Monthly Archives: June 2004

TV

Reruns on DVD

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TV on DVDThe TV to DVD conversion continues as old and new favorites hit the market. This week 1980s classics The A-Team and The Dukes of Hazzard hit the street, as well as the quirky time-travel drama, Quantum Leap. Upcoming releases include Knight Rider, Wonder Woman, and the long-awaited Seinfeld. You can even get your hands on cartoon classics like The Jetsons, The Flinstones, or Jonny Quest. Or 1960s classics like Gilligan’s Island, Lost in Space, or Green Acres. You can even get a laugh with off-beat comedies like SCTV, Northern Exposure, or the quirky and quickly canceled Freaks and Geeks.

You get the idea: TV is on DVD. Cable no longer has a stranglehold on the rerun market. Cough up $45 and you can watch a season of your favorite series on your own time, with no commercials, as often as you want. No more waiting for sweeps week for plots to boil or planning dinner around the TV schedule. DVD is making on demand TV possible.

The DVD revolution raises a lot of questions about the future of television. DVD buying habits have already brought one series back from cancellation (Family Guy). You also have to wonder about the future of commercials as consumers get used to TV without them — which raises the question of how the money is made. It’s also a technological quandry as DVD became a widely accepted platform in record time. How long will DVD last, and how long before piles and piles of 6-disc sets overcome America’s family rooms and someone develops a device that will do to DVDs what the iPod did to CDs?

In the meantime, cancel my cable TV and bring on Buffy.

Books

Author as Rock Star

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David Sedaris' booksEager fans line up three hours before a reading by author David Sedaris at a New York City Barnes & Noble, making him seem like a literary rock star — if there is such a thing. Sedaris has sold 2.5 million books banking on his childhood alienation and loser status, including Me Talk Pretty One day, Naked, and his newest book, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. He not only packs out bookstores, but can earn $25,000 per appearance in a large hall. With that kind of success, Sedaris struggles to maintain his outsider appeal. (link via kottke.org)

Business & Marketing

Honesty in the Workplace

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An on-your-honor bagel business gives surprising insight into the world of office crime, including a 15 percent drop in bagel theft after 9/11, followed by a similar spike in bagel theft during Christmas. Roughly 89 percent of bagel-eaters were honest, though a variety of factors influenced the pilfering: small companies were honest, telecom and law offices were not; a poor economy actually resulted in less theft, while a good economy saw more. (link via kottke.org)

Politics, Technology

Ten Dollar Reagan

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Ronald Reagan supporters are pushing to have his likeness on some cash, among other places. Current discussion includes putting Reagan on the $10 or $20 bill, though both proposals would require an act of Congress. Another option is to put Reagan on the dime, or possibly on half the dimes produced (leaving FDR on the other half of all dimes produced), something the Treasury can do without approval from Congress.

All of which causes me further speculation about what made Ronald Reagan so great. Speculation that, by the way, is thoroughly honest, innocent, and not malicious, as some seem to think.

It seems especially ironic to consider putting Reagan on our money considering the divided feelings over Reaganomics. According to that CNN/Money article, the idea behind Reagan’s economic policies were to lower taxes, decrease government regulations, and increase military spending. The result was 20 million jobs, a huge drop in interest rates, and a $3 trillion debt by the end of the decade. The opposite approach seems to be Bill Clinton, who balanced the budget and didn’t cut taxes. I’m no economist and I don’t really know how to compare the two, but I do know that the mid-to-late 1990s had quite an economic boom as well. An NPR commentator pointed out that the economic growth in the 1990s was more evenly spread throughout society.

Interesting points to ponder.

At any rate, I find it especially peculiar that there’s a Ronald Reagan Legacy Project with a goal of “seeing a Reagan commemoration in every American county” (Star Trib). Furthermore, they’d like to add Reagan to Mt. Rushmore (though they might have to settle for the road that leads to Rushmore). Apparently there are only some 54 memorials to Reagan across the country, compared to more than 600 for John F. Kennedy and more than 800 for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Apparently it’s a race.

