Oscar Predictions

Tonight I will be babysitting. And at exactly 7:45 pm I will force the children to go to their beds so I will be able to get ready to start enjoying the Oscars. I know I’ll miss most of the red carpet festivities, but I can get all that stuff by flipping through a STAR magazine later this week. What I’m really pumped for is the winners. The Oscars are really exciting for me for some reason. I’m not really invested personally in any of the nominations, but I’m just curious to see who will reign supreme this year, especially after reading all the coverage on the event in Entertainment Weekly and other various news outlets. And I like to predict the winners. This year I will do so publicly, mostly because none of my roommates wanted to throw $5 down for a little Oscar prediction showdown. So, in my mind, the winners will be…

BEST ACTOR – easy schmeezey. Daniel Day-Lewis. And I didn’t even see that movie yet.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men – he plays the really creepy dude masterfully.

BEST ACTRESS - Gonna go with Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose; although for some reason I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a little Juno winner, Ellen Page…

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Although Ruby Dee from American Gangster has been sweeping up some other awards in this category, I think Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There will take the trophy.

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY) – including this category because I’m currently writing an original screenplay for class, so I know firsthand that it’s not easy to do. Anyway, I gotta go with Juno – Diablo Cody. First time screenwriter. Mad props.

BEST DIRECTOR – Coen Brothers, No Country for Old Men.

BEST PICTURE – No Country for Old Men. I’m excusing the ending, which I thought was a pretty terrible digression from an otherwise wonderful story.


And those are the only categories I feel like predicting right now. So lay off me. I’ll leave the rest up to the Academy. And if I get all of these right, someone owes me a beer. Wait, it’s the Oscars. A glass of wine.

"Now I'd like to bring out Miss Beyonce..."

Superbowl Ads: the good, the bad, and the ugliness.

Yesterday was the superbowl! What a great time – it was a fantastic game, good triumphed over evil, and we got to see new commercials that are hyped to be super special since they sell for so much. I’ve noticed lately however that superbowl ads haven’t really been delivering over the past few years, this one was no exception. There were some good ads, as always, but there were a bunch that made me wonder why a company would spend the superbowl ad dollars to display a unsuper ad.

Without further ado, here’s my take on the ads of the superbowl 2008:

The Good:

-The Coke spots were great – they always are, Coke does a great job. The democrat/republican spot for Coke Classic was nicely done, and the spot with the floats during the Macy’s day parade was fun to watch and nicely shot. Coke definitely caught the attention of viewers in a positive manner and continued to deliver delightful ads.
-E Trade baby spots – they were funny, and made people pay attention. At least in the room I was in, when that commercial started people started paying attention to the tv – and they laughed. The spots were relevant, amusing, drove the message home, and made us laugh. Nicely done.
-The Bridgestone spot where the squirrel almost gets hit by a car and screams – and so do a lot of other animals – was cute and funny. And memorable. Makes you giggle. All good things.
-Budweiser stuff was mostly good – the Dalmatian training the Clydesdale was nice, inspirational stuff. The ability to breathe fire from Bud Light spot was pretty funny, just because it’s absurd and out of the blue, it works. Also – the spot with Will Ferrell as his character in the upcoming movie “Semi Pro” worked well. I don’t think you can really go wrong with Will Ferrell. So, kudos Bud.

The Bad:
-Vitamin water. Shaq riding a horse. In a race. That wasn’t exciting to watch (probably because I didn’t have money on it). Honestly, I would have rather watched him shoot some free throws. And that’s not even good to see. Weird and it didn’t work.
-Planter’s Nuts – So an ugly lady walks around and everyone loves her. Wanna know why? Because she rubs Planter’s Nuts all over herself before she leaves the house. Was that the pitch for this commercial? And everyone in the room was like, “Yeah that sounds great!” Too bad no one with a peanut allergy was present during that decision.
- Sobe – Dancing lizards with Naomi Campbell? What does that even mean? And Geico should be thanking you, because they didn’t even buy a spot but people are gonna think they did…way to use a character that is more recognizable as some other brand’s property. Just didn’t do it for me.

