I think I finally found a novelty breakfast cereal that doesn’t suck.
Before your lightsabers start glowing, let me qualify this by saying that General Mills “Star Wars”-themed cereal isn’t to breakfast what “The Empire Strikes Back” is to the “Star Wars” saga.
I’d say this cereal is the sugary equivalent of “The Force Awakens.” It’s fun, it tastes good, and it won’t offend you.
When I first saw the “Star Wars” cereal box, I assumed it would be the “Star Wars” version of General Mills’ venerable Lucky Charms Cereal.
I was wrong. The marshmallows are similar, but instead of the toasted oat pieces found in Lucky Charms, the crunchy pieces in the “Star Wars” Cereal are “fruity flavored.”
In that regard, the overall effect is closer to General Mills’ “monster” cereals like Franken Berry (a personal favorite of mine). As a result, I liked this incarnation of “Star Wars” cereal.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had cereal from a “galaxy far, far away.”
The first “Star Wars”-branded cereal I recall having was Kellogg’s C-3PO Cereal. I was 11 when it was introduced in 1984 (it was produced until 1986). Sadly, I didn’t have a blog back then, so I have no recollection about what it tasted like.
Here is a commercial for that cereal from “a long time ago”...
The marshmallow pieces in General Mills “Star Wars” Cereal come in five shapes: Jedi Starfighter, BB-8, Lightsaber, R2-D2, Stormtrooper.
As is commonly the case with these sort of novelty cereals, there is an activity on the back of the box. In this instance, “Kylo Ren commands you to repair the First Order’s TIE fighters by finding the correct location” for three parts on the ship’s schematics:
Going into my review of General Mills “Star Wars” Cereal, I figured I’d be saying, “I have a bad feeling about this.” Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all. Each spoonful got my Midi-chlorians jumping and I soon felt “strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark.” It made me wonder what the experience would be like with blue milk.
(If you don’t understand any of the jargon I just referenced, you’re clearly not the intended audience for this cereal…)
That’s all I have for this cereal review. Until next time... spoons up, bowls at the ready, and may the Force be with you!
One of our “spring traditions” in Omaha is the weekend that thousands of investment-minded folks from across the globe descend on our fair city to hear the words of the “Oracle of Omaha.”
The Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting has been described as “Woodstock for Capitalists.”
That description seems quaintly antiquated in 2020. A more apropos moniker would be “Comic-Con for Stock Market Geeks.”
Instead of dressing up as their favorite superheroes, the loyal denizens don business attire (with their credentials hanging proudly from lanyards) to partake in the weekend’s festivities.
The master of ceremonies is billionaire investor — and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO — Warren Buffett. His down-home charm is part of his mystique to investors. The 89-year-old Buffett learned many moons ago to follow the sage advice of investment guru Benjamin Graham in his book “The Intelligent Investor.”
I had the opportunity to partake in some of the festivities for the first time last year.
Like many lifelong Omahans, I’ve noticed the electricity in the city on “Berkshire Weekend.” I’ve seen people milling around Buffett’s inauspicious home on Farnam Street in Midtown, posing for pictures.
You’ll see visitors eating at Buffett’s favorite haunts. Gorat’s Steak House (which is less than a mile from our home) is typically a popular choice. (Sadly, other local Buffett favorite restaurants like Petrow’s and Piccolo Pete’s have both closed within the last few years.)
Nebraska Furniture Mart (a Berkshire-owned company) offers “shareholder pricing” each year on furniture and electronic products sold in their store (every year I have friends on social media who offer use of their credentials to take advantage of the weekend discounts).
If you don’t live in Omaha, you don’t understand how important this event is in terms of economic impact. Thousands book hotel rooms, eat at restaurants, and shop at stores.
I decided to read Jordan’s book on Buffett this week. Even though I thought I knew quite a bit about the “Oracle,” I learned a lot as I flipped through the pages (which includes some nice photos, articles, and archival material from the Omaha World-Herald).
Buffett refers to Omaha as “the cradle of capitalism.”
“The Oracle & Omaha: How Warren Buffett and His Hometown Shaped Each Other” shows how many early Buffett partners have their fingers in major philanthropic projects in Omaha — particularly building projects at education institutions like UNO, UNL, and UNMC (notable names like Mammel, Truhlsen, and Holland have their names on a number of buildings in the city).
