3144509    อุตสาหกรรมการผลิตสัตว์น้ำ    Aquaculture Industry

ภาพรวมของอุตสาหกรรมการผลิตสัตว์น้ำทั้งภาครัฐและเอกชน รูปแบบของการเพาะเลี้ยงและการจัดการฟาร์มสัตว์น้ำสวยงามและสัตว์น้ำเศรษฐกิจ ปัญหาและอุปสรรคในการเพาะเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำ การผลิตยาและสารเคมีที่ใช้ในการเพาะเลี้ยงสัตว์ ธุรกิจที่เกี่ยวข้องกับสัตว์น้ำ โรงงานผลิตอาหารสัตว์น้ำ สินค้าสัตว์น้ำและบรรจุภัณฑ์ ห้องเย็นและกระบวนการแปรรูปผลิตภัณฑ์สัตว์น้ำ ตลาดกลางสินค้าสัตว์น้ำ การควบคุมคุณภาพผลผลิตสัตว์น้ำ การจัดการพิพิธภัณฑ์สัตว์น้ำ บทบาทของสัตวแพทย์ในธุรกิจสัตว์น้ำ

(Overview of governmental and private sector of aquaculture industry, ornamental and economical aquatic animal culture and farm management, problems and solutions in aquaculture, manufacturing of drugs and chemicals for aquatic animals, aquaculture related business, aquatic animal feed manufacturing, aquatic animal product and packaging, cold storage and frozen food processing, central market for aquaculture products, quality control of aquaculture products, aquatic animal museum management, role of veterinarians in aquatic animal business.)

(3144509 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

The rise of the Kindle, Nook, Sony Reader, and the iPhone have fueled a revolution in publishing. More and more readers want to download their books in electronic formats. This brings up several issues for writers. First is the fear that ebooks will replace print books, and brick-and-mortar stores will become a thing of the past. How many people buy music CDs these days? Even libraries are involved in digital lending. About 5400 public libraries today offer e-books and digitally downloaded audio books. NetLibrary, a provider of e-books to libraries, has seen circulation rise 21% this year. I’m not saying books will disappear altogether; they’ll just change format. This affects income for writers since ebooks may sell at a lower price point than print editions. It involves issues of piracy as well as reversion of rights clauses.

E-rights are very important in publishing contracts these days, even for traditionally published authors. Many regular publishers are jumping on the bandwagon and putting out electronic versions of their print published works. Then there are ebook only publishers. Harlequin started Carina Press, a purely e-book venture. Those of us in the writing community have known about Samhain, The Wild Rose Press, Loose ID, and many other ebook pubs, for several years. But herein lies another problem: publisher recognition.

According to the standards of professional writing organizations, some of these publishers do not meet their criteria and are therefore not approved, meaning their authors are not eligible for published author status. This has been a growing point of contention among authors and a thorny issue. The well known ebook pubs have a selective policy and editors scour through manuscripts just like a traditional pub. Editing services are included so an author goes through a similar process as for a print pub. But certain qualifications demanded by professional organizations render these authors little better than self-pubs in status. For example, one writing org requires for recognition that a publisher pays an advance of at least $1000. This lets out many of the ebook pubs who offer no advance, just a royalty rate. Others may offer a small token advance . Some e-book publishers will offer the book as a POD (print-on-demand) as well, either simultaneously with electronic publication or later after certain sales quotas are met. But the profession organizations also demand that an approved publisher must have a print run and distribution of 1000 copies or more of each title they produce. This model doesn’t work for POD presses. How this will play out in the industry remains to be seen. Eventually, the professional writing organizations may have to rethink their definitions of acceptable publishers in lieu of the e-book explosion.

Royalty rates are another problem. For books that don’t have to be printed and stockpiled in warehouses, authors should be able to earn a higher royalty rate. For this reason, authors should carefully compare ebook publishing houses and e-rights clauses to know their options.

Some of these books may appear on bookstore shelves, but for the most part, readers have to order them online. Writers have to step up their Internet promotion and learn how to deal with booksellers who won’t work with ebooks or POD. But one thing is sure: writers who want to get their work in front of as many readers as possible will want their novel available in as a downloadable ebook.

Read more about this topic here:

E-Reads

Libraries article

NY Times articles

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A record 10.8 million Indian tourists went on a globe trotting spree in 2008-09, the worst year of the economic slowdown, as dipping airfares and lower hotel rates made holidays cheaper. This was one million more outbound tourists than the year before.

And the numbers are still rising. “This year (2009-10), we are expecting around 10 per cent growth in the number of outbound Indian tourists,” said Ajay Kerkar, executive director, Cox & Kings (India) Ltd, a leading tour operator. He was here to talk about the company’s initial public offer (IPO) of shares.

“The cost of travel services in foreign countries came down due to recession, and overseas tour operators passed on the benefits of low cost to Indian tourists, resulting in more travellers visiting foreign tourist destinations,” Kerkar added.

Agrees Manish Sharma, managing director, Akshar Travels, a subsidiary of Ahmedabad-based Shree Akshar International. “The prices of accommodation, local transportation and hospitality services, as well as airfare, have declined in major tourist destinations such as Singapore, Europe and Malaysia, which Indian tourists, especially Gujarati people, took advantage of.”

Travel was also boosted by the fact that India was still a growing economy — though the growth rate had slowed — while many large developed countries were actually facing negative growth. “The impact of financial turmoil was relatively lower on India as compared to other destinations,” said Sharma.

For Indian tourists, after Singapore, the UAE is the second most popular travel destination, followed by the UK and the US.

Research by the World Travel & Tourism Council says the travel and tourism economy’s size will contract by 3.6 per cent in 2009, but emerging economies such as India, China and Brazil are expected to be the main engines of the travel and tourism sector’s growth.

“Generally, hoteliers in tourist destinations hike the prices during peak season. This time, they were forced to keep the rates unchanged due to recession, leading to higher inflow of tourists,” added Mahesh Budakiya, managing partner, Shakti Travels, which has been in the travel industry since 1977.

