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Max Headroom
Max Headroom is a fictional character played by actor Matt Frewer. Advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter", Max was known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, stuttering, and pitch-shifting voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton. Max was advertised as "computer-generated", and some believed this, but he was actually actor Frewer wearing prosthetic makeup, contact lenses, and a plastic moulded suit, and sitting in front of a blue screen. Harsh lighting and other editing and recording effects heighten the illusion of a CGI character. According to his creators, Max's personality was meant to be a satirical exaggeration of the worst tendencies of television hosts in the 1980s who wanted to appeal to youth culture, yet were not a part of it. Frewer proposed that Max reflected an innocence, largely influenced not by mentors and life experience but by information absorbed from television. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Headroom (TV Series)
''Max Headroom'' is an American satirical cyberpunk science fiction television series by Chrysalis Visual Programming and Lakeside Productions for Lorimar-Telepictures that aired in the United States on ABC from March 31, 1987, to May 5, 1988. The series is set in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks, and features the character and media personality Max Headroom. The story is based on the Channel 4 British TV film produced by Chrysalis, '' Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future''. Premise In the future, an oligarchy of television networks rules the world. Even the government functions primarily as a puppet of the network executives, serving mainly to pass laws—such as banning "off" switches on televisions—that protect and consolidate the networks' power. Television technology has advanced to the point that viewers' physical movements and thoughts can be monitored through their television sets. Almost all non-television technology has b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Coke
New Coke was the unofficial name of a reformulation of the soft drink Coca-Cola, introduced by the Coca-Cola Company in April 1985. It was renamed Coke II in 1990, and discontinued in July 2002. By 1985, Coca-Cola had been losing market share to diet soft drinks and non-cola beverages for several years. Blind taste tests suggested that consumers preferred the sweeter taste of the competing product Pepsi-Cola, and so the Coca-Cola recipe was reformulated. The American public reacted negatively, and New Coke was considered a major failure. The company reintroduced the original formula within three months, rebranded "Coca-Cola Classic", resulting in a significant sales boost. This led to speculation that the New Coke formula had been a ploy to stimulate sales of the original Coca-Cola, which the company has vehemently denied. The story of New Coke remains influential as a cautionary tale against tampering with an established successful brand. Background After World War II, Coca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Baxter
Ted Baxter is a fictional character on the sitcom ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (1970–1977). Portrayed by Ted Knight, the Baxter character is a broad parody of a vain, shallow, buffoonish, vacuous TV personality. Knight's comedic model was actor William Powell, and he also drew on Los Angeles newscasters, including George Putnam, to shape the character. The role was originally conceived for Jack Cassidy, but Cassidy turned it down; he later appears in the season two episode "Cover Boy" as Ted's equally egocentric brother Hal. Ted Baxter has become a symbolic figure often referenced when criticizing media figures, particularly news anchors hired for style and appearance rather than journalistic ability. Character Ted Baxter is the pompous and narcissistic nitwit anchorman at fictitious station WJM-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Satirizing the affectations of news anchormen, the character speaks in a vocal fry register parody of the narrator of the Movietone News film reels ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instant Camera
An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friendly instant cameras and film, and were followed by various other manufacturers. The invention of commercially viable instant cameras which were easy to use is generally credited to Edwin Land, the inventor of the model 95 Land Camera, widely considered the first commercial instant camera, in 1948, a year after he unveiled instant film in New York City. In February 2008, Polaroid filed for Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code, Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time and announced it would discontinue production of its instant films and cameras, shut down three manufacturing facilities, and lay off 450 workers. Sales of analog film by all makers dropped by at least 25% per year in the first decade of the 21st century. In 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multi-storey Car Park
A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed for car, motorcycle, and bicycle parking in which parking takes place on more than one floor or level. The first known multistorey facility was built in London in 1901 and the first underground parking was built in Barcelona in 1904 (see history). The term multistorey (or multistory) is almost never used in the United States, because almost all parking structures have multiple parking levels. Parking structures may be heated if they are enclosed. Design of parking structures can add considerable cost for planning new developments, with costs in the United States around $28,000 per space and $56,000 per space for underground (excluding the cost of land), and can be required by cities in parking mandates for new buildings. Some cities such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multinational Corporation
A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and controls the production of goods or services in at least one country other than its home country. Control is considered an important aspect of an MNC to distinguish it from international portfolio investment organizations, such as some international mutual funds that invest in corporations abroad solely to diversify financial risks. Most of the current largest and most influential companies are Public company, publicly traded multinational corporations, including Forbes Global 2000, ''Forbes'' Global 2000 companies. History Colonialism The history of multinational corporations began with the history of colonialism. The first multinational corporations were founded to set up colonial "factories" or port cities. The two main examples were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dystopia
A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. Dystopia is widely seen as the opposite of utopia – a concept coined by Thomas More in 1516 to describe an ideal society. Both ''topias'' are common topics in fiction. Dystopia is also referred to as cacotopia, or anti-utopia. Dystopias are often characterized by fear or distress, tyrannical governments, environmental disaster, or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Themes typical of a dystopian society include: complete control over the people in a society through the use propaganda and police state tactics, heavy censorship of information or denial of free thought, worship of an unattainable goal, the complete loss of individuality, and heavy enforcement of conform ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch, elevator speech, lift speech, or elevator statement is a short description of an idea, product, or company that explains the concept in a way such that any listener can understand it in a short period of time. This description typically explains who the thing is for, what it does, why it is needed, and how it will get done. When explaining an individual person, the description generally explains one's skills and goals, and why they would be a productive and beneficial person to have on a team or within a company or project. An elevator pitch does not have to include all of these components, but it usually does at least explain what the idea, product, company, or person is and their value. Unlike a sales pitch, an elevator pitch can be used in a variety of ways, and may not have a clear buyer-seller relationship. The goal is simply to convey the overall concept or topic being pitched in a concise and exciting way. The name—elevator pitch—reflects the idea th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Headroom Signal Hijacking
The Max Headroom signal hijacking (also known as the Max Headroom incident) was a hijacking of the television signals of two stations in Chicago, Illinois, on November 22, 1987, that briefly sent a pirate broadcast of an unidentified person wearing a Max Headroom mask and costume to thousands of home viewers. The first incident took place during the sports segment of independent TV station WGN-TV's 9:00 p.m. newscast and featured a person wearing a mask swaying erratically in front of a semi-swiveling corrugated metal panel, apparently meant to resemble Max Headroom's animated geometric background. Unlike the later intrusion, the only sound was a loud buzz. In total, the interruption went on for almost 30 seconds before engineers at WGN were able to regain control of their broadcast tower. The second incident occurred about two hours later during PBS member station WTTW's broadcast of the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Horror of Fang Rock''. With nobody on duty at the affected tower, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