But seriously, it makes me wonder about who we honor and why we honor them. Why are there 600 memorials for JFK? Was his shortened presidency that great? Was averting a nuclear war in the Cuban Missile Crisis that much of an accomplishment? Or was he just a popular guy and we feel bad he was shot?

I understand that it’s important to remember the past and honor national heroes, but all the rangling over who’s a better hero or a more worthy hero is really odd. And at one point is one hero better than another? When can Reagan, hero of the Cold War, replace Alexander Hamilton, hero of the Revolutionary War? Because there’s only so much space for memorial. I can imagine a park absolutely cluttered with bronze statues to hundreds of years of American presidents. You’d be walking on the George H.W. Bush Memorial Sidewalk reading your Official Gerald Ford Map and sucking away on your large Bill Clinton Sodapop.

All the while no one can remember what any of them did.

Business & Marketing

President of Beers

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Miller for President of BeersIf you’ve had the TV on lately you’ve probably noticed the tongue-in-cheek commercials from Miller challenging Budweiser’s “King of Beers” claim as undemocratic and announcing their run for president of beers. Only in commercials. The Miller ads featured debates between a Miller spokesperson and a Clydesdale to pseudo-comic effect.

But now Budweiser is coming back strong, challenging Miller’s presidential run by pointing out that their South African ownership makes them ineligible to run for president (U.S. presidents must be natural-born U.S. citizens). Budweiser fought back with commercials featuring the famous talking lizards and a donkey that originally appeared during the 2004 Super Bowl.

Both companies are now duking it out in court as well as in commercials. According to the beer blog Realbeer.com, there have been allegations that Budweiser distributors put stickers on Miller Lite products calling it the “Queen of Carbs” and “Owned by South African Breweries.”

While this hardly relates to Monkey Outta Nowhere, it is fun to ponder the potential gains or losses for such an advertising stunt. Rarely will companies so blatantly and aggressively target one another. While it’s possible customers will appreciate the humorous commercials that for once don’t feature bouncing cleavage, the childish bickering could just as easily turn consumers off. All this for beer.

Politics

Bedtime for Bonzo

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Ronald Reagan and BonzoDespite the goofball picture, I really don’t mean any disrespect in this posting. I just couldn’t resist. This is Monkey Outta Nowhere after all.

I’m going to come across as a completely uneducated bafoon, but what was so great about Ronald Reagan’s presidency? He passed away yesterday and the homage has been thick and deep. I know I’m a bit biased with my anti-Republican comments in the past, but I’d honestly like to know why people are saying he was one of the greatest presidents.

I blame a lot of my naivete on the school system that never covered anything after World War II, leaving me with a pitiful understanding of modern world history.

On a theoretical level, I know Reagan’s presidency came at a time when things weren’t looking good for the country. There was the energy crisis of the 1970s, the hostage thing in the Middle East, and recovering from a lot of 1970s muck like Watergate and Vietnam. And a lot happened during Reagan’s presidency. There were nuclear arms treaties with the Soviets, that whole Star Wars thing (I was always pissed when the news talked about the Star Wars program because I thought they were talking about the movie and I’d watch to see more about the movie, but they never had anything), and the merging of conservative Christians and the Republican party.

But I know a lot of messed up stuff happened during Reagan’s presidency. There was the whole Iran-Contra scandal. There was El Salvador and other conflicts where we were supporting war and bloodshed for dubious reasons. There’s the fact that Reagan was all about smaller government, yet he also created the biggest deficit in history.

There’s also the whole go-go 80s. The 1980s were really a big business era, and part of me wonders if that’s why Reagan seems so great. The economy was booming and whether or not he had anything to do with it, he gets the credit.

I was born in 1979, so Reagan is the first president I remember seeing. You tend to idolize a world leader when you’re that young, and you don’t know a lot of the facts.

Some of this is probably over-generalizing from what little I know (or think I know) about Reagan, so feel free to correct me. I know there are certain leadership qualities that stand out and would make a good leader, regardless of how you feel about their politics. I’m eager to know if that’s part of what made Reagan such a great president.

