Pennie and the wizard are godparents to 9 year-old Bridget Arthur, the daughter of their partners Craig and Angela Arthur in Australia. And this is Bridget’s first poem. It was published in the school newspaper. The time to applaud is now. – Indy  

By R. L. MILLER on June 21, 2002 Songs like Bloom’s “Montego Bay” and Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop” were all over the AM playlists in the ‘States during the late ’60s and early ’70s without any of us really knowing the Small number was in what was known as the ska beat (a bit like the […]

This is a music video from the days before there were music videos. Montego Bay was a big hit in 1970. The singer/songwriter Bobby Bloom died 4 years later at the age of 28. Some say he shot himself because he was depressed. Others say he was shot by a man who was never apprehended […]

Twenty-three years after the Spanish-American War, Galveston island had their 5th annual swimsuit competition on the beach. Songwriter Jimmy Webb – seated at the piano in this video – was on that same beach on Galveston island when he wrote this Glen Campbell hit about a soldier in the Spanish-American war and the girl he […]

The early 60s – the years of the Rat Pack – were also the years of singer-songwriters who emerged from the coffee shops of the Beat Generation to croon of loss and loneliness. Bob Dylan. Janis Ian. Simon and Garfunkel. This video clip is perhaps the perfect window into that world.

You’ve heard about the experimental album and concert that Br’er Whittington and the wizard are cooking up on Kickstarter, right? It’s called, “Theoretical Physics Applied to Hit Songs.” Well, this week they decided to insert this 1965 exchange between Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin into one of the songs that will be performed.  The […]

The unplanned day of the Worthless Bastards of 2015 began with breakfast in the kitchen of Engelbrecht House where we discussed this video sent to us by Tom McDowell. Go ahead and start the video and let it play as you read. You will notice the following things: 1. The music builds layer upon layer, spreading […]

You’re coming to Wizard Academy to experience the perfect storm as 2 principles of TRIZ intersect 3rd gravitating bodies in a massive experiment. We’re going to have an epic concert with you in the middle. There will also be a 1-hour WEBINAR on Third Gravitating Bodies. How to Become One of Indy’s Angels You’re going to buy a concert ticket OR a […]

Stay with it until 2:04. That’s where the interplay between the lead singer and the backup singers begins to mimic the sound of the surf as the water surges onto the shore.  Now the day is gone and I sit alone and think of you, girl What can I do without you in my life? […]

Remember: Start the music at the bottom of this page before you continue reading. Last week I reviewed a wine that wasn’t obscure and I apologized for it. Sort of. Anyway, this week I’m bringing the scales back into  balance by reviewing a wine that even the most OSBCURE wines would call obscure. This wine […]

Bouncy. Happy. Uncomplicated. Smelling the air of a smiling little town as you stride the sunny sidewalk on the balls of your feet on a Saturday morning; this is the music of Planet Oregon Pinot Noir.

John Steinbeck gave us Travels With Charley just a few years before he died. It is, in my opinion, the greatest travelogue ever written. A lover of Cervantes and Don Quixote, Steinbeck referred to his 75-day trip across America in 1960 as “Operation Windmill.” In its presentation speech, the Swedish Academy said its reason for awarding […]

Click the map. Make it big.

Last week I promised you a full reveal regarding the perfect storm of 2 principles of TRIZ with 3rd gravitating bodies in a massive experiment that would end in an epic concert of which you would be in the middle. There will also be a 1-hour WEBINAR on Third Gravitating Bodies. How to Become One of Indy’s […]

This is what the Wizards of Ads call “a partial reveal.” It’s killing you not to see her eyes, right? Interest is heightened not by what you include, but by what you leave out. Likewise, we don’t define ourselves clearly when we explain what we stand for. We define ourselves clearly when we explain what we stand […]

When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games… Aristotle said […]

For those of you that have heard the wizard talk about (1.) reality hooks and (2.) portals, this photo is an example of both. (1.) It makes Lodi a real place. (2.) The fact that blue sky appears only inside the opening of the arch pulls your imagination through that arch into another place and time. Now […]

Creedence Clearwater Revival Lodi Just about a year ago, I set out on the road, Seekin’ my fame and fortune, lookin’ for a pot of gold. Things got bad, and things got worse, I guess you will know the tune. Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again. Rode in on the Greyhound, I’ll be walkin’ […]

from Lodi. Uh-huh, that’s right. [Start the music now and let it play while you read.] The Beagle’s Guide is supposed to be about obscure wines. Toad Hollow cabernet is not obscure. It is ubiquitous, which, I think, means exactly the opposite of obscure. I bought this bottle for $12 at the grocery store because the toad […]

