Stupid Marketing

Ok so I just got done editing and adding to this post about how Winthrop got it right, and settled the score with lady luck from last year by beating Notre Dame.

I was completely disgusted having seen that the only NCAA clips I could get for that post was garbage CBS sports puts on youtube as a “service” to us but they then ruin the fact by stamping it as the Pontiac Sponsored Clips.

I know that “a user” can mean anyone but we really didn’t need to see corporate garbage like this sneaking onto Youtube.

Youtube is the counter culture to the MTV crap like this that is force-fed to us daily from every other source of media owned by the same 1%. I had thought Youtube, not immune, but resistant to this sort of encroachment, but I was wrong.

While digging for something more tasteful and a “product of the people” to share on our “real people” news and blog, I did find alot of true Winthrop content like the video used in the post I referred to above about the Notre Dame win.

I figured while Im here and have found another video I would make another post of it.

This post will reflect on the “non-spamvertising” side of the NCAA, a sporting realm I was once a part of myself.

I imagine the same things still go on like heading down at your hotel to get that crappy continental breakfast of begals and mini cereal boxes. I imagine the hierarchy of who gets the back seats on the bus still holds true.

At whatever level of skill, its still college kids at the absolute best time of their life, jumping with fresh knees and doing keg stands nights after victories. Its still about styrofoam cups of hotel coffee, bananas and bagels in your sports bag, congregating in the stands to bad mouth opposing teams and laugh when they muff something during warmups.

Because sports doesn’t need to have a UPC code on everything at every moment, and because the NCAA was, I thought, one of the last sacred grounds of competition, here above is a video that I found that says it alot better than Pontiac can. (at the top)

I would also like to make this post an open invite to any of the current Winthrop players to do a Q/A session by email about the time at the NCAA’s. If your gonna give your time or insight, best you give it to someone writing without the intention to stamp “sponsored by Coke” on your jersey with a watermark. (critic(at)charlottecritic.com)

Of course Babel lost, thats generally the end result for a movie that sucked.

I am not going to mix words since I lost 2 1/2 hours of life to this movie that ranks right next to Elizabethtown, Bandidas, Weatherman and I “heart” Huckabees for the worst movies I have seen in the last few years.

So if this movie came and went with a small amount of chatter that would be the end of it, as not all movies appeal to all people, but the fact that it was nominated is a complete joke.

This movie seems to have stacked up alot of good critic’s reviews and then a huge percentage of “users or patrons” that thought it to be beyond bad. I dont see this type of diverse opionion without issues.

This movie was and is boring, way too long for such little conflict or story, unconnected to itself and completely without a point, plot or actual story of interest.

This movie spends so long trying to unravel itself in a slow and interesting way that you will find that you just dont care anymore what the point is. The best part to this conclusion is that it never does get around to its point.

2 hours into the movie I was looking at the clock thinking “this cant possibly save itself with only 20 minutes left?!”. This never does save itself, it only gets worse with more plot holes at the end and unconnected story points and preaching.

The small group that praises this film says it a story about the “limits of communication”, which is a fancy way to say its about nothing but if you dont love it then you just aren’t insightful enough to “get it”. These people are fools, and this movie is just plain bad. If you find this statement harsh, please go rent this movie and suffer through it, then comment on how right I was to be harsh.

The movie has 4 main and seperate plotlines. Of the 4 main platlines any one could be completely removed from the movie and the story would still be exactly the same.

The entire section of this movie taking place in Japan, we will refer to as the ‘porn section’ of the movie, has nothing at all to do with the story. Those trying to say this is a good movie will make a slight connection about the “butterfly effect”, or how the action of this character in the past led to the other plotlines, but the connection is so obscure it really doesnt matter.

To make the matter of no story or plot of interest worse they pepper the movie with obvious political agenda which means way “over the top dramatic” injections about the world.

The movie gives us Middle eastern charaters “just try to live in violence” and illegal immigrants “just trying to be good American’s”, and in the background you see the purposely placed picture of George Bush.

This movie is bad, if you think its great then you are likely trying to make yourself feel superior. I can not find any other “Oscar nominated movies” where 30-45% of all viewers thought it sucked.

