Comcast Finishes FreeWheel Acquisition
http://recode.net/2014/03/06/comcast-finishes-freewheel-acquisition/
Comcast has wrapped up its deal to buy FreeWheel, the Web video ad-serving company.
The two companies signed their paperwork yesterday, and informed employees last night. The cable giant will end up paying $360 million for the seven-year-old startup, sources said. If you throw in employee retention bonuses and other comp, the number could hit $375 million.
FreeWheel helps Web companies deliver video ads, and has specialized in locking up deals with big media companies like Viacom, Fox and Comcast’s NBCUniversal. (NBCUniversal is a minority investor in Re/code.) FreeWheel had raised more than $30 million, and last year it booked $22 million in revenue, according to a person familiar with the company.
Sources say the plan is for FreeWheel to run as a standalone company within Comcast, similar to the way video software company thePlatform has operated since Comcast bought that startup in 2006. All of FreeWheel’s employees, including CEO Doug Knopper and his two co-founders, are expected to stay with the company.
A Conversation with Fred and Carrie
When browsing NYCGo.com last weekend, I noticed an event for Portlandia fans: A Conversation with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. There were still several seats available on the 3rd row! I immediately bought 2 and went there last Tue night with Wen.
We both love this show a lot, maybe because it was the first sketch comedy we watched? (For Chinese readers, 万万没想到 might be the closest thing to sketch comedy among well-known Chinese TV shows.) But I tend to think we are just fascinated by the talents of the 2 creators. The stories are all set in Portland, a faraway small city illustrated as sort of a Utopia with nice but a little weird people. They play these stories in extremely exaggerated and funny ways that can make us laugh a lot and not feel bored or stupid at all. Actually you see some sort of wisdom in it. I talked with a few friends about this show. They are usually curious after hearing me describe one or two clips. But not everyone will like this show after watching one or two episodes. It’s really up to personal tastes. You can watch this show on Netflix. I’m not aware other ways to view it online.
The event we went to was a chat show. Pretty nice. The seats we got were incredibly good. And it was truly an exciting moment when Fred and Carrie walked in and we saw them in such a short distance. Both looked fabulous, especially Carrie’s nice legs (Wen and I both noticed this, much better looking than on TV). It was quite entertaining to know how much improv were in Portlandia and how they see their own works. “Backstage stories” are always appealing to fans, aren’t they?
This is the charm of living in NYC. Your fav stars could be one-subway-ride away :)
新居
搬家之后似乎就进入了花钱如流水的节奏。垃圾桶，吸尘器，床，沙发。。纷至沓来。似乎一个普遍的观念是如果租的房就可以用宜家货对付一下，而买了房就要买些更贵的东西来填充了。在美国虽然有些东西很便宜，但家具的价格可是一点不含糊。
除此之外各种安置的工作也是多得很。需要漆一些墙。跳过一次电于是自己换了个fuse。楼板隔音不太好所以一直在考虑怎么买地毯。各种电器都得熟悉怎么使用。还有怎么布局家具也是个一调再调的过程。根据之前那个房子的经验，大约要1年左右才会消停下来，以整个房子塞满了没法再往里添大件家具为标志，哈哈。感觉房子也像个工具似的，要用个一段时间才会顺手。至于女人就是喜欢折腾这些这样的原因。。我什么也没说。
波波前一阵子开始吐，每次吃完饭就吐。多方调查之后觉得是太长时间吃同一种猫粮导致的过敏。还有地方说谷物容易造成猫过敏。于是换了个谷物含量低的粮果然就不怎么吐了。两边窗户外面经常会有鸽子逗留，波波经常激动地和它们隔（纱）窗相望，看得见摸不着很心焦。
The South – Savannah
Charleston和Savannah通常被称为姐妹城市。相比之下Savannah肯定应该算是那个比较另类的妹妹。一方面她比Charleston要小很多，体力好的话一天就把可以观光的城区都走完也不难，餐馆酒店之类的跟Charleston比在数量和质量上都有差距；另一方面她的游览项目也比较另类，鬼故事超多，很著名的一个景点是个超大的墓园。。据说夜生活也比较丰富，酒吧很多。
去Savannah最推荐的游览方式就是在城区里找个好天气步行闲逛。很快就会注意到城区的工整布局，方方正正的街区，中间等间距的分布着小广场。原因就是最早的开拓者定下的城区规划方式一直影响到了今天。我们参加了一个建筑主题的游览项目，还满有趣的。导游带着我们看了很多著名的建筑，讲了这些建筑的风格和一些历史故事。如果去Savannah的话很推荐这个项目。
后来我们又大半夜参加了一个鬼故事主题的tour。。就发现还是在白天去过的那些建筑中间走来走去，然后导游就讲了各种建筑背后的各种灵异奇谈。。而且语气巨认真，引经据典的声称自己讲的都是有据可查，听下来感觉还是满渗人的，也对这个城市的表里两面有了进一步的认识。Savannah基本上还真就是一个鬼故事氛围很浓的城市，有一天吃完午饭在街上随便遇见个大叔，跟我们说完good morning就说“喏，那边那个很漂亮的学校其实以前是监狱，埋了很多死人”。。Savannah城区中心的十几个公园里就有一个是墓园。还有一个特点是整个城市的树上挂满了那种长得像杂乱的长胡子的Spanish Moss。在知道了各种鬼怪历史之后就会觉得这城市总是看起来阴森森怪恐怖的。
我们还去了一个叫Wormsloe的历史景点，据说是Savannah最早的三十几个拓荒者中唯一留在这里的一个家族的私产。一进门挂满长须的橡树大道非常令人印象深刻，后面的部分么倒也都一般般了。再就是还去了那个郊区巨大的Bonaventure墓园，大到要开车在里面转，而且随便转一转就迷路了的那种。里面有很多当地名人的墓，但我之前谁也没听说过。。千奇百怪的墓碑造型倒还满值得一看的。
Savannah的吃饭方面比Charleston逊色很多。最有名的Olde Pink House也就是主要吃个环境因为它在一个两百多年历史的房子里，菜色放到Charleston只能算中等水平。步行逛起来很nice，不过可逛的区域并不大。所以建议安排的天数不用太多，两三天足矣。