IT HARDLY MATTERS Back to Main Index Browse the Archives	Monday, July 24, 2006 ( 11:38 PM ) Okay, a few things about the following article: 1. A billboard in Spanish is not that big of a deal. In Los Angeles, not only are there Spanish-language billboards everywhere you turn, but they play Spanish-language McDonald's ads on the television. Not just on the Spanish-language channels, but on the run-of-the-mill English-speaking channels also!! Trippy (I would often have to ask myself, "Wait, what channel am I on?"), and at the same time a blessing, because man I really hate having to sit through McDonald's commercials. Not being able to understand what was being said was a welcome break. 2. Really, all these fools should just be offended by the existence of a McDonald's billboard, PERIOD. 3. If a boycott actually somehow miraculously materializes out of this supremely trivial matter, it would be the most ironically misguided boycotts of all time. I'm all for the end of advertising, but these idiots are somehow sidestepping the most important issues (e.g., advertising is corrosive to true human independence and ultimately annoying as hell, McDonald's is evil) for self-righteous pursuits (e.g., "We're doing this because we want to unify our community and strengthen the Hispanic minority"). 4. Seriously, do they really believe that a billboard in Not English will keep anyone from wanting to learn English? SERIOUSLY??? That's kinda like arguing that if there is a restaurant that will prepare food for you, you will never feel the need to cook food for yourself ever again. 5. I can't wait until McDonald's takes the City of Bogota -- yes the city's name is f'ing BOGOTA -- to court, and when the papers get served, the McDonald's lawyers are there and they'll be all, "A COLD FRONT IS COMING. BITCHES!!!" 6. Best quote ever: "If the mayor is concerned about the diet of Latinos, I would understand, but that was not the intention." 7. So ironic my head just exploded: "It shows their utter disregard for this community." Spanish McDonald's ad prompts talk of a boycott Bergen town's mayor calls billboard 'divisive' Saturday, July 08, 2006 BY ANA M. ALAYA Star-Ledger Staff The mayor of a small Bergen County town is calling for a McDonald's boycott if the fast-food chain does not take down a Spanish-language billboard advertising iced coffee. Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said the advertisement is "offensive" and "divisive" because it sends a message that Hispanic immigrants do not need to learn English. "The true things that bind us together as neighbors and community is our belief in the American flag and our common language," Lonegan said. "And when McDonald's sends a different message, that we're going to be different now, that causes resentment." Representatives for McDonald's and CBS Outdoor in New York, the company that owns the billboard on River Road in Bogota, defended the advertisement yesterday. "McDonald's has the right to advertise to their customers in an appropriate and tasteful manner," said Jodi Senese, executive vice president for marketing for CBS Outdoor. "The billboard is directed to the Hispanic residents of Bogota who make up 20 percent of that town's population. Advertisers recognize the diverse makeup of our nation and often reach out to different populations with messages that are relevant through images and or language." The sign is one of several Spanish-language billboards in Northern New Jersey promoting McDonald's new iced coffee drink. According to Senese, similar advertisements were posted Monday in three other towns with large Spanish-speaking populations -- Irvington, West New York and East Orange. The text of the advertisement in Bogota reads "Un frente helado se aproxima. Nuevo café helado," which means "A cold front is coming. A new iced coffee." In a statement released yesterday, Jennifer Nagy, a marketing manager of McDonald's NY Metro Region, stood by the advertise ment. "Our customers are at the heart of every decision we make, and we would never do anything to intentionally offend anyone," Nagy said. "When it comes to determining where we advertise, we have an ob ligation to our customers, employees, franchisees, and shareholders to reach our customers as effectively as possible." Lonegan was dismissive of the statement yesterday. "I think that their boilerplate press release is totally meaningless," Lonegan said. "It shows their utter disregard for this community." Lonegan said he called the billboard company earlier this week and asked that the advertisement be taken down after several residents called him to complain that it was in Spanish. "We are a very ethnically diverse community and we're proud of that," said Lonegan, the grandson of Italian immigrants. "But I happen to think the billboard is divisive. I think there's resentment from some parts of the community. "If they don't want to take that billboard down," Lonegan added, "I don't want to buy their products and maybe other Americans like me should share that thought. We should boycott McDonald's." Bogota councilman George Shalhoub said he agreed with the mayor. He said the sign "belittles" Latinos. "Something like this doesn't really