Interview with Life-Of-Rubin

This week, we're a few days late, but we now present the Blog Interview with Life-of-Rubin...


The interviewers are ready to go...


We're ready to go...

What's it like trying to break into the blogosphere?


It's been almost a year since I started blogging, at first I came to a blog because someone sent me a link, and I followed the yellow brick road, that basically never ends. Every day I find new blogs, and discover more amazing sites. At first I had no idea how to build a readership, but as time passed, I found that, if you just interact, make sure you put out quality stuff, and basically just be yourself, people will come around.

 


What was your best day blogging?


Oh, Im going to have to say my first, which was also my worst. I finally decided to start my own blog, and I had so many things I wanted to say, do and ideas I want to get out there, I was just beside myself. I was speechless. I didn't know what to write. My first real post (which I took down, from sheer embarrassment) was a post listing 15 things I was thinking of that moment, food I had eaten, drinks, websites, I visited, work I was doing, its was horrible. But at the same time, It was awesome, because it was the beginning, and it was full of anticipation.

 


What's your favorite book of all time?


That's a tough one, I was a big reader when I was younger, but as I got older, I lost interest, and found that I never had time. I was into Tom Clancy for a while, but after that, died down again, the only thing I read and love more than anything is Harry Potter, laugh all you want, there is just something about the writing style that keeps me going for 700 pages.

 


If you could live one day over changing one thing, what day would that be?


I wouldn't change anything, I've thought about this, there were times when I wish I had made a different decision, but I'm very happy where my life and my mistakes eventually led me. If you don't make mistakes, you don't learn, and then you get no where.

 


What's the best concert you've ever been to?


I went to this LIVE concert (the band) and it was awesome, by far the best concert I went to. From start to finish, the music, the place, the company, it was really amazing.

 


What do you think of Madonna?


Ich, please, she needs a psychologist, not a Rabbi. Leave our religion alone. Please.

 


What most amuses you?


People who create their own drama. Really, I mean .. isn't life hard enough? I don't get why some people just gravitate towards negativity. Some people just love to create their own drama, they seek it out. Then they come running to you with their hardships. It might seem harsh to be amused by this, but I am, these types of people could save themselves decades of pain, by just going about their business, doing their own things, and thinking positively.

 


What is success?


This is a great question. In my mind, success, is achieving inner peace. This doesn't mean, grow a marijuana farm, move to the dessert and live in a tent overlooking some mountains.

It means, being happy with yourself, happy with your decisions, and doing the best you can. It means treating your family right, loving them, looking out for your children, and again, making sure that you can do the best that YOU can. If you can achieve that, then that's success.

 


Does it help or hurt to have a little niche (the Jewish, or J-Blogosphere) to get into?


I don't think it hurts at all. Like many wise bloggers before me have said, the best blog is one that sticks with what it knows and does the best it can in do that niche.

I'm not looking to be some super blog, or some one stop blog, just a place where people can come and read what this Jewish guy in Brooklyn thinks about Jewish stuff. Even for this "little niche" I think I end up covering quite a lot of ground.

 


What does life-of-rubin do for a living?


I am a consultant for a pretty nice size marketing firm in NY. We don't deal with such HUGE companies like Coke or Sony - but we do a lot of good work, promotional plans for corporations, freebies, lots of ad work, radio spots, we like to think of ourselves as the Cadillac of the non glitzy marketing world.

 


What would Life-of-Rubin rather do for a living?


Well, when I was a kid, I actually wanted to be an architect. I wanted to design buildings. I've always loved art, and have always been creative, and when I got to school, I quickly realized I don't have the head for architecture. I can draw a cool sketch, but the rest of it aint for me. My second favorite thing was marketing, I've always loved commercials, loved going through magazines to spot the cool ads. So I got into this, I used to do more hands on/down in the trenches work, but in the last couple years, I've moved into a new corner. I go from team to team, overseeing different projects, making comments, changing directions, more managerial now, every so often I try to get my hands dirty, but alas there is always too much to do, and too little time.

 


Are you offended when people wish you a "Merry Christmas?"


Well, I am very Jewish looking, no one is going to wish me that. Even if they did, I wouldn't be offended. I'd correct them, and that's all.

 


Who is your favorite musician?


I love music so much, I love all types of music. It's hard to say which specific musician. One guy, who as nuts as he may have been, that I really loved creatively was Kurt Cobain, I know, the guy who killed himself. There was so much emotion in his songs, most of the true artists are crazy. When someone is so filled with creativity and passion, and just the want to express themselves, to that point, they often go insane, or end up dying from tragic circumstances.

 


What's the biggest mystery of life?


Who are "The Others" on Lost? No, seriously, I don't know, this question is too esoteric for me. I guess the biggest mystery is how will history look back on you, and I hope for me it will look back say, there was a person, that worked hard, and did the best he could possibly do.

 


What's the scariest thing you've ever seen/done?


I don't know why, but Ghosts freak me out. Not that I've seen any ghosts, but don't take me to a haunted looking house right after I've seen a ghost movie. On a more serious note, I actually once performed a "Tehara" which is preparing the dead for burial. It's considered a great Mitzvah (good deed) and I don't know too much about it, other than it requires a certain amount of people, and one night back in yeshiva (Jewish male seminary) they came late at night while we were studying, they needed another person to be there very bad, and no one else wanted to offer. It was a very sobering experience. Seeing a dead body really wakes you up as to how short life is.

 


Pick a character from Gilligan's Island you'd most like to be shipwrecked with?


I really don't know how to answer this question, I have no answer.


*sigh*

Thanks for participating in the interview. Sorry for the delay in getting it posted.

This weekend, we have Tiffany from Blow Fuse ready to go. That should prove to be fun!