BOOK
Every five years or so, I make a point of rereading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s literary masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, to restore my faith in literary excellence. Gatsby was published in 1925, when he was 29-years-old and had already achieved success with This Side of Paradise. There may be no such thing as the perfect novel — but this book, which captures all the romance and glitter of the Jazz Age, comes very close.
And, even though it was published 88 years ago, it still has an enormous impact on our American sensibilities. For example, the character of Gatsby and his fragile hold on the American Dream has become embedded in our culture. Even the cover of the original Gatsby is fascinating: a mouth over a blue skyline, and eyes with nude females reflected in the irises. It is among one of the most celebrated pieces of art in American literature.

AUTHOR
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. His early success enabled a marriage to Zelda Sayre (1900-1948), which led to an opulent lifestyle in New York, the French Riviera and Paris where Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway. As noted in Woody Allen’s film, Midnight in Paris, (see The French Connection, 9/2/12) Hemingway disliked Zelda intensely. He declared her “insane” — a prescient description if there ever was one.

In 1927, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood to increase his earnings and cope with the expense of Zelda’s incarcerations at various mental institutions. He subsequently earned his highest annual salary ever ($30,000) or $400,000 in today’s currency. Royalties from Gatsby totaled $8,400 during Fitzgerald’s lifetime. Today, Gatsby is read in nearly every high school and college and produces $500,000 a year in a trust fund for his heirs.

MOVIES
Timeline: In 1926, a silent film (now lost) appeared, followed by another Gatsby movie in 1949 starring Alan Ladd and Shelley Winters. Twenty-five years later (1974) one featuring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow appeared and now, a distinctly different Gatsby is out (2013) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. Gatsby has also been adapted for: TV, opera, radio, theater and computer games.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the 1974 film, I was surprised to read that it is considered by some to be “beautiful but dull”. I totally disagree — especially in view of the incandescent portrayal of Daisy by Mia Farrow. What I didn’t realize, until I came across an article in Town and Country (May, 2013), was that the screenplay was written by Francis Ford Coppola. He relates, “I was asked to do a rewrite of Gatsby — and completed the script in three weeks.”

Not knowing what to expect we decided to see the newly released Gatsby on May 15, 2013. I had read two reviews: one by Rex Reed in The New York Observer and one in the New York Post by Lou Lumenick. Reed eviscerated the movie and gave it one star out of four while Lumenick loved it and gave the movie three-and-one-half stars out of four.

My opinion? I loved it! Yes, it’s exuberant and over-the-top, but New York in the Roaring ’20s was a jaw-dropping town. I was pleased that Australian writer/director Baz Luhrmann made so much use of Fitzgerald’s lyrical language. In my mind, the ’20s-era fashions alone are the price of admission. Catherine Martin, costume designer and wife of the director says, “I spent four years on research”. One more tidbit: the spectacular Gatsby mansion is Luhrmann’s “old Christian Brothers College” in Adelaide.

Everyone knows that logos can make a critical and lasting impact. Very often a company’s image is a direct reflection of its logo. So, let’s see what makes a logo memorable and discuss why it’s so important for a company.

Briefly, there are five pivotal factors concerning logos:

Simplicity — a good logo is distinctive, practical and simple.

Delivery — the purpose of a logo is to deliver a clear, concise message.

Longevity — an effective logo should endure for 10, 20 years or more.

Flexibility — the logo should be functional and able to work across a variety of mediums and applications.

Visibility — a good logo combines shapes and typefaces with maximum visual impact.

The Cost of a Logo

Some of the most famous logos of all time have been created for next to nothing, while huge sums have been paid for others. For example, in 1971, Nike cofounder, Phil Knight, asked Carolyn Davidson, a design student at Portland State University to create a logo. He paid her $35. This iconic logo has remained unaltered since that time. Knight subsequently gave Davidson shares in the company — now worth $600,000.

Both the Google logo designed by cofounder Sergey Brin in 1998 and the Coca-Cola logo created by the founder’s bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, cost exactly nothing to create.  On the other hand, Pepsi’s 2008 rebranding cost a cool $1 million for a complete branding package.

Three Redesign Hits

A company’s logo is a powerful part of their corporate identity. But, sometimes logos need a makeover. Let’s take a look:

Kentucky Fried Chicken has changed its logo four times in 40 years and, with each redesign, it becomes more about Colonel Sanders. The current logo has bold colors and lines, which makes it visually striking. And, instead of a suit, the colonel now wears an apron.

Starbucks celebrated its 40th year in 2011 by rolling out a new logo. This meant it had to update 16,500 stores. The distinct mermaid logo speaks for itself.

Apple’s logo was designed in 1976 by Ronald Wayne, the third cofounder of Apple. The logo depicted Isaac Newton sitting under a tree, an apple dangling over his head. Wayne left Apple after 12 days and sold out to Jobs/Wozniak for $800. Four years later, Apple made 300 people millionaires.

In 1977, Jobs had graphic designer Rob Janoff design a new logo with a “bite” (making it an apple, not a tomato). The multicolored Apple was used for 20 years before it was axed by Jobs after his return to the company in 1997. The new monochromatic logo is still in use. It’s perfect for branding Apple’s products.

