The Weather (at Airports)

Cold temperatures have set in over much of the country.

The current temperature in Atlanta is 30 degrees, and it's sunny; in Chicago it's 18 degrees and snowing; in New York it's partly sunny and 28 degrees; and in San Francisco it's a balmy 50 degrees and partly cloudy.

The temperatures in local weather reports usually originate from that city's airport. The question is: why does anyone care what the temperature is at the airport? The weather should be reported from downtown (where people work), or in some suburb (where people live).

Nobody cares what the temperature is at Hartsfield, O'Hare, or Kennedy. If you're going to the airport, you probably won't be there very long. And you likely will drive, or take some other kind of covered/protected transport to get there. The only people who will be there for any significant length of time are the employees. And there aren't enough of them to warrant making the weather reports give information from airports.

Maybe the thermometers at airports are just more accurate....

Pill Taking

There are commercials on TV that tell people how difficult it is to remember to take pills. But, honestly, how hard is it?

First example: a new birth-control product called NuvaRing [http://www.nuvaring.com/]. The commercial tells us that birth control pills are great, but that having to take the pill every day just ties women down! Is daily pill-taking that much of a chore?

Second example: Sally Field appears on a commercial for Boniva [http://www.boniva.com/], a medication for post-menopausal osteoporosis. She tells viewers that some people she knows have to "set aside time" once a week to take their osteoporosis medicine. Apparently, you do have to take osteoporosis medicines under certain conditions; but still, it does seem funny to think that taking a pill once a week is too much of an imposition.

Obviously, these must be new medical advances, but the marketing rests on the idea that swallowing once a day is too much work, or taking a pill once a week is too difficult. Americans are just far too busy for all this pill-taking....

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association

On Monday night, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave out their awards for film and television work, the Golden Globes. But who are the Hollywood Foreign Press - and why do people care about who the HFPA thinks made the best movies and TV shows?

According to their website [http://www.hfpa.org/], the Association is made up of Los Angeles-based journalists from foriegn (i.e., non-United States) publications. Basically, it's a club. Maybe sixty-five years ago, a bunch of these foreign journalists were hanging around in some Los Angeles lounge or hotel bar smoking cigars and having drinks. After a few cognacs or whiskeys, or whatever, they think, "hmmm, let's give out movie awards. what a great idea!" Now, these journalists get together and throw a huge party once a year where they give out awards, and tell *the Academy* who should get the Oscars.

Doesn't this seem strange? The HFPA attracts so much attention and wields so much influence. But, it's just a journalists club. What makes them experts? They're not giving out journalism awards; and they're not necessarily entertainment reporters. It would be as if the staff of the Des Moines Register decided to give out the Golden Corn Ears.

Maybe a group of American journalists abroad should form a club and give out awards right before the Cannes Film Festival. There could be an American Expatriate Press Association that would give out Golden Apples (as in New York City being the Big Apple, and many American news sources are based in NYC).

Soccer in the U.S.

David Beckham is coming to the United States. He'll be playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Obviously, he's being brought to the U.S. to try to generate some interest in professional soccer. How many people have heard of the Los Angeles Galaxy? How many people can name one American professional soccer team?
Why has soccer not caught on in the United States? Americans do like their professional team sports. There's baseball, basketball, football. And hockey has caught on so well that American cities keep stealing teams from Canadian cities. Baseball, basketball and football were all invented in the U.S.. It seems that Americans like sports that they create. Conversely, American sports aren't so popular in other parts of the world. Baseball, baseketball, and soccer have not caught on so well around the rest of the world as soccer.

So, why has soccer lagged behind in popularity here? We like sports on fields, and that use a ball. Plus, soccer is one of the most popular sports for kids. Tons of children play soccer every year! There doesn't seem to be a reason why soccer would not draw crowds. Maybe it's market forces: there's only room for 4 major spectator-team sports in the U.S..

Penguins

Sometimes, trends come along in popular culture. It could be clothes, pass-times, foods, or almost anything. When they arrive, they seem to appear everywhere. In stores, movie-theaters, and fast-food restaurants! There have been Pet Rocks, bell-bottoms, and fins on cars. Sometimes we have to wonder what causes these phenomena, and how long can they last?

Interestingly enough, a strange group is now riding the crest of a popularity-wave. They're penguins! Penguins starred in a 2005 film, "March of the Penguins." This movie even won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Plus, the penguins raked in more money at the box office than Best Picture winner, "Crash."

Also in 2005, a group of four innovative penguins had an important, if not-quite-starring, role in "Madagascar." In a film that was a comedy, the penguins provided further comic relief. ["The penguins are psychotic!!"]

Once again, penguins were in a starring role in 2006. "Happy Feet" opened at theaters at the end of last year, and has an all-star group of voices for the penguins. (Yes, the penguins had to have humans do their voices for them.)

It seems that penguins are everywhere these days. Obviously, they've landed starring roles in movies. These movies have product tie-ins and other commercial ventures. There are penguin toys, penguins websites, and of course a professional hockey team (although this was long before 2005).

What explains this penguin-mania?! Is there a powerful Antarctic presence lobbying hard in Hollywood or Madison Avenue? Obviously, mighty forces have stepped-in and put these penguins in the spotlight. Until recently, penguins did not seem to be a group that craved attention or power. Will 2007 reveal yet another penguin film? Will they get their own TV show? Perhaps a penguin will get a elected to Congress in 2008. (It's possible - they're popular, and seem awfully savvy.)

How long can it last? Eventually, the zeal for penguins may lead to their demise. Or, will they meet a seal?

Bowl Games - Toilet Bowl? Cereal Bowl?

Today is New Year's Day. One great American New Year's tradition is the Bowl Game. College football teams get together to play in a post-season game. A reward for a great regular-season.

At first, bowl games seem to be named for agricultural products grown in the area. For example, there's the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Citrus Bowl, Peach Bowl, and of course, the Rose Bowl. There were also bowls that seemed to stand for random things associated with their geography, like the Fiesta Bowl, the Gator Bowl, or the Sun Bowl. Some had random names, like the Hall of Fame Bowl, in Tampa, Florida. Where on earth did that name come from? There is no Hall of Fame in Tampa!

Oftentimes, the stadium where the bowl game was played actually shared a name with the bowl game itself (like the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl). But some of these bowl games have moved out of the stadium that shares their name.

Like everything else, these grand old institutions have gone commercial, and traditions have broken down. Many of the major bowl games are not even played on New Year's Day anymore. In addition, the bowls now have corporate sponsorships, which are included in their names: for example, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the AT&T Cotton Bowl, and the Toyota Gator Bowl. Some of the bowls have completely lost their original name to the corporate sponsor, like the Chik-Fil-A Bowl (formerly Peach Bowl) or the Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl (formerly Citrus Bowl), or the Outback Bowl (formerly Hall of Fame Bowl). Other bowl games simply started their bowl-life with a corporate-sponsorship name.

But does this really matter? What is in a name (for a bowl) after all? It seems like a stupid name for a game - a "bowl". Is this based solely on a stadium's shape? If that's the case, why aren't all games in the stadium bowl games.

I can understand a name like "sugar bowl." Most homes have sugar bowl in the cupboard. Maybe there are places with orange bowls, too. But a fiesta bowl? And, a gator bowl seems like it's just asking for trouble....

So, maybe there should be more bowl games with normal sounding names. I suggest the Toilet Bowl, and the Cereal Bowl. These are actual "bowls" found in every home. Plus, there are obvious corporate-naming opportunities. For example, the American Standard Toilet Bowl, or the Kellogg's Cereal Bowl. Yeah, that sounds good!