Anderson Cooper's giggle fit is a classic!

Even though the puns themselves were really annoying, I enjoyed Anderson Cooper's apparent delight in this bit...here is the 4-minute version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPq2fsSk2Vw

I especially like the part where he says "this has never happened to me before!"

The Help a box office hit, marketed to women

Earlier this summer, I "read" the audiobook of Kathryn Sockett's bestselling book, The Help, which opened in its feature film form starring Emma Stone last week. Having grown up in the 1960s, about a five hour drive from where Sockett's story takes place, I was captivated with the characters, and with the author's uncanny ability to capture the voices of the black maids whose lives were in marked contrast to those of their white employers. Like many who grew up in the South, their stories and personalities seemed familiar to me, and conjured up memories from childhood about the intersections of very different lives at the height of the civil rights movement in the U.S.

I haven't had time to see the movie yet--I hear it is almost three hours long (!)--but I was curious tonight to see what its popularity has been, what the critics and viewers are saying about it, and maybe find out how long it will be showing at local theaters since I'm pretty busy and booked solid for the next couple of weeks with work, family vacation, and building the new class...

Anyway, I discovered that The Help opened to $5 million in box office receipts its first day, according to NPR's All Things Considered report today.

Now on its sixth day at the theaters, the feature film is reported as having earned a total of $39,809,842 by Box Office Mojo.

The few reviews I scanned indicate a favorable reception: it's a film about relationships, targeted at female moviegoers.

From a marketing perspective, there was early outreach and a carefully orchestrated roll-out even before the film's wide release. Here's a good summary from Anthony Kaufman's "Speakeasy" column in the August 15 Wall Street Journal:

Disney’s distribution executive vice president David Hollis told Speakeasy that they moved the film’s release date to Wednesday because they had “a sense early on that we had something special, so we let the fans of the book and women’s date nights groups get to see it early, and get that same great grassroots thing going that the book had. And that’s exactly what happened.”

The film performed well in upscale venues, according to Hollis, but especially strong in urban markets and Southern states, with Memphis ranking the top-earning city, followed by Jackson, Miss., Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas. “The Help” will likely add an additional 150-200 theaters next weekend.

According to Hollis, there was a lot of outreach done to get African American and faith-based communities on board, with a word of mouth screening campaign initiated early on. “It lends itself to what made the book work so well,” said Hollis. “Influencers and leaders can go back to their constituencies, and then those small groups of people are exposed, and if it’s a good movie, it’s something they’re going to be recommending.”

Welcome, new students! Well, new to me, anyway...

Starting in September, I will welcome two new Marketing classes of Bachelor of Arts in Management students at the University of Redlands. Well, they've been students for awhile, working alongside their classmates in their respective cohorts, but it will be my first time to meet them. I am looking forward to it: great text, lots of current issues to explore, and real-time applications and exercises to work on together. I will post from time to time, as ideas surface or conversations provoke further exploration!

Hiatus to work on master's degree!

Not teaching for awhile, so I can concentrate on completing my master's degree. Taking a hiatus from this blog.

Be back in 2011!

Morning Edition on NPR salutes 41 years of "60 Minutes"

Outbursts 2

Add to this week's list:
Kanye West cutting off Taylor Swift during her acceptance of the "best video" award at MTV's VMA telecast...he jumped in front of her, he grabbed her mic, and said that "beyonce had the best video ever"...even Beyonce, with the camera trained on her face, was shocked.

Rude. Uncalled for.

Outbursts

This week's Boneheaded Outbursts awards go to:

Senator Joe Wilson (Yells "you lie!" to the President during Wednesday night's health care speech); even McCain thought it was disrespectful Postscript: Wilson lines his reelection pockets and signs autographs following apology to Obama

Serena Williams (Profanity penalty earns defending U.S. Open Champion loss at match point)

Bob McDonnell (Virginia gubernatorial candidate drops F-bomb during candidate interview on radio)

Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric hold two of three flagship network newscast slots

For the first time, two of the three solo anchors on the prestigious network evening newscasts will be women, according to a recent National Public Radio report about Diane Sawyer's ascent to the World News evening anchor slot for ABC.

