Consumer Critique: Attractive Communication

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Nowadays we all pride ourselves on being able to multi-task - but research has shown that isn't always good for the tasks we're trying to accomplish. It may also not be good for our communication with others - and our relationships with them.

Michael Rooni, author of Attractive Communication, wants to change the way we cmmunicate wuth each other. He explains, "In the field of communication, multitasking is incredibly unattractive
and detrimental...When we engage in communicative multitasking, we convey underlying messages that are not intended but which nevertheless result in negative perceptions by others."
The book provides 300 ways to improve communication. And don't worry - it's actually a very easy read. For each way there is more than a one-sentence explanation, but they are written in short, easily digestible chunks. Some of his tips involve ways to connect to others, ways to work around people with huge egos, ways to subtly change the communication styles of those around us, and much more. The tools given relate to every aspect of communication: interpersonal, non-verbal, timing and surroundings, disputes, intrapersonal, and listening.

Rooni knows what he's talking about and has a wealth of experience to bring to this book. He has been trained in business, law and mediation. He's been working with resolving conflicts since 1992, and is an appointee to the Los Angeles Superior Court Voluntary Settlement Conference Panel.

Disclosure: I receive a complimentary PDF of the book to facilitate this review.

Mealtime Magic: America's Favorite Food Cookbook

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I had the chance recently to review a very unique cookbook - one that can act as either a completely standalone traditional cookbook, or as a connected version, bringing the power and information of the Internet into your kitchen in ways that are relevant to you, when you need it.

I was able to interview the editor about its most notable feature - the use of QR codes that are embedded subtly into the images. 

1)     Why was the watermarked image feature chosen over QR codes?
By omitting QR codes and using the Scan-It/Cook-It feature, we were able to keep the pages clear of clutter so the focus would be on the incredible food photography and additional tips, tricks, serving ideas, reviews and/or notes for each recipe. We love being able to bring the pages to life by linking to the additional assets on MyRecipes.com and allowing the reader to customize their experience with the cookbook.
 
2) What types of information will readers find when they scan the images?
The maroon “Scan this Photo” label and orange “Scan this Box” label includes information about where the scan will take them on MyRecipes.com. When readers scan a box or an image, they’ll be taken to one of the following:
·        How-to videos that walk you step-by-step through a recipe. These usually point to my Dinner Tonight videos.
·        Technique videos that show you how to do a specific procedure like chop an onion or poach an egg.
·        Recipe collections or slideshows that point to similar types of recipes as the one scanned. For example, if you scan the photo of Guinness Beer Stew, it will take you to 7 more recipes that use beer.
·        Weeknight meal planners with a menu and a combined shopping list for five weeknight recipes, including the one you just scanned.
·        Our Ask the Expert articles that feature the answers to common cooking questions. You also will be able to submit your own questions here.
·        A customizable online version of all of the recipes in the book.

3) Is there additional content for every recipe?
All 200 recipes in "America’s Favorite Food," coming from popular magazines such asCooking Light, Real Simple and Southern Living, have a professional, full-color image and at least one piece of extra information about the recipe. This includes topics such as a quick tip, user suggestions from our online recipe reviewers, and/or a label indicating that the recipe is 5 ingredients or less, 30 minutes or less, gluten-free, kid-friendly, low-calorie, make-ahead, or cooked on a grill or in a slow cooker. Readers may also find the answer to an “Ask the Expert” question about an ingredient or technique used in the recipes and/or a reader review quote.
 
4) What about non-smartphone users - why should they check out this cookbook?
This cookbook can certainly stand on its own for non-smartphone users since it is a beautiful book with over 200 top-rated recipes that have received the most reviews from our online users. The color photographs, helpful tips, substitution suggestions, side dish recommendations and more give the book a very complete look and feel. An eBook version is also available for eReaders and tablets that offers the same features without needing a smartphone.

The is a broad variety of recipes in this book, and they all look delicious. They are clear and easy to read, have beautiful pictures, and are really enhanced by some of the additional features linked to on the website. This book would be a perfect gift for just about any cook looking to increase their repertoire and cooking techniques, but I think it's especially appropriate for the newer or less-experienced cook, because it makes it so easy to find tips about the recipe being used right at that moment.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to facilitate this review. 

Consumer Critique: Lang Lang The Chopin Album

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This review in a nutshell: If you like Lang Lang and/or Chopin, you'll enjoy Lang Lang: The Chopin Album. That should be enough, but if you want more, keep reading....

