Christopher Coulter

Really tho, boring tech deals, whole other world out there, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China to IPO hook $22 billion, PNC grabs Mercantile for a cool $6 billion…Rusal, SUAL & Glencore three-way, GlaxoSmithKline grabs CNS…but no blogger ink yanked for that. Cross-eyed nose-level view techie thumb suckers…gawd. :)

You know what’s sad? That promo video sucks, I know I could do better, script and scenario-wise, and they are sucky Video Editors, jump cut de jour. And I hate things shot in HD that don’t go warm film tone. Mortal sin.

Scenario One - She mixes up a vinyl gig, yet hands it off within seconds to doofus Cowboy hick (with continuity problems galore here) right off bat, Cowboy kicking up a goofy potrait in less than 2 seconds, and THIS is their lead off. Man alive.

Scenario Two - GPS Device doing Camera Photo tricks? Ummmmm please.

Scenario Three - Miss Richie Snob syncs files and then proceeds to slunk on lawn chair, Media Centering culling up yadda yadda from the room she just left and then draw in the artsy ARTRAGE an Industrial Design for T-Shirt SLOGANS? What in the WORLD?

Scenario Four - Are we REALLY supposed to believe this is a Handheld Gaming System? They take us for morons? And now hook a keyboard and it’s a mini-laptop? Guess that pen ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Scenario Five - Dimwit on a bike using it as a notepad? (And those jump cuts, arrrgh). And then proceeds to phone cam trick and send back that T-Shirt slogan? Confusing. And guy is too stalkerish.

Moral of story: Spend big money with big firms, sometimes you get less than what paid for. No central theme, all too confusing, everything to everyone becomes nothing to anyone.

Watched it yet again, repeat viewings and it just gets better and better, flocked it to all my friends and talked it up to hundreds. Can't say enough good about this. Well researched, not attack-dog, good measured, right-tempo, right-pace, swift and slicing. Ok, me being me...I do have one bone to pick... Being a Sacramentoite, California's problems with Gray Davis went WELL beyond the Enron energy tiddlywink games. Such was too directly tied, in that Enron problems indirectly got Arnold elected, it was much much more complex. State spending problems ahoy, blank checks heavy, incompetent management, machine-politics, strong-arming Union politics, Barbra Streisandisms, lax immigration controls, Davis himself playing Enron-like games, hiding bad news in state's finances, in short, even the heavy Democratic Establishment of California became fed up with Davis. Not that the replacement did much good, Arnold is just a cartoon photo-op Governor, spending more time in LA than Sac, not breaking through the iron-fisted Legislature. But it's a grand revisionist history for Davis to backpedal and blame all his problems on Enron. But, here's what was missing, I thought you should have tagged Lockyear's quote, "I would love to personally escort Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says, 'Hi, my name is Spike, honey.". Bit harsh, and wholly unprofessional, but yet somehow fitting. Irony.

Always found it quite ironic, Overstock, selling the dead merchandise of others, is itself dead merchandise. And Google is next, once click-fraud hits mainstream, their arrogance knows no bounds, another Enron, I can feel it in my bones. But shorting is American, helps keep companies is check and prevents things from being grossly overvalued. A ride long blazed by tons of prior art, Manuel Asensio being one of the most vocal. So short Overstock as much as can. I applaud your moves, and attempts to demonize shorts are a sure sign the company is doomed. Real companies aren't crazily (quite literally in this case) preoccupied with short problems (or Dark Jedi Masters), they are too busy actually running a company. Though I find it futher terribly ironic, in that the Enron movie being indirectly financed by Broadcast.com fools-gold irrational-exuberance era overvaluations. And then that good-intentioned laudable but backfiring cringe-worthy TV show, and your zero-sum game, bubble-making with 'Bubble'. And although, imho, I feel your redemption is certainly genuine, being a great contrast to something like Trump, it still all makes for an interesting checkered history. But if you continue to make more documentaries like the Enron gig (and many more stories out there), to whom do I send my resume? So many more stories, yet untold. I want to see a big mini-series that is the exact flipside to Robert X. Cringely's PBSified-internet-utopian fantasies.

