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27 SEP 04: TAXI DRIVE
A trip to Peachtree Mall stunned me Sunday - as ads promoting an upcoming movie were all over the place. I don't think Victoria's Secret ever has been allowed to advertise its TV fashion show like this....
Ads for the movie "Taxi" hung from the ceiling of Peachtree Mall, near Rich's-Macy's. Not simply one poster, but several of the same poster. I knew right away it had to be a movie, because SafetyCab won't be in business again for a couple of months.
The movie promotion didn't stop at the ceiling. A giant billboard for "Taxi" was on a stage. Little signs were on the Peachtree Mall doors. Even the trays in the food court had "Taxi" placemats on them! Some political campaign is missing out on a golden opportunity here....
I didn't walk from end to end through Peachtree Mall, but I saw enough at the west end to get the message. There's a new movie coming out called "Taxi" - and Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah must be switching names for it, because Latifah's name is below Fallon's head on the ads.
Yet here's what struck me as strange about all this: dozens of ads promoting a movie are in a mall with NO movie theatre inside it! Yes, there's the "Peachtree 8" across the parking lot from Penney's.-- but still, that's a discount house! Instead of "Taxi, October," they'll do well to have it by January.
(There were so many ads inside the mall that I started to wonder if "Taxi" was filmed in Columbus without anybody knowing it. Does someone hijack a cab in Atlanta, and drive it to Dothan?)
The makers of "Taxi" must have left Peachtree Mall a big tip to promote this movie so much. So why isn't there some kind of promotion with Columbus cab companies? You'd think only one of them would be "yellow" about accepting an offer like that....
Is this how the new owners of Peachtree Mall plan to improve it - by putting up annoying ads all over the corridors? I suppose it beats raising the rent for tenants. But where would a Parisian or a Penney's go - back downtown? Some bars on
Broadway would have to close, to make room for them.
Now some other items from an eye-opening weekend:
+ Which area grocery store is selling boxes of Cheerios with Canadian labels on them? I know this is happening, because one was passed on to me. Are cereals becoming like prescription drugs -- cheaper to import from Canada?
(And another thing: do the managers stocking Cheerios from Canada realize the second language on the box is French, not Spanish?)
+ A high wind watch was issued for Columbus, as Tropical Storm Jeanne moves north. Today should be a great day for a long run outside - but turning around and jogging home into the wind will be another matter.
+ Atlanta's baseball team beat Florida 6-3. Atlanta's football team beat Arizona 6-3. About the only thing missing in Georgia sports was having the Davis Cup semifinals at the Stone Mountain Tennis Center....
+ David Rainer was named "Fox 54's Idol" at the Bradley Theater. He now heads for the San Francisco "American Idol" auditions. If Rainer winds up in a "worst singers" TV show this winter, all the local judges should be required to get a
hearing exam.
(David Rainer is only 17, and now he'll go to San Francisco. If he doesn't make the cut for "American Idol," he might still attract interest from guys looking for boyfriends....)
+ Instant Message to St. Luke United Methodist Church: Did you really mean to do that Sunday? I mean, singing the song "Morning Has Broken" during the service -- only days after the former Cat Stevens was barred from the U.S.?
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: If you want to avoid the Cat Stevens version of "Morning Has Broken," I sing it on my album.)
COMING TUESDAY: Where I'm going, and why I'm going there....
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