BrewBlog

Baby Einstein Refunds Available for Some of Us

Walt Disney is offering refunds for people that believe they have been lied to about the benefits of letting your children watch Baby Einstein videos on television.  Did you really think your kids were going to be smarter because they watch television?  An advocacy group called Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood have threatened lawsuits because they are contending that watching TV is a detriment to childhood development, which is counter to early claims made by Baby Einstein about their DVDs. 

Perhaps the folks at Baby Einstein shouldn't be making claims that their DVDs aid in child development.  I'll agree that any such claims are wrong or at least arguably wrong.  I'm not comfortable with the notion of marketing executives sitting around a room and seeing dollar signs by promoting a product that will make your kid smarter and even going as far as naming it "Baby Einstein".  That said, it's just marketing.  Marketing is all around us and we need to be able to discern a serious claim from a claim that any reasonable person should be able to understand as "marketing". 

My opinion is that if you've received good value from Baby Einstein DVDs, you should not be seeking a refund.  The video is $15 and your child likely enjoyed the video and, just as importantly, you've enjoyed your child enjoying it.  Right?  Isn't that why we have children's movies?  Do you really believe that the DVD was going to make your child smart?  You have to know that the real benefit you're getting is that your child will be pleased by the innocent and benign images on the screen and the classical music.  It's considerably better television than most of what else is offered for young children.  Wouldn't you agree?  Isn't that good enough?  Aren't there better causes to go after and worse people to teach a lesson? 

Secondly, if you're seeking a refund because you didn't know that TV was bad, let alone beneficial, we can all assume then that you will be getting rid of all of your children's movies and turning off the TV.  Right?  No, that's not going to happen.  So getting on the anti-TV bandwagon is horse shit unless you're going to do away with it all together, which you're not going to do. 

Finally, many are certainly going to take advantage of this offer simply because they can get their grubby hands on some easy money.  It's predictable.  People will gather up the four movies (the limit is four) and get their money.  But they have more than four Baby Einstein movies so their kids will still be watching those that were not returned, assuming they are still of age.  So those people are basically saying, I think the DVD's have value but I want to get paid anyway, because I'm greedy.  Then there are those that will go to a used DVD store and buy used Baby Einstein movies for $5 and turn around and get $15 as a refund.  Those are the opportunists, liars, and some of the biggest losers in our society.

Big Love

My new favorite show on television is HBO's Big Love.  We decided to check it out on Netflix because we heard it was good.  It's a drama about a polygamist family in Utah.  Bill Paxton plays the main character and he is great, as is the rest of the cast.  The first time we watched the show we were left thinking, "hmm".  We had a similar reaction to "Weeds" and we love that show so we kept watching and were quickly hooked.  HBO and Showtime have been producing some great shows and I'm curious about what else we can get into.  So far we've loved "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Weeds", and now "Big Love".  We're halfway through season 2 right now and I'm hoping season 3 comes out on DVD soon.  Season 4 has been ordered and should start this year. 

Check it out!

Little Boxes

We've recently been hooked on the Showtime original series, Weeds.  It's a funny but often disturbing show about drug dealers in the suburbs.  We often find ourselves a bit shocked by what transpires, laughing at normally inappropriate themes but always entertained and looking forward to next week's episode.  Among the draws of the program is the theme song played at the shows open.  It's the same song performed in different ways by different people.  The lyrics are classic.  What's funny is that we're totally laughing at ourselves because it's really a rib on us.

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

It's not just me

I periodically look at my blog stats to see what kinds of Google searches direct people to my blog.  I noticed that a post I did called "We make a lot of cereal here!!!!" has been getting a few hits.  That post is just over a year old now so I was suprised that it's even visited at all by now.  So I searched on "we make a lot of cereal here" and made a little discovery.  A few other people share my dislike of that commercial.  Check it out!