Lang Lang is one of those people who makes me wonder "what if" - especially since he's 30 now, and that's the same age I am. And it might sound pretentious, but I did have a point about 15 years ago where I could have made the decision to focus on performance, and didn't.

Lang Lang is critically acclaimed and has a busy concert performance schedule. He's very popular as both a performing and recording artist in the classical world. This album includes pieces any classical fan will recognize, including the second set of Chopin's Études op. 25, three Nocturnes, and the "Minute" Waltz. Fans who want to know more about the influence Chopin has on Lang Lang's life will enjoy the Deluxe Limited Edition with a bonus DVD containing an interview with Lang Lang and the special place Chopin has in his life and archive footage of Lang Lang playing Chopin, with excerpts from his early concerts and competitions.

On Tuesday, October 30^th at 6:30PM, Lang Lang will give a special one-night only concert, hosted by Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winning entertainer Alec Baldwin, at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium to raise funds for the Lang Lang International Music Foundation. Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell and Grammy and Tony Award-winning jazz artist Dee Dee Bridgewater and Danish singer-songwriter Oh Land will make special guest appearances along with other surprise star performances to be announced. For more information on the foundation please visit www.langlangfoundation.com.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this CD to facilitate this review. 

Fun Freetime: License Plate Literacy

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There are a variety of road-trip activities you can do to boost literacy. For young kids, have them find certain letters of the alphabet. For older kids, have them think of words that start with the first letter on a license plate. And for kids that are more advanced, have them use the license plate to build a sentence (for example, THL-009 could be come The Hen Lays 9 Eggs). You can adjust the rules to fit your family and how you'll incorporate numbers.

Gary Coleman's catchy call for cash campaign

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I was just checking out the Gary Coleman CashCall Advertisements. I have to say it is a very clever campaign. Notice when he says "No one would lend me money, not even my relatives". Brilliant line - having an audience relate to a person in an ad (not to mention a celebrity) is Marketing 101. Unfortunately with the down economy, many Americans are in the same situation. Call for Cash!

CashCall Stars Can Emerge From Long Shadows Cast by Breeders' Cup Juvenile

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Our last look into the 2011 chrystal ball that is next year’s road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands presents itself Saturday in the $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. Run in the shadow of the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the CashCall Futurity has neither the $1 million purse nor history of producing divisional champions like the more prestigious Juvenile, but they are both grade 1 and their winners have donned an equal number of rose blankets – one each. Street Sense is the only horse to win both Juvenile (2006) and Kentucky Derby (’07) while Real Quiet won the 1997 CashCall and the Derby the following year.

Both races are also run at distance of 1-1/16 miles.

Championship voters don’t seem to emphasized the similarities between the two races however, and have given the Juvenile significantly more weight in determining their selections. For disclosure, I agree the Juvenile should have greater importance than other grade 1 races in determining the year-end champion. If the industry is going to call the Breeders’ Cup a World Championship, they (we) need to treat it like one. The Eclipse Award voters have that well since the Breedeer Cup first ran some 27 years ago.

Since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile was first won by Chief’s Crown in 1984, 20 winners have been named Champion Two-Year-Old Colt or Gelding for that year. Since Roving Boy won the CashCall (then Hollywood Futurity) in 1982 and the corresponding divisional championship, only CashCall winners Declan’s Moon and Looking at Lucky have been honored with Eclipse Awards. The four others named divisional champions during that 27-year span without winning either the CashCall nor the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile were Forty Niner (1987), Easy Goer (1988), Dehere (1993) and Maria’s Mon (1995). All four were named 2-year-old male champions after winning their respective Champagne Stakes in New York but losing or not running in the Juvenile.

Forty Niner, Maria Mon’s and Declan’s Moon were champions that did not start in the Breeders’ Cup while Looking at Lucky, Dehere and Easy Goer won the divisional honor after losing in the Breeders’ Cup. Looking at Lucky and Easy Goer were second to long shot Vale of York and Is It True in 1988 and 2009 Juveniles respectively. Dehere was eighth as the odds-on favorite in the 1987 Juvenile won by Success Express before winning his 2-year-old male championship.

