In the interest of bringing you a quirky newsbit of the week, I scoured Youtube for fake Apple/Mac ads. The premise behind this: Everyone wants to be Apple (er, Google) or at the very least, win a chance to work for them. Plenty of parodies exist on the theme of the the Mac/PC guy. Some more memorable than others, but the best Apple ad of all time (and a REAL one, at that) remains the Orwellian commercial that came out around this time of season way back before Apple was Macintosh. In the interest of keeping with the 80s theme here: There’s something about growing up in the Max Headroom-inflicted era of the 80s and hearing, Music is my boyfriend [and girlfriend] alongside an electronica beat that I can’t help but swoon over.
As this clip, which integrates Mr. Bean, the Spice Girls, an iPod, iTunes, and Mac/PC illustrates, the tragic flaw of majority of the pseudo Mac ads is their lack of simplicity - the core ingredient to Apple’s success in advertising. Witnessing a few of these ads in succession makes one even more nostalgic and appreciative for the type of vision, clarity, and intent with which Apple creates their ads. So as a final follow up, the best fake Apple ad of the season is indeed the Wired toted disco Christmas ad with the Mac computer displays. But there is a hope for novice hacks out there: Companies that are able to capitalize on the success of Apple ads by piggybacking on those infamous light bulb Mac ideas and leveraging this popularity, have the best chance at creating memorable ads this holiday season.
So start creating and uploading to YouTube. Just keep the Muppets, Michael Jackson, and Columbine out of it.
Although the new Harry Potter book breaks records by becoming the worlds fastest selling book with an amazing 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours, the new Harry Potter movie, on it’s second week only came second at the box office in the past weekend with estimated $32.2 million. It was I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry making $34.8 million. It’s not that $32 millions in one weekend is bad, but you know, second place always have to try harder…
I like those weeks when more then one Big movie is opening, and it is hard to predict which of them will win at the box office. In the last couple of weeks it was impossible to watch any talk show, day or night, that did not host a cast member of either Hair Spray or I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry, trying to win our hearts, or at least our pockets.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry- Chuck and Larry (Adam Sandler and Kevin James) are two fireman who pose as a gay couple so they can get some insurance benefits. This movie reminds me a French movie I can’t remember the name of…
Hairspray- John Travolta(in drag) and Nicole Blonski sing and dance in this Musical. Tracy Turnblad dreams about appearing in “The Corny Collins Show,” a famous dance TV show.
Cashback- We actually featured a clip from this movie last week. Ben Willis, a student, uses his imagination to fight the boredom of working an eight hour night shift at the supermarket. I think this might be the refreshing movie of the weekend.
Since we are going to talk a lot about The Simpsons movie next week, today’s peak is from the new Lindsay Lohan movie, I Know Who Killed Me. Enjoy the weekend
In Hollywood, child abuse isn’t a vulgar anomaly, it’s a logical and acceptable business decision. There’s a long, infamous, and tragic history in showbiz of greed-crazed parents pimping out their kids for a paycheck. And most of the time, these former child stars wind up dead, in jail, struggling through years of threapy, or doing a reality tv show.
(”Oh sorry, Mr. Bonaduce, I didn’t see you lying on the floor there.”)
But there are a few who not only survived the minefields of Hollywood, but kept their money, became bigger stars and turned out happy in spite of it all.
For example, Drew Barrymore.
Regrets? She’s had a few.
In her autobiography “Little Girl Lost”, it describes the problems Drew had as a famous child actress (ET, Altered States, Firestarter) wrestling with the seductive demons of pot, booze, cocaine, an irresponsible mother and too many bad choices. Before Poison Ivy, she couldn’t get a job.
Now? Drew is a well-respected and successful movie star whose films in the last decade (Never Been Kissed, Charlie’s Angels, The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, and Fever Pitch) have had a worldwide box-office gross of 2.3 billion. Sure, Music and Lyrics, co-starring Hugh Grant) wasn’t a big hit, but it broke even, and made a tidy profit in DVD sales and rentals.
Drew Barrymore chose not to be another childhood statistic.
When asked about Lindsay Lohan, a promising young actress who picked up the sex ‘n drugs ‘n’ Rock & Roll lifestyle that Drew left behind, she answered, “I know Lindsay, and I like her very much. You just have to be as graceful as you can. You know, you flub, you flub. And that’s life. Do what you want, but just be professional.”
Lucky You, the new film by Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys, L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) hasn’t gotten very good reviews. So what? After everything Drew has been through, a flop won’t kill her.
