Go Speed Racer, Go!

The F1 circus finally hit Europe this weekend with the Spanish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton managed a solid 3rd place but once again those Ferrari's were faster! Watch some highlights here.

Hyde Street Studios Under The Wrecking Ball

Wally Heider's classic San Francisco recording studio, Hyde Street Studios will soon succumb to the wrecking ball. In the name of progress & condo development, this studio, founded in 1969 and with a client list including some of the greatest names in rock will be no more. I liked this picture best, a classic API with outboard gear (and that sure looks like a Telefunken mic in the background) from around the early 1980's.

Hillary, Do The Math Please!

Slate has a very cool delegate calculator. You can manipulate the numbers from forthcoming primaries & these are added to the existing totals for each democratic candidate. For purely scientific purposes, I gave Ms. Clinton 60% of the vote in every upcoming poll (10% more than her "runaway" victory in PA). Guess what, she still lost by nearly 100 delegates. If you know the Clintons could you please forward this to them? Thanks.

Starbucks - still got it wrong?

Less than spectacular earnings warnings coming out of Starbucks show that returning CEO Howard Schultz has a fight on his hands. However, blaming McDonalds & Dunkin Donuts for the company's woes is not going to fix anything. I don't believe that Starbucks customers are leaving in droves to buy their lattes at the fast-food counter, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, "it's the commoditization stupid." Generic stores filled with pricey bric-a-brac, the switch to super-automatic machines (which removes any differentiation) & third party locations with poorly trained staff & lackluster product have all served to undermine the core brand. At least Schultz is trying to remedy this but it may already be too late. The $4 latte genie is out of the bottle & I'm not sure if he'll fit back in there again?

Update : when you enter the search term commoditization into Google, the 4th hit (after dictionary definitions) is Starbucks!

Timeless

I first heard Dire Straits wafting into our high school class from the music room downstairs. It was an "ah-ha" moment that prompted a race to Terry Atkinson's classroom to find out what this great music was. We listened to the newly released debut from beginning to end that dreary English day and I was hooked. By the 80's the band had descended into MTV fodder but re-visiting the first album shows how timeless it was.

Tim Robbins - "Pornographic Obsession With Celebrity Culture

Far from delivering a speech on Content Creation Opportunities, actor Tim Robbins used his time as the keynote speaker at NAB to deliver a scathing attack on the US media. Ad Age has posted a 6 minute audio highlight here. Describing the media as an "abyss" he demanded a greater accountability from our broadcast sources & decried the goal of revenue over all other considerations.

Well worth 6 minutes of your time.

America's Top Model

My daughter has me hooked on Tyra Banks' reality show America's Top Model. Our favorite is Brooklyn based tough girl, Lauren. Not only does she attack every task with gusto but even did the same with her thumb! Claiming that she can kick the butts (OK something else) of any of the girls on the show, she's a nice antidote to the typical portrayal of women on TV.

Thanks to Jezebel for the link & set the Tivo for Wednesdays 8/7c.

More Woes For American Airlines

Still reeling from the grounding of it's MD-80 (just an old DC-9 with a different name) fleet AA is being hit with more labor unrest. Incensed over the awarding of $40M in bonuses to top executives, the workforce is taking action, including a clip on CNN where a recently commended flight attendant used her awards forum to lambaste her employers. Disgruntled employees have even set up a website to share AA horror stories. By comparison, American's feel-good "We Know Why You Fly" site has no feedback forums or even a Contact Us link!

But help could be coming soon for the frustrated traveler in the form of new regulations that require airlines to financially compensate (up to $800) bumped passengers. This should curtail the industry's practice of overbooking flights & then denying boarding to ticketed flyers. I've always hated this practice since it generally targets the lowest fare/least status passengers first. These tend to be the non-frequent flyers, often the elderly, who are totally bewildered by the situation & as I've witnessed, reduced to tears.

You Sold The Optimized Desktop Value

In our business we get to see some pretty, ahem, interesting corporate videos but I think this little ditty for a Microsoft internal meeting takes the Oscar! Watch if you can stand it.

Update - MS claims the video was "just a spoof." As my teens would say, "yeah, sure, right!"

Sprint Broadband Card - Very Happy I Am

I've been using a Sprint broadband card for about 3 months now & am generally very happy. A recent technical problem had a Mac-savvy CSR call me back and even leave me his personal e-mail in case I had future problems! This week they released the Mac client for their SmartView software, the GPS is a nice feature and here it is, showing quite accurately that I'm typing this in the AA Admiral's Club at LAX!

Mic Technique 101

"Mr. Presenter, you have a choice of mics, you can either have a handheld or go to the lectern."

"Thanks, but I'd rather use neither!"

Sorry about the bad cell-phone picture but I had to capture a priceless moment. Yes, he is actually delivering a presentation here. Needless to say it wasn't real loud in the house.

Steve Berlin & Paul Simon, no love lost!

Steve Berlin, producer & member of Los Lobos has an article on JamBase, all good stuff that gets really interesting on page 3 as he relates his experiences working with Paul Simon, here it gets ugly fast -

I have plenty of recollections of working on that one [Graceland]. I don't know if you heard the stories, but it was not a pleasant deal for us. I mean he [Simon] quite literally – and in no way do I exaggerate when I say – he stole the songs from us... The guy was clueless... He's the world's biggest prick, basically.

Story via Lefsetz.

Rockin' Orchestras

According to the Guardian, certain classical works are too loud for new, stringent EU regulations.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR) said it had little choice but to drop the world premiere of Swedish-Israeli composer Dror Feiler's Halat Hisar (State of Siege), from a concert because it was "adverse to the health" of its musicians.