One Big Miss

When Gap released its new logo in 2010, it was a huge disaster. The old logo was in use for over 20 years. There was a major negative backlash which resulted in 5,000 comments on Gap’s Twitter page. It only got worse because Gap chose to remain silent about the whole issue. Shortly afterward, the new logo was ditched and the old one reinstated.

Gap president, Marka Hansen, was fired after the redesign fiasco. She had been with the company 24 years.

On January 2, 2013 I wrote a blog for this website entitled Dos and Don’ts: When You Are Lunching With a Special Guest. It focused on how to conduct oneself when dining with one’s boss or a prospective employer. I’d like to follow this with excerpts from an intriguing column that appeared in the Financial Times, 4/6/13. The author, Tim Hayward, has written a fun piece that was a result of his visit to Britain’s Eat Cambridge Food and Drink Festival which included an invitation to Dine Like Downton.

During this delightful evening, participants dressed formally and learned the fine points of the arcane dining rules that are observed in Downton Abbey, the wildly successful British TV series created by Academy Award Winner, Julian Fellowes, and which is now appearing in more than 100 countries worldwide. Based on this experience, Hayward decided to write a witty, tongue-in-cheek update of Rules for Modern Dining.

Today: new verboten subjects

Politics, sex and religion have always been improper topics of conversation at dinner. Since the news today consists of little but politics, sex and religion, Hayward suggests that these become the only acceptable, even compulsory topics. Instead, we should avoid any discussion of schools, children or real estate since no one has the faintest idea what’s really happening in any of these categories.

Today: grace is replaced by bloggers 

Saying grace is usually considered to be at the discretion of the host. The nonreligious are expected to remain silent or simply bow their heads. Fortunately, for the godless, a new secular grace has taken over. Diners pause for a few moments while the food bloggers at the table record their dinner for posterity with phones and cameras. The blogless are forbidden to mutter under their breath.

Today: foodies offer samples to all

Upper-class butler service has been replaced with family service where each diner offers to help others to everything on the table. Of course, pressing lima beans on Aunt Hortense tests one’s patience immensely. And, now that we’re all foodies, an entirely new protocol has arisen. One diner will declare the sole meuniere “utterly to die for” and offer samples to one and all. This can take four times longer than passing the peas.

Today: ethnic cooking reigns supreme

In Downton Abbey the Edwardian country house seldom strayed beyond the basics. Soup, fish and meat were all consumed with cutlery that one had used forever. No more. Modern gatherings are increasingly influenced by the latest trends in ethnic cooking. Hence, today’s diner needs to know how to:

Twizzle spaghetti expertly

Raise a rice bowl to one’s mouth

Pick up with fancy chopsticks

Eat with the right hand only

Slurp noodles elegantly

Bear in mind: you should conduct yourself in life as at a feast. Epictetus (55 AD-135 AD)

In the weekend Financial Times (Mar. 23/24, 2013) I was astounded to read an incredible statistic in Simon Kuper’s very informative column entitled, Open Shot. This is what he says, “I remember in 2003 asking someone, “What’s a blog?” By 2006, the firm NM Incite, had identified 36 million blogs worldwide, five years later (2011) there were 173 million.”

Kuper goes on to say that, “this is a very modern phenomenon. E-mails kicked off an unprecedented expansion in writing and blogs have greatly improved the way we write. The Internet has done wonders: stilted written English has become much livelier. Bad writing still abounds, but we’re getting there.” Ergo: practice makes perfect.

Writing Killer Blog Posts

Here’s a shorter version of an excellent piece entitled How to Write Killer Blog Posts by B.L. Ochman, an Internet marketing consultant for the Ford Motor Co. and IBM. Salient points: (a) Use simple, declarative sentences and strong action verbs, (b) Link to other blogs and websites, (c) Keep posts at 450 words or less, (d) Keep paragraphs short; leave white space, (e) Use bulletpoints, subheads, bold text and italics for emphasis.

Social Media and “Horizontal Media”

A recent article in The Economist looks at how social media technologies have changed how we gather, filter and distribute news. Jay Rosen, a professor at New York University has termed this change “horizontal media”. News is no longer gathered exclusively by reporters and turned into a story. Rather, with blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media more and more people are involved in creating and sharing news.

Social Media and the Workplace

Has social media impacted our personal lives? Are we more or less productive? A 200-page study conducted by Pierre Khawand, CEO of People-OnTheGo is a comprehensive study of more than 1,000 business professionals. The study found that social media is on the rise — especially among Generation Y (born late 1970′s to late 1990′s).

A number of employees estimate that they spend about four hours a day (half a workday) managing multiple “in-boxes” — more than one hour is spent on social media a day with Gen Y spending the most time (1.8 hours).

More than 80% of Gen Y respondents check Facebook regularly — making this the most used social media platform for this group. The time spent on social media, however, is spent more for personal reasons than work reasons, with only 6.8% of the participants indicating they use social media solely for work purposes.

What is perhaps the most disconcerting issue raised by this study is that most participants check their “in-boxes” too often — constantly interrupting their work. Researchers have consistently found that multitasking reduces productivity — tasks can take more than twice as long to complete and can lead to an increase in errors. That’s a point well-taken.

