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A Most Sincere Inquiry

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Date: July 18, 2008

Prologue: How often can the dead speak to us? How often can they inspire us?

This past year, a jester sought to commune from beyond the grave, and in doing so he presented us with perhaps the most important question we have been asked in ages…

On January 22, 2008, rising star, Heath Ledger died of a sudden and tragic overdose to sleeping pills. After some research, it was discovered that Ledger became so addicted to the sleeping pills because he got so into his role of The Joker for the upcoming summer blockbuster, The Dark Knight.

This immediately picked the interest of a rabid fan base, who were at best, hesitant to see the same actor from 10 Things I Hate About You and Brokeback Mountain portray one of the most infamous villain in the entire DC Comic universe.

After several more months of some excellent viral marketing (including the amazing, whysoserious.com), the big day finally arrived, and everyone went to see it. The movie set the opening day record with over $67 million, shattering the previous record of $58.1 million.

Hype goes a long way to setting opening day records, but if the product lacks, it is hard to maintain serious drawing power (see: 3, Spider-Man). However, for all of the hype surrounding The Dark Knight, it did something almost unimaginable in the age of superficial blockbusters, it was better than it’s hype.

The film was universally praised by fans and critics alike. Ledger’s performance as The Joker was simply legendary. He performed a rare feat of having a villain completely steal the show, and joins the elite pantheon of Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader as the most engaging and multi-dimensional antagonists in film. Meanwhile Christian Bale was excellent once again in his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, excellently contrasting the characters idealism with his borderline sociopathism. Perhaps the most underrated character in the film though is Aaron Eckhart, who is able to take the pretty-boy-do-gooder Harvey Dent, and believably turn him into a comic book super villain, while remaining true to his motives as a champion of justice.

The rare combination of hype and quality helped generate a box office mega-success. When it was all said and done, The Dark Knight became the fastest movie to reach the $500 million mark, cutting The Titanic’s run in half, and ended up finishing as the second-highest grossing film of all time, only losing only to to the afformentioned film about a boat and a love story. Upon its release to DVD, it sold 3 million units in one day, once more, shattering a record.

Not only did this movie prove that dark, twisted movies can sell, but it was perhaps the most successful use of viral marketing in history. As such, one can anticipate that more and more of both will be used in the future.

But the most enduring legacy of this film, is and always will be Ledger’s performance. It is heart-breaking that we were robbed of an amazing talent at such a young age, just as he was hitting his peak. Who knows what more the man could have done with a full career ahead of him?

The tragic thing is that we will never know. But do not grieve to badly, I don’t think that he would want you to take things so seriously.

Epilogue: The most interesting development in the coming months will be the consideration it gets during Oscar season. After winning several nominations and awards in other venues, it remains to be seen if a very un-Oscar movie receives a nomination. A growing vocal majority is repeatedly making claims that the movie deserves a nomination for Best Picture, and that Heath Ledger deserves the nod for Best Supporting Actor.

We will have to wait until January 20, to find out.

Until next time,

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet – January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition – January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror – January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry – January 10th
The Golden League – January 14th
The Fall from Grace – January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice – January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations – January 22nd

Posted in Film and TV, Year in Review | No Comments »

Attack of the Three-Headed Terror

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Prologue: What happens when the people speak, but don’t really say anything?

It leaves the powers that be in a very odd situation, as they tend to lose control. With such a gap in power, it appeared that a three-headed creature would seize the reigns, however one man had to appeal to a higher power to delay the onslaught and hold on.

After over two-years of a reasonably successful Minority Government, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, began to make claims that Parliament had become dysfunctional, and an election was needed. On September 7, Stephen Harper went to Governor General Michelle Jean, and requested the dissolution of parliament. The Governor General complied, and we had an election on October 14.

To the surprise of nobody, the Conservatives won yet again, with another Minority Government. However, this time they had a larger seat total, garnering 143 seats. This compared to the 77 earned by the Liberals, 49 by the Bloc Quebecois, and 37 to the NDP (along with 2 Independents).

