It appears that Universal Studios recognize that the followers of the cult favorite TV show Firefly would be a great source of viral marketing for the movie based on the show, Serenity. They put together a huge viral marketing campaign, in part with Special Ops Media (a company…. However, as with so many of these things, it appears that the marketers at Universal forgot to tell the lawyers at Universal, who recently decided to send out cease and desist letters to a bunch of the guerilla marketers they had pushed to promote the film. Adding insult to injury, the lawyers also demanded $8,750 in “retroactive licensing fees” from at least one individual.
Rule of Rose. The setting and art remind me a lot of Sanitarium (one of the top adventure games ever). Too bad it’s only available on a console. Still… I’m tempted.
Reviews for Rule of Rose don’t look so hot, so… not as tempted as I might otherwise be.
Apparently these “rumba panty” things are all the rage these days. Who knew? Not me. Actually, I didn’t even know what they were until about 30 seconds ago.
I guess it’s only natural that panties that are a half step away from bloomers are making a comeback, what with the resurgence of the American Taliban and all. Still… what happened to the “h” in rhumba?
His body visibly wracked by tremors, actor Michael J. Fox appears in a political ad that was the subject of widespread discussion on Monday after conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh claimed Fox was “either off his medication or acting.”
…
“I think this is exploitative in a way that’s unbecoming of either Claire McCaskill or Michael J. Fox,” Limbaugh said on his syndicated show.
On his Web site Tuesday, Limbaugh appeared to back away from his accusation.
“All I’m saying is I’ve never seen him the way he appears in this commercial for Claire McCaskill,” says Limbaugh. “So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances.”
“As you might know I care deeply about stem cell research,” says Fox, who has struggled with Parkinson’s disease for more than a decade. “In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures.”
Here’s the ad with Michael J. Fox:
I never knew Fox got an American citizenship. Cool.
That being said, UCLA has brought me on as a visiting professor this semester.
Naturally (or bizarrely, as some of my critics would point out), it’s in the School of Cinema and Television – a field I know a thing or two about (as I’ve watched many movies and TV shows). So, for the last month, I’ve been spearheading a class called “Sucks Less, with Kevin Smith”, in which we produce a weekly TV show entitled, ironically, “Sucks Less, with Kevin Smith”. It starts airing this Thursday on MtvU (the college-campus only arm of the Viacom-owned Music Television empire), as well as on MtvU.com and, in an uncharacteristic-for-me nod to what’s being called “new media”, also on the Amp’d Mobile Phone. This means we’re producing Episodes, Webisodes, and Mobisodes – which, while sounding ambitious as fuck, simply means we’re producing one show that airs on three different platforms. Eat your heart out, Dick Wolf.
Right on, Kev. He’s still my doppleganger:
“My tastes, for better or for worse, fall far outside the mainstream,” I argued. “And if I could write/create for the mainstream, I’d be a one of those successful filmmakers. So, really – you guys want someone else.”
“Yeah, but we like your sensibility.”
“But my sensibility isn’t in line with the masses.”
“What makes you say that?” I was asked.
“I’ll bet you’re tying to get Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as hosts.”
“We are,” they replied.
“Okay. I’d rather see David Cross be the host. You’re voting for the most popular kids in class, I’m voting for the class genius. And there’s nothing wrong with your instincts; I just don’t share ‘em.”
“Fine. But there’s gotta be something you can do in the Mtv family. We’re edgy, too. Have you ever seen ‘Wonder Showzen’?”
“Dr. Laura Talking Action Figure”
Talking Presidents
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is not only one of the most popular radio personalities in America, she is also a best selling author of 14 books, including 4 children’s books. Best known for her no-nonsense approach to parenting and her unwavering commitment to children, Dr. Laura always believes everyone should “go do the right thing”. Now you can share Dr. Laura’s wit and wisdom with your friends and family with the “Dr. Laura Talking Action Figure”.
Below are only a few of the 23 different phrases that the highly anticipated Dr. Laura action figure says when you press her button:
* “I am the proud mother of an American Solider.”
* “Now go do the right thing.”
* “Please don’t argue with me – it makes me testy.”
* “Be the kind of person you’d like to come home to every day.”
* “Are you sure this is the hill you want to die on?”
* “I am my kids’ mom.”
The “Dr. Laura Action Figure” stands 11 inches tall and is packaged in a display box that includes her biography and photos from her personal collection. Dr. Laura was involved in developing this action figure, so you can be sure it is as true to life as possible.
CONTROVERSIAL comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has been invited to visit Kazakhstan – after insulting the country in the guise of spoof journalist Borat.
Nice try! You should pull that on someone more naive and credulous. Like Paris Hilton. Yeah, definitely Paris. She should be invited to tour your country and show her vajine to the locals (it’s the law, don’tchy know).
Why am I all pop culture today? No idea. I’m just grabbing what grabs me. I’m greasing my slide to sheepleville is all.
SHORTLY after the delivery of boy David to Madonna’s London home, she disappeared off down the gym.
…
What should have been a quiet, bonding experience with the Malawian baby of her choice, turned into a circus with convoys of 4x4s racing along dirttracks to the Mission of Hope orphanage where our heroine handed out signed copies of her books.