Visit Yahoo.com and pan through the user reviews and see what the people say about this movie. You will find that 2 of every 5 viewers hated this movie. I didnt just say 40% didnt like it much, I said they hated it. Also, you will see the reasons for this hate were the same across the board. This 40% of viewers all found it pointless with no plot, preachy and boring to the point of many walking out.

Take a look and see, and ask yourself how can so many people who walked out or thought this movie completely awful not have some basis of this opinion.
40% of Babel Viewers Hated it, the rest acted superior

Here is what an Oscar Movie looks like, it gets almost all A’s with perhaps 1 in 20 viewers saying they hated it as opinions come in all shapes and sizes.
A true best Picture - Amadeus

Any finally here is what the best movie of 2006 looks like. This is by far the best movie of 2006 without question. Read through the hundreds of reviews written by patrons of this movie and see that it is all A ratings with a handful of F’s. Those who didnt like this movie all had the same simplistic complaint, “too much violence”. You will see those who said it was bad because of “violence” all generally still commented on how beautiful the sets and story were. You will also see the very few who didnt love this movie all expected it to be like Harry Potter IE: for kids.

Pan’s Labyrinth is the best movie of 2006, and Babel is the worst movie to ever be a nominee for best picture.
Pan’s Labyrinth is the best movie of 2006

So I looked into what other publications have pointed out as a required background to become a food and restaurant critic. Here is an excerpt from

The Career Education Counsel
http://www.careereducationadvisor.com/Become-a-Food-Critic.htm 

“You might know if you like a certain food or not, but would you be able to explain exactly why? Being a food critic is not as simple as just saying “Yum” or “Blech!” it requires a sensitive palate and a careful knowledge of cooking and food. For this reason, many critics have trained at culinary institutes or have degrees in restaurant management. They also, of course, must be able to describe what they have eaten, so a strong command of written language is also a plus.

Now to say I disagree would be an understatement. Since we are talking about what is required to give an opinion that people like to read, it is an opinion and entertainment value.

I think the issue here is the idea that critic’s write for themselves and for restaurant owners/chefs…..this is the problem.

If I publish a review in a major paper, the I will assume 1% of my audience to be comprised of the cook, owners, and other professionals with a curiosity and interest other than entertainment related. It seems to me since enjoyment of the read is what I do to contribute to selling papers, then it is  my writing and ability to relate to the consumer that matters most.

Seems in my theory, being an experienced patron, would make alot more sense than being an experienced cook, chef, manager or “culinary expert”.

I never see a critic, put much consdieration into the value of the meal, perhaps because they are getting the check picked up by the paper itself. Seems to me thatr 99% of my audience will be curious if the meal “all taste aside” is a waste of money.

Not a mojor issue in a review perhaps but just one example of why having a patron’s perspective would be a better skill set than having a chef’s perspective.

I think alot of the writer’s may be a bit too full of themselves. I understand that cooking is art, but time for many critic’s to note that eating food is clearly not art.

Writing about eating food? somewhere in the middle perhaps?

So I came across citysearch putting out their “Best of Charlotte” for 2006.
Mainly I am of course referring to their restaurant related ‘best of’ categories.

Firstly, my conclusion and point is that Citysearch is garbage in the fact that it houses countless “9.4 of 10″ reviews since anyone can register and vote their own establshment up the ladder. \

I see a serious trend between the larger and more corporate connected restaurants all apparently faking opinions to raise their own rating and in their hopes to be able to brag they are the “BEST OF” as chosen by consumers.

This sort of lying, which is what it is, is used by all industries where public opinion dictates future growth and immediate success to a great degree. You can goto Yahoo movies and see mst major commercials ventures getting dozens of a+ reviews before they are even released.

One I read was from an employee for Sony Pictures that said she and others were told by supervisors to open a yahoo acounts and add rave reviews.

What examples are there of false reviews or corporate connection to “USER RATINGS”, how about this years “best Mexican food” and “best burrito awards” for Charlotte.

Charlotte has dozens and dozens of true Mexican Immigrant owned restaurants and burritos wielding esablshments, but amazingly all the “USERS” seem to think Moes Southwest Grill is Number 2 in the city, and Qdoba is both #9 and #10.

These ae both good restaurants, but hardly the pinnacle of authentic burritos. I am sure we will see tem both maketing their “best of” success in the future.