(Editorial Tangent: Now before we continue, we need to examine one of the central principals of a Parliamentary Democracy. The electorate (in theory) never vote for the Prime Minister, or even the political party. Technically you vote for the representative of your constituency, and it is up to those representatives (MPs) to chose the leader of their group. It just happens in practice that almost every politician is affiliated with a party, and each party has a leader who is understood to become Prime Minister in the event of a victory for their party.)

Before Parliament had even sat, the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty delivered his fiscal update, which is essentially a mini-budget. This update was quickly, and vehemently panned by the three opposition parties. With three main points of contention: a lack of an economic stimulus plan to prevent recession, removal of civil servants right to strike, and the removal of subsidies for political parties. The last being the most crucial, as it would essentially bankrupt all three opposition parties at once.

(Editorial Tangent #2: While it is by no means required, it is expected that the political parties cooperate and compromise in the event of a Minority Government. After all, if the will of the populace is divided, then surely the actions of the government are expected to reflect this.)

This sent all three parties, and much of the population, into an incendiary rage. However, the only way to stop this was to table a Non-Confidence motion, and therefore trigger yet another election. Since this was something that nobody wanted, especially the Liberals who had delivered perhaps their poorest electoral showing in history.

As a result, something daring was proposed, a change in government without an election.

After a series of talks, it was announced that the Liberals and NDP would form a coalition, lasting until June 30, 2011. They would place the Liberal leader as Prime Minister, and create a cabinet of 23 other ministers, including 6 NDPs. However, with a quick amount of math you can notice that the 114 seats that the two parties have combined is not enough, so they needed a little bit more support. They then formed an agreement with the Bloc Quebecois to support the coalition until June 30, 2010.

This prompted Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to launch a full scale media blitz, calling the coalition ruthlessly undemocratic, even addressing the nation on prime time. There were two central arguments against the coalition: the widely unpopular Stephane Dion would be Prime Minster, and that it required the support of the Bloc Quebecois.

This sparked a fervour and debate across the country as rallies were held on both sides of the argument. Something that has not been seen in Canada since the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords over a decade and a half ago.

Stephen Harper made an unprecedented request to the Governor General to prorogue parliament. She complied, and delayed the Parliament to January 26th (From December 8th) in a wildly debated move. Normally prorogation is reserved for genuine national emergencies, such as war or natural disasters, and has never been used for political emergencies.

In a snap move, Stephane Dion then announced that he would step down as Liberal (and coalition) leader, and Michael Ignatieff was quickly selected as his replacement. Ignatieff has softened talks of a coalition, but by no means has stated that he will comply with the Conservatives.

However, we will have to wait until the 26th to find out what will happen, and that, my friends, is something that we will be discussing in our 2009 year in review.

Epilogue: While the government has not been seated, the Canadian economy continues to suffer, the 100th Canadian solider died in Afghanistan, one of the worst winters in memory started to take place, and nothing is being done to remedy either of those situations.

Somehow claims by the government of having the best interest of the people in mind are not being debated.

Until next time,

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

Tags: canada, politics
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An Unlikely Fruition

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Prologue: Back in a distant time, a man made an extraordinary claim. He said that he would bring freedom to a long oppressed land. As the years passed, people thought that this day of freedom would never arise. However, to the shock of many, freedom would come, and it would be just what the doctor ordered. People were bound to ask though, was it worth the wait?

In 1994, at the height of their popularity, Guns N’ Roses front man, announced the name of their next album, Chinese Democracy. However, as delay upon delay came, and the band changed members repeatedly, it appeared as if we were going to see actual democracy in China before the album’s release.

Years past, and the album became a punchline. With the Offspring even hinting at calling their album Chinese Democracy: You Snooze, You Lose in 2002, however they backed off for legal reasons. Even as early as this year, Dr. Pepper, made a (presumably) satirical offer to give one free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in the United States if Chinese Democracy was released in 2008.

