By Lauren Mayer, on Wed Mar 19, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET One of the advantages of being a teenager’s mother (no, really, there ARE some advantages!) is early knowledge of trends. And it’s not just obsessive texting, video games, or mindless cat videos – my boys both introduced me to the wealth of actual, useful information one can find on youTube. (Although there’s plenty of ridiculous filler – as one comedian observed, we could just combine the youTube, Twitter and Facebook into one giant time-wasting site called “youTwitFace” . . . but I digress.)
My tap-dancer son has shown me great archival footage of the legends he admires, and youTube has introduced a whole new generation to the genius of Bill Robinson, Eleanor Powell, and the Nicholas Brothers. My younger son is a fan of cool science experiments as well as a group that does brilliant out-of-the-box music routines (including one in which a group of musicians created a piece by playing every part of the piano EXCEPT the keys). Because of youTube’s enormous scale (6 billion – yes, billion – hours of videos are watched every month!) I can find a video for anything I might ever want to do, from making homemade brioche to installing sheet rock (neither of which I’m ever likely to do, but it’s still cool to know I COULD if I wanted to!)
Of course, that volume makes it hard to come up with an original concept – someone else has probably already filmed their dog playing with a rubber ducky, no matter how cute yours is. So when Harry Reid made headlines last week by arguing that the GOP was “Addicted to Koch” (the billionaire Koch brothers), I figured someone would turn his memorable line into the obvious song. And while a doctored photo did pop up with a bunch of leggy models and Reid’s head superimposed over Robert Palmer’s, the song itself had yet to turn up on youTube.
Not only was Reid’s comment a great reference to an incredibly popular song (with an iconic video), but I played in a rock band during the ’80s which actually covered a couple of Robert Palmer tunes, so I knew the song in question. And on youTube I found a) the original video, b) hundreds of tutorials on how the makeup artist created that look, c) thousands of bad karaoke versions, and d) a couple of exposes on how a musician was hired to teach the models to mime playing their instruments, but they were so hopeless that he gave up after an hour. (Which explains why none of them seemed to be playing – or dancing – to the same beat. )
And to top it all off, when my son saw me dressed & made-up for the video, he knew exactly what I was parodying . . . .
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Mar 18, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET Whenever I hear someone say, “It is what it is,” I am going to respond, “That’s certainly true. But let’s not forget that it’s also not what it’s not.”
And then pause before adding, “Or is it? Know what I mean?” as I nod knowingly.
I think this will catch on and be the perfect confident rejoinder to the “Is = Is” breakthrough formulation devised just several years ago that no one is yet sure what exactly it means but we all sense it is something profoundly insightful that we can all agree on.
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A number of years ago a very wise friend of mine had this wry explanation about someone else we worked with who gave us fits but who somehow always seemed indispensable to management.
 “His worth comes from being able to extricate our team out of crises that he manufactures.”
I laughed loud and hard at how right on the money my friend was with his observation.
And I swore I would never work again with anyone like the person he so fittingly described.
But sadly, I have discovered, there are more than just that one.
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Mar 18, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET LivingIF is filled with “world’s ____” sights. We’ve covered the superlatives and self-professed rankings time and again, highlighting local pride points, and sometimes even writing about the world’s largest something, just to visit an even larger one somewhere else (i.e. the 17+ world’s largest Buddhas we’ve seen). Most of the time, these sights are pretty impressive, even if they are not as world class as they claim. The lucky few are actually the world’s biggest/tallest/deepest/highest-altitude and beautiful enough to write about. The Salar de Uyuni, the world’s biggest salt flat, does not disappoint in size, spectacle or superlatives.
EPIC. Situated on the Bolivian side of the Bolivia-Chile Border, the vast Salar de Uyuni separates more than just countries. It separates cultures, with progressive and relatively-rich Chile on one side and indigenous, impoverished Bolivia on the other. It also separates geology, with the world’s driest desert on the Chilean side and the rugged crest of the Andes on the Bolivian side giving way to the Amazon Basin. Due to the location, geology and history, traveling through the salt flats, usually en route from one country to another, is an epic 3-day trip.
UNIQUE. Having seen photos and heard stories from friends that had visited previously, I thought I understood how unique the Salar is. Seeing it was another matter. I really don’t think there is anything quite like it. From the size to the surprising variety of colorful sights, I was thoroughly in awe. Arriving from Chile the first days are spent crossing the high-altitude Atacama Desert. This area is one of the world’s richest mineral producing regions with copper, silver, gold and lithium deposits, creating unexpectedly colored lakes and rock formations. The uniqueness of the Salar will cause those who think geology is boring to rethink their disinterest.
Read the rest of…
Erica & Matt Chua: Superlative-Worthy Salar de Uyuni
By Michael Steele, on Mon Mar 17, 2014 at 8:00 PM ET  Click here for a printable 2014 NCAA Bracket We are back at it for year three of “No Bracket, No Pay” — The Recovering Politician’s contest for college hoops forecasting mastery.
Our first two years were spectacular successes — not only did over 150 people compete, but two of my home state teams, the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Louisville Cardinals, won the national championship. Better yet, “No Budget, No Pay” — the hallmark policy proposal of our co-sponsor, No Labels — passed through Congress and became law. All because of our hoops competition! (OK, maybe the cause and effect was a little tenuous.)
Stay tuned to read about the fabulous prizes that we will be offering.
Anyway, you are invited to join us in No Bracket, No Pay III. Simply click here to signup, and fill our your brackets before Wednesday night at Midnight.
Good luck!
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Mar 17, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET A friend recommended I buy jeans at American Eagle Outfitters, a store I have never been to before.
