Harvey Fierstein certainly sells it, I'll tell you what.
Tags:
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Midweek Video: A Zombie Musical
I found this video strangely enough when I was looking for a male gay-friendly version of I Kissed a Girl last week, and I thought it was worth sharing.
Harvey Fierstein certainly sells it, I'll tell you what.
Harvey Fierstein certainly sells it, I'll tell you what.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
G.I. Joe... A "Real American" Marketing Campaign?
Well, I've been reading some interesting things about the current marketing campaign for G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
What I am gathering is people like me, the slightly pretentious, pop culturally obsessed geek/blogger, are not the ones being targeted by the current advertising/marketing initiative, because let's face it, our community is predisposed to not like this movie. We have our memories of G.I. Joe from when we were kids, and a lot of us hold them sacrosanct (not me mind you, but I am sure I have readers who know these people online... I've certainly run into them), and even if it was an adaptation of the same quality of say Iron Man, well, there would still be a lot of carrying on about how it doesn't live up to expectation. The fact that the movie didn't have a presence at the most recent Comic-Con is evidence of this as well.
Indeed, it seems that another segment of the population is being targeted instead... middle America. I know most blockbusters are supposed to target these people anyway, but what I've been reading is the focus is almost entirely on these potential movie goers, with segments inserted into Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts, the Country Music Television Awards and various other entertainment venues which skew to a particular segment of the population. If I was going to really overgeneralize, I would say that they are trying to make this a Red State phenomenon, which would be sort of funny given the fact that for the international market, the ads are really downplay the Team America mindset, which doesn't really seem like something that would play well in the Deep South).
And having the movie have a sneak preview showing at Andrews Air Force Base also seemed inspired with this in mind, as that is some good press right there both in general and for that particular demographic... though I think that the movie would have been high on the list of summer movies that servicemen wanted to see anyway.
I know this whole exercise is designed to produce the maximum amount of money at the box office, but part of this makes me feel like, I don't know, I won't like it, or that it is a bad movie. When the most prominent critic to see it so far is Harry Knowles, it raises some red-flags. It almost feels like despite all the money they are spending on marketing, everything about this movie is standoffish. And trust me, I want to like this movie, but all signs are pointing to a no on this one for me.
What I am gathering is people like me, the slightly pretentious, pop culturally obsessed geek/blogger, are not the ones being targeted by the current advertising/marketing initiative, because let's face it, our community is predisposed to not like this movie. We have our memories of G.I. Joe from when we were kids, and a lot of us hold them sacrosanct (not me mind you, but I am sure I have readers who know these people online... I've certainly run into them), and even if it was an adaptation of the same quality of say Iron Man, well, there would still be a lot of carrying on about how it doesn't live up to expectation. The fact that the movie didn't have a presence at the most recent Comic-Con is evidence of this as well.
Indeed, it seems that another segment of the population is being targeted instead... middle America. I know most blockbusters are supposed to target these people anyway, but what I've been reading is the focus is almost entirely on these potential movie goers, with segments inserted into Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts, the Country Music Television Awards and various other entertainment venues which skew to a particular segment of the population. If I was going to really overgeneralize, I would say that they are trying to make this a Red State phenomenon, which would be sort of funny given the fact that for the international market, the ads are really downplay the Team America mindset, which doesn't really seem like something that would play well in the Deep South).
And having the movie have a sneak preview showing at Andrews Air Force Base also seemed inspired with this in mind, as that is some good press right there both in general and for that particular demographic... though I think that the movie would have been high on the list of summer movies that servicemen wanted to see anyway.
I know this whole exercise is designed to produce the maximum amount of money at the box office, but part of this makes me feel like, I don't know, I won't like it, or that it is a bad movie. When the most prominent critic to see it so far is Harry Knowles, it raises some red-flags. It almost feels like despite all the money they are spending on marketing, everything about this movie is standoffish. And trust me, I want to like this movie, but all signs are pointing to a no on this one for me.
Tags:
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Other Side of the Heat Wave: Humidity
There was another side of the heat wave of the past week--the high humidity. It really felt like the torrid east coast the day before the big record.
Air with lots of water vapor makes us miserable in two ways: first, we can't evaporate water off our skin (sweat) as effectively...and thus feel warmer. Second, water vapor acts as an atmospheric blanket--keeping temperatures up at night.
Many of you have heard of relative humidity--with air have 100% relative humidity when completely saturated. But relative humidity varies with temperature and drops as the day warms. It is NOT an absolute measure of the amount of water vapor and thus meteorologists prefer to use another measure, dew point. (air with 100% RH at 45F has far less water than air with 100% RH at 85F)
Dew point is the temperature that air must be cooled to to become saturated (100% RH). The more water vapor in the air, the less you have to cool it down to get saturated (remember, warm air holds more water vapor than cold air). So dew point is actually a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air.