What makes the CashCall of more interest is the annual participation and sometimes domination by three-time Derby winning trainer and Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Baffert has won two of the last three CashCall Futurities and a record five total. Known as the other silver-haired fox from Arizona (former University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olsen being the first white-haired legend from the Grand Canyon State), Baffert has won the CashCall with Real Quiet, Captain Steve (1999), Point Given (2000) (photo left), Poineerof the Nile (‘08) and Looking at Lucky.

Also adding to the uniqueness of the CashCall is the artificial Cushion Track material that makes up the main track at Hollywood Park. Last year, Comma to the Top made the CashCall his fifth-straight win, but all were on artificial main tracks or grass. In his first race on natural dirt, Comma to the Top came back to run second in the Santa Anita Derby and then last in the Kentucky Derby, also on dirt. Looking at Lucky would eventually win the Preakness and then repeat as the division champion and show he could run on natural dir and Pioneerof the Nile was second on natural dirt in the Kentucky Derby.

Now, Santa Anita will have their natural dirt for the second time for their winter prep races leading up to the Derby, so any natural dirt-challenged winner of the CashCall will now likely be exposed sooner or prepare the Kentucky Derby over the PolyTrack surfaces at Turfway Park and/ or Keeneland. (see 2010 Derby winner Animal Kingdom.) Any plans to take the Southern California, New York, Arkansas, Florida or Louisiana roads to Kentucky, mean running on natural dirt.

According to Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen, Baffert will again be loaded for the CashCall with three 2-year-olds set for the 1-1/16-mile race. Del Mar Futurity winner Drill will try to return to the winners’ circle after graded stakes loses in the Norfolk, Juvenile and Delta Jackpot. Maiden winner Sky Kingdom and Real Quiet Stakes winner Liason will also be saddled by Baffert in this CashCall Futurity.

Not sure other CashCall contenders Basmati and Longview Drive, the place and show horses in the Delta Jackpot in their last start, don’t appear to have enough credentials for the championship, even with a big performance in the CashCall.

No matter, the CashCall winner is sure to move up near the top of many Kentucky Derby 2012 lists of contenders. Winter Future Books will be adjusted and for some, rosy dreams will begin to bloom for others. Regardless of who gets honored with the 2-year-old male title, it will be the Derby that holds all the glamour and history and the CashCall Futurity is more than a month closer than its Breeders’ Cup brother-race. The CashCall Futurity now crawls from beneath the long shadow cast by the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and at least one shining star will emerge and walk into the Hollywood Park winners’ circle Saturday.

Then on to the road that may lead to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

'Twas The Night Before Racing

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‘Twas the night before Christmas
Inside the barn area fence
Not a creature was stirring
Not track maintenance.

The hay nets were hung
From the stall doors with care
Hoping the guy with the sweet feed
Soon would be there.

The horses were all standing
Asleep in their bedding
While the grooms played the tunes
Of the Spanish Helen Redding
(Soy mujer, me oigo rugir!)

With mama closing the tack room
And I shutting light
We took a look down the shed row
Before calling it a night

When suddenly we heard
A bang and clang
It sounded as if
The starting gate rang

But the race track was closed
And the gate crew was drinking
So I turned to mama while wonderin’
What she was thinking?

Then a sudden red light
And with little alarm
I saw something land
Atop the test barn

It was the thoroughbred season!
There were no sulkies around!
So certainly this was
A sleigh that we found

I recognized the harness
And the reins were no mystery
But those were sure reindeer
“Track security is history!”

Then out from the sleigh
Jumped the driver dressed in red
He looks at me smiling
And says “Can you watch my sled?”

“I have peppermints here
Maidens and Claimers by name
Then suddenly he vanished
And I’m holding Rudolph’s reins

In less than a second
He was back and set to go
“How fast is this sleigh?”
He said, “You’ll never know!

“I use Christmas Spirit
To power this thing
For this team of reindeer
The world’s a bullring

“This is a very fast group
And this is a magical little bag
But don’t get ideas
They don’t run for a tag!”

Then a little toy trumpet
He brought to his lips
And he played Boots and Saddles
With his hands on his hips

I laughed then looked up
And he was gone in a sec
Then I looked down
And saw the win pic

As I looked at it closer
What a wonderful sight
It was Santa on the left
And me on the right

Donner was center
The rest were in back
And I don’t know who they were
But there were elves in the sack

He sprang to his sleigh
to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew
to Los Al then to Thistle.

But then I heard him say
with a laugh and a roar,
"Happy Christmas to all
And hit a pick-four!”