"May Sweeps" is the spring period when the networks pull out all the stops to get viewership. Not knowing why this is, I did a little research. I discovered that Nielsen mails out "diary" packets across the nation to in an attempt to measure smaller local market audiences in areas that are not covered by their samples already. Programmers make unusual efforts to attract additional viewers during these periods, including airing mostly first-run programming as opposed to repeats, airing more special broadcasts, and including special content in programming such as guest stars, controversial and unexpected plots or topics, extended episodes, finales, and increased competition in advertising.
While that sounds pretty boring I have to say I LOVE May Sweeps! Season finales of all my favorite shows are in May which I was reminded of last night. At the end of Prison Break the first commercial flashed the word "MAY" with a voice over that proclaimed "the moment you have been waiting for has arrived..." YUP, they're finally putting the 'break' in 'Prison Break!' SWEET! Not to mention 24 afterwards continued to be absolutely ridiculous in true comic book form - in such a manner I don't know what the hell will happen in the final episodes. It will conclude in May of course.
Other Season finales include American Idol, Survivor, The Office, My Name is Earl, Supernatural and Lost. I may pick up a few shows too (like Smallville, for example) if the premise sounds interesting enough because mediocre shows are just better in May.
I have to say that this TV season was one of the best for myself. Not only did we finally have the HDTV hooked up, most of the shows were amazing. My husband and I barely went to the movies in the past eight months. Why see a horror movie when I can watch a one-hour Supernatural? Why see a boring ass 120 minute action flick when I have Kiefer Sutherland kicking ass every week on 24? Not only is the picture better in my house, I get all the snacks I want and no people screaming and acting stupid during the show (unless someone is over that's drunk).
I look forward to the May Sweeps this year more than any other year I've ever watched TV. I can only hope it lives up to my expectations.
I don't want to become redundant and write about video games too much but I was reading Gamespot today and knew I just had to write about my favorite game of last year: Star Wars Lego.
When examining the top ten best selling games of 2005 there is one of the list that stands out - a kids game that should never have sold that many copies. That game is Star Wars Lego by Eidos. Why am I recommending this game? And why would it have sold that many copies with reviews in the mediocre range?
1. Anyone can play this game. If you're a mom who doesn't know how to handle an Xbox controller you'll be able to pick one up and play this game. The harder goals - like collecting pieces of ships - don't need to be completed to "beat" the game. This leads me to ....
2. The game is for 1-2 players with "drop-out" feature. This means that if there is a hard part, one of the players can drop out while the other person completes the task. Then, later, they can reenter. So few games have great cooperation modes. This is one of the best two player games I've ever played. You really "cooperate" to complete tasks. And if you get into an argument, you can just drop out of the game without any penalty.
3. You can't die. While I'm sure a small minority of gamers think this is lame I think it's one of the best qualities of the game. Little kids can't get frustrated when Grievous kicks their butt over and over. Your character regenerates after a few seconds after getting smacked down. You do get penalized by losing some coins but it's really not that big of a deal.
4. You can be 30 characters by the end. Which is just awesome. Nuff said.
5. The replay factor. You must replay missions to officially unlock all the features of the game. To find collectible ship pieces you must use different, unlocked characters to find all the missing parts which will eventually unlock a hidden level. So the game has lasting power, something a lot of games don't have nowadays. Plus, it's not like you start the whole game over because you get to pick which missions you feel like replaying.
6. It's cute. Yup, it's cute. Which means girls will want to play it but it's still "cool" enough guys will want to play it.
7. It's Star Wars. Which was the #1 movie last year (two other SW games were on the top ten list of 2005).
8. It's Lego. One of the best selling toys of all time. Now, one of my friends kept saying "I just don't get why it's Lego." Besides being an idiot I don't think he realizes how recognizable the brand is and how much a kid will point to that cute video game cover and say "I want to play Lego!"
9.It's cheap. We picked ours up on sale at Target for $15. It's currently a "greatest hits" meaning it's only $20, for any console. Considering Xbox 360 games are about 60 bucks each, that is a real bargain.
10. It's just plain, clean fun. No blood or guts or horror.
If you haven't checked out this game and you're a family type of guy I would say buy it without one bit of hesitation.
Animal Crossing. If you don't know what that is, you're not in-the-know in video games. I don't care if you're the most hardcore first-person shooter gamer in the world, you would still know what Animal Crossing is - and if you don't I do not mean to insult you. I'm just saying you should know because it's a game so addicting, so cutesy, and so much fun that even the manliest of men have admitted to playing it. It is also a game that crosses the gender line, therefore I think it deserves as much recognition as possible.
As for myself, I have the Gamecube version from 2001, which still weekly ranks on the Gamecube's top ten selling games every month. For Christmas I received the Nintendo DS version Animal Crossing: Wild World. With a little research I discovered it's already sold over 2 million copies since it's release (those were numbers from March 2006, so it's probably more now). The beauty of this game is that you can play with your friends over Wi-Fi, free of charge. Take that Xbox 360 suckers (and I hear Xbox live is full of jerks anyway). Nintendo eliminated the "jerk" factor by having you have a friend code and invitation system so only people you like and want to enter your town may join you.
