Movie Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy

Fun fact about PN Seattle: A small group of folks from the office occasionally watch movies together after work.

I know, I know- it's weird that people who spend eight hours together in the office would willingly spend MORE time together outside of the office but hey, that's how we roll. Anyway, I digress...

A few weeks ago, we went to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, the guy who plays Sherlock in the BBC update, and Bane. The movie was based on the novel by John Le Carre and is considered the ultimate spy tale (the book, not the movie).

Before I wax poetic about the clothes, the atmosphere and Gary Oldman, let me tell you upfront- I really liked this movie. If I had to rate it, I would give it four out of five bottles of vodka. 

(This is an accurate description of the movie)

This movie is all about restraint. Gary Oldman plays George Smiley, a retired MI6 agent, who has to identify a mole within the agency. He's an outcast– a former top guy looking in, so with his right hand (inside) man, Peter Guillam, he's working in the shadows to uncover the traitor.

What I liked about this movie was its atmosphere. Almost everything looks faded and worn- from the SIS headquarters to Smiley's workspace and all the places in-between. Taking place during the Cold War, you get the sense that the old guard is tired (Connie's hostel and Control's home) and a bit of a mess. This is a quiet movie, where the silences carry as much meaning as the dialogue and where almost every action hides a motive. A smile, a side-eyed glance, a hesitant look over the shoulder... there's a lot left to interpretation. It's a movie that demands attention (even if you had a long day like me... shut up, Noah and Will).

What I also squee'd over were the costumes. If you enjoy men in three peice suits, this movie is for you. At first glance, you might look at the characters and think- yeah suits, so what? But I thought each character's costume was so distinct and so reflective of his state of mind. Toby Esterhase is sharp and snappy, a bit flamboyant- he is a man who cares about appearances. Bill Haydon was dressed like his older counterparts in the Circus, but he showed bits of his personality- from his cufflinks to his desert boots, and he's one of the few in the movie that displayed any light-heartedness. And of course, there's George Smiley whose somber clothing reflects his quiet personality. He peers at documents and people with equal thoughtfulness and deliberation through his glasses, which were chosen with such care in the first part of the movie. 

Peter Guillam, the young MI6 agent, is more modern and less "military" than the men he works for. I mean, look at this handsome cat (trust, I never thought I'd say that about Sherlock).

Look how dapper he is- with his flash of color and modern hairstyle. You can't see them here but he wore slightly flared trousers, which -high-five, dude! Good job rockin' those.

So bottomline? I liked this movie. A lot. Watch it and see why Gary Oldman was nominated for an Oscar. He probably won't win (whatever Clooney, you play the SAME GUY IN EVERY MOVIE) but he damn well deserves to be recognized.

Side note: While I was walking out of the theater I overheard a guy tell his friends, "I don't know what just happened." Well, Real Steel is on DVD now so maybe you might have better luck understanding that. Seriously man, some movies require a bit more concentration than a text. 

So... what movies have you seen lately?

11 Holiday Songs that Don't Suck

I had the honor of scoring Porter Novelli Seattle's Christmas party this past weekend and it got me thinking: holiday music gets a bad rap.

Sure, we all get sick of bland, commercial versions of staples like "Sleigh Ride" and "Up on the Rooftop" before Thanksgiving weekend is even over, but, dig a little deeper and you'll find enough good Christmas and winter themed songs to score twelve nights worth of holiday parties. Like most musical genres, you just have to look a little deeper than your average music fan if you want to find the good stuff.

I've been collecting Christmas records, tapes, CDs and mp3s for more than two decades now, so, in the spirit of giving, here are eleven song recommendations to get you on your merry way.

11. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" – Read by Brent Barry and Vladamir Radmonovich
Taken from one of my most prized musical possessions, 2003’s Holidays With The Sonics (which also features Nick Collison, Rashard Lewis, Luke Ridnour, Ray Allen and coach Nate McMillan singing live with the Zion Preparatory Choir), this reading of the Dr. Suess classic is made extra special by the fact that Vladi reads English only slightly better than he plays defense.

10. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" – Belle & Sebastian
A tender, irony-free version of one of my favorite traditional Christmas songs.

9. "Daddy’s Drinkin’ Up Our Christmas" – John Guliak
The Loughan Brothers’ John Guliak performs this Commander Cody tale on It’s a Team Mint Xmas Vol. 2, a 2004 compilation from Canada's best Indie label.

8. "So This is Christmas" – The Polyphonic Spree
Polyphonic Spree’s massive, orchestral nature makes them a good choice to cover this John Lennon tune, which features that big, lovely chorus. This version is featured on the 2004 compilation Maybe This Christmas Tree, which also includes holiday goodness from The Raveonettes and Pedro the Lion.

