It’s what we have finally been waiting for. Overall I am pleased with this trailer. My hope is that it doesn’t play it too tongue-in-cheek and isn’t overly stylized. However, being 8 months out, I am optimistic so far! If you are interested in exploring more, check out IGN’s Rewind Theater where they break down every aspect of the trailer and speculate on what they see (warning this could result in spoilers). Enjoy!
Archive for the 'Learnings' Category
09
Sep
11
Portal No Escape
While I am not a huge video game player, I can’t help but admire this short movie by Dan Trachtenberg. As a director of primarily TV commercials, Trachtenberg decided to return to his original dream of film-making by creating this short about the popular Portal video game. After 10 years of making commercials, he realized that breaking into the action film market would be almost impossible if he didn’t do something big. Exhausting his life savings, his hope was that this ambitious project would gain the attention needed to help him achieve his goal. He shares in interviews that every that could go wrong, went wrong while filming- and he feared that this project would turn out to be an enormous mistake. What happened? This video posted on YouTube 3 weeks ago and now has over 6 million hits! Within weeks, it has already become the third most popular YouTube video in the Animation/Film category. Now he is VERY busy entertaining the attention of many people in the movie industry. It will be interesting to see what happens to his career from this point on. Check out this video and be inspired to take some big risks in life.
Last night I had a chance to go to a small screening of Morgan Spurlock’s- get ready for this, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (that’s a super sized title!). Known as the documentarian that brought the juggernaut McDonalds to it’s knees, Spurlock is taking on an even a bigger behemoth, the world of advertising. And this David has more than a few stones to knock down Goliath.
The concept is innovative so let me attempt to explain it. This documentary meta-adventure is about the grueling process of making a movie WHILE being the movie at the same time. It’s an attempt to be completely transparent on how movies get made and how sponsorships influence the end product. Spurlock starts with a concept then meets with advertisers, brand developers, consumer specialists, the brands themselves, movie industry leaders, and a lot of every day common consumers. On the Jummy Kimmel show, it is refereed as the ‘Inception’ of documentaries with its world within a world reality. One moment, we are following Spurlock in to pitch a commercial for one of his brands, the next we are seamlessly in the commercial for that product. If you remember Wayne’s World (1992), there was a scene when Wayne and Garth rip on those that ‘sell out’ for product placement while they are simultaneously promoting products. GMES has plenty of similar moments which lead to many laugh-out-loud moments. However, while this movie is filled with creative product placements with POM Wonderful bottles, Hilton Hotels, JetBlue planes, and Mini Coopers, it also has some genuinely thought provoking moments.
GMES raises the continually growing tension of art vs commerce. The delicate balance of when the consumer and brand relationship shifts from symbiotic to parasitic. As a filmmaker and storyteller, Spurlock is really faced with the dilemma of defending artistic integrity. We are forced to ask, is there room for that in this commercialized booming world we live in. My favorite part of GMES is when he visits the Brazilian city of San Paulo. Years ago, city officials banned all public advertisements thus affecting crime and commerce in a positive way. Seeing the images of an ‘ad-free’ city was a little disorienting but inspired me believe that we don’t have to be driven by marketing. San Paulo gave me hope that we might someday live in a world with no commercials on TV, pop up ads on websites, or billboards on the streets. It asks the question of who is in control of who? More importantly, Spurock casts a vision for a human centered existence free of visual clutter and pollution.
As with Super Size Me and Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden, Spurlock presents the material in a witty and compelling style. Without diluting the seriousness of the issue, he is able to poke fun at his own expense. His all immersive approach of storytelling gives him the credibility to speak into the subject instead of throwing rocks at it from afar. Unlike pessimistic filmmakers like Michael Moore, Spurlock comes off as a genuinely likable guy. He is an everyday guy with a world challenging vision.