Source : Business Standard.  20/11/09

Join ChaseHealthAdvance and Lynn D. Mortilla, RDH at the Greater New York Dental Meeting for her presentation “You’ve Taken Implant Training…What Do You Do Next?” Tuesday, December 1 at 3:00 pm at the Dental Tribune Study Club Symposia in the exhibit hall.

Learn how to get the most out of your implant training and start booking more treatments through staff education, identifying implant candidates, case presentation techniques, record keeping and more.

While there, stop by booth #417 to get a free copy of Lynn Mortilla’s resource guide “Incorporating Implants into Your Practice – Team Strategies for Success”and to learn more about the great features of ChaseHealthAdvance financing options.

Here is an overview of the topics covered in the resource guide:

• The Auxiliary’s Role in Implant Dentistry

• Building Your Implant Team

• Dental Implant Evaluation and Assessment Report

• Tips to a Successful Case Presentation

• Financial Policy Form

This presentation and resource guide are a courtesy of ChaseHealthAdvance. www.advancewithchase.com  (888) 388-7633

Click here to take my online courses on Social Media and Fraud & Embezzlement

Read The Dental Implant Blog…

NEW DELHI: Focusing on India as a rapidly growing market, US soft drinks giant Pepsico would pump in an estimated Rs 700 crore to set up four new food and beverages projects by 2012.

Just Days after its high-profile global board meeting that was hosted for the first time in the country earlier this month, Pepsico India Chairman Sanjeev Chadha said “going forward, over the next three years, certainly we will be putting up new plants.”

Chadha, who took charge as Pepsico India head three years ago, said there would be three greenfield plants on the beverages side. “On the food side, at least there would be one more plant,” he said, but did not specify the quantum of investment involved.

He said on an average it costs around USD 30 million to set up a beverages plant and around USD 50-60 million a food plant.

Going by these estimates, Pepsico, whose global operations are headed by India-born Indra Nooyi, may have to shell out around USD 150 million (Rs 700 crore)to set up these plants. The sites for the plants are yet to be finalised.

“We are in the process of searching and identifying, through a network analysis, as to where the location of these plants would be,” he added.

Since its entry in India 19 years ago, the company has invested over USD 1 billion in the country. This includes USD 600 million that is being invested.

Source : Economic   Times.  20/11/09

NEW DELHI: Shareholders of Reliance Industries have more to cheer than the 1:1 bonus issue that they approved on Tuesday. Turns out that the country’s most valued company continues to be the most valued brand as well.

The petrochemicals-to-retail conglomerate retained its No. 1 position in the India’s Most Valuable Brand 2009 (IMVB) study carried out by Brand Finance, global brand valuation firm based in London, exclusively for The Economic Times.

It was a tough year alright. Perhaps the toughest for many global corporations as the world slipped into the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, triggered by the US sub-prime crisis and the collapse of global investment bank, Lehman Brothers, late last year.

While the Indian economy, riding on strong domestic demand led by the rural areas and proactive government initiatives, mostly managed to steer clear of the global recession with a 6.5 per cent growth, most our corporates got caught in the storm, thanks to the slump in global and urban demand.

Some companies cut salaries. Others put off salary hikes. Everybody travelled economy class. And cut marketing spends.

Yes, it was a year when building brand image took the back seat. For most of the year.

Yet, there are 19 homegrown companies with a brand value of more than $1 billion each. There were 20 such firms last year, according to the Brand Finance India’s Top 50 Most Valuable (Company) Brands that using the relief-from-royalty method of brand valuation.

This method assumes that a company does not own its brand and needs to license it from a third party. The selection was made from only consumer-facing corporate brands listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and not holding companies such as Hindustan Unilever that own a portfolio of branded business.

In fact, the combined brand value of the top 50 companies this year was slightly higher at $67.1 billion compared to last year’s $66.8 billion.

Interestingly, the cut-off for the Top 50, which was Rs 645 crore (No 50, Gail’s brand value) has almost doubled to Rs 1,204 crore (Bharat Forge at No 50 this year).

The biggest gainers were from the manufacturing sector that largely depends on domestic demand. Thanks to automobile and steel, manufacturing ruled the list with 20 brands making it to the top 50. Notable gainers included L&T, Tata Motors, Bajaj, JSW Steel. In fact, two of the three new entrants into the top 50 list, Ashok Leyland and Bharat Forge were from the manufacturing sector.

Other companies focused on local market, and therefore less impacted by the global shocks, such as telecom operators and auto firms too improved their rankings in 2009.

The sectors that took a hit included information technology and ITeS companies that are almost completely dependent on global demand. Top IT companies Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys Technologies and HCL Technologies all saw their brand values drop this year with global clients slashing their IT budgets and driving hard bargains with vendors.

Banking and financial services companies, particularly ICICI Bank, the largest private bank, too lost some sheen. After all, all the protagonists of the global economic crisis came from this sector.

There are nine banking and finance companies in the Top 50. While five companies represented oil & gas sector, IT, telecom and real estate/infrastructure contributed four each.

Reliance Industries saw its brand value rise 15 per cent to $7.8 billion in 2009, while the State bank of India saw its own brand value improve 30% as the global financial crisis prompted the population to migrate to state-run banks.

As many as 19 companies saw their brand values decline, with the highest fall of 56 per cent being seen in Jet Airways, followed by Ranbaxy Laboratories (51%) and Dr Reddy’s Lab (a drop of 42%).

All the real estate and infrastructure companies figured in the bottom 10 in the league table, with DLF being the topper in the pack at No 42. The country’s largest realtor lost $5 million in brand value at $330 million.

All these companies, however, can look forward to better times given the improved market conditions in the second half of 2009, both at home and abroad. In the domestic market, while rural demand is keeping its pace of growth despite poor monsoon rains, urban demands too have picked up with festival season sales besting expectations.

There are clear signs of demand revival from the global markets as well.

But it won’t be a cakewalk. The global downturn is not over and given the rising food prices, the Reserve Bank will tighten the interest rates regime sooner than later. That will separate the men from the boys—companies with ability to sail the downturn will emerge winners.