I'll just tell you my own little personal story with Animal Crossing and how it's benefited my life and brought my sister and I closer than ever before.
My sister is 21 years old and has been having some serious personal issues involving dating a 40+ year old man. We've had some falling out over this issue and it's tough talking to her since she had previously begun to become quite co-dependent on this old guy. I'd reached a point where I just felt sick every time I heard about him, especially how he was taking advantage of her money and youth.
Fortunately, the Animal Crossing/Nintendo DS bundle pack entered her life. I saw it on an online gaming store, emailed her the link, and she pre-ordered it. Once it arrived on her doorstep at the beginning of March I saw a change in her. It's like this magical world of little friends woke her up out of her trance. Once she got hooked up to the Wi-Fi feature and she visited my town for the first time we were giggling and laughing like old times. Suddenly, I am getting calls from her that weren't full of fret like, "I think Old Man is cheating on me" and "He won't quit smoking for me." I was getting calls that went something like this "Want to visit my town? I got you the coolest present!" I even visited her town on her birthday for a virtual birthday party! This was a blast for me and once the initial "this game is fun" wore off after a week we started talking about other stuff. Like how she decided she was going to start riding horses again.
Then, yesterday, I got a phone call from her. I figured she wanted to visit my town or vice-versa like usual. I call her back, my DS in hand and turned on, ready to go into Wi-Fi mode. But she didn't call to play, she called to talk. And she didn't call to cry or whine or tell me about her problems. She called to giggle and laugh and tell me how she came in first place at her Equestrian event this weekend - the first she had entered in almost a year. She talked about the pictures she took, the glory she received, and then how she was heading into work. I haven't heard her happier in a long time.
Now, if Animal Crossing:Wild World hadn't jump started our relationship or woke her up out of boyfriend-coma I'm sure something else would have. But this is a good example of how pop culture "stuff" isn't as useless as you think it is.
And three cheers to Nintendo for making a game for two sisters to rediscover their inner kid.
The comments for it are generally positive, like "sexy," but I did get one that said "gross."
So this weekend at Target the word-of-mouth buzz got to me and I picked up a 4-pack for $4.99. The bottles are small (red bull size) but made of glass and are covered from top to bottom with plastic so you can't see the liquid inside. Does look pretty sexy. It has all the same ingredients as regular Cola except for the inclusion of "coffee extract." "Caffeine" is also on the list. Double whammy of stimulants. I love coffee drinks but the thought of coffee and cola mixed together didn't sound too appealing to me.
How is this supposed cola drink that I spent way too much money on?
Surprisingly, not too bad. I thought I was going to HATE this stuff. Instead, I got to admit I like it. When you sip it, it tastes like cold, mild, sweetened Columbian coffee. The aftertaste is that of regular Coca-Cola. A very strange mix for sure but one that I wasn't too adverse to.
Would I buy it again? Yes, but not for $4.99.
Some other observations: Somehow it's only 45 calories. The color is the same as Coca-Cola classic. The bottle is 8 oz. It does have quite a good amount of caffeine (I feel VERY AWAKE after drinking it).
I have a feeling this is a gimmick that will be failing in the near future. Still, Pop Culture Woman says this is something worth trying.
Some history: I have read comics my entire life. I learned to read because of Casper: The Friendly Ghost and Richie Rich. I graduated to Archie, then Spider-Man, then Sin City, then Sandman & the Ultimate line, with many in between. My dad managed Geppi's Comic World stores, which closed it's last branch last year (this was a chain owned by Steve Geppi, owner of Diamond Comic Distributors).
My opinion? The comic industry is hurting. While they may have gotten some CPR from such titles as Identity Crisis, they still are hooked up to IV fluids and a heart monitor with no signs of discharge from the hospital.
I've left buying individual comics. Which is hard to say and admit because I LOVE COMICS. Now if I've left comics how many more have probably left as well? I can't justify spending $3-5 on a single issue anymore and then be left wondering "when will the next issue come out? - three months from now?" or, even worse "Will this issue be any good?" I was willing to pay comic book prices as long as they deliver to me and unfortunately the writers, artists, and companies have not. The last great story I read was Identity Crisis - written by not a comic book scribe but by a published novelist. This was very successful for DC comics from what I understand and I was on the edge of my seat every issue - I bought every single one when they came out. I even couldn't wait for that last issue to come in the mail (I was doing mail-order) and I braved visiting the sexist, smelly, and rude comic book store to buy the last issue when it came out. That is the excitement that Marvel comics of course wants to duplicate in it's fan base and does so badly. Their Avengers Disassembled story was poor and their new gimmick, to destroy as many mutants as possible, is just plain desperate and boring. Now they have this "Civil War" nonsense that I haven't even bother to pick up. So it may be great but somehow I doubt it.
