Judd Apatow’s Films are Brilliant

Although you may not even recognize this man from his picture, you will undoubtedly know the hit movies he has produced and/or written, including “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” “Knocked Up,” and “Super Bad.”  As far as I am concerned, the man is a living legend.  I love the sense of humor in his movies and his characters are always some of the most entertaining men and women in Hollywood.

Apatow’s movies tend to be provocative and sometimes outrageously dirty, featuring nothing but laugh-out-loud bathroom humor.  However, in some cases, his films end leaving you with some sort of uplifting feeling, like in “Knocked Up,” where Seth Rogen actually begins to take on the responsibility of being a father to the baby he and Katherine Heigl accidentally created.

What is most amazing about Apatow’s work is that in the last ten years he has helped define the careers and successes of young stars like Rogen and Jason Segal as well as Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.  He also uses very little budgets on his films and instead of expensive sets or special effects, he focuses in on the human interaction, the intensely funny conversations amongst his characters, many of whom are close friends of his.

Apatow is not afraid to hide his Jewish identity into his films, whether it is through a lead actor who is Jewish or through an almost unrecognizable plug of Judaism, like the boy with a kippah who blows a Shofar in his film, “Role Models.”  I feel as though Apatow is proud of his religious identity and he is willing to express it, which is a great quality to have in a movie producer.

All of his movies stem from the little things in life that are funny, which is such a unique experience in Hollywood film.  He has already directed many Box Office winners and a few busts, but I guarantee Apatow will be around for a long time to come and his movies will continue to make us all laugh.

My 2010 Predictions

Most people, including myself, are delighted that 2009 is finally over.  The reasons include the hemorrhaging of the United States and global economies, the rise in unemployment, and the strange frequency of celebrity deaths.  At last, we can look forward to a new year, a fresh start, a glimmer of hope for conditions to improve.  My predictions for this “Year of the Tiger” in 2010 are for the economy to get better, new jobs to be created, and less celebrities to suddenly disappear.  Should I be desperately hopeful and/or optimistic about the new year or will 2010 be another tough year for everyone?

Living in New York, an over-saturated media market, exposes you to all of the recurrences of failures among our government, our financial industry, and especially our sports icons and movie stars.  In 2009, where the New York media captured all of these shortcomings, I kept wondering when we could finally celebrate some “good news.”  Just a few of the media headlines in 2009 involved the proposed government-run health care system, the war on terror, and the escapades of American golf superstar, Tiger Woods.  In all of these newsworthy topics, it seemed like there was only negative implications and no silver lining.

If even a supposed flawless superstar like Woods can have a bad year in 2009, then can’t we put it all behind us and look forward to better days ahead in 2010?  My prediction is that things will get better, companies will stop cutting jobs and think about adding new positions, and the economy will continue to improve.  However, just like the continued fallout for Woods will continue to plague him, the success of each and every one of us may take a few months to jump start after a prolonged winter hangover from 2009 is finally behind us.

Joonbug: Nightlife Event Producers For the Next Generation

If you are not into New York City nightlife scene, then you may not have heard of Joonbug.com.  The company has been around since 1998, according to the Way Back Machine, an internet archiving tool featured on the website, http://www.archive.org.  As the city’s largest producer of New Year’s Eve events, Joonbug empowers its users with event information as well as the latest news and lifestyle opinion through its popular blogs.

Basically, what Joonbug.com offers its clients that no other website can attain is access to some of the hottest nightlife parties in New York City and additional markets, as the company looks to grow into other big city markets like Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  Comparing Joonbug’s service to sporting events, the company’s New Year’s Eve ticketing website, http://www.newyearsevecentral.com , is like the “Ticketmaster” of nightlife websites to bars, clubs, lounges, and large event spaces during New Year’s Eve in New York.

Throughout the year, Joonbug capitalizes on the young urban professional “Yuppie” demographic living in New York, by sending photographers and bloggers out to cover the nightlife scene in Manhattan and the surrounding area.  By passing out business cards and flyers to the crowds of young people at bars and clubs eager to get their picture taken, Joonbug capitalizes on the potential for them to be potential New Year’s Eve clients.

