On Bridgerton, Adjoa Andoh plays Lady Danbury, best friend and court counselor to the Queen of England during the Regency Period. (1811 to 1820) No such character existed, but isn’t it nice to think it could have been possible?

On Sanditon, our strong, confident, wealthy, aristocratic black female is Georgiana Lambe, heiress to a huge fortune left by her father, the owner of a sugar plantation in the Caribbean. Miss Lambe is played by Crystal Clarke.

On Vikings: ValhallaCaroline Hendersonis Haakon, the strong, confident, wise, wealthy, aristocratic black female ruler of the Vikings of Norway and the Kingdom of Kattigat 1,000 years ago.

“The wheel of justice turns slowly, but it grinds exceedingly small.” The first person to make that observation was Sextus Empiricus, who wrote, “The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small.” He lived in the early 3rd century AD, possibly late 2nd century. Older still is the 37th Psalm, written by King […]

James Taylor wrote this song 48 years ago. The wizard has been singing it since 1974. Sing a song for the wrong and the wickedand the strong and the sick, as thick as thieves;For the faceless fear that was never so near,Too clear to misbelieve.Well, the sea is jumping salty and the porpoise has the […]

“One day in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”– Sigmund Freud “Joy in spite of everything is yanking the bell rope despite physical affliction — it has become my Quasi Motto. One of my books is a hallucinogen, an aphrodisiac, a mood elevator, an intellectual garage door opener, and […]

“So how did altruists survive at all, when natural selection seems to favor the egoist? And eventually, Darwin found a solution. He didn’t write it in Origin of Species, he wrote it in his book The Descent of Man. And he said, ‘Any tribe whose members were altruistic, who were always willing to come to the aid […]

“A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.”– William Henry Davies William Henry Davies was a Welsh poet who spent his life as a tramp in the United Kingdom and a hobo in the United States. He was born when Leo Tolstoy was 23 years old. Davies became […]

“Snapshots, when you look at them 16 years later, tell stories of the future that awaited each of the people in the photo on the day the picture was taken.” – Indy Beagle, on the first page of the rabbit hole of the Monday Morning Memo for August 23, 2021

“Maybe you have to be a grandparent to realize how neat kids are. Sometimes they’re bundles of energy gift-wrapped in hand-me-downs. Other times they’re pajamaed packages of sleepy sweetness. Always they’re a miracle. I love the way they chase butterflies, and I love the attention they give to mud puddles and raindrops on a window. […]

Three of the GREAT ONES, Johnny Molson, Tim Miles, and Ryan Patrick talk about ads that work and ads that don’t. Ryan Patrick is on the the cover thumbnail of the video. You should watch it. – Indy

“In a screening room at network headquarters in New York, two CBS vice presidents watched the show in silence. ‘Neither of them laughed once,’ Mendelson recalled. ‘When the lights came on, the executives shook their heads and shrugged. “Well,” said one, “you gave it a good try.” “It seems a little flat,” said the other. […]

“When it came out in 1972 I was 14 years old, I remember the scent of life to be discovered, the first complicit glances with the girls, the life in front of me. Now I’m 64, I’m at the end now. Listening to it now is a set of infinite nostalgia together with the awareness […]

Three of the GREAT ONES, Johnny Molson, Tim Miles, and Ryan Patrick talk about ads that work and ads that don’t. Ryan Patrick is on the the cover thumbnail of the video. You should watch it. – Indy

“Few men who come to the islands leave them; they grow grey where they alighted; the palm shades and the trade-wind fans them till they die, perhaps cherishing to the last the fancy of a visit home, which is rarely made, more rarely enjoyed, and yet more rarely repeated. No part of the world exerts […]

“By trying, we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.” – Mark Twain (1835-1910) another contemporary of Tolstoy

“You know, as a 41 year old, I feel like life has bullied me so much, that I keep my head down, read my sci-fi books, and buy something cool off of Amazon every now and then. I genuinely feel like nothing short of major economic, revolutionary, or global war will change things much. So […]

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest […]

Before Gandhi, there was Tolstoy. When Leo Tolstoy was 54, he wrote a book about the ethical teachings1 of Jesus as revealed in the Sermon on the Mount. For the rest of his life, Tolstoy advocated the use of peaceful, non-violent forms of resistance in the struggle for social change. Gandhi – the person we associate […]