You realize just how connected the “blue blooded” class in Omaha was back in the 1950s and 60s, and how Buffett’s patient style of buying undervalued stocks paid off for those who stuck with him.
Much has been made of Buffett’s friendship with former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Buffett plans to leave most of his fortune to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. I gained more insight into that relationship when I watched the Netflix series “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates” last fall (read my review).
As we walked through the exhibition hall at the CHI Health Center in 2019, I took some pictures of some of the booths (the businesses featured are Berkshire-owned brands). Typical of Buffett’s investments, many of the companies Berkshire owns are salt-of-the-earth brands featuring ubiquitous products we use each day.
Coca-Cola set up a store complete with a Coca-Cola truck:
See’s Candies had a long line (partly seen in the left of the photo). I took this picture while Bridget waited to buy a box of chocolates:
I remember Garanimals when I was a kid, but haven’t thought much about them since the 1980s. It was fun to see that the brand is still around and was on display at the shareholder meeting:
I did not wait in line to tour the NetJet they had on display, but it looked like it would be fun to see:
You’d think that I’d own a pair of Brooks athletic shoes, but I don’t. (Maybe I should have tried on a pair, I know people who love their running shoes.)
A woman working the Kraft Heinz booth gave us a pins shaped like a pickle and took our picture with the giant Heinz Ketchup bottle:
You could also pose with the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile:
We both bought Dilly Bars at the Dairy Queen booth. We tried not to make a mess eating them as we sat in the CORT Furniture booth (my brother-in-law works for CORT):
Of all the booths we saw a year ago, I thought the Duracell Inc. setup was nice. While a battery manufacturer might not seem exciting, it is the sort of business that epitomizes Buffett’s investing mindset:
It’s been reported that Warren Buffett is a fan of trains. The BNSF Railway Company had a large-scale model railroad setup in the exhibition hall:
The Wayne Pumps booth proved to be beneficial. The Wayne WaterBUG pump we purchased for Robin Hill Pool takes the water down to 1/6” from the pool floor. It is tough, sturdy, and was very beneficial when Bridget and I were emptying the pools at Robin Hill last summer:
I haven’t owned a pair of cowboy boots since 1979. I can’t imagine myself wearing them these days, but there were plenty of people trying them on at the Justin Brands booth:
“People think it’s going to be flat, and they think it’s going to be uninteresting and some cow town or something like that, and they all come away feeling good about Omaha,” Buffet said about the shareholder meetings (from “The Oracle & Omaha: How Warren Buffett and His Hometown Shaped Each Other”).
According to Forbes, Buffett is ranked fourth among the world’s billionaires (as of March 18, 2020). He turns 90 in August, and many wonder how long he’ll lead Berkshire Hathaway.
Only time will tell. Whatever you might think of the billionaire investor (and there have been varying opinions over the years), you can’t deny his influence on the business community in Omaha.
I hope we see the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting back in action in 2021.
“We just got attacked by The Goonies from hell.” — Tyler Rake in “Extraction”
It seems like a lot of “movie snobs” on the internet take delight in criticizing Netflix’s slate of original movies.
I understand it, but I don’t necessarily think its fair.
The theatrical box office the past few years has been elevated by Disney pumping out a steady stream of Marvel and Star Wars movies. In particular, the release of multiple Marvel movies annually (each film typically generates gross revenues around $1 billion globally) are the proverbial poles holding up the tent.
I tend to view those Marvel movies — and their intertwined nature through 20-plus films — as having more in common with serialized TV series than typical blockbusters of the last 50 years.
If you take Marvel movies out of the conversation, then a number of recent Netflix films feel like box office tentpoles from the early ‘00s.
In particular, a movie like the Ryan Reynolds thriller “6 Underground” just “feels” like things I've watched in a theater.
(Note: I’m not saying that watching on a 50-inch 4K UHD LED TV is the same “experience” as going to a theater. I’m just looking at it strictly from a content point of view).
Netflix’s new Chris Hemsworth movie “Extraction” recalls the macho-action movies that were a staple of ‘80s and ‘90s cinema.
In addition to A-list star Hemsworth, Anthony and Joe Russo (the brothers who have shepherded recent Marvel Studios hits like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Avengers: Endgame”) crafted the screenplay and handled production duties.
Hemsworth plays mercenary — and former Australian Special Air Service soldier — Tyler Rake. He is a troubled warrior who can’t let go of demons from his past (de rigueur for heroes in this genre).
