Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 23
June 9, 2023
Blockbuster: The Rise and Fall Of The Iconic Video Store
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Let’s rewind back to the early 2000s where movie rental stores reigned supreme and the best way to spend a Friday night as a kid was heading to your local Blockbuster. From action flicks to comedy and everything in between, Blockbuster had it all, and the process of picking out a physical movie to take home felt almost sacred. But seemingly overnight Blockbuster was ripped from our hands. What happened to Blockbuster? Yeah, sure they went bankrupt, but how did a multi-billion dollar company vanish so quickly?
The Blockbuster BoomAt its peak, Blockbuster owned over 9,000 stores in the United States, had 65 million registered customers and was valued at $3 billion dollars! Believe It or Not!, in one year, Blockbuster raked in over $800 million dollars worth of late fees alone! So how did a company with such booming success all but disappear in a little over a decade?
Blockbuster was started by David Cook, Cook saw the potential in the video-rental business and after opening the first Blockbuster in 1985, he saw quick success and opened three more stores in the next year! Blockbuster quickly cornered the video-rental market and separated themselves from other stores through their creative marketing and innovative barcode system.
Most video stores at the time could only keep track of a few hundred video titles per store, blockbuster, however, could keep track of 10,000 VHSes per store! Their signature barcode system not only allowed them more tracking analysis but also provided them with more potential to collect late fees which meant more money that could be invested into expanding.
Eventually Cook ended up leaving the company and one of their three major investors, Wayne Huizenga took over. With Huizenga in charge, an aggressive expansion campaign was mounted that involved both buying out competition and opening new Blockbuster stores at an unbelievable pace. At the peak, the chain was opening stores at a rate of one per day!
Behind The Blockbuster BustAs Blockbuster continued to explode, executives worried about rising cable companies potentially threatening their business model. Blockbuster even went as far as considering purchasing one but ultimately never came around. Believe It or Not!, Blockbuster was expanding at such a rate during this period they even considered opening up an amusement park in Florida although the idea, like the cable buyout, would ultimately be scrapped (this one probably for good reason though).
In 1994 Blockbuster was sold to Viacom for a whopping $8 billion dollars! At this point you’re probably even more confused at how this corporate behemoth was able to disappear off of the face of the earth after establishing itself so deep within our culture. Well, in just 2 years under Viacom ownership, Blockbuster’s value was cut in half, the first of many major mistakes.
Meanwhile, Netflix had just opened its digital doors and at this early stage was only delivering DVDs. Blockbuster would make another major mistake and pass on acquiring Netflix for $50 million dollars. Even though Netflix was considered a threat,Blockbuster felt positive they would come out dominant in the end.
To say Blockbuster missed the on-demand digital wave would not be totally accurate as they partnered with ENRON for a digital on-demand streaming service. The partnership ultimately failed though as Blockbuster didn’t show much interest in putting significant time into the partnership and ENRON faced internal struggles.
The Video Store Vanishing ActAs the up-and-comers of the industry began to abandon late fees and focus heavily on delivery-by-mail service, Blockbuster was slow on the jump, continuing to focus on their physical stores and waiting nearly five years to start its own online delivery service.
As Netflix was making record profits and expanding into a revolutionary streaming platform Blockbuster mainly continued to focus on revamping their stores and in 2009 posted a loss of over $500 million dollars. At this stage, the floodgates opened, partnerships began to flee, they were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and Blockbuster was experiencing a fall from grace unlike anything ever seen before.
As fast as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime rose with their on demand streaming, Blockbuster crashed. Maybe the most painful note is that if Blockbuster had embraced the changing industry rather than doubling down, they likely would have been a giant. As part of the $50 million dollar Blockbuster-Netflix buyout offer, Netflix would have run the Blockbuster brand online. Meaning the Blockbuster brand would have forged ahead into streaming with all of their institutional connections and support alongside Netflix’s digital buildout.
Ultimately, the failure of Blockbuster came down to the company’s disinterest in moving with the changing industry in any substantial way. Blockbuster had all the power at their fingertips to be at the forefront of the streaming wave. But through doubling down on their strategies and trying everything but what consumers desired, they managed to run a corporate giant into the ground in just a few years.
So there you have it – from a multi-billion dollar company, to a refusal to adapt to a changing industry, Blockbuster managed to wipe itself from the face of the Earth in an unbelievably short period of time! I’m sure there are some of you out there that may not even remember Blockbuster, which to be completely honest, makes me a little sad. Let me know in the comments below if you were a Blockbuster user and if any part of you misses the nostalgia of video rental stores. Until next time, I’m Jordan Neese, and this is Ripley’s Rewind.