Another problem is how they spread writers out very thin. I used to love Marvel's Brian Michael Bendis, who wrote Ultimate Spider-Man. Unfortunately, he did so well writing that Marvel decided to let him write as many titles as possible to sell their books. Result? His writing has suffered drastically. Ultimate Spider-Man is a tough read for me. His other titles complete crap. I could dissect them individually but I won't - I just know he is spread too thin. He will never admit it of course, he's making cash and I'm sure he thinks he is capable of much, but he's not. And people have stopped buying comics because of this, and the industry continues it's decline. Marvel knows popular writers sell comics in the short term though and has begun spreading another author quite thin that I used to love - Dan Slott. Robert Kirkman is next I'm sure. Plus, they are so desperate to have a certain artists name on a comic that if that artist doesn't meet deadline they let him get away with it, which I think is just disgusting. If an artist doesn't meet deadline he should be fired because there are plenty of starving artists to give the job to instead (exception: Alex Ross). BUT companies decides that making the book 1-7-12 months late is acceptable. It's not. Example? The Ultimates - continues to ship later and later. I've stopped buying it.
I guess I'm ragging on Marvel a bit but those were the stories I used to love the most. DC has definitely had more depth recently but they have so many titles coinciding together that I cannot buy, read them all and remain sane. Simply, they are better read in trade format.
Anyway, I can't gamble my money away anymore on knowing what issues will be good or bad or on time. And by the time I hear about if something truly is fantastic, it's most likely sold out at my comic book store anyway because distribution is very poor. Example? Marvel Zombies. Can't wait to read it. All the issues are sold out around here (except the latest one). This system is so frustrating that I have said "I surrender!" So I pre-ordered the trade and will patiently wait.
I just want Marvel and DC to just start releasing trade paperbacks and be done with it. Stop triple dipping into fans pockets with a comic, hardback, and paperback release all of the same story. If you can deliver a comic book on time, with decent distribution numbers, than okay, triple dip. If you can't, do us all a favor and just release it in a hardback book (like Neil Gamain's Sandman:Endless Nights), promote it heavily in book stores and make a lot of money. The industry would make so much more money if they did that because they would be marketing to 100 percent of the population, not just 50 percent. In that I mean, they would be appealing to both men and WOMEN. That's right, women. Long ignored and ready to read comics. Go into a book store and you won't see a standee with anything by Marvel or DC. You will see standees for Anime, a lesser and cheaper form of comic that girls eat up. They want pictures and words and depth. You just have to tell them comics have all that.
The industry as a whole sucks and no one is saying that loud enough. Comic book stores are closing, Diamond is hurting, and all because fans are leaving it behind for better writers and artists in other mediums. They need a consultant bad to tell them to fix some things but, unfortunately, it's full of egos that wouldn't be able to take the critisism an outsider could offer. I await the day changes are finally made and perhaps I will then again buy an individual comic again. Until then I protest where it will hurt the industry most: with my wallet.
What prompted this blog: I had ten dollars in my pocket to burn. I went into the comic book store and could find no single issue of anything to pick up.
I wanted to write my own blog on pop culture mainly because I read so many other people's blogs on pop culture and it's getting hard to just voice my opinion in their 'comments' section.
I want to make sure I stay true to form, so I asked GOOGLE (Jeeves can have soooo many ads) "What is popular culture?"
First answer: The opposite of high cultural art forms, such as the opera, historic art, classical music, traditional theater or literature; popular culture includes many forms of cultural communication including newspapers, television, advertising, comics, pop music, radio, cheap novels, movies, jazz, etc. Now everyone knows most novels aren't cheap. (Well unless you're reading those Harlequin romance novels...my grandmother loves those). Cheap = 3 dollars. Good luck finding that at the bookstore. You can't even buy a comic book for that cheap anymore (with tax). So I scrap that definition.
I look at the next one on the GOOGLE list:
A shared set of practices and beliefs that have attained global acceptance and which can be normally characterized by: being associated with commercial products; developing from local to national to global acceptance; allowing consumers to have widespread access and are constantly changing and evolving. Wow. BORING. I didn't even make it through reading that one before I went to the next:
contemporary culture as defined by the objects, images, artifacts, literature, music, and so on of "ordinary" people. Much better! I'll stick to that one. So you can rely on a woman's perspective on all things 'contemporary' in this blog.
I've been writing blogs on my myspace account but I realized a lot of people were actually reading those entries that actually knew me and that was kind of weird. I prefer to remain anonymous out on the world wide web I think when it comes to my pop culture dealings.
And if you are really bored you can read Wikipedia's definition here which was the fourth on the list.
(I love Wikipedia FYI - someone emailed me about one of my Ebay auctions and asked "What's PVC stand for?" - I type it into Wikipedia, BAM, "polyvinyl chloride.")
So welcome to my blog. Next discussion? Comic books and my perspective on the state of the industry.
