Black Friday Strategy

You know, despite the fact that I'm still a poor college student, I look forward to Black Friday every single year.  I've become a little more obsessive about my spending habits each year and it's been especially noticeable this year, where I held off on buying certain items I wanted in anticipation for Black Friday.  No, I'm not just talking about things I saw this past week; I've been holding off on purchasing certain items for about two months in anticipation of this day.

What makes Black Friday so special?  Sure, it's that one massive consumer holiday of the year where everything in every store seems to be on sale.  Stores draw us in with their big ads and their fancy commercials to try and keep their employees as busy as possible on that day (oh, there's that whole "making money" thing too).  We consumers walk into stores and make a beeline for that one thing we've been waiting for, sometimes to find it sold out.  Whether we get that particular item or not, we then become susceptible to our impulses, and impulse shopping reigns.  Everyone else is buying stuff, so you might as well get it while you're out, right?

Eh.. hold on a sec.  Today I'm going to present to you my ideas for encountering Black Friday as a smart and considerate shopper.  Hopefully, these ideas will help you to save a little money and to find a little more enjoyment out of the hectic environment that is Black Friday.

1) First and foremost, don't forget about Thanksgiving.  Particularly with all of these stores that are opening on Thanksgiving night, if you have a particular item you're looking to get on Black Friday, your entire Thursday evening might be spent dreaming of that moment when you carry that item out of the store.  Be sure to enjoy the true holiday first, giving thanks for all of the blessings in your life (and trust me, anyone reading this has a lot to be thankful for) and letting all of your worries (like Black Friday) go as you hopefully get to celebrate with loved ones.

2) Use the internet to pre-shop.  One of the great blessings of the information age is that we can use our computers and phones to access information in a few blinks of the eye.  Check out websites like http://blackfriday.com/ to pre-shop a little bit, looking through the ads of your favorite stores to see if there are any particular deals that you're looking for.  This effort is actually pretty critical to avoiding impulse shopping, as having a clear focus while going into a manic shopping day can help to control your impulses and to decrease any "maniacal" purchases.  However, this alone won't cut it, you'll need to do a bit more...

3) Have a backup plan.  Let's say that you're interested in buying a new TV on Black Friday.  You know that if you go to your local Wal-Mart at 10pm on Thanksgiving, you have a shot of getting a great deal on that TV you want.  However, you get there, and the line has already extended around the building, and the likelihood that you get what you're looking for?  Slim.  You've been standing in line for awhile now though, and you might as well look and see what else is there, right?  I think it'd be more efficient if you used some of your pre-shopping time to look up 2-4 options for a particular item you want, whether it be a TV or something else.  Do a little more research into each brand, looking up reviews on Amazon or another site to see what people say.  Make sure that your options all carry the features you want.  If all of your options are gone when you get to the store, evaluate what else might be there in your price range but be VERY careful about purchasing any of those items.  There's a reason they're the ones that are still there.

4) Use the internet to post-shop.  Cyber Monday is starting to become a pretty big day in itself, particularly for sites like Amazon who do a significant chunk of their business online (or in Amazon's case, almost all of it).  If you miss something on Black Friday, be patient, as it could pop up on the store's website on Cyber Monday.  Bear in mind, as well, that online stores like Amazon will have deals on Black Friday, so it's worth taking some time to check out what's available.

5) Have fun!  Black Friday shouldn't be stressful, as if you miss on your item that day, it's certainly not the end of the world.  Find joy in the day that gets people off their butts, working off some of those Thanksgiving calories and looking for great deals, just like you are.  Black Friday has its evils, but part of what it represents is the blessings we get to have in this great nation.  Getting the chance to shop on Black Friday is an opportunity that so few people in the world get to have, and we shouldn't waste this opportunity by letting ourselves get frustrated or stressed.

Enjoy this week, give thanks for all of the blessings in your life, and happy shopping!

Dissecting the Appeal of "Gangnam Style"

How did this happen?  Seriously.  I can't believe that I can sit here at the beginning of November and tell people that a Korean pop song finally made it big in the United States.  I'm so excited for... wait.  Not that song.  It can't be that song.  You've gotta be kidding me.

Dress classy, dance cheesy.

It's November 2nd and nearly 625 million hits later, "Gangnam Style" has integrated itself into American culture.  Spoofs of it pop up everywhere.  It gets mentioned on some talk show almost everyday.  Flash mobs all over the world are recording their exploits with "Gangnam Style", and this country still hasn't had enough.  It doesn't make sense... or does it?