Charlie Gibson is leaving the post he took three years ago, after a long career in broadcast journalism including ABC's morning news show slot co-hosting Good Morning America with Joan Lunden. Gibson retires at 66. Sawyer starts her job in January 2010 at the age of 63.

When I saw the "Frost/Nixon" movie recently, I was tickled to learn that the blonde helping prepare Nixon for his interviews with talk show host David Frost was Diane Sawyer. I hadn't paid much attention in 1972 when Watergate actually happened, being only 12 at the time.

In any event, hats off to Ms. Sawyer at this auspicious achievement in her career, having risen through the ranks of the male-dominated broadcast news world long before it became fashionable for women to be there.

Walter Cronkite dies at 92

from EW.com...

CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, legendarily known as "The Most Trusted Man in America," passed away today at his home in New York at the age of 92. He had reportedly been suffering from cerebrovascular disease.

With the face of a small-town druggist, an easily-parodied delivery that was both herky-jerky and orotund (“As-tronaut Juhn Glenn...”), and a mien of utter seriousness, Walter Cronkite was the acknowledged king of the golden era of network news. Serving as the managing editor of the CBS Evening News between 1962 and 1981, Cronkite projected a professional authority and personal integrity that invested him with a credibility no contemporary journalist, operating in a more skeptical era, possesses. When Cronkite ended a broadcast with his signature “And that’s the way it is,” neither he nor his audience doubted that it was true.

Born in 1916 in St. Joseph, Missouri, Cronkite entered journalism as an undergraduate. But it was during World War II, as a reporter for UPI, that Cronkite first distinguished himself. He sent classic dispatches from battlefields in North Africa, Normandy, and from the belly of a B-17 bomber over Germany, and parachuted with airborne troops into Holland. He joined CBS News in 1950 and soon distinguished himself with his coverage of the Korean War. “He had that special quality that television demands,” David Halberstam wrote in The Powers That Be, “that audiences sense, and that is somehow intangible -- he had weight, he projected a kind of authority.”

Social Media Today Blog has important message

This blog post frames the question:

Will Google WAVE Eliminate the Need for PR as Media Relations?


Check it out!

Take a look at this vid-kid

I absolutely adore the expression on this kid's face when the company guy hands him the cardboard truck. This is one of my favorite TV commercials right now; it never fails to get my attention if I am multi-tasking with the TV on.

Ally Bank is making a play in the market, talking about being honest (beyond usual "fine print" tactics) in their practices, yadda yadda yadda.

I really haven't figured out what they are trying to say, but the kids' facial expression at the end of the spot speaks volumes!

Cynthia Wright of The Wright Image gives back

Click on the headline above to read the latest news about friend and former colleague at California Baptist University, Cynthia Wright.

(Thanks, PressKitn!)

Cell phone revolution: people of Iran "beg to differ" with Ayatollah

It's astonishing and certainly an historic moment in our world history, where hundreds if not thousands of Iranian citizens are videotaping or sending SMS messages to points around the globe giving us glimpses of the post-election chaos in Tehran.

Demonstrations. Police crackdowns. Violence. Death.

The theocracy no longer meets the needs of the people. It is clear they are unwilling to accept the "holy ordained" edict of the Ayatollah that the election results stand. The people of Iran want change: the economy, the current leadership, the integration into a greater world society. It is a nation divided. There is no outside nationality trying to take power or change things...pray for this nation, and its difficult time of change.

"A nation divided cannot stand," we learned in our own American history lessons. It is not about religion. It is about freedom to choose. In a pluralistic society, we must allow one another space, and respect, despite our differences--no matter how emotional we are about them.

Coverage: almost.at
Global Voices
"Here goes everybody," by Clay Shirky