‘Today I Lit A Candle With A Spoon’

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This is a true story. It has nothing to do with Uri Geller and his “ability” to bend spoons. (For more on that, see “The Stargate Folly—It’s Never About The Science, It’s Always About The Funding,” Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, April 28, 2022).

Well, maybe it is. In a metaphorical way.

The family went to a cousin’s wedding reception this weekend. The location was phenomenal. They held the party in a custom-built barn specifically designed as a wedding venue. It looked original. Its solid timber frame (including the use of wooden pegs to connect joints) gave the appearance of a 19th century construction. I used to work in a renovated building erected in that era. It looked similar. It wasn’t. But it could have fooled me.

What do you call something like this? Yes, the word “retro” fits. But I’m thinking of something more meaningful. It’s not quite “thinking outside of the box.” It’s more “thinkingContinue Reading “‘Today I Lit A Candle With A Spoon’”

CNN+ Joins Such Iconic Failures As The Edsel, New Coke, And Alf Landon

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At least Google+ lasted nine years. CNN+ barely made it past nine days. The colossal flop doesn’t even merit a “crash and burn” label because that would imply it made it past the launch. The embarrassing fact is CNN+ never got off the ground. Maybe “stillborn” would be a better epitaph.

Every generation needs its version of the Edsel, Ford’s classic foray into product infamy and marketing case studies. The Edsel belongs to the Boomers. Gen X-ers get New Coke. The Millennials now have CNN+. Heck, if you want to go back far enough, you can hang Alf Landon on the Silent Generation (parents of the Boomers).

Each of these failures feature a common trait: hubris. Those in charge simply believed they Continue Reading “CNN+ Joins Such Iconic Failures As The Edsel, New Coke, And Alf Landon”

We’ll Always Have Paris… How The Business of Sequels Destroyed America’s Youth

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They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. That may be true, but it is also the greatest impediment to progress.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a certain business sense to imitation – and I don’t mean outright theft of intellectual property. I’m referring to the “variation on a theme” that has become a successful marketing trope since well before Beethoven, Bach, and The Beatles.

Companies use the goodwill (and good publicity) generated by a top selling product, give it a tweak here and there, then come out with a “new” product that borrows heavily from the theme of the original. Rarely, however, does this sequel product ever reach the heights of its predecessor.

Here’s an example. Following the tremendous success of Continue Reading “We’ll Always Have Paris… How The Business of Sequels Destroyed America’s Youth”

Live from the 2017 Buffalo Bills Snow Bowl

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Photo courtesy of Catarina Lena Carosa

Unless you grew up on the western shores of Lake Erie, it’s kinda hard to describe just exactly what “lake effect” conjures up in the brain. I was reminded of this last Friday, when I traveled once more to the land of my youth. I left merry old Mendon with nary a hint of the white stuff anywhere to be found. By the time I had arrive in Amherst ninety minutes later, the mushy roads were only then being plowed. In three hours – smack dab in the middle of the morning rush hour – a devilish lake effect band targeted the North Towns of Buffalo.

I was “lucky” enough to be there before the plows to witness first hand the blissful blessing of the new fallen snow. It was Christmas card perfect. Pristine and sparkly, with the look of a soft blanket, it almost took me back to those fuzzy days of yore, but then I Continue Reading “Live from the 2017 Buffalo Bills Snow Bowl”

Coke versus Pepsi

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[This Commentary originally appeared in the May 11, 1989 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

CarosaCommentaryNewLogo_259Dateline: ROME, August, 1988

The third day had been the worst. The muggy Mediterranean weather combined with the smoggy sky to produce a parched throat. This searing summer air in the land of my ancestors’ roots evoked memories of hot hazy August days and my grandfather’s pizza stand at the Erie County Fair. Perspiring and exhausted, my mind drifted back to those 16 hour days when, as I stood selling saucy slices, the sizzling sun seared one side of me as the fiery oven cooked the other. Only the frequent Pepsi breaks could quench my body’s sweaty thirst (despite my grandfather’s complaint, “You’re drinking all our profits!”).

Walking among the dusty ruins under the torrid Roman sun created an unnatural thirst. The Aqua Minerale (senza gas), offered only temporary reprieve. I knew my ultimate Continue Reading “Coke versus Pepsi”

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