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Blockbuster: The Rise and Fall Of The Iconic Video Store
Japanese Citizens Are Paying Experts To Learn How To Smile
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Following the pandemic, some people are seeking professional help for a reason that may surprise you—learning how to smile again. This seemingly natural movement for humans is apparently challenging to master for some people who are a little rusty when it comes to expressing their emotions. The good news is that they have someone to turn to for help.
Don’t Forget to SmileFormer radio host Keiko Kawano has been giving art school students in Tokyo, Japan, lessons on how to properly move their mouths upwards after years of wearing masks. She charges her pupils 7,700 yen ($55) per hour for one-on-one lessons, according to Reuters.
Kawano’s skills, and those on her team of smile coaches, are becoming increasingly more sought after in a country where the majority of citizens wore masks during the pandemic. Student Himawari Yoshida, 20, explained that the class was part of her school’s program in order to prepare students for the job market: “I hadn’t used my facial muscles much during COVID so it’s good exercise,” she said.
Seeing A DemandSensing a need in the market, Kawano created her company Egaoiku (Smile Education) in 2017, and it has experienced significant growth over the past year. Her customers include a wide range of clientele, such as companies that want friendly salespeople and local governments that want to increase residents’ contentment.
Japanese citizens embraced the mask-wearing trend long before the pandemic, commonly donning them during hay fever season and while taking exams to prevent spreading germs. Many citizens are still wearing them daily even though the Japanese government lifted its mask-wearing restriction earlier this year.
A recent poll by public broadcaster NHK revealed that only eight percent of Japanese people have completely stopped wearing masks, while 55 percent admitted to wearing them just as often as they were before restrictions were lifted.
Interestingly, about 25 percent of the art school students who took the Smile Education course with Kawano wore their masks during the class. She believes the younger generation has adapted to the habit and suggested that masks are an option for women who do not want to wear makeup or men who skip shaving.
Smile SaviorKawano has taken nearly two dozen smile coaches under her wing to show them the business of teaching the perfect smile. She calls her trademarked method the “Hollywood Style Smiling Technique.” It features crescent eyes, round cheeks, and shaping the mouth in just the right way in order to highlight a person’s upper row of teeth. Students use tablets to practice their smiles and are scored for their efforts.
Foreigners are once again traveling to Japan, and Kawano said there is a growing need for people to smile with their mouths as well as their eyes when interacting with others outside of their communities.
Westerners are culturally more predisposed to smiling than Japanese people, Kawano believes. There is also more behind a smile than meets the eye: “Culturally, a smile signifies that I’m not holding a gun and I’m not a threat to you,” Kawano explained.
By Noelle Talmon, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Japanese Citizens Are Paying Experts To Learn How To Smile
June 8, 2023
June 7, 2023
Mr. Electrico: The Sideshow Magician That Inspired Author Ray Bradbury
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, is among the most celebrated American science fiction writers to have ever lived. But well before his flourishing career started, Bradbury and his brother spent their summers working for traveling circuses that passed through their hometown of Waukegan, Illinois.
When Bradbury was only 12, a mystical encounter with a sideshow magician who went by the stage name Mr. Electrico, kickstarted his lifelong passion for writing.
However, shortly after their exchange, Mr. Electrico mysteriously disappeared into the dark cornfields of America’s heartland.
A Fateful EncounterThe murder of Bradbury’s uncle, Lester Moberg, left the young boy grappling with his own mortality during the summer of 1932. According to the author, he witnessed Mr. Electrico’s enthralling performance shortly after. The magician touched Bradbury on the nose with his sword, zapping between 50,000 and 10 billion volts of electricity through his tiny body before exclaiming, “Live forever!”
In 2001, Bradbury wrote, “I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of my encounter with Mr. Electrico … [he] gave me a future … I began to write, full-time. I have written every single day of my life since that day 69 years ago.”
The next day, Bradbury went to his beloved uncle’s funeral. He then returned to the circus to see the mysterious magician again. During their meeting, Mr. Electrico revealed that he had met Bradbury before in a former life. The magician said, “You were my best friend in France in 1918, and you died in my arms in the Battle of the Ardennes Forest that year. And here you are, born again, in a new body, with a new name. Welcome back!”
A few weeks later, Bradbury completed his first series of short stories. He wanted to become a writer to gain immortality.
Who Was Mr. Electrico?The young Bradbury’s exchange with Mr. Electrico was so profound that it not only changed the course of his life, but the author made the magician a featured character in his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. But who exactly was Mr. Electrico?
Both Bradbury fanatics and researchers have tried to find out, only to come up empty-handed. And although Bradbury’s accounts of his meetings with Mr. Electrico are incredibly detailed, many don’t add up.
