TONY OF ALL MEDIA

I wonder if we will live to see a time when this milestone, this solemn moment in our shared history is properly remembered every year like other important, world-changing events—Pearl Harbor, 9/11, the last public sighting of Richard Simmons? You know, with a towel sale at Macy's?  (Via New York Post)

How many weeks of vacation do you get at your job? Two? Three? (And let's not even get into whether you actually take all the time off that's coming to you—or how much you feel compelled to check your email or hop on a conference call during that precious "leisure" time.) Now, just imagine getting all the time off you need—with pay. It's no fantasy—it's policy at a  marketing company in Indiana. Colin Receveur, founder and CEO of SmartBox Web Marketing in New Albany, just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., says it's just smart business—two words we don't have the occasion to use together much lately. It certainly makes him among the most forward-thinking business leaders (again, "business" and "leader" concepts that are more or less polar opposites) and makes SmartBox a true oddity in this country, famous for squeezing every ounce of productivity (and as a result, spirit) out of its workers. "We look at ou

From Fran Lebowitz to Stevie Nicks, y'all know by now that all my heroes happen to be heroines. Add another one as of today. I never really had an opinion about Chelsea Clinton one way or another (even though I did vote for her mother and father a number of times, and I didn't much care for that ridiculous, nepotistic stint at NBC News, even though I think that reflected badly on the network, not her). But I love her—and started following her on Twitter —after reading this Times story. It takes deftness and intelligence to respond forcefully, even angrily to things most people with a conscience are bothered by (stuff like, oh I don't know, a congressman saying "We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies") but in a way that does not subscribe to the nastiness and pettiness that has come to define political discourse in the age of the reality show president. And as this story points out, if you don't like what she (or I, for that

The news that megabrands AT&T and Johnson & Johnson are the latest in a crush of global giants pulling out from YouTube over concerns about their ads appearing next to offensive content has, naturally, focused largely on the site's owner, Google. On the defensive, Google has promised an "extensive review." But how do you control a robot? The actions of one advertiser or vendor are the least of this, and its getting resolved seems about as likely as our making Bill Gates un-rich or Kim Kardashian un-famous. The larger issue around this mess is that it's yet one more defeat for the inexorable automation of business. And in particular, it is another black eye for programmatic advertising. The Times puts it pretty succinctly: "The issue highlights the continuing risks companies face with programmatic advertising, which sends advertisers' money through a complex web of agencies and third-party networks that resemble a stock exchange before ads

"My idea of a great literary dinner party is Fran, eating alone, reading a book." -Fran Lebowitz (via The New York Times)

Ever notice how chunky glasses make everybody look the same?  You know, pretentious? (Oh, never mind.)

"We felt like we needed to shine a light on the reality that part of the reason people are divided is because they are getting news that is completely biased." -Alyssa Georg of SS+K, who, with Elena Knox, her partner at the agency, created readbetweentheheadlines.com , which compares how CNN and Fox News each covered the same Trump story and offers its own, less slanted take sandwiched in between (via Digiday)

Past meets present to terrific effect in this Domino's homage to 80s classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington on Netflix's 80s-set hit Stranger Things, takes on the role Matthew Broderick made famous in this shot-by-shot redo from agency CP+B, which mixes nostalgia (including Yello's electropop hit "Oh Yeah" from the movie's soundtrack) with today's tech—in this case, the Domino's Pizza Tracker.  Paramount Pictures let the pizza chain meticulously recreate scenes from John Hughes's famous flick in two different promos, as Ad Age reports , as long as it kept to one rule: It could not say the name "Ferris Bueller." Though it hardly had to for those of us who grew up in the 80s. Anybody from that decade knows and loves this movie—and for them, this ad will be an instant hit.