I am not if Axl Rose likes Dr. Pepper or not, but that seemed to motivate him. It was announced in the fall of 2008 that the album would be released in November. As is often the case in this digital age, the tracks of the album were leaked. However, in a stunning development, Axl Roses pursued legal measures against the bloggers who leaked the tracks, and so far one man, Kevin Cogill, has been sentenced to a year in prison as a result of the track leaking.

Much like Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace this album faced a near impossible volume of hype and expectations. When you keep people waiting for so long, you need to come to terms with the fact that it may be better in the minds of fans than in reality. However, unlike the first Star Wars prequel, Chinese Democracy did not make its creators any richer. The album boasted some very low sales, and in no way justified its $13, 000, 000 reported price tag.

Once more, it really just wasn’t very good. Sure, it had its inspired moments, however, the chords are over produced, and the lyrics are under thought. Which hardly warrants the fourteen years that Axl Rose had to meditate on the subject.

If there is one thing that Chinese Democracy has proven, it is that good things do not always come to those who wait.

Embedded Video

Epilogue: Chinese Democracy sold only 261,000 units in the first week of sales, and the numbers sharply declined after wards. It ranked #12 on The Rolling Stones year end rank of albums, but #1 on IGN’s Worst Album of 2008 list.

There have been no talks of releasing a new album.

Until next time,

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

Tags: china, music
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The Rise of the Ice Queen

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Date: August 28, 2008

Prologue: Two men engage in a year long battle. One man, who continues to play by his own rules, gains momentum, but realizes that he is unable to achieve victory on his own. He summons a previously unknown maiden from the land of ice and snow, to aid him in his mission. Quickly though, this Ice Queen begins to overshadow the very man that she was supposed to assist, which puts things on an irreversible path.

August seems like a lifetime ago by now, doesn’t it? In reality though it has only been a little over 4 months since John McCain introduced the world to Sarah Palin, and the course of the campaign changed in a matter of minutes.

Back in August, John McCain was taking a chip out of Obama’s huge lead, with the extremely successful “World’s Biggest Celebrity” advertisements. Obama had just made a safe albeit boring running mate selection of Joe Biden, which hardly set the world on fire. However, his convention came pretty close to (figuratively) setting things ablaze. It had the emotion of Hilary Clinton’s speech, and the stunning visualization of Obama addressing 80, 000 people on a Denver night.

McCain knew that he needed to do something to both upstage Obama’s running mate, and get peopel to stop talking about his acceptance speech. John McCain, ever the maverick, did not take such likely candidates as Pawlenty, Romney, or Liberman, instead he went with a much wilder pick that certain got people talking. He chose Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin.

At first, this was a huge success. People wondered who this young, unheralded, and attractive woman was. They saw her as a an excellent “outsider” both as a woman in a man’s world, and as someone who has little connection in Washington. Also, people who had originally supported Hilary Clinton, seemed to flock towards Sarah Palin.

She became a huge star in no time.

And that was the biggest problem.

Everyone wanted to know more about this mysterious Palin. We had gotten two years to get to know Obama on a national stage, but had no idea who this woman was. Quickly, John McCain became an afterthought, as people began to flock towards his running mate.

Palin ralies became huge events, drawing massive crowds, while McCain’s ralies had far smaller numbers.

And that was the next biggest problem.

Palin became in control of the campaign. McCain had pledged long and hard to run an honourable campaign, however, Palin made no such promises. She began to accuse Obama of “Pallin’ around with terrorists”, and an intense amount of hatred and blatant racism would begin to emerge at her rallies, as she began to fan the flames of hatred. Certainly not an honourable campaign that John McCain wanted.

Since Palin became an overnight sensation, the media wanted to get a hold of her for an interview.

And that was the next, next biggest problem.

She really had no idea how to handle any sort of questions. She was either completely unprepared or completely ignorant, or perhaps both. Take a look at the most infamous blunder of hers from an interview with Katie Couric.

Amazing eh?

Now that certainly is “gotcha” journalism, with that tricky Couric asking a hard question.