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http://whereistaryn.tripod.com/id26.html:  Black lady in hairnet: "ARE YOU HUNGRY?" and: "WE MAKE A LOT OF CEREAL HERE!!!" - WHY is she always yelling at me?  It's really quite unnerving.  Either she's gone deaf from 40 years of working with heavy machinery, or she's just doing a fine job of scaring people into never wanting to eat cereal again.  One time, I had a dream where she was the toy surprise... I've never really gotten over it.

TWoP forums:  "Also, last night, I was watching tv at 2 am (oh, insomnia) and that cereal commercial (for General Mills, maybe?) came on and the part where the woman yells "We make a lot of cereal here!" was just so damn loud that I literally fell off of the bed. Haaate that commercial and it never. stops. airing. It's on ALL the time! They're trying to kill me. I have the strangest responses to random commercials."

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=68502: "We make a lot of cereal here!!" - Get back to the assembly line and calm the fugg down.

http://www.bitchychick.com/2006/07/super_star.html:  So today I get a forwarded email from the plant mgr, and all it says is "here's your chance to be a superstar". I'm thinking WTF is this guy on?? Then I read the original mail.  It seems that they are doing a promotional video type thing for the product that my line produces, and since we are the only line in the friggin' world that makes this stuff.......um, yeah. They are coming in to film us. At work. In all of our glory.  You know, like "WE GOTTA FEED AMERICA!!" "WE MAKE A LOT OF CEREAL HERE!!" - Can't tell you the plant name. Won't tell you the product.........but if you ever see a Hormel comercial with a bunch of goofy looking fuckers working on a line, that's us. *sigh*

http://bulletin.zefrank.com/printthread.php?t=7175&page=4&pp=15:  Most annoying commercial - Honey Bunches of Oats: Black woman in hair net shouting: "We make a lot of cereal here!" - I can't hit the mute button fast enough.

There is even a fan too...

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/archive/index.php/t-28027.html:  You know what I love most about Honey Bunches of Oats? The commercials. I LOVE that black lady who yells things like "WE MAKE A LOT OF CEREAL HERE" and such. I don't know why, but I enjoy her.

I love my boy

We were watching Scrubs the other day (It's a great show).  It was the new episode for the week.  One thing that stood out to me was the brief conversation on the show about how a baby will change your life and how your perspective about everything changes forever.  This isn't new information as everyone knows this about children whether you have children or not.  For whatever reason the show made me think about that again as I often do.  It's something you contemplate when you think about first having a baby, while preparing and throughout the rearing process.

What's interesting and even fun is personalizing that thought process based on your own experience.  You catch yourself thinking about something and then actually putting the newer "baby spin" on whatever it is you're thinking about.  I suppose I'll be somewhat less conscious of this thought process as he gets older and as I get used to the idea of being a father, although I'm pretty sure it's always there, hence the idea of "everything changes forever".  The obvious life changes are easy to see coming even if you don't estimate the impact correctly or completely.  It's an odd combination of mourning the loss of a sense of independence you'll never have again while celebrating the massive positive influence and change it brings.  It's never ending work but it's so worth it it's difficult to describe.

The different perspective though is something I think is more individualized and less easy to comprehend from the outside.  This is what Scrubs was briefly touching on.  For me, the clearest example is my desire to improve my health however I can because I want to be around for as long as I can be.  This is part of the reason I became a vegetarian and began looking more closely at what I put into my body.  I've always maintained fairly healthy weight and tried to exercise but my attention to my overall health drastically changed once I became a father.  Allison has had a lot to do with it too though.  She's helped me in ways I'll never be able to repay or thank enough.  Another perspective is that of having your own family.  I love Allison more than ever simply because she is the mother of my son and is so good at it.  Just when I didn't think I couldn't respect her more we have this great family together.  The bond between us is truly remarkable and difficult to fully comprehend until it actually happened.

Even though we strive for down time and want time just to focus on us sometimes, being together as a family is the best time.  And it's true, everything you think about takes your new family into consideration.  You want to be a better person.  The small stuff is even smaller.  Personal sacrifices are less important.  My sense of purpose is different in that I want Jackson to experience all the great things about life.  You learn, you teach, you learn more.  We often talk about all the things we want to do with Jackson and look forward to how he'll react and grow from each experience.  Another example is my perspective about the surrounding world.  At this point in my life I'm very confident about my ability to thrive and be truly happy in my surroundings.  Now I'm thinking about what things will be like for Jackson when he's five, ten, twenty and so on.  What if we have another child?  What about Grandchildren some day?  I want the world to be a better place for them. 

