Long Tail Turns Out to Be a Tale Tale

Lee Gomes reports that the "Long Tail" is a an exagerration. Pity, the long tail theory seemed to validate my pack rat collection of odds and ends. Hey who knows, my collection of comics might be worth a bundle one day. WSJ.com - Portals: "Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson's hot, new best seller, 'The Long Tail,' is causing a sensation with its eye-opening claims about the way the Web is rewriting the rules of commerce. But I've looked at some of the same data, and some more of my own, and I don't think things are changing as much as he does."

Incidentally, long tail doesn't quite explain generational shifts that causes ripples in the cultural continuum. Cool today, out tomorrow, cool day after tomorrow is actually pretty rare in music. Nick Drake comes to mind as one of the few exceptions. The common wisdom is that thanks to video stores, old stinkers such as "Plan 9 rose from the grave to become cult classics. One problem with this line of thought: before video stores, there were the art film houses, now mostly extinct, which made the cult classics possible. Most college dorms these days are not decorated with posters of W.C. Fields or the Marx Brothers. College film buffs are a rare breed now, and their favorites tend to be the work of obscure and unbelievably bad young film makers.

To succeed in the future, TV shows must first be hits. The magic number for syndication is 100 episodes. But even the old TV shows now on DVD have a limited or non-existent appeal to a new audience. Let's face it, "Route 66" is not going to have reurgence any time soon.

Even by Hollywood Standards...

LA Times' top ten list of self aggrandizing directors: Top Ten All-Time Self-Promoting Directors - Los Angeles Times: "Top Ten All-Time Self-Promoting Directors
Cavalcade of auteurs who mastered the art of themselves.
By Richard Rushfield, Times Staff Writer
July 20 2006


Cecil B. DeMille: His film 'The Ten Commandments,' a remake of his earlier film entitled 'The Ten Commandments,' opens with the by-then-legendary master of big-screen epics standing on the stage, as if before you, speaking to the assembled audience, introducing his latest installment in his Bible's Greatest Hits collection.


CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated that Cecil B. DeMille delivered his speech while sitting in a library.



Walt Disney: Named his theme park 'Disneyland' and his TV show 'The Wonderful World of Disney.'


Alfred Hitchcock: Made comic cameo appearances in all of his films and starred as host of his TV series, 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents.' Also one of the first directors with his own catch phrase: 'Good evening.'


Brett Ratner: The most ubiquitous player in the new Young Hollywood, notably present every time a red carpet lays down in Tinseltown. Not content to leave it to the paparazzi to certify his nearly middle-aged party king status, however, Ratner published a picture book, 'Hilhaven Lodge: The Photo Booth Pictures' � 216 pages of shots of his closest personal friends, from Justin Timberlake to Chelsea Clinton, clowning around in his living room.


Quentin Tarantino: Despite highly questionable talents, has cast himself and taken on numerous acting parts, including a walk-on in the 'Golden Girls' as an Elvis impersonator. Committed the guaranteed attention-getter of spitting at a reporter in the very private set"

Baseball Wild Cards

Good article in Slate about baseball card collections from the 1980s, and why they are worth nothing. The collecting mania was marvelously documented by Charles Mackay over 130 years ago, but the lesson has to keep being re-learned. I knew someone who took a hefty buy-out offer from his employer and opend a baseball card shop. Within two years he was out of business. My favorite quote in the Slate article: Requiem for a rookie card. By Dave Jamieson: "This year there are 40 different sets of baseball cards on the market, down from about 90 in 2004. That's about 38 too many. "

Conspiracy Shopping List

I was listening to NPR and was astounded at the solemn, breathless attention being paid to Marion Nestle. Among the other rubbish being propounded by Ms. Nestle, it seems milk winds up in the back of the store because of a corporate conspiracy. Be on guard and keep your precious bodily fluids pure!

I could tell Ms. Nestle, assuming her foil hat doesn't cover her ears, that based on my summer job at the non-profit base commissary, my conclusion is that milk and other high turnover perishables are in the back because they are closer to the loading dock and refrigerated storage rooms. In my case, I loaded the milk from the back of the shelves. The same efficiency goes into why the meats are sold in the back close to where the cutting goes on.

This is another example of how paranoia now passes for serious thought.