For instance, Bradbury reported seeing the magician perform on Labor Day weekend of 1932, immediately after his uncle’s passing. However, Moberg didn’t succumb to his injuries until October 24, months after Labor Day.
While there was no shortage of “electric wonder workers” during the 1930s, no definitive records of a Mr. Electrico ever existed. Moreover, the mysterious magician seemed to have used a masculinized version of the stage name many “electric girls” of the time went by, including Miss Electra or Electricia.
Whether Mr. Electrico was a real magician or a mystical being that said the exact words Bradbury needed to hear at that point in his life, we’ll never know. However, it set into motion Bradbury’s literary life and love of writing. And for that, we are eternally grateful to the elusive Mr. Electrico.
By Stephanie Weaver, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Mr. Electrico: The Sideshow Magician That Inspired Author Ray Bradbury
June 6, 2023
UFO Roundup: The Most Out-Of-This-World UFO News (So Far!)
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Aliens have long garnered the public’s fascination, whether we’re talking the big-eyed grays of Roswell or more fantastical iterations of off-planet lifeforms like Chewbacca and Spock. Between 1947 and 1969 alone, the Air Force’s top secret Project Blue Book investigated more than 12,000 UFO sightings.
Examining a timeline of these appearances reveals the evolution of ufology, from the first “Man in Black” at Maury Island, Washington, to unexplained cattle mutilations at Skinwalker Ranch, Utah. Chatter about extraterrestrials has picked up pace over the past couple years, coupled with uncharacteristic disclosure from the government.
Let’s look at the biggest UFO news and what it could mean for humanity’s relationship to the rest of the universe (and its potential inhabitants).
NASA’s Unprecedented UFO BriefingPeople started using the word ufology to describe the study of UFOs somewhere between 1955 and 1960. This term is a testament to the many decades aliens have figured front and center in pop culture. Yet, despite unrelenting interest from the public, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has remained frustratingly mum on the topic.
So, it came as a huge surprise to many when NASA announced its first public UFO briefing on May 31, 2023. This meeting finally made it kosher for scientists and researchers to seriously scrutinize the potential of unidentified spacecraft. It also represented the culmination of a year’s work. The independent study team first formed in June 2022.
Researchers and scientists had mixed opinions following the event. Michael Masters of Montana Technological University explained, “I think it’s great that NASA, the U.S. Navy, and other organizations are starting to take the UFO question seriously. However, I find it strange that the U.S. Air Force, which has been openly investigating this phenomenon since the 1940s, is completely quiet on the issue in modern times.”
Despite a “meh” reaction from some, NASA did successfully promote its latest spacecraft lingo. Instead of UFOs, they’re now being called UAPs. This stands for unidentified aerial phenomena. It doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as the original acronym. But we’ll have to watch and see whether it catches on.
Pentagon Releases Stunning UFO VideosNASA’s UFO briefing followed fast on the heels of several other remarkable disclosures. These included the late April release of three so-called UFO videos by the Pentagon. In one video from 2004, two Navy fighter pilots filmed a round object hovering over the water roughly 100 miles off the Pacific Coast. And another from 2015 showed unidentified objects spinning through the air. This garnered the admiration of one pilot who exclaimed, “Look at that thing, dude! It’s rotating!”
Why did the Pentagon decide to release these videos now? By its own admission, it wished to avoid misconceptions about the veracity of the footage. Moreover, the Department of Defense (DOD) noted, “The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified.’”
When it comes to strange “aircraft” soaring through the upper atmosphere in the Pentagon’s recent video releases, theories abound. Nevertheless, the aircraft in question appears to defy the very laws of physics. This has left many who watch the videos scratching their heads.
UFO Reports From Service Members SkyrocketNASA briefings and Pentagon releases aside, America’s service members have also become more vocal about UAP sightings. A recently declassified American government document reveals soldiers reported 510 UFO sightings, up from 144 in 2021. Perhaps more shocking was the fact many of these encounters took place in sensitive or restricted airspace.
As a result, some argue getting to the bottom of these UAP sightings is paramount to national security. But there are sometimes other explanations for the phenomena. These include everything from mistaken drone sightings to the all-too-familiar “weather balloon” alibi.
But not every UAP experience can be excused away so easily. According to the report, 177 of the sightings fall under the larger umbrella of “uncharacterized and unattributed” phenomena. In other words, researchers couldn’t obtain enough data to come to any definitive conclusions. The report corroborates this: “Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis.”
By Engrid Barnett, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: UFO Roundup: The Most Out-Of-This-World UFO News (So Far!)
June 5, 2023
June 4, 2023
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