It's nice seeing this topic on Scrubs, even if just for a moment.  My generation is growing up.  I hear and see references like this on television and in music I listen to and I feel like it's targeted directly at people like me.  It's goodness.

   

DRM needs to be better

The initial denial of and resistance to digital media by so many companies has resulted in rushed and poor DRM technology implementations.  We've seen many examples already.  Prices are going to go up as a result as well.  If it worked and was "fair" then it would be hard to complain.  From a business perspective I totally get the need to protect content and I'm not debating that.  But the collateral damage we've been seeing from DRM efforts have users frustrated and customers should be wary of these efforts from companies like Macrovision.  It's no more acceptable to me then if I were to buy a sweater at the GAP and when I got home I had to rip a hole in it to get the theft deterrent off of it.  I bought the sweater so why do I have to rip a hole in it?

Link: Boing Boing: TiVo's "self-destruct button" destructs.

TiVo's "self-destruct button" destructs The Macrovision DRM in the new TiVo Series3 recorders is so broken that just having the wrong piece of equipment attached to your TV can cause it to register some shows as un-savable to your VCR, DVD recorder, etc. TiVo characterizes this as a glitch, but that's not the whole story.

Tom Jones would kick that guy's ass

We watched the American Idol finale last night.  Don't hate me for watching, it's just a television show.  What stood out for me, other than that the right person won, was that mouse boy (a.k.a.  Kevin Covais) did a little bit of "What's New Pussycat?".  I'm not a fan of mouse boy; he's been annoying and difficult to watch (thank God for Tivo).  For him to do a song that I know of through Tom Jones made him more annoying.  I was hoping Tom Jones would have come out and kicked his ass in from of millions.  He could incorporate his famous dance moves from "Delilah" while laying the smack down.  Mouse boy would lose his glasses and the crowd would explode.  South Wales would be proud!  Now that would be huge ratings!!

Arrested Development

Arrested Development has been one of my favorite television shows.  It has been on the Verge of cancellation since I started watching it despite the fact that critics love the show and that it   has a strong underground following.  Now it looks like the show is done for with FOX advertising the "series finale".  Sigh.  Arrested Development is a great show, very funny.  It's a kind of smart humor that's tough to come by.  The average number of viewers has been ~6.5 million per episode, which is not so good, thus cause for termination.  Quality only goes so far it would seem.  What are people watching?  Rumors have always swirled around about this show.  The latest is that Showtime may pick it up, which would make for another one of my favorite shows being put on pay TV.  I recommend renting the DVDs of the show.  You won't be sorry.

Reality Television

When you see a blog post titled "Reality Television" you probably assume negative criticism will follow.  But nope.  I'm a fan of some reality television.  Should I be embarrassed?  Reality TV has been around a long time now and I've been paying attention since it started becoming mainstream about ten years ago (that's just a guess).  Arguably, it's gotten out of hand with so much of it and the saturation arrived a while ago.  I'm certainly not the biggest fan of it but TIVO has made all television much more tolerable so we're able to get a little more out of television since we are able to skip commercials.  I've gotten sucked into several reality TV shows covering a variety of themes and I'm not ashamed to say I really enjoy it. 

Why does it seem cool to hate reality TV?  Numerous time I've heard people talking about a show they are watching and someone in the conversation always pipes up about how they don't watch that garbage as they roll their eyes.  I get not liking it and even thinking it's stupid but I'm curious about the love/hate nature of the genre.  Does it mean I'm shallow because I like it?  Would I be cool if I watched ER?  Um, don't think so.  Television drama has gotten pretty cheesy in my opinion but I haven't watched much so I'm not a good critic.  Reality TV is not my favorite programming but it's close.  A good sitcom is probably my favorite.  I'm also a closet soap opera fan.

