The software we are using for the film: Media 100, Protools, After Effects.
We had to edit a trailer for our distributor in a rush the other day, so we ran into the Apple Store in Soho, bought a PowerMac and Final Cut Express, jumped in the car heading for Maryland, and digitized and edited a trailer in the car while riding down the New Jersey Turnpike.
By the time we hit Carlisle, PA it was done. We found a hotel with wifi, and uploaded the 5 minute trailer we had just edited on the road.
You can't buy that kind of fun.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Jim Rogers Interview
We had a great interview the other day with Jim Rogers, the famous author and investor. He has a 2-year old daughter who already speaks English and Chinese.
His interview will be up shortly. It centers mainly on China and Wal-Mart.
His interview will be up shortly. It centers mainly on China and Wal-Mart.
Street Date For The DVD
The street date for "Why Wal-Mart Works & Why That Drives Some People Crazy" DVD is officially November 15th. It will be available pretty much everywhere, i.e., Borders, Virgin, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, Transworld, Musicland, Hastings, Tower, etc..
I kind of doubt Target and Kmart will carry it, though.....
That means I have to deliver the film November 2nd to the replicators. Mas cafe, por favor.
I kind of doubt Target and Kmart will carry it, though.....
That means I have to deliver the film November 2nd to the replicators. Mas cafe, por favor.
More Robert Prechter
From "Why Wal-Mart Works"
I think the herding principle has a lot to do with the protests against Wal-Mart. When people want to express a collective mood, they want to share in it. So generally, rallies, and protest marches and that sort of thing are a good way for people to collectively express that sort of that mood. And of course they reinforce each other when they get in a crowd situation. People have manipulated crowd situations forever, from Alexander the Great to Bill Clinton. So it’s a good way, if you want to make political progress in some way, to go about it. But again, these things don’t last very long. They last a year of so, then something else comes by, flips in front of the collective consciousness and they’ll focus their emotions on something else.
I think the herding principle has a lot to do with the protests against Wal-Mart. When people want to express a collective mood, they want to share in it. So generally, rallies, and protest marches and that sort of thing are a good way for people to collectively express that sort of that mood. And of course they reinforce each other when they get in a crowd situation. People have manipulated crowd situations forever, from Alexander the Great to Bill Clinton. So it’s a good way, if you want to make political progress in some way, to go about it. But again, these things don’t last very long. They last a year of so, then something else comes by, flips in front of the collective consciousness and they’ll focus their emotions on something else.
So if there’s any message to the people who work hard to keep Wal-Mart going, and the shopper coming in, it is “this too shall pass.”
Quote from Robert Prechter in the film
This is from Robert Prechter's interview in the film:
Wal-Mart of all companies helps the little guy more than anybody. It’s the primary reason people who are blue collar workers at the lower end of the scale are surviving. It’s the primary reason people who are trying to survive on social security checks can actually do it. So it's the millions and millions of people at the lower end of the economic scale that Wal-Mart is helping. I think that contradiction goes to show that this (the protest) is mostly a sociological phenomenon and has very little to do with Wal-Mart’s activities.
Wal-Mart of all companies helps the little guy more than anybody. It’s the primary reason people who are blue collar workers at the lower end of the scale are surviving. It’s the primary reason people who are trying to survive on social security checks can actually do it. So it's the millions and millions of people at the lower end of the economic scale that Wal-Mart is helping. I think that contradiction goes to show that this (the protest) is mostly a sociological phenomenon and has very little to do with Wal-Mart’s activities.
The Toothpaste Protest
Over at walmartmovie.com, they note that Wal-Mart "controls" 25% of the U.S. toothpaste market, and we should not buy toothpaste from there to "get Wal-Mart's attention."
So let's run some numbers. Assume 300 million Americans buy 1 tube of toothpaste every other month. That's 1.8 billion tubes of toothpaste sold per year (300,000,000 x 6). Therefore, Wal-Mart sells 450,000,000 tubes per year. Let's assume shoppers buy 2 tubes at a time. If all Wal-Mart shoppers decided to buy toothpaste somewhere else, as per the protest, we would have to DRIVE somewhere else. Let's say that trip is 1/4 mile. That means 225,000,000 (450,000,000/2 tubes per visit) trips of 1/4 mile would have to be made, resulting in 56,250,000 miles of NEW driving being made to conform with the protest.
Let's further assume the average car gets 15 miles per gallon. Therefore 3,750,000 gallons of gas would be burned annually travelling somewhere else to get our toothpaste (56,250,000/15 mpg). Just so we can protest. At today's prices, this would cost consumers an extra $11,250,000 to "protest."
But wait. One barrel of oil produces 19.5 gallons of gas when refined. Therefore, 192,307 barrels of oil would be consumed by this protest (3,750,000 / 19.5). The U.S produces about 6 million barrels of oil per day. So this protest would consume 1/2 of one day's production of oil in the U.S.
Is this protest environmentally friendly?
(And please check my math, I'm on my 6th cup of coffee)
So let's run some numbers. Assume 300 million Americans buy 1 tube of toothpaste every other month. That's 1.8 billion tubes of toothpaste sold per year (300,000,000 x 6). Therefore, Wal-Mart sells 450,000,000 tubes per year. Let's assume shoppers buy 2 tubes at a time. If all Wal-Mart shoppers decided to buy toothpaste somewhere else, as per the protest, we would have to DRIVE somewhere else. Let's say that trip is 1/4 mile. That means 225,000,000 (450,000,000/2 tubes per visit) trips of 1/4 mile would have to be made, resulting in 56,250,000 miles of NEW driving being made to conform with the protest.
Let's further assume the average car gets 15 miles per gallon. Therefore 3,750,000 gallons of gas would be burned annually travelling somewhere else to get our toothpaste (56,250,000/15 mpg). Just so we can protest. At today's prices, this would cost consumers an extra $11,250,000 to "protest."
But wait. One barrel of oil produces 19.5 gallons of gas when refined. Therefore, 192,307 barrels of oil would be consumed by this protest (3,750,000 / 19.5). The U.S produces about 6 million barrels of oil per day. So this protest would consume 1/2 of one day's production of oil in the U.S.
Is this protest environmentally friendly?
(And please check my math, I'm on my 6th cup of coffee)
WalmartWatch interview request
Walmartwatch in DC declined an interview with me for "Why Wal-Mart Works" earlier this week. Which is, of course, their right. But I have to say they couldn't have been nicer or more polite to me, especially once they realized I was "that guy."
Cover art I probably won't use
Although it is growing on me, little baby hammer and baby sickle.......
The artist is Joanna Davidovich
First news article on the film
Anita French wrote the first article about the film. She interviewed me as Robert and I were trying to figure out how to escape Manhattan. It's a good article, and she's very smart and nice, but I am kind of embarrassed that in this sentence "It was like a collective snit being thrown right now," Galloway said. "I couldn't find anything humongeously wrong with what (Wal-Mart) is doing." I used the word "humongeously."
What am I, seventeen?
What am I, seventeen?
26 Days Away
From the release of "Why Wal-Mart Works & Why That Makes People C-r-a-z-y." This blog will follow the ride as we countdown release of our indie film on the world's largest company.
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