7. "You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch" – Asylum Street Spankers
Austin's uniquely odd, old-timey group Asylum Street Spankers do a pretty straightforward version of this great theme song from the 1966 Christmas special How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

6. "Headcrushing’ Yuletide Sing-along" – Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors
Taken from my favorite Christmas album of all time, this medley is just traditional enough to sound like tasteful, straight-ahead holiday cheer when played as background music at your December gathering. Just hope your guests don't listen closely enough to hear that it’s actually a drunken mess of Mojo originals and subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) reworkings of holiday classics. If you’re having decent people over, be sure to shut it off before “We Three Kings” (“...of Orient are, drinking whiskey in a nude bar).

5. "Alan Parson’s in a Winter Wonderland" – Grandaddy
"What if you built a snowman and he turned in to studio whiz Alan Parsons?” California's Grandaddy attempt to solve this musical mystery on Jeepster Records' 2000 compilation It’s a Cool, Cool Christmas.

4. "Fairytale of New York" – The Pogues
I’ve never been to New York City during the holidays, but I like to believe this British/Irish cult band has perfectly encapsulated the spirit of it, circa 1980. Two immigrants share a drunken reverie in city lock-up while Sinatra croons to the Macy’s crowd outside.

3. "Christmas in Hollis" – Run DMC
Perhaps the most recent addition to the canon of classic holiday pop songs, Run DMC’s 1990 original transcends genre and should be considered alongside recordings by Crosby, Cole and Specter in this category.

2. "364" – Murder City Devils
A gut-wrenching musical hypothesis about what Santa might do when it’s not Christmas day.

1. "Santa Stole My Baby" – The Mistreaters
A little-known track by Milwaukee garage rockers who would later record for seminal Bellingham, Washington label Estrus Records, this perfect slice of dirty holiday rock was taken from the Surprise Package series on Flying Bomb records.

Matt Ashworth is the head of the Seattle Technology practice, where he provides business-to-business and product PR counsel to Hewlett Packard, T-Mobile, Hitachi and others. A version of this article originally appeared on his wildly-unpopular Seattle music blog NadaMucho.com. Follow Matt on Twitter at @ashmatty. 

Post Script: Matt's Four Favorite Christmas Albums

4. Charlie Brown Christmas OST – Vince Guaraldi
3. Songs for Christmas – Sufjan Stevens
2. A Christmas Gift for You – Phil Specter & Friends
1. Horny Holidays – Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors

How I Won a Macbook Air

I’m detailing this not to gloat, but to give a glimpse into the depth of my humble genius.

The Set-up

Porter Novelli’s client devised a competition around using their new business-related social networking app on Facebook. The app allows you to search for job openings, request business connections, endorse your contacts, and post your job experience on Facebook.

The Game

The sweepstakes was to get as many contacts as possible in a set time frame. One gets their name added to a hat for every ten connections one makes (e.g. 10 contacts = 1 names, 500 contacts = 50 names in the hat). One name is drawn out and the winner is announced the next day. The limit for the number of names one could enter was capped at 100 (1000 contacts). Prizes were given away every week during a six week period. Winners of weeks one through five won an iPad 2 and the final winner, week six, got a Macbook Air.

Overall Strategy

First, it was a game of chance. For instance, if there were two individuals competing and one had 1000 contacts (100 names in the hat) and the other had 10 contacts (1 name), the outcome would not be certain.

There were over 100 participants in the competition from Porter Novelli. Essentially the game is a foot race to 1000 contacts and you’re racing against your colleagues.

My strategy evolved over the course of the competition in three steps.

1 – The Hay Burner Method

Add as many contacts as fast as possible. At first this method seemed promising. I sent requests with those that I knew in our Seattle office and got to a little over 10 contacts (1 name in the hat). I then sent requests to those I’ve met in other offices, 50 contacts (5 names total). I then started sending requests to people I didn’t know using the “People You Might Know” tab. I got to over 150 contacts (15 names), but noticed my method was not very efficient. For every 25 requests, I received a single confirmation.

2 – The Kevin Bacon Method

The first method was not very strategic. I put on the Porter Novelli critical thinking hat and remembered some lessons I learned from Malcolm Gladwell ‘s The Tipping Point. According to Gladwell , “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.” Gladwell dubs these socially gifted folks connectors. I began sending requests to the connectors, people who “link us up with the world ... people with a special gift for bringing the world together.” I noticed that these people responded more often than not to my connection requests and happened to share 5 or more contacts from different companies. This method ballooned my connections to 350 (35 names) by the second week. I shared my method with Will Tucker, our magnificent IT guy, and his numbers shot up as well. Reaching out to those with 5 or more shared contacts from different companies proved to be an effective strategy, though not perfect.

3 – The Ninja Pirate Method

Will continued to use the Kevin Bacon Method to get to well over 750 contacts by the third week with me close behind at 500. The remaining competitors were all below 250 contacts at this time.