For the week that was 4/29, Beth tackles Alec Baldwin, Heather Mills, Sanjaya, Richard Gere, Sarah Silverman, and Rosie O’Donnell in her weekly podcast.
I happened to read the same Newsweek article mentioned in the previous post. I don’t dig “The Simpsons” so much so I can’t share Ariel’s enthusiasm, but I can share some of my insights about this summer preview article Newsweek unveiled on its unsuspecting readers.
Ok, so I read it twice, maybe three times. I kept thinking maybe I was missing out on the point of the piece? It’s a summer preview of all the comedies coming out this Summer. A lot of these movies star my favorite funnymen: Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, Robin Williams, Paul Rudd (questionable w/out Ferrell and Carell alongside), Adam Sandler, etc. And yet…And yet…
Why did Newsweek pay these guys to do tongue-in-cheek type reviews of their own films “in character”? The premise was just a little too weird for my pea-sized brain to wrap itself around.
Case-in-point: Paul Rudd is starring in “The Ten“-an anthology-based flick loosely based on the actual Ten Commandments in which each characters’ story somehow relates to one of the commandments.
So here’s what Rudd (as “Jeff“)writes for Newsweek:
Though it’s debated, many people believe that there was a first set of commandments that Moses smashed in a fit of anger (because the Israelites chose to worship the golden calf. Great!). Through extensive research (i.e., Wikipedia), a few of the originals have been unearthed. Drumroll, please:
Thou shalt not get a tattoo of an Asian proverb if you’re a lame white guy.
Honor small, medium and large. Tall, grande and venti are for jackasses.
Thou shalt never try and live with bears.
Thou shalt not go back to Rockville (specifically for R.E.M.).
Thou shalt never, never, never, ever buy a Hummer.
Huh? Maybe it’s just too obscure to have comedians pretending to be actors acting “in-part” pretending to be writers describing their pretend roles to readers.
Can the equation work when only one of its component is actually real?
Adam Sandler and Kevin James’ new comedy, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” is a remake of the original French film starring Gerald Depardieu and Daniel Auteil in which Daniel pretends to be gay to save his job.
In an interview for Newsweek, Sandler defended “King of Queen(s)?” co-star Kevin James’ heterosexuality, saying:
This movie says there’s nothing wrong with being gay. There’s just something wrong with being gay for Kevin James. I know Kevin, and it’s kind of a strange thing to have to play. So to ease the tension, before the first day of shooting, we had sex with each other. We just got it out of the way so it wouldn’t be an issue. It’s an old tip I picked up from working with (Jack) Nicholson.
The formerly hip Adam Sandler, star of the film we were just raving about is set to star in a Disney film directed by Hairspray’s Adam Shankman. The former “Billy Madison” star will be portraying a yuppie whose “Bedtime Stories” he tells his niece and nephew start to come true.
Final Verdict: I’m not going to pay the $10 for price of admission, but I might have to Netflix this one for when my own niece and nephews come to town.
As we are getting closer (some may say not fast enough) to the weekend, here is a list of movies if you decide to do some passive activity, such as going to the cinema. So here are the movies and what Yahoo movies had to say about them.
1. Blades Of Glory- Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as rival figure skaters, banned and disgraced from the sport, who team together as pairs’ skaters.
2. Peaceful Warrior- A mysterious stranger leads an arrogant, talented college gymnast on a spiritual journey that will change his life forever.
3. Meet The Robinsons- A boy genius creates a machine to recover the lost memory of the past and embarks on an amazing adventure with his future family.
In the interest of bringing you a quirky newsbit of the week, I scoured Youtube for fake Apple/Mac ads. The premise behind this: Everyone wants to be Apple (er, Google) or at the very least, win a chance to work for them. Plenty of parodies exist on the theme of the the Mac/PC guy. Some more memorable than others, but the best Apple ad of all time (and a REAL one, at that) remains the Orwellian commercial that came out around this time of season way back before Apple was Macintosh. In the interest of keeping with the 80s theme here: There’s something about growing up in the Max Headroom-inflicted era of the 80s and hearing, Music is my boyfriend [and girlfriend] alongside an electronica beat that I can’t help but swoon over.
For the week that was 4/29, Beth tackles Alec Baldwin, Heather Mills, Sanjaya, Richard Gere, Sarah Silverman, and Rosie O’Donnell in 
Adam Sandler and Kevin James’ new comedy, “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” is a remake of the original French film starring Gerald Depardieu and Daniel Auteil in which Daniel pretends to be gay to save his job.
The formerly hip Adam Sandler, star of the film 