The company, which structures agreements with nightlife venues around New York, like Marquee, Duvet, Element, Capitale, and China Club (to name just a few), makes it easier on potential New Year’s Eve NYC customers by being able to pick and choose which venues they want to attend for New Year’s Eve.

Apparently, the proof is in the pudding as one venue owner I spoke with commented on how Joonbug does a great job during the season of New York New Year’s to book all of the venues, set reasonable ticket prices, and fill the event spaces with d.j.’s, celebrity entertainers, and plenty of drink specials to go around for everyone.  The success of Joonbug, an 11-year old company, is apparent, and as a new wave of next generation internet users begin to explore the internet for event tickets and travel discounts, look for Joonbug to take off in publicity.

Tiger Woods is Human Afterall

"He's Human!"

The world’s greatest golfer and first “Billion Dollar Athlete” is going to suffer a huge hit to his marketability and squeaky-clean reputation.  With the news coming out today that Woods did in fact have an affair with Jamie Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress and Las Vegas nightclub promoter, the $164 reckless driving ticket he received from Florida State Police is now the least of his worries.

This saga of extramarital affairs, cheating, and scandal began on Thanksgiving Day, when a woman by the name of Rachel Uchitel was the subject of the National Enquirer story detailing a possible affair between her and Woods.  It turns out that a woman by the name of Ashley Samson was paid by the Enquirer $25,000 to tell her what she knew about the relationship between Uchitel and Woods, information which led the public to speculate about the possibility of Woods cheating on his wife of five years, Elin Nordegren.

Thanksgiving night, Woods gets into his single-car accident outside of his family home following an alleged argument between him and his wife over the Enquirer story.  Tiger is found unconscious and is rushed to a nearby hospital, where he is released the next day.  Following the accident, it is unclear whether or not he was attacked by his wife, Elin, or she tried to rescue him from the car.  Doctors just today proved that his injuries could only have been a result of the accident and not from domestic violence.

After all this probing for answers and attempts by the media to investigate Woods’ private life, I have been able to come up with one true statement about the whole ordeal: “Tiger Woods is human just like the rest of us.”  Although, he has won 14 major titles and earned over $900 million from tournament prizes in his career, he is not flawless and is not incapable of sin.  Lastly, while I believe that these transgressions will ultimately effect his career and overall legacy, CNBC Sports Business reporter, Darren Rovell believes that his sponsors like Nike and Accenture will still stay true to their man, “as long as he is a winner.”

Employees Only: Great Restaurant in West Village

Two weekends ago, I had a college reunion with two out of the three roommates with whom I shared an apartment during my Junior and Senior years at Miami University.  Perhaps the biggest dilemma we encountered in an otherwise perfectly planned weekend was deciding where to eat with our respective girlfriends and/or brothers (in my case).  Once we came to the realization that it would be best to have the women in our lives pick the restaurant, we felt a sense of relief, yet a certain degree of anxiety over their choice of “Employees Only,” a 1920’s style Speakeasy on Hudson St.

It was our last night all together and we arrived at the restaurant shortly after our 6:00 p.m. dinner reservation.  Some of us were a little late getting to the place, probably because the address of 510 Hudson Street can be easily missed and/or confused for a “Pyschic,” as there is actually a fortune-teller in the window of the restaurant (see picture of me cautiously entering under the awning marked “EO” above)

Once we were all together and began to order cocktails (the menu of alcoholic beverages was quite ample), we all settled in nicely to our surroundings of what once was a place for local New Yorkers to convene during prohibition as they imbibed on beer and spirits.  My roommate, Jeff, suggested the Billionaire Cocktail, in order to evoke a kind of “Old Boys Club” feeling.  This drink contained bourbon shaken with lemon juice, homemade grenadine and absinthe bitters.  For $15, this not-so-cheap cocktail made me feel like I was the champion of the mahogany covered back room at Employees Only.