The Ugly:
-SalesGenie.com – I don’t even think I have to explain this one. Stereotypes, no real concept, and poor production value. They should have just thrown their money into a toilet instead of putting these ads on the air.
-Under Armor – Didn’t really make much sense. You have such a cool product, and it fits so well with what is happening (the Superbowl?), why don’t you tap into that instead of giving us this weird speech from your high Under Armor horse that reminded me more of someone trying to create a master race than achieve athletic greatness. Poor.
-Ice Breakers – It’s like they got the go ahead to put Carmen Electra in their commercial and then panicked because they couldn’t think of anything to do with her. Except have a skinny guy offer her gum. Just didn’t work.



So there’s my post Superbowl wrap up. Until next year, we’ll just keep fast-forwarding with our tivo’s.

and I can't end this post without mentioning the cameo of Donkeylips from the popular Nickelodeon show of my generation, “Salute Your Shorts" in the AMP spot. Glad to see he’s still getting work.

Cloverfield -

...was a movie for this generation, for sure. Just watching it you see all these reminders of the techno world we now live in – the fact that it is shot entirely from someone’s video camera (which you think one might put down at some point when trying to escape a huge ass monster), to the way that people in the movie rely on cell phones not only in the background, but as ways to further the plot of the movie. Great use of technology – the way technology was used in the movie, and the choice to shoot the whole thing from the “video camera perspective” kind of makes the movie that much more believable when you’re in the theater watching…although I don’t know how seriously it can be taken once you realize the thing attacking New York City is a giant monster (but you know, on LOST Abrams has us all believing that white smoke can kill people, so this isn’t too far of a stretch).


Putting the technical aspects of the movie itself aside, I wanted to comment quickly on the marketing of the film. On MarketingBlurb, there’s a great post about how the way they advertised this movie was pretty cool. Making everything such a tease to the audience, and not really ever giving away too much about plot, characters, etc. made the experience of going to the movies and seeing this film that much more appealing. And note the experience card – the marketers of Cloverfield successfully made people want to go to the movies and experience this. It was an event. It was a monster attacking New York. That’s something that brings audiences in, especially if you keep it under wraps like they did, it makes people want to know what happens in the movie.

The website, www.1-18-08.com , is pretty vague in that it only contains pictures from the day of 1-18-08, when the film is set. They make you wonder what the hell is going to happen in the movie. It’s a great tease. And finally, the poster of the movie, the statue of liberty with her head blasted off, is just one more way to get people talking about this film.

Basically, I think the marketers of Cloverfield revealed the perfect information to pique the public’s interest in the film, and released details that brought people into theaters. I guess it’s not too hard to market this fantastical monster film and get people interested, but if they revealed too much, it would have served to keep people away from the theaters.

Good marketing.

Atonement just blew my mind...

I just watched Atonement and it was absolutely beautiful. Breathtaking. It made me literally say out loud “that is so beautiful.” The cinematography in this film is staggering. I cannot believe that they could get that many stunning shots in one film. Right from the beginning when Briony is wandering around the house with her prized play, the way the shots move and are framed blew my mind. I am so impressed.

And I thought the acting was top notch, too. I just cannot say enough for this movie. I loved it. I read the book previously and knew everything that was going to happen; yet I could not unglue myself from this movie. And even now I don’t know why I’m still awake but I had to write down quickly my initial reaction to the beauty of it. And the costumes were great too.

The last scene where we look into Briony’s blue eyes so full of regret, of sorrow, it just connected with me so much more than the book.


And as I learned about in screenwriting class today – set up a world, a character, something happens, a rise to climax, then we see this character again in the same world, yet changed somehow from what’s happened. Watch this movie and you’ll see a transformation in each of these main characters. And this especially rings true with Briony, it’s quite obvious in her case actually.

