Speaking of branding...
Spring training is not far away. The Twins blog Batgirl had this video on its site. Micah's not quite to this point yet, but here's branding in another form I just can't bring myself to dislike...
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January 31, 2007
Sponge-Bob Money Pants
This article in today's Star Trib talks about the potential new partner for the theme park at the Mall of America, the cable channel Nickelodeon. I'm not sure that I'm crazy about this. Camp Snoopy was certainly a brand name, but there was something somehow innocuous about it. The Charles Schulz media empire was never really that big. Here, we have a major children's television network involved. The amount of attention paid to brand identity here, and the potential consumer tie-ins, really struck me. When kids' programming is commoditized in this way, made simply into a vehicle to sell programming, toys, and the like, it seems dangerous. All kids' stories have some kind of alterior social purpose, but it seems to me that for much of history that purpose was largely cultural and moral, not commerical. It was about socializing kids into the values and roles of their environment--which had its own up and downsides. Here, the people developing these tales are certainly concerned with education. I've read some good things about Dora in particular. But at the same time, they're also out to make money, and my child is a rather vulnerable victim to such tactics.
On a related note, I've found myself encouraging Micah's recent dinosaur phase. Some of it is my own memory of dinosaur mania as a child. But dinosaurs are also largely not commercialized--we're not talking the Thomas the Train empire or even his more recent Bob the Builder phase. There's not the same branding process.
January 29, 2007
Great Pollan Essay at the NYT
It's not a short read, but Michael Pollan (of my recent favorite book, The Omnivore's Dilemma) has a long essay on the New York Times website today. The short version? By viewing food primarily as a vehicle for delivering nutrients, we have made ourselves less healthy. He favors a more holistic view of a diet, one that emphasizes fresh, non-processed food. There's a lot of history and some science there. The nine recommendations at the end of his essay may be the most helpful if you don't have the half hour or so to read the whole thing. In any case, here's the link.
January 26, 2007
Grain and the ghetto
Here's another interesting article on making convenience store food healthier. Having lived a half block from one for two years, I can testify that these places are a major food source in the inner city. For people without reliable transportation (or inconsistent adult supervision), it's a whole lot easier to just get a back of chips or a hot dog at the local gas station. When I think about my (possible) future work as a geographer, one interest I have is in learning more about the public health research that's gone on with this issue. As this article states, it's hard to tell someone to eat healthy when the options just aren't there, due to price or geography.
The Coff-nut
Disregarding all concerns for flavor balance, a scientist has now created the caffeinated donut. Apparently, getting that coffee on the side is just too tough. I've always found the two a good mix--the bitterness and richness of the coffee offsets the crispy, sweet donut. But can anything having to do with donuts ever really be so bad? [Insert Homer Simpson drool here].
January 10, 2007
Unknown brushes with greatness
I've just had one of those "I was close to someone important and didn't even know it" moments. I was looking up the Wikipedia article on Barrington, Illinois, my hometown. I noticed that one of its most famous residents was Henry Paulson. I knew that last name. Amanda Paulson (whom I briefly had a crush on during middle school) was a classmate of mine and our valedictorian. Her father, I found out, is currently Bush's treasury secretary. He also served in the Nixon administration and was a bigwig at Goldman Sachs, a major investment firm. According to Wikipedia, his current net worth is about $700 million.
Does it surprise me that someone like this would live in Barrington? Not really. They have to live somewhere, and South Barrington (where they lived) is as ritzy a place as any in the country. Still, the fact that I have been to the treasury secretary's house (and probably met him at some point) is, to use a technical term, freaky. In some ways, it just reminds me that I grew up in a place where people have a lot of power--something I didn't really understand while I lived there. Wow.
January 9, 2007
Coffee no more
I just found out today that my favorite local coffee shop, The Bean Scene, is on the verge of closing. For about the last two or three years, The Bean Scene has been a social center in north Minneapolis. It lacks some in the charm department--the imprint of the Burger King that used to be housed there is still on the door handle. But I've seen almost all the local political leaders there, and it's been a good place to hang out in the neighborhood. This might just be the educated white liberal in me talking, but it's a unique space within this place, one where I think a lot of positive things happen. Apparently, just not enough.
Having an upscale coffee shop in the heart of Minneapolis' ghetto was always an uphill proposition. On one level, it doesn't surprise me that fried chicken and burgers outsell lattes here. Ideally, the Bean Scene would have found a business model that was more economically accessible for everyone. Yet beggars can't be choosers, and should it close (as I guess it will), I'll miss it. It's one of a just a handful local businesses started with the intention of bringing more economic stability and culinary diversity to the neighborhodd (Papa's Pizza is another example) that just hasn't been able to get over the economic hump. There's just not a market here for them. Broadway Liquors across the street is owned by the same people, and that seems to be doing much better. Booze, not espresso, is the drink of choice, it seems. Again, I recognize my own economic and cultural bias here. But it's sad to see a business of value to the neighborhood doing so poorly.
This news also comes on the heels of a Star-Trib article last week about the struggles of the Midtown Global Market, a unique food space in South Minneapolis that opened to wide acclaim last year. It's one of the most diverse shopping and eating experiences in the metro, from my perspective. But while that area is much further along the gentrification path (one fraught with difficulty), I guess the economic willpower isn't quite there yet to make Lake and Chicago a cultural hotspot.
Of course, all of this just gets me thinking about Geography and my potential grad school journey. Understanding how food spaces relate to their urban context is something I'm definitely interested in. But all the same, there's a personal connection to both these places that goes beyond scholarly interest for me.
January 5, 2007
200 Calories, an illustrated guide
I came across this interesting page with several pictures of what 200 calories can look like. It's surprisingly a lot. The few times I've been on a treadmill with a calorie counter, I've been surprised how much work it takes to get these calories off. I was also surprised by how much this can be during Weight Watchers, when an entire meal rarely went much above 500. I used to think 3,000 calories a day was the norm, but 2,000 is now my mental goal. Considering that the Hardee's Thickburger has over 1,000 (with almost 100 grams of fat), it's an easy goal to achieve.