Still with me? In Seattle, the typical summer dew point is in the lower 50s. In DC it is closer to 70F (a very good reason to avoid living in DC and to appreciate our congressional/senatorial delegation that has to live there).
Take a look at the plot of dew point at Sea Tac for the last two weeks above. The dew point starts in the 50s and rises well into the 60s in the day leading up to the heat wave...that is why it felt so terrible. (some local stations had dew point rising near 70F) Then on the day of the heat, as the dry, easterly flow developed, the dew point dropped . During the past few days the dew point dropped in to the fifties again...and boy does it feel better. Today was spectacular and comfortable...with dew points dropping into the upper 40s in some locations.
And why are our dew points generally low and our summer air much drier than that of the East Coast? The Pacific Ocean. How can that be? Generally our air has traveled thousands of miles of the Pacific...but because the Pacific and the surface air is relatively cold...the air can't pick up much moisture. In contrast, those poor people of the East and Central U.S. have air coming off the Gulf of Mexico...which is well above 80F in the summer. If you want to read more about dew point, there is plenty more about it in my book.
So that's the unsung issue that made last week a terror...unusually high dew points.
PS: There was a question of why it was so humid. The air trajectory was not off the ocean (air would be too dry because the water is cold) and not from eastern WA (too dry because of the surface). Rather, it came from the north--passing over vegetated areas of southern BC....cliff
Air with lots of water vapor makes us miserable in two ways: first, we can't evaporate water off our skin (sweat) as effectively...and thus feel warmer. Second, water vapor acts as an atmospheric blanket--keeping temperatures up at night.
Many of you have heard of relative humidity--with air have 100% relative humidity when completely saturated. But relative humidity varies with temperature and drops as the day warms. It is NOT an absolute measure of the amount of water vapor and thus meteorologists prefer to use another measure, dew point. (air with 100% RH at 45F has far less water than air with 100% RH at 85F)
Dew point is the temperature that air must be cooled to to become saturated (100% RH). The more water vapor in the air, the less you have to cool it down to get saturated (remember, warm air holds more water vapor than cold air). So dew point is actually a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air.
Still with me? In Seattle, the typical summer dew point is in the lower 50s. In DC it is closer to 70F (a very good reason to avoid living in DC and to appreciate our congressional/senatorial delegation that has to live there).
Take a look at the plot of dew point at Sea Tac for the last two weeks above. The dew point starts in the 50s and rises well into the 60s in the day leading up to the heat wave...that is why it felt so terrible. (some local stations had dew point rising near 70F) Then on the day of the heat, as the dry, easterly flow developed, the dew point dropped . During the past few days the dew point dropped in to the fifties again...and boy does it feel better. Today was spectacular and comfortable...with dew points dropping into the upper 40s in some locations.
And why are our dew points generally low and our summer air much drier than that of the East Coast? The Pacific Ocean. How can that be? Generally our air has traveled thousands of miles of the Pacific...but because the Pacific and the surface air is relatively cold...the air can't pick up much moisture. In contrast, those poor people of the East and Central U.S. have air coming off the Gulf of Mexico...which is well above 80F in the summer. If you want to read more about dew point, there is plenty more about it in my book.
So that's the unsung issue that made last week a terror...unusually high dew points.
PS: There was a question of why it was so humid. The air trajectory was not off the ocean (air would be too dry because the water is cold) and not from eastern WA (too dry because of the surface). Rather, it came from the north--passing over vegetated areas of southern BC....cliff
Recessed toileting
I guess this post in the NYT is something I could hardly let go.
This year, it seems, the sagging economy may now be having an unexpected effect on methods and timing of training. Disposable diapers are not cheap (an average of 42 cents each); neither are training pants (68 cents a piece), which, while convenient, do not rise to the level of necessary. Sales of the latter are falling ...
The theory is simple. Pull-ups are, at least at the margin, a substitute for putting more effort into toilet training but come at two costs -- it may take longer and it definitely costs more money. When money is tight, you cut back on pull-ups and faced with mess but in more effort so training occurs at a faster rate. (Technically, theory is that toilet training is rare example of an inferior or Giffen good). The post provides an anecdote to back this up.
But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it could move in another way. It is unclear whether the fall in sales (usually revenue) is quantity -- number of pants/nappies -- or price -- people switching to cheaper brands. Our now 5 year old is not yet trained at night. It might be that she isn't ready but I'll tell you that there ain't much parental effort going into it this time around. (Regular readers will understand why we might have just given up after Child No.2).
