Hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day. Governor Schwarzenegger, Mayor Villaraigosa and actor Jon Voight led the celebration/observation of Memorial Day at West Los Angeles National Cemetery yesterday. That’s what was going on in Los Angeles, home of boutique recruiting/staffing firm Eleventh Hour. Here’s what’s going on around the “creative world”:

• R.I.P. Dennis Hopper
• Shrek topped a slow Memorial Day weekend box office (worst in 17 years).
• Guillermo del Toro has left The Hobbit. Who will take over as director?
• AdAge: Americans Downing Less Beer, Sparking Brawl Among Brewers
• Volkswagen weaves their arm-punching campaign into the opening of Jimmel Kimmel Live.
• Tom Cruise vs. Tom Cruise in an MTV promo. Remember when Tom Cruise was on the verge of crazy and it seemed like his career (or at least, reputation) was beyond repair? It seems that he’s recovered nicely.
• A baby takes over Rodeo Drive (or somewhere) in a jort-inspired diaper.
• TechCrunch: GeeksOnAPlane In Korea: 12 Demos From Local Startups
• And, some more Chris Klein auditions have leaked onto the Internet.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger contributing to Eleventh Hour’s “the world beyond recruiting.”

In case you missed some of the better viral April Fool’s Day jokes from yesterday, here they are. (Not sure that any of them compare to me changing my Facebook relationship status to “engaged,” when I don’t even have a girlfriend, and not saying a single word about it, but you can judge for yourself.)

First of all, Funny or Die changed their entire site to only feature videos with Justin Bieber. As far as I know, “Bieber or Die” ran all day yesterday.

Google changed their name to “Topeka” for the day. Not sure that they fooled anybody, or that it was really that funny, but I do appreciate the effort, and the fact that “Topeka” exists. My favorite line from “Google” on the matter? “We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name.”

Featured in The Rundown, and some major media outlets, you may have seen this “elementary school” play version of the classic Scarface. There still seems to be something inherently wrong with this production (besides the obvious), but it’s tough not to watch. And the ending, with the teacher helping the kid who “kills” Tony out on stage, is pretty classic.

After an extended holiday weekend filled with food, friends and family, Eleventh Hour is here to inform you on what Cyber Monday has to offer you.  ‘E-tailer’ as they are known are pushing some of their biggest online sales today, making it convenient for holiday shoppers to get a head start from their own computer.  Although the Web consists of about 10 percent holiday shopping mix, online sales are said to be up more than 19% compared to the numbers of a year ago.

Although online sales have been leaked around this long holiday weekend, Cyber Monday was originally coined by the National Retail Federation for shoppers who didn’t have internet access at home and returned back to work the Monday after turkey day to catch the online sales opportunities.  Nowadays with the internet available on basically every street corner, this once optimum online shopping day has now lost a little of its luster.

Sites such as Amazon.com, Target.com, EBay.com and Walmart.com are biggest online companies offering Black Friday-like specials online.  Before getting an early start on your Christmas shopping here are some strategies for safe online shopping.

CNBC below takes a look at the craziness that is “Cyber Monday.”

Matt Suttner wishes the best of luck to the estimated 96 million online shoppers.

Did you know it’s National Donut Day today?  I just found out.  Not to mention, it’s an obvious Trending Topic on Twitter.  (Did I mention that Eleventh Hour is on Twitter?)

Obligatory Obama picture

What does this mean for you?  Free donuts at Krispy Kreme for doing nothing, and free donuts at Dunkin’ Donuts for buying any beverage.  That’s what I’m talking about.  I’m not going because I’m trying to get in shape, but in theory, awesome.

But what most people don’t know–including me, before I checked Wikipedia–is the history of National Donut Day.  I figured that it’s some dumb, fake holiday, created by somebody in marketing, or even bloggers.  But in fact, while it still may have been created by a “marketer,” I guess, it actually has a very interesting history.

According to Wikipedia:

National Doughnut Day started in 1938 as a fund raiser for the Chicago Salvation Army. Their goal was to help the needy during the Great Depression, and to honor the Salvation Army “Lassies” of World War I, who served doughnuts to soldiers behind the front lines in France.

I stand corrected, and, kind of humbled…by something regarding donuts. Weird.

Brian Laesch is considering heading to Krispy Kreme to grab some donuts and awkwardly tell everybody in line about the history of the holiday.

Happy MLK Day, from Eleventh Hour and all of our clients!  (Message only approved by Brian Laesch, but would not doubt be approved by the parties mentioned as well.)

On the eve of the groundbreaking presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, we, as a nation, celebrate the extraordinary life of Martin Luther King Jr.  He was a great man, and in honor of this, here is one of his greatest speeches:

It’s been interesting to watching the media coverage as the line is blurred between Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.  The comparisons make sense, given the close proximity of the two days, the color of their skin and the magnitude of their inspiration.  Everybody wants a piece of this week of celebration (including us).  Washington, D.C. is buzzing, if the news coverage is any indication.  I’ve spoken with two friends who are going to the inauguration today.  So far, the official report is that it’s “freezing” there.  (I’m sure they will have a lot more to say tomorrow.)  But, while I think it’s important to celebrate the correlation between these two men, it is also important to remember the differences.  We don’t want to get caught up in revisionist history.  Barack Obama is not Martin Luther King Jr.  With all due respect to King, hopefully Obama will be able to do more than King, and create his own legacy.  That being said, King did help pave the way (as did the media).

So Happy MLK Day!  And Happy Inauguration Day!  Both are signficant to the history of our country, and both should be celebrated.   But we should all remember that after the party, the real work starts on Wednesday. 

Brian Laesch is as excited as the next guy, but let’s not be too hungover on Wednesday, country.

By “go elf yourself,” I’m not saying, “go viral buzz off,” or, “make like a Christmas tree and branch.” That would be weird. No, I’m literally saying, “go elf yourself” with the return of Office Max’s Elf Yourself. This year you can upload up to 5 elves. Try to contain yourself, people.

We are currently on break until January 5th. The blogging may be a sporadic during that time…but then again, it’s not like we are CNN.com.

Here’s to everybody out there having a great holiday and a happy new year. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Eid or whatever it is you celebrate. Enjoy the season!

Brian Laesch is in the holiday spirit. He would also like to congratulate his Chicago Bears for beating Matt Suttner’s Green Bay Packers on Monday. (Sorry, Matt.) This may be the first time in the history of the world that a Bears fan and a Packers fan have worked together on anything.

Happy Thanksgiving from Eleventh Hour, and all of our clients.  (Message not approved by any clients, or Eleventh Hour.  However, message most likely supported.)

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving is already here–even though it’s later in the month than it was last year.  It’s amazing how this year has flown by.  I feel like the election sucked everybody in, and spit us out just recently.  At least, that’s what I feel like.

So have a very Happy Thanksgiving.  Make sure to take some time off tomorrow and spend it with good family and friends, and remember just how lucky all of us our to live in this great country (regardless of the current economic state).

And if you really want to have a rewarding Thanksgiving, consider these opportunities for volunteering to help the less fortunate, posted on The Rundown this week.

Brian Laesch dressed up like a Pilgrim to write this blog.