I had no real issues with the movie except that it might not appeal to certain demographics. Having a design/advertising degree and having worked as an Art Director in the past, GMES was extremely relevant to me. Living in a fast food dependent culture is what made Super Size Me enormously successful. However, while GMES might not have that same level of appeal, it is executed at a level that surpasses all of his previous works.
So the question remains, after all the product placement during the movie, did it really affect me as a viewer? Well, by the end of it, I was dying to have a POM Wonderful (for the first time), which I thoroughly enjoyed as shown in the picture below with the man himself.
I give Greatest Movie Ever Sold a 4 Babbles out of 5:
20
Apr
11
The Greatest TEDTalk Ever Sold
We really learned a lot from the list the Girls Are Geeks sent over about what us guys need to know about geeky girls. So in response, we sent over our own list of Top Five things that geek girls should know about geek guys. There was a bit of heated debated over the finer points of our list, check out the comments on their post. Here is our list, geeks let us know what you think! Continue reading ‘What geeky girls should know about geeky guys…’
05
Jan
11
2010 Year in Review
As we say goodbye to 2010 and forge ahead to the undiscovered country of 2011, we wanted to say a special thanks to the fans and followers of BabbleOn 5. Without your faithfulness, visits, and comments, B5 would have would have gone kaput faster than the Klingon moon Praxis. Starting officially in May 2009, we are just now eclipsing a year and half mark. So to all of our ‘stock holders’, here are our stats for 2010:
- We had over 170,000 visitors in 2010
- Almost 300 posts
- Almost 700 pics averaging posting 2 pics a day
- Our busiest day was July 20th, the day before Comic Con with 2,244 visitors
- On Dec 20th, our post for TRON Legacy was featured on the front page of WordPress.com and ended with over 60 comments!
- Our top 5 posts were related to Splice, Avatar, Ponyo, Toy Story 3, and TRON
- We added two new Babblers, Bear and Billy
- Our Twitter account @BabbleOn5 picked up about 500 more followers
- We just partnered up with Girls Are Geeks for some future projects.
- In August, we were invited to attend the First Annual Geek Awards in LA.
- Our Babblers attended the San Diego Comic Con as official press for the first time.
We are so grateful for you all and we are committed to bringing you more nerdy, creative, and compelling content for 2011! So our latest is…
Our 2010 Year in Review podcast (in 3-D!) is now up. Come join us for this 35 minute discussion about the highs, lows, favorites, and failings of this past year. We also add favorite movie contributions from our Twitter followers. The cast concludes with what nerdy films we are looking forward to in 2011. To listen to the cast, follow this link.
We are pleased to announce a new epic partnership in nerdom. Not since the formation of the Justice League of America has there been a more potent combination of the good, the bad, and the geeky. The boys of BabbleOn 5 are excited to partner with the Girls Are Geeks to babble about all things nerdy. Here they are to introduce our first topic…
5 Things Geeky Guys Should Know About Geeky Girls
We are Rosalind, Dawn, and Gardella, and we are the girls over at Girls Are Geeks! We’re very excited to be hanging out with the guys here at BabbleOn 5 for a while to do some geek exchanges with a gender-interest slant. To get started, we thought it would be a good idea to help define Geek Girls and Geek Guys for each other. This is our Top Five things that Geek Guys should know about Geek Girls.
1. Geeky girls are still girls. Sure, we often like playing video games in sweats and a Penny Arcade t-shirt, that doesn’t mean we might not want to get dressed up and go out sometimes. Many of us also like girly things, with geeky twists. For example, feel free to buy a geek girl jewelry, but consider that a geek girl might not be too impressed with a heart necklace, unless it’s a Tetris heart.
2. But Geeky girls are still geeks. We are not just hanging out with geeks or doing things because our geek husband or boyfriend asked us too. We have our own geeky interests, and we are serious about them. We also tend to obsess over things that might not be classically geeky, such as cooking and Disney, but don’t doubt that geek girls are just as into gaming, scifi, and technology too!
