Word: crazed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...noticed. According to the boomer law of cultural tyranny, if the boomers are having families, then we must all turn our attention to the problems of families. Newspapers, magazines, advertising and especially politics are consumed with the subject. Baby boomers have even invented a verb to describe this new craze: "to parent," which suggests the rearing of children is just another one of life's many options--a means of self-fulfillment like mountain biking or enrolling in a clogging class...
...show that got the reformation rolling was Touched by an Angel. In 1993 CBS went hunting for something fluffy to cash in on the New Age angel craze. What it got instead from executive producer Martha Williamson was some heavy religious programming. Each week three angels (Della Reese, Roma Downey and John Dye) come to earth to counsel souls in crisis. Basically, they tell them to shut up and trust God, and then the angel of death takes someone away. It is great melodrama--Job replayed weekly--but pretty tough stuff. Nervous CBS execs ordered six episodes--and prepared...
Tamagotchi, the latest toy craze in Japan, arrived last week in a Brink's truck at Manhattan's FAO Schwarz. The egg-shaped pet chick has a virtual life right on a key chain, where it's hatched, lives and dies--virtually. When it beeps, the owner is supposed to pet it by pressing its buttons. The chick even leaves virtual droppings to be cleaned up. It sells on Japan's black market for $500, but the suggested U.S. retail price is $15. The profits are real...
...book-club craze linked to the aging of the American mind? Bart Schneider, who publishes the Minnesota-based Hungry Mind Review, is certain it is. "There's this whole 'soul industry' springing up," he says. "Baby boomers are awakening to the total emptiness of their lives, and reading is something they know is important and haven't quite forgotten how to do. Plus, a book club sure beats church and synagogue." In Los Angeles, traditionally the land of rampant intellectual insecurity and social transience, some book clubs fulfill a crucial dual role: they elevate members' sensibilities while helping them...
There is one business, strangely, that is not making money off the reading craze: publishing. Profits are eroding. Revenues are flat. At HarperCollins, profits fell 66% in the second half of 1996, and it is rumored that Rupert Murdoch, the owner, is looking to quit the book business. Other companies are cutting staff and closing down divisions. Industry executives agree that more and more readers are buying more and more books; a record 2.17 billion books were sold in the U.S. last year, up about 20 million copies from the previous year and 100 million from 1993. But the action...