Category Archives: Pop Culture

The Show

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Several years ago, when I was still on the other side of 30 and Twitter didn’t even exist yet, there was a man named Ze Frank who created things on the Internet. One of the greatest things he ever did was a video podcast (back before it was called a video podcast) called The Show with Ze Frank.

Every day, he would post a new 5-7 minute video covering current events, pop culture…pretty much anything that entered his mind. He wrote songs. He made up new terms. He entertained and delighted his Sports Racer audience.

The Show lasted exactly one year, starting on March 17, 2006 and ending on March 17, 2007. I never missed it. In fact, I looked forward to each day around 3:00 when the new show would be posted. My friend Kevin and I would anxiously refresh our browsers until the new one showed its bug-eyed face. And we were rarely disappointed.

After The Show ended, Ze went on to do even more amazing things, posting web content for Time and speaking at conferences like TED.

Earlier this year, I heard about a Kickstarter campaign he was running to start another season of The Show. The Internet came through and now, he’s published his first video, something he’s calling, “An Invocation.”

I’m thrilled to see his face on the web again. Every day, he came through with a wonderful video that entertained and inspired through the monotony of a work day. His “Invocation” is a reminder of everything that was great about The Show — his cadence, his editing, his never-ever-ever-blinking, his writing. He’s really one of those things that make the web great.

I’m so excited that he’s putting on A Show. I hope that you’ll tune in too.

My favorite Super Bowl Ads

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A lot of people watch the Super Bowl. Something to the tune of 400 billion in 250,000 countries or something like that. Some watch for the game (and a great game it was!), others watch for the halftime show (my wife was in that group tonight) and lots of people watch for the commercials.

In this world of DVR fast-forwarding, this is the one time of year that advertisers are pretty much guaranteed that a metric crap ton of eyeballs are going to be watching. A lot of money is spent on agencies and a lot of rich people get a lot richer (#OccupySuperBowl, anyone?).

I could care less who won the game…in fact, when Boston and New York play, I think most people root for both teams to lose, if that’s possible. I do watch the game, and this was definitely an exciting one. But as a marketer, I definitely pay very close attention to the ads.

This was my setup during the game: Twitter on the left, ad notes on the right.

My Twitter setup during the Super Bowl

After, I went back through and looked at my notes…tried to figure out which ones I liked best. Here were my favorites:

Hyundai – “All For One”

Now, I just bought a Hyundai Sonata last year. I love my car. I also loved what Hyundai did as the sponsor of the pre-game show. This nod to the Rocky theme was pretty great.

Best Buy – Phone Innovators

This ad from Best Buy was terrific. Phone-agnostic, but showing the type of amazing innovation that has come from the smartphone industry. And hats off to Instagram and Square…both amazing apps. And the Words with Friends nod was the perfect amount of funny.

Chevy – “2012″

Detroit came with a couple great ads and I thought Chevy had a great night. This one was the better of their two (the other being the extreme sports Chevy Sonic), especially the use of “Looks Like We Made It.”

Doritos – “Man’s Best Friend”

Doritos puts a lot of effort into their Super Bowl ads and they’ve really done a lot of user-generated stuff. This ad made me laugh. Plus, dogs > cats.

Chrysler – “Halftime in America”

This ad easily won the night for me. Not only do you have Clint Eastwood, one of the biggest American icons, but you have this message that could have very easily gotten super political and ended up being inspirational. Loved the timing (obviously, right at halftime but before Madonna). I didn’t think Chrysler could come up with an ad that would eclipse what they did last year with Eminem. Turns out I was wrong. Other people felt the same, including Chevy, who put out this very classy tweet:

To me, that was pretty cool. The ad highlight of the night to me.

Some other thoughts

  • The highly-publicized “Matthew Broderick’s Day Off” ad for Honda really missed the mark for me.
  • When it came to movie trailers, The Avengers won, in my opinion.
  • The Coca-Cola polar bears are over.
  • I really love Betty White, but she runs the risk of overexposure, in my opinion.
  • The Hulu Plus ads are terrible.
  • I saw a ton of hash tags in commercials. Some good. Some bad. Very few were on screen long enough to be noticed. Keep them on the whole time. #solongvampires
  • The VW ad was funny, but that Star Wars end to it was totally lame.
  • At the risk of being a “defensive fan boy,” I thought the Samsung Note ad was a good ad for an absolutely terrible product. Nice to see someone trying to take on Apple. Is a mini-tablet (or is that a giant phone?) with a stylus really the best product to attack with?
  • Go Daddy is the worst.
  • After a bunch of terrible halftime shows (all since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction”), Madonna set the bar for the next 10 years. All halftime shows should be measured against that.

What did you think?