Other proud moments for Mrs. Palin, include her not understanding the Bush Doctrine, getting confused as to the role of the Vice President, and thinking that Africa is a country. Certainly something that someone who wants the second highest office in the land should know.

Also, a new sueprstar in politics, especially one with such gaping holes in her knowledge set, became excellent fodder for satire. Including this, perhaps the most memorable moment of the 2008 campaign.

After eight years, jokes at George W. Bush’s expense were in need of freshening up, and thankfully, the Republicans came through yet again for us. Not only did 2008 give us a richer target for satire, it gave us a more polarizing character than we have seen in a very long time. Due to her age, and relative freshness on the national stage, this is one that will not be going away soon.

Epilogue: In the end, Palin became an absolute cancer to the McCain campaign. Five days before the election, almost 60% of Americans thought that she was unprepared for the job of Vice President (to say nothing about President), and over 40% had an unfavourable opinion of her.

In case you haven’t heard, McCain-Palin were absolutely crushed in the election.

Sarah Palin is considered an early contender for the Republican nomination in 2012.

Until next time,

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

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The Fall of the Prophet

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

This is the start of my (belated) look back at 2008. I have plans for a number of posts to make an appearance here in the coming days, so please, continue to check back as I reflect on a number of things that made 2008 worthwhile.

Without further ado, here is the first installment in the “Adventures of 2008″.

Date: February 3, 2008

Prologue: The unstoppable forces of evil go against the plucky underdog. Despite having a vastly superior force to anyone else in the world, they still resort to underhanded tactics to overcome their foes. Victory appeared so imminent that a group of giants seemed unable to keep these forces at bay. All seems lost for truth and justice, as the sinister brigade looks to cement their place in history, however, as is often the case, things do not go quite as they seem…

The New England Patriots finished the 2007 regular season in historic fashion. They defeated the New York Giants in a nail biter and ended the regular season at 16-0, something that no team had ever done before. During the first two rounds of the playoffs they steamrolled the competition, and prepared for a Superbowl showdown against the very same Giants that they had vanquished once before.

Despite their absolutely historic run (the Miami Dolphins had completed a perfect regular season in 1972, however, their regular season was only 14 games long, thus making this one arguably more impressive), the New England Patriots were not without their detractors. The most notorious of which was the infamous “Spygate” scandal. The New England Patriots were accused of filming a practice held by the New York Jets prior to their September 9th match-up, a game which the Patriots easily won.

After a series of investigations, the Patriots were fined and lost their first round draft pick due to breaking the NFL’s rules. After this, a series of other accusations surfaced about Bill Bilichick taping a variety of other games, including the 2002 Superbowl, which the Patriots scored an unlikely upset over the vaunted St. Louis Rams.

Regardless of wether the Patriots cheated in any other game, it did not matter, doubt was cast upon their legacy and their quest for perfection. Even if they were to win the Superbowl, there would be a number of questions as to how many victories that they actually earned, and how many were gathered illegally. This caused a great deal of resentment against the New England Patriots, as even non-football fans were hoping for them to lose. Normally this kind of sporting animosity is only reserved for the New York Yankees, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the LA Lakers, and the US Olympic team. However, on this day, the Patriots entered the infamous club.

The game itself was a rather slow affair for the first three quarters. It looked like the Patriots offense was having a slow day, and their defense had to take over. The score was 7-3 for New England, heading into the fourth. The Giants scored an unlikey touchdown at the start of the quarter to make it 10-7, and then things got interesting.

Tom Brady, arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, turned it up a notch, and lead to the Patriots getting another touchdown, to make it 14-10 with 2:42 left to play. It seemed like the inevitable was going to occur, and there would be 19-0 posters everywhere the next morning.

Then, this happened.

Watch that again if you have to, because it is simply one of the most amazing (and downright lucky) catches you will ever see.

A few drives later and the Giants scored another touchdown, making the score 17-14 with 35 seconds left. The Patriots attempted to move the ball down the field, and the unthinkable happened.

The clock ran out. The Patriots lost.