I do understand that the demographic of voter may be more likely to eat in these yuppie-burrito type establishments, and thusly vote for them, but the fact is there is likely a corporate connection as well to this amazing public opinion.
http://charlotte.citysearch.com/bestof/winners/burrito

Now its not just a corporate thing, any internet savy business can keep themselves up there every year. When I look at te Ialian restaurant top 10, I see 2 in the top 10 that we here at Charlottecritic.com reviews as poor to average. I find Amalfi’s Italian Restaurant and Ciros in the top 10 in all of Charlotte?

Amalfi’s is well below average much less to be considered good. They lack any sort of friendly service and have very average food for over average prices. I have seen most our readers I correspond with agree wth that as well.

Fact is Amalfi’s has been one of the worst experiences from my expectations going in of all the reiews on our site.

Again, they are not too bad but I would never care to go back with my hard earned money.

And Ciro’s as one of the best of Charlotte? they clearly have a loyal customer base and hard working owners to pump themselves to tat unearned status. This s the most ovrpriced meal I have paid for yet. They feature a case level environment, average food and 20$ a plate menus…..aparently the owners are “giving out foot-rubs” to the Citysearch voters.

Think my point is not an exact science?

Why would you visit a site for ideas on where to eat and reader opinions when every restaurant comes in rated at 9.5 of 10!

The purpose of an opinion site is greatly diluted when all the reviews are from the owners family.

Check out the Italian Resaurants in Charlotte homepage.

Do you really think every Italian restaurant in Charlotte is a 5 star choice for your dollar?

How do you learn which is a legit 5 star choice?
apparently you have to waste your money in 10 of them to determine which was actually any good. Ths is why the staf took the time to bluff themselves up in ratings on that useless site.

For this reason Citysearch blows.
And this is all just my opinion, but at least here you will find an actual patrons opinion, which is why we dont suck.

cityseach, city search charlotte, best of carlotte, best of, charlotte restaurants

If you have cruised the internet maybe you have seen our article on a trip we took to Bob Evans in search of a breakfast stop for eggs and toast.

We wrote and distributed a helpful article called:

 ”service is key no matter whats on the menu”

We felt compelled to discuss this following a trip to Bob Evans in which we had the following transpire in about 20 minutes time:

Coffee cup fell empty,
wrong meal delivered to the table,
wrong amount charged for wrong meal,
no silverware at start of meal,
wrong price charged for a take home bread we ordered.
and finally the waitress threw our to-go container out while we were paying.

Needless to say this wasnt the dream breakfast location we have been searching for.
breakfast stop needed post.

I have since gone hunting around for other food critics views on poor service and situations they have encountered. here is one where the check comes with tip reminders, and suggested amounts on the receipt….thats poor taste in my opinion.

Having left New York behind years ago, it has been a long road trying to get some dcent pizza or more to the fact a good pizza place to make my own. In a southeast filled with posers all adding “new york style” to their business cards I have found not even a one to completely fit the bill.

So you flattened you pizza till it is paper thin? that doesnt help make you anything but better profit margins and less dough used.

A location doing its best to use good ingredients, use lots of cheese, and make a slice that is flat, large and hangs off a greased up paper plate deserves the respect for trying. But I will take a moment to give you a few things you didnt get from your “pretend to be NY style 101″ baking course.

1. Too thin is crap, and if you make a paper thin crisp layer you have again missed the point. A place in NY known as Nima’s Pizza has it right with thin and soft crust that is only slightly crsiped when you order a slice and they chuck it in the oven, the real sell is that the crust handle is the width of your arm and soft like bread. A lesson for all posers to make the crust bread like and thin at the same time.
2. Wheres the blue cheese? people notice the extras you throw in and personalize your establishment with. If you are the place that gives blue cheese, celery, carrots and maybe even a red pepper pack in the box, then you have put a mark in my memory. NY Style to me is the places that always throw in a blue cheese (Marie’s) and offer or have “Franks Red Hot” on hand.
   Then be sure to toss in some celery sticks and a Pepperoncini in the middle of the pie.This helps you not be the mass productions posers that so many end up being.

   When trying to be the alternative, you end up being just like os many others, which of course gets you nowhere. What you give ends up being who you are, and who you are can end up being a person’s favorite NY style pizza joint.