Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Diamond Cutter
Wednesday
June 21, 2006
Let the PR war begin. Diamond hoarder DeBeers is about to have its evil ways (which I've known about since high school, but which many Americans are blind to, thanks in part to heavy advertising), thanks to the forthcoming movie The Blood Diamond. Talk is that the company has acquired the services of public relations powerhouse Sitrick and Company to go on the defensive, with the plan being to use Nelson Mandela as the spokesman for the counter-attack.
Read about it here via the Los Angeles Times.
Most companies are not evil, contrary to what some would tell you. But DeBeers? There's one which deserves a bum rap. Just my opinion.
Tonight my friend Brook Gardiner invited me out to dinner with some of his co-workers from the NFL law office. We went to the Highlands Bar & Grill, a very nice restaurant located in the Five Points section of Birmingham. Right there is where the action is at, at least from what I've observed so far, and the area made a good impression on the group. Parking in the area is a major inconvenience, but I'm slowly discovering some tricks and lesser-known spots to make that easier. Normally driving to Birmingham from Alabaster on a weeknight would be a no for me, but this was a special occasion... and I'm glad I went. Good times, for sure.
In a hilarious sidebar, there was a guy who looked like a cross between Colonel Sanders and Gene Lasker sitting at the bar, talking with this woman who seemed suspiciously younger than him. The fact that she didn't recoil from him when he awkwardly touched her, or when he gave her a neck massage, made us think that perhaps she was on the clock, if you get my drift. It was quintessential dirty old man stuff. It was great entertainment for us, and it got me laughing hard at one point (not Upper Decker level, but still enough where my laughter set off other people laughing at a contagious level.)
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