Rake is hired to rescue a teen named Ovi (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) — the son of India’s biggest drug kingpin — when he is kidnapped by a rival drug lord who operates in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
(Why is it that Hollywood movies always apply an orange/yellow filter on any footage that is supposed to be in a Third World country?)
Our hero soon finds himself dealing with more than he bargained for as the extraction attempt goes awry. As a result, Rake and Ovi find themselves fighting to survive — and escape from — nefarious henchmen and corrupt law enforcement officers in Bangladesh.
Having reviewed dozens of movies on this blog, it is nice to be able to write about something with a straightforward plot. “Extraction” has a no-frills storyline that hearkens back to classic movies like Schwarzenegger’s “Commando” (1985) and Stallone’s “Rambo: First Blood Part II” (1985).
The film is directed by Sam Hargrave, a stuntman who served as the stunt coordinator on movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (he has also had bit parts in films, including the character Gaetan in “Extraction”).
The action scenes are beautifully choreographed in “Extraction.” While they aren’t as artistic as the “gun fu” ballets seen in the “John Wick” franchise, they definitely owe a debt to those highly-entertaining stunt pieces.
“Extraction” features a 10-plus minute sequence that was designed to look like it was shot in a single take.
The scene (which Hargrave refers to as a “Oner”) is broken down by the director in a featurette from the The New York Times:
Netflix also has a feature called “Making of the Oner” that looks into the sequence on its YouTube channel:
The entire sequence has car chases, gun fights, fist fights, knife fights, explosions, and a lot of carnage. If you are an action movie aficionado, I’ll think you’ll really enjoy the care put into the stunts in “Extraction.” (I mean, the director strapped himself with a camera into the front of chase vehicles, for crying out loud!)
“Extraction” will never be confused for high art. That’s not the point. It is just a fun action movie that knows what it is, and tries to be nothing more than that.
There are also some nice supporting players in the movie, including Golshifteh Farahani (who plays female mercenary Nik Khan) and David Harbour (who plays Gaspar, a former teammate of Tyler Rake).
At the beginning of this post, I was talking about whether Netflix’s original movies stack up with the content you see in theaters.
Last year saw the theatrical release of the action film “Rambo: Last Blood” — the fifth in Sylvester Stallone’s “Rambo” franchise. (“First Blood” was based on the 1972 novel by David Morrell.)
In a general sense, “Extraction” and “Rambo: Last Blood” are similar movies in terms of tone, style, and plot elements. Yet “Extraction” is the better movie in nearly every aspect — and it didn’t cost $15 per ticket to watch at the local multiplex.
If you look at the moves Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos is making, you’ll see more of these big budget “popcorn movies” in the pipeline.
One of the high-profile examples is the upcoming “Red Notice,” an action thriller starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds (directed by “Skyscraper’s” Marshall Rawson Thurber) about INTERPOL’s hunt for the world’s most wanted art thief.
I know the subscription model still doesn’t make sense to a lot of film pundits. Sometimes people get “stars in their eyes” when they read stories about gargantuan box office totals for high-profile cinematic releases.
Some will say, “What’s the point of spending $150 million on a movie to show to millions of subscribers you already have? How do you make money on that?”
The fact is that Netflix — which charges around $13 per month for its most popular plan — is trying to make $156 per year on each subscriber. If you look at their content strategy, it appears they are attempting to bombard users with so much new content each month that they’ll stay subscribed for fear of missing out (FOMO).
The typical movie-goer sees somewhere between three (3) and six (6) movies each year (several years ago, I heard the number was “three” from a person I know who works in the theater business).
When studios release a film theatrically, the proceeds are shared between the studio and the exhibitors (the fee scale depends on the film, the studio, and how long the title has been playing). In addition, there are marketing costs to consider with a theatrical film.
A streaming service has the ability to realize revenue on their own original films long after the expense has been recouped — if the content is good. Entities like Netflix burn money with the hope that eventually they will build an appealing catalog for viewers.
The question is whether those titles will ever be esteemed the way Disney’s theatrical catalog has become. Only time will tell.
Movies like “Extraction” seem like a step in the right direction.
“Extraction” is elevated above typical “direct-to-consumer” fare by its terrific action sequences and set pieces. The movie is far from perfect, but it is an entertaining diversion.
