garden of eden

1) In my last post I shared an article about dynamic grocery pricing, and how this was likely to hurt some who could least afford it. The issue of dynamic pricing leaped out to me in this article about Disney's shift to being a luxury experience. The author wrote:

"Over my three-decade-long consulting career, I saw industry after industry use this kind of information to shift their focus to the big spenders in its customer base. Banks, retailers, hotels, airlines, credit card issuers, manufacturers and universities all learned that their richest customers didn’t just spend more than the rest; they spent multiples more. Many companies found that if they didn’t focus on their richest customers, they couldn’t provide competitive salaries to staff members, increase returns to shareholders and attract capital to invest in new products. Whereas in the 1970s and before, the revenue driving corporate profits came from the middle class, by the 1990s it was clear that the big money was at the top."

At the same time, just because something's expensive doesn't mean it's any good. ( Read more... )

3) Saw the Pixar movie Elio and can see why it didn't do well. It's a take on The Wizard of Oz but was too focused on its theme and message to develop some of the other important aspects. ( Read more... )

4) greenfinch posted about a study on pop music showing a darker and more stressed turn in music. I had some issues with it. ( Read more... )

5) First posted at tv_talk, a Bloomberg News article discussing how sports acquisition will be the big driver to streaming services listed the biggest months for signups during 2025 to Apple+. The top 4 were all connected to MLB games leading with Dodgers vs. Yankees (May) 722K. The top series program was 'The Morning Show' with 524K. Slow Horses didn't make the Top 10 list, but then the data stopped in September, and its new season premiere was in October.

It's clear that Slow Horses is hugely popular as a streaming show. But apparently Morning Show is as well but isn't discussed nearly as much. Its writing is also very strong, it has a large cast, and some big names in the mix. Having just seen its 4th season, I can say it is also not slowing down in any way. If anything, the personal stakes for all the characters just keep going up.

To me, the most riveting episode was 4.8 The Parent Trap. The juxtaposition of Alex and Cory's polar opposites in parenting certainly made suggestions about how and why they turned out as they did, but it also connected to how the finale resolved the season. ( Spoilers )