“District 9″ director started with commercials
“District 9″ is getting rave reviews, including this solid thumbs up from our own George Lang. Director Neill Blomkamp displayed his creativity and ability to work with special effects in several television commercials, including this classic.
For more examples, go here.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
The Lincoln at Central Park
Oklahoma City developer Richard Tanenbaum had all his staff at the Lincoln at Central Park show up for a photo the day photographer David McDaniel and I were there last week to update the apartment project. This snapshot didn’t quite fit the coverage. But it’s a nice shot, and I thought it deserved a little play here. Thanks for being there, y’all.
Here’s the story:
Lincoln at Central Park will rank third in size in city
Richard Mize
Real Estate Editor
Developer Richard Tanenbaum poses for a photo with the staff of Lincoln at Central Park apartments, west of Lincoln Boulevard on the south side of Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City: Katelyn Neilson, Megan Ridgeway, Lori Clifton, Kathy Tisland, Tara Ford, Wendy Lingerfelt and Charles Dodson.
Little League and the arms race
Members of the Oklahoma City RedHawks stand beside young players during the National Anthem before the RedHawks minor league baseball game against the Nashville Sounds at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, June 17, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Economist Charles Wheelan uses his expertise to evaluate what’s happened to Little League and other kids’ organized sports. He compares parents pushing their kids into more competitive sports at earlier ages to the U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. arms race of yesteryear. The result of everyone ramping up their efforts is that nothing really has changed competitively.
If everyone practices three times as much, the same folks will probably end up with the scholarships, prize money and Nike endorsements. And if we assume that the extra practice, coaching and spending on equipment comes at the expense of other things (like riding a bike for fun, playing other sports or doing something really crazy like playing “kick the can” in the backyard for a few hours), then our kids’ lives are worse for it.
But individuals can’t change the system, Wheelan writes. It would require most everyone to stop pushing the kids to restore the former order. And that has its own dangers.
Suppose everyone else does regain their sanity and vows to cut back on the crazy sports schedules. Then the rational strategy is to be the one who practices twice as much, because then your kid might get the tennis scholarship, even if she’s not the most talented.
And that may be why they call economics the dismal science.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
…and such small portions
I’ve heard of “all you can eat” Internet plans, but this is taking it to a new level. (via Bifurcated Rivets)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Auto industry scorecard: Who owns what?
The good folks at Consumer Reports offer this helpful organization chart for the automotive industry. While I knew that Ford owns a big chunk of Mazda, and that Fiat now holds Chrysler and Dodge, I didn’t know that India’s Tata Motors owns Jaguar and Land Rover.
This vehicle is produced by a subsidiary of Tata Motors.
For instance, BMW owns: Mini, and Rolls Royce
Fiat owns: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lancia, Maserati; Chrysler, Dodge, and a 20 percent stake in Jeep.
Ford Motor Co. owns: Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo (for now), and still owns 13.4 percent of Mazda.
Much more if you click through.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Job application seeks TMI
The city of Bozeman, Mont. wants to know a lot about its job applicants, including their Internet passwords, according to this AP story.
Bozeman officials have been hammered with e-mails and phone calls ever since KBZK-TV of Bozeman reported the policy on Wednesday, including an excerpt from the city application form that states “Please list any and all current personal or business Web sites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”
The application then asks for the passwords for those sites. The city attorney said the application may be altered, but doesn’t completely back off the policy.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
You can see the recession in our eyes
Kiplinger.com has compiled a list of 10 “quirky” economic indicators that reflect consumers’ reaction to the recession. Several are related to our eyes:
Total eye-makeup sales at supermarkets and drugstores were up 8.5% in the one-year period that ended on March 22. In that period, more than $260 million was spent on eye makeup – in particular, eyeliner was up 9% and mascara almost 13%, the industry says.
And those sales may be an effort to cover up puffy, sleep-deprived eyes:
The 2009 Sleep in America Poll found that nearly one-third of Americans lost sleep because they were worried about their finances. The poll, by the National Sleep Foundation, also found that 10% of those people tossed and turned, specifically worrying about their jobs.
See the rest, including data on dating, alligators and mosquitos, at Kiplinger.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
GM CEO on Twitter
GM is using social media to get its message out. The company, in bankruptcy, is planning to put executives in touch with media and consumers through its blogs and Twitter, said Mary Henige, GM’s director of social media, broadcast & diversity communications. (and how’s that for a corporate 2.0 title?)
More info from Henige (via Advertising Age’s Adages blog) :
General Motors President and CEO Fritz Henderson will host a media webchat on Tuesday, June 16, from 1 to 1:45 p.m. CDT to answer reporters’ questions about GM’s reinvention and other activities.
Media can log into the chat at and ask questions online. The entire chat will be archived at the site. While only media questions will be answered during this live chat, the chat is open to the public.
Immediately following the media webchat, Henderson will respond to consumer questions via Twitter from 2:45 – 3:15 p.m., from the @gmblogs account.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Six Flags files for bankruptcy
See what happens when you move out of Oklahoma City? Six Flags Inc., the world’s largest and brokest amusement park company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Saturday. (I didn’t know bankruptcy courts were even open on Saturday.) Heavy debt and some bad business decisions led to today’s filing.
The company moved its headquarters out of Oklahoma City after Daniel Snyder, flamboyant owner of the Washington Redskins, assumed control of the corporation. During his attempt to take over Six Flags, Snyder wrote a letter to shareholders warning them they would be better off stuffing their money in a mattress than with Six Flags under the previous management. Now Snyder’s stake in the company may be wiped out by the bankruptcy.
Another potential big loser is Bill Gates, whose private investment firm owned millions of shares.
While the Six Flags business model may have been faulty, the company sure can build a roller coaster.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
A literary stock report
Israel’s daily newspaper Haaretz replaced its reporters with authors and poets for a day this week, reports the Jewish Daily Forward. The idea was to recognize Israel’s annual Hebrew Book Week.
Author Avri Herling published the following summary of the day’s stock market activity:
Everything’s okay. Everything’s like usual. Yesterday trading ended. Everything’s okay. The economists went to their homes, the laundry is drying on the lines, dinners are waiting in place… Dow Jones traded steadily and closed with 8,761 points, Nasdaq added 0.9% to a level of 1,860 points…. The guy from the shakshuka [an Israeli egg-and-tomato dish] shop raised his prices again….
I like that. A lot. I’ve often argued that the daily take on stock activity is frequently a dispatch of bad journalism and guesswork — and that’s from someone who has written a few. \
Elsewhere, Eshkol Nevo’s TV review opened with the admission, “I didn’t watch TV yesterday.” The weather wrap was a poem by Roni Somek, titled “Summer Sonnet.”
“Summer is the pencil
that is least sharp
in the seasons’ pencil case.”
Newspaper are trying a lot of new things in this era of industry change. This experiment perhaps bears repeating. (via Kottke)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
