SMALL TOWN CONNECTICUT GOES HOLLYWOOD, WELL, FOOD NETWORK ANYWAY - We moved out of Media Town a long time ago to get away from all the hubbub. So imagine our surprise when we woke last weekend in our sleepy Connecticut hamlet to find it transformed into a television set.

ADVERTISING WEAK -- Has anyone else noticed the schism that's been building between the creative and media sides of the advertising business? Lately, it's grown into more of a chasm. The most obvious example of that is next week's Advertising Week hoopla in New York, where there are scores of events - many competing directly with each other - celebrating the creativity of the ad business.

THE SHOW(S) JUST GO ON -- If the Riff has seemed a little more distracted than usual lately, it's because we have been. It's mainly because our colleagues at MediaPost have been inundating us with so many new developments.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW, AND OTHER NOTEWORTHY ALLIANCES -- As far as media alliances go, there were some pretty strange bedfellows announced on Tuesday. Or, depending on your perspective, some extremely logical ones.

THE 15 PERCENT SOLUTION -- Here's a fascinating media stat, and one that you've likely never seen before. The six broadcast networks aired 56,375 "brand mentions" during the nine months between September 2003 and May 2004.

BRAMAGED GOODS - When we can think, the thought often occurs to us that we might have brain damage. But until Tuesday evening when we received an e-mail alert from the marketing communications linguists at Starcom MediaVest Group, we never would have imagined that we also might be suffering from a bad case of "bramage.

HERE'S THE PITCH -- Dear Messrs. Kim and Linnett, Congratulations on your new Hollywood gig.

A MEDIA DEAL WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD -- Try to calculate the CPM on this one. The cost of the media "buy" was about $10 billion.

THE CELEBS OF THE PRESIDENT -- Celebrity endorsements are a tried and true practice in many campaigns, but apparently not in two of the most important ones this year: the races for the White House. And that could well be a tactical error on the part of presidential candidates, especially if they're hoping to influence younger voters, concludes media agency MediaVest, which just surveyed 1,000 Americans on the topic.

THE PICTURE OF TELEVISION, GRAY --Nary a week goes by that someone doesn't have something bad to say about Nielsen's TV audience data - unless, of course, they happen to be experiencing a ratings upswing. But some good news has come from Nielsen this week if you happen to be an eligible, heterosexual woman.