- Is it possible to get a contact high from a movie screen or from the flat screen in your living room? That question will soon be answered when Lil Wayne gets around to releasing the in-the-works documentary he’s been filming on his current I Am Still Music Tour. Wayne revealed last week that he has been filming select dates and will compile the footage into a tour documentary similar to Jay-Z's 2000 film, Backstage, and Russell Simmons' 1995 doc The Show. "I just felt like a movie like that hasn't come out in so long," he said. "At that time when they put those movies out, we as the fans were interested in what they were doing on the road. Nobody hasn't came around since then that was that interesting other than Young Money." The tour, which kicked off on Mar. 16, has already made stops in New York and Miami and will conclude on May 1 at the Bamboozle festival in East Rutherford, N.J. A source close to Lil Wayne revealed that DJ Scoob Doo has been shooting behind-the-scenes footage and cameras have filmed four tour dates so far. What is not known at this point is whether the film will be a theatrical release or a straight-to-DVD offering, but it should draw in a fair amount of attention either way because in spite of his extremely limited lyrical and vocal abilities, Lil Wayne is still as hot a commodity as exists in hip hop right now and again, it’s worth seeing if you can actually get baked in your living room without so much as an ounce of the hippie lettuce in the room merely by popping this DVD in and checking out footage from a tour by one of the preeminent stoners in the rap game - or any genre of music really - today. So whether you wanted to see Wayne perform on the I Am Still Music tour and couldn’t afford a ticket or if you merely want to get stoned in the comfort of your own living room without actually having to fire up your bong, this could well be the movie for you…………
- When in trouble, always bring back the guns first and ask questions later. That tidy little mantra has helped nations, business and individuals for ages and its inherent truth will now be counted on by none other than America’s most omnipresent megamart, Wal-Mart, to reverse its floundering fortunes. The ginormous retail chain said Thursday that it is bringing guns back to many of its U.S. stores in an effort to lift slumping sales after crossing weaponry off its ever-expanding list of products back in 2006. At the time, the company blamed low demand for firearms as the reason behind its decision, but pressure from anti-gun groups certainly played a role as well. Not all Wal-Mart stores stopped selling guns and about 1,300 stores currently sell rifles, shotguns and ammunition. With its big announcement (sure to please the NRA), Wal-Mart will now make those firearms available at about half of its Wal-Mart's 4,000 stores. The retailer currently sells handguns in only its stores in Alaska, where Sarah Palin and her fellow tundra-dwelling kooks love their cold, steely merchants of death. The decision to bring guns back to more of its stores was certainly much simpler for Wal-Mart than making the choice to remove them. Pressure from anti-gun groups and a decreased demand for the product is one thing, but seven straight quarters of falling sales tends to make any company desperate. By adding “merchandise variety” (and expensive merchandise variety at that), the company is hoping to compete more effectively with a growing group of competitors. Reintroducing guns is part of that effort, Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez said. The reintroduction of guns will be centered in areas of the country where hunting and fishing are popular activities. 'We realized there is broader appeal for guns in some areas because of sporting needs," said Lopez. For those looking for a positive lining in the possibility of guns being more readily available to those looking to shoot and kill various living things, it should be reassuring to know that the majority of the firearms sold at Wal-Mart are made in the United States. Also, gun lovers purchasing weapons at Wal-Mart still must complete appropriate forms and background checks before they can arm themselves, so it’s not all bad……….
- Everything else in the world is online and social media-oriented, so vending machines may as well join the party. PepsiCo understands this reality, which is why the company this week announced the launch of a Social Vending System, which will allow users to gift beverages to friends. The machine features an interactive touch screen allowing users to tap, swipe or even view nutritional facts for each beverage on their way to some sugary sweet refreshment. Buying an overpriced plastic bottle of Cherry Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Diet Pepsi has never been so fun or easy! But what really sets the new vending machine apart from its competitors is the capability of gifting a beverage to a friend by selecting a soda, entering a friend's name and mobile number and creating a personalized text message to announce the gift. To further personalize the gift, users can also record and a send a short video at the machine. That won't be at all awkward in a crowded public place, but what the hey. The friend on the receiving end will get a gift message accompanied by a system code that needs to be entered at a PepsiCo Social Vending system to redeem the free beverage. "Our vision is to use innovative technology to empower consumers and create new ways for them to engage with our brands, their social networks and each other at the point of purchase," Mikel Durham, Chief Innovation Officer at PepsiCo Foodservice, said in a statement. "Social Vending extends our consumers' social networks beyond the confines of their own devices and transforms a static, transaction-oriented experience into something fun and exciting they'll want to return to, again and again." The truly generous and philanthropic soda drinker will also be able to buy a drink for a complete stranger through another Social Vending system, perhaps a person in a city that is suffering through a natural disaster or weather crisis. PepsiCo calls this "Random Acts of Refreshment," a real-life version of Coke's fictional "Happiness Machine" that spouts free drinks, flowers, and pizza. With the term social media being used, the obvious question is how Facebook and Twitter are involved in the Social Vending System. The answer, for now, is that the two popular social networking sites are not lined to the project. PepsiCo representatives have hinted at their future inclusion, but no date has been given for that to happen. PepsiCo will debut a prototype of the Social Vending System at the National Automatic Merchandising Association's One Show in Chicago this week and as anyone in the know knows, the NAMAOS is, was and always will be a freaking party, so make your travel plans now, without further delay……….
