Considering the amount of money Buffett is used to dealing with, one would expect Buffett to live in gaudy mansion or even his own private island. Surprisingly, that couldn't be further from the truth. Buffett still lives in the same Omaha, Nebraska home he purchased in 1958 for a measly $31,500. Now, $31,500 today doesn't buy you what it did in 1958, but even adjusted for inflation, that amount in today’s dollars is only around $260,000.
660,200 / 31,500 = 20.9587301587302
Multiply by 100, you get 2095.5%, which is comparable to the 2785% return on U.S. stocks MF graphs. (No idea what data they use for the stock returns number. Dow Jones? S&P?)
Now, of course, the Motley Fool is an investing website, and most of their money is made on reporting on the stock market. So, yes, their reportage will be biased towards investing in the stock market, and less on other forms of investment.
But it appears that the Oracle of Omaha knew what he was doing when he bought that home. It's in a nice neighborhood, near a major city park and university, with easy access to downtown Omaha. It was built in 1921, has five bedrooms, and 2.5 baths.
And let's face it... real estate can be a very lucrative investment! Smart homeowners pay off their mortgage quickly, buy another house or property, rent that, and use the rent payments to pay off the second mortgage. Looking to buy? You might want to try Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. (See, Warren knows what he's doing...)
So I was browsing this week's movie posters over at Heritage Auctions, and I discovered this:
I'm always intrigued by crazy movie titles, and this caught my eye.
So I checked the cast, and that's when my mind shifted into fifth gear!
Frankie Avalon! Dwayne Hickman! (Of Dobie Gillis fame, he was in a lot of these teen screeners.) Yvonne Craig! (Batgirl.) And James Brown?! Lesley Gore! (Of course... these movies always have music built in.)
Quite a fun plot. Girl trouble. College ski trip. Cross dressing. An all-Black ski patrol (James Brown & the Famous Flames). An ice-skating yodeling polar bear?!? And, of course, Annette Funicello, as a naughty professor!
Here's a pic of Frankie and Dwayne in drag:
They're supposed to be British. Which, coincidentally, has a long, proud tradition of men performing in drag.
Actually, they're kinda cute. But nowhere near Page Three.
Would I watch this movie?
Heck yeah!
You had me at "yodeling polar bear" and "lederhosen-clad lodge manager"! (And Yvonne Craig. Come on... this is a beach movie! Set in a ski resort! So bikinis AND turtlenecks!) This movie was to have a sequel, titled "Cruise Party", but the meager box office of "Ski Party" nixed that idea. But Frankie Avalon did appear on "The Love Boat" in 1978...
TCM has a great overview! (Part of a bigger feature on Beach movies!) You might want to do a double-feature with "Hot Dog ...the Movie", filmed in 1985. It's got an even better poster!
Or, if you've got kids (or are a discretionary viewer), you might want to view Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine instead. That one stars Vincent Price as the villain! And an opening sequence animated by Art "Gumby" Clokey! Sadly, it was to be a musical, but was edited. Oh well...
Okay...
The ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge" is a brilliant piece of viral fundraising. It's raised awareness and money for a minor disease which doesn't earn the (monetary) interest of pharmaceutical companies. Some have criticized the waste of water as many states suffer drought conditions. (To which I reply: yes, you are correct. But there are many MANY other activities which waste even more water.) But to me... everyone is doing it wrong.
You REALLY want to show your cojones? Take a cold shower for five minutes. Matter of fact, why not raise money by taking pledges? So many dollars for each minute spent in the shower!
Or better yet, go swimming on New Years Day. Here in New York City, that sort of thing has been going on since 1903. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club has monthly swims from November through April. They hold a big "everyone is invited" event on New Years Day. (You can attend the monthly events, just send them a request via their website.)
It includes Mike Tyson, a ghost, a talking pigeon, and Tyson's 18-year-old adopted daughter, who is Korean.
So, of course, I pulled up the "You Meddling Kids" trope at TV Tropes.
I clicked on the "Western Animation" folder, to see how many examples existed from Hanna-Barbera.