"When I did Chappelle's Show, there were certain conventions of the show that the network resisted. I fought the network very hard so that those conventions could come to fruition. ... So when I watch Key & Peele and I see they're doing a format that I created, and at the end of the show it says 'Created by Key & Peele,' that hurts my feelings." -Dave Chappelle on CBS This Morning, via EW

The social network has proved to be as dangerous as Ralphie's air rifle There's little question that Donald Trump's devotion to Twitter—up to and including his  unhinged rants  this morning about the Democrats, Russia, the latest polls, CNN, etc.—is beyond merely juvenile and annoying, it's dangerous. That's why I started this Change.org petition to have his account deleted. (And I'm not the only one who's urged his silencing.)  But say this—at least the guy never tried to literally kill a nybody using the social network (at least not that we know of).  As Forbes reports this morning: When Kurt Eichenwald, a senior writer at Newsweek, publicly disclosed that he suffered from epilepsy, little did he imagine someone sending a tweet as an online weapon—a GIF image of a strobe light—to provoke a seizure. That is exactly what happened to him late in 2016, and now the FBI has arrested John Rayne Rivello, accusing him of sending the tweet contain

"She has hardly been posting on Instagram. In fact, the app is no longer on her phone, and she doesn't even have the password to her own account. (It's now in the possession of her assistant.) She sometimes fantasizes about disappearing from social media altogether. 'As soon as I became the most followed person on Instagram, I sort of freaked out,' Gomez says. 'It had become so consuming to me. It's what I woke up to and went to sleep with. I was an addict, and it felt like I was seeing things I didn't want to see, like it was putting things in my head that I didn't want to care about. I always end up feeling like shit when I look at Instagram.' " -Selena Gomez, in the April issue of Vogue  

"As a child, Conway picked blueberries in southern New Jersey. ... In 1984, when she was 16, she was crowned Miss New Jersey Blueberry Princess. ... Later on, Conway would earn the distinction of World Champion Blueberry Packer." -New York Magazine's profile of our real first lady, Kellyanne Conway (via NYmag.com)

"The quality of podcasts these days is truly remarkable," starts off this piece dubbed "The Podcasting State of the Union" on the website The Daily Dot. I'm not so sure about that.  Ever have difficulty falling asleep and find that you are fresh out of Nyquil, bourbon and Seconal? A tip: Go to the iTunes store and download the latest podcast from American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis. I think the writer of that Daily Dot piece is confusing quality with quantity—the line should be: "The quality of podcasts these days is truly terrible ." Serial, which was downloaded 100 million times and helped spawn a category that will generate $200 million in advertising business this year, has led to the inevitable: a big, smelly garbage dump of content. Yes, people like Malcolm Gladwell have podcasts and there are a few decent ones, but others who've been invited to populate this medium include reality TV stars (Heather Dubrow and Brandi Glanville from t

"I feud in my head with people. Like now, I'm carrying on a feud with Kellyanne Conway—in my head. The thing is, really, your agent calls: 'You've been offered this part. One of the most important women in government right now, she's counsel to the president, she's a spokesperson. And then you pick up the script and read it and think, they've got to be kidding! You've got a scene where they talk about 'alternative facts'? You've got a scene where you imagine that the microwave is turning into a camera? You go to the inauguration dressed as a nutcracker? You can just hear that conversation with the actor: 'Are you kidding me? Nobody's going to take this character seriously—she's a joke!' " -Jessica Lange, star of the FX miniseries Feud, on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (Via Queerty)

Via The Fashion Spot

The clothes are ugly. And so is the commercial. Victoria Beckham's snoozer of a hotly anticipated accessible "fashion" line hits Target on April 9, and as the just-changing-hands Us Weekly reports , the ad is just out, dusting off the 20-year-old Spice Girls hit "Spice Up Your Life" to get us stoked about a bunch of weird, monochromatic women's and children's dresses, pants and tops. The set and production values are as cheap as the drab duds—even the models don't look happy to be there. (Then again, do models ever look happy?) It's hard to believe one of the most high-profile names in fashion would put her stamp on this crummy collection, or let this embarrassingly low-budget atrocity of a promotion on the airwaves. (Maybe that's why she didn't appear in the ad? Or maybe, like stores such as Old Navy, Target has tired of employing celebrities in its campaigns, at least for the time being.) Is the Target ad just a singular, creative m

Digital ad spending in the U.S. will reach $83 billion this year, according to eMarketer's latest projection, out this morning. Google, says the forecaster, will "maintain its dominance," with 40.7 percent share of the business—more than double that of the second-biggest player, Facebook. (You know who doesn't have to worry about getting laid off during the looming media crash? Anybody who works in Mountain View, California.)

