aka The Windy City, Second City, Chi-Town, the ChIll, The Big Onion
I haven’t owned a videogame console since the first Playstation system, so I’m not quite in touch with what’s going on in the industry. I do love dropping in at a friend’s house and playing a little Modern Warfare, but I get called a newb if I ever jump online and try to hang. So I can’t really provide much useful input on how multiplayer gaming can be improved. Read More
I don’t see NASCAR changing a whole lot, although I have read that attendance is down. NASCAR doesn’t really have much of a following in my circles in and around Chicago, but I know it’s popular in some of the more red state-ish, blue collar areas to the south of the city. But I see absolutely zero interest in it with my friends now, and, for that matter, anyone I’ve ever known growing up in the suburbs of Chicago. If anyone has any interest in car racing that I have known, it’s usually street racing and import cars, or if it’s professional racing, Formula One.
Though Nascar is immensely popular, I personally see it as a perfect example of Americans taking something beautiful and skilled, something that’s as much an art as a sport (hairpin turns at breakneck speed in F1) and dumbing it down to appeal to the masses (many cars driving in a circle, crashes).
Make no mistake, TV will continue to migrate online and on-demand. Read More
Celebrity today can be judged based on how many followers your Twitter and/or Tumblr has — which is off-putting. There are various scales of celebrity. While someone in movies or on TV who is followed constantly by the paparazzi would unquestionably be a celebrity, social media and the online generation has given birth to the term “internet famous.” At times the label fits, but is often given as a derogatory label for people who have an inflated sense of self-worth. Blogging is a mind-boggling thing. There are reporters who write for prestigious news outlets and cover some of the most important topics in current events who would barely register a blip on the celebrity scale, and then you have kids like YouTube’s Fred, a chipmunk on crack whose videos have been watched nearly a half-billion times. Read More
I often brag that I don’t watch much TV. The longest stretch I’ll spend in front of the tube is on Sunday evenings when my shows are in-season. Most of them can all be found on HBO, but starting this month I’ll actually have to change the channel. Why? “Breaking Bad” is back. Read More
Though it took me until it was released on DVD to check it out, I finally got around to seeing The Hurt Locker — a day before it was nominated for Best Picture for this year’s Academy Awards. Read More
If you’ve ever wondered what Chicago nightlife was like in the early parts of the last century, take a trip to one of Logan Square’s newest enclaves, Longman & Eagle. Read More
What do you get when you mix an actor famous for his mustache, waterfalls and sandwiches? Apparently, all are the ingredients for one of the most hilarious blogs to hit the internet in a while, Selleck Waterfall Sandwich. Read More
Last month I wrote about mainstream artists scoring points with the indie crowd. This month the roles are flipped, and back to a more traditional situation. Read More
Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m still in Chicago or whether I’m picking up TV stations from Canada. Though I’m certainly not complaining. Read More
The best ways to reach people my age would be through new media platforms, especially Facebook. I think it will be extremely tough to reach people my age going at them as a credit card company. Many of us see credit cards as evil, especially those of us who have racked up credit card debt and/or have tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to pay off.
I don’t see celebrity endorsements as being effective for something like this. In most people’s eyes, celebrities are already rich, so having a credit card that needs to be paid off every month like an Amex card does won’t register with regular people if a celebrity is endorsing its benefits.
I think the best way to effectively market these cards and the various rewards programs is by creating a Facebook fan page and encouraging users to leave testimonials on the page. It’s hard to trust the legitimacy of testimonials on a company-owned website like Amex.com, but seeing real people connecting with each other through Facebook and leaving positive feedback is a powerful tool. I have made purchases because of reading reviews or finding products on Facebook. Encourage people to leave feedback about the rewards they have obtained through using their card. Or about how the payment process. Anything card-related to get people reading and interested.
It might be worth adding some kind of small reward to cardholders who provide feedback. Not as a paid endorsement, but something after the fact as a thank you.
“Twilight.” “True Blood.” “The Vampire Diaries.” You’d think the common demoninator between these three would be the fact that they all feature vampires, which they obviously do, but I’d say the most important trait these all share is some kind of sick and twisted love triangle between one human and a couple of the undead. Edward and Jacob love Bella. Bill and Eric (and Sam the shape-shifter) love Sookie. Damon and Stefan (brothers!) love Elena. Read More
Being home for a couple of weeks over the holidays, I got a chance to check out a few of the new establishments that have popped up around Chicago’s western suburbs. One that especially caught my attention is the new Limestone Brewing Company in Plainfield. Read More
