From the New York Times: “…the city has a centuries-old tradition of solo exploration, personified by the flâneur, or stroller. Flânerie is, in its purest form, a goal-less pursuit, though for some it evolved into a purposeful art: Walking and observing became a method of understanding a city, an age. Baudelaire described the flâneur as a passionate spectator, one who was fond of ‘botanizing on the asphalt,’ as the essayist Walter Benjamin would later put it.”

Okay, so where am I?

Whelp, I’m not in Paris, but in a few paragraphs we will be transported there…hang tight.

Actually, I am still home in the beautiful confines of my Encino California Compound. Other that to get my mail, bread, and fresh fruit, I have been sequestered here riding out the Coronavirus since the Los Angeles-mandated prohibition started two weeks ago on my birthday.

In addition to missing out on a pretty stellar Disneyland birthday, I had two Japanese commercials wiped out because of the travel ban (postponed, not cancelled) and now I am having NBA and NHL withdrawals along with some severe cabin fever. Thank goodness— along with my family, friends and colleagues—I am safe.

I was planning to meet Margrét, My New Favorite Amazon Model, because the last time I spoke with her she was at the Baghdad Café lamenting bout trying to due her clothesless craft amongst families and kids roaming around the tourist trap over two years ago. But with all of the city shutdowns, we had to cancel and move to a video conference to catchup. Ah, the new world of “Stay At Home” work and friendships.

So just to catch you up—or you can scroll all the way down to end and read the previous columns— Margrét is a nude model who travels the world taking her clothes off in the pursuit of her art. It’s never going to make her rich, but it makes her happy and a happy Margrét makes the world a better place…

Media Guy: You usually stick close to the Western USA, but is it true you are stuck outside the country?

Margrét, My New Favorite Amazon Model: I would say luckily I was in France when all of the Coronavirus lockdows and travel bans went into effect, but Paris is a drag without all of the cuisine and museums and sights.But I’m making the best of it trying to go all Hemingway with my introspective writing at abandoned city sites soaking in the essence of the land.

MG: What were you up to before for the country ground to a halt?

MMNFAM: I was doing my thing with this self-photography exhibition on the French Countryside when, well, imagine four dudes breaking down 300 meters from my camera lens in their big Mercedes hauler. Now imagine then not knowing how to fix their hauler and I roll up on them to help. Except I wasn’t wearing more than a Nikon lens cover! I bet they never expected help to come in the form of an intrepid nude model.

MG: But I imagine that’s exactly what happened, right? And how did you pull that off?

MMNFAM: Imagine the look on these French bros’ faces when a second nude model, my roommate, rolled up in an Aston Martin with a back seat full of tools. I’m telling you, it was like MacGyver met French Baywatch. The only thing mission was were our red one-piece swimsuits so that we could have run over in slow motion. I’m guessing they were fairly pleased with two mostly nude chicks fixing their timing belts while the fought to keep their jaws from dropping.

MG: I’ve often wondered about the fine line you’re walking when it comes to nude modeling because some of the readers say you are reinforcing sexist stereotypes of scantily clad women (or unclad) women on film.

MMNFAM: It’s what I battle with on a regular basis with my modeling, because what is considered arty can be pretty hokey and sexist. But I figure God blessed me with a certain look and I get to control my destiny with what I charge and the situations I ultimately wind up in. At the end of the day, it’s a more honest living that some of the mucky-mucks in banking or on Wall Street.

MG: You’re doing well these days?

MMNFAM: My modeling affords me an income to support my home and my adventures. I stay off social media to avoid stalkers and weirdos and in the last five years I have shot in 31 countries. It’s a great way to make a living,

MG: What has shaped up as your specialty as of late?

MMNFAM: My specialty is artistic nudes, when translated to the layman means non-erotic nudes set in contrast against the landscapes of the world. Everyone wants this fit brunette against beautiful scenery. I love the work because it gets me outdoors. I don’t have to sit at a desk answering emails all day ad in turn I get to experience the remarkably attractive world that few ever get to see like I do. Modeling gets old pretty quick, I feel like exploring the outdoors doesn’t.

MG: What is it about the outdoors that has kept you employed all of these years?

MMNFAM: Guys will forever have a curiously mysterious hard-on for a curvy, firm backside in a ruptured landscape. I do a lot of posing in fantasy landscapes—mountains, lakes, log cabins—but the ones that garner the biggest paydays come from the most dilapidated settings like old warehouses, crumbling buildings, salt mines, abandoned parks, civil wars zones. There must be something about rotting cities that is some sort of aphrodisiac that appeals to many a photographer. The contrast of luscious nubile skin against corroded timeworn building carcasses is an age-old fantasy that will probably never go out of style. Like the Birth of Venus painting only set in Chernobyl.

MG: So your quest for post-apocalyptic ruins has taken you on a journey all over the world?

MMNFAM: With a little bit of investigating, you can find some truly extraordinary rubble to photograph and when it comes to ruin nude modeling, the Baltics and Eastern Europe are pretty much the gold standard. It’s like a Disneyland of desolation and tetanus. These areas are some that you’ve only heard about in the deep recesses of the news and now the whole region has essentially been ignored and neglected due to its being left in a state of disrepair after the boys took their weapons and petty differences and went home.

MG: And you’re finding the same in Paris?

