There's nothing like - dumb ad campaigns and internet smart-arses

A day after Tourism Australia launched their ill-fated (yes, I'm calling it - it's the iSnack 2.0 of tourism campaigns) new marketing scheme for Australia - "There's nothing like Australia" - a group of proud pisstaking Aussies have responded with their own version.

I don't know which band of coke-fuelled marketing gurus came up with this replacement for the charmingly desperate and sad "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign that gave us tabloid darling Lara Bingle but it hasn't done this country, Tourism Australia and marketing doofuses any credit at all.

If for no other reason than half decent writing - surely it should be "there's nowhere else like it" - this slogan just begs mockery. Why on Earth would you put a negative word in the same phrase as the product name and no other words that cast a positive light on it. Even "you can't beat the feeling" has "feeling" in it.
Dropping "else" in there immediately invites you to think about other places - which, whether we like it or not, actually do have most of the cool things that we have here - particularly if we are focusing on nature. (Of course we have very nice nature and great diversity but there are still beaches, mountains, rivers, forests etc elsewhere, despite what the slogan might have you believe)

Fortunately, we do have a proud tradition of pisstaking, which makes me proud to see the response version of the ad campaign up and firing so quickly. (In fairness, credit should go to Tourism Australia for not setting the lawyers on these guys for parodying their IP - that part at least is classy)

These are some of my personal faves so far.

The Phantom •

Hmmmmm, kind of having my doubts about this.
So now we have a reimagining of The Phantom, due for tv this year.

Looks a little generic - could be any modern chosen-one/superhero actiony thing.

Happy to be proven wrong though - but if the word badass comes out of this guy's mouth I'll know it's all over.

Castle: "Space Cowboy" (Firefly/Serenity)

Got to respect the Firefly love still being shown in Nathan Fillion's new show Castle.

Hey Dad...! - "Was it good for you?"

Clearly the whole Hey Dad alleged child-groping/etc is a terrible terrible story - either if it happened (and the weight of evidence seems pretty damning) or if it didn't (let's not completely forget presumption of innocence and due process). Clearly Robert Hughes is totally fucked either way.

All of which makes it extra unfortunate that there are so many track titles on this 1991 compilation of audio tracks from the popular Oz sitcom that seem to be darkly inappropriate.

From the obvious opening track "Was it good for you?" and "Electric touch" to the prescient "For whom the bells toll", you could almost believe that someone in the know was sending a message that they couldn't put out any other way - or perhaps more darkly having a quiet laugh to themselves.

Of course, its ridiculously easy to attach a double meaning that was never there in the first place to any innocent phrase or statement with hindsight, but there's still a whole lotta yick to all of this. (Including the fact that this story made me voluntarily watch both A Current Affair and Today Tonight)

For me, I never liked the show - I never knew exactly why, at the time I assumed I was being mr snobby highbrow-pants but it never seemed to ring true.

Sometimes though it's just better when you're not right about something.

The cd itself I picked up in a bargain bin for $3, figuring that I would one day get around to re-editing the wholesome/dorky dialogue tracks into something perverted/darker and clearly more hilarious. Never did though - and now I guess I never will. Some shit just isn't funny when it might be true.

What is it with the left and being hilarious?

Nice work here from some Melbourne comedians with a lefty slant - they have a show on at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival that looks well worth checking out.

Find out more on their blog - http://thefirst3.blogspot.com/

Treme Trailer #2

If you're a fan of The Wire, this show may not be news to you but it looks pretty cool nonetheless. Starting in April apparently.

Corporate much?

So when 11 out of 32 of the words on the page at the start of your iPhone app description have little trademark or registered symbols, do you think that maybe you're going too far?

The Internet Is Made Of Cats

It's not super brilliant but it's about cats and the Internet, so it gets a pass.

Lars Von Trier invites you to visit his Denmark

Big fan of Lars Von Trier - love his thoughtfulness, his imagination, willingness to push the limit and his darkness.

Can't say that I would've chosen him to direct a tourism campaign though - but what do I know about marketing.

(Bless those Onion folks for showing us how things might have been)


Denmark Introduces Harrowing New Tourism Ads Directed By Lars Von Trier

From Kirk to Spock via the worst Aussie accent ever?