The Giants completed one of the greatest upsets in sporting history as they humbled the unbeatable juggernaut. Sports fans and casual viewers alike celebrated as the bad guys lost, and evil was vanquished for yet another day.

Epilogue: The New England Patriots, perhaps more motivated than ever, looked to start the 2008 season with a bang, and perhaps claim the Championship that they felt they deserved the year before. However, in an act that can only be described as karmic, star quarterback Tom Brady, suffered a knee injury during the first quarter of the first game. It would be both his first game of the season, and his last. As a result of losing their star, the Patriots failed to make the playoffs this past season, and will have to wait at least another season to win the one game that truly matters.

Until next time,

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

Posted in Hockey and Other Sports, Year in Review | No Comments »

Candidacy Chaos

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

We reflect more on the year that was by looking at the story of a comedian, a fundamentalist, a self-proclaimed martyr, a retired soldier, grassroots campaigns, and some audacious hope.

This year holds some very exciting promise. After putting up with a scary, war-mongering, constitution-defying, oil-greedy establishment south of the border, there is finally a chance for it to change.

While the election is still a solid 11 months away, there has been no shortage of drama already in this very wide-open race. At the start of the year, it seemed destined to be a Hilary Clinton against either John McCain or Rudy Guiliani, now a short while later and that remains in question.

On the Democratic side of things, we have seen the rapid rise of Barack Obama and a fairly strong surge by John Edwards. At the end of the day though, I think that Obama really is going to be the one to pull ahead. The man is just too good of a speaker, and is putting forward too strong of a message to be ignored. There is a certain appeal in an Obama-Edwards ticket, if for nothing else than potential sitcom moments that a black guy and southerner tandem possess. Saturday Night Live would have a field day with those two running together.

Of course, joining the Democratic candidates was comedian Stephen Colbert, whose satirical campaign came very close to reality. He planned on running in his home state of South Carolina, and garnered incredible support, including the fastest growing Facebook group in history. However, the South Carolina Democratic executive council voted against his nomination. It’s too bad, because him running could have made things very, very interesting.

On the Republican end there seems to be a far more open field. There is once again the man that was blatantly robbed in 2000, John McCain, who is joined by former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, and a cast of relative new comers to the world’s eye. With the “Back to Basics” message coming from Senator Ron Paul that seems to be gathering a very large grassroots movement, and the “Trust in God” message coming from Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, being the two most interesting.

Huckabee seems to be gathering all sorts of momentum, especially among the evangelical-right that helped put Bush into power. I would not at all be surprised to see a Huckabee-Obama showdown, in a truly monumental and epic presidential race. We would see the first African-American candidate, promising change, go up against a Southern Minister who has associated homosexuality with necrophilia at one point. Make no mistake about it, this is a very important year for the course of the United States, and therefore the world. We should have a lot more to reflect on in one year’s time.

Until next time,

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The Benoit Diaries

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Today I look back at one of the most surreal and revolting moments of 2007, and how it brought a very powerful man into a position of having to cope with it all.

On June 25 of this past year the unthinkable happened. Chris Benoit, respected wrestler, along with his wife and seven year old son, were found dead in their Atlanta home. What was concluded was even more shocking, the deaths were a murder-suicide committed by Chris Benoit.

The WWE was faced with an immediate problem when they discovered about the deaths. First off, they had an episode of RAW that night, and apparently did not know all of the facts at the time. So, sticking with the precedent that was set with the early deaths of Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero, they decided to turn the episode into a special “tribute” show, featuring past matches of Benoit’s, and comments by current members of the roster. The next night when their episode of ECW was airing, the show opened with Vince McMahon saying that the WWE did not have all of their facts straight, and that they would never mention his name again on their shows.

I think that there are a few oddities in this story that stem from comments made by William Regal and Edge. Regal, one of the wrestlers who knew Benoit the best, only focused on Benoit’s in-ring talents and made no mention to him as a person, quite an odd thing for one of his long time friends. Edge’s comments, while heartfelt, raised a bit of suspicion when he said “…I don’t understand things like this, and I never will” are very ominous considering the circumstance. It makes me think that he knew exactly what had happened at the time of his statement.