Source : Economic    Times.  20/11/09

As a design student, I’m often curious about the environmental effect of industry. It’s upsetting to live in a world where so much goes to waste, but producing waste is often unavoidable. I chose this book by it’s cover, but the content is just as engaging. It provides an innovative response to the issues of our consumer culture and reflects on how we can change our ideas of  “creating less waste” to “creating no waste” while encouraging industry rather than harming it.

Points of Interest for Chapter 1:

-The Titanic is often used as a metaphor for the industrial infostructure created by the Industrial Revolution-that it’s design was contrary to that of nature.

-Industrial Revolution resulted in more equitable standards of living

-Henry Ford’s Model T was the first product produced using a moving assembly line (based on the Chicago beef industry) and produced a desirable, affordable, simple, disposable and quickly produced cheap product. Ford offered higher salaries and shorter work hours to his employees.

-In the 19th century, resources appeared to be unlimited, and nature was still conceived as uncivilized and hostile.

-items are not “thrown away”. “Away” does not exist, landfills do.

-architecture rarely takes into consideration the natural environment around it, especially concerning local ecology and plant life.

-chemical products are not designed for a specific purpose, they are designed for a worst-case scenario-the strongest formula available, which can harm wildlife in areas where untreated water flows into natural water sources.

-The GDP measures economic activity as positive or negative measure of “prosperity” but it does not take into account the loss of resources, cultural depletion, negative environmental effects, negative social effects or the reduction of quality of life needed to get to that point. (Considers the 1991 Exxon Valdez oil spill that crippled local ecology and industry such as fishing, but created a “stronger economy” because of  the manpower required to clean the oil spill.)

-The consumer market is flooded with crude products–aka, products that aren’t designed for ecological or human benefit and contain harmful materials. Substances banned from use in US factories can be emitted through various imported products (electronics, appliances, tools, paints, ect) created with these substances.

WOW!!!   I just came across an amazing website!!!

I have a few questions I want you to answer for your self.  Wanting to start a business from home, but not sure which one or how to go about it?  Curious if direct sales (aka Network Marketing) is the road for you?  Have you been introduced to XanGo and not sure on how you will get the guidance/training you need to build your business?  Looking for motivation to get you over a hump in your XanGo business?  Look for some amazing tools, testimonials, presentations and videos to get a prospect excited abut XanGo?

These are questions I had when I first started and sometimes still have today.  This site has all the info you need.  It’s well organized, easy to access and it’s all FREE!!!  Give it a look and send me some feedback on your thoughts and if it helps you build your financial freedom.  :)

http://www.teamcrazyformangosteen.com/

Enjoy!!!
bjh

www.mymangosteenhealth.com

There comes a time when enough is enough especially for my industry. I have been in this lovely profession for twenty-three years plus! I am tired of the manufacturer’s depleting the industry, distributorships being bought up by manufacturer’s. Salon owners not treating their employee’s as employee’s. Salons not holding up to the standards of education. And also hairdresser’s not SPEAKING UP!. When the time comes you will be quite surprised at the non participation of the professionals, and then it will be too late. Change must come and the change must come from you also. I can make all the Films I possibly want to but not having the participation of the industry for added support the gain will be futile. Crazy as it may sound the industry is taking away from the professional. And the “CIRCLE MUST BE BROKE”. Website’s that started as informational are now online stores.

Hard times are upon us and I also feel the constraints of this era, no longer will it be affordable for you to open up a salon and progress as a small business owner. Distributorship will increase their costs, you will also have to. Schools will just manufacture students, and some industry schools tuitions are as high as $19.000 dollars. Now hairdressing is not rocket science it is an art, $19,000 is way to much. And these large manufacturers are spitting out these schools at a rate of 2-3 a month and also worldwide!.

The laws of Cosmetology renewals are a laugh a booklet for nothing, 30-40 questions of imbecilic knowledge will not keep our cosmetologists on a path of higher education.  It only defeats the purpose and insults the professional. This is done on a state-wide level to meet a very short detailed requirement of generalship. THATS ALL!!

It is up to the license professional to take matters in there own hands and lift their industry out of the nickel and dime era we are in. To stop the political enviroment plaguing our hair show, and professional organizations. Is any professional cosmetology organizations doing anything for you, I went on a well known site and the links did’nt even work.  I don’t see anything. Is the online industry website’s providing you with information that is New! That is a big NADA, only trying to sell you crap, crap. And emailing you constantly will holiday bargains, or promoting there “CIRCLE” It is all to comforting for them to stay in this, since they are getting your money. And to show off anything NEW would be a financial, and risky endeavor for them. So don’t expect anything to change with them. They play it safe. But enclose themselves in a hollow shell. SAD! But let me give them a word of advice. Its all about ART,  and CONTENT!

Is the price of your salon supplys decreasing and is the distributorships offering you anything other than product knowledge class’s. I use Goldwell hair color and since last May I have not even received a brochure from the distributorship (EVOLUTION SALON SUPPLYS - JACKONSVILLE, FLORIDA).  Not one form of educational venue  is offered in a structured  form from my distributor. I have not seen my sales consultant in over 6 months. And when I do its to sell me something, a bargain package of goods. Or to let me know someone from the “CIRCLE” has just started there own retail line.

Look I have been there and I know what it is to be a salon Employee, Salon owner, Booth renter. I know how hard it is to scrimp and save, to train someone and see them go out the door, to rent a booth and see the salon owner abuse my space and also work around alcoholics, drug users, etc/ I HAVE BEEN THERE. But I cannot change or try to implement change without the help of the community. It is not hard to speak up for yourself and defend you craft. I love my work and my profession, I have had many, many ups and downs. Highs and lows and I must accept then with a grain of salt. But if you are bothered by what is happening in our community of hairdressing then you must WAKE UP! And speak you mind. Let people know your beliefs, and also take the responsiblity of your professional success. Nothing will come to you easily. You will learn to embrace the quality of hard times and the successions of perseverance. That is how you will succeed. But you will not change the industry with your own success singularly. It must be done as a whole and as a simple step towards the cleansing of the profession that it  needs. To stand-alone will gain you defeat but to instil a facet of unity and togetherness then the ball will roll.

