A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
This video earned the featured position because it had the best combination of preview image, location reporting, and studio shenanigans. The next video, CBS 8 San Diego reporting Millions around the world prepare to celebrate Persian New Year as spring begins had an even clearer explanation with less silly studio interactions.
Families celebrate Nowruz by gathering around a Haftseen table to mark the start of Spring and the Persian New Year.
The presenter should look familiar; she's Neda Iranpour, who I featured in 2022 and 2023. Welcome back to the blog!
Bita Milanian, Iranian American community organizer, joins KCAL News anchors to share some ways to celebrate Nowruz, which is the Persian New Year. Milanian explains how the new year is a symbol of rebirth and new beginnings.
Forever 21 was once the premier shopping destination for teens who wanted cheap and fashionable clothing. But now, the fast fashion pioneer is filing for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy. After being bought out by licensing firm Authentic Brands Group and real-estate companies Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners, Forever 21 struggled against Asian e-commerce powerhouses like Shein and Temu.
WSJ breaks down how its own market toppled the fast fashion giant.
The Wall Street Journal covered all of these, then added competition with Shein and Temu. As I wrote just before Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy the first time, "until Americans, especially young women, change their fashion tastes, they will just buy fast fashion online..." That happened. The best I can say is that Amazon isn't to blame this time.
Forever 21, known for trendy fast fashion pieces, has filed for bankruptcy. The final sales in its stores are offering steep discounts as the company liquidates its assets. As NBC News’ Brian Cheung reports, in part the company cites pressure from online Chinese retailers for its demise.
The consumer sales figures remind me that I should go on recession watch again. If the U.S. does go into recession this year, it won't be because of internal economic forces, but because of government interference, which normally tries to cushion against economic downturns. Biden piloted the U.S. economy to a soft landing, then Hoover Cleveland tries to crash the plane anyway!
Asit Sharma, The Motley Fool senior analyst, discusses the downfall of Forever 21.
Neither Company Man Mike nor The Wall Street Journal mentioned the effects of the pandemic on consumer behavior as a cause of Forever 21's travails, so Asit Sharma added another factor to its failure.
That concludes today's tale of the Retail Apocalypse. Stay tuned for the Vernal Equinox on the last day of the blogging year.
Video game actors — known in union parlance as interactive media — are voting on a potential strike authorization against some of the biggest businesses in the industry, the union said in a Friday statement.
Video games are a bigger industry than movies, although maybe not bigger than television, so a strike here could have even larger effects than on movies. However, I expect any impact on gamers to be first seen more than a year out, unlike television, where the fall TV season is already affected. It takes a long time from voice recording and motion capturing to release of games, whereas TV shows can be ready a few months after production. Also, the contract doesn't expire until the end of the month. Let's hope that's enough time to get a fair deal for all concerned.
ABC News’ Phil Lipoff spoke with Ankler contributing editor and host of the Media Mix podcast Claire Atkinson about the current state of negotiations in the Hollywood writers and actors' strike.
In the long run, the studios will need to settle with the actors and writers so that they can produce more content. Until that content runs out, the strikes are saving them money in the short run. It's going to be quite the balancing act for all parties involved.
It looks like the short run has run out and the studios are starting to lose their balance. That's good news for the strikers, even though it looks like the strikes will be going on for quite a while longer.
I conclude by being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote yesterday: "All this talk of AI indicates that I need to explore that issue on its own. The Singularity is an apocalyptic scenario, after all, and is right on topic with the overarching theme of this blog." Stay tuned to see if I follow through on this topic tomorrow.
The chiefs of major Hollywood studios reportedly met Wednesday as writers, actors, and others in the entertainment industry continue to strike.
I was guardedly optimistic last month, when I wrote "While I still think these strikes are not ending any time soon, there is at least some progress." Well, the writers guild rejected the producers' offer, the producers didn't make a more acceptable counter-offer, and the talks ended. Now the producers are figuring out what to do next and it might be a PR effort to sway the viewers instead of more negotiations. They're counting on what I have writtenmanytimes.