All sorts of speculation as to the causes of this sudden, and drastic action have taken place. Many people in the media immediately assumed that it was “Roid Rage” caused by a life of taking steroids, however, the toxicology reports disproved this theory. However, after his death his brain was examined, and it was found that the amount of damage done to his brain as a result of concussions had left his brain in a similar condition to an “85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient”, which could full well have led to a severe case of dementia and depression on Benoit’s part.

No matter why the tragedies occurred, the WWE has been left in a very tough position. They have recalled Chris Benoit’s DVD, and have slowly removed any references to him from their website and other public materials. This has also lead to the WWE delaying the release of some other DVDs, for example, they were going to release a Summerslam anthology box set, with every Summerslam on DVD for the first time ever. However, they were uncertain with what to do with Benoit’s matches, especially his main event title defense against Randy Orton in 2004. Also, they were originally going to release a Steve Austin retrospective DVD in November, but it was set to feature one of Austin’s excellent matches with Benoit from the spring of 2001. The WWE decided that it would not erase any of his matches on these box sets, but would not feature them on any other wrestlers DVDs.

I am not certain how I feel about the WWE attempting to re-write its own history like this. On one hand, Benoit did some terrible, inexcusable actions, but on the other hand, he has a certain place in the companies history and his actions in the past should not be ignored for his future sins. It would be akin to Germany re-writing their political history and omitting the years 1939-1945, sure it is six years that they would rather forget, but they still happened. I do commend the company for including the matches from Summerslam, as it would have been very awkward to get around some of them.

A few days after the event, I took a break from my summer sabbatical to write my thoughts on what was occurring. In preparing to write this post, I re-read it, and to be honest, I don’t think that I have answered my questions on this event in the past six months. I still struggle with my memories of Benoit as a performer (which are good) with my thoughts of him as a person now (which are, obviously, not so good). I still don’t know the right answer.

I still haven’t watched my Chris Benoit DVD, but I feel that I will again someday, I’m not sure when, and I’m not sure how I’ll feel when I watch it. But I know that I need to watch it, for closure if nothing else.

Until next time,

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The Attack of the Green Menace

Monday, December 17th, 2007

I continue to look back at all that was in 2007 by examining a former vice-president, a catchy pop song and impending doom.

Sure, An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, but its message lingered well into 2007. We are in a lot of trouble unless we do something soon. While Gore’s message was hardly a new one, scientists have been talking about it for years, something about hearing it from Al Gore seemed to make it click. I’m not sure if it was the fact that Gore’s connections with Clinton, his opposition to Bush, or what it could have been, but to many people he was somehow trustworthy.

As a result of this message, the environment has been greatly at the heart of the public conscious this past year. This has led to a change in both political and commercial rhetoric. As many politicians who once considered Global Warming to be a hippie scare tactic have began talking about environmental issues, and many companies are beginning to advertise their products as being environmentally friendly.

Hell, the fear of global warming even showed up in one of the greatest and most ubiquitous songs of the year. If Al Gore didn’t get people listening, then Rhianna sure did.

There are of course a variety of questions surrounding this newfound environmental concern. Many environmentalists are concerned about the validity of this concern, as they raise issues of a “green washing” that is currently occurring by many politicians and corporations, as they exaggerate or falsify the environmental benefit of their policies or products. And of course, many other environmentalists see this public debate as being too little, and too late. In their eyes, the type of action required at this point is far too drastic than we are ready, willing or able to do.