Anyhow, if she was just going to wee in them, we moved away from Pull-Ups to a much cheaper no-name brand which does the job. So our expenditures on this are way down this year. The problem is that with cheaper 'units' we have even less incentive to make a push to get her out of her training pants. So if this is the case, then the recession may not lead to accelerated toileting. Toilet training could be a normal good that happens quicker when income rises.
So there you go. I've matched the NYT anecdote with a countervailing one and resolved nothing. I wonder what brave economist is going to collect the data to resolve the issue of whether toileting training is a normal or Giffen good?
But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that it could move in another way. It is unclear whether the fall in sales (usually revenue) is quantity -- number of pants/nappies -- or price -- people switching to cheaper brands. Our now 5 year old is not yet trained at night. It might be that she isn't ready but I'll tell you that there ain't much parental effort going into it this time around. (Regular readers will understand why we might have just given up after Child No.2).
Anyhow, if she was just going to wee in them, we moved away from Pull-Ups to a much cheaper no-name brand which does the job. So our expenditures on this are way down this year. The problem is that with cheaper 'units' we have even less incentive to make a push to get her out of her training pants. So if this is the case, then the recession may not lead to accelerated toileting. Toilet training could be a normal good that happens quicker when income rises.
So there you go. I've matched the NYT anecdote with a countervailing one and resolved nothing. I wonder what brave economist is going to collect the data to resolve the issue of whether toileting training is a normal or Giffen good?
Pop Culture Q and A #2
So, who should just go away?
Megan Fox. Gone. I thought the goal of being a celebrity that was supposed to open movies was that you were on some level likable and barring that bare minimum, at least you had some talent that made watching a performance worth overlooking your less than desirable personality traits. She fails both of these criteria. This is the first and last time I am ever going to say this, but I am pleading with the entertainment media.... please talk about Paris Hilton some more instead of interviewing Megan Fox, because at least the former has some sense that their fame is an artificial construction and has some sense when giving interviews that you don't have to say everything that comes to mind. Part of me wonders when Megan Fox and Billy Bob Thorton are getting together, because those two would likely have a lot to talk about, and if they are talking to each other, well, then I don't have to hear either of them.
What about news that Michael Moore is thinking of starting a comedy festival in his adopted town Traverse City, Michigan?
Well, as you know, Michael Moore is one of those people who is on my enemies list because of both his unethical and somewhat shoddy work as a documentarian and his history as a less than stellar person. I know Traverse City could use the increased visibility as a town of the arts (as Moore also have a film festival in that town), but there is a firsthand story about a store mentioning that festival in a way that Moore didn't like and getting some legal attention from him because of it, so I could see a few more businesses in that kind of situation again. And let's face it, Moore is such a target for a particular segment of the political spectrum that any comic who did perform there would at least get chewed out on Fox News or certain websites and at worst, could find their careers put on hold, even if they themselves are apolitical, just because they are now associated with Michael Moore.
Simon Cowell had Botox?
I don't give a shit. I know the plastic surgery selling community does, but if it doesn't turn a personality into a zombie-faced goon like Nicole Kidman, then it doesn't really concern me.
Speaking of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has put on weight?
And?
Well, aren't you disgusted by that. That is what the weberazzi indicate you should feel by that news?
I don't like her music, but if she put on weight and she doesn't look like some wafer thin mint of a woman like those same people rip on for being anoxeric or drug addicts, then more power to her. If she is comfortable with whatever weight she is at, then those other people can go fuck themselves. It is as simple as that.
Corey Feldman, asshole or douchebag?
Douchebag.
Care to explain?
Do I really have to? OK, I will in a later post.
Don't you think it was weird that Mark Wahlberg and Ali Larter both got married on Saturday (to different people naturally)?
The only thing I wonder is if Entourage is going to suddenly turn into a different show now. But seriously, I would have thought it was weird if the former Ms. Larter got married in a whip cream bikini and Mark Wahlberg was actually convincing in the role of groom and not wooden like he usually is. But I did hear he said hello to everyone's mother after the ceremony.
Speaking of weddings, what do you think of Demi Moore taking Ashton Kutcher's last name?
I think Bruce Willis must be pissed... I mean, she didn't commit to their marriage like that, did she? And it isn't like she is doing a lot of movies at the moment, so there will be less confusion for everyone involved in the future.
Megan Fox. Gone. I thought the goal of being a celebrity that was supposed to open movies was that you were on some level likable and barring that bare minimum, at least you had some talent that made watching a performance worth overlooking your less than desirable personality traits. She fails both of these criteria. This is the first and last time I am ever going to say this, but I am pleading with the entertainment media.... please talk about Paris Hilton some more instead of interviewing Megan Fox, because at least the former has some sense that their fame is an artificial construction and has some sense when giving interviews that you don't have to say everything that comes to mind. Part of me wonders when Megan Fox and Billy Bob Thorton are getting together, because those two would likely have a lot to talk about, and if they are talking to each other, well, then I don't have to hear either of them.