The studio executives are counting on that and hoping they can turn it against the writers and actors. What they might get are a bunch of (mostly conservative) people hoping in a fit of spite that Hollywood collapses instead. Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.
Michael Jamin has been writing for television since 1996 with credits including Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, Just Shoot Me, and Wilfred. He's been on strike with the WGA Union since May 2023. Jamin joins Samir Ferdowsi and Dexter Thomas live on Twitch to discuss the impetus and progression of the strike, and gives an inside look into the life of a Hollywood writer.
Just like EVs for auto workers, AI is a pressing technological issue for actors and writers. WelcometotheSingularity where the main effect is losing jobs to robots, not everyone becoming cyborgs or the machines enslaving or killing off humanity. Audie Cornish of CNN explored that topic and more in Hollywood’s Hot Strike Summer, again from last Thursday.
For Labor Day — the unofficial end of summer and the official holiday celebrating the American worker — we are checking in on the state of the striking actors and writers demanding more from the studios they work for. When the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike earlier this year, no one was sure how long the first dual strike in over 60 years would last. Six weeks later both unions are still on the picket line. This week we speak to industry insider, Franklin Leonard, about the state of the strikes and how this could change the way Hollywood works, and how we watch movies and TV.
All that podcast episode needed was visuals. If it had them, I would have made it my featured video.
All this talk of AI indicates that I need to explore that issue on its own. The Singularity is an apocalyptic scenario, after all, and is right on topic with the overarching theme of this blog. I promise I'll get to that after examining another possible SAG-AFTRA strike, this time against video game producers. Stay tuned.
The writers union is returning to the bargaining table, agreeing to restart talks with Hollywood studios. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Alexandra Canal joins the Live show to provide an update on the state of the Hollywood strikes and the effect that these strikes are having on major studios like Paramount (PARA) and Disney (DIS).
Yahoo Finance featured a lot more management perspectives than I usually include in these posts. I shouldn't be surprised because they cater to investors. DW News presented more of the writers' side when the service asked Writers return to negotiations: Has their strike been successful?
Writers in Hollywood are resuming negotiations with the studios today. So far, both sides have been far apart with revenue-sharing playing a central role.
The head of the Writer's Guild previously said the union wouldn't return to negotiations unless the studios were willing to discuss residual payments on streaming services -- something the studios had said was off the table.
As Dan Garza and his puppet Jeff said, these strikes are affecting everyone in Hollywood, not just the actors and writers, to the tune of $3 billion so far. Not all consequences are bad, at least in the short run, as CNBC explained in Why the WGA strike is helping studios combat financial pressure.
James Stewart, columnist at The New York Times, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss how the ongoing writers' strike is helping studios with cost-cutting measures, the content supply pressures created by the WGA strike, and WGA's return to the negotiating table.
In the long run, the studios will need to settle with the actors and writers so that they can produce more content. Until that content runs out, the strikes are saving them money in the short run. It's going to be quite the balancing act for all parties involved.
Until then, new entertainment content will come from sports. The pros are not on strike and college sports will go on as long as there is no return of the pandemic. I might even resume watching sports in the fall. Until then, my wife and I have lots of shows to watch and video games to play when I'm not working.
The Writers Guild of America and representatives of Hollywood studios held their first negotiating session Friday since the union went on strike May 2, and while no specifics were released, the WGA told its members that studios offered a "counterproposal" to union demands.
While I still think these strikes are not ending any time soon, there is at least some progress. Stay tuned.
Always love your prose. Pass the popcorn indeed. Always a bad policy to penalize a company since they "cannot" move. My guess is Disney will setup shop in a location that is more amenable to their business I threats and move the facility over time. Opportunity for GA or LA to get some jobs.
I gave a more practical action in my response.
