Tuesday, May 25, 2010

NIKE unveils EPIC new World Cup 2010 Ad Spot!

Just wanted to take a minute to post this fantastic new NIKE ad. It's 3 minutes of heart-pounding, gut-wrenching adrenaline that so convincingly depicts the sports fan's view of watching a match that it blows your mind, especially with a sport like soccer (or football, whichever you prefer), that is translatable to every culture and country around the world. Notable mentions go to Kobe Bryant and Bart Simpson for their memorable appearances in the ad, not to mention the world's top soccer stars. Also, NIKE shows how one play on the field, court, or wherever, can be, in today's tech-crazy world, uploaded and viewed millions of times by fans and enthusiasts globally. Very current, and aware of how social marketing works today. Fabulous job to the people behind this ad at NIKE!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Missed the latest TRUE BLOOD trailer played during finale of LOST!

Can I just complain that in this day and age, and for a show that I really thought has, up until now, really understood how to use social media successfully to create buzz around the upcoming, and highly anticipated season 3, that TRUE BLOOD kind of sucks today.

How can they upload weekly, teaser posters (so clever are each, I might add), online mini-sodes, and utilize Twitter so magnificently for contests and discussions around the Vamp and Were cultures, BUT, at the same time...have the newest TRUE BLOOD trailer promo shown ONLY during the season finale of LOST.

Basically I'm bitter that I'm not a die-hard LOST fan and won't be able to see this trailer until someone who recorded it, uploads it.

Come on HBO, don't get caught up with all the LOST final episode hooplah and stick with your original plan which is to ....wait, nevermind, I guess whatever they're doing is working because here I am, talking about season 3 of True Blood and ranting and raving because I missed some super exclusive trailer.

Hmm, touché

Movie Picks for Summer 2010

Inception:
A Sci-fi thriller that looks as confusing as it does intriguing. Leo never disappoints, from his early start as Johnny Depp's younger brother in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, all the way to his fantastic portrayal of an undercover cop with an amazing Boston accent in one of my favourite movies of all time, The Departed. Oh, and who could forget (although I almost did), Blood Diamond and his most recent, Shutter Island. Definitely the De Niro of our time.

This next one, a Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) directed blockbuster, looks quite mysterious, which only adds to everyone's excitement around its release, with a Film Noir darkness to it that only Nolan has been able to accomplish today.

Obviously The Dark Knight was super dark and hardcore, but what about his cult classic Memento, where his use of non-linear storytelling (everything was in reverse order) was extremely awkward to watch, but what he does is literally put you in the character's mind and you end up seeing thing from his eyes, effectively connecting with the viewer. He's a twisted one, but as you can see, there are definitely high expectations for Inception.




Get Him to the Greek:

AAH!... Aldyss Snow is back again, this time in his hometown of London, and this time, with a full film dedicated to his sex/drugs/and rocknroll-crazed shenanigans. Honestly, I have to say that Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my favourite comedies and what made that movie was Aldyss Snow’s presence as the Brit-Pop/Rocker strutting his stuff around Hawaii. I have to say, though, I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle an entire 2 hours of him and his all-around weirdness, so we’ll have to see. Also don’t know if Jonah Hill can hold his own in a movie without his usual geeky counterparts Michael Cera or Seth Rogan.



Salt:
All I know is, if all of those paparazzi shots all year of Angelina Jolie shooting on-location all over Europe with her whole brood in tow, wasn’t enough to garner interest for this movie’s release, then I don’t know what is. That alone has me excited to see what all the fuss is about. But, can’t Angelina Jolie find another role already or what?! Does she always have to play a secret agent spy?! I know she has been in other movies, like that Changeling and whatever, but I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty sure I’ve already seen this movie, TWICE. There was movie most known for breaking up super-duper-America’s Sweethearts couple Brad Pitt and Jen Aniston, Mr. And Mrs. Smith and then the pretty bad movie, Wanted. Seriously, can you say typecast?!

Anyway, all ranting aside, this movie looks pretty good, although the story’s probably been done about a million times already. You can always count on Angie for an action packed sex-fuelled distraction from reality!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Season of Season Finales

Spring has come and almost gone, and with that, a huge lot of network season finales to choose from. To be completely honest, I've almost given up on network TV for its lack of originality and boring storylines. Basically, it's getting harder and harder for these shows to fight for valuable viewership time.

As it happens every year, networks are canceling both new and long-running shows to make way for a new dose of what they call 'originality', and sometimes this makes sense but of course, I don't always agree.

Number one on me OMG moments for the end of this season is 'Grey's Anatomy'. WOW! Looks like Shonda Rhimes still has some things up her sleeve. To quote from Godfather, Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! That two-part season finale literally just revived my love for a show that I've found increasingly boring and uninspiring this season, with too much flip flop of characters and too many new faces trying to over-compensate for the strong absence felt when Katherine Heigl made the worst exit on a show since Judy Winslow from Family Matters walked up the stairs to change her clothes and never came back down.

Anyway, Grey's was amazing, as I said, filled with such suspense, terror, and shocking surprises. Basically it felt like no character was safe and any of them could have lived or died. Got to hand it to the writing - now if only it had been like this all season...

On another note, with the season of season finales comes the season of cancellations.
The only one that stands out for me is CBS' 'Accidentally On Purpose', a funny half-hour comedy with the hilarious Jenna Elfman and the cutest guy on TV, Jon Foster playing her baby daddy. Him alone was enough to keep me tuning in each week, and, although it wasn't exactly the most original story (20-something guy gets 30-something woman pregnant after a one-night stand and they try to make it work), the supporting characters of her cooky sister and awkward brother-in-law, and her boyfriend's under-achieving friends, made for some great comedy.

Also, I just heard that next season will be the last for Steve Carell aka Michael Scott on 'The Office'. Oh the horror, how will I live without it if there's no more 'That's what she said' and unintentional racial and sexist slurs from everyone's favourite regional manager. Wonder if the show will go on without Steve, and if so, I strongly nominate Dwight K. Schrute to take over as the boss. Would make for some fantastic comedy.

Anyway, with the end of network TV seasons, comes the highly anticipated new seasons of 'True Blood' and 'Entourage' on the fabulous HBO. Also, new episodes of 'Nurse Jackie', 'The United States of Tara' are still airing, which means there's still stay-at-home fun to be had this summer.