When I was learning the finer points of publication design back in autumn 1994, Bridget told me not to type “two spaces” after periods.
She had designed a number of items for the therapy practice where she worked, and had read a book called “The Mac is Not a Typewriter” by Robin Williams (not the famous actor). Williams argued that a single space after periods was appropriate in digital design.
We were both college students at the time taking “Publication Design & Graphics” — a course I really enjoyed (even though the instructor — who was teaching the course for the first time — told me I should “try taking the class sometime” since I tended to ask Bridget for advice instead of him).
In the early years of our marketing communications business, Bridget and I produced several monthly print newsletters for clients. The businesses and organizations would typically submit articles as Word docs or plain text files (we’d also get some WordPerfect files during that era).
We’d spend time doing a “find and replace” to eliminate double spaces after periods prior to importing the text files into our layouts in Adobe PageMaker and Adobe InDesign.
During my years in high school, a typing class was something that was encouraged for students. It seemed as if most students took the course in that era. We had it in ninth grade and were actually the first class in the school district to take typing classes on DOS-based computers.
Speaking of typewriters, here is Bridget’s vintage machine. It was kind of nice to be able to pull this baby out of storage for the blog post:
The “two-spaces-after-a-period” method is a relic of the days when typewriters were the common tool used to compose documents. Because of the monospaced/uniform nature of fonts on those machines, you needed to have two spaces after a period to clearly show where a sentence ended.
When Apple’s original Macintosh computer was introduced in 1984, it changed the way the world formatted documents. The bundled fonts were proportional, and you could control things like tracking, leading, and width in text blocks.
Yet to this day, it is still debated as to whether two spaces after a period is better than one.
Microsoft Word makes the suggestion via the Editor on the desktop version of the app. You can ignore the suggestion if you prefer, but I'd recommend you take the advice.
When you are dealing with text in narrow text blocks (ex. publications that have columnar layouts), using one space after a period can make the overall flow better. Two spaces is “overkill” in modern page layout programs.
My personal opinion is that a single space after a period makes publications more attractive and pleasing to the eye.
For example, here are two text blocks I setup in Adobe InDesign 2020 — part of a 4-column layout on a 8.5" x 11" page with the text (11-point Palatino) set to “justified.”
I typically justify the text in the publications we create (it sometimes requires a little more work when setting up styles, but the finished product looks clean and balanced).
In the two blocks below, you can see how adding “two spaces” after periods creates “big” gaps between sentences (if you are viewing on mobile, you can click the picture below to view in full resolution):
Here’s a close up version of the spaces after the first sentence in the sample text blocks. You’ll see how much more appealing a “single space” after the period looks (if you are viewing on mobile, you can click the picture below to view in full resolution):
After nearly a quarter-century doing layout and design for print and digital platforms, removing two spaces after periods (and replacing with a single space) has become a habit. Combined with the finer grammar points outlined in the “AP Stylebook,” it helps you create attractive documents and publications.
It was one of the first lessons I learned when I was studying digital pagination in college. It is a valuable tool to have in your design arsenal.
“It should be about the future, not the past.” — Bob Iger in “The Ride of a Lifetime”
It seems somewhat surreal that I’m reviewing the new book by Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger (about his career as CEO of the Walt Disney Company) during a global pandemic that has shuttered the Mouse’s lucrative theme park and cruise line — along with its theatrical movie business.
It was about a year ago that I visited Walt Disney World in Orlando for the first time. I can’t imagine what sort of financial losses this COVID-19 crisis might bring to the company that saw massive change under Iger’s reign as CEO.
“The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company” finds Iger reminiscing about his early life in the hamlet of Oceanside (on New York’s Long Island), his nascent career with the ABC television network (he found his groove working for Roone Arledge in the sports division), and his eventual rise to become the leader of one of the world’s most beloved entertainment brands.
IT IS NOT A MEMOIR
Iger states in the first chapter of “The Ride of a Lifetime” that this is “not a memoir.”
The book doesn’t employ the sort of cradle-to-grave structure seen in popular biographical works like Walter Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs.” It spends little time on Iger’s family life.
Instead, Iger offers principles that he believes are “necessary to true leadership.” He uses examples from throughout his career (wisdom gleaned through experience) to illustrate his core business beliefs.
DON’T FAKE IT IN BUSINESS
Oftentimes in business you will hear the adage “fake it until you make it.” Iger advises to “not fake anything” in situations where one might be lacking experience.
