Product Placement

For once I get an interesting story that's not too difficult. All of the vocabulary is about films, or "cinema", which are fancy ways to say "movies". How hard could that be?

The theme is "product placement", meaning that movie makers deliberately put a Coca Cola can, or some other brand item, in the film. The company will pay for this "placement" as long as it makes the brand look good. This is supposed to increase sales.

Movie makers (okay, "filmmakers") may use product placement to get more money for their films. These days, "it takes money to make money": Hollywood films are expensive to make, but they can bring in a lot of money for the movie company (film studio). If companies pay the studio hundreds of thousands -- or even millions -- of dollars, that helps the studio create a more impressive movie, which (if the studio is lucky) brings in more "receipts" (ticket sales).

The article on p. 2, "Before the Cast, Picking the Brands", says (bottom of column 1) that "the devil is going to wear a lot more Prada." This means that the movie makers are going to compromise with corporate investors a lot more. The author is referring to a famous 2006 movie, "The Devil Wears Prada". You can see a trailer (a short advertisement to make you want to see the movie) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zicgut4gpwU

Prada is a fashion company that makes very chic (expensive and fashionable) clothing, shoes and accessories (bags, hats, etc.). There is a Prada botique (expensive and fasionable shop) in Taipei 101. If you do not get sick easily, visit Prada's website to see what it's about:

http://www.prada.com

In the third column, the author of this article says "the Lumier Brothers agreed to include Lever Brothers' Sunlight soap in the 1896 film 'Washing Day in Switzerland'." She may have two movies confused, though. One is a 1906 ad, apparently in Switzerland, but not by the Lumier brothers (who pioneered movies in the 1890s). See it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zicgut4gpwU

The other, possibly the first instance of product placement, was a Sunlight soap placement in this 1896 film "Défilé du 8e Battalion" (apparently from the Lumier studios):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4hP2fL8liE&feature=related

Audiences will have to decide whether they want to pay money to see long advertisments for several products. If product placement continues to be profitable, I guess we can only see more of it. Instead, I recommend short, low budget films with plenty of impact, such as this one that my Contemporary Issues student brought in:

Chicken a la carte
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1bOteXhwrw

The filmmaker also wrote and performed the song. I get the message, and I hope you do. Of course, some people prefer Prada.

Using Wikis to Help People In Crisis

What is wiki technology?? SEE: http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki

Basically, wiki websites allow pages to interconnect, and users to add and edit content. The first wiki was developed in 1995. Wikipedia is the most famous of all.

The story is about making a “crisis map” by inviting the public to tell where the problems are located. These locations are plotted on a map, which can then be used by everyone on the website. This is what the author means by “many-to-many-to-many": many people give information, many people help to make the map, and many people use the map. In the “one-to-many” paradigm, only one person gathered information, then tried to get it out to many people. Obviously, one person, or even many individuals working alone, cannot accomplish as much as a wiki network, acting together.

Part of the story involved “doing more with less”. Poor people cannot spend nearly as much money as giants of industry like Microsoft or Chevron or even the New York Times. In order to make a system that could be operated by relatively poor people, who were not professionals, the creators of Ushahidi made it use cell phones instead of computers. They used open-source software instead of copyrighted commercial software – that way, everyone could make necessary changes to the software, for various needs. Nobody has to pay to use this software. And the people get more value than they they would have, from a bigger, slower organization.

The article talks about “bearing witness in tragedy”. Ushahidi means “testimony” in Swahili, the main native language of Kenya. That's related to the verb "testify" which means to give truthful and important information, often in court. The one who testifies is called a "witness", and testimony is also called "bearing witness". The author talks about three types of bearing witness that were traditional before. The journalist reports on a war or earthquake “in real time”, or while the action is going on. But a journalist is only one reporter, reaching a limited audence that can do little immediate good. The victim/writer reports on his or her own suffering, but people don't hear about it right away. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl in Holland, hiding from the Nazis. She died in a Nazi death camp, but the diary she wrote while hiding is famous today. Historians write about tragedies long after they have occurred.

