Ray Pride

Michigan Avenue's the city's prime brand extension.

Teenagers shout hoarsely from the back of pickups, pimping another brand of soda pop. Nike and Sony, cheek-by-jowl, erected branded cathedrals, confirming self-proclaimed cultural eminence. And there are the children of the damned: girls clutching weird-expressioned dolls from American Girl Place, hand-in-hand with moms clutching familiar red bags of girlie swag.

A little tact seems out of place, but the dedicated Mac store on Huron and Michigan, offering no signage beyond its tall translucent white apple, has kids streaming in bright-eyed this week, being rewarded for their parents' purchase of a computer this summer with a free week's seminars. For several weeks, employees have ambled the store as the most visible portion of the word-of-mouth campaign, wearing bright orange T-shirts, with the discreet apple and the word "Camp."

It's amazing to watch kids who aren't teenagers yet at the display computers: there's a ferocious intensity. They look heartbreakingly clever and competent. In all sixty-three retail stores around the U.S. this week, lectures and workshops are extending the brand, as the jargon goes, to kids from grades one to nine, but in a way that provides tools for learning as much as tools for buying. (For the most curious, there's a mini-course on making a movie, after which they'll burn the project to DVD.) It's a logical extension of Apple's extensive program for educators, and of the company's reputation for encouraging creative types--of all ages.

(2003-08-13)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
(Im Juli) A small, "Amelie"-like treat (which was produced around the same time as Jeunet's globe-straddling hit), Fatih Akin's "Im Juli" is a champion border-crosser, tossing "Run Lola Run"'s Moritz Bleibtreau into the heart of southwestern Europe in pursuit of fate.
(2003-08-05)

Short Runs
This week's limited screenings
(2003-08-05)

L.A. confidence
I never thought I'd live to see the day when thrills in a studio movie would come from sheer competence
(2003-08-05)

Tip of the Week
Sam Green and Bill Siegel's "The Weather Underground" is an impressively sturdy documentary about a difficult-to-master slice of American history, a sweet rebuke to the narcissism-as-entertainment wing of contemporary documentary practice
(2003-07-30)

The Oh No show
(2003-07-30)

Short Runs
(2003-07-30)

Tip of the Week
(2003-07-23)

Leaving Navy Pier
(2003-07-23)

Extras, extras
(2003-07-23)

Short Runs
(2003-07-23)

Tip of the Week
(2003-07-16)

Short Runs
(2003-07-16)

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