Apparently Wagner would be in violation too!

Torch Down-Under?

The Guelph Mercury has an excellent piece today on the possible fate of the Olympic torch after San Francisco:

This year's Olympic Games were supposed to be Communist China's coming-out-party, and the torch route is even more ambitious: 21 countries on all six inhabited continents. But that includes Australia, and I really wouldn't send the torch there if I wanted to preserve China's dignity.

As England is the spiritual homeland of irony, so is Australia the world capital of mockery, and by the time the torch gets there (if it ever does) the Australians are going to feel challenged. It was burning underpants in 1956; what might it be in 2008?

Since the so-called thug escort is already banned from Australia this could be some fun viewing!

British Claim Torch Escorts Are "Thugs"

British papers are in an uproar that the guard for the Olympic flame was comprised of officers from China's People's Armed Police. The same PAP that has been crushing dissidents in Tibet. Obviously the British are not too happy at scenes of foreign paramilitaries fending off demonstrators on London's streets. Described as "thugs" by former gold medalist Lord Sebastian Coe in todays' Daily Telegraph, the Australian Premier has already said that his country will be providing their own security without the dubious help of the PAP.

Are these same officers on the streets of San Francisco today? From this picture it would appear so.

Olympics & Tibet

Free Speech. We got it, they don't.

China's Perfect Pricing Storm?

Actually, I hate the "perfect storm" phrase, however as this Slate article points out, China's cost of production may be reaching just that. A combination of high energy costs, organization of the work force & shortages of labor combined with the weak dollar means that customers will be paying significantly higher prices for Chinese goods in the near future. And there are no other countries waiting in the wings to pick up the slack. India is the only alternative with a labor force to match China but they have problems of their own.

Better buy that $699 TV before it's too late.

Google Ad Words

Apparently Google ad-words cannot discriminate between a post favorable to a product & one that is critical. I guess the word "Hummer" was all it needed to post this link although I don't think I'll be headed up to Michigan anytime soon.

Hummer Compact Coming?

According to the Dallas Morning News GM's Hummer division is looking to re-invent itself as the smaller, more efficient Hummer. Sales of the preposterous H2 are down over 50% in the last 4 years as obviously the supply of fools prepared to drive one of these is dwindling. Best quote from the article "No one saw all of these changes coming. The segment five years ago was very strong. I don't think anyone could have foreseen all these shifts." Apparently Toyota, must have some kind of clairvoyance on their side?

All in all, inane statements like this sum up all that's wrong with the US auto industry. Is it really that hard to predict that a $60K, 12mpg SUV might not have strong, sustained sales? What are they teaching in MBA classes today anyway?

"Some Journeys Cannot Be Put Into Words"

Says Louis Vuitton's new ad featuring Keith Richards. Which journey would that be Louis, the one from Rock God to Corporate Whore?

More Birthdays

Today the town of Hastings (famous for the battle) in East Sussex celebrates 150 years of RNLI lifeboats. Unlike the US Coastguard, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a private charity whose life-saving operations are completely payed for by donations & with some exceptions the crews are all volunteer. Hastings has a beach launched fishing fleet of small boats & between these, swimmers, pleasure craft & the mass of heavy shipping passing through the Strait of Dover the Hastings Lifeboat stays busy.

Apple Hits 21%

According to Fortune Apple's penetration in the homes of American consumers has reached 21% (10% worldwide) with a sales growth of 37% in 2007. Since the rest of the industry is experiencing a downturn these are some pretty impressive numbers.

New Twist, Same Game

Those enterprising & creative Nigerian 419 con-artists are targeting recording studios with their tried & proved same tactics. A band is ready to cut a record, they'll send a deposit check to cover the cost of a translator please return any additional funds to them. And you'll never see them or your money again. Luckily the studio guys have some experience with scammers (nature of the business) and don't seem as likely to fall for this as greedy, unsuspecting consumers!

& Now For Something Completely Different

With the world collapsing around us it's time to inject a little twisted, cynical humor into our lives. I recommend achieving this by hitting the Viz website, paying particular attention to Profanasurus Rex (an online dictionary of all that is profane) & the always popular Top Tips. Beware though, NSFW.

VW Will Know Vot You Vont

How? Well they're asking questions on their website, that's how. Head on over to "find out what the people want." Hey Wolfsburg, maybe the people want a better car?

Why Are We In This Mess Again?

Look what popped up when I went to pay my credit card this month. With April 15th looming the card companies are on an all out campaign to get you to use their products to pay your taxes. Apart from the 2.49% charge levied on all such transactions with the IRS, this seems like a bad idea all around. Americans are already drowning in consumer dept, isn't it deals like making minimum payments on a 20% APR card to pay off the IRS that got us into this financial crisis in the first place? If ever an industry needed re-regulating it's the banks & card issuers.

Happy 90th Birthday, R.A.F.

Founded on April 1st, 1918 as the world's first independent air force, Britain's Royal Air Force celebrates it's 90th birthday today. The RAF's "finest hour" came during the Battle of Britain, 3 long months that Hitler's Luftwaffe spent trying to destroy the RAF squadrons & pave the way for the invasion of Britain. The heroic battles of the young RAF pilots prompted Winston Churchill to proclaim that "never in the field of human endeavor has so much been owed by so many to so few." And few they were; at the onset the RAF could count 1,100 pilots from 13 nations and by the end, 70% of these flyers had been killed or injured. However, this thin line of defense in their Spitfires and Hurricanes overcame the best equipped and best trained air force in the world. The Luftwaffe's plans for unimpeded bombing access to Britain and Hilter's invasion ambitions were thwarted.

Happy Birthday R.A.F!