All of these types of “bearing witness” are of little use to the people “in real time”, because it takes a long time for understanding of the situation to reach people who can help, and a very long time before the authorities have enough information to act intelligently. By getting a lot of “aggregate, average, good-enough truths” right away, and releasing the information right away to those who can use it to help, the wiki format offers a powerful tool for humanitarian relief.

All of the bold face words can be found in this week’s vocabulary list.

NEW SEMESTER -- WELCOME

My cover story this week involves luxury apartments in Shanghai. The point of the story is that these apartments may be overpriced. Speculation (buying something expensive in the hope that it will be even more valuable later) may be driving the housing market into a bubble, much like the American housing bubble that started an economic meltdown in 2008. If you don't know the meanings of those words in bold type, you should come to class regularly (where you will certainly find them mentioned again and again).

To supplement the article, I looked up some of the references. You may find it interesting to click on these links and see what kind of "luxury items" are on offer in Shanghai. I was mostly disgusted by the lack of real comfort and delight. My tastes run in a different direction, I guess. (The exception being Salvador Dali, my favorite artist of all time.)

Swarovski crystals (Taiwan site):
http://asia.swarovski.com/taiwan

Tomson Riviera Shanghai (Chinese language site)
http://www.tomson-riviera.com/main.html

Versace (fashion company): http://www.versace.com/
... and for the Versace easy chair:
http://www.luxury-insider.com/Current_Affairs/post/2008/09/06/Versace-Home-Furniture-Collection.aspx

Richgate Shanghai http://www.joannarealestate.com.cn/shanghai/propertyshow.asp?pid=264

Park Avenue Shanghai (This is “One Park Avenue”, and there is now “8 Park Avenue”)
http://www.shrelocation.com/apartments/One_Park_Avenue.htm

Palais de Fortune Shanghai
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/french-luxury-tells-a-tale-of-chinas-haves-and-havenots-1883676.html?action=Popup

Salvador Dali (surrealist painter)
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/dali/cannibal.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/dali/persistence.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/dali/narciss.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/dali/weaning_furniture.jpg
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/d/dali/eluard.jpg
http://www.theartistsalvadordali.com/galatea.jpg

Armani (fashion company)
http://armanicollezioni.neimanmarcus.com/

Fendi (another fashion company – not disgusting?) http://www.fendi.it/#/en/foreverfendi/photogallery

Ennis House, Los Angeles (Frank Lloyd Wright) FOR SALE http://www.ennishouse.org/htmls/photo_page.htm
Other Frank Lloyd Wright homes for sale (in 2009)
http://designcrave.com/2009-05-07/frank-lloyd-wright-homes-for-sale-the-10-best

22-room residence in New Canaan, Connecticut ($24 million)
http://www.newcanaanrealestate-ct.com/homesforsale-detail/Dans_New-Canaan_CT_06840_ctmls-98401644-12775

Gaggenau appliances (Germany)
http://www.gaggenau.com/US_en/products.do
http://www.gaggenau-projects.com/index.php?lang=en

Jacuzzi (Italy) http://www.jacuzzi.eu/eu/it-IT

“This lock can read the palm of your hand.”
http://www.beyondifsolutions.com/html/handkeyll.html

All in all, it seems to me that you don't get a lot more for $45 million in Shanghai than you might for half a million in a nice part of America. But if you have to be doing some kind of business in Shanghai, I guess Thomson Riviera is the address to own. Makes me wonder what the point is, of working so hard -- in Shanghai, especially -- if you just end up living in a concrete box with a view of a polluted and neurotic city. But I told you, my tastes run in a different direction.

