Brian Laesch .com

I’m in the video:

Patron Secret Dining Society – Scottsdale

Actual blog to follow…

Happy Friday, working people of Los Angeles (and by “working people,” I’m including those seeking employment–it’s a full-time job too). Hope you are all enjoying your morning, ready to have a productive Friday and a great weekend. If you’ve seen Caddyshack and Inception (heck, even the Inception trailer will do), then you should like this mash-up trailer from the good folks at TAUNTR.

“My enemy is an animal…”

Happy Friday, everybody.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger, posting on behalf of Marina Del Rey, California-based recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

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Courtesy of my friends at Weber Shandwick in NYC, here’s a new campaign/contest via Champion. I’m going to give you the details below, straight up. Because, unfortunately, to paraphrase Lil Wayne, “I don’t write ish, ‘cus I ain’t got time.” (At least, temporarily.)

The campaign is called the Athletes’ Creed and is a response to a recent survey the brand commissioned which found the following:
* More than three-quarters (79%) say showing good sportsmanship doesn’t seem to be as important to athletes as it used to be
* 81% agree that athletes today would rather win the game than play completely fairly
* 73% indicate their athletic peers believe it’s cheating only if they’re caught

The Athletes’ Creed is a digital believe system that lives on the Champion Facebook page and invites players of all levels and across all sports to share what they think is important when it comes to attitudes on the field or court. The final Creed will be the collaboration of these real, everyday athlete submissions as well as those from a Council of industry influencers that cross the athletic landscape (think the ESPN’s Skip Bayless, Rashard Mendenhall, the AAU, US Lacrosse). Fans are invited to vote on “athletic principles” created by the Council as well as contribute their own between July 14 and August 6 at www.Facebook.com/Champion and each submission is an automatic entry into a sweeps for FREE Champion gear.

Sportsmanship is definitely not dead, in my opinion, but at the pro-level you have to wonder. There certainly are some bad influences out there in professional sports, and media and Hollywood seem to thrive on these bad influences.  As long the reality TV culture, 24-hour news cycle, ESPN filler-news continues, I think sportsmanship will continue to take a backseat to hype and “stars.”  Which hopefully isn’t a statement regarding the bigger picture in America, but sadly, may be.

That being said, sportsmanship is most certainly not dead.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger, posting based strictly on merit, and due to an “emotional connection” to the Champion brand.

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"Let's be honest, that last Relapse CD was ehhhh"

Welcome back to Around the Creative World. Hopefully you’ve settled down after NBA Free Agency 2010, World Cup Soccer 2010 and the wide range of amazing summer movies.

Here are links from the worlds of entertainment, media, advertising, marketing, tech and more…

• Eminem is Not Afraid to hold the top Billboard spot for the third straight week with his album, “Recovery.” (Get it? This is clever journalism at it’s finest.)
• Deadline:  Magnolia Will Platform Joaquin Phoenix Mockumentary By Casey Affleck Sept. 10
• Tom Cruise is returning for Mission Impossible 4. (I only mention this because, remember when he was crazy? Wow. What a recovery. America loves a comeback…if you are famous.)
• The Hollywood Reporter: U.S. ad revenue expected to rise to $170 bil
• Captain America and Thor will be 3D movies. (Duh. Why wouldn’t they be? Until a 3D film fails to make a profit, the Avatar standard has been set.)
• The Rundown USA: What Women (Don’t) Want: Mel Gibson’s NSFW meltdown, from mashup to kitties
• Disney is promoting their upcoming Sorcerer’s Apprentice through Twitter.
• Geico: Octopus (Kind of stupid, in my opinion, but I give it a free pass, considering it’s a Geico commercial.)
• Mashable: Improv Everywhere Brings “Star Wars” to NYC Subway Car [VIDEO]
• AdAge: How to Become a Top 10 Twitter Trending Topic: Be Dead, Be Lame, Be Annoying and/or Be on TV

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger posting for boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

California lawmakers are considering putting flashing ads on license plates, doctors are urging the Coliseum not to hold another rave, and the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles beat the San Francisco Giants last night.

That’s what’s going on around Los Angeles, home of recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour. Here’s what’s going on around the “creative world”:

• Toy Story 3 won the weekend box office for the second consecutive weekend (which THR dubs a “sophomore session”…OK).
• The Hollywood Reporter: B.O. trading venture won’t launch despite OK
• You’ve probably heard that Steve Carell is leaving The Office. This completely sucks, but, he has not changed his mind.
• AdAge: Why TV Advertisers Are Spending More for Less This Season
• Branded entertainment is set to increase, according to ADWEEK. I guess it’s better than advertisements on license plates.
• FIFA actually feels bad about some of the horrible mistakes made by referees during the 2010 World Cup. They are going to consider using video technology. (Technology: 1 – Stubbornness: 0)
• Mashable: iMovie Hacked to Work on iPhone 3GS
• The Rundown (USA): iBad: Admit you’re wrong with iPology
• CrunchGear: Barnes & Noble financials: e-book store blowing up like what
• And, in closing, yes, it was a tough loss for the U.S. weekend. But, let’s, at least, remember the good times.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger posting on behalf of Marina del Rey-based boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

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We are halfway through June–about two and half weeks from the fourth of July. What do you do? What do you do? Summer is here. It is going somewhere. You better seize the moment. (Or maybe this is just what I’m telling myself right now.) Either way, enjoy these links from around the creative world, check out Marina del Rey-based Eleventh Hour, and then go outside and do something.