Anyway, the images were amazing. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. This definitely deserves the nominations and awards (Golden Globe so far…) that it is receiving. Breathtaking.

silly

Barack Obama...Robin Williams...Gena Davis - he is following in the footsteps of great Commanders in Chief.

(thanks liz for posting this on faceload)

The Ol' Bucket List

The Bucket List – a mediocre movie starring two people who I expected more from, yet I guess even the best acting cannot save a somewhat slow moving romp that tries a little too hard to summon deep emotion laced within comedy. The humor is dragged down, and the somber moments don’t connect fully with the audience. My mom says I didn’t enjoy it because it’s “for an older audience,” but I’m interested to hear her thoughts after viewing the film. (note: parents watched the film last night and...enjoyed it! maybe I am too young)

One thing the movie does adhere to is the rule that Morgan Freeman must provide voiceover for the narration of any movie he is involved with, as two men who discover they don’t have much time left to live try to accomplish everything on their “bucket lists,” things they want to do before “kicking the bucket.” I’m sure you are aware of this plotline from the movie’s trailer (which generally will save you about an hour and a half if you just decide to watch that instead of the movie). In other words, the movie is basically a remake of A Walk To Remember, replacing Mandy Moore with two older men.

And since the timeframe to post about the “Top ____ Moments of 2007” has passed, I’ve decided to share the embarrassing “My A Walk to Remember List” with you that I wrote sometime in late middle school/early high school:

(enjoy!)

1. Read one book by everyone we learned about in English
2. Learn to play the guitar
3. Take a roll of film using a good camera trying to be artistic (hahaha)
4. Go to France (and the reason I picked France out of anywhere in the world…?)
5. See a Redwood tree in real life
6. Be famous (I once read a statistic that some crazy proportion of teenagers believe they are going to be famous. But that discussion is for another post)
7. Send someone I don’t know that well a nice note if you see them in the paper (this was prompted by a nice note I received from like my Grandma’s friend’s daughter who saw my name in the paper…)
8. Learn how to speak a different language fluently!
9. Go to Israel (Now I’ll change that to “Revisit Israel”)
10. Fall in love
11. Write a book
12. Write a movie (or direct)

SJP on Project Runway

Last week’s episode of Project Runway featured a challenge where designers had to create a two-piece look for the new line of a very special fashion conscious celeb --- Sarah Jessica Parker! It was such a good idea all around – the show got to feature Sarah Jessica Parker, a New York City fashion goddess ever since Carrie Bradshaw hit the scene; and SJP was able to spread awareness about her new clothing line, Bitten.

The show allowed Sarah Jessica a platform to announce her line, and also include the fact that is being sold at Steve & Barry’s stores, therefore helping communicate that this is going to be an affordable line for everyday women. SJP came across as very intelligent and having great fashion sense, and through her comments seemed very concerned in making sure all the pieces in her collection can be worn by women of different shapes and sizes – and still be flattering.

The challenge had designers (who by the way were extremely excited to see SJP come into their workroom) create a two-piece look for Bitten, but the catch was that the entire outfit had to retail for under $40, making their budget $15! This was incredible in that I’m sure most viewers thought it would be impossible to create such an outfit, but also told viewers that this line really was going to be affordable, and SJP was looking to follow the mantra of her brand, “Fashion is not a luxury.”

The winning design is currently being sold at Steve & Barry locations, and an indication that the product integration worked – my friends and I headed over to the store yesterday to check out her collection. I got a shirt.

BANG IT!

So kudos to SJP and Project Runway for a job well done. This integration was relevant and interesting, and that’s why it worked.

"Has Anyone Seen My New Red Hat?"

