Over there, to the right… do you see him?  Don’t look directly at Vince!  His crazy eyes have the power to hypnotize you into buying a ShamWOW! (”It’s made in Germany, and you know the Germans make the best stuff.”)  To call Vince annoying would be an understatement, but of course he doesn’t replace my least favorite TV huckster, Billy Mays.  Oh Billy, you’ve come so far, what with you now advertising Mighty Mendit.

So today I saw an ad for the latest in the never ending stream of junk that gets thrown at us via TV ads: The Snuggie.  What grabbed my attention that, besides this looking like the robe for some unknown cult, it came with a folding book light.

Huh?

What does a folding booklight have to do with a flannel cult robe?  So, being a curious sort, I headed over to their website, and no real clues as to the connection between the two items, but I decided to explore the site some, and discovered the horrifying truth… the same company is behind the ShamWOW!, Mighty Mendit, Mighty Putty (also hawked by Billy Mays), a few others, and my absolute favorite… the Pancake Puff.

What is wrong with normal flat pancakes?  Essentially you are making donought holes, call them donought holes!  And stuffing a “pancake” with pizza filling?!?  You really have to wonder who comes up with these things.

I think I am most shocked to discover they didn’t make the Handy Switch, I wonder how that one got away from them!  As I asked in my post about the remote light switch wonder, I really do wonder how orders these things.  If you read this, and you have bought any one of these items I’ve mentioned, or even one I haven’t, please explain to me and my readers why you bought it, and did it live up to your expectations?  That is the one thing I have always heard that they don’t so that is what causes a lot of my confusion.

Here is your chance folks, go down to the comments and let loose with your thoughts on anything you have ever bought from a TV ad!  I really am curious to hear from real people that have bought any of these items or the like.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Televsion Pitches That Drive Me Insane

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve worked in the comic book industry, and I can tell you first hand about possibly the darkest times in comic book history: the speculator boom of the 90’s.  During the early to mid part of that decade, the comic industry was under siege by a wave of collector speculation as we received an influx of new customers from the bad stock market.  This then set off the already existing collectors into a buying frenzy where they would purchase multiple copies of the newest and “hottest” books, sure they had an upper hand due to their understanding the market.

People went nuts, to be blunt, thinking they could buy a copy of a comic that had a million-plus print run and it would be as valuable as any Silver Age comic (books published between 1956 to the late 1960s/early 1970s).  The thing they didn’t understand was that Silver Age books were valuable due to the low number of copies that existed from the day they were printed.  No comic had ever seen print runs anything close to what we were seeing during this time period.

The worst example of the entire speculative boom was Superman #75, published in 1992.  This comic finished up a storyline entitled The Death of Superman, and due to a culmination of the speculation boom, a slow news period and good marketing on the part of DC Comics, this single issue sold numbers unlike anything seen in the industry before.  To give you an example, in my town of 17,000 people (23,000 counting college students), we sold 1500 copies in 8 hours.  People came in to buy copies on release day that had never bought a comic book before in their lives, but they had heard “this will be a good investment”. Copies were going for as much as $25 on the first day it was released.

I actually spent a lot of time trying to tell people that a) there are too many copies being printed for this to be an “investment” and b) do you really think they are going to kill off the most well-known comic book character ever?  I just went on eBay and took a look and see copies in mint condition that their auction is over and they had no bids at $.99.  Color me not surprised.

So, why do I bring this up?  Will, with the economy the way it currently is, it seems people are looking to jump back into the industry again.  In an article from the Wall Street Journal, the following section appeared on October 3rd.

Mark Craddock, manager of Comic Book World, in Florence, Ky., says stock-market investors also are turning to superheroes. “There’s kind of a buying frenzy” in vintage comic books, he says.

The “Silver Age Comic Book Pricing Index” of 32 frequently traded ’60s comics, was up 14.2% in the 18 months ending in July, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index was down 11% in the same period. Mark Haspel, president of Certified Guaranty Co. in Sarasota, Fla., which grades comic books, often for investors, says it’s on track to handle 200,000 books this year, up from 150,000 in 2007.

