Popular Media
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[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 23, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Friday, January 23rd, 2009In spite of Google’s $2 Billion purchase of YouTube, and the general public’s slowly growing awareness of services like Joost and Hulu (and soon Sling), no one has yet figured out how to effectively monetize these sites. I mean, if you want to see advertisements while you watch videos, why not just watch TV? And [...]
In spite of Google’s $2 Billion purchase of YouTube, and the general public’s slowly growing awareness of services like Joost and Hulu (and soon Sling), no one has yet figured out how to effectively monetize these sites. I mean, if you want to see advertisements while you watch videos, why not just watch TV? And you might as well put physical stickers on my TV screen if overlay ads (see this Wired piece about Overlay.tv) are the alternative. However, Tel Aviv-based startup Innovid may be onto something with their ideas for interactive in-video ad placements. Imagine an interactive version of the Fight Club Ikea catalog scene. The possibilities here are compelling. In the meantime, free stuff is free stuff. Stop sticking ads in my free stuff! If you want to make money, get clever like Monty Python, and guilt-trip your viewers into making you #2 in sales on Amazon.
How Did Durex Build Their Customer Base?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 17, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Saturday, January 17th, 2009They Condomed Into It?
They um, condomed into it? You may have already seen the cute Durex Condom Get It On ad featured here, but like any popular video or film production, it’s always fun to watch the extras and out-takes. Here are the “behind the condom” clips, part one, part two, and part three. Valentine’s Day is traditionally a time to ramp up condom promotion (last year we had National Condom Week, with, for example, the NYC government getting into it with considerable enthusiasm), so with VD just around the corner, we thought we’d share some classics with you. You’ve probably seen the award-winning I want those sweeties clip. A good reason to remember to use one. This Dutch ad highlights the fact that you don’t even need to speak the same language to say “put a sock on it”. Durex seems to produce the most clever ads, like the one that shows a possible bad side effect of chocolate flavored condoms, or the surprisingly broad demographic for fruit-flavored ones. Durex sells sex toys too, so they also have some tips regarding cucumber sandwiches and letting grandma answer the phone. And lastly , this Trust Condoms ad from Africa shows you how not to get left out in the rain.
Masturbatory Muzak & Pole Dancer Video Tutorials
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on January 14, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009The Death Of Irony Through Self-Produced Video
The video at left, an actual promotional video for Microsoft’s new product Songsmith, brilliantly and comically embodies a theory of mine. A long time ago I suggested that if plotted on a graph, the quality of available literature would follow a curve exactly inverse to the proliferation of literacy and the accessibility of desktop publishing tools. I think a random sampling of the shelves of any chain bookstore bears out my theory (as does the mere existence of books like Bright Shiny Morning
Grandma Asks “What The Hulu Is Joost?”
[ Comments Off ]Posted on January 10, 2009 by admin in Popular Media
Saturday, January 10th, 2009Time To Finally Put Away Those Rabbit Ears
Many of us don’t have to worry about the switch to digital broadcast TV scheduled for February of this year, but apparently 3 Million viewers are expected to let their TV’s “go dark” on that day. Although corporate media news sources have been saying since the early 90′s that we would soon live our entire lives through our Internet connected TV (see this Time Magazine cover), the stark reality is that in spite of the availability of TV content on the web via services like Joost and Hulu, and in spite of ill-conceived notions like Yahoo’s TV Widgets (with TV screens already 20% full of “crawl”, who needs more, even if it’s personalized?) we still think of TV time and Internet time as separate activities (with the web winning sometimes). With all the available options, I’m personally left as befuddled as the old lady in the video clip at left, which ironically is TV content brought to you via YouTube. Especially in light of current economic uncertainty, it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. My bet since 1992 or so has been on AT&T slowly beating Comcast , but whatever the outcome, AT&T’s ventures into this market so far are expected to at least benefit customers through increased competition.
Until The End of the World
[ Comments Off ]Posted on December 25, 2008 by admin in Popular Media
Thursday, December 25th, 2008Wim Wenders’ Overlooked Masterpiece – Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until The End of the World)
One of my favorite films of all time is also probably one of the most overlooked: Wim Wenders’ Until The End of the World. Released in 1991, and set in 1999, it tells a multi-layered tale about a novelist (Eugene Fitzpatrick, played by Sam Neill) who follows his dreamy and spontaneous wife (Claire Tourneur, played by Solveig Dommartin) around the world as she chases a mysterious man (Sam Farber, alias Trevor McPhee – William Hurt) from country to country, finally ending up in Australia, where she discovers that he is the son of an American scientist who has developed a special camera that will enable the blind to see. As a backdrop to all of this, the world is wondering if America will shoot down a failing Indian nuclear satellite. All of which gives the impression that this is a Sci-Fi film. Which it is, in part, utilizing some very well-executed realistic-future sets and props. But more importantly, it’s a poetic tale of pursuing your dreams, understanding the connectedness of things, and one of the quickest tours of multi-cultural quirks ever captured on film. So why am I writing about this film now? Because a friend just gave me their 3-Disc PAL format DVD
