Month: May 2008

Link: <a title="Retailers cane Sunrise over bully tactic | NEWS.com.au Entertainment” href=”http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,26278,23753015-10388,00.html”>Retailers cane Sunrise over bully tactic | NEWS.com.au Entertainment.

This is a fascinating story. Boland tries to take the moral high ground using the Rudd 07 campaign line of ‘Working Families”, but falls flat because no one of the big 3 wants to play ball. Then the big 3 decide to hang Boland out to dry in the Sunday press.
Now sit back and wait. Will Boland and his team at Sunrise (ratings falling every day) step up the campaign? Or will he run away?
I think this was a neat idea executed poorly. Very poorly, Mr Boland. I suggest next time you or one of your dream team hatches a plan like this you run it past your marketing team (experts) in house counsel (more experts) and your corporate communications experts too. With a bit of thinking (big end of town style) you could have made this work.
How long with Mr Boland’s masters continue to let him make the network look like idiots and stand over merchants to their clients, ie advertisers?
If I were from those big 3 my first move would be to take all my advertising from 7 and ask Mr Stokes for a please-fucking-explain. And if I was any other 7 network advertiser I would be very worried that on-air mentions now constitute editorial enhancements. Actually, from a viewers POV, I’m worried about that too.

Link: Less dash than lash, yet Indy’s on form – Film Reviews – Film – Entertainment.

Then The Speil and Luke’s Real Father couldn’t bring him back for this train wreck. The linked review is far to nice, probably so that the reviewer continues to get invited to openings.

Truth is, IJ4 is a turd. The biggest problem IMHO is that there are far too many ‘name’ actors in this movie. Raiders had Ford as the good guy, Denholm Elliott as his side kick and Paul Freeman as Belloq, the bad guy. The second movie has got no one, including Mrs Speilberg. The third, my favourite repeats the Ford/Elliot double and ads Sean Connery. Not just for the sake of adding a name, back then, he was really on an ex-Bond. Connery was brilliant and it led to many more roles for him after shaking off the 007 history.

From the opening scenes I could pick half a dozen faces from TV including Janitor from Scrubs and some Australian dick from Neighbours/Home and Away/The OC/Lost/Ugly Betty. Not to mention Kate Blanchett, John Hurt (brilliant) and Ray Winston. Why the big names? Because the story was a let down. If you thought IJ2 was a joke, then this one will make you cry. It is so disappointing.

Link: Art obscenity charges – Arts – Entertainment – smh.com.au.

We have come a long way from the times when Johannes Vermeer’s ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’ was considered pornography.
The argument that Bill Henson’s recent work is pornographic is impossible to comment on until I see the work and can make an informed opinion. That it true for everyone. Most people commenting on the work, including the Prime Minister, haven’t seen the work, but still fell they are able to comment.

I dare say in 10 years time, the AGNSW will buy one of these pieces and no one will bat an eyelid.

I do however wish I had a Henson right now; the media circus following this recent exhibition is driving prices though the roof.

And my cynical side thinks that may have been the plan all along.

Link: The 2008 Telstra Business Women’s Awards – smh.com.au.

Check out the headline to this ad, in fact the whole communication strategy. My first thought; lesbian. Not that there’s anything wrong with it.

I hate the design of this blog (if you’re here in the future, it’s the red version with a butterfly. A freaking butterfly – what was I thinking). There is not a thing I like looking at here.

Hardly the stuff to keep Jobs et al awake at night. This is more a comment on the media than anything and journalist’s desperate attempts to et readers to click on their stories. Not even the company who makes this phone says it is an iPhone killer. No company would say that except Microsoft when they launched the Zune. Come on, you remember Xmas 06 when the Zune hit the streets. Or more accurately fell from a large building onto the street and died a very embarrassing death. So the headline for that story should have been “How the iPhone Killer Died.”

Tip: To make an iPhone killer your device has to be a) a phone and b) able to sync with iTunes to get iTunes purchased product. Without these two feature what you’ve got is as interesting as a chew toy.

Link: HTC’s iPhone killer is a real gem – BizTech – Technology – smh.com.au.