TheCrosbyReport™ | The website of San Francisco Bay Area Senior Advertising Copywriter, Peter Crosby

"Likable" coworkers more successful than "jag-offs."

In a shockingly pointless Harvard Business Review study, researchers discovered that you'll do better at work if people like you. Did anyone really need to do a study on this? Gee, when's the People Need Oxygen To Breathe study coming out?

Gelato Massimo: Surprisingly, it’s not a controlled substance.

Do you know what gelato is? Sure, you’ve probably heard of it—it’s essentially the Northern Italian version of ice cream—but you probably haven’t had any of it. Well, not the real stuff anyway. Fortunately, that’s easy to find out: If you’d rather ingest gelato than oxygen, you’ve probably had the real stuff. But if you prefer breathing, even just a little, then you’ve only had the fake stuff. And that’s a damn shame. Because the real stuff is more addictive than crack cocaine.

The dangers of finding your Doppelgänger.

Recently, I set up a nifty GoogleAlert to notify me by email, anytime my name appeared on The Interwebs—seemed like a good idea at the time. But then, so did inventing the internal-combustion engine and look at how well that turned out. Unfortunately, there's another guy with the same name who lives in the same town—a curious coincidence, to be sure. As a result, I get an email every time either of our names appear on the web. But it gets worse...

Things a Bond flick must have to be a real Bond flick.

I just saw the new movie, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, and enjoyed it. Too bad, it's not a Bond flick. Yes, the lead character is named James Bond, but that alone doesn't make it a Bond flick (see Never Say Never Again). In fact, while the Broccolis think there have already been 21 or 22 Bond films, there have really only been about six: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever. In short, the Sean Connery ones. And not because I think Sean Connery is the best Bond. Frankly, I don't care who the actor is. No, there have only been 6 real Bond flicks because most of the scripts lack the requisite Bond-ness to qualify.

The financial crisis was society’s fault, but I bet it never does any jail time.

Remember when wrong-doing was, well...wrong? Back in the day, people used to feel bad when they did things that everyone else in society agreed were unethical, or just plain creepy. But that all ceased to exist the moment a Hollywood executive invented reality TV. These days, doing wrong no longer results in your immediate and eternal social ostracization, it results in your own television show on E! network.

Peter can't think of a funny update--no, wait--he just came up with a 'meta' one.

USER LOGIN

© 1991-present. Originally intended to consolidate the arduous task of penning large numbers of heartfelt correspondence into a single, impersonal, one-size-fits-all tome, The Crosby Report has blossomed into a massive black-hole of wasted time and resources, causing not merely intense marital strife and near-crippling financial debt, but the early stages of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome as well. Enjoy.

Reading, England: It's close to a lot of other, better places to visit.

This assessment of Reading, England won’t be, in any way, fair for a number of very good reasons. Firstly, because I spent a good part of my stay in the town ensconced in a mid-level business hotel room. Secondly, because the hotel where we stayed was a full 15 minutes outside of Reading, so I didn’t spend much time in the actual town itself. And finally, because our trip took place during the Winter Solstice, when daylight in Britain was more scarce than a straight set of teeth.

Read more
San Antonio, Texas: A river walks through it.

If you only ever visited Austin and San Antonio, you could be excused for thinking Texas was a pretty good place to live. The people seem nice, and the cost of living is relatively cheap. Even better, you don’t see hordes of cowboy hats everywhere like you do in Dallas or Houston. In fact, you could probably get by your entire life there just fine without ever buying a pair of cowboy boots (assuming the 24/7 Country Musak® doesn't drive you effing insane first).

Read more
Mazatlán, Mexico: Lots to do and lots of reasons not to do any of it.

We didn't pick Mazatlán, Mexico as a vacation destination for its deep-sea fishing, sailing or any of the other things you can reportedly do there. We picked it because of all the things you don’t do there. Namely, put on pants or shoes (or deodorant, judging from the smell of our fellow tourists). This was our "sit around drinking Mexican beer while reading People Magazine" vacation. But despite our near lack of observable movement, I somehow managed to find things worth writing about: Iguanas, mostly.

Read more

USER LOGIN

Most Viewed

Most Viewed

Most Commented

Most Commented

Blogs

Rants

LINKS

BOOKS

POLITICS