A League of Their Own. Quite possibly the greatest movie of all time. It's timeless, funny, heartfelt, hilarious, and rewatchable. I find that really well made movies have a high rewatchability factor. Movies you can watch again and again, until you memorize almost every line of dialog in the movie, allowing for the recitation of lines in sync with characters onscreen (or several seconds before the words are actually spoken, making you seem like a movie prophecy, or just generally annoying the people around you). If I had the time to sit here for several hours, I could probably recreate the entire script of A League of Their Own through memory alone, including all song lyrics ("We had a moment, just one moment, that will last beyond a dream, beyond a lifetime..."). Fortunately for you, I am not going to do that (although I did subject my teammates to sporadic yelling of lines on the bus ride home the other day, and captivate my brother and friend at lunch today with limitless quotes, morsels of League of Their Own goodness). I have given much thought as to how I want to structure this post, and it's been really hard because I find myself wanting to express so much about my love affair with this movie, but I've finally decided on a suitable outlet for my thoughts. So without anything further on the timeless themes of the movie, or the ball scratching capability of Jimmy Duggan, I give you: my top-5 list of A League of Their Own characters - those wonderful gems that make the movie really shine.


5. Shirley Baker - aka:The Girl Who Can't Read - The girl can play ball, but she can't read. And we find out in a really embarrassing way - At tryouts! Who can forget the scene where Miss Baker stands in front of the team lists like a lost puppy, in those ol' jean overalls of hers. She just wants to play. Thank goodness for Helen Hayley, the caring Rockford Peach who had the compassion to go forth and ask , "Can you read, honey?" The answer was obvious. And the rest is history, they find her name, she's a Rockford Peach! With that the Peaches erupt with pure joy at the new illiterate addition to their squad. You can say one thing for those Peaches, even though they lost the World Series (still a sensitive subject), they cared about each other. Mae even took time during bus trips to help Shirley learn to read using sex books. So why'd Shirley make the list? It's always the ones that can't read who do well in life. Take Fantasia Barrino for instance. Have you heard anything about her since she learned to read? Didn't think so.

4. Betty Spaghetti - There's not too much to say about Betty Spaghetti I guess, but she does have a fun nickname. She's not that pivotal in the movie, except to be used as a pawn to make us think that Dottie's husband has died in the war, only to have Jimmy Duggan announce at the last second "I'm sorry Betty." (Note: it was appropriate of him not to add the Spaghetti nickname at this somber time). I still have nightmares where I can hear Betty's pained cries of "No! George..." before she is led out of the locker room. They'll probably haunt me forever.

3. Miss Cuthbert - Poor lady...She's got the worst job in the world, trying to keep these young things from running around, dancing with boys, and smoking their cancer sticks. It's a job best left to the strong-willed, and after seeing her throw up the dinner that Mae poisoned ("In all my years practicing medicine, I've never seen anyone throw up that much"), I think she is just the woman for the job. One thing is for sure, this woman always gets shit on. When Lou quits driving the bus because Stillwell Darling covered his eyes while he was driving, it's Miss Cuthbert who chases after him, because "the girls have a game!" And you know what she gets for that? DIRT IN THE FACE, compliments of Lou. So then, being the responsible den mother she is, she tries to wake up Jimmy Duggan to get the bus moving again - he wakes up, obviously in an altered state, and kisses her passionately before realizing it's her and letting out a blood curdling scream. He then has to swig from his flask and spit it out all over the bus floor just to get the taste of her out of his mouth. To put the icing on the cake, while this is happening, Mae is plotting to poison the damn lady's dinner so the team can go dancing. And did Miss Cuthbert ever complain? No. And who did Betty Spaghetti turn to when she found out her husband died overseas? Yeah, that's right, Miss Cuthbert. The unsung hero of the Rockford Peaches.


