So with my sister getting married in October– things are in full swing in the planning. She got her dress and we have picked out potential bridesmaid dresses and I stopped by David’s Bridal to try the dress on. There were like 80 people in there….it was a bit insane. I asked if it was always that busy and they said yes…”It’s wedding season”. I asked how long wedding season was and the salesgirl said March through November. That doesn’t seem so much a season as the three off months that aren’t “wedding season.” If “allergy season” was that long I’d go crazy.

I have no problem at all with the family of the “Pregnant Man” in their decision to have a kid. What bothers me is the publicity that the parents have decided to do around the pregnancy—being born into the world as a national story—it seems mean for a parent to subject a kid to that even before she is born.

John Bromley, a family friend of ours for many years, passed away yesterday after suffering for more than 6 or 7 years with testicular cancer. He was given only about 4-5 months at the time of his diagnoses—so the many years, world travel, family trips and ongoing connections he was able to make with everyone were a blessing. 

John was an interesting guy— very intelligent, liberal in a lot of his views, friends with many democrats — but called himself a republican and told me that as soon as I made enough money, I would want to be one too. At his core, he was actually as liberal as the rest of us. I think sometimes he just enjoyed being contrary to keep the conversation going. Makes me smile just thinking of that.

 John helped me decide my path after college. He said that I shouldn’t go to graduate school simply to go….but that I should only go when there was something I wanted to learn and no other way to learn it than to go back to school. Four years after I finished college he was one of the first people I told about my decision to go back to school part time to get my MBA. John would call my sister and I, Dear Girl, every time he spoke to us….I will miss the relationship I was fortunate to have with that remarkable human being.

Jamie Lee Curtis is in the news again just being herself and “showing the real person” that someone of her age is… brilliant public relations in my opinion. She is famous enough to be well known, but not necessarily an actress we would hear a lot about. By showing the “real her” she gets more publicity than some of her contemporaries that are still trying to pretend that they are 35 (Goldie Hawn, Melanie Griffith, and a few others come to mind).

Demi Moore is an enigma in that group—there probably is a painting of her in an attic somewhere that is aging slowly (ie-Dorien Gray).

Curtis shows a unique understanding that there are niches in the market and if you are willing to adapt, you can continue to gain notice. As a publicity practitioner, that is something I always try to keep in mind when working with the media. The more willing you are to adapt your approach the more likely you are to get noticed at a different level.

In the words of Grey’s Anatomy…. Seriously?

CNN ran a story today on Harry Potter and how it is being taught at universities around the world. I see how there are modern mythology and religious symbolism incorporated into the work of JK Rowling, but it still seems odd.

Although, I am one to talk. I did my honor’s thesis in college about how a Baroque artist (Annibale Carraci) based his masterpiece the Farnese Gallery– on Ovid’s Metamorphosis and cloaked it in a moralized Ovid with allusions to the bible. So, I guess that’s my ubergeeky way of saying that every time period finds ways to interpret popular culture with the political setting or moral setting of a certain era.

 Ok. Off to polish my nerd badge.

So with the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war and the official number of dead from the wars reaching 4000, what are the stories I keep seeing everywhere— how Britney’s doing an tonight appearance on “How I met Your Mother” or the even somewhat culturally relevant issue of Obama’s Bad Week. This seems absurd.

While there is a level of escapism, I think that it even goes beyond that. I also think that over the past decade there has been a mind-numbing approach to all of the awful things in the world.

While there is the ability through Internet to gain global knowledge and to see deeply into any issue; there is also a tendency for today’s media to only imply the evils and to protect from seeing anything bad. That way we only see violence in a safe, movie setting and are desensitized so much so that death, destruction can seem fake in real life.

 I don’t know how to change this desensitization other than just humanizing the situations—not just numbers but the people that are actually impacted telling their story more to the world.  Interesting question to think about though…..

Long time reader, first time writer…. 

The world of social media and user genreated comment are taking over the world. As a public relations practitioner and genrally opinionated individual, I have decided that I can’t continue to sit on the sidelines only commenting on others thoughts.

So, instead, I am going to subject you to my own thinking on all sorts of cultural events.

Large important cultural facts (like the 2008 election, Iraq war, national news), small and possibly irrelevant facts to any one but me (my current obsession with Kate Nash songs, the anticipation of the remaining episodes of Bones (EntertainmentWeekly says there will be 4 new episodes before the end of the season–Yipee!)) and obscure (did you know Vincent Price was in the movie the Ten Commandments (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049833/fullcredits)? I only found out yesterday.)

I tell you… if you follow my train of thought sometimes you might get lost…but you might also get somewhere interesting.