Predictability is the silent assassin of persuasion. When static electricity saturates the sky, lift the lightning rod of the new, the surprising, and the different and let the concert begin. The booming of the big bass drum will make the draperies tremble as the lasers light up the night. Give that anxious electricity something to […]

Every Magician’s Invisible Hand Disney. Just two syllables is all it takes to conjure the memory of a man who made hundreds of millions of people smile. The world has admired the magical mind of Walt Disney for nearly 100 years. I admire his older brother, Roy. Walt was clearly the visionary behind the magic, […]

I went to Golden Girl Dee’s burial yesterday. On my way home I stopped at Two Kings restaurant in Ardmore to see my longest time friend Mary Alice McKee. You may remember her as the one who grew up across the street from me; whose mother never ever let her leave the yard, etc. etc. Her […]

Indy, Can you thank the wizard for me?  A few years ago when I learned that he had published a Monday Morning Memo every Monday for nearly 30 years – never missing one – it was an inspiration to me. Today, I am proud to say that Dave Young and I just completed 52 straight […]

What makes this writing remarkable is1.) the narrator’s feelings are clearly revealed, though they are never described.2.) the prefect, bouncing meter is marvelous misdirection. It causes us to initially assume that this will be a lighthearted, carefree song, but we later realize it is a song of loneliness, longing, and the memory of a happier […]

Culture Wizards Culture: the beliefs and attitude of your employees.Capabilities: what your company is actually good at.Strategy: how you position yourself against your competitors. Strategy is incredibly important, but culture eats strategy for breakfast. When you have an unmotivated culture, your employees will push customers away as quickly as strategy can bring them in. The […]

Do you want to read about the musicians that the other band members of Electric Mayhem were based on?

I have a mansion, forget the priceAin’t never been there, they tell me it’s niceI live in hotels, tear out the wallsI have accountants pay for it all They say I’m crazy but I have a good timeI’m just looking for clues at the scene of the crimeLife’s been good to me so far   […]

Verse 1Why are they so stupid?They’re pretty dumb with their skin.You can get them from the Southland.I hate avocados so much I think it’s a win. Verse 2Well I heard Mr. Young sing about them.Well I heard ol’ Neil put them down.Well I hope you’ll remember A Northern man don’t need them around anyhow. ChorusI hate […]

A “Me” modality 1. Demands freedom of expression. 2. Applauds personal liberty. 3. Believes one man is wiser than a million men.4. Wants to achieve a better life: “I came, I saw, I conquered.”5. Is about big dreams.6. Desires to be Number One. 7. Admires individual confidence and decisive persons.8. Believes leadership is “Look at […]

Sir Francis Bacon “The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.” “Where philosophy is based on reason, faith is based on revelation, and is consequently irrational. The more discordant and incredible the divine mystery is, the more honor is shown to God in believing it, […]

Francis “James” Cameron gave us Avatar and Titanic, the first and third highest-grossing films of all time, bringing in $2.85 billion and $2.19 billion respectively.

Sir Francis Drake was a contemporary of Shakespeare and an explorer and a pirate for England, and a seafaring thorn in the side of King Philip II of Spain, who offered a reward for his capture that would be nearly $9 million today. Queen Elizabeth gave Francis a knighthood.

Francis Ford Coppola gave us Apocalypse Now and The Godfather trilogy.

“Francis Scott Fitzgerald’s main themes are ambition and loss, discipline vs. self-indulgence, love and romance, and money and class. Much like Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner, his work is instantly recognizable due to its distinctive prose style. Whereas Hemingway’s is sparse and Faulkner’s veers toward psychological abstraction, Fitzgerald’s is intensely poetic to the point of […]

“Everybody has a home team: It’s the people you call when you get a flat tire or when something terrible happens. It’s the people who, near or far, know everything that’s wrong with you and love you anyways. These are the ones who tell you their secrets, who get themselves a glass of water without […]

Pete Hamill’s bestseller, Why Sinatra Matters, is not so much about a person, but about a time. Read it and you’ll have a better understanding of how we all became America. – RHW “‘I’d be in the bus, and the guys’d be sleeping or drinking or talking,’ he said once. ‘And I’d look out the […]

Francis “Frank” Zappa was an iconic musician, composer, singer and songwriter whose work was characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation,  musical virtuosity and the comedic satire of American culture. His kids are Dweezil, Moon Unit, Diva Muffin, and Ahmet Emuukha. The wizard and I agree that this song by Francis is Zappa at his quirky best. Don’t bail […]

