The man (along with Sean Connery) who made gray cool

I just read the Most Interesting Story In The World about The Most Interesting Man In The World.  You know who I'm talking about, right?  

He's that worldly Latin guy on the Dos Equis commercials who has parallel parked a train, whose mother has a tattoo that says "Son", who once had an awkward moment just to see how it felt.  I've gotta admit, I'd love to hang with him for a while and take notes.

The article I read in Cigar and Spirits magazine shed new light on the man that we all thought we knew.  Things like he's not the sensual Latin man's man he makes out to be, but a 75 year old Jewish actor named Jonathan Goldsmith from the Bronx.  And he's spent over half a century being a bit Hollywood actor.  (Do you recognize him from Star Wars and Gunsmoke?)

SEVENTY FIVE?  He must have one helluva makeup lady.  How do I know it's a "lady"?  'Cause he's The Most Interesting Man In The World.  :)
 
So what's with that accent, you ask?  Great story:  Over the course of his acting career he became good friends with one Fernando Lamas, who might himself have been The Most Interesting Man In The World if he'd auditioned, and hadn't had that unfortunate death thing in 2011.  Fernando and Jonathan ran in the same circle and it was imitating Lamas' accent that helped seal the Does Equis commercial for him.

Goldsmith's wife, also his manager, arranged for his Dos Equis audition where he was one of 400.  He made that cut and was invited back for a second audition as one of 200 or so, then was one of the final three.  Turns out they originally passed on him saying they wanted someone younger.

That's when his wife/manager went to bat for him telling the beer guys that The Most Interesting Man In The World HAD to be an older guy.  How could a younger man have had all the life experiences necessary to be The Most Interesting Man In The World?

I agree.  Getting older does have some drawbacks, but I'll accept them any day in exchange for all the things I've experienced in my life....the things I've done and seen, the people I've met, the places I've been.  But I digress.

Turns out 'ol Jonathan really is a Most Interesting Guy.  For example, he traded his house for a boat and sailed the Caribbean for a while, then later lived on a boat near Los Angeles.

"I live in shorts and deck shoes," he says. "I'm basically very simple. I don't need much. There's very little room on the boat for a wardrobe, and our whole room is smaller than most people's walk-in closets. That's the beauty of living on a boat. You prioritize. You practice triage on those things in your life, what is significant, what has emotional attachment."

Amen, Brother TMIMITW!

Knowing all this, I'd like to hang with him now more than ever.  

Stay thirsty my friends.  :)

S

Sex sells

It seems there were some ruffled feathers at this year's Consumer Electronics Show over the presence of "booth babes".  Anyone who's been to a car show is very familiar with what I'm talking about, but apparently they're just now becoming fashionable in the nerdy world of consumer electronics.  The term simply means attractive, provocatively dressed young ladies who mill around by their sponsor's booth attracting attention.  People, mainly men, walk over to get a closer look and are snagged by the product rep and given a pitch and some literature.  


And quite frankly, it works.  Sex (appeal) sells products.  You think Go Daddy would be where it is today without Danica Patrick?  So, I'm wondering....why aren't there "booth hunks"?  Don't tell me women don't like to see good looking men.  George Clooney?  Daniel Craig?  Matthew McConaughey?  Ashton Kutcher?  (I really don't get that one!)  Dos Equis "The Most Interesting Man in the World"?   


We all like to look at good looking people, whether they're in a movie, on a magazine cover, at a trade show, or just walking down the street.  And there is a HUGE mega-billion dollar industry that tries to get us to believe WE are good looking people, too.  (See, there is an upside to myopia!)  So what's the big deal over "booth personnel"?  ;)


S