Michael Bay And Wal-Mart
By Erick Posted in Hollywood — Comments (19) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
As we head into the overnight hours here at RedState (and I'll make this sticky so Pejman can't show up and take over), there were two items at RedHot that deserve reader input.
First, Wal-Mart has created a store sure to please lefty nutroots types -- it's a Communist Party store where the smiley face is red, the Rosenbergs are innocent, and you can get Christians at $4.99 a pound, already beaten tender.
Second, and perhaps the most important story of the year, Michael Bay has committed ultimate sacrilege. If ever the "F" word were allowed at RedState, this should be the time (don't take that as an invitation though, folks). Michael Bay -- don't mess with Megatron. (Just substitute the "F" word for "mess.") One can contact Mr. Bay if one likes and let it be known that no one messes (again with the "F" word) with Megatron.
Now, feel free to chime in on these and other important issues.
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Michael Bay And Wal-Mart 19 Comments (0 topical, 19 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
This interpretation of megatron is AWESOME. Much better than the original.
Save the planet, Kill yourself
I'm aware that this hits the middle age generation square in the jeebies, but it COULD be a good thing. Don't harsh the mellow until you've actually seen the flick, mkay? I know how important Transformers are, but do they really necessitate use of vulgarity? Probably not. If Hilarity Clinton doesn't necessitate it, I doubt a toy robot (here come the flames again) does.
But, everybody needs to stay away from She-ra. I mean it. ;)
"I'm just beginning...The pen's in my hand...Ending unplanned"
"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." --Friedrich Nietzsche
Long time no see, my brother! What's shakin?
i>"I'm just beginning...The pen's in my hand...Ending unplanned"
Other than that . . . eh. Nothing.
"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." --Friedrich Nietzsche
why today was so hard.
"Christians at $4.99 a pound, already beaten tender"
And I had blamed a coupled clients.
That should have been..
And I had blamed a couple of clients.
I will improve with time.
Hound, Soundwave, Ultra Magnus and Ironhide.
But I have to confess that the prototyoe for Optimus Prime looks suuhweeet!
No offense meant by this, but instead of commenting on such, er, important matters on what the new Megatron looks like in the Transformers movie, I'd like to direct the readers attention to the trailer that Robert Hahn posted in Haystack's "Iranian Bird Flipping" blog entry. We didn't have to send anything to Mars to receive the early warning.
As far as the Chinese Wal*Mart is concerned, I think it deserves a separate story on the front page. For years, American firms like KFC and Frito-Lay, etc., etc. have operated in China, of course. It's interesting that this is opening up in a kind of moribund industrial city. A little cynically, we can also wonder if they're going to be buying the same inexpensive products they ship to my WalMart in Massachusetts (CostCo too.)
But I like the idea of the Wal*Mart in China. I have a theory about why the Left hates Wal*Mart so much and fears its expansion into the inner city, and it touches upon the fact that social scientists and public health professors (see: Sapolsky from Stanford) have in recent years been positing that poor health is a direct result of income disparity, with the United States as the greatest villian. Standard leftist class-warfare stuff, except this time, the new twist is that it's not just about *being* poor -- their theory is that the damage comes from people *feeling* poor in comparison to other people in their society.
And therein is why I've changed my view on Wal*Mart. A walk through a Wal*Mart supercenter near my home surprised me recently: there was a lot of nice stuff there (I bought a digital watch) at low prices, but it didn't feel cheap. Hence, Wal*Mart is really the antidote to the theory I mention above: it gives people who live on modest incomes a place to buy quality products at low prices, rather than "feeling poor" and going without those items. Sure, if you want a Bang & Oulfsen stereo and Swarovsky crystal, you still need to have a six-figure job. But if you want to make your house comfortable, buy some toys for your kids, and have an entertainment system that won't make you feel ashamed to invite your friends over, you can get it at Wal*Mart.
And that's why the Democrats *hate* the idea of Wal*Mart coming to the inner city: that's their social-welfare turf, and their only answer is more of the same.
I am a hawkish warmonger with a crusty demeanour and a heart of steel. But I have a softer side.
First, I don't mean to patronize you if you knew this but it's a little unclear from your post - Wal-Mart has been operating in China for at least 3-4 years now, they have over 40 supercenters open. So Wal-Mart in China is nothing new.