I was excited until I was browsing and was told they not only didn’t have any jeans big enough for my waist (36), they also didn’t have any with a short enough inseam either (29).
And the worst part is I really liked the jeans!! I asked if they had a hybrid “Big and short section” for my size but they didn’t.
To add insult to injury, the waistlines for most jeans there are 26 and 28!!
What happened to us men the past 25 years? Or is this new fashion payback from women who men have idealized as far skinnier than normal for decades?
I smell gender payback all over this!
Come on, guys! I am on a diet…but for a normal male waistline circa 1985.
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It happens
When a guy reduces his waist from 38″ to a 35.5,” he can’t help but develop a little attitude.
And start asking himself if it is time to look into buying a pair of “skinny jeans.”
And feels a smug superiority toward men who sport a 36″ or 37″ inch waist.
By Saul Kaplan, on Mon Mar 17, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET Out of Office, AutoReply: Sorry I will be out of the office this week. In an emergency you can contact…… Away messages bug me. Away from what? Aren’t most of us away from our desks all the time? If we aren’t maybe we should be! Who doesn’t get emails remotely these days? I don’t need to know that you are traveling this week. I assume that you are not sitting at your desk waiting for an email but out at meetings and visiting with customers. You will get back to me when you can.
OK. If you are on a personal vacation and need to disconnect or overseas and unable to receive emails it makes sense to let people know that you will not be able to respond while you are away. But most away messages seem to just provide notification that you will not be sitting behind your desktop computer for the next few days. Come on, we all know perfectly well that you will still receive emails on a remote computer, a laptop, or on a PDA. Why tell us that you are away.
I find that quick responders are just as responsive when they travel and slow responders are just as slow when they are away. I suspect many people leave an out of office message to manage expectations because they want the time away from the incessant drumbeat of emails, text messages, and twitter streams. I understand that. Sometimes you need to disconnect in order to reconnect.
A few vacation days away recently reminded me of the important perspective gained from disconnecting. I didn’t leave an away message before leaving and while I left my laptop at home I did bring my iPhone, which allowed me to check important emails and Red Sox scores. While I could have stayed connected to my Twitter stream on the iPhone I made a conscious decision (alright my wife insisted) that I disconnect cold turkey for the few days I was away.
 I enjoyed the respite from the cacophony of an over-connected and always-on life. I thought a lot about what it means to live in a networked world where communication channels travel wherever you go and filtering becomes an important personal decision. I am excited by the possibilities created by ubiquitous connectivity and personally experimenting with the right mix of channels and the right balance of being connected and finding time to disconnect. The capacity to disconnect is important but can’t we come up with a more honest and genuine approach than a lame away message?
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 14, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET What? No upselling?
I just went through the drive-thru pharmacy at Walgreens to get a refill on an anti-cholesterol medication and was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t asked if I would like to order “40 tablets instead of just 30?” and then asked if I would be interested in adding an “Anti-depressent or anti-anxiety medication today?” or if I would like to “Sign-up to win a year’s supply of a new mood stabilizer?” or being reminded that if I “Come back today after 2pm I can get a free refill on pain management meds purchased before 10am.”
Yet I also felt a little neglected.
Maybe the pharmacist just hadn’t completed “Customer service training” yet.
By Julie Rath, on Fri Mar 14, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET 
A big thank you to The Wall Street Journal for including me in the recent article, Spring Shoes for Men Step Brightly. The piece discusses how men’s footwear is trending toward colorful uppers or soles and “statement” elements like spikes and wild patterns; my advice on how to incorporate this trend into your wardrobe is included at the end of the article.
After speaking with the WSJ reporter, I had an outfit brainstorm, and below I share with you a few specific looks that incorporate Spring 2012′s shoe trends.
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1) A great Spring combo would include a pair of neutral shoes with a neon sole like the bucks, above, from T&F Slack. Pair them with white straight-leg jeans and a denim shirt for a casual night out.
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2) If the shoe itself is brightly colored, like Tods’ royal blue Competition Shoe, go with a dark wash, straight-leg jean, a grey henley shirt and a navy vest.
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3) If neon shoes are too much of a commitment for you, you might dip your toes in the trend by adding color via your laces, as with the Esquivel shoes above. Because the color pop is not too prominent, you can play around by incorporating other colors into your look. Pair these boots with dressy jeans and a sport shirt that has some yellow in the pattern, like the one below from Polo Ralph Lauren. The reason yellow and purple work together is that they are complementary colors, meaning that they live opposite from each other on the color wheel. When used together, complementary colors intensify each other and create a harmonious color scheme.
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4) For a shoe where the detail (as opposed to the color) is the statement, like Jimmy Choo’s “provocative paisley” slippers above, you want to keep the rest of your look tailored and simple. Wear these with a midnight three-piece suit for a posh night out, or for a more casual event, try a medium grey dress shirt and black or charcoal grey pants. The important thing to keep in mind with shoes like this is that they need to be in line with your personality, and wearing them with confidence is key. (As an aside, check out this fun Bond-style video detailing the Burlesque silhouettes hidden in the print.)
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Mar 13, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET Whenever I am driving our minivan and pass by a motorcycle gang I try to make eye contact as if to say to them, “Hey, I ‘get’ you guys. I was just listening the other day to Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild” and I really enjoyed the movie “Easy Rider.”
But the way they look back at me makes me wonder sometimes if they really understand what I am trying to communicate.
I guess sometimes that body language alone isn’t enough.
Or maybe they read my additional body language which says to them, “I’d probably join you guys except I am afraid of motorcycles” and then wondering to myself “If you ride a motorcycle for a long time in khakis, would it start to burn the inside of your legs?”
By Josh Bowen, on Thu Mar 13, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
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