What about news that Michael Moore is thinking of starting a comedy festival in his adopted town Traverse City, Michigan?
Well, as you know, Michael Moore is one of those people who is on my enemies list because of both his unethical and somewhat shoddy work as a documentarian and his history as a less than stellar person. I know Traverse City could use the increased visibility as a town of the arts (as Moore also have a film festival in that town), but there is a firsthand story about a store mentioning that festival in a way that Moore didn't like and getting some legal attention from him because of it, so I could see a few more businesses in that kind of situation again. And let's face it, Moore is such a target for a particular segment of the political spectrum that any comic who did perform there would at least get chewed out on Fox News or certain websites and at worst, could find their careers put on hold, even if they themselves are apolitical, just because they are now associated with Michael Moore.
Simon Cowell had Botox?
I don't give a shit. I know the plastic surgery selling community does, but if it doesn't turn a personality into a zombie-faced goon like Nicole Kidman, then it doesn't really concern me.
Speaking of American Idol, Kelly Clarkson has put on weight?
And?
Well, aren't you disgusted by that. That is what the weberazzi indicate you should feel by that news?
I don't like her music, but if she put on weight and she doesn't look like some wafer thin mint of a woman like those same people rip on for being anoxeric or drug addicts, then more power to her. If she is comfortable with whatever weight she is at, then those other people can go fuck themselves. It is as simple as that.
Corey Feldman, asshole or douchebag?
Douchebag.
Care to explain?
Do I really have to? OK, I will in a later post.
Don't you think it was weird that Mark Wahlberg and Ali Larter both got married on Saturday (to different people naturally)?
The only thing I wonder is if Entourage is going to suddenly turn into a different show now. But seriously, I would have thought it was weird if the former Ms. Larter got married in a whip cream bikini and Mark Wahlberg was actually convincing in the role of groom and not wooden like he usually is. But I did hear he said hello to everyone's mother after the ceremony.
Speaking of weddings, what do you think of Demi Moore taking Ashton Kutcher's last name?
I think Bruce Willis must be pissed... I mean, she didn't commit to their marriage like that, did she? And it isn't like she is doing a lot of movies at the moment, so there will be less confusion for everyone involved in the future.
Tags:
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday Video: Dancing Bear
The Mamas and The Papas released a lot of hit songs, and memorable singles. However, I happened to come across a particular single on one of their greatest hits collections that really resonated with me.
The song was Dancing Bear.
The sound is just so mythic... and the imagery is sort of weird, even for a song that is contemporaneous with the age of psychedelic rock, and I sort of appreciate that.
The song was Dancing Bear.
The sound is just so mythic... and the imagery is sort of weird, even for a song that is contemporaneous with the age of psychedelic rock, and I sort of appreciate that.
Tags:
Saturday, August 1, 2009
The Warmest July Ever at Sea Tac
The numbers are in, July 2009 was the warmest since record-keeping began at Sea-Tac Airport (late 40s).
The air above remains very warm above us right now...at 850 mb--around 5000 ft-- it is 20C (68F)...which is much above normal. At low levels we have had weak onshore flow, bringing marine air and some clouds in the lower few thousand feet. A vertical profile at Sand Point is shown below. Notice the inversion at low levels, with temperatures increasing with height. The cool low-level air warms during the day and the inversion is slowly burned out in the morning hours...producing rapid warming. Temps remain warm in the mountains where they are above the marine layer.
In the lowlands away from the water temps will rise in the mid to upper 80s..with a few 90s. And very warm hiking weather in the Cascades. This hot period doesn't want to end.
There are some major changes suggested in the latest computer runs for the end of next week, when a strong upper low swings through....convection--thunderstorms--often come with such changes. We will see.
The air above remains very warm above us right now...at 850 mb--around 5000 ft-- it is 20C (68F)...which is much above normal. At low levels we have had weak onshore flow, bringing marine air and some clouds in the lower few thousand feet. A vertical profile at Sand Point is shown below. Notice the inversion at low levels, with temperatures increasing with height. The cool low-level air warms during the day and the inversion is slowly burned out in the morning hours...producing rapid warming. Temps remain warm in the mountains where they are above the marine layer.
In the lowlands away from the water temps will rise in the mid to upper 80s..with a few 90s. And very warm hiking weather in the Cascades. This hot period doesn't want to end.
There are some major changes suggested in the latest computer runs for the end of next week, when a strong upper low swings through....convection--thunderstorms--often come with such changes. We will see.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)