After a successful opening act to our festive meal, we proceeded to order what we thought was the best pairing of food and aperitif as if young adults in their early twenties could make such a decision.  I decided on “Orecchiette,” which contained house-made Italian sausage, arugula and parmesan cheese.  While, others in our party carefully chose the “Young Organic Chicken,” probably the safest thing in the menu, my brother took a risk by opting for the evening special of Trout over a bed of green vegetables.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal and overall experience at Employees Only, a place which was not necessarily the cheapest, but definitely made me dream of the days when alcohol was illegal and women wore flappers, a 1920’s style outfit which often consisted of a short skirt, bobbed hair, and excessive make-up.  The whole idea was this kind of pervasion of societal norms by women who flaunted themselves through their dress, smoking and drinking habits as well as many other behaviors that were easily frowned upon.

Anyways, if you are ever in Manhattan, specifically in the West Village near the intersection of Christopher Street and Hudson Street, definitely give this place a try!  Lastly, here is some more information from New York Magazine:

Employees Only Menu – West Village – New York Magazine Restaurant Guide

The Importance of Business and Social Networking

I have thought about what to write for this post for a few days now.  After lots of thought and careful attention to how to mince words together, I have finally formalized these few principles about the importance of business and social networking.

We all know that building a good network of friends, colleagues, clients, etc. is important in any field, but I am not sure many people know how to effectively network.  With emerging social networking websites such as Facebook and business networking sites like Linkedin, networking is becoming increasingly popular among business professionals as well as anyone from young adults to grandparents.

However, I believe these websites are just one part of the equation of effective networking.  Getting out and meeting people the old fashioned way is important as well.  Here is what you should do before getting out and meeting people at networking events, social gatherings, and in public spaces:

1. Have a business card (Even if you are not employed full-time, it can help you establish credibility with who you meet – Having your name, contact information, and current position is a MUST)
2. Be able to clearly state what it is you currently doing with your life and what you want to do next (What are some of goals and aspirations in a quick 20 second pitch?)
3. Have something to offer the people you meet besides just a business card (Maybe it is the ability to connect the person you meet with someone you know in their field)
4. Dress to impress (When in doubt, wear business-casual and know what this means)
5. Be confident in how you express yourself and carry yourself – Remember that around 90% of communication is non-verbal.

Monday Morning Observations

Marc Dreier

Lately, I have been commuting to Manhattan on the train from Connecticut and I haven’t gone a day in my journey to and from the city without having some uniquely introspective thought or a revelation about society.  Today was no different as I exited Grand Central Station on 42nd Street and Park Avenue and proceeded to walk through the streets of midtown Manhattan to the office where I am currently interning in the Flatiron District.

I noticed this man leaving the station in his fifties or early sixties wearing a neatly pressed white oxford shirt, red suspenders, suit pants, and those signature horned-rimmed glasses that somehow define the intellect and success of a man at the probable height of his business career.  My first thought was, “Is this what I am going to look like in forty years after I have worked my way through the business ranks?”  My second thought was, this guy has probably been doing the same commute for longer than I have been alive and he probably knows every nook and cranny there is to be discovered around the area of Grand Central Station.  Lastly, my third and final thought was, “Look at what other uniquely similar business executives of this man’s generation have done to serve their own ego’s and personal ambitions, while seamlessly ignoring a greater moral obligation to the greater good of all humanity.”

Perhaps, this thought was the least pragmatic yet most complicated idea in my brain at the time.  I immediately thought about the 60 Minutes interview I saw last night between CBS’s Steve Kroft and Marc Dreier, the disgraced lawyer who attempted to finance his law firm, Dreier LLP, by defrauding investors and clients of around $400 million.  After he was caught and convicted this past year and sentenced to twenty years in prison, the man who lived large as the head of a very respectable law firm on Park Avenue with 600 employees, had created an enormous mess for himself, his family, his employees, and the entire community.

I thought back to my prototypical midtown executive and immediately compared him to Dreier and Madoff and all of the recent history of corruption, greed, and moral bankruptcy belonging to this club of power-hungry scam artists.  Perhaps this fellow baby boomer in the suspenders and horned rim glasses had risen to the top of the corporate ladder through a life of hard work while abiding by governmental and societal regulations.  However, I couldn’t help but wonder, who we can trust to lead our big corporations, law firms, and even government operations in this country.  After seeing what Dreier and Madoff could pull of, it is hard to trust anybody in positions of power.