According to a recent study, the verbiage that appears on Twitter reveals a great deal about the person who sent it. It also says a lot about the city and state where the message was created. (See “heat” map: Red = relatively happy. Blue = relatively less happy. Gray = neutral.)

Of course, those who look good love this research — while those who don’t are probably looking askance at the whole project. So, who is responsible for this groundbreaking approach to Twitter? Apparently, it all started at Burlington’s University of Vermont where researchers collected 10 million geotagged tweets from 373 urban areas across the United States in 2011.

Conducting the Study

According to the study, determining the “happiness” in those tweets required the use of the Language Assessment by Mechanical Turk (LabMT) word list which is assembled by combining 5,000 most frequent words occurring in each of four text sources: Google Books (English), music lyrics, The New York Times and Twitter.

These individual words have been scored by users of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service on a scale of 1 (sad) to 9 (happy) which resulted in a measure of average happiness for each given word. For example: the word “rainbow” would score high on the happiness scale, with an 8.1, while “earthquake” would score low, with a 1.9.

The researchers made no attempt to analyze the meaning of a text. However, they say that, for large datasets, simply counting the words and averaging their happiness content produces “reliable” results. The authors of this new study do an admirable job of showing that their data correlates with other existing measures of happiness, e.g., Gallup.

Results of the Study

Now, let’s take a look at some of the “city” statistics:

The 10 happiest cities in the U.S. are:  Napa, CA, Longmont, CO, San Clemente, CA, Santa Fe, NM, Santa Cruz, CA, Green Bay, WI, Santa Rosa, CA, Simi Valley, CA, Lafayette, CO and Asheville, NC (look at all those California locations).

The 10 saddest cities in the U.S. are: Beaumont, TX, Albany, GA, Texas City, TX, Shreveport, LA, Monroe, LA, Memphis, TN, Battle Creek, MI, Flint, MI, Lima, OH and Houma, LA

And the statistics for the states:

The five happiest states are: Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Utah and Vermont (New York came in 15th).

The five saddest states are: Louisiana, Mississippi, Maryland, Delaware and Georgia.

The researchers found that the Bible Belt stretching across the American South and into Texas was less happy than the West or New England. The only town among the 15 saddest that was not in the South or the Rust Belt was Waterbury, Connecticut.

They also admit to limitations of the study, i.e., only 15% of online adults regularly use Twitter, and 18 to 29-year-olds and minorities tend to be more highly represented than the general population.

Times Square is the Happiest Spot

Times Square isn’t just the “Crossroads of the World” — it’s the happiest spot in the Big Apple. Manhattan is also happier than the outer boroughs according to researcher, Lewis Mitchell. However, he notes that tourism is sure to play a role. “We know people who travel are generally happier — so possibly that plays a role when people tweet,” he adds.

Entertaining a client? Dining with your boss? Interviewing for a job? All of these can be described as “special lunches”.

The following is excerpted from an interview with Barbara Pachter, an etiquette consultant that appeared in Bottom Line/Personal, in December, 2012. Some of the points are quite basic — but others make a lot of sense. Take a look.

WHAT NOT TO ORDER

Ordering food that’s challenging to eat. If you order spaghetti in tomato sauce, a single splatter can make you look like a slob. Order crab legs and your attention will be focused on cracking them open. Instead, order an easy-to-eat meal that you have eaten before.

Failing to mirror your guest’s order. If your dining partner orders an appetizer or dessert, you should order the same (you don’t have to finish it). Otherwise, there will be an awkward time when one of you is eating and the other is not.

Placing a complex order. Ordering off the menu or saying things such as “hold this” or “put that on the side” can make you seem difficult to please.

HOW NOT TO EAT

Eating much faster or slower than your dining partner. Matching your table mates’ eating pace will make them feel more in tune with you. It also avoids awkward stretches when one person is eating and the other is not.

Eating someone else’s bread. Some folks accidentally take their neighbor’s bread or water when dining. Think “BMW” as in auto: Bread on your left, Meal in the middle, Water on your right.

Saying, “Take this back.” Sending food back means that your guest will have food while you don’t, which throws off the timing of the meal. It also make you look picky.

HOST MISTAKES

Choosing an inappropriate restaurant. If you’re the host, select a restaurant where you have dined previously so that you can be certain it is appropriate and to your guest’s liking.

Letting guests handle their own problems. It’s your responsibility as host to look after your guests. If a guest is served the wrong meal you should say, “Let’s have this taken care of” and, unless your guest declines your assistance, signal the waiter and politely explain what the problem is.

Let guests know why you selected a restaurant. This shows that you put some thought into the meeting. When your guest arrives you can say, “I know you like steak and this place has the best steak in town.”

GUEST MISTAKES

Ordering one of the most expensive dishes on the menu. Your host may consider this taking unfair advantage. It’s acceptable only if the host orders a high-end item or recommends one.

Being unprepared for light conversation. Even if the purpose of the meal is to discuss an important topic, there’s likely to be small talk. Check whether there’s anything new going on in your dining partner’s life.