Re: Integration

It was variation on a not-so-subtle theme last night on NBC that I normally would have missed.

I typically watch The Office, one of my fav shows for the last few years, via the DVR courtesy of Time Warner cable. But last night, through the combination of timing and reruns on other channels, we were watching it live.

There was a sequence where one of the characters was asked to shred a stack of papers. In the mockumentary style of the production, he gushed to the camera about how great his document shredder ("It even shreds my credit cards...")

I remember thinking to myself that the scene seemed a little out of place, and why did they have a big Staples logo on it. My question was answered at the next commercial break, which consisted of a Staples ad. And not just an ad for Staples, but an ad for the very same document shredder used by the cube drone a few minutes earlier (later the same office used the document shredder to make a salad).

Veeery interesting.

NBC followed that up more blatantly in the next half hour with the show 30 Rock, a show-within-a-show comedy about a comedy show. The main plot for the show was the directive from network execs to work product placement into the fictional show.

While the show's cast complained, saying they couldn't sacrifice the integrity of the show for cheap ad dollars, they were busy extolling the great flavor and sexiness of Snapple.

I pondered about what to think of these two examples of product placement marketing. On the one hand, one might feel a bit offended that the content they came for is being bastardized by marketers. On the other hand, that's the model network TV has used for years. It's just that we've grown used to the product being separate from the entertainment content.

On the other hand, I'm glad NBC didn't try to disguise what they were doing. They were essentially making fun of themselves for the blatant product integration. It was almost refreshing.

And I can't blame them. I don't begrudge them their right, obligation really, to make money through advertising. These are two really great, original shows that are worth paying for.

To be honest, because of DVRs people like me rarely watch any commercials anymore, so NBC is obviously trying to solve the Tivo problem. We can look for this to become a continuing phenomenon. I just hope the producers don't become lazy and that the content continues to merit this kind of marketing.


tagged: The Office, 30 Rock, TV, pop culture, NBC, product placement, advertising, marketing, Staples, Snapple, Dwight Schrute

Piling it on

I read this headline and had one of those "Oh, come on!" moments.

I mean, isn't Mr. Bush digging his own hole deep enough without some third-world witch doctor putting hexes on him?

BOGOR, Indonesia - A renowned black magic practitioner performed a voodoo ritual Thursday to jinx
President George W. Bush and his entourage while he was on a brief visit to Indonesia.

Ki Gendeng Pamungkas slit the throat of a goat, a small snake and stabbed a black crow in the chest, stirred their blood with spice and broccoli before drank the "potion" and smeared some on his face.

"I don't hate Americans, but I don't like Bush," said Pamungkas, who believed the ritual would succeed as, "the devil is with me today."

To me, this is like kicking a guy when he's down. Like getting a electoral wedgie wasn't bad enough last week, now this voodoo dude has to make it an atomic wedgie.

Just seems a bit excessive to me. I mean, how much worse could a curse make Bush's life anyway? If they're not careful, they might cancel out the spell that The Blair Witch put on him last year.

tagged: Bush, politics, humor, voodoo, spell, hex, curse

Tough questions

We DVR'd The Wizard of Oz and watched it with our 4-year-old daughter the other night.

I know the original book was rife with socio-political satire and criticism. But I wasn't prepared for all of the questions it would raise in the mind of a 4-year-old.

This is just a sampling:

• Is that her mommy? Did her mommy die?
• Is her daddy at work?
• Are they eating hot-dogs?
• Why isn't there any color?
• Is a tornado bad?
• Is this going to be scary?
• Why is her dog named "Toe Dough"?
• Did she kill the witch?
• Is she a princess witch?
• Who lives in that castle?
• What is a brain?
• Is that guy mean?
• Is he a robot?
• Why doesn't he have a heart?
• What are they putting on him?
• Why did she put fire on him?
• Is the wizard mean?
• Why do those guys work for the witch?

tagged: family, movie, Wizard of Oz, questions

Shooter McGavin can sing

One nice perk about being a cog in the corporate machine is that every once in a while, a cog in a different corporate machine will throw a bone your way in an effort to curry favor and more of your advertising dollars.

