Wednesday, March 14, 2007

A Passive Observation

Any time you hear anyone in government say, "Mistakes were made," it's someone who's afraid of a discussion over who made those mistakes.

• Posted at 6:56 PM · LINK

Hi-Tech Lynching

The CompUSA chain is closing down an awful lot of its stores. Here's a list of the ones that are shutting down, and it isn't even complete. The one on La Cienega at the Beverly Connection closed about a year ago and I noticed yesterday that the one at Pico and Westwood in West L.A. is already vacant. Neither is on this list, which I guess is of imminent closures. I used to shop at all three. As one who has purchased an awful lot of software and hardware from them, I'd like to suggest the reason those stores failed.

It's not because there's no demand for their product, that's for sure. Computers...cell phones...PDAs...plasma-screen televisions...My God, if there was ever stuff that people are buying left and right, it's new, high-tech stuff these days. Even people who own those things are in a constant state of upgrading to the next model. You'd think this would be the time that many chains of that sort would be blossoming like Starbucks on every corner.

But there was a problem with CompUSA: Finding anyone worked in one who knew anything about the equipment they were selling. I think you could have walked into the one in Culver City and yelled, "What's a spreadsheet?" and not gotten an answer. It seemed to me like in every store, they had one or two people who knew everything and those people were always too busy to wait on anyone, leaving customers at the mercy of the Amish.

You ever try asking a question in one of these places? Anything more technical than "Where's the men's room?" and you'd get back these blank Orphan Annie eyeballs. Inevitably, they'd start looking around for the one person in the building who might know...and that guy was always occupied and unavailable. I have been in CompUSAs where I wound up taking pity on bewildered customers and helping them with questions. I was also once in one where I had to explain the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R to a salesperson.

There's a place for a chain of computer stores where the people know their merchandise and know their technology. A lot of people would be willing to pay a little more for their technology bling to shop at that store...but it wasn't CompUSA. If I want to buy where they don't know anything about computers, I can go to Wal-Mart or Costco or Best Buy...or better still, order over the Internet. It's cheaper and you get the same amount of personal attention: None.

In the meantime though, the buzz is that the CompUSA stores that are closing are offering substantial discounts. So if the one near you is on the list, you might want to check and see if it's still there and if so, drop by. Just don't try asking anyone anything. If one assumes the smarter employees are already gone to get other employment, you may not even be able to find out where the men's room is.

• Posted at 5:43 PM · LINK

An Important Site

Thousands and thousands of photos from 9/11. So we don't forget...not that there's much chance of that.

• Posted at 2:35 AM · LINK

Game Show Smarts

This article in The Washington Post is about how game shows are getting dumber; how shows like Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? come from the viewpoint that the viewers are low in I.Q. points and therefore enjoy watching idiot contestants. Here's one section of the piece...

Some of the program's questions are difficult, but it's unusual to get more than two real tough ones in a row. Among the questions in the debut episode: Name the ship the Pilgrims sailed on from Plymouth, England, to the Plymouth colony in America in 1620. Name the closest star to the Earth. What country has the longest shared border with the United States? What is the suffix in the word "undoubtedly"? TV executives call those kinds of questions "relate-able," by which they mean "unlikely to challenge viewers too much and thus make them feel bad about themselves."

More than a few viewers apparently appreciate the approach. Are You Smarter's elevation of familiar, simple facts to brain-twisting stumpers has proved to be monstrously popular, attracting a larger audience than any new show in the Fox network's history, some 26.5 million (although it admittedly was helped by following the even more popular American Idol). The quiz show's second episode drew 23.4 million.

My view? I think the whole premise of the article is wrong on two fronts. First off, there have always been game shows that required no intelligence or knowledge to get to the big prizes. Anyone ever see Beat the Clock, which was one of the most successful of the genre? How about Let's Make a Deal? To win on Newlywed Game, you only had to be on roughly the same mental wavelength as your spouse. To win on Match Game, you only had to fill in the blank with a word like "boobs" or "buns." Those were all pretty popular shows and on most, you could have the brains of a refrigerator and still win a refrigerator.

So this is not a new trend at all. Secondly, the point of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? seems to have eluded the author of the article so I'll explain it: The point of the show is to laugh at the stupid people. It comes from the same place as those jerk-on-the-street interviews that Jay Leno does where we're supposed to howl with laughter that some people think Ben Franklin was our first president. With some of the other shows, it's just mindless or near-mindless fun, which is not always a bad thing.

I'm surprised the reporter came to his conclusions. He interviewed two of the most knowledgeable people I know on the subject of game shows, Fred Wostbrock and Steve Beverly. On the other hand, I've seen very few articles lately in The Washington Post that I thought knew what they were talking about. What has happened to that paper? I think they're the ones trying to cater to stupid people.

• Posted at 2:29 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Speaking of blowing up hotels in Las Vegas: Here's the last six minutes of the Hacienda Hotel, which was imploded on New Year's Eve ten years ago. As I wrote about here, I was present for this event. If you look hard, you may be able to see me in the crowd. I'm the one standing next to the really drunk guy.

• Posted at 12:12 AM · LINK

March 15, 2007 • Current • March 13, 2007