Let me get this straight – instead of adopting an orphan and giving out food and medicine to the sick, starving, and poor… this alien buys adopts a kid with a still-living father and hands out signed copies of her ghost written books to orphans.
Nice. At least english is an official language of Malawi, so the starving orphans will properly know who to hate.
OK, so she had the full consent of the girl’s father and is donating $3M to the orphanage and filming a documentary there, but c’mon… you think that’s going to get in the way of the story of her handing out signed copies of her books? Besides, she’s always been a narcissist. She revels in it. It’s pretty much her calling card. It’s not like I was calling her a Republican or anything.
The former football great, who was acquitted in criminal court 11 years ago of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, reportedly has been paid a whopping $3.5 million to write about the double murder that shocked and riveted the nation in 1994, according to a detailed report in the new National Enquirer.
But Simpson is not actually confessing to the murder — rather, he’s writing a “hypothetical” book — which the Enquirer reports is tentatively being called “If I Did It.”
Every time I think I can’t be shocked by the moral depravity and narcissistim of the human creature, something like this comes along to remind me how little I know. I’m holding the publisher accountable as well for their $3.5M advance to the acquitted-due-to-government-incompetence unrepentant murderer.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) explains the Iraq war by citing Lord of the Rings: “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum told a newspaper editorial board. “It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”
A recording of the Australian singer and his ultra-tanned bimbo wife singing the song “A Whole New World” has been doing the industry email rounds in recent days.
Apparently set to end up on a Christmas covers album in the UK, the tabloid couple ramble tragically through the song they danced to at their wedding last year.
Or just go to the mp3 and skip the flash-based player.
Make. The. Bad. People. Stop. I only wish this were a parody. Maybe it is. Please tell me it is. No one is this clueless as to their musical prowess, right?
I’m sharing this with the same spirit of someone who takes a 3 year old milk container out of the fridge, sniffs, blanches, and says “goddamn! this is horrible! here. smell this!”
Old media worldwide fights tooth and nail against new, enabling technology that they don’t control. See how Nine net takes on IceTV in court over their time shifting technology.
Free-to-air web the Nine Network goes to court Monday in a bid to stop startup media company IceTV from using its TiVo-style technology to block ads on free-to-air television.
IceTV uses a set-top box and weekly TV sked to allow users to record their fave skeins and skip ads for just A$3 ($2.25) a week.
Nine will argue in court that providing its schedule is a breach of copyright, although the schedule is made available to feevee customers and even to printed TV guides.
This is just an inevitable delay in the technology’s widespread availability, like it is everywhere else. Granted, in America the big media companies have been able to push back our Fair Use rights with odious technology initiatives such as DRM/”Trusted computing,” and hardware interfaces such as HDMI and non-modifiable, non-skippable DVD menus, and legal efforts such as the DMCA… but in Australia they’re apparently still a bit behind the times.
What will happen is that eventually every show will run inline advertisements (like soccer has to, with the stadium ringed with ads and small placements by the clocks) and egregious product placements (more egregious, I should say). It’s the only way for advertisers to ensure that they’re getting the eyeballs their consumerist drives require of them. Eventually, the 22 minute show in a 30 minute slot is going to go the way of the dodo.
I finally got around to watching “I like scotch! Scotchy scotch scotch scotch” Anchorman this weekend and…
it is quite possibly the worst movie I have seen in the past five years.
I don’t give zeroes, so consider this a low, low 1 star out of 5.
As best as I can tell, it was a vehicle to see how far Will Ferrell could carry a crappy movie. The answer? About 10 minutes. From the boring opening to the stylish-but-not-nearly-stylish-enough 70s schtick, it was pure, unadulterated crap. The dialogue was abysmal, the characters were amateurish, the plot was nonexistent, the acting was pure dogshit (natch), and the only single redeeming feature was Steve Carell – and he seriously needs to watch out for that typecasting thing (though I think he may be big enough to avoid that wrecking ball. Evan Almighty should tell us one way or the other).
You know, if I wanted to watch a 2 hour movie about a moron in an absurd setting – but one that was actually funny – I’d pop in Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison.
Will, I know Adam Sandler, and you, sir, are no Adam Sandler. At no point in this rambling, incoherent mess of a movie did you come close to engaging the audience or obtaining even a chuckle. I award you no points, and may FSM have mercy on your soul.
OK, the more I watch Battlestar Galactica, the more I’m hating it. I just can’t get past the hackneyed, deus ex machina, by-the-numbers writing. It’s got a serious case of 24-itis. When ultra narcissist Gaius doesn’t turn in Cylons because it would be too much effort, you know the writing sucks. A real self-interested motivation would be to turn the Cylon in for the glory and life preservation. Not ratting out Boomer the second she leaves the room is dogshit writing and the next episode with Ellen is straight out of Jack Bauer bullshit plot twist 101.
OK, OK, I do like the recasting of the old Capt. Apollo as the new terrorist, Tom Zarek.
I may just have to write my own damn spec script for this show and show ‘em how it’s done, yo.