Observations - it does seem predictable that persons stateside who favor unions will like the unionization in China. And likely this will be used as a further tool to leverage against Wal-Mart stateside by union proponents.
It would be great to have some inside knowledge of the Wal-Mart location that first unionized, which according to this was in Quanzhou on July 29. Now at least 16 locations have unions. How hard did Wal-Mart play, and how much harder did the employees and government of China play? Did the workers themselves play a factor in this - if so it's further evidence to me that workers in American Wal-Mart locations can do the same thing if they so choose. However it seems just as likely this was engineered by the single, state-controlled ACFTU... would be nice to have better insight.
The only new news here is the opening of Communist Party and Communist Youth League branches at one of the Shenyang locations - it's unclear to me if these are "offices" inside the store or next door, or if they use the existing Wal-Mart facilities for meetings and so on. I'm also ignorant of whether such branches are typical follow-ons established by the ACFTU at all unionized facilities, or whether they represent a separate and different interest/influence - one with Communist state 'watch dog' and party recruitment type goals.
Finally, it tickles me to see that so far people are refraining from the same kind of irrational corporate bashing directed toward Yahoo and other tech companies also competing in China and complying with whatever applicable (albeit onerous) laws and regulations apply. It wouldn't surprise me to see some congressperson call for hearings and a full investigation of "why Wal-Mart supports the spread of communism" or some such nonsense, but so far so good...
Are good observations and I don't know the answers to them (yet). The second paragraph, especially, is full of very good questions that we don't have the answers to -- and that's why I'd like to see this be extended into a front page story as more information becomes available. I just don't know, but an educated guess is that in exchange for opening the store(s) Wal*Mart has agreed to some of the conditions that are simply the reality on the ground in China. I'd like to hear a lot more about this phenomenon in China.
And thanks -- I'm a Wal*Mart basher no more. Those days are well behind me. I think they're doing a public service, frankly. The day I went through my walkthrough of the Supercenter near me, I noticed that they had set up an outside display of new bicycles, of all kinds, from traditional ten and fifteen speed road bikes, mountain bikes, etc. etc. And those bicycles were *incredible* at the prices they were selling them for. Some of them had front and rear disk brakes, hydraulic forks and shocks, elaborate graphics, etc. A couple had brought their two young girls to look them over and I said to the dad: "When I was their age, I would have gone bananas over a bicycle like that."
And I've also noticed that wherever a Wal*Mart opens, there are usually other, more specialized stores around. In my area, there's a Staples, a *gigantic* food supermarket, a Pier One Imports, a Marshall's, a Verizon store, three chain restuarants, and several other stores. If anything, the presence of the Wal*Mart has been a catalyst -- and those other stores are doing well.
I am a hawkish warmonger with a crusty demeanour and a heart of steel. But I have a softer side.
The union in China is nothing like Western unions. It is a government deal. The workers have nothing to do with it or say about it. So long as you keep the government happy, you don't have to worry about them walking off the job. They are not really comparable to Western unions at all... all they have in common is the name.
As far as Yahoo comparisons go... the reason there is criticism for the search companies is that they are censoring content and cooperating with the Chinese authorities to put political troublemakers in prison. Not that they are doing business in China.
I don't have a problem with it... I think Wal-Mart will be a subtly subversive force in China. Mao would definitely disapprove.
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"I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more I have of it." -- Thomas Jefferson
never mind that the news companies that do the hating are also capitalistic enterprises, a minor point to be brushed aside.
Come to think about it the people who shop there probably are not to well regarded either.
A very good post Kowalski.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville
Maybe we should get an option to disable the display of open threads to certain users, just so they won't have their seriousness spoiled by our fun.
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If you're seeing shades of gray, it's because you're not looking close enough to see the black and white dots.
Erick posted that late last night. And my response wasn't a swipe at him or anyone else who was having fun with the Transformers. I usually do my best thinking in the morning (after a cup of coffee) and this was still the top story at the time (around 6:45). So I dug right in and got, well, serious. But I took pains not to give offense to anyone, and I didn't mean any. I loved the transformers as a kid, but frankly my favorite was Force Five.
:)
A more straight BAD ASS supervillian than Megatron. I DARE someone to find someone better.