New Haven Line Commuters Will Have to Wait Until 2010 For New Rail Cars

Seats in New M-8 Car

Prototype of New Rail Car

Talk about bad timing.  The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is the public corporation responsible for serving the transportation needs of the city of New York and 12 counties in Southeastern New York as well as 2 counties in Southwestern Connecticut.  The MTA works in conjunction with the Connecticut Department of Transportation, overseen by Governor Jodi Rell, who originally had proposed the idea of investing in 300 new rail cars for the New Haven Line of Metro-North.  Rell, also proposed a $1 per ticket surcharge to take effect after the new cars were successfully in operation.

The original date proposed for the brand new Kawasaki M-8 cars to begin testing on the New Haven line was August of 2009, with several M8’s in full operation by December of this year.  However, August has come and gone and there is no sign of the M8 rail cars, which are manufactured in Japan and shipped over to the United States post-production.

Meanwhile, Governor Rell’s fair increase was approved by the state legislature in 2007 and was written into law to begin taking effect in January of 2010.  And, what are commuters who ride the New Haven line’s 30-39 year old M-2 cars to New York City everyday supposed to get in return?  They are going to be riding the same loathsome, cramped, and overheated cars passengers have continued to ride since the 1970’s.

Luckily, the Connecticut Board of Transportation is listening to advocates like Jim Cameron, Chairman of the Connecticut Metro-North Rail Commuter Council and former NBC News Director and Anchor.  Thanks to the help of Cameron’s outspokenness, the state legislature and transportation board have begun to realize the atrocity of raising fairs without new cars.  According to an article by Martin B. Cassidy of the Greenwich Time newspaper, “The state’s transportation head told Connecticut rail advocates Wednesday that Metro-North Railroad commuters would likely skirt any fare hikes for at least four to six months, with existing fares possibly remaining in place until the state’s long awaited M-8 rail cars are in use.” (Greenwich Time, 9/17/2009)

Metro-North as a whole, like many publicly run programs, operates at an annual deficit, bringing in around $240 million in fares each year while having around $328 million in operating expenses.  The state is able to bail out 65% of the deficit annually, but I am sure Governor Rell and the state legislature would like to close the gap towards profitability.

Remembering September 11th: Eight Years Later

I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news that fateful day.  It was third period during the first semester of my sophomore year at Wilton High School and I was in health class when the principal made an announcement across the school’s intercom: “Attention please,” said Principal Deborah Low.  ”We are just receiving word that a small plane has hit the World Trade Center.”  I remember looking at my friend Justin and saying, “Is this some sort of a joke?  What kind of an idiot would accidentally fly his plane into one of the Twin Towers?”

As the bell rang for the next period, I soon found out that this was no joke.  In fact, Wilton, a small town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, about 60 minutes northeast of Manhattan, is home to fathers and mothers who commute to New York City everyday, some of whom worked in and around the site of the World Trade Center.  Principal Lowe may have said to the students of Wilton High, “If you have family members that work in and around the Twin Towers, please report to the main office.”  If she did, I can’t quite remember because word began to spread around the hallways of WHS that this was not an accident:  This was an act of terrorism of a magnitude none of us could fully understand at the moment.

I remember going to my next class, fourth period, which was the lunch period at Wilton High School.  At that time, I had English class with Mr. Walsh, one of my favorite professors in high school.  I sat next to a girl, Stephanie Davies, with whom we conversed about the potential magnitude of what was going on around the country.  I could tell that Steph, who was a senior at the time and whom I looked up to as a young sophomore, was equally as stunned and saddened by the news as anyone else in the class.  At that point, word was going around throughout the high school that one of the Twin Towers had collapsed.

“Collapsed?  I asked Steph.  ”There is no way one of those buildings could collapse,” I exclaimed.  At that point, Principal Lowe came back on the intercom to tell us there would be “live coverage” of the events in the school’s auditorium and that we would be having “early dismissal” at around 12:30 p.m.  Like everyone, I was still in shock.  It wasn’t until I was driving home with my mom, who picked both my brother and I up from school, that I fully realized the magnitude of what had happened.  Also, the fact that we were so close to the site of the attack and that some of my classmates had loved ones that worked down there, made everything seem all the more surreal.