Such was the case for yours truly during a recent trip to Manhattan, N.Y.

After half a day of meetings with some big-shot Madison Avenue agencies, a major online advertising network took us out for the wining and dining. I can honestly say that the only thing that tastes better than lobster and filet mignon at The Palm is lobster and filet mignon at The Palm on someone else's expense account.

But the real treat came after dinner when our gracious hosts bought us tickets to the Broadway hit Chicago around the corner.

We had amazing seats. Dead center of the theater in the second row from the stage. Close enough to get hit by a spatter of sweat from the performers.

The show itself was untoppable. Granted, it took me a couple of minutes to make the necessary adjustments to my cultural frame of reference. But once you account for the underlying gayness of the male actors doing the "jazz hands," the show really takes off.

The overall production, music and acting was excellent. One hundred percent better than the movie. The staging was simple and the actors genuinely seemed to be having a good time. And it didn't suffer from the overproduction and Richard Gere of the 2002 movie. It had a much faster pace and got right to the action.

Not to mention the fact that there were some major hot actresses with major hot wardrobe (or should I say lack thereof).

One of the surprises was Christopher McDonald in the role of Billy Flyn. You may remember McDonald from such film classics as Leave It to Beaver, Grumpy Old Men and (my favorite role) Happy Gilmore as Shooter McGavin.

McDonald's singing voice is vastly superior to Gere's. The stage version didn't show off McDonald's dancing skills. But he showed terrific vocal range, especially in the puppet scene.

The simple but flawless production, amazing music and enthusiastic cast made this Broadway show well worth the price of admission -- which for me was free, but still.

tagged: culture, entertainment, Broadway, Chicago, Christopher McDonald, Shooter McGavin, musical, Richard Gere, Manhattan, The Palm, food

Lame Dane

I never understood the whole Dane Cook thing.

Probably has something to do with me not being a 14-year-old girl, but I've never thought he was even the least bit interesting.

I watched his HBO special. And the few episodes of his Tourgasm so-called reality so-called show were nearly as painful to sit through as an Oprah home sex tape. Of course, that would at least be entertaining.

But Cook just isn't funny. He's up on stage, flailing his arms around like the monkey he is, twisting his face making fart noises -- and the kids are eating it up. I'm thinking to myself: "This is the next George Carlin?"

Well thankfully, I'm not alone. According to CNN, it turns out that Cook is to comedy what MySpace is to intellectual discourse. In fact, Cook is basically the Paris Hilton of comedy. He's a celebrity because he is a celebrity, not because he has talent.

He went out on MySpace, gathered 1.5 million very close "friends" and leveraged that to HBO for a comedy deal. Of course it helps to steal a few jokes along the way, to give yourself the appearance of legitimacy.

"Where are the ... jokes?" wrote Rolling Stone. "How can any comedian get this famous with no jokes?"

Indeed. I suspect this is another example of what Joel Mathis called "The end of pop culture."

Thankfully, it looks like most people over the age of 16 have realized Cook is all style and no substance.

tagged: comedy, Dane Cook, pop culture, humor

Meet the old boss, same as the new boss

From today's MarketWatch:

Democrats take lion's share of Wall St. financing

Wall Street, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., ended a 12-year run of Republican support by giving 51% of its donations to Democrats in this year's midterm elections.

Although I'm not sure I would call 51% a "lion's share," this does illustrate that all politicians are whores, and they are all in the pocket of some special interest.

tagged: politics, election, campaign contributions, Wall Street, Democrats, Hillary Clinton

YouTube Tuesday: Super day at the office

I remember seeing something like this back in the late '90s with that BudLite "Whazzup!" commercial.

Aquaman rules in this one. Enjoy.



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, humor, culture, Office Space, Super Friends, Batman, Superman

This was sweet

Okay H.I.B., how about that friendly wager?



