Slice O' Twitter: David Letterman Apology Edition

Fifteen minutes after David Letterman's apology...

@askforgivness says it best.

Death Cab for Cutie - Cath... (Live at the Hall of Justice)

Death of Saturn

Roger Penske has rescinded on his plan to take over the Saturn brand from the "old," pre-bankruptcy General Motors.

I can't say that I'm sad.

When I think of Saturn when they were a "unique" brand, I think of plasic body panels, loud and buzzy interiors, and plastic dashboards that make Rubbermaid trash cans feel luxurious. Then, when GM started allowing Saturn to share a few of its other platforms, the brand became just another generic, badge-engineered division of General Motors, even if the cars were good.

It essentially became Oldsmobile. Good cars, but not very interesting.

When GM introduced Saturn, it was meant to be different - to make an American car to compete with imports.

This premise alone speaks volumes about where Detroit went wrong.

Rather than make modern, competitive vehicles under the Chevy, GMC, Buick, Pontiac, Cadillac and Oldsmobile brands, the savior of the division was Saturn. Saturn was positioned as the "American import fighter" and Geo was positioned as the "if we can't build them better, lets sell our own version of other successful cars."

Neither of these approaches worked to make General Motors competitive with imports. Slapping a new upstart GM division's badge on a Corolla and selling it alongside terrible Cavaliers cheapened any equity the car had by association with its Toyota roots. There was no brand equity in Geo products, despite the fact that cars like the Prizm were actually pretty great cars.

Saturn always seemed like a ruse to me. It appeared as if GM were forward thinking with new product, but it ended up as disappointing, bland, subpar cars - which is what GM was making at the time anyways. So what was the difference? Saturn represented the veneer of different over more of the same.

By the time GM gave Saturn some better products through badge engineering, it was too little too late. The Sky was awesome, the Vue (better in its most recent form) was the right product at the right time, and the Aura was a sharp looking car with a decent interior. The current Saturn line is a far cry from the S and L series popular in the 90s.

By this time, though, no one was showing up at Saturn, or GM for that matter.

I can't help but think that if General Motors had done more to improve its core product rather than spin-off divisions and buy and invest in brands like Saab and Hummer, maybe they could have avoided this whole mess. In the end, look at what happened: Saturn is dead. Pontiac is dead. Hummer is sold. Saab is sold. Oldsmobile and GEO are long distant memories.

By hook or by crook, GM was boiled down to what they should have remained focused upon in the first place: Chevy, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. It just took years of lackluster products, hemorrhaging money problems, millions from the government, and bankruptcy for GM to learn to focus on its core brands.

(I must admit, I was a bit upset when I heard Pontiac, which has a rich automotive history, was being phased out and Saturn was going to survive. This seemed quite unfair.)

So Saturn is dead. Would it have been better for GM if it had never been born?

Where is the Next Mr. Rogers?

Interesting blog post by my mother:

Where is the Next Mr. Rogers?

Pearl Jam - The Fixer (Video)

Go Ahead. Save the Planet. Just Don't Take My Spot

I ran across this on my new favorite website, Jalopnik, which features crazy tidbits about all aspects of automobiles.

Yes. That's right. Special parking for people driving Hybrid vehicles. At a hotel.

The first place I saw this was not on the web, but at my local IKEA store. (Finding something like this at IKEA was not at all surprising.)

This begs the question: What is this really about?

On the surface, I'm sure the justified reason for giving preferential treatment to the "hybrid community" is to show a reward for being a good citizen of the earth.

Good. This is what they want you to believe.

To me, the true reason is obvious.

The hotel chain in the picture wants to appear to be a "green" business. "Hey - you want to save the planet? We're cool with that. Here's a closer parking spot!"

Its marketing in a different direction. People who choose to drive hybrid vehicles tend to be very passionate about all things "green." Marketing departments understand this loyalty and have found a way to capitalize on it.

In all things retail/service, perception is reality. Cleaning product manufacturers don't come out with "green" cleaning products because its good for the environment. Food product companies don't suddenly come out with natural and organic lines because they want to promote healthier food. They change their product lines to capitalize on market trends and to change public perception to match those trends. If processed food and chemical cleaning agents are suddenly considered bad, and a company makes said products, they change the game to produce something that is in line with demand and what the public considers to be "good." If a hotel can brand itself as the "green" hotel, it will be guaranteed a certain loyal cliental.

I'm not saying any of this is bad. Being "green" is good. If given the chance, I'd be very happy owning a hybrid vehicle, especially after I got to spend a week with a Toyota Prius while my car was in the shop. Conservation and being friendly to the earth by the products we use and the way we live is good. It shouldn't be a political issue. We should all care about the planet and be careful with our environment.

So, hybrid owners: Enjoy your parking spot. You may feel rewarded for being green, but that business is really after your green.

Ryan Adams - Fix It

Best of the Internet

Here is your Wednesday, September 23, 2009 edition of the Best of the Internet! (Or at least the Internet that Static reads.)

Canadian Garages

Death Cab in a Cab

If You Printed the Internet

Drug Raid or 9 Hours of Wii?

And of course… taking the internet by storm…

People of Wal-Mart

Slice 'O Twitter: Mosters of Folk Edition

Monsters of Folk appeared on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien tonight. Approximately 15 minutes after the show concluded, here is what people were Tweeting about:

Geek Out Moment

Ok. Total geek-out moment.

Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel got married this past weekend.

Big event? Paparazzi? Made the headlines on TMZ?

Nope.

But Death Cab fans and Zooey fans (and there seems to be a lot of cross-over among these groups) are in "indie rock" heaven.

For me, it goes a little deeper. This is where my fantasy world gets waaaay real.

I love Death Cab for Cutie. I would call them my favorite band, inching past even Wilco, which is probably a better band. If I made music, it would sound like Death Cab. If I were a singer, I would want to sound like Ben Gibbard. In my little fantasy world, I would be Ben Gibbard.

At the same time, I have kind of developed a movie star crush on Zooey Deschanel ever since I saw her in Elf several years ago. This is a well-known crush. My wife will call me from the other room when she sees her on a movie commercial or the stray episode of Frasier in which she guest-starred.

"Hey, it's that actress you like..."

My little crush on Zooey got even bigger when she teamed up with M. Ward to form She & Him, a little indie rock outfit singing Zooey's retro-sounding, recorded-on-analog songs. A cute girl who can act AND sing AND write her own songs? And record them in one take? Genius.

When I ran across the news that Ben had proposed to Zooey shortly after Christmas, I went crazy. The guy I essentially wanted to be was marrying the girl I had a crush on.

This made perfect sense.

As I have read some blogs and news reports about the nuptials, the awesome thing that occurred is -- I am not the only one with these admirations/crushes on this just-at-the-radar couple.

Everywhere, fans of both are rejoicing.

(Perhaps this means Ben will stop writing the "fear of commitment" songs he's been cranking out lately.)

Congrats to the happy couple!