For many of us Venezuelans it is no leap at all to think of Sean Penn as a loudmouth, limousine liberal… and worse.

Many of us Venezuelans know that some of Venezuela’s money was spent by the 21st Century Socialism sucking up to Sean Penn, because Sean Penn was sucking up to the 21st Century Socialism of Hugo Chavez and his gang.

And that is why when he tells Matthew Garrahan “It’s not a big leap to think of me as a loudmouth, limousine liberal”, that most of us Venezuelan would hold, fairly, that would be no leap at all. “Who among us is fairly thought of?” “Lunch with the FT” May 14.

@PerKurowski ©

The most forceful adblocker is the limited attention span available… and here is an offer on how you can access mine

Sir, Matthew Garrahan, Hannah Kuchler and Robert Cookson write “the latest adblocking software, and programs already available on PCs and laptops, could have ruinous implications for the companies that rely on digital advertising, such as online publishers” “Adblocking threat to marketing industry grows” October 6.

I am perfectly fine with any advertiser who simply tags on a Twitter, Google or Facebook and gets paid for it even if I were bothered is put out of business. We need smart adblocking on our telephone lines too.

But the fact is that the biggest adblocker of them all, is time. There is just so many hours and minutes available per day. And so the whole adblocking technology, instead of being considered a threat, should be good news for the ad industry, since it will permit to separate the good from the bad.

And, since we on the receiving end are in fact the most important participants in all this, let me take this opportunity to once again remind the industry of my offer:

Anyone who following my personal copyrighted preferences feels he has a very special message to me, could begin by paying me a token of good faith, for instance 1US$. If so, I guarantee him the access to my fully devoted attention span, during 30 seconds. For your information my adblocker will be receiving a percentage to be agreed upon of my revenues, and so that it also has an interest in maximizing these.

This is going to be fun.

PS. I just went out to my mailbox. I will need an adblocker there too. My ordinary mail does not fit any longer.

@PerKurowski © J

The “who gets tagged last by an ad” game

Sir, Matthew Garrahan gives a lovely description on how 5-Hour energy advertising has captured the imagination of his five year old son… but also how the possibilities of advertising seem to diminish with current technological advances, “A five-year old Don Draper speaks”, August 30. 

Mr. Garrahan might hope for that, but, in just few years, he will be able to play "who gets tag last by an ad" with his son. That game consists in each one of the players sending out simultaneously an email commenting to a friend about an esoteric product of his choice… and, as the name indicates, the one whose inbox is last to get tagged by an ad offering the mentioned product, wins. 

For your info, among true professionals, this game is played with all anti-spam-filters off.

In reality Oliver Stone is Mr. Conformist.

Sir in “When Hugo met Oliver”, June 19, Matthew Garrahan refers to Oliver Stone as a non-conformist. Since “conformism” is a term used to describe the suspension of an individual's self-determined actions or opinions in favour of obedience to the mandates or conventions of one's peer-group that is plainly laughable. Oliver Stone, with respect to the beliefs extolled in his particular mutual admiration club, is as conformist as anyone could be.

If I had the chance I would warmly suggest Mr. Stone to read Arthur Koestler’s “Darkness at noon”, as it could be an eye-opener for him. But, then again why would he want an eye-opener when the living on the fast moving and trendy oil blessed left jet set is so enjoyable and profitable?