Today on the ride home I passed a woman who was power walking. I have no problem with the walking part but do you really think you are going to tone up those arms by swinging them around in the power walking style? It looks ridiculous. I've never seen a fit and tone person power walking. There's a simple rule to follow, no pain, no gain.

I can't believe RV is coming out on DVD already (August 15th). It entered the theatres on April 28th. 3.5 months from theatrical release to DVD release. That's a real indicator of bad news for the film industry. As a former Hollywood development employee, I can tell you despite all the talk of record weekends, the film industry is in big trouble.

#1 - At $6 a ticket, people will see just about anything just to get out. At $10 a ticket people only want to see something they are certain will be good. This means everyone sees the same movie (Pirates of the Caribbean) and avoids everything else (RV). Hollywood cannot survive on a few monster successes. It needs an even balance of huge hits, modest successes, break evens, and failures.
#2 - When everyone had a 19" TV and a VCR, the movie going experience was always better. When everyone gets a widescreen 50" plasma screen TV with 5.1 stereo all of a sudden the theatre going experience is not so great. With shorter time spans between theatrical release and DVD release, this will only get worse.

The end result is there will be fewer movies made as studios cut back on production deals and studios will take less risks on innovative films and instead churn out the same old thing. Look at this summer, how many movies came out that were original ideas and not a sequel or remake?

I caught Summerfest twice this year: opening night and the second saturday. Frankly I'm somewhat surprised numbers are down considering Saturday night it felt more crowded than I've ever felt (and I used to work the grounds crew back in the days of the really big crowds). They call it a success and I suppose it is a success any year they make money, it doesn't rain too much and there is no violent crime. I do however think there is still plenty of room for improvement:

1. Get rid of the picnic tables around the stages. Despite all the claimed improvements to Miller, once people climb on top of those picnic tables, you really can't see anything. The bleachers are perfectly adequate. People standing on top of bleachers are much better than those on top of picnic tables.
2. Raise all the stages or bowl out the surrounding seating areas to improve sight-lines. Miller is supposed to be the best stage on the grounds yet it has some of the worst sight-lines of any stage. The stage is like 4 feet off the ground. When you combine that with people on picnic tables, you can't see anything. On the contrary, the stage with the best sight-lines is the non-permanent south end stage by Marcus (I can't remember the sponsor they're always changing). This stage is high off the ground, there are no picnic tables, and the pavement slopes down towards the stage. You can put thousands of people in this area and you still can see the band from way in back.
3. Much like you have local restaurants selling their food, have local specialty stores sell their wares instead of the same old carnival fake-ethnic crap they sell every year in the tents.
4. Improve the entertainment in the sports area. My first job at Summerfest was running the men's bathroom in this area so I've sat through a lot of half-assed competitions and such. You know it's bad when five people show up for a bodybuilding competition and three of them have such bad physiques that someone yells out "put your shirt back on."
5. Expand some activities to the new island which should be complete next year. Anything to help thin out the crowd would be a good idea.
6. I can't believe I'm saying this but bring back the kids area underneath the bridge behind Marcus. With no designated teen area, I found the grounds to be overrun with teens everywhere except the classic rock stage. How much money do these kids have? I probably dropped $150 on two visits and didn't buy one beer.
7. Ban the wearing of Cubs hats. Damn FIBS are everywhere nowadays.

Yesterday on my way to the Bastille Run I saw two different Jeeps with a decal that read:

It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand.!

I would like to talk to one of these Jeep owners and inquire what it is I don't understand about the appeal of Jeeps, particularly rather average looking Liberty. Is there something about Jeeps that stand out from other vehicles? I don't see it. What I do see is a loser who overdoses on self-affirmation by trying to think like they joined some exclusive club.

"I'm a Jeep owner. I've now made it in life."

What I truly don't understand though is why have a period and an exclamation point at the end? Why not just the exclamation point?

I really can't stand paranoid drivers. Yesterday I was following a guy on the freeway. He was going two miles over the speed limit. Driving in the opposite direction, across a wide grassy median was a state patrol car. So what does this guy do? Of course he steps on the brakes.

#1 - A cop in a moving car cannot radar you.
#2 - He was going in the opposite direction across a wide median.
#3 - No cop is going to give you a ticket for go 2 over the speed limit.

Another thing I can't stand is drivers who ride your bumper thinking they can bully you into driving faster. I encountered this on my way to work. I checked my speedometer - a good 8 miles over the limit. That's good enough for me. Eventually the guy went around, and here's the part I find annoying, he didn't accelerate away. Drivers like this have the old mentality that a cop will always pull over the car in the lead and anyone following can just say they were keeping pace. Once they find themselves in the lead they slow down. Damn cowards.