Let's Talk 2000

The heartbeat of 2000 A.D. from cyberspace"
May 1, 1996, Volume 2, Issue 8, a bi-weekly bulletin

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."

With the Olympics and U.S. elections on the horizon, the turn of the millennium might as well be a millennium away for most people. Don't let that fool you. By 1997, everyone will be asking, "What are we doing by the year 2000?" The flood waters of millennium awareness will be knee deep within a year.

All this means millennium opportunities for marketers, building brand name awareness and brand loyalty. But as a Fortune 500 company, how do you get that distinguished legitimacy, that extra competitive edge with 2000? In a word, you need perceived legitimacy.

Our lead feature below is about "The Official Celebration of the Year 2000(tm). It's a story about millennial prestige, stature and prominence and how to obtain all that without the help of government or religion! Like they say, "the Year 2000 is the marketing opportunity of the millennium."

Not just Madison Avenue, but Hollywood Boulevard is trying to take ground for the millennium. Read the how latest entertainment incarnation has appeared in Las Vegas and how its shows are appropriating the apocalypse. The Chinese proverb is definitely a prophecy for our bimillennial age, "May you live in interesting times."

For those receiving this bi-weekly bulletin for the first time, your comments on articles or web sites featured are welcome. Send your feedback by email to: 2000ad-l@usc.edu.

News from the Field:
"Here is the latest news on year 2000 efforts".

MARKETING THE MILLENNIUM
It's called "The Billennium(r), The Official Celebration of the Year 2000(tm)." And according to its 14-page glossy portfolio, it is the only globally registered trademark related to New Millennium's Eve(tm).

You won't find the term "billennium" in your dictionary. If spoken quickly, Billennium(r) may sound like "millennium." It has strong overtures to "bimillennial," the technical term for a 2,000 year period, but it is a distinct and speak easy icon. And 38-year old Chicago marketing guru, Mark Mitten, believes this moniker will become the household word for "the celebration of 2000 years of history."

Reminiscent of other successfully internationally recognized bicentennials, whether in the U.S., France or Australia, Mitten claims from 1999 to 2000, The Billennium(r) will be a once-in-a-lifetime global celebration, incorporating "the best of the best" entertainment, culture and education.

The Billennium Celebration(r) will be the high point. Staged in 24 historic sites around the world, this new millennium entertainment extravaganza will "celebrate's man's creative spirit and commemorates great achievements... of the past, present and future."

For Mitten, the proverbial "light bulb" related to the turn of the millennium was turned on back in 1991. In reading the Wall Street Journal report on how a cult leader had his followers sell their belongings, move out west because the apocalypse was coming, Mitten thought, "Why not take what some people see as negative and turn it into a positive?" Within months, the Mitten Group was established to counter "millennial madness" and create a Year 2000 focal point for consumer interest and excitement.

"Literally billions of people will discover the world, their neighbors and themselves through this event," claims Mitten, "leaving a lasting cultural and educational experience on the international, national and personal levels." In fact, Mitten has created The Billennium(r) Foundation as a non-profit vehicle to help attain this educational goal.

"There is no lack of good ideas, even great ideas about how to celebrate 2000," says Mitten, "the biggest challenge is providing focus, something provocative, fun, and relevant to human race." From all appearances, The Billennium(r) has that focus, and is the leader to watch in how the millennium will be marketed. Source: talk2000@rmii.com

For more information on The Billennium write: billennium@aol.com or visit http://www.billennium.com

CITIZENS CALL FOR PEACE 2000
Cuidad Colon, Costa Rica (UOP)--Twenty-four citizen diplomats from five countries met in Costa Rica from April 13-14 to consider how various peace movements should celebration the year 2000, and symbolically welcome the third millennium as a "Millennium of Peace."

