2018 – the quick Sliver

11.30.18 Pamela

November 30, 2018 Mike Keeler

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This is a timely update to a story about women in the news. I recently told you the story of the epic flame-out of Phyllis George. Back in 1971 she had won the Miss America pageant, and then parlayed her good looks and soft southern charm into a gig as…

11.16.18 Ragamuffins

November 16, 2018 Mike Keeler

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Here we are between Halloween and Thanksgiving. And so you’re probably thinking…Ragamuffins! No? Well you probably would if you had grown up Irish, in New York, at the turn of the 20th century. In those days, when there were lots of newly-arrived poor Irish immigrants, a lot of kids decided…

2018 Brooklyn halloween Irish New York Ragamuffins Thanksgiving

11.9.18 Great Memorial

November 9, 2018 Mike Keeler

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The War to End All Wars ended a century ago. But the battle over its memorial is ongoing… The Armistice to end World War 1 happened one hundred years ago this week, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Thirteen years later, in…

2018 frank buckles Joe Weishaar M. Paul Friedberg memorial Pershing Park World War 1

10.26.18 Odyssey of Time

October 26, 2018 Mike Keeler

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Consider this. The oldest known pieces of literature in the Western world are the Iliad and the Odyssey. We don’t know how old they actually are, since they were originally created in oral form and were performed verbally for perhaps centuries before being written down in the 700’s BC. Most…

2018 Black Sea Bulgaria Greece Homer Iliad Odyssey Siren Vase

10.19.18 Claymagic

October 18, 2018 Mike Keeler

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I read the news today, oh boy. And it made me sad. When I was in high school, we watched a movie called Fantastic Animation Film Festival. One of the installments in the film was a trippy 8-minute cartoon that featured a pristine mountain landscape full of happy animals and…

2018 Ammirati and Puris BBDO Claymation M&Ms UPS WIll Vinton

10.12.18 Hot Stuff

October 12, 2018 Mike Keeler

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If the day’s news has got you down, what you need is a jolt of hot sauce. But first, some history. In the 1860’s, Edmund McIlhenny was a wealthy banker living in a mansion in New Orleans. But then came the civil war, and the Union Army marched into town.…

2018 Avery Island capsaicin civil war Edmund McIlhenny hot sauce Tobasco

9.21.18 Lorem Ipsum

September 21, 2018 Mike Keeler

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This essay is just a draft. If it were final, it wouldn’t contain the well-known phrase, lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit. Say what? Okay, an explanation. In the advertising world, when graphic designers create a draft of a layout, they often use placeholder text for the real…

2018 advertising Typesetting

9.7.18 In the Pink

September 7, 2018 Mike Keeler

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For those of you who suspect that Marketing and Graphic Design is all a bunch of hifalutin hooey, the following may or may not dissuade you. For the rest of you, it’s just a fun quiz. There’s an organization in America that was in need of a name. The organization…

2018 Crest David Beckham Inter Miami MLS

8.31.18 Bust to Blast

August 31, 2018 Mike Keeler

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The first blast was almost a bust. On September 5, 1882, a few hundred working-class folks gathered in the streets of lower Manhattan near city hall, intending to hold a parade. It was a rag-tag group; some were wearing professional uniforms, some had flags, a few were on horseback. But…

2018 Labor Day Matthew McGuire New York Union William McCabe

8.24.18 Bravo Zulu McCain

August 24, 2018 Mike Keeler

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The third John Sidney McCain started out as an underachiever. The first two John Sidney McCains both rose to become 4-star admirals in the Navy. But when John Sidney McCain III went to Annapolis, he didn’t do very well. He had a reputation of doing great at things he cared…

2018 John McCain Navy Vietnam