Thoughts on LOST

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LOST

The survivors of Oceanic 815 have captured our hearts and minds for the past 6 years. The day after, it’s difficult to assess just how the show’s end will fall into the annals of television history. Some people hated the finale. Others, like me, thought it was fitting and touching.

Cuse and Lindelof created a world that sparked controversy and debate. Was it purgatory? Who were Jacob and the Man in Black, really? OMGWTFPOLARBEAR? They should be commended for such a huge accomplishment. I predict multiple Emmys in the show’s future (too little too late?).

There are people who are indignant about the way the show ended and to them, I say, please remember that it was still just a TV show. It was a special one, but just a TV show. It entertained, made us think, theorize and discuss in a medium where people typically just sit back and enjoy their half-hour nuggets and then go about their lives.

Monday morning, I woke up and I was still thinking about the show and its end. I feel like it paid respect to us as viewers that we have the ability to fill in the blanks. We don’t need everything explicitly spelled out and explained because what’s the fun in that? If Cuselof would have laid out exactly what everything meant, wouldn’t that have been a disservice to the show that meant so many different things to so many different people?

At the heart of the show, it was always about people. It was about relationships and how we are all flawed and how those flaws are really what makes us interesting and beautiful. The mystery of the island provided this fascinating backdrop that made us ask questions and stay engaged. But ultimately, through a combination of flash-forwards, flash-backs, flash-sideways and excellent storytelling and top-notch acting, the characters of the show became real and tangible to us.

The people on the island were all flawed in one way or another. The show lasted as long as it did and succeeded because we saw ourselves in the survivors of Oceanic 815 and their very evident flaws. That’s why I loved the show and the finale.

The fact that I’m still thinking about it more than 24 hours later means one of two things: A) it went way over my head and I’m still trying to sort it out, or B) it was completely awesome.

I’m going with Option B.

Some quick Golden Globes thoughts

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Like many people, I watched the Golden Globes last night. Awards season is a favorite for Alli and me and we picked up some Original Pizza, some Throwback soda and settled in for a night of glamour, movies and TV…all from the comfort of sweats on the couch.

First things first: Ricky Gervais was really disappointing. For as much smack as he talked prior to the show about how he was going to be brutal to the stars, all he really did was self-promote (not unheard of) and get in maybe one good dig at Mel Gibson. The rest of his jokes were just really MEH.

Some other thoughts:

  • I really felt that Jane Lynch got robbed for supporting actress in a TV series. I’ve never understood why they lumped all the supporting actors and actresses into one all-encompassing category, including comedies, dramas and mini-series. She should have won. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Big Love, but Sevigny didn’t deserve it. Sue Sylvester is the heart and soul of Glee.
  • Speaking of Glee, I’m so glad that it won. I love that show.
  • I still have very little desire to see Grey Gardens.
  • Toni Collette won a shocker for TV actress in a comedy. I won’t say she’s not deserving…I was just really surprised.
  • Alec Baldwin is the new Tony Shalhoub.
  • I think that Julianna Margulies winning Best Actress in a Drama series was a shock to everyone except Julianna Margulies.
  • T-Bone Burnett does not look like he should. He should at least have a beard.
  • I really like how the Oscars splits the screenplays into adapted and original. Like Just Cara said, when you are blessed with great source material, it’s hard to mess it up. Unless, of course, if you’re Rob Marshall.
  • I love Robert Downey, Jr., but I was really hoping for Joseph Gordon-Levitt to pull out the Best Actor Comedy win. He was awesome in (500) Days of Summer, one of my favorites of the last year.
  • The room was amazingly cold toward James Cameron during both of his acceptance speeches. And I was thinking, it’s gotta suck to be a filmmaker during the year that James Cameron comes out with a movie. It’s once every 10 years, but still. It’s gotta suck.

Overall, it was a decent show…not a ton of huge surprises. Would have liked to see Gervais push it a little more. It will be interesting to see Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin host the Oscars. I doubt they will go after any of the actors in attendance, but you never know.

Another thing to note, if you’re a Twitter user and you watch the Twitter stream during shows like this, I highly recommend following Doug Benson. He hosts a podcast called “I Love Movies” and is totally hilarious.

I’m with Conan

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Today, Conan O’Brien said what everyone hoped he would say to NBC: take a hike.

And rightfully so. Leno indicated he wanted to quit, so NBC (wisely) locked up Conan to replace him. Then, Leno decided he wasn’t so sure about quitting. So NBC, in their infinite wisdom, changed their schedule to give Jay the hour lead-in to The Tonight Show, effectively taking the wind out of Conan’s sails…I mean who really wants to watch Leno do the pre-Tonight Show and then another hour of the regular Tonight Show? It’s just excessive.