• Karate Kid won a, quite frankly, really weak box office this weekend, grossing $55.7 million.
• Two different studios are trying to talk Peter Jackson into directing “The Hobbit” films. At this point, it seems that we can expect these films in 2020.
• Hollywood Reporter: Boxoffice futures market gets green light
• AdAge: Japan’s BeeTV Draws Big Buzz by Only Broadcasting to Mobile Phones
• ADWEEK’s Ad of the day: ESPN’s “Power of 10″
• BRANDWEEK: Exxon Blogs About BP Spill
• Best Buy has released a mobile app that works in conjunction with the new 3D film Despicable Me to translate the speech of the “minion” characters in the film. I don’t know what the minion characters are, but it sounds cool.
• Mello Yello is back with a retro logo. (I didn’t know it was still around either.)
• Bud Light has crammed 32 fans (one from each country competing in the World Cup) into a house and “eliminating” them from the house when their team is eliminated. Should be interesting. Hopefully they checked criminal records.
• Speaking of the World Cup: The Internet Loves/Hates the Vuvuzela [Randomly Viral]

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger blogging for Marina del Rey-based recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

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Here are some highlights from the 2010 Be Hope to Her event held at college campuses and city centers across the U.S. (and one in Italy). Unfortunately, the Arizona State event that we put on did not have a videographer, so no footage, but still, you get a great idea about the event from watching this:

Thanks again to Nuru International for all the great work they do, and Grassroots Marketing Director Billy Williams.

Find out how you can get involved in Nuru’s fight to end extreme world poverty here.

A few weeks ago, before my three week “tour” of Washington D.C., Indianapolis and Chicago, I received some “Double Dry” sweat-wicking athletic gear courtesy of Champion via NYC-based PR agency Weber-Shandwick. Having grown up wearing Champion (usually shorts and socks during YMCA basketball leagues), I graciously accepted the opportunity to blog about their new “Double Dry” products.

I received three items: a t-shirt, a sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts (which I’m actually wearing as I write this). I had good reason to use these items. I spent about two weeks last month “training” hard for Hoop It Up Chicago which I played in this past weekend for the second consecutive year. The tournament features a team with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. I’m not sure if the tournament pays him to play, but it’s always well publicized that he will be there, and his team wins every year. Is this another scandal? A product of the Chicago political machine? I hope not, because…

But I digress…

I used the t-shirt and shorts for running/basic weight training and the sleeveless shirt for some outdoor pickup basketball. I was also going to wear the sleeveless shirt for the first day of the tournament, but that first day was rained out. So I wore it to FFC gym in Chicago where our team played about 6 games of 21. I won three of them, which I’m obviously blatantly bragging about on my blog. My friend, Kyle, told everybody in our group that it was because I don’t play any defense. I don’t agree with this sentiment. I believe that it’s a convenient excuse and that I played my share of defense. It’s not my fault that I made more shots and free throws than anyone else. Although, it would be interesting to see a breakdown of the number of possessions per player. This statistic could potentially change my mind. But I digress, again…

Here are the items:

The start of my "playoff beard" for Hoop It Up

So these are the items. And here’s my take on each…

The blue t-shirt was great for weight-lifting and running. It fit well, but loose.

The gray sleeveless shirt was actually perfect for basketball, although, I sweat a lot and it was drenched by the end of those six games  of 21. Unfortunately, I was not comfortable in that shirt at the end of the games. I had to remove it because I was drenched (however, I’m probably an extreme case). During the game, however, it was great and light. I couldn’t tell I was drenched until the games were over. (Did I mention I was drenched?) My point is, I did not stay dry, but I was more comfortable than I would have been in a regular cotton shirt.

The navy blue shorts were awesome for running on the treadmill. I also played a little bit of basketball in them as well. They were lightweight and comfortable. I can definitely recommend them for running.

It’s as simple as that for me. If you want comfort, you will enjoy these products. I wish I could go into a more in-depth discussion about the materials and fibers that this athletic gear is composed of, but you would probably be better served reading that information elsewhere. When I assess athletic wear I only consider the following criteria:

1. comfort
2. fit
3. drenchability (a word I just made up to sound like those silly Bud Light commercials that use “drinkability”)

These items passed all three tests, except for the sleeveless shirt reminding me immediately after playing six games of 21 that it was drenched.

On an overall scale of 1 to 10, I give these items, collectively, an 8.5. I can definitely recommend them.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger who works out.

U.S. Government to consult Bruce Willis on oil spill after seeing his role in the film “Armageddon” on FX last night

[Full Story not here because this is fake]