Category Archives: Television

HTC ad campaign is just what the consumer ordered

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Now that HTC is becoming more of a household brand with its slew of sleek cell phones coming out for AT&T (Pure, Tilt2), T-Mobile (G1, myTouch 3G), and Verizon (Touch Diamond, Imagio, O-Zone, Droid Eris?), it deserves an ad campaign to further integrate its brand image and make a name for itself in the consumer world.  And you know what, it works for me.  The “HTC You” campaign commercials and print ads are clean, sleek, and catchy (“You don’t need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you”).  And most important of all they get the HTC name out there and get people talking.  And talk people should do–HTC, their partnerships with companies like Google, and their self-concocted Sense UI really do pay off their great, user-friendly handsets.  Check out one of the commercials below, and look after the break for another one.

[Via Engadget]

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Flight of the Conchords releases second studio album

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Bret McKenzie & Jemaine Clement, the comedic folksy duo that comprise Flight of the Conchords, have released their second studio album with I Told You I Was Freaky.  This follows their hilariously successful first hit, their self-titled Flight of the Conchords.  Just like their first album, I Told You I Was Freaky contains all of their songs performed during the second season of the hit HBO series Flight of the Conchords.  Some stand-out, personal favorites include “Hurt Feelings,” “Sugalumps,” “Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor),” and “You Don’t Have to be a Prostitute.”  You can purchase the new album at Amazon or on iTunes.  While the iTunes version contains a bonus track with “Pencils in the Wind,” the hard copy version packs a poster and a songbook that features the lyrics and chords to each song.  (Read: get the hard copy version.)

If you haven’t heard of Flight of the Conchords, do yourself a BIG favor and watch the first two seasons.  Get Season 1 here and Season 2 here.  The New Zealander’s perfect blend of comedy and music takes you on fun, stupid, and sometimes trippy worthwhile ventures.  Bret and Jemaine are laugh-out-loud hilarious.  But please, don’t take my word for it.  Check out Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD.  And once you become fans of these relevant off-beat musicians, go ahead and enjoy their CDs.  It’s a riot.

Though the duo has gone on the record of saying that this is the end of the road for the Flight of the Conchord HBO series, they do leave room for a possibility.  Check out an old but good interview that took place during the production of Season 2 after the break.  Good news is that Flight of the Conchords was a “folk” music group before it was a TV series.  So even if the show does not air a third season, there is much hope for another studio album or tour.  Also, we can’t forget that a few FOTC tracks will be making their way to Rock Band soon!

[Via Wikipage]

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Gleeks: Glee Season 1 DVD & soundtrack up for pre-sale; broadway reunion is coming

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News Graphic

It looks Glee: Season 1 will be split up into two volumes, and it makes sense.  Firstly, when the 4-disc 13-episode DVD box set was made FOX had not yet renewed the show, thereby granting it 9 additional episodes.  Second, although this might sound unfair (but, in fact, it kinda is), FOX has a ton of music rights to pay for; by shipping two volumes of DVDs and soundtracks the network can recoup its money for all the rights it had to pay for over the length of the season (and gear up for Season 2 (which has not been confirmed yet, but still)).  So, in sum: Glee Season 1: Volume 1 – Road to Sectionals DVD will pack the initial 13-episode run.  (It will also include bonus material (ie. behind-the-scenes, audition tapes, performances, etc..)  The soundtrack, Glee the music Season 1: Volume 1 will include all of the main performances debuted during the first half of the season.  Look after the break for the full 18-track listing.

There will be a full season DVD released after the entire first season airs, and purchasers of Volume 1 will receive a voucher that can be applied to that full set.  Glee will be going on a haitus during the holiday season and will return just in time to make sure it finishes in mid-May during the usual TV sweeps period.  The Volume 1 DVD and CD would make great holiday gifts, giving Gleeks and non-Gleeks the chance to watch (or re-watch) the first half of the season.  Purchase the DVD and CD on Amazon and preorder the CD on iTunes.

Now on to the next bit of news.  Lea Michele’s (Rachel’s) Spring Awakening co-star Jonathan Groff will be joining the cast of Glee in the near future.  According to EW, he will be featured in “five or six episodes” and will play the lead male singer of Vocal Adrenaline, our Glee club’s arch-nemisis and biggest competition.  Glee’s co-creator Ryan Murphy calls him a “miva” (or “a male diva”).  I’m not really a spoiler type but I’ll give you this: EW also claims that Groff “will also serve as a potential love interest for Michele’s Rachel.”

