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Expedient Means

Film, technology and the art of seeing clearly

Author: Steve A Furman

  • In a Taxi? You Just Might Be On Camera

    San Francisco is on of my favorite cities. What’s not to like? It’s scenic, progressive, and has so many landmarks; Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the Embarcadero, Alcatraz. While traveling to the airport from the downtown district by taxi the other day, I noticed something I haven’t seen before. The…

  • Video Self-Portrait From SFMOMA

    I had an extra hour this week between sessions while attending a board of advisors meeting in San Francisco, so I walked two blocks to the Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). I really love this structure and was here while it was under construction, then came back a couple of times after…

  • NeuroMarketing – New Tools For Engaging Customers

    Fast forward to some time in the future. The marketing game has completely changed, having evolved beyond test and control, research, etc. Imagine you can understand how your customers react to your products. By react I mean physical responses such as eye movements, heart rate, breathing pace, galvanic skin response…

  • Jon Stewart – Sharpen Your Interviewing Skills

    I’m a huge fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. But for all the smarts and wit there is a section of the show I don’t enjoy, and that’s the interview. It nearly always loses me. I realize it’s not a talk show, and the guests are appearing to…

  • United is Winning Me Back

    September 30, 2016. Update to this post. United has not won me back. Loyalty has been broken. I pick my flights based on price and availability. Same goes for American. In the early ’90’s I frequently found myself on an airplane. Calling Chicago home is really a good thing for…

  • CEO Follows Advice of Deity, Decides to Blog

    Part II from the Forrester Marketing Forum held in Los Angeles, April 7-9, 2008. Part I, Understanding Customer Engagement is here. Forrester’s CEO, George Colony led off the second day with a talk entitled Confessions of a CEO Blogger. As he tells the story, he had a dream some years…

  • No Country For Old Men – You Can’t Stop What’s Coming

    A brief forewarning. Some people may find this post to be a little on the dark side. Just remember, I’m writing about the movies. None of these things really happened. On screen killings are nothing new. How many times have you seen someone get rubbed out in a movie? Probably…

  • Understanding Customer Engagement

    I attended the Forrester Marketing Forum in Los Angeles (April 7-9), where over 850 marketers from many of the world’s best known brands gathered to discuss customer engagement. I know customer engagement is not a new concept. We throw it around the office all the time. But what does it…

  • Bloggers are Dropping Dead. Yikes!

    An article in this week’s Sunday New York Times reported on health risks for people who blog incessantly. Two accomplished bloggers recently died. One of a heart attack and the other from a massive coronary. Others say they are stressed out, and as a result gain weight or have sleep…

  • Under the Same Moon – Film Review

    Patricia Riggen’s Under the Same Moon is a sweet and surprisingly powerful film that disguises a complex study of Mexican immigration within a simple story of a mother’s love for her son. Rosario (Kate Del Castillo) is a young mother without a husband. She crossed the boarder four years earlier…

  • 543 Parking Spaces Remaining

    April is a heavy travel month. Three business trips plus a very much anticipated week long vacation; a delayed spring break. Today my travels have taken me to Columbus, Ohio, spending two nights in a Hilton Hotel near a new and brisk residence and shopping district (Easton). While we were…

  • Breaking News: Earth on Course to Destruction

    Two stories about the possible destruction of earth caught my eye last week. Guess my brain was looking for something new to worry about. One story said the destruction could potentially be caused by man’s experiments, and the story documented that our planet’s death is inevitable, as nature and physics…

  • Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Film Review

    Elizabeth the 1st has been endlessly studied from all angles. Historians, novelists, biographers and of course filmmakers. Arguably, no one knows as much about the psyche and behavior of Elizabeth than the academy award-winning actress Cate Blanchett. Playing her first in the 1998 film Elizabeth, and continuing her interpretation in…

  • Is Radio Dead? WXRT Says No

    In an earlier post I wrote about my bliss over having discovered Pandora, an online radio station service. A big attraction is not having to listen to annoying commercials and even more annoying DJ’s. The goal of today’s digital music formats is to eliminate the business of music and get…

  • Participation, Power and Social Influence Marketing

    So much talk about social media. It can’t be ignored by firms who want to find more effective ways to market. Everywhere pundits are saying that advertising, as we know it, is dead. That social is the next thing. If we create an environment or community where customers can help…

  • Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who – Film Review

    It’s not that easy to find a theatrical release suitable for a 3 year old. But it was Good Friday, we weren’t working or schooling, and determined to go to the show. So we navigated our way through a spring snowstorm to see Hollywood’s latest attempt to bring a Dr.…

  • You Don’t Always Die from Tobacco

    Society today is rejecting cigarette smoke at a faster rate than ever. When I moved to Chicago in 1985, I remember sitting in meeting rooms and having people light up cigarettes, even cigars. Amazing. Now of course places of work and public places, even restaurants don’t allow it. I never…

  • Bill Clinton for President!?

    Of course it can’t happen. I know not everything about it was good. And on today’s world stage he may not even be the right choice. But I do miss having a President that is engaged, can speak without being tongue-tied, is intelligent and focused on meaningful goals of average…

  • Arthur C. Clarke – The Cosmos Reclaims One of it’s Own

    It was late fall 1968. I just got off the school bus and walked into my childhood home. My father greeted me by saying he had a very special birthday present. We got into the car and 90 minutes later we were in St. Louis, driving up to a movie…

  • Social Influence Marketing – Learn or Burn

    Everyone is a buzz about social networks and the impact they will have on marketing. As a marketer myself, it’s something I have been thinking a lot about lately. The world is changing, converging and seems to be getting smaller. As a result the market size and opportunity is getting…