wikiweak

I kind of get wikileaks, I get that we have a right to know, I get that Julian Assange looks like a James Bond villain, and I get why the government(s) should be worried. What I don't get is why the Conservatives (read:teabaggers) are all "It's Obama's Fault!" First off my pretties, wikileaks has been around since 07, two years before OBama took office, secondly, I thought that you wanted the gov to NOT keep secrets from you? you can have your cake, you can eat it, too, but you can't ask for cake and then demand pie. Also, THIS (I like to redirect to Ms. PalinUSA's twitter whenever possible, it's just too damn fun.)
a) Assange is not American and does not live in the US, nor does the internet belong to America, so Treason is a bit of a stretch, really.
b) Inexplicable, really? There's a difference between Copyright and Governement documents.
c) Way to plug your book and rile your rabid dog followers all in one tweet.

quick, someone get a silver bullet!

Mtv is making a Teen Wolf series, trailer here. I can hear hundreds of proud MJ Fox fans howling in the distance, because nothing ruins your glory days quite like a "sexy" and "dark" remake of an iconic 80s comedy! Personally, I wish the industry would stop thinking everything needs a "gritty" reboot. Where's the fun, Hollywood? Vampires and Werewolves aren't real so quit trying to make me watch something that takes them so seriously, same with superheroes. I think someone needs to take this show behind the tool shed and put it out of its misery. Bright side is that it can't get any worse than it already has, right?

The world's oldest person died...

BBC says that the world's oldest person, Eugenie Blanchard has died. She was 114. She was born in 1896 in france and was living as a nun, meaning she lived through 2 world wars, Oscar Wilde's last play, and many other historical events, which is simply astounding. An American woman now holds the title of eldest human, Eunice Sanborn of Texas, only 5 months younger than Blanchard. And as this article points out, she has lived through the Spanish-American War, the creation of Yosemite as a national park, the annexation of Hawaii, the Panama Canal, the hurricane of 1900 at Galveston, Prohibition, Henry Ford’s first car, World Wars I and II, the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Great Depression, plastic wrap, TV dinners, Watson and Crick’s DNA double helix model, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, Elvis, the Beatles, the Shelby Mustang, mini-skirts, Watergate, the microwave oven, disco and the iPhone. Whew, that is almost unfathomable to me, thinking that if I lived to 114, it would be 2106, 30 years after the tricentennial,and, according to the Amish, there will be one giant megalopolis in place of states, permeated by, you guessed it, amish settlements. And I'll be 114 years old a daunting number, and something I, personally, wouldn't want.

Election story

Written for reporting class, lemme know what you think!

NEW THING!

while I know no one's reading this anyway... I'm gonna start posting my stories, not like, fiction, like news stories and junk and basically changing this blog's whole tone. stay tuned..

Ads literally everywhere

I was having lunch at the Park Meadows mall today and the table had a nascar ad plastered to it, which was almost insulting to mall goers' intelligence, I can understand the llightrail ads, but table ads cross a very fine line.

not another one...

I heard today that Michael Bay is "rebooting" (crappily rehashing) Rosemary's Baby. this solidifies my intense dislike for Michael Bay. That is all.

SUPER FRIENDS! erm..I mean AVENGERS!

I saw the Iron Man 2 at its midnight screening last night and had a blast, the Super 8 trailer was creepy awesome, and am really astounded at Marvel studios' determination to weave a theatrical mythology through multiple films. Iron Man (08) briefly referenced the Avengers, Marvel's all-star JLA-type super team, but the sequel, fully addresses not only that That film will indeed happen, helmed by fan favorite Joss Whedon, but references both the upcoming Captain America as well as Kenneth Branagh's twilight-of-the-gods epic Thor, in a post credits easter egg. I don't really believe that intertwining movie series' have ever really existed to such an extent, it's refreshing to see that Marvel believes that a modern movie audience is indeed smart enough to follow multiple films across several genres for an overarching story with being told explicitly that the films are directly related. I hope that this starts a trend that multiple franchises can intertwine more easily in the coming years, I personally think a Batman/Superman movie would be a smash.

Putting the fun in movies again

WAAAY back in 2007, a little film called Transformers hit, with a pretty creepy, super top secret trailer before it, this was, of course, the beginning of JJ Abrams' viral campaign for Cloverfield, a film I personally adore. Now, before IRONMAN II on Thursday, theaters are getting an email, like always, detailing the film reel can arrivals, same old same old, except that there is a locked can, containing the trailers. HitFlix is claiming it to be a trailer for Super 8, by none other than Abrams, and claim its a quasi-prequel to Cloverfield. This is backed up by circumstantial evidence, a super 8 is a type of handheld old camera, Cloverfield was handheld camera driven. There's more at the site, including a supposed synopsis and what not. Can't wait to see what's actually in that canister come friday.