Next week I’ll tell you how this motorcycle and 2 principles of TRIZ and a huge experiment with 3rd Gravitating Bodies and an epic Academy concert are all coming together in the perfect storm. And you’ll learn how and why you’ll be in the middle of it all. Just look in the rabbit hole after you read next week’s Monday […]

Get Your Hopes Up I’m talking with a man about his happy future. There will be decisions to make and risks to take, but it’s a future that can definitely be his. And then he says, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” All the air leaves my body and I want to cry. […]

Dylan and Ginsberg visit the grave of Jack Kerouac in 1975. Interestingly, the video of that day opens with Allen Ginsberg reading the words of Kerouac, Once I went to a movie at midnight – 1940 – ‘Mice and Men,’ the name of it…” That movie, of course, was made from the novel of John Steinbeck, […]

    “Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” – Anne Tyler, opening line of Back When We Were Grownups, (2001) The movie studio called it Cannery Row, but it’s actually the story of Sweet Thursday, Steinbeck’s sequel to Cannery Row. This is the story that […]

  “To successfully function in a society with diverse values, traditions and lifestyles, we must have a relationship to our own reactions rather than be captive to them. We must resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar, and wrong or false that which is only strange.” – Robert Kegan

Here’s where a lot of you stand when it comes to religion: It isn’t for you. You don’t mind if other people are devout, but you don’t get it. Smart people don’t believe that stuff anymore. I can be sure that is what many of you think because your generation of high-IQ, college-educated young people, […]

Professor David Dunning of Cornell University published an insightful thesis this week. In it, he explains the psychological mechanisms that inspire you and I to cling so tenaciously to beliefs that can easily be proven to be wrong. Effectively, he isolates the origins of our “blind spots.” Here’s a brief excerpt: Some of our deepest intuitions about the […]

Eric Rhoads is another of the wizard’s confidants. Here’s something Eric wrote recently that seems to me profound. “There is no better fertilizer than the farmer’s shadow… You need to be seen more by your team, your colleagues, and your advertisers. Get face-to-face more, get more heavily involved. Let them know what you’re thinking. It’s easy […]

Aye, and Danny boy goes back to the land of Skye where he was once a wee bairn to see if he can ride the mountain that no man can ride. It’s an isle in Scotland, it is. The Whitbrit was blazed by Danny’s adventure and you’ll be ignited by it, too, or I’m not riding in […]

Russ Kyncl of Lakewood, Colorado sent a bottle of extremely very good wine for the Beagle to sample. In return for Br’er Kyncl’s generosity, the King of the Rabbit Hole has sent a convoy of 18-wheelers bearing gifts in return. This ‘Angels’ Share’ wine has a lot to brag about. I’ll not spoil the surprise […]

 

Seriously, this is worth watching. It’s done in a single, unbroken shot. No special effects. No edits or splicing. And it’s a fine, interesting story, it is.

Taos Pueblo Rain Storm, signed and dated “Dean Porter ’97” (American, b.1939), sight: 47.5″h, 47.5″w

John Steinbeck’s Man of La Mancha The silent workings of my mind are of little interest to anyone but me, yet occasionally I feel the need to chronicle some small discovery; to write it down so that it might continue to exist after I have been forgotten. Once a year I write a Monday Morning […]

Go to :39 and when you’ve listened to that passage, you’ve tasted the wine. It’s upbeat and light. With horns. Weird melody. Tasty. I think you’ll like it.

Other Things You Never Expected The factors which motivate people at work are different to – and not simply the opposite of – the factors which cause dissatisfaction. According to social scientist Frederick Herzberg, the things that motivate employees deal with the factors involved in doing the job, whereas the things that cause job dissatisfaction deal with the […]

 

The Wizard’s partner, Morty, is an awesome public speaker. You should invite him to talk to your group. Roy, I just went to see Jerusalem 3D iMax. It was awesome, spectacular and powerfully moving. I highly recommend it. Morty Silber, BTL, MBA. Chief Executive Officer MAD_STRATEGIES Inc. a Wizard of Ads Partner 2550 Bates Road […]