Does what one watches on TV tell you anything about someone?  Intellectuals would be quick to offer that they do not watch television because it's such as waste of time and for dummies.  To me, it's like everything else, a simple preference of entertainment.  My wife mostly reads and never watched television AT ALL until I invaded her life.  We replaced her badly melted, eight inch television set with my newer and bigger model.  I also insisted on Satellite TV because of my silly feud with the cable company because of their nineties ban on the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  I'm digressing now so I'll just quit before I reveal any more of my "embarrassing" television habits.  But hey, it will matter less eventually, when our TIVO will be full of children's programming.  Do they have reality TV cartoons?  I suppose that's impossible since cartoons aren't real.  Damn it. 

Fertilizer Anyone?

After work one day last week, I reluctantly answered the phone, foolishly letting my guard down.  Reluctant because I don't like answering the phone if the number isn't familiar and that time it wasn't.  The woman on the other end of the line immediately assured me that she was not going to try to sell me anything.  The call was a request to participate in an audience study.  "Sure", I answered, knowing that I was now stuck on the phone unless I unexpectedly hung up.  After answering some demographic questions, the survey lady wanted to send me a video cassette tape of a television program for me to review.  She was adamant about watching it on a specific day and then calling me the next to talk about it.  The idea was that I was going to review the show so that they would gather feedback about.  I immediately thought that this was going to be a pilot of some kind and I was lucky enough to possibly see it before anyone else.  Plus, the idea of providing feedback about a new program seemed pretty cool.  So after thinking through any potential scams I could be falling for, I gave the lady my address and that was that.

A few days later the tape arrived with some paperwork.  There were two packets, two different colors, with several grocery store items listed in categories.  Hmmmm.  The instructions were very specific about selecting preferred brands in one booklet before watching the tape and then fill out the other booklet after watching the tape.  Ahhh, so this is about commercials?  There was also a question sheet about the sitcom I was about to watch, just some basic questions about the show.  The tape itself was interesting.  Instructions were specific with it as well.  DO NOT FAST FORWARD OR REWIND.  The tape also claimed to erase as it played.  I considered copying it just because they didn't want me to, a favorite albeit juvenile motivation.  Feeling a bit lazy, I decided not to copy it, and I'm glad.

The show was "Dads" and was pretty lame.  One of the Golden Girls was in it and she didn't look much older than when she was on Golden Girls.  No, I didn't watch Golden Girls, but I still recognized the lady.  As suspected, the show had commercials throughout, like any regular program.  I had TIVO withdrawals but worked through it and just sat through them.  At the end of the show I noticed the date in the credits was 1997, which explained the lady not aging as she should have.  STOP TAPE NOW.  What the hell?  This definitely not a new show.  The products listed in the pamphlets I filled out before and after the show weren't featured in the commercials, at least I don't think they were.

The next day, the lady called at 6:01 of my 6:00 to 9:00 call window.  The call lasted for 30-40 minutes.  We spent 3 of those minutes talking about the show, 5 minutes talking about me and 30 minutes or so talking about fertilizer.  Specifically, we talked about Scotts fertilizer.  She asked me a bunch of questions about a Scotts commercial that ran during the show that I barely remembered.  Then, while I was on the phone, she had me play the tape again, from where I had stopped it at the end of the show.  Sure enough, the Scotts commercial was magically cued up for me to watch.  While she is on the phone, I re-watched the commercial again and answered a whole bunch more questions.  There was one more step where I read back some of the answers I gave in those pamphlets.  I never actually checked to see if the tape was erased.  What's the point?

The whole thing was simple.  The "review a show for us" was a rouse.  For one, it's more enticing than "review a commercial".  Also, if I knew what they were really doing, it would skew my opinion and it would be impossible to get a real reaction to the commercial in terms of my awareness of it.  The cost of contracting the audience study companies to go through the lengths they do must be pretty high.  This post is too long.  So if this ever happens to you, just know that you probably aren't going to review the next "Friends" or "Everybody Loves Raymond".