But the newly invigorated environmental movement is not all doom and gloom. With the increase in awareness, comes and increase in funding for research into slowing, and potentially reversing the causes of our short-sited, excessive behaviour. People all over the world are looking into some amazing ideas like carbon sequestering, bio-fuels, renewable energy, electric cars, plastic from orange peels, and some other very exciting technologies. People seem to be finally taking this concern seriously as our generation seems to have found its calling. Our grandparents knew that they had a war to fight, our parents knew that they had a war to stop, and here we (”we” being the ones who don’t remember the Vietnam war, but remember the first Iraq War) are with our mission, our goal, we have to save humanity from itself. It’s going to be a tough one, but I think that we can find a way to do it. In the future when we look back and find our Pearl Harbour, or Walter Cronkite on the evening news, we will look back at An Inconvenient Truth as the moment that we realized that we couldn’t ignore this problem anymore, as the moment that we realized that we needed to do something to make this world a better place.

Until next time,

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Mr. Jobs and the Death of the Video Star

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

I continue my reflections on 2007 today with a look back at technology, counting, and a damn good song.

In 1979, The Buggles prophetically declared that “Video Killed the Radio Star“. Twenty-eight years later, it seems that the commercial has in fact killed the video star.

If you were anywhere near a television this fall, chances are you saw this commercial, in which the lovely, and talented, Ms. Leslie Feist, taught the world how to count and Steve Jobs introduced the world to a truly great Canadian songstresses.

Now this commercial did help Gonzalez achieve a great deal of personal fame, but it really has not been at the same level as Feist’s explosion has been. So what was the difference?

While you can point out all sorts of grave differences between the songs and the artists, I think that the main difference is in the commercial itself, and where the viewers attention goes. In the Sony ad, the attention is on the thousands of bouncing balls, with the music being a melodic accompaniment to the chaos. Where as in the Apple ad, the attention is firmly on Feist. For every second that commercial is playing, you can see the artist and hear her song. The fact that it’s a commercial for an iPod really is secondary. Sure the iPods get picked up, or moved around, but the viewer still remains (rightly) transfixed on the artist until the split second shot at the end when it reminds you to buy a Nano.

This ad presents a marketable shift in the use of music in advertising, it places the artist at the forefront, above the product. The one tag line that the ad shows is “A little video for everyone”, reminding the consumer that you can watch this video whenever you want, if only you own an iPod. While of course, this is an advertisement for an iPod, it really comes across as an advertisement for Feist, implying that being able to watch this video at any time is well worth the price of an iPod.

The other main difference is that the Apple commercial features the actual video for this song, which had came out months prior to the release of this commercial. So why was the ad so much more effective than the original release of the video?

I think that the main reason is pure and simple laziness. Watching a video takes a certain effort, either by switching to MTV/MuchMusic (during the 20 minutes of hte day when they actually play videos..) or following a link to the YouTube video. Commercials on the other hand take a certain effort to avoid watching. You need to find the remote and another channel where you know something else is on, and really it’s just easier to passively lay there and be bombarded with your consumerist message.

The explosion of this song really is textbook 2007. It demonstrates the power of the media, the power of the brand, the direct relationship between artist and fan, and more importantly, the power of a damn good song.

Until next time,

Tags: music, web 2.0
Posted in Muzzak, Year in Review | 1 Comment »

The Hit and the Astericks

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

I looked at the calendar and I realized that there are only 16 days left until 2007 is gone forever. To celebrate the greatness that this year has been, I have decided that I am going to dedicate several posts to some of the memories of this year. The first installment looks at drugs, punctuation, and the pursuit of a legacy.

On August 7 Barry Bonds was up to bat in a game against the Washington Nationals. Facing a full count, the San Fransisco crowd began chanting his name. A crack of the bat and 435 feet later, history was made. Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homerun, passing Hank Aaron for the all-time lead.

Just in case you missed it that night, or on the countless replays later. Here it is…

While the crowd in San Fransisco was elated that Bonds hit this homerun, the majority of people were not. While few would argue Bonds remarkable abilities, he has not been a man without controversy.

In 2001, Bonds hit 73 homeruns, breaking Mark McGuire’s single season record to the shock of many. Given the mans age and his previous high of 49 homeruns, people assumed foul play. Greg Anderson, Bonds person trainer during this time, was later indicted for supplying anabolic steroids to professional athletes. In a 2006 book entitled Game of Shadows, the authors made several allegations against Barry Bonds concerning steroid use. The authors stated that during the 2001 season, Barry Bonds was a veritable chemical cocktail, stating that he was on at least 6 different types of performance enhancing drugs.

