The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.

65 million is how much Blockbuster lost last year.

And now, according to this article on Yahoo, Blockbuster is going the way of the dinosaurs.

The author looks at ten brands that are likely to disappear in 2011, and it’s a perfect little rogue’s gallery of dying business models. And a few surprises. Also included:

Radio Shack: every time I pass a Radio Shack I feel sad for it, like it’s Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, some old and bat-shit crazy thing who had the misfortune to live on into its own irrevelance, its primacy stolen by sleeker sexier newcomers and big-box behemoths.

Reader’s Digest: This one is a shocker to me, but a welcome one. I see Reader’s Digest and think of nursing homes, the waiting room at the doctor’s office, the coffee tables of elderly relatives. Reader’s Dogest epitomized the status quo of professional magazine writing: vapid, unsurprising, un-edgy, fluffy, neutered, cheerily apolitical. Once the most widely-read magazine in the world, the thing saw its readership decline from 8 million to 5.5 million.

T-Mobile. Wait, what? Shit.

Zales: I’m not sure how to take this. I don’t know enough about the current state of the diamond industry to say whether or not Zales is currently engaged in any meaningful efforts to ensure that the diamonds they sell are non-conflict - certainly their WEBSITE hypes all the fine policies they put in place, but that could be a whole lot of meaningless distraction (blood-washing?). I’m hopeful that this is evidence of a global change in the diamond market (i.e. the beginnings of its death) and not a first step towards an even more fragmented and chaotic industry with even LESS ability to regulate itself or be regulated from outside. Because people will still want diamonds. And other people will still be willing to chop off other people’s hands to get them to sell them to finance all manner of horrific activity.

BP: hmmmm. I certainly HOPE so, but the writer of this article thinks it’s more likely that the company will break itself up and sell its pieces off, to push all the oil spill liability into one scapegoat escrow corporation. BP should be destroyed, but not on its own terms. When you cause that kind of destruction, you don’t get to pick your own exit strategy. You need to be DEMOLISHED.

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