Chris Hardwick in “Extreme Office Parkour.” Web Soup airs Sundays at 10:30PM on G4.
[Via Nerdist]
Category Archives: Entertainment
CBS & PepsiCo to make video-embedded ads a reality
The future has arrived, people. Video advertisements will start to populate your magazines this fall!* In a joint venture with PepsiCo, CBS will be promoting its fall TV season lineup in the September 18th issue of Entertainment Weekly with an interactive video advertisement. More specifically, the ad will promote the CBS Monday prime-time lineup and PepsiCo’s PepsiMax soda. They call it “Monday to the Max.” This issue will feature the first video ad to appear in print, said George Schweitzer, CBS marketing president.
The battery-powered advertisement is manufactured by LA-based Americhip. CNET has the details on the technology: “the screen, which is 2.7 millimeters thick, has a 320×240 resolution. The battery lasts for about 65 to 70 minutes, and can be recharged, believe it or not, with a mini USB cord–there’s a jack on the back of it. The screen, which uses thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT LCD) technology, is enforced by protective polycarbonate. It’s a product that has been in development at Americhip for about two years.”
Advertising Age got the scoop on how it’s going to work: “When Entertainment Weekly readers open the magazine to the ad pages, they will see a small screen flicker on and start to load a video. A brief segment featuring actors from “The Big Bang Theory” will explain how to use the player, while talking about features from Entertainment Weekly and the different video selections a reader can choose. By pressing one of five different buttons, readers can watch a video montage of [the CBS Monday lineup programs].
*The insert advertisement will only appear to EW subscribers in the New York and Los Angeles areas. Subscribers from elsewhere and newsstands will receive regular print versions of the ad. So if you want to be one of the first to witness the potential future of advertising, find a friend who is a subscriber to EW in those areas…or move and become one!
Schweitzer: “It was axiomatic: If you ran an ad in TV Guide, people would watch your program. Not anymore.” Does this new ad tech seem gimicky? Yes. Could it potentially be the future of ads? Who knows. Although no pricing was specified, I am sure the decision to use video technology on a battery-powered chip in a magazine did not come cheap. Let this first try be a test run for marketing companies. I am interested to see if such a promotional ploy could work. Be on the lookout this September and decide for yourself.
[Via Gizmodo; CNET; Advertising Age]
DISTRICT 9, (more) behind the scenes
Wired goes behind the scenes (for a second time) with DISTRICT 9’s Neill Blomkamp (director), Greg Broadmore (WETA Workshop designer), and others. Topics mostly consist of alien and weaponry design. Dig it. For the first behind the scenes video, click here.
Music Video: The Guild – (Do You Wanna Date) My Avatar
Starring: Vincent Caso, Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thorsen
Directed by: Jed Whedon
Music by: Jed Whedon
Lyrics by: Felicia Day
Rap: Jeff Lewis and Sandeep Parikh
Backup Vocals: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon
Purchase on:
AMAZON MP3: http://bit.ly/amazonavatar
ITUNES VIDEO: http://bit.ly/itunesvideo
Or download/watch for free on:
YOUTUBE LINK: http://bit.ly/datemyavatar
ZUNE VIDEO DOWNLOAD: http://bit.ly/i2ZtP
XBOX US MARKETPLACE: http://bit.ly/12NKEm
Music video of the year right here. After a couple short hours it became the #1 music video sold in the iTunes Store! Watch it, love it. Support The Guild by watching Season 3 starting August 25. Never heard of The Guild? Go to www.watchtheguild.com to learn more about the brilliant, well-written, and hilarious web series and catch-up with Seasons 1 & 2. Great job, Felicia and Jed. I cannot get this song out of my head. (FYI, the MP3 version of the song will be made available on iTunes tomorrow.)
“23 Movie Plots That Could Have Been Solved in Minutes”
The folks over at Cracked.com asked their viewers to Photoshop images that would portray classic movies that could have been resolved much more quickly if they had incorporated BLANK.* The “blank” is what the users created. All of these are quite comedic, so enjoy their work that is in the gallery below.
[Via Cracked]
Zach Selwyn in “A Gamer’s Revolution”
Remember G4’s Zach Selwyn? Well, maybe not. Still, you should check out his latest creation: “A Gamer’s Revolution.” It’s catchy, original, and a blast to watch if you’re a fan of classic video games.
What’s fun & original? Shoot a webcam vid at an Apple Store!
YouTube user nicholifavs is a typical kid who makes webcam videos of himself lip-synching his favorite songs. What makes him worthy of notice is the way he makes the videos. He shoots and uploads all of his videos from the NYC 5th Ave. Apple Store! He doesn’t care about the onlookers behind him, and it seems like the Apple Store employees don’t have a problem with it. Check out his rendition of Boom Boom Pow above, and see his YouTube page for more. Very original, man. Keep it coming.
[Via Gizmodo]
DISTRICT 9, behind the scenes
I cannot stress this any further: GO SEE THIS MOVIE RIGHT NOW. Need reassurance? See my “stream of consciousness” review.
Study: Moviegoers have synchronized blinks, miss up to 15 min. of footage
A recent study has gathered interesting findings of people’s blinking habits and when they blink during a movie. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have found that “the flow of visual information to the brain is halted by up to 450 milliseconds with every blink, and we lose up to 6 seconds of information every minute.” New Scientist relays this information in layman’s terms: “This means moviegoers who sit through a 150-minute film have their eyes shut for up to 15 minutes.” It was also found that people tend to blink in unison during the same parts of a movie. A researcher noted that “”This is the first study to demonstrate that blinks are excellently coordinated during video playback.” After several tests, the researchers went on to conclude that these synchronized blinks occur during “non-critical” moments, so at the end of an action scene or as Gizmodo humorously noted, “whenever Megan Fox is off screen.”
[Via Gizmodo; New Scientist]
House Season 6 trailer
“What happens when the doctor becomes the patient?”
The two-hour Season 6 premiere of House premiere on September 21 at 8:00PM on FOX. Look after the break for interview videos with the main cast including Hugh Laurie (House), Robert Sean Leonard (Wilson), Omar Epps (Foreman), and David Shore (creator). They discuss the repurcussions of Season 5’s brilliant finale. FYI, the song used in the trailer is “Grounds For Divorce” by Elbow.
Do the Jimmy Fallon dip!
In celebration of 100 episodes of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, get up and do the Jimmy Fallon dip everyone!
DISTRICT 9 in a stream of consciousness
DISTRICT 9. Presented by Peter Jackson, directed by Neill Blomkamp. A masterpiece. A true work of art. Emotions, build up. Edge-of-your-seat action, suspense. Humans, aliens. Peace, war, racism, segregation, gangs, slums. Super-powerful weapons. Gore, violence. Strength, weakness. Friendship, betrayal. Father, son. Fight or flight. Team-work. Flaw. Rebirth. Transformation. Terror, fear, angst. Power, manipulation, money, rations. Dark humor. Grounded. Documentary-style. Shaky-cam, angles. CGI, RED camera, gorgeous scenery. Perfect, stunning mix of reality (humans, surroundings) and CGI fantasy (aliens, mothership, weapons). Sharlto Copley as Wikus Van De Merwe — raw talent. Brilliant. Superb. Best movie of the summer. Most original storyline, best sci-fi movie in recent memory. SATISFYING.