Marky Mark

I have a hard enough time attracting readers to my own blog it hardly makes sense for me to mention or promote somebody else's.

But the truth of the matter is I would never have begun roundseventeen without the inspiration from my old boss and "friend" Mark Monteiro.

You see Mark had just left his big time cushy job as Chief Creative Officer at DDB/LA. He and his wife had just built a magnificent home in Oregon or Idaho or Montana, some non-Jew state. And so he decided to start writing about his new adventures.

Despite graduating from Syracuse University, Mark is an exceptional writer. Perhaps exceptional is too strong a word. Because after reading his blog I thought, "Hell, if Monteiro can do this so can I."

And that's when my rambling started.

Since we travel in the same circles, we were effectively competing for the same eyeballs. So to counteract his superior wit and insight I fought the only way I know how, with excessive firepower. For every entry Mark wrote, I would write three.

Oh sure Mark is pithy and can turn a phrase with the best of them. But I had a chip on my shoulder, actually I have a chip on both shoulders, so I overpowered him with sheer quantity.

And it worked.

Check out one of Mark's recent entries:

A lesser man might gloat.

But I am not that lesser man. I'm taking the high road on this whole matter. There's plenty of room in this world for my daily ranting as well as for Monteiro's quasi-monthly...uh, I don't know how you'd characterize what he does. In any case, I urge all my loyal readers to check out The Lost Angeles Times.

And by the way, I'm not just saying that because Mark has re-entered the advertising field and is in a position to hire me on freelance projects. That would just be thinly veiled sycophancy, and I won't engage in any of that.