The Man Who Invented Christmas - A Review of Sorts

Stave I

In 1965, I heard A Christmas Carol for the first time on WTFM, an FM radio station in New York, when one of the DJs read the story on Christmas Eve in lieu of Christmas Music. I was fascinated with the entire story and after Christmas went to the library to get the book.

Then, one Christmas season in the late 60s or early 70s, I saw the movie with Alistair Sim and was completely hooked. It has become a tradition for me ever since. And I own four DVD versions of the story.

Later, I read that Charles Dickens had fallen on hard times as several books did not do as well as they should have. He needed money to be able to buy present for his family and was desperate. He struggled with ideas until finally, in October, 1843, he began to work on A Christmas Carol. On December 19, 1843, it was published for the first time and by Christmas Eve the entire first edition was sold out.

Fast forward to September of this year. Our client, Cross Pens, asked us to provide the social creative for the posts you have been seeing on the Madison Avenue Social and Cross social sites since early November for The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Mad Ave Social is thrilled to help #CrossPens – who has created a special Exclusive Cross Century Classic Black Fountain Pen and Ink Bottle Gift Set which ties into this incredible Bleecker Street Media film, as a perfect holiday gift for your favorite writer or artist. All for just $95. Obviously, since Dickens was a writer and Cross produces writing instruments, it was a perfect match.

So much for the set-up and advertisement. Now to the movie.

The movie begins in 1842, in New York City, as Charles Dickens, played magnificently by Dan Stevens, was being feted for his successes as a writer. He was on the top of the world, with nothing in his way. By October, 1843, he had written and published three books which were critical flops and was paid little to no money. He had fallen from the epitome of success to the bottom of English society in a matter of months, and was in huge debt, as it happens, because he lived beyond his means.

He was suffering from writers’ block and felt that the coming Christmas would be a disaster for his family, when he decided to go out for a walk to his favorite hangout. On his way, his mind was racing. Subconsciously, he began to formulate ideas from the people he saw and from the street scenes in front of him.

Without giving too much away, he ran into some of the people he made memorable in the story: Marley, the waiter at the pub; Edward Chapman, his jolly friend and publisher who becomes Christmas Present; Tara, his children’s caretaker, who was an orphan herself, who becomes Christmas Past; a dancing couple in the street who became Mr and Mrs Fezziwig; and of course, Ebenezer Scrooge, played by the great Christopher Plummer. These are the demons and angels who become residents in his head, as he struggles with the story, until finally it coalesces as the great story we know today.

To me, I found this story to ride the emotional wave, from sadness to joy, feeling the bitterness Dickens (Stevens) felt to the humor and sheer glee when he realizes his accomplishments in only six weeks. Along the way, we see him flashback to his childhood, when his father abandoned him at the bootblack factory; his father’s miserly actions, when he sells his son’s autographs; all the personal demons which made him who he was.

Ultimately, this is a story you can enjoy and can relate to with your family. As you watch the movie, you realize how the characters come to life, how he rides that emotional rollercoaster and finally, share in the joy he feels as he accomplishes the impossible. Dickens was able to take the religious story of Christmas and give it a secular spin, teaching us about charity, kindness and caring for others.

I will definitely see The Man Who Invented Christmas again before Christmas. And next year, when the DVD is released, I will buy it to add to my Christmas Carol collection.

Frank McHale is the Chief Operations Officer of Madison Avenue Social.

The History of AI, in Fiction & in Reality

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Virtual Reality,

Big Data, Alternate and Augmented Reality

For those who once watched “Star Trek” or read/saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” or read ANYTHING by Isaac Asimov, we were all amazed back then that these ideas would be remotely possible in just 50 years. At least, “Star Trek” put it several hundred years into the future, in the 23^rd century.

But since “Star Trek” and “2001” first made their debuts, these terms are now commonplace and much of that equipment which was shown back then, are either far along in development or, in many cases, now being used.

Who knew?  Were Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov such futurists?

Or, did they merely spark imagination to bring fantasy into a reality, from which there is now no going back? Perhaps, it was the NASA space program, which sparked new ideas in these very gifted people, who saw that the improbable was really possible. After all, the computers back in the 1960s were huge clunkers that took up gymnasiums.  Now, they fit into the palm of your hand.

Look at some of the more routine items we use today: MRIs, cell phones, CT and PT Scans, Cyber-Knife procedures, flat screen TVs, the internet, video phones, debit cards, the space station, Bluetooth, voice-recognition equipment, transponders, like LoJack and GPS. These all made their appearances in the 1960s in science fiction. Even NASA’s space shuttle, which flew from 1981 to 2011, took Heywood Floyd to the moon in Kubrick’s imagination back in 1962; artistically to the music of Johann Strauss’s “Blue Danube” no less.