A little follow up

I found the articles relating Kick-Ass i discussed a while ago. Here is where the director dishes about self financing and studio rejection. While Here is some negative feedback from angry family groups, and a rather clever retort from one of the stars here. I love how he points out that people are more outraged at the dialogue than the gratuitous violence, a neat little observation. Also, I saw said film, it was rather amazing and one of my favorites of the year so far.

The power of facebook

Rick Roll'd, Spaghetti Cat, Pwned, Short Shorts Movement. That is the name of what might be the next big meme. The SSM made this video 4 days ago. They made the fan page next. It has 600+ fans now, it just goes to show what a camera, social networking, and a Justin Beiber song can do, God Bless The Internet.

i scream, you scream, we all SCRE4M for sequels

Back in the 90s, the film Scream reinvented the slasher-horror genre by both satirizing and embracing it. Like most other popular horror franchises, a slew of sequels followed. All of them poking fun at the supposedly "scary" franchises that never seem to end. Yet of course, in this the era of prequels, sequels, and reboots, Scream 4 ('cleverly' titled SCRE4M) is on its way, almost a subtle joke in and of itself. Scream is, once again, here to remind us of bloated franchises like last year's sequel-to-a-reboot Halloween II, or the upcoming Ring 3D, which takes the popular, absolutely terrifying franchise and aims to make it a "teen friendly" film and reinvent the series, really showing just how many gimmicks are out there, waiting for your pocketbook. For reference Ring 3D is the teen-oriented-3D-third-sequel-of-a-remake-being-rebooted, its almost funny. Almost.

We'll find out...after the break.

Learning about television and commercials in class wasn't...entirely riveting as I thought, mostly just that companies had to keep people tuned in through the commercials, which in some cases becomes glaringly obvious. Recently, I was reintroduced to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I watched religiously ages 8 through 10, and can now stream through netflix in its entirety. Without the commercials there, its easy to see the myriad of cliffhangers littered through each episode, often with a blackout, then a simple conclusion, without commercials it seems silly. Here one of the writers even explains how the cliffhangers were initially written before the rest of the plot had filled in, which is almost artful in that each act had to effectively be written backwards. Its sort of a strange, magical, one might even say outdated process in a now almost commercial free world. I for one haven't seen a commercial since the superbowl, and it certainly has contributed to me no longer watching American Idol, aside from its sheer ridiculousness, the singing is now just filler between superfluous amounts of Ford and Coke ads. I for one want to live in a world where you watch the commercials to see if that fish monster really will eat that cheerleader, not to be barraged with even more ads and 10min of filler.

Congratulations

I just downloaded MGMT's new album, 'Congratulations,' and it's the oddest thing, they have gotten less mainstream, which I don't think I've ever seen before, at least not this high profile, for a band to alienate part of their fanbase for musical integrity. good for them.

Waiting Sucks

So my absolute favorite show, and current topic of my media paper, is True Blood on HBO, and while it does not premier it's season until June 13th, the hype machine has begun a rollin. HBO is replaying season 2, one every Sunday until the premier (it's amazing!), and showing 30sec spots of raw footage focusing on one character each, just enough of a tease, leading up to the big night. I don't have HBO anymore, their site has all the spots, but i heartily intend to get the channel before the 13th. Anyhoo, back on topic, there are three new posters, out of 12, out now, that give just a taste of the humor and general cleverness of the series, and yes, i have ordered a case of the tru:blood drink.

Headed to the monster ball

on a more personal note, my sister and I bought Lady Gaga tickets for july...they were $85...each. Despite that I am overwhelmingly excited, no one's ever really put on a massive budget techno opera instead of a plain old concert, the tickets even say "The Monster Ball, starring Lady GaGa."

Gearin up for Kick-Ass

Kick Ass, a superhero comic fueled by gore and language, and now a major motion picture satirizing the whole genre. It's not really what everyone's expecting (as my mom put it "Middle Schoolers learn to fight crime!") it's actually unbelievably deep and violent, not for kids, and it's gonna stir up some controversy. Rumor has it the writer/producer financed it himself because no studio would touch it, now Lionsgate has it and is about to unleash something very, very unusual on us, get ready for a storm of p.o.'d parents after its release.

I'm back :)

Sorry for the lack of posts y'all, i burnt the hell out of my fingertips cooking so typing wasn't exactly an option. Anyhoo, everyone should go here and watch the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, a flick i have some high high hopes for because of its cast and crew (who didn't love Shaun of The Dead?) and though it is based on a comic, it looks completely different than anything else out there.

