May 13th, 2008
Galley Friend Mike Russell has two exciting new bits. The first is a CulturePulp strip about visiting the set of the vampyre movie Twilight. The second is a long LAT essay about the movie itself. Both are well worth your time.
Oh, and hats off to the LAT for running this piece. It’s the type of thing every newspaper in America should be doing more of.
0 commentsLereah Watch
May 9th, 2008
You may remember David Lereah as one of the biggest [insert epithet] in corporate America. He used to be the “chief economist” for the National Association of Realtors and his pronouncements suggested that he was either the dumbest or more dishonest economist on the planet. Which is saying something.
Lereah isn’t at NAR anymore, but he’s still making news. Here he is claiming that the housing market has far from bottomed out. And in the next breath, “So even if this slump remains far from over, David Lereah still thinks it may be a smart time to buy.”
Of course he does. There’s a special place in hell for this git.
0 commentsRadio City
May 9th, 2008
Two ads heard on the local sportstalk station this morning, both of which left me scratching my head.
(1) An ad for the Jeep Liberty, where the narrator says, “You’re the all-new owner of an all-Jeep Liberty.”
“All-Jeep”? What in God’s name is that supposed to mean? I have no idea, but any way you want to take it, the Liberty is the least “All-Jeep” Jeep model ever. It’s more a half-Jeep, half-Daimler mutt. But maybe that’s just the disgruntled ramblings of a Cherokee owner.
(2) An ad for the Baltimore branch of Scores proclaimed the strip joint “your bachelor and office party headquarters.” Umm, in what office would it be perfectly acceptable to take the gang to Scores when someone has a case of the Mondays?
0 commentsMay 8th, 2008
Yet another sign the Apocalypse is near:
Tomorrow afternoon, the New York Stock Exchange’s Closing Bell will be rung by … Access Hollywood‘s Nancy O’Dell.
0 commentsNerd Humor
May 8th, 2008
At its best. From deep down in the comments section:
0 commentsJust goes to show, there are only 10 types of people that understand binary. Those who do, and those who don’t.
Iron Man, cont.
May 7th, 2008
Matt Yglesias makes a very astute point* about Iron Man, the iconic first-tier of superheroes, and very wide appeal of even second-tier heroes:
At the end of the day, the first tier of costumed crime fighters is limited to just three members — Superman, Spiderman, and Batman — truly ubiquitous figures who any American could recognize even if they don’t know anything about them.
Iron Man belongs firmly to a second-tier of major comic book characters who’d be instantly familiar to anyone who was, at any time in his or (less likely) her life a reader of superhero books.
Where a lot of folks surprised about the success of the Iron Man film seem to me to have gone wrong is just in underestimating how big the audience for the second-tier is.
I can buy that. Surveying Iron Man‘s success and then recalling the box office success of second and even third tier properties such as Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Hellboy, and the Fantastic Four, I’ve been wondering if comic books are so ingrained in the culture that “superhero comic book” movie has become a bankable genre all on its own?
The number of total flops from this genre is pretty small: League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Catwoman, Elektra, and The Punisher, and that’s about it.
But maybe this is really just about what Yglesias sees–a huge, acceptance of and appetite for second-tier comic book heroes, so long as the movies are somewhat competently made.
*One small quibble with Yglesias: I think the first-tier could reasonably be widened to include Wonder-Woman, the Hulk, and maybe even Captain America, all of whom occupy an enormous chunk of the popular consciousness.
0 comments"It's a remote control and birth control rolled into one!"
May 6th, 2008
Galley Friend M.G. sends us to Ace of Spades, who has the lowdown on a robotic R2-D2 that’s also a DVD projector.
Go ahead, show me your O-face.
0 commentsAdvantage: Blogosphere
May 5th, 2008
Galley Friend Sonny Bunch has launched what is sure to be a very fine blog on pop culture, movies, and basketball.
Go get some.
0 comments
