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A few months back I signed up for a google alert for “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” I have it set for “as it happens,” which may have been a mistake. At least four times daily I receive google alert messages in my mailbox. It has a weird break-down in terms of usable information and looks roughly like this:
Forty-five percent of the alerts link to blogs where the author uses the term in conjunction with the phrase “like a balloon in…,” often referring to how much someone ate recently or how much weight someone has gained. [I want to say useless; however, it indicates the cultural impact the parade has on this country.]
Thirty-five percent of the alerts link to the same blog posting about the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s 1997 parade appearance on the Jell-O “falloon”. [Absolutely useless information and sad-but-true: I ‘went to the video-tape’ (DVD actually) and they were in the 1997 parade.]
Ten percent of the time the alerts link to blogs whose authors either have participated previously or will be participating in this or next year’s parade carrying an instrument.
[Occasionally interesting/amusing accounts of people who are experiencing November weather in New York and/or the city itself for the first time.]
The remaining ten percent linked to useful articles, websites or press releases about entertainers, bands and characters scheduled to make appearances in this year’s parade. [So far I’ve learned that Wynonna will be performing something from her new Christmas album this year, Shrek will make an appearance in balloon-form (McDonald’s May ad campaign should have been a dead giveaway – it featured several Shrek the Third supporting cast members freeing and floating away on a giant Shrek inflatable tethered to a restaurant roof] - and as Macy’s holiday ambassador - and it costs on average about $500,000 to transport a marching band across the country.]
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