 calories

World Portraits: Catered Coffee

In the center of the grand souk in the shadows of the massive sandstone minarets, stands Ahmed. For 30 years the “human drinking fountain,” as he is known, has provided sparkling cupfuls of liquid relief from the hot desert days.

He says that shoppers, who repeatedly visit him throughout the day feel as if they “plunged into a lake with an almighty splash, the delightful shock of icy water jolting their minds.” Never asking for money, Ahmed ekes out an average of $12 a day from donations, enough to keep his family of five clothed and fed. And his grateful customers keep on coming.

WORLD PORTRAITS: Taj Mahal

The sun crept down the burnt grey sky as I pushed my way through the crowded, arched entrance that surrounds the monument. Burnt amber rays warmed the white marble, creating a breathtaking muted glow.

Dust Off Your Capes

Hail ye Spiderman, Superman, Batman. Time to dust off your capes and come out and play. Super heroes, and acting like one, have long been a running theme in The Media Guy Struggles. Connecting with your favorite hero just go easier.

I know that few of you realize, but August 28, is the second annual celebration of International Read A Comic in Public Day. So grab your favorite comic or graphic novel and grab a spot in the park with your kids. Some of you are now wondering—perhaps you already Googled—what a graphic novel might be. Graphic novels and collected editions came into vogue following Marvel Comics’ emergence from bankruptcy in the mid-90’s when they shifted focus away from single issues sold in the direct market to these specialty items sold through mass-market bookstores.

While you’re sitting there saying, “Media Guy! Take off those nerdy Clark Kent goggles and see the forest among the trees…comic books are for booger-eaters living at mom’s house.”

Au contraire, comics are bank and generate copious revenue for both the independent publishers and the big boys. Now with the intellectual property firmly entrenched into our movie going experience, the sky is the limit for what kinds of revenues will be generated. The major economic shift occurred in 1997 when New Line optioned the rights to make Blade. You remember pre-jailed, IRS-hating Wesley Snipes portraying the obscure vampire-hunter character from the 1970s, right? The 1998 movie was a hit bringing in $125+ million and when X-Men was released in 2000 grossing almost $300 million, it was on like Donkey Kong (whoops, do I have to pay Nintendo for saying that?)

The Blade and X-Men series showed that smaller comic properties could open films and sell DVDs. They revived the superhero film genre almost instantly opening the door for Spider-Man’s $800 million dollar payday.

Recently, The Walt Disney Company proved just how far comics have come with their $4 billion acquisition of Marvel Comics and all of their intellectual property. Even Donald Trump would agree that comics aren’t nerdy any longer.

On a side note, the thing about this media I find ironic is the term “book” in the “comic book.” When we speak of books, we imagine verbose narratives with grand words and deep Lawrence Durrell-like thinking. It’s about the words, right? Comic books are just the opposite. Their narratives are all about the pictures telling the story with minimal words. They are the ultimate “a picture is worth a thousand words” medium. Words aren’t completely dismissed, but a great deal of the word’s value rests in the typography and unique tradition hand-lettering.

In the advertising world, we build copy points first and visuals second. In the comics world often an entire story is composed visually and then text is added in response to those images. From an Ad Man perspective, this is a bizarre was to work, but originally the most successful comics were created in this exact manner.

So, short story long, grab your capes and nerdy glasses and come out on August 28th with your favorites. Leave your secret identity at home; there’s no need to hide.

WORLD TRAVELS: Saudi’s Ahwah Arabiyah

It was time…We started exchanging “Coffee?” emails last January with the search for good coffee as our excuse to travel the world.

For us there isn’t a better Internet moment than receiving that first email with “Coffee?” in the subject heading. As we get older there are only three of us left: MacD, Hops and me. Everyone else has fallen by the wayside––we’re the last of a dying breed, guys ready for a road trip. We even recount fond stories about the married ones, the ones who stopped coming years ago, the ones we don’t even think to ask anymore. We used the search of good coffee as our excuse to travel the world.

Traveling becomes the great equalizer. Times and places where you see that no matter what the setting is, all people love to live and experience life. Many places welcome you as if you are family. We’ve sipped coffee in the exotic and the tame––Moscow, South Carolina, Toronto, New Zealand and Costa Rica. This time it called for something different. Saudi Arabia.

Coffee is a big thing there. Ahwah Arabiyah, Arabic coffee, comes first as the primary ritual in Saudi hospitality. In Saudi Arabia’s capital of Jeddah, coffee shops are the “in”place to pass evenings away. 

This is not your local Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts where you grab a run-of-the-mill pastry and a brew in a cardboard cup and hope that the barista gets your order out before the blended drinks back up the orders. Jeddah’s coffee cafés serve more than coffee, sweets and meals. They offer shishas, friendship, and the chance to converse openly and freely with the opposite sex. In a country where public places must have family sections separate from singles sections, most cafés limit their services to families.

The irony of the café is that many do cater to singles. The low lighting and dividers inside many upscale shops make them a perfect place for a quiet meeting away from society’s watchful eye. Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t one of those “Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” situations. Simply two people getting to know each other without the gossip machine starting.

“There is nothing wrong with having a coffee with a guy out in public,” says Rasha, a regular of the café scene.“It’s one of the only places where co-mingling is accepted, and with so few entertainment places in Jeddah, also a place for fun.”

We discovered that the coffee café is the entertainment equivalent of the sprawling mall complexes in Anymajortown, USA. Every café is under pressure to invent and import ideas in order to maintain its stature in the area. Karaoke competitions, multiple TV screens featuring American sports and television shows (“Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Friends” are favorites) and cooking demonstrations are just some of the popular activities.

Entertainment isn’t the only area of strong competition; coffee is not just ground up beans. Many café owners mix their own blends––some adding spices such as cardamom seed powder to give a characteristic flavor all their own. The coffee is served in small porcelain cups without handles. It keeps coming until you indicate you are finished with a rapid shake of the cup.

The best part of the whole café culture is that you can enjoy the sights of Saudi Arabia by day and evening without missing the late night action. I realized that the café in Jeddah has evolved into this city’s club in terms of the place where you have to be seen. All of the best seats are reserved and you have to “know” the right people to get into the most popular spots.

In the end all this proves that you haven’t really lived until you’ve had a cup of coffee in Saudi Arabia.