- Prepare for utterly shocking news: The NCAA has decreed from its lofty, ivory tower of hypocrisy that it will not consider any new bowl applicants for a period of up to three years. Apparently, 35 bowl games resulting in the real possibility that a sub-.500 team could actually sneak its way into a postseason contest was the tipping point, leading to NCAA president Mark Emmert’s announcement Thursday. Also, the NCAA wouldn’t be a good and true bureaucracy if it didn’t form some sort of committee for the occasion and sure enough, Emmert also announced that a task force is being assembled to examine the process by which the NCAA licenses bowls. "Going forward, I want to make sure that the bowl licensing process is robust enough and thorough enough that we have great confidence that we know how a bowl is being governed," Emmert said. His words were obviously directed at the troubled Fiesta Bowl, which is currently under investigation for illegal campaign contributions and other financial misconduct. The NCAA's bowl licensing committee met with Fiesta Bowl officials Thursday morning New Orleans, but will not render its decision until a special BCS task force has concluded its discussion of the Fiesta Bowl's admitted unethical conduct. Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman and a yet-to-be-determined second individual will lead the new bowl licensing task force, which will include external members and evaluate aspects of bowl review, including possible expansive independent auditing. The real irony in this announcement is the focus seems to be on unethical actions by bowl officials and shady operating procedures, but the bigger problem is the NCAA green-lighting nearly every application for a new bowl game to the point that nearly 60 percent of all Division I teams earn a bowl berth, including teams with 6-6 records who lose their bowl game and end the season below the .500 mark despite, ya know, being considered good enough to play in a bowl game. But go ahead and worry about eliminating conflicts of interest from members of committees, such as the bowl licensing committee, and them taking gifts such as rounds of golf, meals or lodging from corrupt operations like the Fiesta Bowl. The good ol’ NCAA, missing most or all of the point once again………..
- This is it, America! The Chinese own a disheartening chunk of the United States’ national debt and may be plotting our eventual demise, but there is a chink in the Chinese armor and it could be just what the U.S. needs to shift the power dynamic in this relationship. After conducting its first national census in a decade, the Chinese government has unearthed a potentially huge problem: an aging populace that could derail China's booming economic growth and place a heavy burden on young Chinese. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the percentage of over-60 Chinese has risen by nearly three percentage points to 13.3 percent of the total population, or 178 million people. Conversely, there was a sharp drop in the number of young Chinese over the past decade, with under-14s making up just 16.6 percent of the population, down from 22.9 percent at the last count. Compounding the problem, the total population of China has risen over the decade by 73.9 million to a whopping 1.37 billion people. Other nations, such as Britain, have similar issues, but on a much smaller scale and with more fully developed economies. Throw China’s existing one-child policy into the mix and you have a lot of children feeling increasingly burdened by the responsibility of each caring for an "upside-down pyramid" of two parents and four grandparents. “I have been thinking about China's ageing problems for some years," said Zheng Aiwen, a fashion design student in Shanghai. "As soon as I saw the census results, I thought I have to hurry up and get married and have children, two if possible. I am quite worried about the economic pressure of caring for my parents and also about not being supported myself in my old age.” Zheng is not alone in her thinking and the census results will undoubtedly spur intense debate about easing the one-child policy. Officials have countered that the policy, which actually allows many in the countryside and some in the cities to have two children, has prevented the Chinese population from swelling by more than 400 million people over the last three decades. Lead communist Hu Jintao, technically known as the country’s president, has vowed that the country would adhere to strict family planning and a "low birth rate.” One factor helping that cause is the rising cost of living, which has made it all but impossible for most families to afford more than one child anyway. The dilemma is a large one for the Chinese, but for a country under its thumb due to immense national debts, that dilemma could be just the opportunity needed to shift paradigms, change fates and reverse fortunes. Act now, America, this is your chance……….
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