I firmly believe that if someone had shown me this video prior to its explosion in popularity, I could've predicted that it would become viral.  I mean, let's be clear: nobody thought this video would reach this level of virality.  Viralness.  Whatever.  However, American audiences have become fairly predictable, and there are several elements of "Gangnam Style" that fit the bill of exactly what becomes viral here in the States.  Don't get me wrong: "Gangnam Style"s popularity isn't limited to America, but this is where I live and thus, where I can pretend I know what I'm talking about.

So let's get to it: here is my short list of reasons (in order) why "Gangnam Style" appeals to the masses.

1) The dance - This is easily the top reason why this video went viral.  If you have passable music, all that you need is a set of simple-looking dance moves that the audience can replicate.  I'm willing to call PSY "brilliant" for the moves he brought to this video, because he takes something that is relatively simple and makes it look good (and we all think we can do it, but only a few of us can make it look that good).  We don't want something that's just simple; that's what things like the Chicken Dance are for.  "Gangnam Style" is this decade's "Macarena"; simple moves that can still somehow be butchered, but good dancers (like Psy) can make the moves effective.

2) The odd moments in the video - For those of you who either understand the lyrics or have looked up a translation, you know that "Gangnam Style" is actually, in itself, a parody of Korean culture.  Gangnam is the major affluent region of Seoul, and in this song/video, PSY attacks it with humor, not unlike many American songs that take shots at the Hollywood life.  The quirky scenes found in the video actually serve a purpose when you understand the song.  However, for the majority of us who watched this video and had no idea what he was singing about, we couldn't help but giggle at the random things we saw in this video.  We're not wrong or anything; remember, this song is meant to be a parody.  Just don't pretend like you thought those scenes were "legit", which leads to my next point...

3) The basics of the song - It's become very clear in today's U.S. that, for the most part, Americans don't really care what the words are as long as there's a good beat.  That's obviously not true for every song, but "Gangnam Style" certainly falls into that genre.  It has a great dance beat, enhanced by the rhythm of PSY's rapping (which, by the way, half of the appeal of today's rapping seems to be rhythm, given how hard it is to understand what some guys are saying).  It also has 1-3 catchy, memorable lines in it, even for the American audience, that every popular and catchy song requires, e.g. "Hey Macarena!", "Superman!" (Soulja Boy), and "Teach Me How To Dougie" (all three of these are great relative examples for point 1, as well).

4) PSY - PSY has actually been around for some time (according to Wikipedia, he has 6 albums already) and it shows in the way this song and video are constructed.  His overarching philosophy of "dress classy, dance cheesy" comes into play in this video and in his stature itself.  Those elements are actually what make PSY such an appealing character in the music world; he's not the best looking dude or the best singer around, but he knows it and he runs with it.  He deserves a lot of credit for pulling this entire trend off.

That last point brought up an interesting point that I'm not going to dive into too deeply.  Race plays a part in this, whether we admit it or not.  If we supplanted PSY and put in a white dude in his place, keeping all else the same, everyone would be berating said white guy for his racism.  Yes, that's obvious, but think about what that implies about you and your enjoyment of this video (because the song itself wouldn't have been popular; the video enhances it, big time).  What initially bothered me about this video was that of all of the music that has ever come out of Korea, this particular song/video was the initiator of the genre's popularity.  Now, K-Pop was growing in America, but PSY took it to new heights and for that, I appreciate him.  However, many Korean artists have tried to find success in America and failed and many of them, in my opinion, released better songs than "Gangnam Style".  So it took a bunch of Korean people acting goofy and filming strange scenes to a dance beat for Americans to catch on?  If you think I'm implying too much about race here, that's fine; I merely just want you to consider it and how much of a stereotype in your mind may have been built or reinforced by this video.

In the end, I'm fine with this song.  As I said, it's got a catchy beat and a memorable hook, and that's exactly how you sell a song in today's culture.  I commend PSY for the song, the video, the publicity, and everything he did to help the popularity of this song and video explode.  I'm just a little concerned about the reasons why this video is the biggest thing in the United States to come out of Korea.  Food for thought, I hope.

Anyway, that does it for today.  I hope you enjoyed this look into one of today's biggest trends.  And seriously, go try the dance in front of the mirror.  It really is hard to make it look good.

Disney Buys Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion, Star Wars: Episode 7?

I had a different idea for today's post, but I'll now save it for next week or perhaps later this week, as today's news is big and I wanted to get to it quickly.