“There’s nothing less confidence-inspiring than a person faking a knowledge they don’t possess,” writes Iger. “True authority and true leadership come from knowing who you are and not pretending to be anything else.”
I have owned and operated my own business for a little over 24 years now. Iger’s sentiments on this topic are appreciated. I always try to be honest with my clients — even if I might miss out on a paid gig as a result.
MANAGING CREATIVITY
Iger also talks about the creative process in “The Ride of a Lifetime.” One of the most interesting examples is the time at ABC when he greenlit the avant garde drama “Twin Peaks” (a show that started with promise, but sputtered when network executives interfered with creator David Lynch’s vision).
“Managing the creative processes starts with the understanding that it’s not a science — everything is subjective; there is often no write or wrong. The passion it takes to create something is powerful, and most creators are understandably sensitive when their vision or execution is questioned,” he writes.
Iger’s feelings regarding creativity — and the balance you have to strike when managing the process — is something we have to deal with in our marketing communications business. To someone on the outside, creating a brand identity package for a business (logos, websites, and collateral materials) might look like a fun job. In many respects, it is an enjoyable process.
However, I’ve found it to be a humbling experience to sit in a meeting and have your work critiqued. In general, creative professionals pour a considerable amount of themselves into the things they design. In many cases, you are working to craft something special with very little initial guidance (even if you ask a considerable number of questions upfront).
Some people love the work you do. Others don’t. The negative responses can be difficult to swallow, and can cause you to second guess yourself at every turn.
Iger suggests you have to be “careful not to encroach on the creative processes in harmful and counterproductive ways. Empathy is a prerequisite to the sound management of creativity, and respect is critical.”
MAJOR ACQUISITIONS
I’ve often referred to Disney as the company that “owns everything we know and love.” Iger provides fascinating insight into the transformation of the company during his years at the helm. Notable acquisitions during his tenure as CEO include Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox.
Iger delves into those acquisitions and provides a number of interesting anecdotes. I particularly enjoyed his recollections of Apple/Pixar CEO Steve Jobs.
THE ROAD TO REINVENTION
I also liked reading about Iger’s efforts to innovate at Disney. All too often, powerful executives will wrap the status quo around themselves like a warm blanket — avoiding business reinvention as they focus on the present.
We happened to be staying at Disney World in 2019 when Iger & Co. unveiled details for Disney+ — the Mouse’s over-the-top streaming service. I remember listening to a webcast of that presentation as I walked laps around the paths at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (it was an incredibly “meta” experience).
“Technological advancements will eventually make older business models obsolete,” writes Iger. “You can either bemoan that and try with all your might to protect the status quo, or you can work hard to understand and embrace it with more enthusiasm and creativity than your competitors.”
Those sentiments rang true with me.
Bridget and I often talk about how we’ve had “reinvent” our marketing communications business every five to seven years.
The current “reinvention” of our business started in 2011 (developing recurring revenue streams with a subscription-based membership site for professional resume writers). When you first sow the seeds of change, establishing roots can feel like a long shot. That said, we knew we needed to stay committed to a different approach.
As I type this, we’re in the midst of a global pandemic that has put the brakes on the economy, and a number of the “brick-and-mortar” businesses and organizations we work with are currently inoperative.
This is why those initial steps to redefine our business in 2011 were so vital. Having a direct-to-consumer membership site has given us a revenue stream the past 40+ days of self-isolation that wouldn’t have been there if we hadn’t had the foresight to make changes.
Disney+ has proven itself to be a vital revenue stream for Disney during the global pandemic. It has also given the Mouse the technological infrastructure to distribute new content to consumers in new ways (since movie theaters are closed around the globe).
“The decision to disrupt a business model that is working for you requires no small amount of courage,” Iger writes. “It means intentionally taking on short-term losses in the hope that a long-term risk will pay off. Routines and priorities get disrupted. Traditional ways of doing business get slowly marginalized and eroded — and start to lose money — as a new model takes over.”
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...
In February, Iger stepped aside as Disney’s CEO (remaining as Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board) to make way for the transition to new leadership (Bob Chapek was named CEO).
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Disney’s business has been immense.
It will never be mistaken for a comprehensive memoir or biography, but it does provide readers with Iger’s guiding philosophy as a seasoned executive of one of the world’s most beloved companies.