AND ROLL IT WILL !!!!

Joseph Kellner

I’m finishing Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals, and entertaining becoming a vegetarian again for the same reasons that Safran Foer is one.  The short version of the story is that the industry of farmed animals is a pretty terrible one.  It’s not that animal agriculture is evil, nor that it always has been wrong, nor that it has to be, but that the (increasingly inter)national demands for cheap animal meat require the industry to treat living beings heinously, to breed them, raise them, and slaughter them, cruelly.

I’m just reminded that industry, industrialization, and industriousness – all too often hailed as morally correct and correcting, the golden standard for social and economic progress — can in fact be seen as the place were we humans began to falter, to place a system over and above the bonds of love and respect for each other, for the living creatures with whom we share the planet, for the planet itself.  How many crimes against humanity, against other animals, against the environment have been committed in the name of industry?  Like that cursed myth of progress, a term which we wish to by synonymous with “improvement” or “betterment” but often requires a blindness to the very things that have been sacrificed for it and the people who died on its altar.

In the fourteenth century, industrie, or ad. L. industria diligence, meant “a vertue comprehendynge bothe study and diligence” (Elyot Dict. 1538).  The OED summarizes later definitions as “intelligent or clever working; skill, ingenuity, dexterity, or cleverness in doing anything.”

But by the seventeenth century, industry increasingly implies the systematicity of the definitions above.  Hence the definition becomes “systematic work or labour; habitual employment in some useful work, now esp. in the productive arts or manufactures.”

No surprise there.  Read a bit of history of the Enlightenment.  The systematization of work and labor, the habitual employment in manufacturing sectors not only were themes in the explanation of the (inevitable) rise and (eventual so-called) perfection of the social order and the nation state, it was also necessary to the justification of  the (violent) practices of colonialism, oppression and domination of those who did not fit immediately and automatically in the social fabric or the nation.

Let’s think of all the industries that are commonly referred to in the press, in the public discourse, and in our daily lives.  The auto industry.  The fashion industry.  The entertainment industry.  The agricultural industry.  In each of these cases, the central objects themselves are not necessarily the problem.  There is nothing inherently evil with a car, with fashion, with entertainment, with agriculture.  What I think there is a problem with is their industrialization.  I love fashion, I love entertainment.  I certainly enjoy transportation.  And it would be ludicrous to pretend I don’t love food; I’m delighted that we humans have cultivated a science that is able to grow things for me to eat.

The problem is that any process of industrialization, it seems, ends up degrading our humanity.  Not only our humanity but our connection to the earth, not to mention the vastness of our spiritual existence.

I don’t think we should seek to be industrious anymore.  I think we can be producers of things (after all, creation is one of the things humans do best and, it could be argued, have done most consistently).  But our acts of creation should be less automatized, not more.  We don’t have any excuses.  There is enough food grown on this planet to feed everyone, there exist enough able bodies to build every person shelter.  We don’t need to work harder or create more industries to make the world a better place.  We need to work differently.  I think we need to work smaller.

Last week I had an epiphany that I don’t want to work somewhere that requires me to disguise my personality.  This sounds like a simple statement–maybe easier said than done.  Fortunately, the twenty-or-so presentations I’ve heard this month about various agencies and companies have shown me that companies do exist out there that seek employees who are comfortable with their individual quirks.  Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Pixar, Google, and Crispin, Porter & Bogusky are just a few of the big names that accept, and even cherish, eccentricity. 

While applying to colleges as a High School student, everyone was overly concerned with meeting expected requirements: 2000+ SAT scores, 200+ community service hours, numerous extracurricular activities, and a GPA as close to 4.0 as possible.  We were all desperately trying to fit the recipe for success in the eyes of college recruiters.  The need to fit this mold of perfection confused me about who I was, and everyone seemed to turn into clones.  Life, inside and outside of academics, became a contest to please authority.  At the age of eighteen we had unknowingly conformed to society’s standards to continuously pursue the modern version of the 1950s nuclear dream.

I found myself in college, stepping outside of my comfort zone and attending a school that was not my first choice.  Rejection is the hardest feeling to endure, something that I learned when a handful of respected universities decided I was not the epitome of perfection.  I questioned myself when I chose my major, Creative Writing, because I didn’t think it would be practical enough to make a respectable living; however, I chased my childhood dream to nourish my inner artist and have not regretted it once.  Emerson College recognized the value of a creative education and allowed me into a program full of students who were already very familiar with Marketing and Advertising.  They took a chance on me and showed me that not everyone prefers the cookie-cutter resume.

In the past people fought to stand out by fitting in to the maximum.  It sounds confusing, but think about it.  Harvard may have accepted someone for being an all-star athlete, or for being the ultimate humanitarian with 500 hours of community service.  To increase the likelihood of acceptance, kids began enrolling in every club possible, sweating over practice SATs, and volunteering at 8am every weekend.  It became necessity to be “well-rounded” but this backfired when everyone became carbon-copies of one another.  How can employers and admissions officers distinguish the truly intriguing student/employee from a pack of sheep?

Here’s where my theory comes in.  Everyone tries to cut through the noise, much like the overflow of advertisements, but this eventually creates an endless buzz of everyone screaming to be heard.  It’s a competition to be the loudest, to be the best, and those people who don’t want to follow the pack in this regard have probably been overlooked.  I think this is changing.  Companies like those previously mentioned (Pixar, etc) actively seek individuals with unique characteristics.  Even the executives of these companies publicly embrace their quirks, some wearing tennis shoes to conferences and swearing in formal settings.  I used to think you had to work your way to the top before you could show your true colors without losing a job or the respect of your colleagues.  Now, I think (or hope) that employers are adopting to accept their employees’ humanness.  Employers will not come find you and you still need to figure out how to break through the noise, but subtlety may be the key.  Rather than pretending to be knowledgeable or interested in the boring shit that I think they want to see, I’m going to be myself and look for a company who appreciates that.