NPR : Nutritionist Tackles Serious Business of 'What to Eat': "Supermarkets dearly wish dearly wish they could expose you to every single item they carry, every time you shop. Terrific as that might be for your walking regimen, you are unlikely to endure having to trek through interminable aisles to find the few items you came in for -- and retailers know it. This conflict creates a serious dilemma for the stores. They have to figure out how to get you to walk up and down those aisles for as long as possible, but not so long that you get frustrated. To resolve the dilemma, the stores make some compromises -- but as few as possible. Overall, supermarket design follows fundamental rules, all of them based firmly on extensive research. -- Marion Nestle

* Place the highest-selling food departments in the parts of the store that get the greatest flow of traffic -- the periphery. Perishables -- meat, produce, dairy, and frozen foods -- generate the most sales, so put them against the back and side walls. "

Disney Head Iced

This has to be the most Hollywood of Hollywood business stories ever: Disney Fires Film Production President - Los Angeles Times: "Jacobson, 40, one of Hollywood's most respected movie executives, was fired Monday morning by her boss, studio Chairman Dick Cook, when she called him from the hospital room where her partner was about to deliver their third child. Despite the record-breaking performance of Disney's current release, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,' she was hearing rumors and wanted reassurance that her job was safe. It wasn't. Cook told Jacobson who had two years to go on her three-year contract that Oren Aviv, the studio's marketing chief, was replacing her as president of production."

Classic Look from the 1940s

Turns out the style we all associate with the 1940s was a Hollywood creation: TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES: "There was a glut of feature production in Hollywood during World War II, leading to similar decisions at other studios. Anticipating these factors, costume designers avoided passing fads so the films would remain timeless, and most such films made it into theaters with few changes."

Cut It Out! Quit Abusing Yourself!

Perhaps the term "self-abuse'" has changed since my youth? The Seattle Times: Nation & World: 17 percent at two Ivy League schools practice self-abuse, survey finds: "For some young people, self-abuse is an extreme coping mechanism that seems to help relieve stress; for others it's a way to make deep emotional wounds more visible."

Spillane: Down for the Dirt Nap

His hair was white as a Myrtle Beach golf shoe and looked like it had been worked over in a GI barbershop. In his sole movie, he barked out his lines like a wary Rotteweiler, and his shop worn face oozed sincerity like a five dollar hooker. He was Mickey Spillane. He also was a WWII flier, college swimmer, collector of Blue Willow china, a devout Jehova's Witness, award winning children's book author, and one of the most succesful writers of his generation. If you ever get the chance, take a look at the paperback edition of the "The Erector Set." The nude model on the cover, a lean, leggy stacked blonde, with a soft face and a hard body with tan lines in all the right places, was his second wife. In turns out that Spillane got his writing start in the comics and transitioned into paperbacks at the right time before the big crackdown. Reviled by the critics, Spillane's passing is noted in many newspapers, best is the NY Times, but this link should work for a while: The Seattle Times: Arts & Entertainment: Mickey Spillane crafted the steely Mike Hammer: "After starting out in comic books, Mr. Spillane wrote his first Mike Hammer novel, 'I, the Jury,' in 1946. Twelve more followed, with sales topping $100 million. Notable titles included 'The Killing Man,' 'The Girl Hunters' and 'One Lonely Night.'"

Melting Pot Stew

I was at first charmed then dismayed by the parochialism of this article in the SF Chronic. Where do I begin? Essentially the idea that Americans are only now becoming "adventurous eaters" is patently false. I would suggest that reporter check one of the menus at the Fairmont from about 1920. Then there's that whole thing about remaining pure to the culture. A ridiculous if not impossible concept in food as in any other aspect of culture. I mean we're talking SPAM and hamburger. Hawaiian cuisine seems to have part of its roots in army mess halls, so let's not go overboard on this too much. BAY AREA / More venues offer diners a taste of Hawaii, close by / Diverse population drawn to food that's similar to homeland's: "'I'm proud that the stuff I eat at home is getting popular in the mainstream,' said Eric Tao, 39, president of the Hawai'i Chamber and co-owner of Hukilau bar and restaurant in San Francisco, San Jose and Palo Alto. 'My only concern is that it doesn't get diluted from the true culture and spirit of Hawaii. The plate lunch started with all these different cultures, working together, bringing their own lunches and sharing.' "

Seattlites Demonstrate Agression Passively

When did riding bicycles become a lifestyle and avocation? Critical Mass, unaware that the paved roads were built for vehicles, have been staging protest rides during Friday rush hours. How about a pedestrian rally to take back the sidewalks from idiots in spandex? 2 bicyclists arrested at Critical Mass get out of jail: "Zachary D. Treisman, 30, and Jason C. Brien, 18, both of Seattle, were arrested Friday when hundreds of bicyclists were staging Critical Mass, a monthly celebration of bicyclists who ride en masse through downtown to assert their rights on the road, blocked an intersection where the deputies were waiting in traffic."