August 26, 2005 Archives

The New York Times had an interesting article on movies and why fewer people are seeing them this summer.

Let me add one more: the Internet.

Hold on, not in the way you think.

The Internet has become the instant disseminator of intelligence. Some is good and useful, some is bad and misleading. The good Internet intelligence has sped the process of word-of mouth. When a movie stinks, you can find out right away!

Go to Google to find a movie's showtimes. The first thing you see is a link to reviews and a 'master' rating.

I'm afraid, to a certain extent, the Internet's intelligence has also made us incredibly price conscious - probably to our own detriment. Recently, I've been telling friends how big companies avoid customer service since it's a 'loss center.'

If we're only buying on price (and I'm as guilty as anyone), why provide customer service? It's no longer part of the purchasing equation.

Try to find the corporate office of your cellphone or cable company, or see if you can reach someone authorized to actually help you with any consumer problem. It's difficult and becoming more difficult by the day.

So, we don't go to movies because we hear how mediocre or not great they are. And, nowadays, mediocre or not great is not enough... especially when you're valuing movies by price.

Katrina has left Florida. I'm not there, but I'm still betting there are lots of upset people in Dade County. The forecast track was too far north.

Now Katrina is in the Gulf of Mexico and intensifying. Already today NHC has shifted the probable Gulf Coast landfall 150 miles west.

That's not a sign of confidence.

For years I've heard how difficult hurricane forecasting is. I'm not disputing that. I'm just not sure it's any more difficult than any type of forecasting.

The problem is, every part of a hurricane forecast is critical. Many parts of my day-to-day forecast are not. I can get close and be considered right. I though 40% clouds, we had 60% - who cares? I figured .5" rain, we got .75" - who cares? The Hurricane Center doesn't get that free pass.

This storm will continue to hold my attention. There's actually 90º+ water in the Gulf. That's like gasoline near an open flame.