Cultural Commentary from the Catskills

I don't know who listens to Dave Ramsey, conservative finance guru, but I like though not aligned with all his preachings.  I'm always amazed at the low financial IQ of most of America - seems to me that would make life very scary.  His anti-debt mantras ring true, though I use debt heavily, but not consumer, mostly business.

I cannot believe Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get it On' is being used to sell Reese's Peanut Butter cups.  Not sure why there is a rash of great songs being cheaply commercialized, but I'm seeing it more and more and each time it's an eye-popper, jaw-dropper.  "Unchained Melody' for Kentucky Fried chicken - that hurt, and a lot more.  You've always had the crossover, but typically the brands being sold were much more aligned with the artist, ad, etc.., - think Nick Drake's Pink Moon, to promote VW's.

Watched Al Pacino in Scarface last night.  Was trying to watch the new Amazon "Hunter" but wasn't that great, so stayed with Pacino.  As I watched it, it just really reminded me of the mistakes of youth - when I was like 17, dating the daughter of a navy midshipman and father of 3 daughters, and they kindly ask me to pick the movie from Blockbuster to watch, and I choose Scarface.   They were well-mannered enough not to kick me out on my butt, but over the years it has sunk in how inappropriate that movie was on many levels - the sex, language, drugs, etc...  Now that I'm a dad of 50 yrs old, I can really see the error of that choice.   Makes me cringe nearly as bad as watching Bloomberg in his first debate.

My son is playing lacrosse this year, and I can see why it has historically been the bastion for white rich kids - wow, expensive, with little to no school supplied equipment.  I was a huge baseball player - and quite good - so to see him go to the dark side is difficult, though I encouraged it and look forward to the season.  He's athletic but a bit uncoordinated at times, so this running and throwing and catching should move him forward.  Also have him jumping rope, which is comical, and mostly unsuccessful.

Sold my condo on the Bay in Miami's South Beach last week.  Such a great spot, but such a god-awful Board and building it made the whole experience less than it should have been.  Personal real estate always comes with higher emotional weight and expectations than my business stuff - and I always keep that in mind as we transact business with our clients from day to day.