When Learning Makes You LOL – Why We Love Drunk History

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Beating the post-holiday blahs requires pursuing a laugh whenever possible. Between my neighborhood’s current deep freeze and breath-stealing windchill, the past several nights have found me sequestered indoors, basking in the glow of the television. The other night, courtesy of Drunk History, I found myself turning in, feeling a bit sunnier. Lighter. Energized by some gloom-busting giggles.

Watching Will Ferrell play Roald Dahl, my all-time favorite author when I was a kid, was not only entertaining, but educational. That’s the whole point of the show, right? To inform while entertaining — an intersection where education is both meaningful and memorable.

What better way to send a message?

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Substituting Recipes for Resolutions

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There is something about the approach of a new year that makes me feel a little frantic. I liken it to the stress associated with wrapping up one big project and embarking on another simultaneously. The dual pressures of reflecting in a meaningful way on the ending year while projecting goals and dreams for the new one zaps what should be an energetic enthusiasm, in my experience, anyway.

For some reason, I feel like the failure to review the year in full and craft and commit to an important resolution somehow smacks of ingratitude. Shouldn’t those of us who survived 2017 approach 2018 with a reverence and recommitment to live life to the fullest? We should. But the idea of it wears me out before I even contemplate a resolution. And why bother, anyway? Considering that only 8% of those who make New Year’s resolutions keep them, the odds are seriously not in my favor.

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When You Know You’re that Good, aka Chuck Saves Christmas

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As much as I do love classic holiday movies, from the actual classics like White Christmas to fresher fan faves, a la Elf, I did feel inspired this year to seek out something new on the screen to celebrate the season.

For some reason, the new release, The Man Who Invented Christmas, based on Les Standiford’s The Man Who Invented Christmas – How Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits, didn’t make much of a splash in my neck of the woods. Whether limited in distribution or because of my failure to snag a ticket before it left theaters, when I finally decided to see it, piqued by its hint at creative marketing, my only choice would have been to drive to a small town in Massachusetts nearly two hours away from my office. Bah humbug.

So, I bought the book – which is what I normally insist on doing before checking out its reflection on the silver screen.

Here’s the gist of the story and a few reasons why I think it’s meaningful to today’s marketers…

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In the Constant Quest for Fresh Content, an Argument to Keep it Classic {VIDEO}

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Somehow, the other day, I found myself in front of a TV, instead of a laptop, screen. I can’t now – even as I sit here back in front of the said laptop screen – remember what I was watching or how I thought I had the room in my to-do list to park it and zone out. Now, I’m going to say that I was catching the headlines and keeping up with current events. But, in all likelihood, I was rewatching Clark Griswold struggle to get his “exterior illumination” on.

What I can confirm watching – for the gazillionth time – was a commercial. A specific commercial that made me stop and actually wonder how many times I had seen it and what makes Hershey’s apparently immune from the pressure to crank out new content on a regular, but seemingly never fast enough, basis.

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Hive

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The Pitch

I always looked forward to the several times a year that Berta— my friend for ten years and counting—made the four hour trip from the Boston area to visit me in Saratoga Springs, New York. Berta had red curly hair that she sometimes spruced up with a purple tint and loved horses. She was twelve years older than me, but we seldom noticed the age difference. I celebrated her visits because I was granted a reprieve from my primary responsibility, which was to keep my two young children—Tyler and Brynn—alive. Berta enjoyed the break from her routine and was about as laid back a houseguest as a person could be. She had only one requirement—we needed to visit the farmer’s market before she left town on Saturday morning.

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