Mr. Rodrigo Carazo, former President of Costa Rica and founder of the UN's University for Peace opened the meetings, and Ms. Lois Nicolai, of World Citizen Diplomats, Princeton, NJ conducted the meetings. Much of the deliberations focused on what the United Nations should do in reference to the year 2000. Recommendations issued by the Costa Rica meeting include:

--that the General Assembly should a adopt a resolution calling for its member states to prepare to celebration the year 2000 as an "International Year of Peace."

--that the United Nations invite people everywhere, including the media, firms, foundations and NGOs to use the time from now till 2000 as a time for reflection, stock-taking, confession, forgiveness, rededication and vision.

--that a World Youth Assembly be convened by the United Nations before the Year 2000.

A steering committee for what organizers are calling the "World Peace 2000 Network" was formed and agreed to meet in late July to create a plan-of-action to include all citizen initiatives globally. Source: David Woolfson, Toronto 2000.

Talk from the Forum:
"Here is a recap of recent conversations"

LAS VEGAS' APOCALYPTIC IMAGINATION
According to Michael Grosso, our new philosopher on Talk 2000, not just Disney, but Las Vegas is defining the way endtime ideas and apocalyptic imagery pervade popular culture. Grosso writes:

"Has anyone been to Las Vegas lately? For me it was a mini-apocalypse, in the literal greek sense of the word. I was there a couple of weeks ago for a computer conference, and was startled to note how the town has turned into a mecca of family entertainment. All the sleaze has been sanitized through the corporations.

"Las Vegas is a monstrous and growing icon of postmodernism, if we take APPROPRIATION as one of the strategies of PO MO. In Las Vegas, a new outpost of Disneyland, all history has been appropriated by a severely profit-ruled entertainment industry.

"Vegas might be evidence for the idea that history will end not with a bang but a whimper. Item: the Luxor Hotel, with theme built around mystic Egypt. For $11 one is afforded the chance to appropriate the essense of mystic Egypt. The massive throbbing swatch of human experience called Egyptian history is distilled into an hour of Hollywood special effects, indifferently purchasable for a modest sum.

"The unique feature of the Luxor show is that they make this eschato- entertainment VIRTUALLY PHYSICAL. The final segment is called THE THEATER OF TIME. You literally sit in a theatre before a gigantic screen, gizmoed up in a chair that subjects you to virtual sensations of frantic movement. The story line is a battle to secure an obelisk of light, which is slyly posititioned (the old Vegas subtext) as a dildo for the heroine. You are meant to physically vibrate with this magical quest for supernatural power. In a simulation of Armageddon, you find yourself battling away and soaring over ruined cities, landscapes of fire, garbage, and wreckage.

"But in the end, the Good Guy and Girl, played by athletic soapopera actors, capture the Obelisk of Light. On to the Last Scene: Triumph at the End of Time--ecco the Millennium. A new world has dawned--you float gently over a Floridalike beachfront, packed, oddly enough, with futuristic highrisers overlooking a placid sea. In place of birds in the sky, you see little airmachines cruising about, like the scooters I remember from Coney Island.

"So there it was, eschatology in a package; not only is history appropriated but the idea of the end of history. As DeNiro says in 'Casino': 'In Las Vegas all your sins are washed away.'

New Millennial Sites:
"Here are new sites in cyberspace"

CHRONO TRIGGER PAGE: "Time traveling fantasy game"
In 1999, alien induced volcanic eruptions plung earth into a dark age. But a slim beam of hope shines from the past. A boy named Crono and his friends from 1000 A.D. have discovered a way to travel through time and perhaps, to rewrite history. This web page describes the plot of Chrono Trigger, a 32-Megabit "Nintendo" fantasygame.
http://www.gprep.pvt.k12.md.us/~hbragg/Chrono.html

PROJECT WAM 2000: "Universal communication minute"
To celebrate the era of universal communication andthe global dimension of humankind, a Spanish communications group is proposing that on January 1st of the year 2000, all communications mediums, whether TV, radio, Internet be linked to
share a one minute message of music.
http://www.cinet.fcr.es/CinetSpace/wam2000/

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

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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.