Articles that should change your mind

One of the best reasons for studying newspaper English is to be able to read information about your own world, that will definitely affect you and your family. Below I list excerpts (little pieces) of articles about subjects so important, that you are in danger if you do not understand them. The first, from this week's Washington Post, indicates that thousands of chemicals used in common products (including children's products) are secret from both the general public and most government officials. That is to say, millions of tons of industrial chemicals are used to make the stuff you use, and nobody even knows what these chemicals are, or what they might do to the human body.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/03/AR2010010302110.html?nav=hcmodule
Use of potentially harmful chemicals kept secret under law January 4, 2010

"Of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States -- from flame retardants in furniture to household cleaners -- nearly 20 percent are secret, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, their names and physical properties guarded from consumers and virtually all public officials under a little-known federal provision.

"Under the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act, manufacturers must report to the federal government new chemicals they intend to market. But the law exempts from public disclosure any information that could harm their bottom line. (= their profit)

"Government officials, scientists and environmental groups say that manufacturers have exploited weaknesses in the law to claim secrecy for an ever-increasing number of chemicals. In the past several years, 95 percent of the notices for new chemicals sent to the government requested some secrecy, according to the Government Accountability Office. About 700 chemicals are introduced annually.

"Of the secret chemicals, 151 are made in quantities of more than 1 million tons a year and 10 are used specifically in children's products, according to the EPA."

...............

Okay, and here's a website by popular author Matt Savinar, which shows how Peak Oil will affect our lives in the very near future, and why. If you are able to take the time and go to his sources, you will see that he is not making this up. The world is about to change a great deal. Find out how, here:

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

We're not "running out of oil". What's happening is that the population is growing quickly, and these billions are also becoming more "developed", meaning more dependent on oil. Thus demand increases steadily. Unfortunately, supply is already in decline, and will continue to decline ... forever, until the energy required to extract the oil is more than the energy produced. As supply declines, and demand increases, the gap will be very, very damaging to the world economy.

Here's an excerpt:

"The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 200 pound man thus holds 140 pounds of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn't need to lose all 140 pounds of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him.

"In a similar sense, an oil based economy such as ours doesn't need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. A shortfall between demand and supply as little as 10 to 15 percent is enough to wholly shatter an oil-dependent economy and reduce its citizenry to poverty."

................

Speaking of demand for oil (and gas, and coal, and uranium, and iron, and copper, etc.) ... here's a recent article by a Guardian reporter who claims to have witnessed the final Copenhagen meetings between Obama and the (now disgraced) Chinese diplomant He Yafei and the other representatives of major nations. It seems that industrial might -- and the political power that gives -- are just too important to worry about the environment. So we can expect no help from big world powers, in saving the planet from eco-destruction. Journalist Mark Lynas is a specialist in climate change, and has this to say about China's role in the talks:

'Why did China, in the words of a UK-based analyst who also spent hours in heads of state meetings, "not only reject targets for itself, but also refuse to allow any other country to take on binding targets?" The analyst, who has attended climate conferences for more than 15 years, concludes that China wants to weaken the climate regulation regime now "in order to avoid the risk that it might be called on to be more ambitious in a few years' time".

'This does not mean China is not serious about global warming. It is strong in both the wind and solar industries. But China's growth, and growing global political and economic dominance, is based largely on cheap coal. China knows it is becoming an uncontested superpower; indeed its newfound muscular confidence was on striking display in Copenhagen. Its coal-based economy doubles every decade, and its power increases commensurately. Its leadership will not alter this magic formula unless they absolutely have to.'

Read the whole article, if you like. I will be glad to help you understand the meaning. China destroyed the Copenhagen Conference because its government wants -- feels that it needs -- to burn more and more coal, in order to build the power of China. The government of India has similar ambitions. And the US buys most of its products from countries dependent on dirty energy plants.

Some feel that economic collapse is the only event that will save the human race from quick extinction. This is a very good time to read newspapers, make necessary lifestyle changes and get ready for big changes. This is why I teach you newspaper English. Good luck.