“Spiderman is going to be here in 20 years — he’s not going away,” Mr. Haspel says.

The comic book industry saw an explosion of new stores during the a fore mentioned speculative boom, and when it was all done, all those stores closed… and so did many old stores.  The industry was crippled by that influx of collectors, and I fear the same thing could happen with another wave of speculators coming into the industry.

The other thing that concerns me is that they are buying books, at least for now, that they have no understanding of how to properly care for them, their historical significance to the art form or do they understand that they are actually creating a false market.  They may drive up prices for now, but how will they ever find people that are able to afford these new prices?  Golden Age and Silver Age comics have very small markets due to their already prohibitive costs, and with the prices being driven up by an influx of “investors”, that market will shrink even more.  This will leave these people with the option of selling their books to retailers, whom of course are not going to be able to pay them their going price guide value, but a percentage thereof so that they can in turn make a profit.  This is if they can even find a store willing to purchase them because not all stores are equipped to deal with such specialized books.

In short, I hope this is just a minor blip, and no one is considering this seriously.  If you are, I beg of you to rethink your investment strategy.  If you insist on going forward with it, try to learn from the past, and please, I beg of you, make sure you learn to properly care for these pieces of history you’re putting into your portfolio.

Cover of Prez: First Teen President #1 from Gorilla Daze.  And, yes, it was a real series.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Comic Books As A Stock Market Alternative

- The economy, how messed up are we?

- Will the economy take down your favorite sites? This is in relation to a post Mark and I did on Mashable this week.

- Will the economy make Hollywood’s output even worse? Probably.

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Scattercast Episode 12 - Economics Everywhere!

It was my 18th birthday, and my first act as a legal adult was to go down to my local County Clerk’s office and fill out my voter registration card.  This was the single most important thing to me that day, everything else was secondary.

My mother had spent several years involved with the League of Women Voters, and a few years as the president of the local chapter.  One of her duties was at each major election, she would go down to an office on the Truman State University (then Northeast Missouri State University) campus, sit outside the office where the votes were counted, and as tallies were given to her, she would call them into the national ABC News office.  I was in my early teens and I would go and sit with her, but a few times, due to my excitement over the process, she would let me make the phone calls into the national office.  (She always stood next to me and would double check the numbers I gave to make sure I reported them correctly)

I learned very early on about the importance of being a voter.  I learned that no matter how much you thought only one vote didn’t matter, it really did.  Unfortunately, there is one thing I hate a lot in life, and that is standing in lines.  It never stopped me from doing my patriotic duty, I just grumbled about it a lot.  Luckily we can now vote up to six weeks before the election in my area, so today after lunch, I went down to the same County Clerk’s office I went to in 1989, walked in, got my ballot, voted, and walked out.  Yep, I have already cast my vote in the 2008 presidential election.  Even if my candidate doesn’t win, I will know I at least had my say.  If the opponent wins, I know I will at be able to say for the next four years, “Don’t look at me, I didn’t vote for him.”

If you aren’t registered to vote, why not? It just so happens that I did a list over at Mashable today called 10 Resources for Voter Registration.  It couldn’t be easier to register to vote nowadays, and if you need some motivation, watch the video below.

Come on folks, it’s time to make sure you take full advantage of your freedoms.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

I Voted

News was circulating that the house that an 11-year-old Jerry Siegel, along with his friend Joe Shuster, came up with what would become Supermanwas falling into complete disrepair.  An author named Brad Meltzer decided to set up a fund, Ordinary People Change The World, to raise funds to save the house where an American icon was born.

I am beyond thrilled to announce that their efforts raised $111,047 to date, and work is beginning on the house tomorrow, October 2nd, to make the necessary repairs.  The original goal was $50,000, but the extra funds will allow them to fix both the exterior and interior of the household.  The house currently is occupied by an elderly couple, but there is no word on what will happen to the house after they move or pass on.

