Yes, Saga food is not that good, but the people there are fabulous! You know Roberta. And the people at Post office and House Office and XX office, they are so lovely and helpful.
The professors are really our friends. I really treasure this quality.
And I love to go to Ficom. It is just so entertaining and I learn a lot of things.
Almost everything is free. There's money running around, all you need to do is dig it out.
OPRA is amazing! Just talk to the people there, and you will love them.
I'm working for Spiritual Life Office. I almost think that I should pay them instead of being paid because I enjoy working there.
My hall in Dakin is cool and quite (not always, honestly, Ha!) and very friendly, which is great. And we have single rooms. What else can I ask for?
The Chinese students here are like a big family. I am very grateful.
......
Thank you all, my friends!
2009/11/11
2009/11/07
Harry Potter: an industrial and marketing legend
Harry Potter might be forgotten as a children fantasy literature in several years, but the industrial success of Harry Potter will always be remembered and revisited.
I just watched the Chinese Program "Dao of Business (Shang Dao)". They made a brilliant series examine the success and imagination of Harry Potter success, looking at marketing, publishing, film making, star making, franchise operations, toys, theme parks... This list can go on forever. The whole industrial chain is creating a value of more than $200 billion! And more than 70% profit is made outside the film and books.
This is just so amazing. I can't help admiring the creativity and energy. Capitalism is not all bad.
The whole story is full of contingency. But when we look at the industrial chain behind the Harry Potter books, it is very clear that there will must be a legend like this happening, whether or not it is Harry Potter or Peter Henry or something else.
The success of Harry Potter is a wonderful case study for almost all industries.
Culture: To please the American readers, the publisher changed the name of "HP and Philosopher's stone" into "Sorcerer's stone", and made the author's name appear as JK Rowling in order not to let people know the book is from a female writer (but this become unnecessary when JK Rowling becomes a legend herself and added to the popularity of the book).
Marketing: the publisher spent millions of dollar to promote the book even before the book is in the book store. They repackaged JK Rowling according to her personality and fully used Rowling's Cinderella story. The publisher hired writer all over the nation to write reviews on Harry Potter, making the book appear not just as a children's book, but has all the quality to become popular before it reaches the market. The publisher went on to lead the New York Times and Boston Globe to highly recommend the book.
Time Warner: Time Warner is the biggest winner as well as the ultimate designer behind the show, profiting from Harry Potter more than $6billion. They are just impossible. They formed a 3D, worldwide alliance to promote the book. Coca Cola, Lego, Disney, Universal Studio, famous people... They used all means to create expectation and all kinds of headline. Each position in the film can be a new headline. They not only succeed in keeping the topic hot; they made it hotter and hotter every time they appear in the news. They changed director for the film frequently, made the content of new books more confidential than national secrets, they choose actors for Harry Potter as 60,000 children applied. They just made it an phenomenon! Then they cooperated with all industries and corporation, made toys, paper games and build theme park!
What's more, they are not harming anyone's interests. Unlike those financial institutions who screw everyone else up, Harry Potter legend just created a huge market and wealth out of nothing, creating tens of world level stars, new jobs, endless market. And this is benefiting almost anybody. This is real magic!
Now, China is going to learn from it.
I just watched the Chinese Program "Dao of Business (Shang Dao)". They made a brilliant series examine the success and imagination of Harry Potter success, looking at marketing, publishing, film making, star making, franchise operations, toys, theme parks... This list can go on forever. The whole industrial chain is creating a value of more than $200 billion! And more than 70% profit is made outside the film and books.
This is just so amazing. I can't help admiring the creativity and energy. Capitalism is not all bad.
The whole story is full of contingency. But when we look at the industrial chain behind the Harry Potter books, it is very clear that there will must be a legend like this happening, whether or not it is Harry Potter or Peter Henry or something else.
The success of Harry Potter is a wonderful case study for almost all industries.
Culture: To please the American readers, the publisher changed the name of "HP and Philosopher's stone" into "Sorcerer's stone", and made the author's name appear as JK Rowling in order not to let people know the book is from a female writer (but this become unnecessary when JK Rowling becomes a legend herself and added to the popularity of the book).
Marketing: the publisher spent millions of dollar to promote the book even before the book is in the book store. They repackaged JK Rowling according to her personality and fully used Rowling's Cinderella story. The publisher hired writer all over the nation to write reviews on Harry Potter, making the book appear not just as a children's book, but has all the quality to become popular before it reaches the market. The publisher went on to lead the New York Times and Boston Globe to highly recommend the book.
