Great background audio for 20 minutes — an interesting interview yesterday via CNBC via the Greater Omaha Chamber. Warren Buffett walks with Henry Paulson about our economy over the past few years, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and how some of the massive fiscal decisions are made.

Last week we shot yet another Dean video, this time centering around the fact that Dean hired a consultant (played by MC friend Niki Lindgren).  We shoot these in PERL Mortgage’s main office on Belmont, but now we’re thinking of doing a few in other locations and the big debate is finding ways to start and end them at PERL, because, well, they have to.  Big ups to Dean for finding the fire engine.  As always, directed by Delahoyde and co-starring Holly Laurent.

Yesterday Joel mentioned the existence of an awesome opportunity to invest in a big Hollywood movie by joining nearly 12,000 people from 70 countries to produce the 1-Second Film, an endeavor to produce a film that’s a mere 24 frames long with nearly an hour (so-far) of credits. Profits go to charity. Fantastic idea — bringing big movie profit margins to the people. Of course I signed-up immediately and if you see the 1-Second Film you’ll see me listed as an Associate Producer. You might want to do the same. In fact, if you do, we can go to the premiere together, because I’m pretty sure it’s a “producers only” kind-of event, and we probably don’t want the regular movie-going population to see the flick until we’ve sort-of put our stamp of approval on the dang thing. There might be some producer notes or edits we’ll need to give, and if that’s the case, it might involve recutting a few frames here and there. Either way, it’s great to be on board such a promising project.  The great thing about being a movie producer, I’m finding out, is that it doesn’t really take much training, experience or awareness of the actual craft of shooting on film.  What’s involved is a keen understanding of what the people want.  And what do the people want?  They want Avatar II.  I think my next project, after associate producing the 1-Second Film and before I sink my gross earnings into Avatar II, will be (finally) finishing my treatment for a remake of the Misfits of Science.

I remember the Price Pfister ads from back in the day mostly from their clever textual tagline: The Pfancy Pfaucet with the Pfunny Name. Price Pfister probably owes some tad of it’s success to Kohler, which (as you’ve guessed by now) has a town named after it in Wisconsin. Not only does the Kohler company have a small village about 2,000 residents strong (just 2.5 hours north of Chicago), but it was originally designed as a planned community for Kohler workers. I spent the weekend in Kohler it has a few very nice hotels (with requisite showcase bathrooms featuring, like, the best showers and sinks in town), a strip mall full of Shops that Moms would Adore, and a couple of golf courses and a nice little lake.   Apologies if you live in Kohler and I’ve left-out the all-important Whatever. Point is, the town was built around this company (which is still family owned over 125 years later). I wonder how it’d affect Town XYZ in today’s economy if a company were to, literally, move their headquarters next door and basically sponsor the dang thing. Jobs would be created and unity might be established by fighting a common battle not against the competition. NASA basically sponsored areas in Houston and Florida in the 1960′s. Maybe Apple’s sponsorship of Chicago’s North & Clybourn el station is the first step in civic sponsorship (taking things a beyond the transition from Comiskey to U.S. Cellular). Maybe Hollywood is an early economic indicator…”Semi Pro” was filmed in Flint, Michigan.

The other night I was picking-up the dry cleaning and a guy in front of me had a problem with a scarf that wasn’t cleaned properly. Long to story short, the conversation devolved into the guy telling Jay, the owner, that he didn’t want it re-cleaned. He wanted the full purchase price refunded to him in the form of a credit towards future dry cleaning bills. Jay said sure, okay, and he wrote the guy a credit for $33.50. After the guy left, Jay told me that the guy’s been in a number of times complaining about bad dry cleaning and wanting dry cleaning credits. Now you could say that Jay should tell this guy now way and risk him telling 100 people never to use the dry cleaners (always two sides to every story) but it’s interesting that people are now looking for ways to save money through returning clothes, Nordstrom style, to companies that don’t even have a return policy. One of my favorite companies REI has a lifetime no-questions-asked return policy, and I’ve returned a few things over the years, but come on. Would it ever occur to you to ask for the purchase price of a piece of clothing at the cleaners? Now that we’re on the subject I bet REI and LL Bean and Land’s End are having a run with people looking for a little extra cash by returning those old ski boots. It’s a slippery slope, returning goods to stores. Instead, take the boots to Play it Again Sports on Irving and Ashland and get your 10 bucks and move on with your life. Part of restoring transparency and trust in this economy applies to the consumer and not taking your ski boots back to REI.