At last, a financially sound casino

Las Vegas has had its troubles since the Crash and that includes the casinos on the Strip. They’re carrying tons of debt and struggling to narrow their losses but things are about to change for the better. The first German-themed casino resort is in the works. It’s to be called Schloss Vegas and will be in the grand tradition of the City. It will have a sexy show: the Deutsche Doodle Dandy Revue. There will be a Non-comedy room where The Great Himmelfarb will do tricks with memory. The casino floor will have hundreds of slot machines including Wheel of Misfortune and U Bet Your U Boat. What can go wrong? The money’s there. The theme is new and inviting and the buffet features food you can feast on, Greeks, Italians, Spanish, French (I mean their food,) . The slogan says it all: Immer Essen! (Always eating). Today Vegas, Tomorrow the ..oops, Tomorrow The Opening.

Computers are making people easier to use.

The Internet is too much with us. It is crowding out the real world, It was bad enough when TV took all our spare time, now Facebook, Google, Twitter, Bing etc have captured what’s left of us. It started with cell phones years ago when I heard people talking to themselves in restaurants and city streets. Now it is a population with their heads lowered to the screens in their hands.
This is the updated social type first labeled in The Lonely Crowd by David Riesman in 1950 as the “other directed”. These were modern middle class people who abandoned traditional inner-directed motives to focus on how others were living, what they consumed, what they did with their time, what their views were, culminating in a personality that was willing to accommodate others to gain approval. So here we are, autonomy has been compromised. Privacy has vanished. Reality and nature have been digitalized.
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by a sight so touching in its majesty..Hey look, free WiFi!
She was a phantom of delight when first she gleamed up on my sight…Who? What? Where? Facebook?
My heart leaps when I behold a rainbow in the sky.. Look at this YouTube, a horse on roller skates!
What’s that water spout in Yellowstone called? How should I know, Google it. Under what name? Try Old Geezer.
(William Wordsworth contributed to this piece.)

Advertising brave enough to be great

The Super Bowl commercial for Chrysler called ‘Half-time in America’ starring Clint Eastwood, resurrects the art of copy and artful production into a historic message. I congratulate Wieden & Kennedy for avoiding the sophomoric, egotistical, pointless special effects that make up the incompetent nonsense called the Super Bowl commercial. This message continues in the tradition of a print ad of 100 years ago called “The Penalty of Leadership” for Cadillac, considered iconic by ad men who know their history. Actually I applaud all things Detroit since I worked there for over 4 years. I can’t claim to have ever done anything great but I always tried. GM wanted a hard hitting driver safety ad so I did one called ‘ Onward Christian Drivers’. After much review the finished ad said; ‘Drive safely” I’m proud of doing the first James Bond commercial and the best read ad by men in England. I never had $30 million plus to do “Half-time” but the money was well spent.