help the Latino community," said Shalhoub, the son of Lebanese immigrants. "If they're going to assimilate they need to utilize the language of the country they're in. That billboard helps no one but McDonald's to sell coffee and hamburgers." Martin Perez, president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, an umbrella group of 250 Hispanic organizations, said there is an "anti-Latino" sentiment behind the opposition to the advertisement. "If the mayor is concerned about the diet of Latinos, I would understand, but that was not the intention," Perez said. "I think that the intention is that they don't want to recognize the fact that we live in a diverse state." Deborah Jacobs, executive di rector of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, said McDonald's has a first amendment right to advertise in Spanish. "Most Americans understand there are a lot of languages spoken in this country. Advertisers have every right to communicate with customers in other languages if they choose to do so." Sunday, July 23, 2006 ( 11:40 PM ) I'm really sorry Steven But your bicycle's been stolen I was watching it for you 'Til you came back in the fall Guess I didn't do such a good job after all I was feeling really sorry Steven And I spent all morning grieving And everybody's saying That you'll take the news gracefully Somehow I don't think I'll be getting off that easily I meant her no harm When I left her unlocked Outside the Orange Street Food Farm I was just running in Didn't think I'd be that long I came out, she was gone And all that was there was some bored old dog Leashed up to the place where your bicycle had been Guess we'll never see poor Madeleine again Let this be consolation, Steven That all the while you were in England I treated her with care and respect And gave her lots of love And I was usually pretty good 'bout locking her up Where has she gone? Well, I bet she's on the bottom of a Frenchtown pond Rudely abused on some hescher's joyride So I wrote you this song In the hopes that you'd forgive me Even though it was wrong Being so careless with a thing so great And taking your poor Madeleine away - The Decemberists Thursday, July 20, 2006 ( 05:10 PM ) It's finally here, guys: WOLVERINE VS. BATMAN!! (Not to be confused with the other 19th century magician movie.) ( 05:04 PM ) Not just the Top 10 Most Violent Children's Games, but the "top-10 Most Awesomely Violent and Dangerous Children's Games." ( 02:23 PM ) In related news, there are flat-panel TVs out there ready for Ed TV. The future of reality television is HERE!! ( 02:20 PM ) Really? Did they think there would be a whole bunch of people out there just ready and waiting to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for a new TV? How much more delusional can you get?? Flat-panel TVs get less pricey faster By Michelle Kessler, USA TODAY Wed Jul 19, 6:59 AM ET Lower-than-expected demand for flat-panel TVs is spurring makers to cut prices - setting the stage for a bargain-filled back-to-school and holiday shopping season. A year ago, a 37-inch flat-panel model typically cost about $4,000. Now, some can be found for as little as $1,100, says television analyst Rosemary Abowd at Pacific Media Associates. From January to May, the most recent data available, average flat-panel prices tumbled more than 12%, she says. Expect prices to fall even more in coming months, Abowd says. TV makers generally offer discounts during the busy fall and winter shopping seasons. Prices "are good and are only going to get better," says television analyst Chris Connery at researcher DisplaySearch. Why the glut? Optimistic TV makers overestimated demand. LG.Philips LCD last week reported disappointing earnings and warned of an inventory glut. The joint venture of electronics giants LG and Philips is a leading maker of TV displays, a component that usually accounts for more than 50% of a flat-panel's cost. Philips Electronics this week reported a 69% drop in quarterly profit because of the shortfall. Rival AU Optronics has reported similar supply worries. So did 3M, which makes other flat-panel parts. (Another TV maker, Samsung Electric, issued a stronger report, but many analysts say it was because of share gains, not market strength.) These TV makers and others thought sales would surge in advance of the World Cup this month, especially in soccer-mad Europe. That would have provided a welcome boom during a normally slow time. But the sales jump never happened. The industry is still growing fast. Almost 42 million flat-panel liquid crystal display (LCD) sets are expected to be sold this year, about double the 21 million sold last year, DisplaySearch says. Sales of a competing kind of flat-panel, plasma, also are rising. "Growth isn't falling off the face of the Earth, it's just not as explosive as some people thought," Abowd says. She says companies may also have overestimated the number of people with enough disposable income for a flat-panel. Companies already are adapting. LG.Philips cut its capital equipment budget. Glassmaker Corning lowered its flat-panel sales estimates. It's difficult to say how long the oversupply will last during the slow summer sales months. JPMorgan