2. Evelyn (and Stillwell ) - Evelyn, Evelyn, Evelyn... putting aside the fact that she can't hit the cutoff girl to save her life, and this is a skill that should probably be mastered before your team is going into the final game of the World Series, and looking further past the point that she cried during a game ("There's no crying in baseball!"), I'd have to say that I am most appalled by the child rearing skills of this woman. Stillwell behaves horribly, has chocolate constantly smeared all over his little pig face, and is not even enough of a little gentlemen to keep his eyes covered in the locker room (don't think I didn't see you peaking, you little perv). This duo makes the movie go from good to GREAT, giving us great gems of scenes like when Jimmy Duggan screams at a crying Evelyn, and when Mae chases Stillwell Angel around the bus with a bat, only to stop when Evelyn offers him another candy bar and the little brat is more than excited to eat it ("gimme gimme gimme gimme.") You also have to give props to the scene where Stillwell is prancing around in front of the dugout and Jimmy Duggan throws a glove at him to topple him over. Classic stuff. I'll tell you one thing - thank goodness Evelyn's husband did not want Stillwell at home with him alone (a smart man), because the Evelyn/Stillwell duo make the movie that much more timeless.


1. Marla Hooch - As much as I wanted to put Jon Lovitz's scout as my number one pick, seeing as he's just playing a baseball scout version of himself, I couldn't fail to mention the extreme charm of Marla's awkwardness. From the moment we lay eyes on her hitting the crap out of balls in a gymnasium on a rainy day, and see her up close for the first time, we know Marla is going to be one of the best parts of the film. We see a transformation of this girl through the movie, from awkward, scared, small town girl, to awkward, karaoke-singing, married woman. The transition starts in beauty school ("What do you recommend for her?...A lot of night games."), where Marla learns the skills she needs to get wasted at a bar later on and belt out "It had to be you" to her new beau ("I'm singin' to Nelson!"), and eventually the girl we thought was only good at hitting is leaving the team to run off with her new hubby. Only thing I regret about Marla is that she left the team in the middle of their World Series run to go on a honeymoon with her new man. A real ballplayer wouldn't leave the team, and frankly I'm a little skeptical of how the Peaches continued their winning streak after they lost their best hitter (Marla), number one pitcher (Kit to Raccine) and catcher/star (when Dottie goes home with her hubby). It'd be like the Yanks losing A-Rod, Wang, and Posada at the same time then just goin' on like it didn't matter. But let me get back to the point. This movie would not be what it is without the ungraceful charm of the Hoochanator.

I know this post is getting really long, but I just have to close with some words to my LEAST favorite character:
You know what Kit, you kinda piss me off. You're always complaining about Dottie being better than you, but the fact is, Dottie is better than you. And in all the bus scenes you wear your stupid little dirty red Rockford Peach hat backwards like your five years old. You act like a five-year-old most of the time, actually. Like when you found out you were getting traded to Raccine, and you threw a baseball through the window of the team house to express to Dottie how mad you were. Kit, you wouldn't even be in the league if Dottie wasn't around. You'd be feeding Harvey chocolate bars to the constipated cows on your farm back home, playing mediocre softball with the other village tomboys, and striking out frequently because you don't know how to lay off the high ones. If you spent half as much time training as you spend feeling sorry for yourself, you might be a decent ballplayer. And at the end of the movie when you win the World Series because Dottie felt so sorry for your pathetic ass that she dropped the ball on purpose, you act like you're the greatest thing ever and talk it up to those little girls like you're the best ballplayer who ever lived. Well, you're not! In fact, I might take Evelyn over you if we were playing backyard ball, because even though she cries during baseball, you whine all the time. So f you Kit, go train Free Willy or something.
Thanks for throwin' back to 1992 with me to reminisce about a great movie and some even greater characters. Next time... Doris and Mae - were they a couple?

