Constantine von Hoffman
- Location
- Boston,
- Bio
- Writer -- journalist for 25 years, poetry & fiction & essays for my entire life. More info at www.areporter.com.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Me on the radio talking about
the economy and unemployment
October 06, 2012 01:42PM - William Butler Yeats Comments
on 9/11
September 11, 2011 11:04AM - Star Wars, Murdoch, Oprah, the
economy, My Little Pony,
Google+ and the FDIC are just
a few of the things I have
been writing about
July 21, 2011 01:20PM - Where the hell has he been?
May 17, 2011 03:49PM - Obama goes back to Bush
playbook and declares war on
“price gouging” oil
companies
April 26, 2011 12:16PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “:D”
February 25, 2010 03:23PM - “Thank you
Ramblin!”
November 21, 2009 08:00AM - “DON'T this is a fake.
see correction above”
November 20, 2009 05:13PM - “Thank you, all.”
November 17, 2009 11:42AM - “Contact the USO --
www.uso.org”
November 12, 2009 11:27AM
Constantine von Hoffman's Links
Me on the radio talking about the economy and unemployment
William Butler Yeats Comments on 9/11
1:Â On The Day Of
ONCE more the storm is howling, and half hid Under this cradle-hood and coverlid My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle But Gregory’s wood and one bare hill Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind. Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; And for an hour… Read full post »Star Wars, Murdoch, Oprah, the economy, My Little Pony, Google+ and the FDIC are just a few of the things I have been writing about
Come check out these and many other topics at my new blog for BNET, Fun & Games.
Where the hell has he been?
Astute readers may have noticed a dearth of new material here at CD and I can’t help but notice at the lack of complaints over this development.
So where the hell have I been. I’ve been cheating on you with another blog. I’m not ashamed to say it. This one… Read full post »
Obama goes back to Bush playbook and declares war on “price gouging” oil companies
"I’m concerned about higher gasoline prices. The government has the responsibility to make sure that we watch very carefully and investigate possible price-gouging, and we will do just that." — George W. Bush, 4/17/2006
Congress is vowing to take actions that it believes will revers
… Read full post »
WikiLeaks is at the cutting edge of irony
From Glenn Greenwald’s piece in Salon:
WikiLeaks suggested the “other source†was Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former WikiLeaks associate who WikiLeaks claims took, without authorization, many WikiLeaks files when he left.
I am a fan of what WikiLeaks does but not so much of Julian Assange.
I’m… Read full post »
Two personal anecdotes to mark the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War
1)
About 25 years ago I’m sitting in my living
room reading Shelby Foote’s The Civil War:
A Narrative, when my roommate Gil walks in. He asks what
I’m reading.
“A three volume history of the Civil War. It’s much better than the six volume one I read last year.â€
“What,… Read full post »
Why I don’t go to major league baseball games
My
wife will tell you that it’s not so much that I
love baseball as much as it is part of my DNA. The soundtrack in my
car from late March to late October because is whatever baseball
game I can find on the radio. On May 20th, 21st and 22nd… Read full post »
Transocean cites safety record in doling out bonuses despite 11 deaths and totally screwing up the Gulf
Never, ever, let it be said that mere facts will come
between an executive and his or her bonus. Transocean which
– along with BP – is
responsible for 11 deaths while creating the worst environmental
disaster in US history, used its safety
record as the reason for giving out exec… Read full post »
Analtech wants public input on whether they should rename the company
What’s in a name?
We’ve talked with a few experts in the field of marketing, branding, etc. and here’s the general consensus:
… Read full post »
1. Analtech is a brand name known and trusted by the academic and science communities worldwide
A moment of silence for one of the greats … Dianna Wynne Jones
Likely
as not you never read one of Dianna Wynne Jones
wonderful, archly funny and slightly dark fantasy novels which
generally poked fun at the conventions of fantasy. (And one,
Deep
Secret, which also poked fun at SciFi & Fantasy
conventions.)
If you have read her then likely as not you… Read full post »
Did someone say, “Bikinis with push-up tops for 8-year-olds?”
Abercrombie & Fitch is selling the ‘Ashley push-up triangle’ top which features thick padding in the cup to give the illusion of a larger chest size. What’s news about that? It’s for girls 8 to 14.
Yes, for a mere $24.50 you too can pimp out your not-yet-tween girl and remin… Read full post »
Is this the worst ad placement ever?
Odyssey Dawn is just the latest in the great tradition of military operations with silly names
iPhone apps are the bleeding edge of marketing mistakes
The iPhone’s apps have been a
marketing problem for Apple pretty much since they debuted. The
problem is really that Apple wants to approve of all apps before
they go on the store. This would be fine is there was a consistent
or even coherent policy guiding what goes in and… Read full post »
Dove ad makes a big before-and-after mistake
Now clearly all the women in this ad from Oprah’s magazine are supposed to be showing off the wonderful “after†effect of using Dove soap. It’s just that the women (who are shaped like actual women – bravo, as usual, to Dove) are arranged by… Read full post »
A pictorial guide to why I’m over “Breast Cancer Awareness” marketing
A pink oil delivery truck? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I was driving around Boston the other day and I saw one. Then I Googled it to get a picture and found out it was one of TWO local oil companies doing this. Then my friend Karen sent me a link to… Read full post »
Japanese PSA explaining Nuke disaster for kids is a whole new level of weird
Video featuring cute characters trying to avert nuclear disaster. The explanation of Chernobyl Boy is especially notable.
I hope you don’t see an ad more offensive than this today
The always-brilliant website Sociological Images found this appalling ad for an Australian “luxury†real estate development. My first response after “This has got to be a hoax,†was how unsafe these places are when you have a resident scared out of her wits tied to a chair and calling the cop… Read full post »
Thinking of Totoro as the situation worsens
“May you live in interesting times.†– Ancient Chinese curse.
How to help – a list of organizations
CNN proves BBC America is a great news source
The 6:30 AM news update on CNN started with Japan followed by the latest on Charlie Sheen. Click here for BBC World News America.
Image courtesy of the Great Gregory Marlowe
Round-up of the week’s odd marketing stories
- Anti-Religion ad banned: Last month the South African Advertising Standards Authority banned an ad from a church for claiming miracles, this month UK’s ASA banned posters from the British Humanist Association asking people to check the “No Religion†box on census forms. The reason? They had the … Read full post »
First Galliano, now Japanese boy band causes a Führer
You would think by now everyone would have figure out the rule that No Nazis is Good Nazis. While this is universally true it seems the business world in particular has a problem remembering it.
Although former Dior designer John Galliano’s besotted ode to Herr Schicklgruber has captured the most… Read full post »
Why The Oscars’®©™ Best Picture award is a farce
Toy Story 3 didn’t win Best Picture this year. I wouldn’t mind so much if I thought it ever had a real fighting chance. It didn’t win for one simple reason: It’s animation. No other reason.
While I haven’t seen all the other nominees this year, I have seen True… Read full post »
Restaurant chain learns mass-murder doesn’t make for funny advertising
For some reason The Hacienda restaurant chain thought an
ironic reference to Jonestown was the basis for an ad. Billboards
in South Bend, Ind., read “We’re like a
cult with better Kool-Aid’ and ‘To die
for.†(Did someone tell them South Bend is a
hot-bed of irony? They we… Read full post »
Linda Treiber
skeletnwmn
Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com