Completely unintentional juxtaposition here of two of the leads of Star Trek TOS - sometimes you just get lucky I guess.

No idea what the film was, I'm guessing mid to late 60s, but I think I'd like to see it now.

Can't stop saying Denny Crane

I'm a late-comer to Boston Legal but now that I'm there, I'm kind of hooked. 

It's not that I think that it's the most amazing tv show ever made or anything - The Wire and pretty well anything that's ever screened on HBO is still well ahead there - but there are a couple of things about it that I seem to be fixated on at the moment. 

For one thing, while it's a fairly clever show and definitely well made, it's relatively light and fluffy in comparison to the excellent/worthy shows on my "to-watch" list. We're talking about The Corner, Generation Kill (both from The Wire creator, David Simon), Breaking Bad, Caprica and a few others. Truth be told, these are all fantastic shows - I do believe that we live in a golden age of tv - but over all, there is something of a seriousness, even a modern grimness to all of them.

Boston Legal creator, David E Kelley, has an admirable track record in sharp, funny production over the last few years - Ally McBeal and The Practice of particular note. Shows that take a very tv look at current events and issues by popping them into the middle of a busy, big-time law firm peopled with fascinating and ridiculously good looking and witty staff. Rather unlikely in reality but perfect for tv. 

Boston Legal's core is the great Denny Crane - played, of course, by William Shatner. A more than a little bit eccentric, larger than life character who has never lost at anything. His catch-phrase is simply his name, repeated frequently as though the words themselves are simply all that need to be said. And, like songs on commercial radio, after a little while, the repetition really does its job. 

The phrase "Denny Crane" becomes shorthand for "don't worry, it's me, what bad thing could possibly happen" or "of course we won, it's me". It's a call of absolute and utter confidence, mixed with that dash of justified egotism and there is something incredibly affirming about just saying the words. It says - everything is ok and yes, I am freakin awesome. 

Forget that Denny Crane is a full-blooded right winger, forget that he is gun-crazy and even shot Omar (yes, from the Wire) in the head with a paint-ball gun in one episode, all that matters is Denny Crane. 

(Personally, I'd like to be more like his best buddy, the brilliantly played James Spader character Alan Shore. Incredibly intelligent, wry, sound lefty, incredibly magnetic and with a nice measure of dark self destructiveness to keep things entertaining. One day. ) 

Denny Crane

Hep cats demand Miaow

It's clearly the cat lover in me but I'm rather tickled by the name of the new moral-panic of the week party drug Miaow.

Can't say I'd heard of it before reading this story on the ABC website (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/12/2818459.htm) but it seems to be similar to ecstasy and cocaine, with a come-down that's a "little bit more subtle. "

As you would expect, the police report also mentions links to psychotic episodes and possibly deaths and so on.

Still, I can't help wondering if it makes people purr. :)

Daybreakers - what do vampires do when the blood runs out?

Daybreakers is the new film from Oz genre-masters the Spierig Brothers. It is set in the near future (2019) and tells the tale of what happens when vampires rule the earth and the supplies of humans are seriously dwindling. It offers a refreshing new perspective on the genre as well as through in some spectacularly gratuitous (but fun) gore and effects.

I saw Daybreakers last night and Undead, their low-budget zombie effort, a few years ago. I'd call it a really solid film but not yet a great film or a classic. The style, effects and gore are unmatched for an Oz genre film and the story and pacing held together really well until the final act. The guys also have a real knack for putting action sequences together. (There's a nice reference back to one of the highlights of Undead, when a zombie vampire hangs by his feet from the ceiling in mid-battle)

It is an improvement over Undead but mainly because of the evolution of fx technology and (of course) the larger budget. The Sperig Bros have some interesting ideas and aren't afraid to look at a genre from a new perspective - the concepts alone in Daybreakers are worth the price of entry. (Maybe a tv series would have been a better direction?)

Having said that, let me say this - they do seem to have a bit of trouble finishing stories. Undead had an interesting but unsatisfying finish and this one was more solid but still seemed to end with everyone distractedly wandering off to look at something else. For such a strong build up, a much bigger finish was needed. (Unless they are eyeing off a sequel?)