But Leno couldn’t go quietly into the night. No one watched his show (because it was terrible and unfunny), so NBC once again decided to do something stupid (I’m still mad they cancelled Inside Schwartz) by throwing a complete wrench in their late night lineup, which still is uncertain.

So Conan, the real loser in all of this, decided enough was enough. His letter, addressed to “People of Earth” is funny, yet firm enough to let NBC know that he will not allow them to destroy the storied Tonight Show on his watch. Whether they actually listen to him is anyone’s guess. My assumption is that Jeff Zucker (who I am amazed still has a job through all this and their many other blunders, one of which includes almost cancelling The Office after the first season) will likely just let Conan go like he did David Letterman and re-hire Jay Leno to helm The Tonight Show. Which would be a mistake, if you consider Twitter to be the pulse of the nation. Four of the top 10 trending topics are about O’Brien, NBC or “Team Conan”.

But since when has NBC had any sense about what people care about. They are far too fragmented and their programming is 30% made up of Law & Order episodes. There’s a reason that they’re in 4th place. They’ve got a bunch of morons running the network.

It’s sad, too, because there is some good talent on NBC and some entertaining shows. But they don’t have the slightest clue how to market those shows or nurture their growth. Instead, they are reactionary and impatient.

And that just doesn’t work.

Would Kurt Cobain have killed the Web?

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What if the internet had existed in its current state when Kurt Cobain committed suicide?

This question was brought up as I was listening to Rob Sheffield’s Love Is a Mix Tape on the way home from work tonight. Sheffield is a music writer and his book — the concept at least — is really smart. Can our lives be told through mix tapes?

Do we even know what mix tapes are anymore?

I got to thinking about Kurt Cobain and his suicide because Sheffield talks about it in his book (SPOILER ALERT! Cobain kills himself!) and how when he died, how all they did all weekend was watch MTV for the news…something…anything about Kurt.

It reminded me of when the King of Pop died in June. Because his death occurred under such strange circumstances and he was a curious, quirky guy, the reaction on the web was weird. Some were quick to remind us of his questionable relationships or the way he burned through money and others did their best to remember him as the genius he was.

Then I thought about the demographics of the people who use the web — punk kids with blogs, hipsters in skinny jeans with Tumblogs, Twitterers — and I got the feeling that they’d be all over Cobain’s suicide. Not only would it have broken Twitter into a Fail Whale loop, I think it might have brought internet giants like Google and Facebook to their knees. I get the feeling that even YouTube would have struggled to support the onslaught of streaming and embed requests.

This is not a post about how Kurt Cobain was a better artist than Michael Jackson or that one of them contributed more to music than the other. I was just thinking that while the reaction to Michael’s death was huge, I get the feeling that Cobain’s might have been even bigger, given the demographics of those who are most active on the web.

What do you think?

What are you even doing?

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Alli and I were watching The Big Bang Theory last week and a preview for that godawful Twilight saga knockoff vampire movie came on. Almost simultaneously, Alli and I asked, “John C. Reilly, what are you even doing?”

It got us thinking. There are some seriously strange choices being made in Hollywood by good (well, at least formerly decent) actors. So I thought I would write a little post devoted to them…hopefully to call them out onto the carpet.

John C. Reilly

You earned an Oscar nomination for your work in Chicago. You’ve garnered more than one Independent Spirit nomination. You starred in Scorsese flicks, including The Aviator and Gangs of New York.

Then came Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

After that, you became convinced that you were Will Ferrell’s best friend, shacking up with him for a myriad of stinkers, including one of the worst movies I’ve ever subjected myself to in my life: Walk Hard. Here’s a tip for you, John: next to your godawful timing, Will Ferrell looks like a comedic genius. That’s why he keeps putting you in his movies…you make him look funnier.

I’m not saying you can’t make people laugh, but let’s try something serious every once in a while. You were great in Magnolia and Boogie Nights. Maybe call Paul Thomas Anderson up and ask him what he’s got cooking…

The Rock

I’m guessing you have a development deal with Disney.

That’s cool. You do what you gotta do to pay the bills. But even folks who cash in every once in a while on big budget box office hits will occasionally throw in something that stretches you as an actor.

Look, I understand that it has to be difficult to feign interest as you star in kid movie after kid movie, but could you at least throw in Rundown 2 for me? God knows that Seann William Scott could use the work.

I really enjoy you as an actor. You’re charming and engaging and you’ve got great delivery and timing despite the fact that you cut your teeth as a pro wrestler. That being said, please stop trying to re-brand yourself as “Dwayne Johnson”. It’s obviously not helping your career since your last 5 movies are as follows: The Tooth Fairy, Planet 51, Race to Witch Mountain, Get Smart and The Game Plan. Your next flick, The Other Guys, by Adam McKay, looks promising.