With the emergence of rap in our culture comes the wonderful new sect of comedy that is based on watching children, babies or otherwise unlikely candidates partake in singing, dancing, or enjoying the hip hop culture in any way. Who wouldn't love to see their gym teacher dance to "hey ya," and the video of the little boy dancing and lip synching to beyonce (and taking it way too seriously) is a comedic gem. Although I think sometimes parents go a little overboard with posting videos of their babes donning hip hop personas and droppin' it like it's hot, I sometimes find a laugh from watching these videos. But tonight, I found something much funnier than a toddler bustin' a cap could ever be. Cartoons performing rap songs. Check out the Lion King below performing Crank Dat Soulja Boy. One thing's for sure, Simba's one bad ass motherfucka. And if you can't get enough (like I couldn't), check out the equally entertaining Pooh Bear , Barney , and Spongebob versions. Enjoy!

RIP Goulet

Robert Goulet passed away yesterday...just want to wish him farewell and thank him for all the joy he's put into my life indirectly. Mostly through Will Ferrell, actually. But one thing's for sure -- he was a true entertainer. Enjoy the video of Robert Gouuuuleeeettttt!

PS - I'd also like to thank him for the Emerald Nuts Superbowl Commercial last year...

New Dove Viral Video

Check it out - Dove's follow up to its critically acclaimed "Evolution" video.
Tagline "talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does" is pretty self explanatory after seeing about a minute of ways the industry corrupts little girls.

Good concept, well produced, but do people still want to hear what dove has to say? Some skeptical comments on YouTube talk about how this video is Dove's "lame attempt at creating something controversial so they can get free publicity"

Hello buzz marketing.

Publicity is happening.

But overall, I like Evolution better. Felt more grass roots and real. This one is a bit overproduced and can kind of feel contrived.

Downloads For Free! Legally! Finally!

What up what up...music can finally be downloaded FOR FREE without the implications of an expensive legal battle for every song you download illegally. Spiralfrog.com launched today, the first ad supported free music site. Basically Spiralfrog takes the money they get from advertisers on their site, and gives a portion of it back to a music company to pay for the royalties/other legal fees associated with letting people download their songs (genius). Right now the site is backed by Universal music, and has an initial offering of about 700,000 songs... (How many can you fit on an iPod, again?)

Anyway, I think the idea's pretty sweet and it will be interesting to see how many people catch onto free downloading fever. I guess talks are in the works for a similar site called Qtrax, which will have the support of all four major music players (Universal, BMI, EMI, and Sony BMG) and be able to offer a catalog starting with about 30 million songs. I think Spiralfrog is just the beginning of a beautiful era of free music for all..

Read more @ AdAge ...

Women's World Cup News!

Nike has been touting the US Women's National Soccer Team as the "Greatest Team You've Never Heard Of" in its recent television ads, but maybe this title really belongs to the North Korean team that held the highly favored Americans to a tie this morning...

I didn't actually watch the game (though I am told three diehards were up at 5 am watching it in my living room), but by the looks of the highlights and final score, either the US had a bad day, or N. Korea is steppin' up to be a great team in this World Cup.

I don't want to sound like too much of a patriot, but I think the US will bounce back. They've got to. Because if we're talking futbol, the women are the only chance of our country bringing home a Cup in the near future.

Startin' it up again?

I haven't posted in a long time but I was checking out the Cool Hunting blog and found something that I wanted to pass along to my large reader base (being my mother, brother, and maybe one roommate). It's Now Play It, basically a site that allows you to download video tutorials of how to play popular songs on the guitar. It not only tells you the chords, but then gives an image of the chord's tab so you can scrutinize it for hours, and if you're like me, still play it incorrectly. And some of the videos are even taught by the talent themselves - I checked out the preview for the KT Tunstall tutorial and found that she is not only a great songstress, but a lovely teacher.

So check it out if you have some free time. And like to fiddle around with a guitar.

That's it for now, I guess we'll see if the posts keep a-comin'.

Tampon Sponsored Video Contest (it's not as gross as you think)

Tampax is sponsoring a contest on the social networking site TAKKLE (targeting high school athletes) where cheerleaders are asked to submit a video of their best routine and the winner gets $10,000 of gear/apparel. Despite my first instinct to whip out my video camera and start cheering when I heard the news, I instead quickly logged onto blogger to share this contest with the world.

