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. :)