Imagination

It’s only a matter of time until Captain Kirk’s “Beam me up, Scotty” will ultimately become less an imaginary art and more of a real utility, right?  Care to guess what year it will be possible?

Think about this. “HAL” was the first time many of us met an Artificial Intelligence-enhanced creature, with voice recognition. Now, we have SIRI, EVA, Alexa, Cortana and Google Home, literally at our beck and call.

Machine Learning? There was HAL again in 1962, as he realized that Dave Bowman was going to destroy him. And yes, I said “HE”, because HAL had, what we call today, male “personality insights”; just like “Star Trek, The Next Generation’s” character, “Data” who had personality insights, too.

Today we also have IBM’s Watson with those same personality insights.

Virtual and Augmented Reality? Captain Kirk was tortured with AR in 1968 and Captain Picard loved to go to the VR holodeck to find some good, old-fashioned, (in the 24^th Century) R&R in 1987.

As you look around and hear terms like AI, VR and Big Data, in business, we first heard them in a movie theater, or at home watching TV, not in your “office” whatever your individual model looks like.

They may have not been as we know them as today, but they’ve been around for over a half century. And they are being improved upon all the time. Captain Kirk knew that when he told Scotty, “Young minds, fresh ideas.”

So, the next time you sit down to watch “Star Trek”, or the movie “I-Robot” or so many others that today fill the choices we have almost everywhere, remember the pioneers who thought of these concepts in the 1960s, way back when it was good old “Sci-Fi.” Today, these ideas are our “Science Reality.”

And who among us will be the next Roddenberry, Clarke and Asimov’s who will “write” something – maybe in computer code this time – which some might think is improbable, but someday, will be absolutely possible!

Spock may have said it best when he saw mere concepts come to fruition: “Fascinating.”


Frank McHale is the Chief Operations Officer of Madison Avenue Social

Executive Decision: Protecting YOUR Reputation

I have posted several articles written by others, which highlight sexual harassment accusations made against powerful people across many industries, including Banking and Finance, Entertainment, Politics, Media and other industries too numerous to mention.

For those who don’t know what constitutes sexual harassment, here is an abridged definition: Harassment (typically of a woman) in a workplace, or other professional or social situation, involving the making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks.

That pretty much nails it down for all to understand. But there is a caveat, which also must be considered and it is that it is not limited to denigrating women. Men have been known to be harassed, as well. But, this a rarity.

Just because someone is in a powerful position, or even one who is a perfunctory supervisor, does not give license for that person to make advances to those who they control. Yes, we have heard all there is to hear about Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly and Mike Cagney and their exploits. Just this week, we heard that Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman and even former President George HW Bush were accused of this crime of violating personal space of other women and men.

Even someone who has aided and abetted the perpetrator in his or her crimes is as guilty as the perpetrator. Worse probably.

Millions, and maybe billions, of dollars have been paid to silence the victims, provided they sign non-disclosure agreements (NDA’s) while accepting the payment of hush money. By doing so, they allowed the same perpetrators to commit the same crime again against other unsuspecting victims freely and without controls.

But, others also decided to keep silent, without this settlement bonus so that their careers would not be impacted. This includes Ashley Judd, Megan Kelly and others. They are as guilty of allowing the perp to go after other victims unrestrained for fear THEIR careers would be shattered, as much as those who took the money.

There have been times when someone may have told a joke or showed a cartoon which would be humorous or outright hysterical in a nightclub or in your living room. But, it is totally inappropriate in a place of business. And just so there is no misunderstanding of the definition of business, here are two pretty definite examples of “business”: 1. person's regular occupation, profession, or trade and, 2. the practice of making one's living by engaging in commerce.

The problem now, as I see it, is this: Because of all the actual offensive acts, comments, etc., that have been reported lately, will an actual touch of tenderness and friendship on someone’s arm or shoulder, or a caring hug to comfort someone now be taken as “sexual harassment”? I surely hope not. I would hope we could make the distinction between wanton aggressive behavior and an act of humanity.

Here are some final words to all people in those powerful positions you worked so hard to achieve: If you wouldn’t want someone to touch your son or daughter inappropriately, or say something that you know is lewd and disgusting, remember that other parents would not want you to grope or create fear in theirs. If you think you are above scrutiny, karma always has a funny way to make sure it all comes out even. It isn’t the money, folks; it is your reputation, which is the ONLY thing you truly control in this life.

Don’t blow it. The better part of valor is to keep your lewd words and groping hands to yourself. And then, your reputation will definitely be secure.

Frank McHale is the Chief Operations Officer of Madison Avenue Social