While I have no clue if any of my readers contributed, I still must send a thank you out to the entire Internet.  This was, and is, a part of American history that should not have been neglected.  Kudos to each and every person out there that donated even a penny to this cause.  I know times are tough for most, there is no denying that, and to donate to cause such as this, something that could have easily been laughed off, means the world.

Thank you to each and every one of you for saving this landmark of American pop culture.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

The Superman House Has Been Saved!

It seems the NMPA has decided it is time for royalties to go up, and seeing as CD sales are on the decline, the record companies have pawned off the request to the digital download market.  The current royalty rate is $.09 a song and they are requesting an increase to $.15, a hike of more than 60%.

Seeing as Apple’s iTunes store currently controls 80% of the digital music market, it is fairly obvious this move is squarely directed at them.

Under the current system, on a $.99 song sale, it is believed Apple already gives away $.70 in royalties and rights.  Of the remaining $.29, very little is actually profit as the majority goes to maintaining the store, paperwork and so on.  This new rate would lower Apple’s share to $.23, and they are saying at that price they would actually be losing money.

As Apple is like any other business, and wishes to make money, iTunes vice president Eddy Cue has made a rather ominous threat via an article on CNN Money.

If the [iTunes music store] was forced to absorb any increase in the … royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss - which is no alternative at all,” Cue wrote. “Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably.

I personally find it highly unlikely that Apple would actually go that far, but it does seem when one company controls 80% of a market, and is projected to go as high as 85%, that this does seem a rather unfair targeting of them. It does also put them in a position where their threat should be taken very seriously.  Apple does have a counter-proposal on the table of a percentage of wholesale that would work out to an actual reduction of royalties, but somehow I don’t see that flying either.

David Israelite, president of the National Music Publishers Association, is saying that everyone should embrace the royalty increase because ultimately everyone involved will prosper. Um… yeah… sure, I see that. -scratches head- There was a more telling quote in the CNN Money story from Mr. Israelite that I think sums up the core of this whole issue.

“Apple may want to sell songs cheaply to sell iPods. We don’t make a penny on the sale of an iPod.”

Ah, yeah, there we go again.  Remember back in 2005 when Edgar Bronfman, CEO of the Warner Music Group, thought record companies should earn a percentage from the sale of each iPod sold as Apple wouldn’t be able to sell their products without music to put on it.  Luckily that idea was quickly squashed, but here it is rearing it’s ugly head again, just in a different form.

So Apple is once again being targeted for basically being profitable.  Well, let me ask the music industry a very simple set of questions: Did you collect payments for sales of record players?  8 Track players?  Tape decks?  CD Players?  On and on and on, why is it now okay to target one hardware manufacturer because they have the most popular version of it?

Once again, here we are with the music industry again trying to get more blood out of a turnip, never mind their greed may end up harming things.  Say this passes and Apple finally gives in to raising their prices, this will inevitably leads to lower sales, and in turn, lower royalties.  Say Apple would shut down iTunes, then there would be no royalties at all.  Gee, are either of these desirable for any party involved.  How would everyone “prosper” again?

Stupid, stupid music companies.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Music Industry Looks For Higher Royalty Rates For Digital Downloads

Okay, first off, the original film came out in 1982, based on a novel by Philip K. Dick named Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, and while it has cult status, I doubt many people younger than myself even know of this film.  Considering this project isn’t locked, and lead times for effects heavy films are 2 - 3 years, you’re looking at 2010 or 2011 for this to come out.  That would put this project close to the 30 year mark since the original, making progressively less sense.

Secondly… IT ISN’T NEEDED!  Blade Runner is one of those works that, no matter which cut of it you watch, it is a complete and perfect work.  Fantastic story, great acting and with so many years gone by, the visuals still pack a heck of a wallop.  I watched it on HD-DVD when the deluxe boxed set came out, and there were even more astonishing details lurking in the shadows, and with a bit of effects cleaning, it was just… wow.  Capturing the vibe of this film a second time would be next to impossible and, quite simply, should just not be done.