It's just a cultural thing, not a 'hate' thing. The Big Mac and all the Hollywoodish American pop culture isn't always exactly a hit over there either. Just differences, not hate. Yet the rigid hierarchy of British culture, reminds me daily that 1776 was a great, grand and glorious thing. :)

In doing some actual on-the-beat documented reporting slash mystery shopping...here be a quick summary... Best Buy - Don't know, won't know, we have NO 360s. Go away. Every staff person is sick and tired of said question and bites your head off if you even dare ask. (Very rude). One rare nice guy, said maybe one shipment before Christmas, but he said worthless to check back as they are all accounted for. Annonyance level at Best Buy is pretty high on said issue. Gamestop - Nothing until Jan, "recall, recall", One major Regional Mgr. calling it the worst launch in his retail career. Some big Gamestop Mgrs. meeting on how to handle the crisis. The outcome? Working with Sony to avoid repeat, betting bigger on PS3. Some Marketing shift to Sony. From the staff: our managers told us recall. Me: You sure? Them: Yes, honest. Me: You sure sure sure? Them: Yes, yes, yes. Me: I don't believe that. Them: That's what we were told. Costco - No new orders, our system says the item is not there. We expect one shipment maybe, don't know how many. Please quit asking. Lots of other stuff in our store. EB - Don't know, told weekly shipments, keep checking back. We haven't heard anything. Don't know about a recall. Don't know anything basically. Toys R Us - Recall. Our Managers told us recall, MFST had to fix something. Nothing new, "check back after holidays". Circuit City - What, who, where? We don't have them, don't know, not in our system, won't know. Don't much care. Stop bothering us. Walmart - Our computer system says it's gone, not there. We don't know. Check back after holidays. "Not in our computer system" was repeated at least 5 times, by differing branches. Sams Club - Huh? What? Check with the regular stores. We don't do that here. Fry's - We don't know. No, no no, no, no. No, I will not check on the computer. I know already, the answer is NO! You need that repeated? And even if so, by some Act of God, only in a super-bundle something. Fry's almost worse than Best Buy per staff annoyance at said question. Ask the 360 question with extreme caution. Target - Recall, recall. Our management TOLD us there was a recall, some conference call. MFST has had to fix something. We expect maybe one or two minor shipments, but nothing major until after New Year. PS - Least some good news... Guillermo Del Toro, director of "Hellboy", has been tapped to direct Halo, word on street at least. People will get their 360s just in time for the opening. ;)

Recall Rumors are 100% False? Depends on how you define "recall". I heard from a surprisingly candid Gamestop Regional Mgr. that it seems their allocation was seriously cut until January. MFST told him that they had problems with a run, and won't be able to meet the regional quota set up before launch. So much for that weekly replenishment theory. He called it an internal recall or "adjustment"....not a recall after the units are out, rather that MFST found a number of quality issues with the Winstron machines and has taken those off the market (or retooled). I am getting this from Gamestop, so if it be off, knock heads there. But waltzing around town, sure seems like John is gonna hafta crack tons of skulls. Get out the baseball bat then. Just why did Nelson and John SUDDENLY burst out against a "recall", when almost none of the major forums and blogs and gaming sites were even saying that? Glitches, problems, issues, wails, screams, curses -- yes....but recall conspiracy theories I didn't see hardly at all. I had to learn of the recall rumor from Best Buys. Suppress a rumor BEFORE it is a RUMOR, hereby turning it INTO a rumor? Amazing. I wrote it off just as Big Box employees being clueless. Clueless or not, they are all speaking the same script. Hardware Replacements in as Few as 5-7 Days? So that then explains my friend being told approx. mid-Jan? Replenishment Units Are On The Ground? Amazing then that none of retail outlets in a major Californian city are seemingly aware of that.

That be rich beyond words. :) "We didn't start the fire (the Xbox did). It was always burning, since the world's been turning..."

(Have a sense of humor). :) We Three Red Lights We three red lights are; Bearing destruction, we traverse afar, Field and fountain, moor and mountain, Following yonder Ring of Light. O red light of wonder, red of light, Red ever so bright, Westward venturing, not proceeding, Guide us to thy perfect green light. Born on the pre-order plain Games I bring to it again, Power forever, ceasing never, Over us all to play. Fans to offer have I; String owns a power supply high; Frustration and pleading, voices raising, Cursing on high. Three red lights flashing mine, its bitter perfume Breathes death of gathering gloom; Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, Sealed in the stone cold tomb. Glorious before, now behold it not arise; Toil and sacrifice; Anguish, Anguish, Sounds through the earth and skies.