What are my quirks?  In a nutshell:

I’m 21, I’m a gamer nerd, I’m a sorority girl, my favorite food is mashed potatoes, I love going to movies alone, I’m obsessed with pugs, I can’t cook, I live in a constant state of controlled chaos (there is a method to my madness, but you wouldn’t know it if you saw my bedroom), my first job was as a birthday party clown, my favorite animals are hippos, I sleep on a mattress on the floor, if you show me any piece of Godiva chocolate I can tell you what’s inside it, I was born in Texas but I’ve lived in 6 states, relationships with others are everything to me, I have a sweet tattoo, and I love to write.

It’s been about three weeks since my last real post. Busy body. It’s been about four days since I got to see all my hours of hard work come in fruition in the form of the Freedom and Fashion show. Post busy body. However, I’ve got to say that the fashion show against human and sex trafficking and the exploitation of women, as well as other important social justice causes–the fashion show was a huge success. I think we got the message across to people in a clear, yet creative way.

One of my friends wondered why we use fashion as the medium as the fashion industry tends to exploit women. Isn’t it ironic? Well, dear friend, isn’t that the point? We want to reclaim the fashion industry, to bring into light the injustices it has done to women, and more importantly, to change the way we perceive fashion. Think of it–fashion CAN be fair-trade, and it CAN go to a good cause, and it CAN still be fashionable. Social justice is in, and apathy is out. When we forget that–perhaps that’s when we forget our identities as compassionate human beings.

UCLA’s Ackerman Grand Ballroom was packed. Every seat was filled, and after walking the VIPs and donors to their seats, I had to stand back a bit, look at the catwalk, and stood amazed that the day had finally come. Once everyone got to their seats, the hosts introduced rapper Jason Medeiros, where he performed two songs. One of the songs, “Constance,” is based on the true story of a Filipina girl who was sold into the sex trade industry. Then, the fashion show started. As soon as the song started playing, my heart skipped a bit. This is it! This is it! I remember thinking to myself. To make a long story short, I’ll let the pictures and video speak for itself. The pictures were taken by my friend, Kenny Gulley, during dress rehearsal (although it’s not everything featured on the actual fashion show) while the footage of the fashion show was taken by Freedom and Fashion crew and is streamed on Livestream.

If you are interested about social justice issues, check out Freedom and Fashion.

Check out some of the clothes featured on the fashion show (or at least on the photos below), by such clothing lines as Definicion Clothing, LiNk (Liberty in North Korea), Lalesso, Tagbag.

Lalesso Clothing

Lalesso Clothing

LiNK Clothing

LiNK Clothing

LiNk Clothing

Freedom and Fashion Line

Freedom and Fashion Line

Definicion Clothing

And here I thought it was going to be a calm monday evening while I marathon Seitokai no Ichizon (I’ll blog about that tomorrow). The news made my blood boil for a few seconds.

I’m currently participating in this little forum discussion about the growing acceptance of anime. I don’t believe we should exaggerate this development, but it would sure as hell suck if anime production companies were to start catering my anime specifically to the casual TV watcher demographic. And what better way to do that than to have an American company steer anime adaptations of presumably Western works towards American watchers.
The first issue I have with this move is the hijacking of the term anime. I’m sorry, but just because Funimation might hire cheap Japanese labor for producing animation does not mean I have to call it anime. They might release it in Japan as well, but will its content be tailored for the Japanese audience first and foremost? Do I need to mention Afro Samurai? I’m afraid it would be like mentioning Hitler in an argument, but it’s up there. What I’m honestly afraid of is such titles becoming popular in the future. It’s bad enough that IGN classifies Avatar: The Last Airbender as anime. I mean, you can easily dispel such a notion, but can you do that with a show that’s going to be produced and released in Japan? The upcoming Halo animation comes to mind.

But the fundamental question of WHY still remains. Why would Funimation do such a thing? Is their thirst for world dominance really that strong? Or perhaps it’s an indicator that anime isn’t good enough to fuel their engine? The latter sounds more plausible to me. Then again, they saw what happened to Urban Vision, Geneon USA and ADV, didn’t they?

No compromise for the sake of successful international co-productions is worth the possibility of compromising the identity of this beloved Japanese entertainment medium. And with this closing line, I’m loading Seizon 03 to Media Player Classic.

Pravin Kothari

I just returned home from a week in Washington DC where we held a regional Customer Advisory Board meeting and a CISO Roundtable event.

It was great to spend time with some of our customers from up and down the east coast and even one all the way from Utah.  Significant number of our customers from various industries including financials, healthcare, federal, Canada, etc. attended the meeting.   We discussed our product roadmap and vision and received excellent validation and feedback.  Most of the customers presented their deployments and success stories. It was also a great chance for the customers to hear about each other’s projects and discuss lessons learned. Kudos to our customer support and professional services teams, which earned universal high praise from our customers.  Some high level feedback and observations from the Customer Advisory Board:

• Plan big but start small: All the customers had a great deployment strategy.  They all bought Agiliance’s product because they had a vision of an enterprise GRC platform, a platform that can address all their GRC needs across the enterprise.  However, they all had a very realistic deployment strategy.  The key is to start with a very precise project with a very precise business benefit.  Demonstrate value to the business and gain support for the tool, then broaden the usage.  Many of the customers in attendance are on their second and third phase of deployment.  Customers typically start with 1 to 2 of their use cases and then grow from there.
• No one can afford customization any more: The impact of this down economy is still very real.  Everybody has less resource than before.  Customer expectations have clearly changed.  Customers want a product that works out of the box, that is easy to use, is easy to administer, and easy to upgrade.  No one can justify large consulting bills year-in and year-out, even the large financial services and federal customers who have historically done a lot of customization to the products they buy.  Customers want a product that works and not leave the main task as an exercise for them.
• Automation is no longer a nice-to-have: Compliance is still the number one driver for customer’s adoption of GRC technology.  The burden of regulatory and contractual compliance is driving customers to automation.  Everyone at the meeting agreed that there is no way their sizable organizations can maintain any resemblance of compliance without the help of technology.  Resource and budget is just too limited vs. the responsibility they have to meet.  Customers want to offload manual, repetitive and non-value-add work from their staff, improve efficiency and focus more on their business needs.