I discovered the mobile app for iPhone during this time. The mobile app allowed me to add contacts more quickly than using a laptop or desktop. Fortune smiled upon me after going through the app. It allowed me to see the connections made by my contacts with those not in my network arranged chronologically. For instance, “Will is connected with Dave in Finland 2 minutes ago.” I could swoop in, send a request to Dave in Finland, and hear back almost immediately by simply tapping on my phone twice. Eventually Will caught on to my shenanigans. I was basically stealing his contacts. We both reached our 1000 contact goal a little after the third iPad was given away.

The final drawing was on November 28 and I won. Roughly three and a half hours of work for a new MacBook Air.

9 Tips to Make the Most of Small Business Saturday

On November 26, small businesses will benefit from the added attention and media coverage surrounding the second annual Small Business Saturday event. This holiday season, they’ll also have lots of competition from other local retailers for a finite number of consumer dollars.

Here are a few tips to help small business owners make the most of Small Business Saturday and the 2011 holiday retail season.

Before

1) Participate in small business networking communities like Biznik.com.

There are lots of digital communities where owners and entrepreneurs can connect and share best practices, but Biznik.com has emerged as a unique social network that combines the best of an online platform with localized community events and human contact.

2) Reach out to local media.

Many local newspapers run "weekly deals." Contact your community’s local paper or Patch reporter to see if you can get a little ink for your business’ holiday shopping promotions.

3) Share Your Story Online

Google and American Express created a great free tool called “My Business Story” that lets retailers create their very own professional quality video for use on YouTube, social networks and business websites. Take advantage of this now – the video will come in handy throughout the year.

4) Establish a Foursquare or Gowalla Check-In

Geo-location services, which continue to gain popularity with consumers, are a great way to provide incentives and build customer loyalty. Register with Foursquare, Gowalla or a similar service and provide special deals and discounts for customers who “check in” when they visit your business.

Day Of

5) Work with other small businesses in your area.

Alone, it can be hard for a small business to compete with major corporations. Together, small businesses are unstoppable. Contact some non-competing businesses serving customers in your area and offer to publicize their products or services if they publicizing your services to their customers. Post a map to participating businesses in every store.

6) Offer Unique Items That Make Good Gifts

Let’s face it – many of your customers on Small Business Saturday will be buying for someone else. Highlight products that can’t be bought elsewhere and offer suggestions on how to package them up for the perfect holiday gift.

7) Create mobile checkouts.

Extend the number of customers you can help at any given time with the Square Card Reader. Square makes creating a mobile checkout as simple as downloading an app and attaching the reader to your mobile phone. You can also use this capability throughout the year to take your store’s goods to local farmers markets or arts fairs.

After

8) Build a Small Business Saturday Community & Mailing List

Ask customers to share their email address and phone number for a special Small Business Saturday mailing list. Take photos throughout the day and then post them to Facebook. Make sure people know you’ll be posting the pictures—that way they’ll visit and tag themselves later. Connect with this group via email or SMS a couple times a year to update them on your latest specials and offer them an early chance at next year's Small Business Saturday promotions.

9) Listen to Your Employees

Your employees are one of your biggest assets. Ask them for feedback on your Small Business Saturday efforts.  With their help, map out some ideas for next year’s campaign while Small Business Saturday is still fresh in your mind.

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Matt Ashworth is the head of the Seattle Technology practice, where he provides business-to-business and product PR counsel to Hewlett Packard, T-Mobile, Hitachi and others. Follow him on Twitter at @ashmatty. 

A Week in PN SEA: The New Guy's Perspective - Days Three - Five

On the afternoon of day three, I finally started my first contributing task. Better not mess this one up, I thought. It was fun, very informative and if you want to know anything about Wi-Fi enabled hard disks, I now have a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Hitachi, maker of the G-CONNECT, is one of PN SEA’s clients. They send us products to test and review in our lab. Come to find out, testing and reviewing is another one of PN SEA’s expertise.

The fourth day we had a brainstorming session and this is where the office really showed their creative juices. Our task was to think of different formats for a big yearly event hosted by one of our clients. All ideas thrown out were very impressive. There were even some ideas I would have never thought of given indefinite time.

So here I am on day five. I have almost survived a full week in the working world and think I can get used to this whole contributing to society thing.

What have I learned about PN SEA in my one short week? People really enjoy being here; you can’t go half an hour without a conversation striking up or someone bursting out in laughter. There is a sense of pride in anything and everything at the office, from client work to joke telling. There are two WSU Cougars in the office, so the three of us can sulk about our sports teams together. The temperature change from the outside to the office is mind boggling, in a good way. Oh and don’t ever rap about technology and post it on YouTube, it could end disastrously.

Can’t wait to see what the rest of my time at PN SEA has in store.

Read Jeff’s account of his first day at Porter Novelli Seattle.

Read Jeff’s account of his second day at Porter Novelli Seattle.