During Anderson’s investigation, Bonds vehemently denied using steroids, or that Anderson had given him any. However, in 2006, federal investigators began looking into the fact that Bonds may have committed perjury, and in fact had received steroids from Anderson.

The ball used to hit this historic homerun was put up for auction in September, and was bought by fashion designer, Marc Ecko for $752,467. Ecko set up a website to allow the people do democratically determine the fate of the ball. There were three choices, to donate it to the Hall of Fame, to brand it with an asterisk (implying that the achievement was tainted), or to send it off into space.

After millions of votes, 47% of people decided that ball should be marked with an asterisk, before being sent to Cooperstown. Showing that many people feel that Bonds’ achievements were tainted.

To me, this really is our generations Watergate. Before any of you get ready to post some angry comments, insulting my intelligence, hear me out.

Before Nixon’s imfamous scandal, politics was considered to be a very pure, and noble thing, the altruistic act of devoting your life to public service. However, the findings that the President himself was at the centre of political wrong-doings, opened the world’s eyes to the corrupt underbelly of politics. This has ushered in a wave of cynicism towards the democratic process, whose effects can still be felt.

This asterisk really is the sporting-equivalent. Sports have a certain mythos for being a pure test of athletic excellence, and baseball has long propagated this perception with its reliance on a host of heroes from Ruth to Mantle to McGuire.

Now we find out that one of the greatest players of this generation, allegedly owes a great deal of his success not to abilities and determination, but to needless and oils. While Bonds is, of course, innocent until proven guilty, the majority of people have already thrown him to the snake pit, accusing him of being a blatant cheater. Gone appear to be the days when our sporting great would be held in the highest regard, instead they appear to be the victims of constant scrutiny as modern cynicism engulfs them as well.

I feel really bad for the next great athlete to come along and shatter this (or any other) record. People will not be revering their accomplishment, but instead they will be met with constant accusations that they were on some sort of performance enhancing drugs, similar to the CeNNa-gate story that I touched on a while ago.

As a foot not to this story, the allegations against Bonds, were the catalyst for a full scale investigation into steroid use in baseball. The findings of this investigation, the Mitchell Report, were just released earlier this week with staggering results (Click here to read the entire thing, or here to just read an article about it).

The report gives many, many, examples of players using various performance enhancing drugs over the past several years and lists several players, including Roger Clemens, as culprits.
The report even states that it would be impossible to find every player who has used performance enhancers, implying that there are a very large amount of them.

If steroids, and other drugs, are as rampant as Mitchell states, I really need to wonder why it took so long for it to be so well known. If so many players are using drugs, then surely the managers and/or owner of the teams must have known somehow, someway. While the players themselves are responsible for their own actions, there must have been a large amount of people who encouraged them, either directly, or by turning a blind eye to the process. Everyone in baseball, really is to blame for the current state of the game (including former Texas Rangers owner, George W. Bush, yes that George W. Bush). And really, if baseball is so drug-ridden, who is to say that any other sports aren’t the same?

The date of Bonds’ trial, and the presentation of the asterisk ball to the Hall of Fame, should be some of the more interesting moments of 2008. However, when we look back at the homerun, the asterisk, and the investigation, we will remember 2007 as a very important year in sporting history. It is the year that teamwork, dedication, and integrity all went out the window in favour of the pursuit of excellence, winning, and money at all costs.

In other words, sports has lost something that it may never be able to get back, it has lost its innocence.

Until next time,

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Glen Thoughts

Archive for the ‘Year in Review’ Category

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Attack of the Three-Headed Terror

An Unlikely Fruition

The Rise of the Ice Queen

The Fall of the Prophet

Candidacy Chaos

The Benoit Diaries

The Attack of the Green Menace

Mr. Jobs and the Death of the Video Star

The Hit and the Astericks

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