Although I had never heard of takkle.com before I found this contest, I think it’s an interesting social networking idea that will bring a niche market of high school athletes to the contest. It also is much more graphically appealing than the social networking ugly giant Myspace.

If you know any cheerleaders that are up for the challenge and could use a new cheer outfit or two (or maybe some pom poms), let them know about the Tampax sponsored contest.

But I think the award for best cheerleader ever goes to Kristi Yamaoka from Southern Illinois, for continuing to move her arms to the fight song as she’s being wheeled off the court on a gurney that she is strapped down to since she fell off the top of a pyramid. Cheerleaders you better watch out. If Kristi enters this contest, it’s really no contest at all.

I like this :)

I just really like this commercial. I actually rewind the tivo to watch it over and over again because it just makes me happy.

The shots are great and convey this great mood of joy, and the song is cute too. And I absolutely love the shot of the two cuties in the backseat chilling with their hair blowing and sun on their faces.

It kind of makes me want to buy a Cadillac SRX. But it really makes me want to have two adorable children (that don't necessarily have to be my own), a joyful sunny day, and a really cute doggie waiting at home for me (even though I already have one).

Kudos Cadillac.

Starbucks Tees

My Sales and Sales Promotion professor showed us this site in class where you can make your own customized Starbucks t shirt to express your favorite Starbucks drink! Once you choose all your options, you can also download a customized wallpaper for your computer! So anyone who walks by will know your Starbucks order! (This works well for stalkers who want to start a casual conversation by bringing you a delicious Starbucks drink so be on the lookout. and be careful)...

Anyway, I took the liberty of making my own drink order. It is shown on this here blog post. So if you would like to someday chat about intellectual things and sip some frappamocchnio 2% soy latte extra hot grande cinnamon cream pie chai, now you'll know my order.

Check the site out, you can get your fav. drink on a t shirt. And tell the world just how much you love coffee.

Crazy Bride's Crazy Sponsor

The crazy bride video going around on YouTube, and featured on the Today show is apparently sponsored by Unilever's Sunsilk? A lot of people thought the video was real, watching in horror as a bride freaks out because she hates her hair and starts cutting all her hair off a mere hour before her "wedding." But before you start wondering how such a freak found someone to marry her, or why her bridesmaids are laughing and taping the debacle, know that this video is an elaborate hoax! It's a fake, a fraud. But the thing is...Unilever, why are you deceiving us but making it have absolutely nothing to do with your product?

I know that a big part of WOM is getting your name out there, or just coming up with something that is going to be talked about. And this video was indeed talked about. It was viewed 12 million times on YouTube, and had segments on Jay Leno and Good Morning America.

But really, how effective is all this when no one really knows your company is related to the video? I guess the name got out a bit, but what about all the people out there who still think this woman really got married with super short hair that was frantically trying to be pinned up by her poor friends? They don't know Unilever is behind this.

And that's why while it may be effective in some capacity to send out a crazy viral video, make it either relate to your product, or make it available for people to discover that your brand was involved.

Otherwise, it's WWOM - WASTED word of mouth! oOOooOOOoo

More info about this at AdAge.com.

An open call for business backers or agencies to intern at this summer...

This is just a call for help, really.

1. I am trying to get my genius funny t shirt business off the ground, but alas, I find that as a struggling college student I cannot foot the bill for screen printing prices. I'll tell you two things though: the designs I have are great!, and if you back me I'll take you out for dinner some night. To Chili's. Or somewhere else real nice.
So, anyone with $$, let me know!

2. If you work at an ad agency, or know someone who does in LA, NYC, or Chicago, have them shout me a hollller.
Or let me shout them a hollller!

I know the only people who read this are: my roommates, my mom, and my brother, so I don't see what good this post will bring, but maybe, just maybe someone will stumble upon my humble blog and give this poor girl a shot at the good life.