Some rambling thoughts...
Oct. 25th, 2008 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawaspYou know what's really great but I can't find anywhere? GINGER Altoids. Found them once a few months ago in, I think, an airport, and never seen them before or since. But they were great.
HOW THE HELL do you make barbeque, etc., potato chips? It's not just figuring out the right spice mixture (though obviously that's a major trick -- it's not just spices but some kind of sweetener, maybe something like cornstarch, what?), there's some trick to making the chips themselves and getting the stuff to STICK.
I think "Speed Racer" is the second movie I've really liked that TOTALLY bombed (as in, didn't even come CLOSE to making its money back at the box office. The first -- which beats it hands-down in Total Bombery -- was Cutthroat Island, which IIRC cost about $120M to make, and earned $18M at the box office. (I think Speed Racer cost about the same and it earned I think $40+M, so in adjusted dollars it cost less and made back more)
Secondhand smoke: Are there actually studies proving it's bad that were done by disinterested parties? I've run into someone claiming there aren't.
Why exactly do we get "bags" under our eyes?
I am known for being an anime fan, so it sorta makes sense that I get Japanese spam, but why the hell am I suddenly getting Russian spam?
I love aspects of current video games, but I wish I could WRITE some that work the way I know they could. Alas, this would require an army of programmers and artists.
HOW THE HELL do you make barbeque, etc., potato chips? It's not just figuring out the right spice mixture (though obviously that's a major trick -- it's not just spices but some kind of sweetener, maybe something like cornstarch, what?), there's some trick to making the chips themselves and getting the stuff to STICK.
I think "Speed Racer" is the second movie I've really liked that TOTALLY bombed (as in, didn't even come CLOSE to making its money back at the box office. The first -- which beats it hands-down in Total Bombery -- was Cutthroat Island, which IIRC cost about $120M to make, and earned $18M at the box office. (I think Speed Racer cost about the same and it earned I think $40+M, so in adjusted dollars it cost less and made back more)
Secondhand smoke: Are there actually studies proving it's bad that were done by disinterested parties? I've run into someone claiming there aren't.
Why exactly do we get "bags" under our eyes?
I am known for being an anime fan, so it sorta makes sense that I get Japanese spam, but why the hell am I suddenly getting Russian spam?
I love aspects of current video games, but I wish I could WRITE some that work the way I know they could. Alas, this would require an army of programmers and artists.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 08:49 pm (UTC)I think another part is the perception and embarrassment threshold for the average viewer. Regular comics have gotten some "street cred" in the movies from things like Spider-Man, Batman, X-men, etc., but even with the anime boom, Speed Racer is an anomaly -- old, mostly forgotten except in parodies, etc., -- and even most anime fans regard it as "before my time". The nostalgia factor is for a relatively small niche. (I suspect the Wachowski(sp?) brothers basically did the same thing with Speed Racer that Eric Flint did with his Philosophical Strangler/Joe's World books: "Look, we make you tons of money, this one might flop but we REALLY want to make it, and make it right, give us this.")
SQEEE! on the Altoids.