For the cast that they had to work with, the performances all seemed a little flat. Could be the George Lucas effect - strong with the whizbang but less so with working with actors. (Either that or the direction was all about underplaying things but I couldn't say why)

If you are looking for a smarter than average actiony/sci-fi/vampire pic, it's hard to go past this one.

Tony Soprano is a Wild Thing

James Gandolfini's role in Where the Wild Things Are revoiced with his work in The Sopranos. What's not to love?

iPad pwned by MadTV - back in 2006

It's a name that just begged to be messed with.

Jon Stewart is with me

I posted about a fairly under-reported but significant piece of American political news the other day - the Supreme Court decision to remove restrictions on corporate political campaigning.

Jon Stewart explains it much better than I ever could. (And sidekick Jon Oliver delivers a blindingly funny response celebrating the end of discrimination against corporations)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Supreme Corp
www.thedailyshow.com
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The big deal is really that for a bit over 100 years, corporations have enjoyed the same legal status as individual citizens.

Even Barack Obama is less than impressed.

Brother Ali - Uncle Sam Goddamn

I've been listening to this guy for a few weeks now - I knew he was from Minnesota but never realised that he was white. Not that it matters I guess - great tunes.

Update: I just noticed that poster image that YouTube decided to take from the video - not the most appealing one I know but the song is still well worth checking out (yo)

Scarier than Skynet - the corporations are winning

I've posted more than a couple of times here about advancements in military robot technology that make me a little concerned (and probably make me look like a tin foil hat wearer but that's neither here nor there)

This news story from the US though leaves me seriously troubled.

WASHINGTON — Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

The 5-to-4 decision was a vindication, the majority said, of the First Amendment’s most basic free speech principle — that the government has no business regulating political speech. The dissenters said that allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace would corrupt democracy.

The ruling represented a sharp doctrinal shift, and it will have major political and practical consequences. Specialists in campaign finance law said they expected the decision to reshape the way elections were conducted. Though the decision does not directly address them, its logic also applies to the labor unions that are often at political odds with big business.

Maybe I'm missing the finer detail but it seems to me that corporations in the U.S are now free to spend as much money as they can raise on making sure that the people they like get elected. They can potentially spend billions of dollars if they choose on tv advertising and all the other costs of campaigning - money that they have never before been able to kick in.

The most telling part of this case for me is the almost Orwellian name of the body who brought it to the court - Citizens United. ( funnily enough, one of the anti-internet lobby groups in the GTA universe is Citizens United Negating Technology - although it just doesn't seem so funny any more)
This isn't going to end well.

Update: got some more info that reveals that things could be worse -

"The judges also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, enacted in 2001, which barred union and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.

The court's ruling leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions and did not touch a ban on unlimited donations from corporations and unions to political parties."

(from The Age)

Still, there's a whole lot of wrong about this. Supporters might (disingenuously) argue that this is a matter of free speech but if you have the money to ensure that yours is the only voice heard over and over and over, what does that do to the free speech of everyone else?

How about some fair speech?

Breaking news Breaking Bad great

So, sure - Breaking Bad has already finished its second series and the lead actor Bryan Cranston (the dad from Malcolm in the Middle) has already won two Best Actor emmys for his role in the show  but until last night I hadn't seen it so in Couch Media world, I guess this passes for breaking news.

It was just the pilot that I saw - possibly the hardest episode of a series to make because you have just under an hour (or half an hour) to set up your premise, introduce your characters and give viewers a reason to come back. Tick, tick and tick.

In a nutshell, Cranston plays high school chem teacher Walter White who is struggling to make a living and then discovers that he has inoperable lung cancer. Cheery start right. (Did I mention that he also has a mildly disabled son?) After learning just how much money is to be made in the production of crystal meth (ice), he decides to go into business, with the intention of setting up his family for the future. Despite the premise, it's not a depressing story - it's real (but not too real) and Cranston's White is a genuinely interesting and likeable character. (And it's always good to see kinda-nerds being a bit badass)

It's also won the Emmy for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for the last two years - one was for the episode that I saw last night - guess it helps to have a good editor.

Pay Attention

A great spiel about why if you're not using technology in teaching, you're losing your students.