The Disney corporation announced this afternoon that they will be buying Lucasfilm, the composite company owned by Star Wars creator George Lucas, for $4.05 billion.  The terms of the deal apparently state that Lucas will receive roughly half in cash and half in Disney stock.  This essentially seems to be Lucas' retirement letter as an owner, perhaps devoting his attention to rest and directing a few more films.  Bear in mind that Lucasfilm, as previously stated, includes not only the movie studio, but LucasArts, Industrial Light and Magic, and Skywalker Sound, all of whom have a pretty significant stamp in the entertainment industry.  Luckily, Disney claims that all current Lucasfilm employees will remain in their positions.

Coupled with this announcement was the further promotion of the idea of Star Wars: Episode 7, announced to be released in 2015.  George Lucas seems to be detaching himself from the franchise, stating that he "always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me" and it is "now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers."

I've been a Star Wars fan for a long time.  In terms of fantasy and science fiction, Star Wars may be the lore that I've invested the most time and effort in, as the characters and the underlying culture of the movies has always fascinated me.  Though I felt that episodes 1-3 of Star Wars were half-hearted and low quality, I am actually quite excited and hopeful for episode 7.  2015 is soon enough that the current trends should maintain, and I believe that the trends are positive for the reboot of an older franchise.  Credit for this hope goes to one franchise: Batman. 

We miss you, Luke Skywalker.

The most current Batman movies have been spectacular, bringing us away from the campy and cheesy generation of super hero movies (cough, Fantastic Four) and helping to usher in a generation of deeper quality (like the new Spiderman film compared to the older ones).  I believe that because of this newer generation, as well as the harsh criticisms given to episodes 1-3, episode 7 has the potential to be a good movie that helps to bring another generation of people to the expansive Star Wars universe.

Will Disney's presence affect Star Wars: Episode 7?  Possibly, but I can only see that being a positive.  If you think about it, Disney has done a great job as of late catering to a wide range of audiences with their films.  They generated emotional moments while understanding how to capture the light-heartedness that makes Disney movies, well, Disney movies.  And come on: Disney owns ABC, ESPN, and others; they know what adults like too.

For my next entry, I will attempt to dissect the biggest trend of the Fall, "Gangnam Style", and why it appeals to the American masses.  Til then!

Stop Looking Up to the Superstar Athlete

You may have heard that earlier today, Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles for his role in a massive doping scheme during his run as cycling's biggest star.  He also recently stepped down as chairman of Livestrong and his endorsers have been letting him go one by one, with Oakley being the latest company to let him go.  Look at this quote I pulled from ESPN:

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling, and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," said Pat McQuaid, president of the International Cycling Union.  It's almost unbelievable.  I lived through the Lance Armstrong years, when his recovery from cancer was an inspiration for many.  Until we learned of his cheating, many considered his seven straight Tour de France titles as one of the greatest achievements in sports.  Look where we stand now.

This is only the latest case of the bungled decision-making of the superstar athlete.  More and more, it's becoming clear that Charles Barkley's famous words from a 1990's commercial, "I'm not a role model", actually should hold true for the majority of the athletes we follow.  Luckily, there are those stars who hold their image and their stature, held up by their strong morals, but we're coming upon too many big names making too many big mistakes.  Lance Armstrong.  Tiger Woods.  Roger Clemens.  Michael Vick.  These guys have been showing some dark colors along the way, and though some, like Vick, appear to have gotten past their errors, we'll never forget what they've put us through as fans.

My favorite athlete growing up was Michael Jordan.  His pure skill, his competitiveness, and his superstar stature made him the object of heroism for many around the world.  He may have been the greatest basketball player ever but beyond that, he may have had the strongest influence on culture of any athlete in the history of sports.  Michael Jordan the basketball player was spectacular, and I'll always carry those wonderful memories of his ventures.

He believes he can fly.

Michael Jordan the human being, however, has proven to be anything but a hero.  He's well known now for his gambling addiction, and his Hall of Fame speech had "cocky jerk" written all over it.  It's difficult for me to keep the two separate in my mind now; how can I think about Michael Jordan and his exploits without including both the good and the bad?

As I said, not all athletes stumble in this way, and you can't blame these stars too much for having faults.  They're human and beyond that, they're put under a tremendous amount of pressure.  The biggest mistakes seem to occur when these guys know how big of a star they are.  They think that they are gods and can do anything and everything they want to.  If I had that much power, I'd like to think that I'd hold to my morals, but who knows: maybe these guys thought the same thing before they got to the top.

Anyway, Lance Armstrong's downfall merely reminds me that kids today need better role models.  Other upstanding athletes or entertainers could step up but in reality, it's each of us that needs to act as those role models.  If I had simply followed Michael Jordan's footsteps while growing up, where would I be now?  Probably not writing this post in the comfort of my home.  Winning is desirable, but winning doesn't count when you cheat, and Lance Armstrong has finally faced the consequences.  Thanks be to God for that.