Let's Talk 2000
January 15, 1996, Volume 2, Issue 2
The heartbeat of 2000 A.D. from cyberspace"
Topics covered in this issue:
The Millennium Doctor Speaks
News from the Field:
Talk from the Forum:
New Millennial Sites:
Contact Information
The Millennium Doctor Speaks:
"Taking the pulse of 2000 A.D."
"It's time to market like its 1999!" Business have been cashing
in on the millennium since the late '80s by naming their products after
2000. But now, a growing number of companies are allowing the millennial
zeitgeist to shape their entire mission. This issue of "Let's Talk
2000" highlights both the successes and failures of companies which
are working to celebrate the advent of the third millennium.
News from the Field:
"Here is the latest news on year 2000 efforts"
21ST CENTURY LIMITED DERAILED
In 1991, Ross Rowland, Jr., president of the now bankrupt and dissolved
"21st Century Limited Productions," set out in 1991 to create
a $562 million entertainment and educational extravaganza for the turn of
the century. Rowland's traveling "World's Fair" on a train garnered
sponsors like Chrysler and Kraft Foods. But apparently due to oversized
egos and mismanagement, what was to be America's premier millennial train
ride is now off-track, bankrupt, and liquidated.
The "21st Century Limited" was to premier this month in Florida
led by a steam-powered locomotive carrying more than 600 artifacts on its
75 city tour. The exposition on tracks was to be modeled after the Bicentennial
"American Freedom Train" of 1976. It's cars intended to feature
the technological advances of the 20th century and look ahead to the 21st.
But disputes in 1993 between Rowland and the company's former vice chairman,
Ralph Weisinger, derailed this Lebanon, New Jersey project in courts. By
February, 1995, the project ended up in bankruptcy court, with an anonymous
person buying the name, "21st Century Limited." This past week,
Rowland said that person might be Weisinger, who may plan before the millennium's
end to roll out 21st Century Limited on seven big- wheelers for an American
journey. New report from: begin@rmii.com
MILLENNIUM 2000 BOOKS BY FULCRUM
To celebrate the landmark event of 2000, Fulcrum, a major western publisher
out of Denver, Colorado has released a series of Millennium 2000(tm)
books and calendars that offers a look at the past century and the chance
to dream about the future. The first of six titles is: Millennium 2000(tm)
Journal (Fulcrum, 1995, ISBN: 1-55591-280-X, $24.95), a 2,000-day journal
which allows people to celebrate the turning of the millennium, from now
till May, 2001. The hardcover Journal features acid-free paper, lay-flat
binding and tips on how to record personal experiences, family history,
world and local events and books read.
In addition to the Millennium 2000(tm) Journal, Fulcrum has released,
"This Day in American History," and "Women Speak," two
"Millennium 2000(tm) Engagement Calendars" ($15.95 each). Three
other books complete the series released for 1995,
20th Century America: 100 Influential People
20th Century America: Key Events in History
Sports in the 20th Century
Fulcrum says other Millennium 2000(tm) titles will follow as we approach
the new century. Dr. Robert C. Baron serves as the Millennium 2000(tm)
series editor. He is the Chairman of the Board of American Antiquarian Society
and a member of the Western History Assocation. He is author of Soul
of America: Documenting the American Past, Vol 1 & 2 (Fulcrum, 1994).
Fulcrum Publishing, 350 Indiana Street, Ste 350, Golden, CO 80401-5093,
1-800-992-2908.
Talk from the Forum:
"Here is a recap of recent conversations"
MILLENNIAL CHANGE IS LIKE SPRING CLEANING
You should listen to a Talk 2000 mom turned philosopher, Penelope
Boston millennial change is really like housework. In her own words:
"So, you ask, what do my Natural Circadian Housework Rhythms have to
do with the Millennium? I believe that it is simply an individual expression
of the basic impulses that we are collectively feeling with regard to the
millennium. It is a chance to do a civilization-wide spring cleaning with
a particular point in time as a target. People respond to deadlines. They
help to order the universe for us, however artificially, as do our senses
of time."
"I think I have decided that as a small and short-lived organism myself,
that it is perfectly OK for the change of the millennium to matter to me
for its own sake, that I do not need to endow it with properties and powers
that it does not inherently possess. That I can celebrate it with as much
hoopla and shallowness of purpose as I want. Alternatively, if I want to
indulge in some sort of Great Work, I am free to do that provided that I
realize that the millennium is merely a great excuse for doing what I would
want to do otherwise and not some mandate from the Divine."
"So, I guess I'm not a magus after all, just a mensch slouching towards
the Big Spring Cleaning and hoping to enjoy the results for the decades
to follow during my own brief space of time."
New Millennial Sites:
"Here are new sites in cyberspace"
CYBERLAB 7: "CELEBRATING THE MILLENNIUM
IN CYBERSPACE"
The artists and technologists of Cyberlab 7 are helping various "MTV"
type mega-events, from techno-concerts to art extravangandas, to prepare
real time millennial celebrations in cyberspace. Check out this media companies
web site to see demos of these interactive, visual realities, which could
well become a primary medium for festivals in the 21st century.
http://www.well.com/user/tcircus/Cyberlab7/index.html
TIMES SQUARE: "THE SEARCH FOR THE BIG IDEA"
The contest has ended. For the past 9 months, the Times Square Business
Improvement District carried out an international search for the best way
to mark the millennium in New Yorks' Times Square, the Crossroads of the
World. Read about the contest and results at:
http://www.mediabridge.com/nyc/bids/tsbid/index.html
Contact Information:
"Your link to the third millennium"
Talk 2000 Forum Home Page: http://humnet.humberc.on.ca/talk2000.htm
Talk 2000 Newsgroup: bit.listserv.2000ad-l
Subscribe to daily Talk 2000 E-mail Forum: listproc@usc.edu
Include this command as the body of your message:
subscribe 2000ad-l <Your first & last name>
Subscribe to this "Let's Talk 2000" bi-monthly letter: talk2000@rmii.com
subscribe letstalk-l<Your first & last name>
Submissions of newsworthy items: 2000ad-l@usc.edu
Publisher & editor: talk2000@rmii.com
Jay Gary , aka The Millennium Doctor
author, The Star of 2000
(719) 636-2000 Phone
Publication keywords: groups, events, society, millennium
LET''S TALK 2000 © 1996 Bimillennial Press, Inc. All rights
reserved.
LET''S TALK 2000 is a trademark of Bimillennial Press, Inc.