This poster was recently auctioned at Bonham’s auction house in London where it was expected to bring $1,000 to $1,500, but reached only $700. (Still, a lot of money for a poster that was only $2 when it was new.) Princess Pennie and the wizard were 9 years old when this poster was introduced, but […]

AWARD WINNING RADIO CAMPAIGN by Wizard of Ads© David Salter,  The startling crash of steel ball bearings against the linoleum tiled floor sends shards of splintered wood careening airborne. The shattered experiment has failed. That, however, is the result for which the eager engineer had hoped. What better way to determine the threshold at which a bridge will […]

“There are only a few who control themselves and their affairs by a guiding purpose; the rest do not proceed; they are merely swept along, like objects afloat in a river. And of these objects, some are held back by sluggish waters and are transported gently; others are torn along by a more violent current; […]

“On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people; a decade ago it was almost […]

Well I don’t know why I came here tonightI’ve got the feeling that something ain’t rightI’m so scared in case I fall off my chairAnd I’m wondering how I’ll get down the stairs Clowns to the left of meJokers to the rightHere I am stuck in the middle with you Yes I’m stuck in the […]

You know I need your loveYou’ve got that hold over meLong as I’ve got your loveYou know that I’ll never leaveWhen I wanted you to share my lifeI had no doubt in my mindAnd it’s been you, womanRight down the line I know how much I lean on youOnly you can seeThe changes that I’ve […]

Winding your way down on Baker StreetLight in your head and dead on your feetWell, another crazy dayYou’ll drink the night awayAnd forget about ev’rything This city desert makes you feel so coldIt’s got so many people, but it’s got no soulAnd it’s taken you so longTo find out you were wrongWhen you thought it […]

“As a discriminating reader, I value style nearly as much as substance and nothing frustrates me more than a poorly written book. In the margins of several books in my library I have written, ‘Lots of words but no music.’ I want to read books that sing. I want to feel, to laugh or cry, […]

“I don’t think we should organize a society around the sensibilities of the most easily upset people because then you have a very neurotic society… The main thing is to realize that words depend on their context. Very literal-minded people think a word is a word but it isn’t.” – John Cleese, Sept. 5, 2020

The wizard has counted Jon Silva as one of his closest friends for 30 years, so when Jon decided to move from his hometown of Salinas, CA to Springfield, MO, the wizard volunteered to help him get started.

50% of American adults cannot read a book written at an 8th-grade level. 45 million Americans are functionally illiterate. 1/3 of 4th-graders reach the proficient reading level. 85% of juvenile offenders have problems reading. 3 out of 5 people in American prisons can’t read. 3 out of 4 people on welfare can’t read. (Sources: National […]

Would rather flip through the book at your own pace?

“When religion dates politics, it always ends in rape.” – Roy H. Williams

Would rather flip through the book at your own pace?

I was a fan of Leonard Pitts long before he won a Pulitzer. Sixteen years ago, I transcribed a passage from his newspaper column into my Random Quotes database at MondayMorningMemo.com. I thought it might be appropriate to share today: “We often talk about Hurricane Katrina and 9/11 in terms of failures: failures of intelligence, […]

We must learn to celebrate the ordinary or we will forever be unhappy. Zig Ziglar called it an attitude of gratitude. More than 500 years ago – in 1513 to be exact – Giovanni Giocondo wrote a letter to a friend in which he said, “No peace lies in the future that is not hidden […]

Logos, Ethos, and Pathos are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle.  Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments. Ethos speaks of the speaker’s authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions.These are important tools in advertising, although very few people realize it. LOGOS      ETHOS   […]

According to Lynette Smith, July 4th is the perfect time for writing personal, heartfelt letters to colleagues, family members, friends, and others who have enriched your life. Lynette is a letter-writing evangelist who has authored multiple books on the art and impact of letters that will be kept and saved and savored for decades. “If […]

In 1955, a young man from Chicago was visiting his cousins in Money, Mississippi. He went to the corner grocery store, bought some Bazooka Joe bubblegum, and dropped the money directly into the hand of the white lady behind the counter instead of laying it on the counter for her to pick up. He died […]

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Flip through all 50 of the “Moondog” paintings the artists of Dubai sent to Indy! – RHW