[Via TVShowsonDVD; TV.popcrunch; EW]

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NPH shows off his pipes in Batman

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Dr. Horrible star (and everyone’s favorite kid doctor) Neil Patrick Harris lends his musical talents to one of the latest episodes of Cartoon Network’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold.  In it he stars as the main villain–the Music Meister.  True, a musical Batman is just wrong and doesn’t make much sense.  Also true, NPH’s musical ability is so good that you should just sit back and enjoy this short clip.

[Via EW]

Windows 7, the day after: Apple fights back, gigantic burgers are eaten

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Here’s a couple treats for you.  Apple has already started the anti-ad war against Windows 7 with this latest (and in my opinion, one of the greatest) “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” advertisement.  Look after the break for two more new Windows 7 bashing ads.

 

Nerd alert: Remember the picture  of the Windows 7-branded burger from Burger King?  Well here’s proof that it existed and that people paid the premium to eat it.  Gross.  Look after the break for a second burger video.

[Via Engadget here & here; Gizmodo]

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Gleeks, listen here: Glee is renewed for a full season and Joss Whedon will direct an episode

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After a strong performance in the ratings, Fox’s hit series Glee has given the thumbs up to produce “the back nine.”  This is a TV term that means a show has been ordered to create 9 more episodes in addition to the original set of 13.  So what does this mean for fans of Glee?  There will be a total of 13 + 9 = 22 episodes of Glee this season.

And the great news doesn’t end there.  According to EW, creator, director, writer, genius Joss Whedon (Buffy, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible) will be directing one of the back nine episodes!  Apparently Whedon is a big fan of the show (who isn’t) and is enthusiastic about helping create a special episode of Glee.  Glee creator Ryan Murphy: “Joss directed one of the great musical episodes in the history of television on Buffy, so this is a great, if unexpected, fit. I’m thrilled he’ll be loaning us his fantastic groundbreaking talent.”  I, for one, cannot wait to see what Joss has in store for Glee.  His brilliance and unique talents will only add to the amazingness that Glee has already become.

[Via EW, here & here]

Balloon Boy captivates America, lives to tell the tale

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Here’s the story in a nutshell.  Six-year-old Falcon Heene, or Balloon Boy (as he is being referred to on the interwebs), was thought to have placed himself in a family-constructed helium balloon and let himself loose to roam the dangerous skies of eastern Colorado.  Network and cable TV news programs reported on the bizarre footage and quickly garnered a large audience that was captivated by such outlandishness and the hopeful safety of the young child inside.  As the balloon flew at fast speeds and nearly missed hitting objects along its path to nowhere, Americans around the nation watched in awe.  Eventually the balloon was tracked down and stopped.  Frantic citizens, policeman, and an ambulance were on the scene hoping to find Falcon safe inside the balloon.  And here’s the best part–Balloon Boy was NEVER in the balloon!  The whole time this event was going on Little Falcon was hiding in a box in the attic at his house.  Apparently his father had yelled at him for some reason or another, so Falcon decided to release his father’s helium balloon into the sky and hide himself in the attic.

In sum, this kid DUPED us all!  He had the entire nation (there were international reports, too) believe that he was in the balloon hovering the skies.  Besides TV coverage, social networking sites raged with furor over this event.  Facebook users created fan pages for Balloon Boy and the term “Balloon Boy” quickly became a trending topic on Twitter and sat there for a good part of the day.  Also, it’s been predicted that Balloon Boy will become a popular Halloween costume this season!

Balloon Boy, kudos to you for pulling off a spectacular stunt on the country.  Now it’s time for you to get severely grounded.

UPDATE:  In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Falcon is asked why he did not come out of hiding when he heard his parents screaming after him.  Falcon admits “You guys [his parents] said that we did this for a show.”  When asked for an explanation of this, his father backtracks and does not answer.  Hm…this whole mess could be a construed mastermind plan that started with the parents looking for what…media coverage on the family?  Look after the break for a snippet of this revealing interview.  [Skip to 0:40 for Falcon’s response followed by a faint fart, as pointed out by Gizmodo.]

UPDATE 2: The entire Balloon Boy incident was a HOAX!  Why am I not surprised?

[Via CNN; E! Online]

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