A few links and notes for friday

• James Cameron is rereleasing avatar this fall. which is ridiculous and kind of cheap. (is he still trying for that oscar?)
  
• Lady GaGa and Beyonce's mind blowing video/short film for telephone is out. It was fantastic enough for me to almost not notice the Virgin mobile plugs.
• Sony is jumping on the Wii bandwagon with ridiculous looking and overtly complex motion controls.

Tron Viral UPDATE

So this Tron campaign is turning out almost identical to the campaign for The Dark Knight, one person in each city listed got a cellphone and some cute wallet-thing. The Dark Knight one at least came with a cake. I'm sure that someone will call said phones (i didn't get one :( ) and another game will begin. On another front, pitcell.com just opened up, giving a list of four cities with an Imax screening of footage, here's to hoping they come to CO soon, we do have several Imax screens.

little follow up

so there was a guy on the lightrail wearing a Saints shirt and watching one of those portable TVs they had ads for on the superbowl. either he's really easily influenced or they overshot the guerilla marketing by a few weeks.

let's get viral

OK, so a little background on this one, 42Entertainment is an ad agency that crafted Warner Bros. AMAZING viral campaign for The Dark Knight, a game that changed the face of movie marketing. Disney has now implemented 42's tactics to promote Tron: Legacy the follow up to 80s geek classic Tron. The game began at Flynn Lives and Home of Tron, both being very old style sites, but now Flynn lives has been taken down and replaced with a retro binary clock counting down to the middle of this week, with cities listed under it. Luckily Denver is included and I'll be puling out all the stops to follow this and maybe get some sweet Tron swag. the game begins.

nozzle nozzle

The gas station nozzles (that is such a weird word, it makes me giggle) at Loaf n Jug had ads on them. which is weird since i don't think anyone actually looks at those. except for me, i guess.

ATTACK! of the...tweeties?

Odds are you've seen it, a shirt, a backpack, a sweater, a binder, all with the face of that loveable cartoon bird on it, you know, the one that saw a puddy tat. Odd thing is, it is almost impossible to find that cartoon on the air anymore, same goes for Eeyore, Bugs, Mickey or any other cartoon icon. They've been around for 60+ years, and have transcended beyond characters into brands. (fun fact: tweetie bird is male) These used to be characters, they'd do funny things, say cute phrases, get into trouble, well except in Eeyore's case, he just kinda sat there. They aren't really relevant, so why are they so popular, is it kitsch? nostalgia? I personally think it's laziness, on the part of the consumer and the producer, they just do what's easiest, what's comforting. Comfort certainly plays a role, most of the items are not necessarily daring, I think it's certainly that nostalgic comfort that drives the Wal-Mart aisles plastered with Bettie Boop, even over seas it has translated into kitsch, but not here, not when we have the good ol' days of Elmer Fudd telling us to be quiet because of wabbit season.

Thursday afternoon Twirant

It has been a solid two years since the Twilight spawned vampire craze erupted in full form. I'm not complaining necessarily, I like alot of the backlash media created in spite of it (i.e. Let The Right One In or the upcoming Elevator Men), LOVE TrueBlood, and am quite fascinated by the whole thing, a way a child is fascinated with ants. I am, However, absolutely sick of Twilight itself, never before have I seen such a poor product create such a rabid fan base or box office smash, which is sad really. I sort of relate it back to the fact that I am, afterall, a guy and am definitely not the demographic for this type of thing, so chalk it up to ignorance, but I strongly think that young women deserve something better. The product in question, as it shall be known henceforth, is so...sub par in the modern world, there is so much more out there. It produces a sense of pure escapism that has to be its defining quality, I mean, what else is there to it, really? But reading a fun little cheesy book shouldn't become a social and media phenomenon, the movies, products and die hard fans are rewriting history, and I do not want to be left in the generation best known for celibate sparkling vampires. I know it's easy to rip on the silly things, as I just demonstrated, but if it weren't so poorly written/executed, it could be so much better. Having followed this with a twisted curiosity I've found that Summit, the production company behind the films, allows the author too much say in what goes on screen, it's what happens with a fanbase that demanding, creating very poor films that are halfhearted ghosts of her already very weak prose. I also know that the director of the third installment, one Mr. David Slade (30 Days of Night) is starting to take it into his own hands, pissing off many a teenage girl in the process. I know that this will never be read by anyone important, but please, summit, take a page from Slade, make a good product, because if you recycle a turn, it isn't going to turn out gold.