A big thank you to the customers who attended this Customer Advisory Board meeting and provided valuable feedback to help us continue to grow the product and company.  I will summarize the key takeaways from the CISO Roundtable event once I get a chance to catch up from my week-long trip.

From my guest post at Digital Book World’s blog:

A lot of the discussion about eBooks tends to frame the format in absolutist and misleading terms.

“It will destroy print.”

“It will devalue the book.”

We shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming a growing new format will upend the entire industry (remember the fear concerning audiobooks?). The format will dictate the content and this makes for one of the most exciting shifts in the industry since the rise of mass-market paperbacks.

I bring up mass-markets as an analogy and a precedent. Could you imagine pitching the concept to publishers? “It’s a smaller trim size, printed on cheap paper, and we’ll charge a third of the hardcover price. Yes, hardcovers are beautiful objects, but we think there’s a big opportunity here in treating our books as disposable commodities.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if industry pessimists back then expressed the same fears of cannibalized sales and devalued content that they do now regarding eBooks.

Mass-markets defined their own readership (at airports and supermarkets) and genres (commercial and genre fiction); you don’t see biographies or political nonfiction in this format. Of the current top 20 bestsellers on the New York Times’ Paperback Mass-Market Fiction list, 8 have never been published in hardcover (disregarding the large-print hardcovers for Snow Angels and Hot on Her Heels).

The eBook format is no different. After the digital transition, we’ll find that certain books fit an eBook audience, while others are meant for print. Personally, this year I purchased hardcovers that I would never buy as an eBook (Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice), and vice versa (Steve Knopper’s Appetite for Self-Destruction).

Read the rest here.

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Ron Hogan’s thoughtful post about Oprah’s 2011 retirement announcement brought me back to a book I’ve mentioned a few times, Ted Striphas’ The Late Age of Print: Everyday Book Culture from Consumerism to Control. His chapter on the Oprah book club was nothing short of revelatory. (I copied the pages for everyone in my office.)

He gets to the heart of why the Oprah Book Club worked: Oprah doesn’t review the books, connect them with their literary antecedents, or analyze them from a Freudian/Marxist/Feminist school of thought. She takes the fairly radical approach of looking for ways to connect literature with quotidian life, helping her audience find the time to read first, and then asking how the book relates to their life. By doing so Oprah is creating what a million book reviews could not: recreational reading time. This is her real contribution.

Striphas is much more articulate on the subject, so I defer to him. Essential reading for anyone in publishing.

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A Green Day in Palos Verdes

by Kimberly Fisher

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we only borrow it from our children”.

This ancient proverb is one of many  reasons as to why green vacations are a new and trendy way to travel for the jet set that don’t want to leave a carbon footprint on their favorite planet.  “Eco Travel” can be defined as “Responsible travel to natural areas, which conserves the environment, contributes to the local economy and minimizes your impact.” These trips can not only be good for the environment, but great fun.

Terranea Resort - Palos Verdes, California

Check in to the brand new Terranea Resort, an oceanfront earth-friendly eco-resort located in the rolling green hills of Rancho Palos Verdes. Not only is the gorgeous resort green, with a commitment to environmentally sustainable practices and energy conservation efforts, but the critically acclaimed restaurants feature an emphasis on local and organic foods.  The resort was created with understanding to its native environment and sustainability. The 582 neutral colored rooms feature patios and balconies awash with natural light, and unparallel views of the Pacific Ocean and pristine grounds. When venturing out of your comfortable adobe, the hotel has an on-staff trained naturalist for guided tours and will provide transportation within 5 miles, including to the nearby Trump Golf Course. Complimentary yoga and Pilates classes add to the list of green and healthy amenities at Terranea.

Start off your exploration with a healthy, environmentally-friendly bike ride tour. Not only do you get to take in all of the different sights and sounds the Rolling Hills has to offer, but you get a wonderful workout in the warm Californian sunshine. Horse trails, ocean cliffs and tidepools are a typical site in the lush landscape of Palos Verdes.

Once you are done biking, visit the South Coast Botanical Garden, which is an oasis of lush landscaping. Over 150,000 landscaped plants call the garden home, as well as a family of ducks, geese, coots and heron. Several different gardens are showcased over the 87 acre property, including the Water-wise Garden, Herb Garden, English Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and Garden of the Senses. Over 2,500 different species come from places as far away as Australia and Southern Africa.

Abalone Cove - Palos Verdes, California

Exploring the scenic coastal drive is best by car. Palos Verdes Drive will take you by some of the most scenic spots in Palos Verdes. Leaving the Terranea Resort, head done to Abalone Cove. Named after the Abalone shells found on the beach, this remote beach is perfect for daytime hiking. Trails lead to Portuguese Bend to the left and Inspiration Point to the right. Further on down the way on the left hand side you will see a small little chapel. You have stumbled upon Wayfarer’s Chapel. This redwood, glass and local stone chapel were designed by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. Lloyd Wright is said to have been inspired by his spiritual feelings after visiting a redwood forest.

Donald Trump National Golf Course - Palos Verdes, California

Continuing the drive you will come to your last stop, the Trump National Golf Club. This picturesque, open-to-the-public golf club sports a 45,000 clubhouse, 3 dining options, pro-shop, ballroom and conference rooms. After Donald Trump bought the property in 2002, he closed and remodeled location, reopening in 2006 with 18 holes. Stop into Café Pacific for a meal to be remembered. With sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean, dine on a seasonal menu of fresh seafood, delectable meats or savory pastas. Try the strawberry Endive Salad followed by the pan roasted Miso Marinated black cod for a light but delicious meal.

What and Where:

Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way, PV, CA 310-265-2800

South Coast Botanical Garden 26300 Crenshaw Blvd. PV, CA

Wayfarer’s Chapel 5755 Palos Verdes Dr. South, PV, CA 310-377-1650

Trump Golf Course, One Ocean Trails Dr., PV 310-265-5000

What a $258.8 million dollar audience looks like

$258.8 million.  That’s the worldwide 5-day gross for New Moon.