MMNFAM: Oh no, much different here. A did a month-long series in and around Paris, fully-clothed doing a full-on Greta Garbo meets Breakfast At Tiffany’s motif. You know, it was easy to surrender in Paris to the moment. The alchemy of everything metamorphosed average activities into pleasurable ones; a stroll in the park, a cappuccino at a sidewalk café…you name it. Here, I dragged the edge of a butter knife across a baguette with a style better suited to gliding a bow across a Stratavarious. And today, with almost nobody around it is still quite the same. I am here on my own. My residence is paid for until July. I worked enough not to book another job until August and I am sponging in the city in my own post-apocalyptic illusion. In a city that has been honing splendor since the reign of Napoleon III, there are immeasurable sensual minutiae—patterns, touches, tints, hums—that can be mitigated, even overlooked, when babbling with someone or following a locked in schedule. Alone. one becomes deeply aware of the resonating clack of high heels in a park walkway; the patina of the gas lamps that light the city, the effervescence of the blue sky on a cloudless day; and how the empty wine bottles laid gently next to the recycling bins are the epitome of your neighbor’s good times.
There is a Paris that acutely repays the individual traveler.

MG: So all of this adds up to another fantastic chapter in the Book of Margrét, My New Favorite Amazon Model?

MMNFAM: It’s a fantastic book I am living. I hope it never ends. Au revior!

The post Virtually Live From Paris with Margrét, My New Favorite Amazon Model appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.

There’s been some rumor about a trip to Hungary to see the amazing architecture and take in the opera at the Hungarian State Opera House (amazing!). And, I may have needed to be in Hollywood to accept my Emmy (yeah, that’s a thing, woo hoo!). And, I may or may not be stalking mirroring following uhhhhhhhhh, reporting on the global premieres of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and the fashion of Jennifer Lawrence.

The London Premiere

For this column, let’s go with The Hunger Games. By now, most of you know of my affinity for Ms Lawrence (read: Straight Out of Encino and Dreaming on the Oscars Red Carpet for a better taste of that), so this plum assignment was too good to pass up.

London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin with a side trip to Hungary? Who am I to say no? All the big designers has showed up in style for the Oscar goddess: Burberry, Christian Dior, Dion Lee, Mugler, Thakoon, Schiaparelli, and Ralph Lauren,

The Los Angeles Premiere

So just when I was soaking in Jlaw’s Jimmy Choo gold Dory sandals and her gorgeous, goofy command of the red carpet, I ran into Gaby Lorenzo, a Bay Area marketing genius and she shared why it’s nearly impossible not to draw parallels from the Hunger Games into your life and society.

But allow me to digress a moment with this JLaw tidbit from the world premiere roadie as she admitted on the Conan Show that she made a horrible mistake with her first tattoo. “I feel I have ‘I’m stupid’ tattooed on my hand permanently,” she said. She added to is by telling us that she made a pact with her Hunger Games co-stars to all get tattoos when filming finally wrapped on the series of movies. She decided to get ‘H2O’ to “remind me to drink more water.” But she admitted that she got the ‘2’ in the wrong spot – superscript above the other characters, rather than below. “It’s now H-squared!”

“I didn’t go to school…I’m an uneducated idiot.”

Yet, I digress; back to The Hunger Games and its unique life lessons. Whether it’s politics, romance, business, or even pop culture, there are lessons we can draw from the trilogy and apply to our daily routines. Here key takeaways and lessons learned from the Suzanne Collins’s fictional characters:

The New York Premiere

Develop relationships and network.

With 24 tributes participating in the games, it’s important that you make connections (think about your colleagues and business partners). Your friends and allies are your key assets. Whether you need food, medicine or weapons, all of the tributes must rely on the help of others. The Hunger Games are not something that you can participate in alone. Ask for help when you need it. Seek and create resources for yourself and your team. Everything we do is based on relationships and experiences we encounter with media, colleagues and prospects. The relationships we develop over time help us to produce good work and to continue to advance to new adventures, and ultimately grow. Like the arena in The Hunger Games, the world is smaller than you think, and every day I continue to remain surprised at how often paths will cross.

Your work ethic matters.

The Paris Premiere

At the end of the day, there is no shortcut to getting ahead. The shortcut is working hard. Determination is the key to success in all future endeavors. It’s the work, planning and preparation you put in along the way that gets you to the finish line. Like the tributes, PR professionals must remain committed and strategic in everything that they do to produce stellar results. Hard work rarely goes unnoticed in our industry, and the leaders in the arena like Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark exemplify these traits. They also showcase their many values: dedicated, smart, honorable and ballsy to name a few!

Showcase your skills and value.

The Berlin Premiere

Tributes in The Hunger Games must rely on their special skills. This will help them differentiate themselves from the other tributes. The core competencies that they possess cannot only help them win, but also to get sponsorships from the districts (think investors). This is the value-add, and the players in the arena must leverage their special skills – from hunting, to camouflage, to building a fire and even gathering food. In communications, it’s just as important to highlight your special skills. Are you a good writer? Do you know all of social media’s secrets? Familiar with analyst relations? Are you an expert in Adobe Illustrator? Flaunt those skills! Bring something to the table that no one else can offer. For our clients, they find our special skills to be most beneficial.

Just keep swimming.

The Madrid Premiere

While we are not fighting for our lives day-in and day-out, we need to remember to keep breathing. Naturally, the PR and marketing industry is not as hectic as the arena that the characters face. It’s important to look ahead and focus on the big picture – keep trekking through the workday. Whatever you do, just don’t give up. Finnick, a tribute in Mockingjay once said, “It’s better to not give in. It takes ten times as long to put your self back together as it does to fall apart.” Mind over matter in the games is key, and in real life, it absolutely holds meaning. Remember to stay motivated even when the days can get stressful. At the same time, remember that we aren’t saving lives.

As Effie Trinket would say, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”

AD OF THE WEEK/MONTH/WHATEVER

What else could it be than the epic final trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 and  its $40 plus marketing budget:

The post The Hunger Games World Tour and the Fashion of Jennifer Lawrence appeared first on Media Guy Struggles.