Ramblings of a Marketing Mind

First off, I've just realized I haven’t posted anything since last October… which goes to prove I really only post when I have something to say. However, I've got to write down on my agenda reminders to update my blog periodically! Ok, off to today’s subject: the Holy Grail . As everyone knows, the Grail from the legends of King Arthur is supposedly the cup from which Christ drank during the Last Supper and later became the sacred object of various Knights’ quests. The ultimate McGuffin, if you will (masterfully used in films such as John Boorman’s Excalibur and Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). The Grail represents the ultimate prize, powerful and valuable enough to justify life-long quests and epic crusades. So I got to thinking: is there a Holy Grail in my life? Should everyone have one? And the answer, of course, is yes. And I don’t think it should be generic stuff as “be happy” or the common “get married and have ki...

I finally have a little time to pick up my blog, and since we are already in October, I chose a Halloween-ish theme, only because the idea came up from a monster bobble head figure (even though it’s not really a Halloween-related monster). If you weren’t a kid in the ‘60’s or very early ‘70’s you probably have no idea of who this character is: That’s Ed “big daddy” Roth’s “Ratfink”. Ed Roth was a drag racing car aficionado and designed a lot of outlandish customs back in the '60's. He was also the cartoonist who created Ratfink, among many other similar frantic monstrous creatures (very similar to the Weird-Oh’s characters created by Bill Campbell). Anyway, that’s not really the point of today’s blog. I grew up looking at some of these monstrous creatures around the house and they always bring back memories from my childhood. Last year while on vacation with the family in San Francisco, I visited the Cartoon Art Museum where I was fortunate enough to see ...

Hey, finally making a quick, much anticipated (mainly by me) comeback to my blog! And to celebrate the occasion, I’d like to reminisce about something that happened to me a long time ago, when I was a teenager: one day, a friend’s daughter (she was about 6 years younger than me) anxiously asked if I liked Alyssa Milano. She was dead serious about it. Back then I only had a slight idea of who Alyssa Milano was (the girl who played Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter in “Commando”, right?) and I did think she was cute, so I told her so. She immediately sighed with sincere relief, so I asked her why she was interested about it. She explained that Alyssa Milano was dating Corey Haim, and if I liked her I could date Alyssa so Corey would be free to date her. Yes, she was absolutely certain of this. That was a very enlightening moment about the workings of a young teenage girl’s mind, but more importantly, it was also a lesson about the perception that people have about ...

If there’s something that really, really bothers me, are people my own age acting as if they were old. I’m only 42, and I’m already surrounded by self-appointed pipe-smoking old men, cat ladies and old maids. What’s wrong with these people? I’ve never really felt old at my age (because I ain’t!) Hugh Jackman (who’s less than 2 years my senior) in his first “The Wolverine” photos, became a wake-up call for me to shape up again (not to mention Daniel Craig’s physical condition in Skyfall- who’s also 2 years older than me). I believe attitude is EVERYTHING! If you feel old at 40 (or 50, or 60, or… shall I continue?), man, you are really not getting it. And to prove my point, here’s a list of people I truly admire for keeping active, current and with a positive attitude (there are a lot more, but these are the ones that truly stand out for me): STAN LEE: I didn't meet either of my grandfathers. But damn, I wish one of them had been like Stan the man (as a matter of ...

Working for the movie industry, many times I’ve been asked this question by different people. It usually gets me to re-think which one to choose above all others. And every time I come back to one conclusion, which for no specific reason feels embarrassingly clichéd (especially when talking to more serious movie connoisseurs like my professional film critic friends). But here it is. My most favorite, number one movie ever is: The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, Chapter V in the Star Wars saga. There, I’ve said it. And the more I think about it, the more I realize there are plenty of reasons for that particular movie to have a special place in my heart. It is not only because it came out in 1980, when I was at the impressionable age of 10, and not just because it was the follow-up to the original, commercially successful Star Wars phenomenon. No, it actually has A LOT to offer as a movie, thinking about movies as the sheer escapist entertainment they should be....

I thought this was an appropriate subject to kick off 2012. During one end-of-year gathering with friends, somebody mentioned Saint George had been removed from the Catholic Sanctoral, and that started out a heated debate. I’ve been checking references on the issue, but there doesn’t seem to be anything online, so I guess it was a false alarm (if someone has additional information about this, please let me know). Anyway, as most people who know me are aware of, I don’t consider myself Catholic (I embraced agnosticism years ago), however I still believe symbols carry the power we confer unto them and one of my Catholic upbringing favorite vestiges is Saint George (along with Saint Judas , for completely different reasons). I love the imagery of the saint valiantly slaying the dragon, because I believe it’s a great allegory of how we should overtake the challenges in our lives. We constantly face tasks, problems, sorrows, fears and whatnot that sometimes seem too...

In this age of political correctness, it’s hard not to offend someone. Almost every day you read about some actor, public figure or politician who said or did something that “offended” some group (some of these are more radical and aggressive in their response than others). A few years ago a friend of mine sent me an e-mail, copying our circle of common acquaintances, about the Christian vision of Halloween as a Satanic celebration, and why, according to them, decorating your house for the holiday is a way of inviting evil into your home. Whoo, boy, do we decorate our house. Halloween has always been a big deal for me, and that message I received was questioning that (in a friendly way, I have to admit). I did not feel offended or attacked in the least (frankly, I couldn’t care less). I’m always open to all points of view… however it did make me curious. Years ago I did my research about the origins of Halloween and discovered it’s a mish-mash of various beliefs a...