That’s $140.7 million domestic.  The film also broke the All-Time Single Day and Friday Opening records, not to mention the Biggest 2-Day total.

It’s now the third biggest opening of all time — following only Spiderman 3 and The Dark Knight.

And it did all of this in NOVEMBER, when kids still have to go to school and the masses aren’t seeking the theater for heat relief.  Crucially, the budget for New Moon = Just under $50 million.  Add in $25 million for promotion, and you’ve already got a film (and franchise) firmly in the black.

The rhetoric flooding the film blogosphere is filled with words like “jaw-dropping,” “huge surprise,” and “phenomenal.”  Nikki Finke and Variety both point out that not even the film’s distributor, Summit Entertainment, thought the film would open this big — estimates were for between $100-$110 million domestic, no small number itself.  Why?  Because it’s what is known as a “two quadrant” film (the four audience ‘quadrants’ = men under 25, men over 25, women under 25, women over 25.  Most blockbusters are films that appeal to all four quadrants — see Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Titanic, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc.).

The audience is not only ‘two quadrant’ (apparently 80% female) but young.  50% of attendees were under 21.  Variety sums it up best:  “the female-fueled New Moon explodes the myth that you need an all-audience film to do that level of biz, or that fanboys hold all the power.”

So does that answer my question?  Is that what $258.8 million could mean? That girls can power movies — especially when there’s a romance (and abstinence porn) involved?

Sorta.  Because it could also mean much, much more.

*It could legitimize the female market.

After big openings for Sex and the City, The Proposal, and Julie and Julia, risk-adverse studios may begin to invest more earnestly (and consistently) in properties that cater specifically (and unabashedly) to the female market.  Of course, the studios have long counterprogrammed with ‘girly’ fare, but the key word is counterprogram — they try to pick up the ‘dregs’ who aren’t flocking to the supposedly four-quadrant blockbuster released the same weekend.  This weekend is actually a fascinating example of counterprogramming, as The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock, did surprisingly well — presumably picking up the anti-Twilight female audience and scattered males who had been convinced by the football-time ad campaign that sold the film as a football-oriented triumph-of-the-will.

*It could (and already has) opened the female market to misogynist and ageist critique.

This is the ugly underbelly to what might otherwise be viewed as a ‘girl power’ triumph.  For as anyone familiar with the franchise knows, the text is not immune to criticism.   The original text has been criticized for its conservative, anti-feminist views; the second film in particular has been subject to scathing reviews from most popular critics.  I’ve seen denigrating, clearly misogynist critiques of the film, from both men and women, on a diverse set of blogs and Twitter feeds — many of which interpret the success of the film as the failure of America, reason to hate themselves, their family, their loved ones, the end of the world, etc.  I realize that some of this quips are in jest, but they also interpret a mass movement of females — seeking out a specific type of pleasure — as nigh-apocalyptic.  As if the success of Twilight somehow ushers in the end of good taste.

Such a critique is misogynistic not only because it demonstrates a clear case of cultural amnesia — if any success indicated the end of good taste, it was that of horror porn and boy-oriented Transformers — but also because it explicitly and unabashedly constructs female consumers as rabid, mindless, brainwashed schmucks.  Whatever one thinks of Twilight (and I’m not saying that the text should be exempt from critique), we still need to recognize the fact that the audience is not monolithic, nor is it mindless.  By reproducing those beliefs, we (as scholars, as film critics, as film bloggers and cultural critics more generally) extend the general subjugation of women’s pleasures, tastes, desires, etc.  Indeed, such beliefs contribute to the ghettoization of female-oriented art and artistry in a broad sense — whether female-directed film (if you need a reminder that it’s tough for women in Hollywood, just check out A.O. Scott’s recollection of the most important films of the last decade.  Not a female director to be found.)

I heed the argument that the success of Twilight might contribute to the marginalization of less hegemonic products (with less traditional interpretations).  But I also want to underline the fact that many women — and not just feminist women like the ones with whom I attended the premiere — are engaging in negotiated readings of this text.   Some are reading it as satire, some are rewriting the ending using fanfic.  But as is the case with almost any text, audiences make the text meet them where they are — a 13-year-old girl might love the romance, another might identify with the plainness of Bella, others might crave the family dynamic of the Cullens, older women may crave the thrill of first romance, and others may just relish the chance to escape — either in the books or the films — and become absorbed by a text.

In other words, the females who attended New Moon got to be ‘fan-girls.’  Is there something threatening and wrong with that?

*It will lower the bar for the sequels.

This is a crucial and disheartening point.  New Moon very clearly had higher production values than Twilight — the stunts are far less cheesy, there are CGI wolves, and they hired Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen to play the baddie vampires.  They shot in Rome; they had all sorts of sweet helicopter and trick shots.  The lighting was more even; the Native Americans’ wigs were less visible.  Why, then, would the bar be lowered? Because Twilight is a superior film.  There.  I said it.  I’m curious to know if I’m in the minority here, but I felt far less magic in the second film — no matter of CGI wolves could make up for the absence of Catherine Hardwicke, who helmed the first film.  Hardwicke, who also directed the superb Thirteen, has a certain way with teen situations.  The way she directed the scenes at the high school — and the deviations from the book, including the classic line “This dress makes my boobs look totally awesome” — absolutely made the film for me.  I could gloss over the clunky vampire jumping from tree to tree — so long as I had the intimate moments between Bella and her dad, Bella and her awkward teenage friends.

Now that New Moon, with its streamlined narrative, has garnered such a substantially higher gross than the original,  it’s only natural that the forthcoming films will heed its lessons.  I’d love for the series to take a Harry Potter bent, exploring various color palettes, alterations in tone, and senses of burgeoning humor with each director.    This seems unlikely.  As Transformers 2, Spiderman 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 have proven, a sequel, however bloated, however much it pales in comparison to the original, will do even better business.  So why concern yourself with quality?

Stars in the making? I'm not so sure.

*It won’t necessarily make stars out of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, and Taylor Lautner.