Time Warner: Time Warner is the biggest winner as well as the ultimate designer behind the show, profiting from Harry Potter more than $6billion. They are just impossible. They formed a 3D, worldwide alliance to promote the book. Coca Cola, Lego, Disney, Universal Studio, famous people... They used all means to create expectation and all kinds of headline. Each position in the film can be a new headline. They not only succeed in keeping the topic hot; they made it hotter and hotter every time they appear in the news. They changed director for the film frequently, made the content of new books more confidential than national secrets, they choose actors for Harry Potter as 60,000 children applied. They just made it an phenomenon! Then they cooperated with all industries and corporation, made toys, paper games and build theme park!
What's more, they are not harming anyone's interests. Unlike those financial institutions who screw everyone else up, Harry Potter legend just created a huge market and wealth out of nothing, creating tens of world level stars, new jobs, endless market. And this is benefiting almost anybody. This is real magic!
Now, China is going to learn from it.
2009/11/02
Your TV: Killer or Teacher?
Today’s New York Times has a small article on the Business section, saying that kids from 2-5 year old watch on average 25 hours of TV per week, plus 7 extra hours of DVDs, computer games and so on.
Last year when I was in Germany, my host family told me that a German adult watch on average 3 hours of TV per day. I just can’t understand how a human could spend a third of his day time in from of a TV set. I am always shocked when I hear these figures. And I feel very worried.
The influence is very profound. We are what we see and hear. Our behavior is heavily influenced by our surrounding. Most TV programs are full of violence and sex. Therefore it is not hard to understand the high violence rate and more and more frequent serious crime. When crime and sex become the psychological and biological pattern in our mind and body, our world becomes passive and dirty. And this pattern is strengthened every day and night by media.
Someone said: maybe next time when we take a family picture, we should put our TV set in the picture, too. Many people spend more time with their TV than with their family. They don’t smile to their friends, but laugh wildly with TV shows.
Each TV is a teacher in the household. There are millions of TV teachers around the nation, but they don’t teach good things. Sometimes I really hope that all TV channels will broadcast one hour of Buddhist master’s teaching per day to purify people soul.
There’s a famous experience conducted by a Japanese scientist. He proved that water is influenced by human thoughts. When we give the water a blessing of love and hope and then put the water into a fridge, the water crystal is extremely beautiful. But when we think about killing and hate, the crystal will be very ugly.
If this is what thought can do to water, imagine what thoughts can do to us, considering that human body are 80% water.
Media can be the most powerful tool to change this sad situation. But most media is driven by profit, not happiness or quality of life. If this equation can not be broken, human will suffer longer in the trap he himself made. Maybe my career will eventually focus on combining economic incentive with doing good things, creating a good mechanism that real virtues are rewarded, building a moral media while maintaining good income. Let’s wait and see.
Last year when I was in Germany, my host family told me that a German adult watch on average 3 hours of TV per day. I just can’t understand how a human could spend a third of his day time in from of a TV set. I am always shocked when I hear these figures. And I feel very worried.
The influence is very profound. We are what we see and hear. Our behavior is heavily influenced by our surrounding. Most TV programs are full of violence and sex. Therefore it is not hard to understand the high violence rate and more and more frequent serious crime. When crime and sex become the psychological and biological pattern in our mind and body, our world becomes passive and dirty. And this pattern is strengthened every day and night by media.
Someone said: maybe next time when we take a family picture, we should put our TV set in the picture, too. Many people spend more time with their TV than with their family. They don’t smile to their friends, but laugh wildly with TV shows.
Each TV is a teacher in the household. There are millions of TV teachers around the nation, but they don’t teach good things. Sometimes I really hope that all TV channels will broadcast one hour of Buddhist master’s teaching per day to purify people soul.
There’s a famous experience conducted by a Japanese scientist. He proved that water is influenced by human thoughts. When we give the water a blessing of love and hope and then put the water into a fridge, the water crystal is extremely beautiful. But when we think about killing and hate, the crystal will be very ugly.
If this is what thought can do to water, imagine what thoughts can do to us, considering that human body are 80% water.
Media can be the most powerful tool to change this sad situation. But most media is driven by profit, not happiness or quality of life. If this equation can not be broken, human will suffer longer in the trap he himself made. Maybe my career will eventually focus on combining economic incentive with doing good things, creating a good mechanism that real virtues are rewarded, building a moral media while maintaining good income. Let’s wait and see.
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