This is where Hollywood is just depressing me more and more.  We just hear about bad idea after bad idea, and there seems to be no stopping them.  Remember MTV is remaking The Rocky Horror Picture Show?  There are talks that the remake of Ed Wood’s schlock classic, Plan 9 From Outer Space, is moving ahead.  Possibly a Men In Black 3, which is so not needed (and the cartoon series actually was better than the second film).

It just seems like bad idea afte rbad idea is coming out of Hollywood lately, and no one is saying “wait a minute…”.  I think the time has come for exectutives to come out of their ivory towers and hear what people actually have to say about these projects.  They need to be stopped before they even get started, and save all of us the inevitable pain.

Just say no to Blade Runner 2… please.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Hollywood Truly Has No Clue What It Is Doing Anymore

The diamond has been rated as a D color, the highest color grade possible in a white diamond, and it is said to have a flawless center.  After going through the cutting process they expect to yield a 100-carat round diamond.

Who cares?

I am sorry, but this is one of the aspects of the world I have never grasped.  Sure, there are some things diamonds can do such as drill bits and so on, but for their usual purpose as jewelry, I just don’t get it.  And it’s not just diamonds, but gems in general… you do all realize you’re getting excited but shiny rocks, right?

Now, I know I get excited about technology, but at least it does something for me.  Gold?  Well, gold is too soft to be usable as pretty much anything.  Silver?  Well, it makes a nice tea set.  It’s gem stones where I really do shake my head the most.  Shiny, shiny rocks, and there’s whole stores devoted to them!  Jewelry stores are about the equivialent of “rock stores” to me.

I understand it all goes back to peceived value, demand, rarity, etc, and if you think about just about anything in these terms, you’ll come up with a similar conclusion for any given item.  However… shiny, shiny rocks is just totally lost on me.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

478-Carat Diamond Found In Africa

While Mr. Newman could have traded on his famous good looks for his entire career, he didn’t.  Instead he became a master of his craft and provided us with more memorable roles than some armies of actors could ever hope to do.  While you can certainly point to his well-known roles in films such as The Hustler,  Hud, Cool Hand Luke,  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Color of Money and on and on and on, one of my personal favorites is one that never got much coverage, and that was Nobody’s Fool.

I’m not sure why Nobody’s Fool never got much mention, it may have been because it was a story that centered heavily on people facing their own mortality, but it is one of my most recommended films to friends and family.  A great performance by Newman (of course), Jessica Tandy in her last role and Bruce Willis (who took scale pay so he could have the opportunity to work with Newman), make for a wonderful little gem of a film.  Seriously, rent it, buy it (you can usually find it pretty cheap), but do yourself the favor of checking it out.

Beyond his acting, though, it was his immense generosity that always amazed me.  Most people have seen the Newmans Own brand of food items in the grocery store, but it always amazes me how many people don’t know the story behind it.  Every penny of profit made from the line of salad dressings, lemonade, popcorn and more goes to charity.  In the 25 years the brand has been around, it has donated over $250 million dollars to various charities around the world.  This also included the Hole in the Wall Camps (named for the Hole in the Wall Gang from the story of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) which were summer camps set up for kids with serious health problems that allowed them to attend totally free of charge.

I will certainly miss Mr. Newman not only for his contributions to the cinema, but also for all of the charity work he did over the years.  Rest in peace, Mr. Newman.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

R.I.P. Paul Newman

- Lots of new readers this week, and possibly some new listeners, so a bit of a catch up on who I am and what this blog is about. All of this brought about due to that James Bond post.

- Comments, comments, comments… I need feedback folks!

Here’s a link to the MP3 for those who wish to download it.

Post from: SeanPAune.com

Scattercast Episode 11 - Who Was That Masked Man?