Gigi Hadid on the controversial April cover of Vogue Arabia Magazines have never been more starved for cash—still publishers are doing everything short of passing out free copies on the street corner to get you to read them. Sampling by way of cut-rate, even free subscriptions, even in flush times, is an old sales gimmick, the thinking being that you'll love that issue of Cigar Aficionado so much you'll pay real money once the trial is finished. Certain titles whose readers have proved especially loyal never had to play those giveaway games. Not anymore. I just received a promotion via snail mail, urging me to cash in my fast-expiring Hilton Honors points for free magazines. Granted, across several titles the exchange rate isn't exactly favorable. It takes many hotel visits to accumulate just a couple of thousand points, and yet a dozen issues of Sports Illustrated Kids command a steep 3,000 of them. A year of the weekly Time magazine goes for 3,600, as do 24 i

There are two things nobody looks to the New York Post for: news or facts. (Except when they quote me.) That's why it wasn't a surprise to come across this tweet this morning noting that this is National Napping Day: Only problem is, the story they linked to is from  early January . (The tweet has since been deleted.) Insert joke here about the Post and napping. 

I don't care for children. I view them the same way I view going to the gym, earning a college degree or (unless you're Jenny McCarthy or President Trump) inoculations: a necessary evil. I am (as usual) pretty much with Fran Lebowitz on this one, she who counseled us to "ask your child what he wants for dinner only if he's buying." To those of you who have assumed the mantle of parenthood and perpetuating the human race, however, my congratulations (and, sympathies). Surely nobody better than you (except for those of us unfortunate enough to be seated at the table in the restaurant next to you and your little angel) knows there's nothing a kid loves more than for all the attention to be focused on him. Such is the situation with our petulant president, he with his daily acting out—but nobody to give him a time out, lock him in the dungeon or slip some Rohypnol in his sippy cup. But the Times yesterday came pretty damn close, generously stepping forward and

SNL's fake ad for "Complicit" last night nailed Ivanka Trump to the wall for sure. But two months into our national nightmare, spoofs like this have me wondering: Just as Graydon Carter famously declared "The End of Irony" after 9/11, might we not be experiencing the dawn of "The End of Parody"? The definition of the word makes the point that it is imitation "with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect." And again, while Scarlett Johansson's sendup does an able job skewering the elder Trump daughter's impassioned enabling of her deranged dad, it's a little too real to be considered a comic exaggeration, no? How exactly would it be possible to "exaggerate" the president's already over-the-top words and actions—and by extension, the acquiescence of his fawning (or terrified) family members and other dutiful sycophants? If the subject of a takedown would not only be unbothered by it but unlikely to get the joke, did

(Via Bella Naija)

Folio Magazine is out with its annual salary survey , finding that digital editors earn more on average than their print counterparts (this just in) and that women in ranking editorial positions make less than men (stop the presses). To which one might ask: What print editors? And which women edit leaders? As anyone who's been paying attention knows, the print vehicles that are managing to hang on (more on that below) have not, with the exception of those that happen to be targeted to women, done much of a job hiring women for top jobs—the same problem that's happening and that's been getting so much attention in the agency world since a lawsuit was filed exactly a year ago today charging JWT's former boss with some particularly ugly behavior toward women. That and other shameful episodes in the industry, plus a bombshell 4A's survey  in which half of the ad women surveyed said they'd been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace, have led to a