alright, dude - here you go. fitzy
crosses the tape with hours to spare! looking forward to reading
peep's DIATRIBES...
trends:
-
Orchestrated, word of mouth
advertising is on the rise with companies like “buzz agents”
incent people (by giving them free product) to talk about their
clients’ products. Expect that most Americans spending time in
an urban area will be the recipient of a word of mouth ad in
2005.
-
The word “micropolis” becomes
mainstream. This is the new definition of the segment of
population between metro and rural, and 2004 was the first year
the the US census broke out this segment. It is the segment that
is likely responsible for george bush winning reelection, and
for walmart’s profits rising. Before you know it, everyone is
going to be targeting this segment.
-
More Oversimplification of complex
ideas through visual maps – I know that this is not a new
concept, but have you ever seen so many red and blue state maps
as in this past election? In fact, I’d venture to say that the
US is beginning to rely more on this sort of simplification
(think USA today) in order to even understand a concept (not
just make it quicker to discern the information). Not sure what
the outcome is, but I bet we will see more repurposing of this
red/blue map idea to communicate to the American public.
Sports:
Given the laws of supply and demand, the
price of a red sox ticket (nation’s hero) at fenway park (MLB’s
smallest), should unfortunately increase higher than any other
sports team in history.
NBA - phoenix
NCAA - kansas
NFL - patriots
MLB – sorry to say, yankees
NHL – is hockey still a sport?
Uniforms
just when you thought that the
merchandising of professional sports gear could not become more
absurd – teams will begin to introduce DIFFERENT uniforms for
post-season play, causing fans to have to spring for yet another
game jersey of their favorite athlete.
Tour de france
lance will ride, and win. This will be
his last. He’ll go on to win both the giro d’italia and vuelta de
espania in 2006, erasing any doubt that any rider in history could
ever hang.
Education:
-
No child left behind will usher in
further mandates for accountability as measured by test scores
for public schools. In the long term his will repeatedly prove
to be ineffective measuring stick.
-
Gates foundation investment in high school
reform to smaller, transitional schools will prove to be
successful
improve high school graduation and
college preparedness. Success
in their model schools will shepherd in more investment in the
area
Domestic Politics:
-
Bush will continue unprecedented
denial of scientific proof of environmental issues, particularly
with regard to reducing regulations on emissions
and global warming. 2005 will provide a key bump in the road,
however, as a major unveiling of this practice will emerge.
-
EPA and NSF, and NEA will have their
budgets slashed to pay for tax cuts
-
2 new supreme court justices will be
named – though the choices will be somewhat moderate, the
separation of church and state will be in more jepordy than it
ever has in the history of our nation
International policy:
-
Bush will attempt to rule with a
softer stick internationally, and will pick “quick wins” to
placate the international community – look for him to play up US
involvement in repair efforts in southeast asia.
-
Soviet union will occupy a lot more
of the international news page than in 2004. the Russian oil
scandal will prove to be another example of state manipulation,
and Bush will seek to intervene to limit the government control
of oil, under the guise of re-gaining stability in the region.
-
Unfortunately, we have not begun to
understand the devastation in southeast asia. Disease and the
subsequent effects on the economies for the affected nations
will be harsh.
-
Iraq - the general election results
will add fuel to the fire, and US will as quietly as possible
double the amount of troops over the course of the year, as the
administration will finally concede that the region is
completely unstable.
-
Pyongyang will court european powers
regarding US stance on north korea, as they realize their
ability to drive a wedge between the west
Investment:
-
The dollar will begin to recover
-
Interest rates will rise in 2005
driving down the buyers market. the top end of the housing
market will crumble.
-
Savvy Japanese manufacturers will
spend record dollars investing in Chinese manufacturing in 2005.
it will take years for American ego to get there.
-
Target will gain share from walmart
this year
Pharm:
-
3 more “vioxx” stories will affect
top drug companies as the scrutiny on their testing practices
spirals, much like the accounting scandals of 2001
-
fewer drugs will make it to market
in 2005 than the yearly average
-
the sample sizes of tests will
increase (from the scale of 100-1000 to 10-20k)
tech:
-
Ipods – ipod for images will fizzle,
but standard ipods will continue to be the champion. Apple will
partner with a major internet portal to distribute itunes music
store, and Itunes music store will greatly extend its lead in
revenue from downloads.
-
Universal records will make a strong
plea to get acquired by Apple, but apple will turn them down. It
will prove to be one of the best moves the company makes
-
yahoo will offer exclusive
Hollywood content, and start to mark a new direction for the
company which
-
the browser war will heat up again
– with the popularity and performance improvements of firefox,
mozilla, and safari, buttressed with the bloat of IE, the
browser is no longer a commodity. Believe it – you thought
search was over a few years ago, didn’t you?
religion:
entertainment:
-
as predicted in 2004, reality TV is
all but dead, as the life cycle of the latest new show is
abysmally short. Though the content has worn out, the format has
stuck. 2005 will be the year of the“scripted” reality TV show,
where it is fair game to have talented writers craft a scenario
that is then played out by “real actors” in the reality format.
Quality will rise.
-
Dollars will continue to produce
Sequals and formula scripts from hollywood – international
cinema (driven by large scale popularity of bollywood) will
become increasingly popular. there will be strong US investment
in asian entertainment.
-
Rapper Jay-z took the reigns of def
jam records in late 04. he will be well on his way to being
fired in the end of 05, as his ego will not be sustained as
leader of a small component of a large conglomerate
Art:
Digital media allows artists to sample,
re-use, and repurpose other art with ease and simplicity. A
reflection of today’s culture, this type of art will proliferate
even further in 2005. lines will continue to blur between copyright
infringement and other unauthorized use of another’s property.
Grocery:
The price of eggs will increase! (total
arbitrary choice)
top 10 web sites are that you use or think highly of (in no
particular order):
1.
www.nytimes.com
2. www.yahoo.com
3. www.google.com
4.
www.unmediated.org
5.
http://www.epicurious.com
6.
http://www.techdirt.com/
7. www.salon.com
8.
http://www.slate.com
9. www.imdb.com
10.
http://www.indymedia.org
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