Super commercials and food..oh yeah and some sports thing

I. LOVE. SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS.
except this year, I was a little disappointed. E Trade continues its "If it ain't broke keeps shoving it everyone's faces repeatedly" marketing scheme with talking babies on web cams again. and again. and again. Also, I'm not exactly sure, but I think Go Daddy only has 1 commercial a year, and it's at the superbowl and it's always wildly inappropriate, now THAT's advertising! I loved coke's spots, always do, and really loved "Punxsutawney Palumalu" even though I honestly have no idea what that spot was about...The whole hubbub over the Tim Tebow ad was unfounded in my opinion, it was a cute, yet forgettable commercial that wasn't preachy at all, the outrage was a little premature. I was mostly upset that there were no NEW movie spots, the only trailers were for films that already had trailers out, with The Last Airbender being the only one with any substantial new footage (awesome footage, might I add). Anyhoo, That's it for tonight and here's the link to watch em all if you like: supads
footnote: Totally awesome that Michael C Hall did the voice over for that one car commercial

random thoughts on...THE GRAMMYS

A little late much, well, yeah, sue me, I'm new at this. Anyhoo (yes it's a word) here's some random thoughts on the Gramaphone Awards, 2010.

• Lady GaGa + Elton John = viewer gold and super appealing to the ears (mine at least) really solidifies modern music as sheer glittery spectacle. It's fantastical.
• I now get why The Simpsons ragged on The Grammys (they did, in the glorious 90s), it's a no joke 3 hour commercial for the current top 40.
  
• Every current music darling was connected (collaborating or honoring) to a "classic" performer. That's just a shameless ploy to try and include the bored parents watching.
• sidenote: if you're gonna win album of the year Ms. Swift, try and sing on key during your live performance.
• I get it, Michael Jackson died. HALF A YEAR AGO. There was already a televised funeral AND massive memorial service. This is just exploitative.
• Ya know, JD Salinger just died, no one cares, because he did not do Thriller or magically switch race.
• Isn't P!nk supposed to be, like, edgy-rock-kick ass? it was like Britney Cirque du Soleil.
• Single Ladies the dance is so much better than Single Ladies the song.
  

ATTACK! of the burton merchandising

Okay, so, third post, first in what I hope will be a series of ATTACK! posts, or info-rants. I begin by painting you a picture of a person: young, 14-16, average in looks, wash out dye in their hair, oversized zipped down sweatshirt, studded belt, average jeans, average shoes, skull cap, or "beanie" if you will, emblazened with a large jack skellington head. Yes, you are looking at a potential consumer of products from a suburban Hot Topic, and they are just dying for that matte black T shirt with Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter on it. Now I'm not Hatin' on Mr. Burton's film work, no no, you see, I love his films, but so much of this faux goth trend merchandise bastardizes a wonderful filmmaker in favor of a "cult" darling. Back to our little teen subject, He/She considers themselves a cult film lover, Nightmare before Christmas is their favorite movie, and Edward Scissorhands is a close second. Too bad these are no longer considered cult films, everyone's seen them, and loved them, and constantly references them in daily life. Nightmare wasn't even directed by Burton. I have considered myself one of his greatest fans, I saw Nightmare and Scissorhands before I started kindergarten, and loved them. However, His greatest, most "cult" films are often the ones I love most, and are his greatest cinematical achievements. Big Fish is simply amazing, as is Mars Attacks, but these astounding gems are lost amongst the fishnets and leather. Basically, mass marketing has skewed the view of one of the most interesting, if not over exposed filmmakers of our generation and so many films are lost to this idea of false cult worship, to the point where most of these die hard fans would stare at you in baffled wonder if you mentioned Burton's Batman Returns, arguably the most burtonesque film, or the atrocious reboot, Planet of The Apes.

the 'Hype' strikes

I consider myself a critic, I know that flixster on Facebook and being Lifestyles editor for a high school newspaper doesn't count for much, but I can criticize a movie pretty well. Avatar has been called a "game changer" (a term I think James Cameron may have come up with himself) and as much as I would like to resist it, it really is. i remember hearing about Avatar on AICN years ago, seriously, and I was looking forward to the movie, not for it's visuals, they weren't what was hyped, but because it was to be a scifi magnum opus of sorts. Come 2008, Avatar is a hyped as having the best visuals ever made, and on that front, I can give into the hype, in the plot realm, not so much. a rehashed story, poor acting, and all around unoriginality give us a boring, long, albeit beautiful, half assed environmental message. 7 weeks at #1 prove that people would sit through 3 hours of dances with wolves in space if it is cool looking. For now, that's all I'm gonna say, because no one cares, and as the 2010 Academy Awards prove, artistic integrity in film is steadily declining and a new age of gimmick cinema is dawning.

This is a post, i think

So this is just a quick little intro, I'm gonna try and focus on things like movies and commercials and TV and junk. It'll get fun, I promise, so read or not, but i'll be here, twice a week, maybe more. :)