Quite a few, of course. H-B exploited this design. It's a good design: Goofball, Comic Relief, Brainiac, Regular Guy, Regular Girl. (Here's a different analysis.) Then I got to wondering... did any of these "copy-dogs" ever cross-over with Scooby-Doo? Easy enough to answer... The New Scooby-Doo Movies featured weekly guest stars. Here's the episode guide. Yup. Josey and the Pussycats. Jeannie. Speed Buggy. But wait... who is Jerry Reed? He shows up in Episode 14: "The Phantom of the Country Music Hall". Jerry Reed was a successful songwriter and performer, best known (at least to me) as Burt Reynold's sidekick in "Smokey and the Bear". But... here's where it gets interesting! He made his first movie in 1975, with Burt Reynolds: W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings
"As of 2013, the film has not been released on DVD or any other home video format." !!! When my family bought a VCR in 1980, the first thing I noticed upon visiting the video rental store for the first time was the sheer selection of Grade-B,C, and Z movies available! Stuff you might see on the Late Show, maybe once a decade. Stuff that the actors themselves have forgotten. (No, I didn't hit a high at that point...I was a naif. I would plotz a few years later, when Blockbuster opened their first store in Omaha, featuring complete runs of Star Trek and many other examples of eye candy.) Burt Reynolds was HUGE back then. "Cannonball Run" and "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" were hits. And here's a Reynolds movie that was never released on VHS or any other medium. Yes, the plot isn't much... but check out this cast! (Click on the names for Wikipedia articles.) Burt Reynolds Conny Van Dyke Jerry Reed Ned Beatty James Hampton Don Williams Rick Hurst Mel Tillis Furry Lewis Art Carney
Conny Van Dyke... she's the love interest. Nothing much interesting about her, aside from being signed to Motown Records as a caucasian!
Jerry Reed, we already covered above.
Ned Beatty... he's one of the great character actors of the 20th Century. Best known as "Otis", Lex Luthor's henchman in "Superman". (And the villain in "Toy Story 3".)
James Hampton... another great character actor, mostly on television.
Don Williams... lauded country singer.
Rick Hurst... best known as "Cletus Hogg", Boss Hogg's cousin on "The Dukes of Hazzard". (He replaced Enos.) Another great character actor.
Mel Tillis... a giant of Country music.
Furry Lewis... noted country blues guitarist.
Art Carney... best known as "Ed Norton" on "The Honeymooners". Is there a soundtrack? You betcha! On vinyl! There's also a novelization, which seems to be better than the actual movie. My theory... Reynolds owns the rights to the movie, and keeps it locked away out of embarrassment. (It currently has a rating of 5.8/10 on IMDB.) Of course, there are bootleg DVDs out there. Myself, this is the sort of movie you watch on cable TV late at night, preferably with a bottle of scotch.
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Whoa... interesting distraction! "Jeannie", the cartoon version of "I Dream of Jeannie". It's not named as an example of "those meddling kids" trope, but it is similar.
Here's the interesting bit!
Babu seems to have been based on Bob Denver's one-shot character, Harold, from the original show, who was also a genie whom Jeannie needed to train, though he does not seem to be Haji's son. Added to that, bizarrely enough, Babu wore what appears to be a male version of the original Jeannie's pink costume.
On
the same day Jeannie is ordered to help train an inept young genie (Bob Denver), Tony finds out that U.S.
PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonwill be coming for dinner.
Is it me, or does his costume look like it was stolen from a flying monkey?
Friday, March 7, 2014
This is a test.
Getty Images is offering royalty-free images, but via their embed code.
(If you're curious about this, go read the Wikipedia article! I don't know how much input Steve Jobs had with this ad, but it singlehandedly changed how Madison Avenue viewed the Super Bowl.)
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Coca-Cola football ad. meh. I was hoping for a call-out to Mean Joe Greene. They couldn't have made him the groundskeeper? Lost opportunity. FAIL.
Butterfinger. Marriage counselor. um... okay...
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What is technology? Microsoft? *sniffle*
Nice ride. Hyundai Elantra. Huh?
Nice copyright notice, NFL!
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All the villains are played by Brits. HAH! Jaguar.
Oikos! Full House. Heh!
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T-Mobile. heh. minimum.
Soda stream. ha. Sex appeal.
What? London? 24? Live Another Day.
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two minute warning.
Puppy escapee. Clydesdales. meh.
nice tits. waldrobe malfunction? GoDaddy.
Doritos. ha!
Ameican Idol. nice teaser.
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Hey... who started the tradition of Gatorade baptism?
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And that's the game. Seahawks. 43-8
NFL and football comics usually don't work too well...
But if you're curious, you can find them here!
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Doberhuahua! Audi A3. wha? Funny ad, but what's the story? Don't drive a hybrid?
Tim Tebow. Again. ha! Doing his own stunts! T-Mobile.
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Axe Peace. interesting. but...
bear in a country store. Chobani. hmm.
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This quarter sponsored by Bud, so there will probably a Clydesdale ad soon.
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Okay... here it is... the bizarre Kia Matrix ad. I saw this earlier this week. That's Turandot being sung. The special effects are a dime-a-dozen. Nothing like The Matrix. meh. What's the message?
Sprint. ten people on the plan. Band version. Family version shown twice earlier.
If you're happy and you know it. Heinz. cute. With a fart joke?
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Bruce Willis. HA! Car safety. Honda. Fred. Almost as awesome as Gwen!