This might seem counter-intuitive.  They attract huge crowds!  People put their faces on their t-shirts!  But these actors have become so incredibly wed to their characters, it’ll take critical and financial success in non-Twilight roles to break away from their picture personalities as Bella, Edward, and Jacob, respectively.

My bet for non-Twilight success is firmly on K-Stew, whose forthcoming turn as Joan Jett in The Runaways seems poised to do at least moderately well.  She’s already wrapped Welcome to the Rileys, a small production that should continue to bolster her cred as an actual actress.  (She has to sigh and look scared a lot in the Twilight saga, but I do think the girl can act.)

RPattz might be doomed to Edward-style brooding, as exemplified by his role in Remember Me.

It stars Chris Cooper, Pierce Brosnen, and that girl from Lost, but is it a hit?  Middling?  Fueled by Twilight fans?  (They tried to make that work with RPattz as Salvador Dali this summer in Little Ashes, but I couldn’t even watch the preview (complete with Pattinson in Dali moustache) without laughing.  Pattinson is scheduled for two additional films, Unbound Captives and Bel Ami,  in pre-production — both with big names, if not big directors, attached.  His future outside of Twilight will depend wholly upon the success of such non-vampiric roles.

As for Taylor Lautner, he’s already filmed a small part in the Love Actually-esque Valentine’s Day (opposite his supposed love Taylor Swift, no less).  But other than Eclipse, he’s got nothing.  Not even in pre-production.  He’s the most wooden of the three, and he’ll have to secure another romantic turn — presumably in a teen-geared comedy/drama of some sort — in order to sustain his fan base.  He’ll also have to sustain gossip, either through authenticating his relationship with the other Taylor, re-dating Disney star Selena Gomez, or creating new teen hand-holding buzz.  Odds of success = slim.  He may have great shoulder muscles, but so does Matthew McConaughey.

So what does $258.8 million mean?  It means we have an opportunity to reconsider the way the industry works.  Everytime a movie hits big — and especially when it outperforms expectations — we reach a similar landmark.  A chance for people like me to challenge the idea that the way that Hollywood works is ‘natural,’ inevitable, or necessary.  As director Kevin Smith tweeted following the release of the Friday numbers, “Tween girls can get shit DONE, man.”  Indeed they can — and so can 30 and 40 something moms with their daughters, and 20-something women prefunking with white wine and flasks.  And it’s a lesson we — and Hollywood — is still learning.

This could just be an interesting coincidence, but I also think it answers a number of questions about Cryptic’s MMO development strategy.

Jack Emmert

In July 2009, G4TV asked Cryptic’s Chief Creative Officer (and fan favourite punching bag) Jack Emmert how many players Champions Online needed for success:

G4: Speaking of it being successful, when you’re launching an MMO, like how many subscribers do you need in order to survive or thrive?

JE: Well, I think that number is the number for success is over 100,000 for us. If it’s over 100,000, I’m skipping the light fantastic. The break-even point is somewhere below 100,000. And that’s obviously depending upon – every MMO is different – depending on how much money is spent on it. But, clearly, we mark 100,000 as success.

More recently, in November 2009, MaximumPC asked Cryptic’s Executive Producer on Star Trek Online Craig Zinkievich about STO’s business model and the number of players it needs to attract:

Craig Zinkievich

MPC: Is it a chicken-and-egg scenario where you need to have enough subscriber revenue to make new content to attract new subscribers?

CZ: Definitely. There’s a barrier. From our experience, if you don’t break 100,000 subscribers at any point in time, your game tends to just go away. Most games that don’t break that 100,000-subscriber mark tend to just be flashes in the pan. But once you do, you tend to get a really solid fan base with enough revenue to keep adding to the game, and things go pretty well.

It is interesting that both men mention that 100k figure as a key subscription point for their MMOs. It could just be a nice round figure they both plucked out of the air, but I think the potential also exists that Cryptic is aiming to build MMOs that break even at around 100k players, with development budgets to match. In an industry where MMOs need 500k players for success or might spend over $100 million developing a MMO, aiming to be successful at the lower end of six figures might seem like a lack of ambition. However, I see such a plan as a very intelligent given the number of high profile, big budget launches that have since failed to find and keep a sizeable audience.

If Cryptic is going down this path, it explains the reduced development time (2 or so years for STO, 3 or so years for Marvel Universe Online / ChampO), the reduced time given to open betas / testing (expensive to operate), the reliance on an evolving internal development engine (cuts down development time and costs) and the introduction of official microtransaction channels (the C=Store increases per-player revenue over just the subscription fees, meaning a lower subscriber base is required for profitability). It also explains the multiple MMOs in production at one time – Cryptic could be attempting to avoid having all its eggs in one basket by having a number of different MMOs on offer, all profitable at a ‘low’-yet-substantive active subscription figure.

This isn’t to say that Cryptic wouldn’t want to develop a MMO that attracts 5 million players and sees everyone rolling around in cash. It’s just that they aren’t betting the entire studio on only one title to do it.

But What Would Atari Do?

If this was Cryptic’s plan, would Atari have signed off on it? Doesn’t every publisher want to create the next World of Warcraft?

Maybe not Atari. Going back to the original press release of Atari’s (then Infogrames) acquisition of Cryptic, a key focus was on Cryptic’s lower development costs and in creating “unique, high quality MMO games on 18 to 24-month cycles“. It would be impossible to create the next WoW in 24 months even with an existing game engine, so (unless Atari is incredibly unrealistic) they must have some kind of acceptance for the minimum 100k players per MMO for a number of different, rapidly developed MMOs. Cryptic is Atari’s MMO developer / online platform provider, so it unlikely Cryptic is operating completely free of its owner’s control and developing MMOs for 100k players while Atari doesn’t want any less than 1m active subs.

When Cryptic announces its next MMO – rumours of Cryptic’s Neverwinter Nights exist, although I still think that MMO market is open for a dark world / horror MMO that Cryptic’s development art has hinted about for over 2 years (or longer) – it will be interesting to see if they follow the same pattern of rapid development and release (next title due in 2011, according to those same rumours).

Or the 100k figure could just be a coincidence and I’m reading too much into it.