This is Lake Balaton in Hungary, where Hellmers and Sons worked to import wine back to London. Tapolca is known for its underground river caves. Cool, huh? Until next week, Aroo. – Indiana Beagle

Jeffrey Eisenberg holds Bocce (Italian for Kisses) with the last few stragglers who made it down to the GLORIOUS Keith’s Barbecue bus at lunchtime on Saturday. It was parked next to the tower on the Wizard Academy campus. Good-Good Food. The previous evening, (the second day of this year’s 3-Day Academy Reunion,) Vice Chancellor Daniel Whittington […]

Oscar or Abraham? The Choice of Florence Balcombe For the past several months, Florence Balcombe has been dating Oscar, the baby boy of Speranza, an unconventional poetess who fights for women’s rights. To the outrage of many, the six-foot Speranza coolly justifies her public extravagances by saying that she is “above respectability.” Like his memorable mother, […]

I think Oscar Wilde may be the secret inspiration behind Jerry Seinfeld.

One of the pizzas Anthony invented is so good that it’s illegal in 7 states and under investigation in 17 more. Aside from crisp, freshly fried bacon and stuff, it had fresh – not canned, of course not canned – PEACHES simmered in bourbon, and some other things and – are your ready for this? – it […]

Here’s an email I pulled out of the Wizard’s Inbox this week. (If you can put some business people in a room, Mike or one of the other W of A partners can usually be convinced to come and be a hunk, a hunk of burnin’ love.) From: Mike Slover <mikeslover@wizardofads.com> Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 11:57 AM […]

If this wine existed, it would probably taste like Budweiser, which in its native Germany is pronounced “BOOD-WEEZER,” which means in English, “Butt Wheezer,” or Flatulence Beer.                            Heh, heh, heh.                           […]

Yeah, I know. His name was Hoss, not Goss. If you want to get really fussy about it, his actual name on the show was Eric. “Hoss” was only his nickname. His name for real was Dan Blocker. He died in 1972. This whole Goss/Hoss thing was an afterthought anyway. What I heard when I […]

Jerry’s speech to advertising professionals during the Oct, 2014 CLIO awards. I am excited to win this. This is the award they give you when they don’t think you can actually win one, but they think you’ve done a pretty good job and seem to have been around for quite some time, and that’s how […]

Thanks to Br’er Cudd for bringing this to our attention – Indy

The first “story ad” ever written: June 23, 1923 SOMEWHERE west of Laramie there’s a bronco-busting, steer roping girl who knows what I’m talking about. She can tell what a sassy pony, that’s a cross between greased lighting and the place where it hits, can do with eleven hundred pounds of steel and action when […]

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza by Konstantin Kalinovich of the Ukraine

Shall we look at some interesting depictions of Quixote?

William Gropper, (American, 1897-1977) Dated 1945, from the Collection of the Artist’s niece.

Smitty’s Barbecue in Lockhart, Texas. Photo by Daniel Whittington.

Erik the Flutemaker shot this video of his Renaissance Fair sales pitch back in 1994, just about the same time the wizard began writing his Monday Morning Memos. In the intervening 20 years, Erik has now made more than 150,000 flutes, whereas the wizard thinks he’s a big deal for writing a measly 1,063 memos. I’ve […]

Repurpose the Proven When we think of Romeo and Juliet, we think of Shakespeare. But Shakey didn’t create those characters. The source of Shakespeare’s 1594 play was a 3000-line poem by Arthur Brooke, Romeus and Juliet, published 32 years earlier in 1562. But Romeo and Juliet didn’t originate with Arthur Brooke, either. He compiled it […]

This is an example of a counseling session at the Toad and Ostrich. (We have a strict No Whiners policy.) Wizard Academy alumni are invited to drop in on any Friday afternoon at 4:30. Just let the Vice Chancellor know you’re coming. Daniel@WizardAcademy.org

IMPORTANT:  My pal Sherlock is the star of a new video for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. It’s fun to listen to Dutch people talk. Sherlock is a friend of William Hackett-Jones, Wizard Academy’s official Ambassador to Russia.

“Ava was young and slender and proud. And she had It. It, hell; she had Those.” – Dorothy Parker, in a 1927 book review of “It,” in The New Yorker. “It” was a steamy-for-its-time romance novel written by a pioneer of the genre, Elinor Glyn, who  continually used the word “it” when referring to sex appeal. Parker was obviously annoyed […]