Secret homecoming. Budweiser. Nice idea. But the Canadian Hockey ad is still better. It doesn't pull the heartstrings.
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America. True Cool. legacy. Detroit. Bob Dylan. um... I think Germany might have something to say about all this. Chrysler.
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Local ads:
We can fix this. NFL. meh.
Toyota highlander. BORING!
Vampire. TimeWarner cable. Future is coming. Meh.
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End of Third Quarter. 36-8
(This is the Host Committee logo. The official NFL logo is the Lombardi Trophy with a local skyline behind, and the title below.)
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Cure Auto Insurance. Omaha! meh. local ad?
Vikings. History Channel.
Bud Light Platinum. yawn.
FiOS Quantum. Ella Zander. cute.
Cure.com. heh. Doing the Sherman trash talk. not bad... 15 second each?
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Jeep halftime report.
Resless many... Jeep. Mostly men in this commercial. Jeep Cherokee.
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Seinfeld. What? Comedians in cars getting coffee.
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Fox ads.
Nice intro to the Halftime show, with the landscape. Nice lighting! Have no idea Who Bruno Mars is.
wow. Great drumming! Motown style with Police sound.
I look down to post to Facebook.
I look up, and there are shirtless hooligans. Wha happen?
Do they know it's the tenth anniversary of the "wardrobe malfunction"?
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Fox house ad.
Dunkin Donuts
GoPro ad... effective.
This was once my street. Main Street. Alex and ani? huh?
mobile phone 1973. Mazda 3. does it communicate the message?
Dunkin Donut. "I love you". meh
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Jerry Ricecake. NFL draft ad. ha.
Scientology ad. Really? So next year, expect all sorts of religious ads?
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(Rocky Mountain News' Drew Litton posts an editorial here about the importance of newspapers.)
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(oops... not a good way to start the game...)
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Hidden camera bud light Ian rappaport... hmmm.... to be continued?
World is full of giants,,, Godzilla? Ghibli Maserati? A good ad, well written, intriguing.
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Doritos time machine! HA!
Chevy truck "most eligible bachelor". HA!
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Movie... Need for Speed. yawn...
National Holiday.... Prom... hahahahaah TurboTax holiday.
Still not feeling "The Strain".
But "Noah as action hero" is intriguing. (That was in the pregame.)
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Bud light continues... llama! ha! Don Cheadle. "...under the weather." twins... Tiny tennis. Lilli. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a wig. Wow. amazing.
animals. weird. Goldilocks. beats music. AT&T. Ellen DeGeneres. heh.
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U2. Nice cinematography. Red. Bank of America.
Bodyguard. "save the day. Hyundai Genesis.
Historic sands... daytona 500. meh.
NFL Now. okay...
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Cheerios. Mixed-family. Baby brother. and a puppy. hee.
okay... weird... wtf. what the web will be squarespace. hmmm
radio shack. the 80s called! hahahahaha! holy shit.... I recognize all of those people! AWESOME! Totally Awesome!
I like the Audi tow truck ad... A nice twist on the trope!
Mountain Dew Kickstart is nice to watch. I don't know if it sells the product... but it probably doesn't need to do much... just let those who use those drinks or are Mountain Dew consumers know it exists.
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"Muppets Most Wanted" are sponsoring the Pregame! That's a lot of ads?
(Nope, just two.)
Ha! Diet Mountain Dew duck call!
McDonald's! Using the YouTube lip reading meme!
Love the Muppet Most Wanted Twitter ad!
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What THE F! Declaration of Independence reading? Okay... everyone... listen up, and revolt! HHAHAHAH! are they serious Is that Martin Sheen? hahahaha... I'm sorry... this is cheesy...
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Nice way of promoting A Million Ways To Die... using Ted!
Now Ford is sponsoring the pre-Kick. (Seriously? Pre-game, then pre-kick? How many more slicing and dicing of the game can be done?)
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America the Beautiful? *sigh* I wonder if Queen Latifah will be singing all of the lyrics? Nope. Here's my favorite version:
Ooh.... captain America special look! Lots of eye candy!
MetLife Peanuts... ? Not feeling it. "Game On"?
NFL Play 60... cute!
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Yay! Rene Fleming! An opera star!
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Nice job with the Ford Fusion "Twice the fuel economy".
And there's the kick off! See you on the next post!
Howdy! I'll be liveblogging the Super Bowl Exlivy (XLVII) ads starting in a few hours, so I hope you'll come join the party!
It will be on the fly, typing during the game, inbetween the commercial breaks, so it might be a bit brief. Also, this is being typed on a Macintosh from 2006, so please be patient.
If time permits, I'll try and add more nuanced analysis. I'll definitely tag those deemed memorable and worthy, and do a post-game "Best Of" anthology!
