In Case You Were Wondering What I Was Thinking

In Case You Were Wondering What I Was Thinking

• American Idol is an example of a once-dominating franchise that ate itself to death through self-indulgence.

• The co-author of my first book in 1988 told me that extreme expressives have to applaud themselves if they can’t get anyone else to applaud them. Today, they are crawling all over Facebook, printing their latest clients testimonials, fan mail, and grammar school report cards.

• The next person who is a complete stranger to me and asks me to endorse his or her work seriously needs an electroshock. Can you say, “Ethics”? Only slightly dumber are the strangers who write me and would like referrals for their business.

• “House of Cards” is at the same time intriguing, revolting, hysterical, and depressing. We have three episodes left and I don’t want it to end.

• I’ve noted some morons are now arguing that I’m wrong because at my age I don’t have the right perspective. Once it was that I was too young, occasionally because I am a male, frequently because I’m a New Yorker, and often because I was Jewish and then Catholic. The commonality, amongst all the bigotry? These are people who can’t argue an intellectual point because they have no ammunition with which to do so.

• When I look at the preponderance of comments on the social media platforms, I become seriously worried about our future, because these people have or can have children! (Imagine their rooms with wall-to-wall Successeries framed sayings….)

• Outside of the Four Seasons and Peninsula hotel chains, the next time I find a luxury hotel, with the entire management staff oriented toward the guest’s comfort and not revenue, will be the first.

• There’s a huge political dispute among the American Kennel Club, the German Shepherd Dog Club of America, and the White German Shepherd Dog Club of America over whether the white dogs are a separate breed, should be allowed to be shown in competition, and so on. Fortunately, the dogs have more brains than the club officers.

• I’m sitting in the combined Air France, Alitalia first class lounge at Logan Airport in Boston. Four members of management are doing nothing but moving furniture around, often right by us, and the woman looks at us and never smiles or acknowledges our existence. Not only is service generally worse in Europe, it’s even worse with European managers in the U.S.!

© Alan Weiss 2013