Thank you. I hope I have enough popcorn. As for Disney moving the theme parks, they won't, although they might reconsider relocating Imagineering and Consumer Products from California to Florida. That's more than 1,000 jobs that the Orlando Metro Area won't get.
Disney upped the ante in its battle with Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and it cost his state 2,000 white-collar jobs. Disney is scrapping plans to build a $1 billion office complex in Florida, citing “changing business conditions,” according to a memo provided by a Disney spokesperson.
Occasionally, I write that I wish I wasn't right. This isn't one of those times. I'm glad I saw this coming, I'm glad for the Disney employees who no longer have to move from California to Florida, and I'm glad Disney stuck it to Ron DeSantis the Friday before he declares he's running for Republican presidential nomination! As I last wrote in Disney sues DeSantis, "he's making himself look even worse while getting liberals to side with a big corporation. Nice trick, but not the one he's trying to pull."
At the time, I thought DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party hadn't fallen into the rift between them and big business. Now, I think they haven't just fallen, but jumped into the widening and deepening chasm. That calls for more popcorn.
Follow over the jump for more reactions from myself and others as I continue today's Sunday entertainment feature.
It seems like there are major wildfires in Southern California every year and a new report from UCLA predicts things will only get worse. The study shows the number of days with a high risk of fires could double by the end of the century.
It's Glen MacDonald, not Park Williams, explaining the findings, but he's also a professor in the UCLA Geography Department. On the one hand, go Bruins! On the other hand, yikes! I thought California'syear-roundfire season was bad enough already, but it's going to get worse.
I hope Californians respond by making their developed environment more able to survive the increased fire risk and by joining the rest of the world in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. I'm doing my part by reducing my driving because of the pandemic. I don't expect that will last past May, when I will probably return to in-person teaching and commuting, but we'll see.
That should conclude my climatechange blogging for the month unless another study comes out that makes the news. Stay tuned.
While I've been busy with national and Michigan stories, I've been avoiding writing about a major story that is taking place where I grew up, the latest destructive fires in California. No more, as I found out last week that the home where I grew up was in a mandatory evacuation zone. In the 25 years I lived there, that never happened. In addition, I don't recall my family ever telling me that had happened during the three decades I've lived in Michigan until this past week.* When I write that this story hits close to home, I mean it!
Satellites have captured images the wildfires currently devastating California. The Camp fire is the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history. Meanwhile, the Woolsey and Hill fires are raging in southern California. The size and destructiveness of the blazes can be seen by NASA satellites.
When I wrote 2018 on track to be fourth-warmest ever, I quoted Newsy observing "The heat certainly contributed to California's intense wildfire season." Popular Science agrees with that assessment, as do I. I have no patience for views that deny that, including the President's.
Follow over the jump for video reports about each of the fires currently or recently burning, beginning with the Camp Fire.
Cyber Monday is expected to be a record breaker this year. Analysts forecast $6.6 billion in online retail sales Monday. Meg Oliver reports.
Lori Torgerson is right that there is room for a lot of winners, both online and in stores, even though brick-and-mortar stores and shopping malls are having issues. CBS This Morning makes that point as well in addition to the reasons for it in Why Black Friday isn't as big as it used to be.
More than 164 million people plan to shop between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. The long weekend kicks off the holiday shopping season when shoppers will each spend an average of nearly $1,000. CBS News financial contributor Mellody Hobson joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss the move to online shopping and the strategies brick-and-mortar stores are using to lure shoppers.
In addition to all the other reasons listed in the CBS This Morning report, CBS Los Angeles (KCAL 9) gives another reason why 85-90% of all sales take place in stores in Black Friday Or Cyber Monday? How To Decide.
Many shoppers told KCAL9's Brittney Hopper that they prefer Black Friday to Cyber Monday because they like being able to handle the merchandise before buying.
For many people, there's nothing like the actual physical experience.