But if it sucks, the people are going to take back their claim on your elbow.

Eddie Murphy

Norbit. Dr. Dolittle. Daddy Day Care. The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Meet Dave. Imagine That. These movies aren’t even worth linking. You do know that the release of Norbit easily knocked you out of the running for your Oscar win for Dreamgirls, right? Because it seems like you don’t realize it.

You are a part of one of the most successful animated franchises in history and your character is probably the most beloved out of the bunch. But don’t be like Donkey. Don’t be stubborn. Make some better choices. You have it in you. We just haven’t seen it in a while.

Cuba Gooding, Jr.

You won an Oscar. You starred in Snow Dogs and Boat Trip. POOF!

There went your career. NEXT.

Renee Zellweger

When not buoyed by good writing, be it from Cameron Crowe or Helen Fielding, or your singing voice, people can’t help but notice your annoyingly scrunchy face. And I wouldn’t mention it if your acting was not slipping either, but these days, it seems like you are just playing the same person over and over and over again in one bad romantic comedy after another.

Nicholas Cage

submitted by Wrytir

Pretty sad when a former Oscar winner has to lean on his Dan Brown-like National Treasure series to keep his career afloat. I know that not getting the Superman reboot was a big blow to Nic, but did you have to respond by going and making that one with the flaming skulls? Outside of one or two big wins, your careers seems like an experiment in crap. I know that you’re trying to burst out of the shadow of the extremely talented Coppola family, but did you have to stray this far?

Now, I am well aware that there is only one female on this list. It’s either that there are very few bad roles for females in Hollywood or that movies are dominated by bad male roles. I don’t know. I’m sure you’ll tell me in the comments. So who would you like to write a letter to asking them: What are you even doing?

Spring Awakening

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I was extremely lucky to win tickets from Lost In Reviews to the opening night of the Spring Awakening tour in Kansas City this evening. (Disclaimer: I was not paid for this review.)

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Alli and I were really excited to have a night out (on a Tuesday!) to see the 2007 Tony Award-winning musical with music by one of my favorite musical artists, Duncan Sheik.

The musical is based on a controversial German play by Frank Wedekind and focuses on the themes of sexuality and violence. The original play was banned in Germany because of its racy themes, but an amazing thing about the play is that many of the themes still ring true over 100 years later.

The show is staged very uniquely, with a simple, straight-forward set containing seating for audience member on the stage and several movable chairs that can be configured to portray a schoolhouse, a study, an oak tree (trust me on that one). There is also one minor moving part to the stage, but it’s almost unnoticeable. The lighting design for the show won a well-deserved Tony and is phenomenal. It was yet another part of the show that was unique…unlike anything I’ve seen.

The band is at the back of the stage — a piano, acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, drums, maybe 1 or 2 other instruments. It’s an interesting choice because you notice them, but you don’t at the same time because many of the songs are performed directly to the audience, giving them more of a rock concert feel than the musicals that you’re used to.

And while we’re on the topic of the music, I have to talk about Duncan Sheik’s brilliant score and Steven Sater’s great lyrics. Somehow, they manage to take 1890′s German kids, have them sing indie rock songs with titles like “The Bitch of Living” and it all works. The performances by the actors at our show were phenomenal. I was particularly impressed by Taylor Trensch, who plays Moritz (arguably the third lead in the show). He was raw and his singing was on point. He really was the stand-out.

I really enjoyed this show as did Alli. I was amazed that something with its subject matter in a play over 100 years old could still be so relevant and meaningful. The singing was powerful, the music was eclectic and modern, yet fit the pervading themes of the show.

Glee fans (like me) will recognize Lea Michelle (who plays the diva Rachel) from the commercials since she was the original Wendla, the female lead in Spring Awakening. I think this kind of goes without saying (what with her being on a regular TV show and all), but don’t expect to see her.

For those theater-goers who might be interested in seeing the show, I highly recommend it, but that recommendation comes with a caveat: if you are easily offended, stay away. The musical embraces the same theme that Wedekind focused on in the play: sex. There are references and portrayals of masturbation, allusions to teenage sex and abuse, as well as homosexuality and abortion. As I was reading up on the background of the musical, I was absolutely floored that Wedekind’s original themes were still so relevant (and controversial) today.

There is actually a Parents’ Guide on the Spring Awakening website that may give you some idea as to whether you can handle it.

Understand, I definitely don’t want to discourage anyone from going to see it. I hope that people take the opportunity to go see this show while it is in town. Kansas City gets a small share of good touring Broadway musicals and this is one that you should not miss. That is, if you can handle it.