Health

Fits of Yuck

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I’m really bad at being sick. I spent most of yesterday curled up in the fetal position, moaning and thrashing as my stomach turned upside down and emptied itself a few times and the muscles in my legs and back tightened into sleep-defying cramps. I crawled into bed at 7:00 p.m. last night and could barely roll over without launching my stomach into fits of yuck. It was at least 11:00 p.m. before I feel asleep, and I woke several times before finally giving up at 7:00 a.m. All I had to eat yesterday was breakfast. The three sips of pop I tried wouldn’t stay down, though the quarter of a saltine I managed just before 11:00 seemed OK.

Most of the night my mind kept wandering into bizarre rationales for the pain I was feeling, a mix between dreaming and some kind of stream of consciousness rambling. My favorite rationale was that it was some kind of bad magic, thanks to having finished season six of Buffy earlier that day. Another rationale had something to do with opened and closed systems. It made incredible sense at the time, but now it seems like weird hallucinations.

Thankfully I’m feeling better this morning. I can not only roll over in bed, but can also wonder the house without doubling over. A piece of slightly buttered toast, a few saltines and a shot glass of Sprite were a poor excuse for breakfast time. I’m starving, but afraid to try much more.

The freaky part is that it’s all strangely reminiscent of the banana-induced stomach suck I experienced a while back. Though I haven’t eaten any bananas since.

If I ever have some serious medical condition or have to go to the hospital or endure any kind of health related yuck, I’m going to be terrible. I think I have a very low tolerance for pain. I made my poor wife do the most meaningless of tasks last night, like transfer my Sprite from an ordinary cup to a water bottle so I could drink it without sitting up. I can’t imagine she got any sleep last night, with all my thrashing and rolling.

The dog seems to have an innate sense of sympathy when it comes to pain. When he realized I wouldn’t lift him up on to the bed he curled up on the blankets on the floor. While in the bathroom heaving, Speak would hear me from downstairs and come running, though his excited licking wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

Books, TV

Too Lazy for the Book?

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Too lazy to read What Would Buffy Do?? Check out the Dick Staub interview with author Jana Riess. It obviously can’t cover everything, but it gives you a brief overview of some of the meaty stuff in the book.

And if you’re not so sure about this whole Buffy the Vampire Slayer thing, the interview includes a pretty decent explanation of the spiritual themes in Buffy, and why it’s worth watching even though the Parents’ Television Council called it the worst show on TV.

Sexuality

Hooking Up: Teen Sexuality

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The New York Times Magazine has a long (9 pages!) and in-depth article about hooking up, “Friends, Friends with Benefits, and the Benefits of the Local Mall”. The author basically talked with a bunch of teens at Hooters (a “family” restaurant), among other places, about hooking up. For the uninformed, hooking up is basically no-strings attached sex. Purely a physical encounter. No relationship, no friendship, just sex. Depending on your definition, hooking up can just be oral sex or it can be intercourse. Most teens find people to hook up with at a number of different web sites.

That article, along with some statistics I ran across today, is rather eye-opening:

  • 46.7% of teens have had sexual intercourse at some point in their lives (the number is actually down from 54% in 1991, though experts argue it’d be up if you asked about oral sex).
  • 34.3% of teens are sexually active (they’ve had sex at least once in the past three months).
  • 63% of sexually active teens use condoms and 17% use birth control (which explains why 48% of new STD cases in 2000 were among 15-24-year-olds, but not why only 4.2% of teens have been pregnant or gotten someone pregnant).
  • 25.4% of sexually active teens were under the influence of drugs or alcohol the last time they had sex.
  • 9% of teens have been physically forced to have sexual intercourse (the study didn’t use the word, but I call that rape).

The article and the numbers presents a surprisingly cavalier attitude towards sexuality among teens. There’s little interest in long term, committed relationships, though many teens express an interest in (eventual) marriage. It’s not exactly the high school experience as I remember it — of course I wasn’t exactly in the hooking up crowd.