equity analyst J.J. Park predicted in a recent research note that it would endure well into the second half of the year. But Park expects prices to pick up near the end of the year and into 2007. TV makers may also take advantage of low component prices to expand their often-thin margins. Wednesday, July 19, 2006 ( 06:38 PM ) Follow-up to an earlier thought from a couple of days ago: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 ( 11:52 PM ) HA! ASTRONAUT EMO MYSPACE PICTURE. ( 09:25 AM ) Well, the lesson here is: Don't let MTV create a reality-based series around your wedded, or pre-wedded, life. It will end in divorce 100% of the time. Carmen Electra, Dave Navarro to split Tuesday, July 18, 2006; Posted: 9:20 a.m. EDT (13:20 GMT) LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- "'Til Death Do Us Part" -- not quite. Actress Carmen Electra and musician Dave Navarro are "amicably separating," Electra's publicist, Brit Reece, said Monday. Reece would not elaborate on the reasons behind the split. Former "Baywatch" star Electra and former Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Navarro documented their 2003 wedding on MTV's "'Til Death Do Us Part: Carmen & Dave." The sexy pair met on a blind date, and "it was love at first sight," Electra told The Associated Press during an interview in 2004. Navarro currently co-hosts the CBS talent competition "Rock Star." Monday, July 17, 2006 ( 02:01 PM ) You know, I think I would probably think a little more highly of the President if he started using cuss words more often. Like in news conferences and during the State of the Union. That would be totally awesome. CNN.com has the video! Check that shit out! Bush caught off-guard in chat with Blair President: 'They need ... to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s---' Monday, July 17, 2006; Posted: 2:09 p.m. EDT (18:09 GMT) ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- An open microphone caught President Bush in an unguarded moment Monday as the escalating crisis in the Middle East prompted him to use an expletive in a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Bush and Blair were unaware that an event at the Group of Eight summit was a photo opportunity, with media representatives present. Blair later turned off the microphone. The president was expressing frustration at the United Nations' stance on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon. Apparently not expecting an open mike to pick up his remarks, Bush told Blair: "See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this s--- and it's over." Friday, July 14, 2006 ( 06:24 PM ) I really enjoyed these: Conan O'Brien's Harvard Commencement Speech, 2000 Conan O'Brien's Stuyvesant High School Commencement Speech, 2006 Part 1 Part 2 Thursday, July 13, 2006 ( 06:31 PM ) Only 10 posts in the past month -- totally weak! I'm working on a strategy to keep me posting more. It might work, it might not. We'll see! ( 01:43 PM ) One of the best surprises of the summer is VH1's World Series of Pop Culture which has been welcomed into our household following the untimely demise of Beat the Geeks long ago in 2001. The main attraction of the show, of course, is that it allows me to show off my perverse amount of pop culture knowledge (albeit only to my wife). Another thing going for the show is its witty host, Pat Kiernan, whose understated comments of comic genius are the icing on the cake of a rather fun show. This attribute is in parallel with one of the strengths of Beat the Geeks, original host J. Keith van Straaten. Essentially, Beat the Geeks jumped the shark when J. Keith left after the first season. The show was simply no longer awesome when he was gone. The weakest link -- of both shows, really -- are the contestants. On the one hand, Beat the Geeks did not feature geeky enough people as contestants. Mostly it was people who had moved to LA to become models or actors. On the other hand, WSPC has a teeny bit more geeky contestant base, however they all wear stupid team uniforms and a large number of them are simply annoying. I'll take the good with the bad, though! Wednesday, July 12, 2006 ( 04:21 PM ) So I'm addicted to Metafilter. I have been for years. Okay, first: of all the things in the world, this is probably the weakest thing to be addicted to. Second: I'm not really addicted to it, other than in the sense that I keep going to the site over and over even though I rarely ever read anything that's posted. For the most part people don't post anything that's interesting to me, or they try to blow things way out of proportion and make things seem more important or life-changing than they really are, or they just say stupid things. Essentially, a waste of my time. Except for the rare links to something really, really, really funny. Those have always been my reason for going to Metafilter. But they are few and far between. Mostly people just want to discuss socially-relevant or politically-charged issues. BORING. But then this came up. It's one of those posts that not only blends the best of both worlds, but makes going to that cursed site worth it. Friday, July 7, 2006 ( 11:51 AM ) Still one of my favorites of all time, from the Onion: