Terry Levine | Noggin Advertising | Copywriter | Digital + Direct Writer | Blogging | Toronto | Canada

SOME CYNICAL THOUGHTS ON SANDY.

We rally together in times of need. We earnestly pray we'll be a better person if only God gets us through this tragedy, illness, accident, job loss, hurricane. We promise we'll change. We say we'll never forget those who were there for us.

Then we forget. The pettiness returns. The greediness returns. The selfishness returns. Until the next time we're in a bind. Until the next time we need help more than someone else does.

I'd like to think Sandy will be different. But we've seen it all before. Remember Haiti? Remember the Christmas Tsunami? Remember 9/11? We came together then drifted apart.

Religion clearly doesn't make us nicer to one another. Scientific knowledge doesn't shift our behavior either? So what then?

What does it take?

QUOTE OF THE DAY: THE END OF SHOULD

"Banks should close at 4, books should be 200 pages long, CEOs should go to college, blogs should have comments, businessmen should be men, big deals should be done by lawyers, good food should be processed, surgeons should never advertise, hit musicians should be Americans, good employees should work at the same company for years... Find your should and make it go away."

-- Seth Godin

HOSTAGES IN IRAN: 140 WORDS ON ARGO

My fascination with Iran stems from the events of 1979, when the Shah was overthrown and Ayatollah Khomeini's theocratic dictatorship replaced him. I was only 10, but it was the most significant international crisis I had ever seen. That only intensified when, on November 4, the US Embassy was overrun and 52 Americans were held captive. I kept a diary at the time and soon, at the top of each day's entry I began writing 'IHC' for Iranian Hostage Crisis with the number of days the hostages remained in captivity. Places like Tehran became part of my vocabulary. So too did people like Abulhassan Banisadr and Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, who figured heavily in the crisis.

These memories came rushing back this weekend when I saw Argo, a Ben Affleck flick that tells the story of six embassy workers who escaped with the help of Canada's ambassador. The movie artfully portrays the history and chaos of that time, even if it minimizes Canada's role -- but this is an American movie, so that goes with the territory. It's also amazing, that 33 years later, the crisis continues, only it's the people of Iran who remain hostage.

WRITING TIP OF THE DAY: PER SE

"Per se: Outside of legal usage, this term — sometimes misspelled “per say” by those who mistakenly assume that it refers to the act of speaking — means “in itself,” as in “I don’t object to the idea per se.” (Note that, unlike as is the case when the English form is used — “I don’t object to the idea, in itself” — no punctuation frames the term.)"

-- dailywritingtips.com

This reminds me of other common mistakes like "it's a mute point" (it's 'moot') and "let's flush that idea out" (it's flesh).

Any others that drive you crazy?

CMC > CORPORATE VIDEO

Client: Canadian Management Centre

Agency: Noggin Advertising

Design/Production: Tory Zimmerman

Writer: Terry Levine

QUOTE OF THE DAY: UP, UP AND AWAY IN MY BEAUTIFUL BALLOON

"Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are."

-- Felix Baumgartner, supersonic skydiver

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Consider the following:

• Millions of Americans believe Jesus was born of a virgin but not that Barack Obama was born in the US.
• They believe in creation in 7 days but not in evolution or a 4.5-billion-year-old planet.
• They believe Methuselah lived to 969 but that the government is cooking unemployment numbers.
• They believe in the biblical flood but they don't believe in global warming.
• They believe in the Second Coming of a messiah but not in polls that show Obama is poised to win a second term.

It seems to me the items on the left in each example are quite different from the stuff on the right. The examples on the left are based on a single source, originally orally transmitted then written down 2,000 years ago, when people also believed spirits were ejected from your mouth when you sneezed. The stuff on the right is based on extensive research, from multiple sources, proven, peer-reviewed and verified again and again, in some cases for nearly 200 years.

In the second century of the third millennium, we now have a significant chunk of the electorate in the US that unbelievably gives more credence to creation myths and bedtime stories and conspiracy theories than to facts.

Can you believe it?

 

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: LOOK IT UP, BABY, LOOK IT UP.

Incurious people turn me off. I had a friend who used to call or email(!) to ask me the definition of things. This was not before the intertubes, it was five years ago. I would go online and google the term or go to dictionary.com. Finally one day I just said to him "you know there's something called the web and you can do this yourself?" He just laughed.

"Now that information is ubiquitous, the obligation changes. It's no longer okay to not know.

"If you don't know what a word means, look it up.

"If you're meeting with someone, check them out in advance.

"If it sounds too good to be true, Google it before you forward it.

"If you don't know what questions to ask your doctor, find them before your appointment.

"If it's important, do your homework.

"I confess that I'm amazed when I meet hard-working, smart people who are completely clueless about how their industry works, how their tools work...

"It never made sense to be proud of being ignorant, but we're in a new era now. Look it up."

-- Seth Godin

QUOTE OF THE DAY: ON ONE-DIMENSIONAL THINKING

"Everything is paradox. The danger is one-dimensional thinking."

-- Lesley Hazleton

NOT KNOWING: THE MYSTERY OF PSORIASIS.

If you give me a gift, I have to unwrap it. If you tell me you have a secret, you can’t leave me hanging. I can’t bear leaving my mail unopened, even it’s just a credit card bill.

I hate not knowing.

So not knowing what’s causing my latest bout of psoriasis is driving me nuts. Like my dad, who has a case from hell, I’ve had this mysterious skin disease on and off and in a very mild form for about 15 years, mostly as plaque psoriasis on my elbows, with a scaly patch once in a while here and there. And like him, I have no clue what triggers it.

Last September I got hit with the guttate variety – little drop-sized patches – first on my right shin, then on my left, then up my legs and arms and torso, sort of like chicken pox without the itchiness or contagiousness, just the inflamed and bloodshot disgustingness. I went to my family doctor and a dermatologist and they gave me tar creams and steroid creams and Dead Sea salts, which achieved moderate success, or at least didn’t make things worse. The episode really seemed to end when I went to Brazil and sat in the sun for two weeks. By last February, I was back to normal.

My latest encounter with psoriasis started last Thursday, again with a few tiny red drops on that same right shin. My body is now covered. While the patches seem smaller than last year – so far – they’re covering more of my body more densely. And like last year, I have no clue what brought it on or how to make it stop.

Nothing in my diet has changed recently. I drink in moderation. I don’t smoke. I’m not particularly stressed – till now. The only common denominator between both episodes appears to be the change in season. And, perhaps coincidentally or not, my usual seasonal allergies never materialized during either episode. Other than that, I’ve got nada.

So I’m off to the dermatologist again on Tuesday and we’ll see what she says. I’m not very hopeful she’ll have any answers. Which, as you know by now, I hate, hate, hate. Any advice or suggestions that don’t involve balancing chakras or swinging crystals over my affected parts are appreciated.