UPDATE: This guy knows how to celebrate...



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, sports, football, college, K-State, Wildcats, Texas, Longhorns

Ch...Ch...Ch...Changes

You may have heard about a little election thing we had in this country earlier this week. With many incumbents getting thrown out of office across the nation, a lot of people are a lot happier.

There is now a 100% Republicrat majority in both houses of Congress. So, in an amateurish and ultimately futile attempt at punditry, here's my prediction of what will happen in the next two years.

• The first to remember is that nothing will change. Extremist leadership of one color have been replaced by extremist leadership of another color. It's like replacing corn-based vomit with green bean-based vomit.


• There will be no new legislative initiatives. The newly elected Republicrats weren't running on a policy agenda. They were merely telling the electorate to vote against the incumbent Repbulicrats. So no new ideas have been proposed, which is why nothing will change.


• I totally agree with Gnade, who explained on Contratimes why we will still be in Iraq two years from now. Despite the crowing on one side of the aisle about how we never should have started a war in Iraq and we shouldn’t be there now, they want and need the war as a political fulcrum issue.


• The price of oil will continue to go up. Probably by this time two years from now, you'll have to pay close to $4 for a gallon of gas.


• The Royals will still be losing close to 100 games per season.

Well there you have it. Really not going out on a limb with these predictions. As that great American philosopher, Butthead, once said: "The more things change, the more they suck."

tagged: politics, election, Republican, Democrat, prediction, Butthead

Flight delay

The bad thing about sitting on a Midwest Express 717 at La Guardia for four hours while the maintenance crew tries to fix a leaky sink (yeah, right) is that my iPod battery doesn't last for four hours and besides, I wanted to save it for the actual flight back from New York.

The good thing about the delay, or at least the silver lining, is that I was seated next to Mrs. Salleh, a democrat in the finest sense of the word on a cultural leadership exchange from Malaysia.

Mrs. Salleh is a member of an opposition political party in Malaysia. She said the government in her country is still very oppressive, although Malaysia is quite a modern country. For example, according to Mrs. Salleh the current government has ruled Malaysia for the past 50 years since it became independent. But the ruling government controls all media and social programs, and thus only members of the ruling party have access to the media during elections.

Elections aren't regularly scheduled as they are in the USofA. They are called on the spur of the moment often with only a couple of days notice if any. And by law (of the ruling party) "campaign season" is only nine days. So opposition parties have nine days to organize a campaign, promote their candidates and get the vote out -- all without access to mass media.

I listened to Mrs. Salleh describe her situation and mentally compared it to the US system. I told her that there are some aspects of her system that could benefit the US. Surprise elections for example. If the parties don't know when the elections will be, then there would be much less pre-election posturing.

I also like the idea of a limited election window. Nine days isn't long enough, but I think a six to eight week campaign window would go a long way to mitigate the adverse effects of shady campaign financing and help level the playing field for opposition candidates.

We talked more about her impression of the American electoral process. She was particularly amused by the amount of celebrity endorsements of political candidates. I shook my head when she brought it up and told her how annoying such endorsements are to those of us who actually try to understand issues and policies.

She chuckled when I called Hollywood celebrities "dancing monkeys" and characterized their fans as pop-culture sheep.

We discussed other issues, too (we had four hours fer cryin' out loud). I shared (after she asked) my opinion on the true reasons for the war in Iraq. She discussed the difficulty of finding food in New York that met the requirements of Halaal (I told her she'll be SOL in KC unless she can find a Halaal BBQ joint).

In the end, a Christian and a Muslim, a Westerner and an Easterner, a man and a woman, a Republican and a Democrat, had a pleasant conversation without resorting to name calling, insults, harsh language, etc. We both professed the good points and bad points about our respective cultures. It was a genuine exchange of ideas.

And she even gave me a high-five.


tagged: Iraq, Muslim, culture, Malaysia, democracy, election, opression