3. Geeky girls are smart, especially about our geekdoms. We know our stuff as well as geek guys do, and we have no problem correcting your inaccurate quoting of Firefly or Doctor Who. You can’t bull#$%* a geek girl, so the best way to keep one on your side is to be honest and don’t act like you know more than you do!
4. Geeky girls are competitive, and we will kick your @**. We don’t mind correcting geek guys and we don’t mind destroying geek guys over Xbox Live, or in Munchkin, Tetris, or any other game that we play. However, letting a geek girl win is a sure way to piss her off, so play good and play fair, just be prepared to get the same thing in return!
5. Geeky girls are not stereotypes, nor can we really be generalized. The best thing to remember about any geek girl is to learn about her as a person. We can be scifi geeks, gaming geeks, science geeks, tech geeks, or any number of other geeks. Don’t make assumptions about geek girls and our interests: just because she loves Babylon 5, doesn’t mean that she has also memorized every episode of Battlestar Galactica.
Hopefully that helps you get to know what to expect from us geeky girls! We are excited to be working with the geek guys of BabbleOn 5. See you around!
Special thanks to the Girls Are Geeks and be sure to check out their website. We are looking forward to some nerdy interaction with ya’ll. B5 will be posting our own ‘what geeky girls need to know about geeky guys’ soon. Please comment and add anything that might help us geeky guys. Babble on!
03
Jan
11
TRON Legacy podcast
To kick off the new year and the future, the Babblers discussed one of the highest anticipated films of the past few years. As super nerds, we have some critical thoughts on TRON Legacy. In this 24 minute podcast we discuss the problems, pains, praises and the legacy of this sequel to the 1982 TRON. Let us know if you agree! Click here to listen to the podcast.
You can also read our review of TRON Legacy that was featured on the WordPress frontpage!
As approach the release of TRON Legacy, I have heard many complaints about the lack of availability of the original TRON on DVD. An interesting phenomenon has occurred that I have never seen before. A few years ago, Disney released the TRON 20th Anniversary Edition on a 2-disc set and this appears to be the last copy circulating around. I did some research to discover why. Disney, fearing the aged graphics will turn off younger viewers, has pulled all known copies of TRON from the shelves and online stores. You may even noticed that there have been no releases of images, books, or toys referring to the original TRON. Disney is trying to keep the public from seeing the outdated CGI and out-of-style design from this early 80′s cult classic. Currently copies of TRON on DVD are going for $100-150 on Ebay, it’s that rare! It’s like Disney is the MCP trying to wipe out the TRON program from existence! Whoa, so meta. Continue reading ’3 minute recap of the original TRON’
23
Nov
10
Top 6 Flix with Damon Lindelof
16
Nov
10
the walking spousal-abuse
I’m with Jeff – “The Walking Dead” didn’t need racism and it doesn’t need to be dealing with spousal abuse. Maybe they aren’t introducing it as a theme or a subject matter they’ll deal with for a while, but it’s certainly not something you can just ‘throw into the mix’ and let it lie there.
I didn’t read the comic so I’m coming at it from a fresh, TV-only viewer perspective. I think they should stick to the topics at hand: zombie apocalypse, finding other survivors, what to do next!?!?!?
Also in the latest episode, episode 3 titled “Tell it to the Frogs”, there’s certainly already plenty of drama with (spoiler alert) Rick finding his wife and son! I mean, roll the credits, he found them! Just a second, he’s going back into the city!?!?!
On one hand, I didn’t really buy that. But on the other, yeah!, let’s get back to the zombies!
I’m digging the show and trying to just enjoy the ride and not over analyze it – it’s a zombie show so… you have to keep that in mind.
However, I do think there needs to be a good catch-phrase for Rick and/or all of them. Maybe when they shoot a zombie they can say something catchy… how about: “Have a rest, walker.” Or “This is a no walking zone.” or “No brains for you – one year.”
Crazy4ComicCon
Jeff
Johnny
Aileen
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