As I look back today on the events of September 11th, 2001, it seems such a distant memory, but still very near and dear to the hearts and minds of the people of New York City, Washington D.C., and the entire country.  I still think about what it would have been like to be a fireman, a police officer, an employee of a company in one of the buildings.  I think about how catastrophic the damage was and how a city like New York, with such pride and resilience, was not going to let this attack stop the way it carried on and perservered.  Lastly, I think about the family members who lost loved ones that day and the photographs of the “missing” that were put up all around Lower Manhattan and the entire city of New York.

Eight years later, September 11th is still with us:  We must continue to rebuild and recover, but like the slogan of the firefighters of New York and the FDNY, we must also “Never Forget.”

Internships! Internships! Internships!

Welcome to the Fall of 2009, where recent graduates are being advised to put their full-time career aspirations and goals on hold temporarily.   Instead of the expectation of making the salaries that past graduates have typically made in their first year out of school, young professionals like myself have come to the harsh realization that we will have to work even harder to reach our goals.

Even if you graduated from a “Top 50 Business School” like Miami University’s Farmer School of Business in Oxford, OH (my alma-mater), there is no guarantee of full-time job placement in these tough times.  What I believe is that professional networking and furthering your experience with additional internships out of school will help someone get to where he/she wants to ultimately be.

Here is what I have done in the last year since I have graduated (You can be the judge of whether or not I am on the right path to a full-time job opportunity):  First, I was originally slated to graduate in May of 2008, but decided to take an additonal business practicum course in marketing.  Once I officially graduated in August of 2008, I had already been offered an internship at start-up company in the business of sports, Legacy Direct.  Although there was no guarantee of full-time employment, I worked at Legacy Direct for nine months and was able to get paid on a part-time basis between December of 2008 and March of 2009.

In 2008, the job prospects were slightly better than those in 2009.  Although, the document below from the Farmer School of Business suggests that 82% of my classmates achieved full-time employment, I felt very lucky just to be offered an internship in the sports field, whereas most of my peers went for the traditional jobs in accounting, finance, and other such fields.  Here is the supposed breakdown for 2008 graduates of the Farmer School and their job placement:

http://www.fsb.muohio.edu/fsb/content/about/class-profile/2008-class-profile.pdf

While at Legacy Direct, I worked hard at my job, especially in social media and its applications for a fledgling business.  Using my writing and social networking skills, I succesfully launched the Legacy Direct company blog, which is still going strong at around 16,000 unique visitors (http://legacydirect.wordpress.com)  After Legacy Direct, I was now competing with graduates in the class of 2009 and was once again unable to land a full-time job.  With the economy in the midst of a terrible recession, I wanted to make sure I had some money saved up for summer activities, so I took a job as a server at Greenwich Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Between May and August of this year, I continued to fully use my resources and connections in hopes of landing something full-time, but I inevitably realized that once the Fall of 2009 rolled around, it was important for me to continue to gain all the experience I could get in both the business of sports and the field of marketing.  Thus, I decided on two separate internships (both unpaid) to keep me on my feet and working hard.  One internship is a “Marketing and Events Internship” at nightlife production company known as Joonbug.  This internship has required me to commute to New York City 3-4 times per week at a cost of $239/month via a monthly train pass.  Whatever the cost, my hope is that the work experience and the connections made at this three month internship will help lead to what I ultimately want: A full-time job.

The other internship is with a sports agency out of Gainesville, Florida started by a successful young law student, Darren Heitner.  His agency is known as Dynasty Athlete Representation, and I am currently in a four month internship from my home in Connecticut that revolves around Dynasty’s clients (updating their peformance, progress, current status).  So far, so good at both internships and I am very pleased at how each one is progressing.

Once again, if you are a recent college graduate in my shoes, don’t sweat it!  Unless you are very well connected and have deep ties to certain businesses, you will probably be forced to take unpaid internships just like I have.  The hope is that these experiences will help shape your career goals and aspirations and ultimately lead to full-time employment.  ”Just keep plugging away and good things will come,” says my mom, a successful children’s book author.