Remake this

Karate Kid 2 is coming out soon. I recently saw the trailer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amj-Z8UoFjA ) and have to say it actually looks good. This new trend of remaking older movies is really taking off with the world. I have always wondered how people keep wanting to see movies that they have already seen once, which got me thinking. All these remakes are not really the same movie at all. Each one has the director's twist in there somewhere. Also, these remakes are telling classic stories in a way that hooks today's newer younger audiences. The Longest Yard was a movie made in the 70s starring Burt Reynolds, and while it was a good movie back then, it just is not that interesting to today's audience. The remake immediately connects with the audience of today because of its star, Adam Sandler. He is a very recognizable face in films today and was a great pick to play the role of Paul Crewe, disgraced quarterback. My main point is that we should not be thinking these remakes are a result of no new stories being available, but rather a great story being told for the people of the new generation.

Scotty Lago goes down on the bronze medal

So the snowboarding half-pipe competition was yesterday and Shaun White kicked ass and won gold (what a surprise haha), however, the real story about the event came after when the bronze medalists, Scotty Lago, decided it would be a great idea to party with his medal and a woman. Pictures surfaced all over the internet and news of this girl with his bronze medal in her mouth down towards his crotch. Now I know he is a young guy and partying because you just took 3rd place out of everyone in the entire world is acceptable, but he is representing his country and should know better than to do this.

This relates directly to media class because it shows just how fast the media works. I do not know the exact time it took for these pictures to surface, but I assume it was within hours. I am sure that the Olympic Board is not too happy with the way this turned out. The media is a great tool to get information out to the world at an instant's notice these days, but it can also get people in a lot of trouble fast. Without the internet, this story and these pictures could take days to see the light of day.

integrated advertising is the future

During the 2010 Olympics, NBC has gotten some flack about a recent quote said by Bob Costas. The quote said by Costas was "Still to come, the first day of snowboarding competition at Cypress. Though the sport has only been in the Olympics for about a decade, it has a much longer history. In fact, the people of Dreamworks have imagined what it would have been like in the times of the Vikings of old. So old we're not talking about Brett Favre or even Fran Tarkenton, take a look." To me this sounds like it was scripted into the show. The separation of church and state is a constitutional law, advertising during programing is almost the same. We have all heard of product placement, the Coke machine in the background of a movie scene is a perfect example. Saying this quote in the middle of broadcasting is a little obsessive; however, this quote is not as bad and offense as everyone is making it out to be.

Green Avatars anger producers

Is today not the time of going green and being sustainable? Apparently for some movie producers it is not. When James Cameron made his blockbuster movie, Avatar, he wanted to get across the message that we need to be environmentally responsible. 20th Century Fox told Cameron "We really like the story. It's great. But, well, is there a way to not have so much of this tree-hugging, 'Ferngully' stuff in it?" Now this strikes me as odd. All these companies these days are pushing to make themselves look more green and helpful towards the environment. Why would a production company not want to release a great movie with this undertone?

Regardless of whether the company wanted this movie to change or not, Avatar smashed box office records all over the world. I guess that most people enjoyed the way the Na'vi treated their planet and possibly opened their eyes to how we are treating earth. Had 20th Century Fox known that Avatar was going to be such a massive hit I doubt they would have wanted to shelf the movie for this absurd reason.

Super Viewers HOLY CRAP!

So the Super Bowl was this past Sunday and I myself did watch it with a bunch of friends. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea because Super Bowl 44 smashed the record for the most watched program EVER. 106 million people watched the Saints upset the Colts this past Sunday. Next on the list you ask, the season finale of M*A*S*H which had 151.8 million viewers. That finale was shot in 1983, 27 years ago!!

Now the number of people watching this years big game may be significantly larger than those who watched M*A*S*H, but think of the difference in the times. Many more people have television sets in their homes these days than they did in 1983. An estimated 77% of America tuned into the finale while 68% tuned into the Super Bowl.

Speaking of Narrative, could the Saints victory be more fairy-tale like? Just like the 2001 Patriots the Saints had an entire nation backing them, minus Indiana of course. People like to see the underdog prevail over the perennial playoff team. This is probably the reason for the record numbers. A few years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, they had a chance to bring happiness to the entire region. People like that feeling, so why not tune into the game and live the experience live.

Pepsi plays hooky

Super Bowl Sunday is only 2 days away, the biggest mass media day of the year. Companies pay upwards of $3 million to get a 30 second advertisement on during the game. For 23 straight years Pepsi has been paying this kind of money to promote its product during the game, this year is different. Instead of pouring millions into television advertising during the game, Pepsi is launching a new social media campaign. It plans on giving upwards of $20 million in grant money to fund projects in health, arts and culture, food and shelter, the planet, neighborhoods and education. People can vote on ideas and submit their own. I think that this could pay off for Pepsi in a good way, but also hurt it.

On one hand, Pepsi is going to spend more money on great causes and reach millions of people; on the other hand, with no Super Bowl ad, Pepsi could find itself missing out on a lot of sales. Coke is still doing its commercials and will in fact have two ads running during the game. The record television audiences will be exposed to this company. I myself like the idea that Pepsi has. It shows corporate social responsibility and I believe it will pay off in the long run. I would like to see more companies spend money like this and not just sink millions into a few seconds of airtime.

sex illustrated?

So the new Sports Illustrated Olympic Preview issue is going to hit the shelves soon, and people are already getting worked up over the cover. Lindsey Vonn, an Olympic skier, is featured on the cover of the magazine. She is in a pose as a skier would be going down a hill on her skis with poles in hand. I see no problem in this stance, as it is how skiers stand when they are skiing.

The problem lies in the fact that she is an attractive woman. People are getting sensitive about her stance because of this. It is a somewhat provocative stance for a woman to be in, but not in the context of skiing!! A lot of people are getting so overly sensitive about how women are portrayed in the media. Granted, there are many media outlets that exploit women and men for that matter, but come on, this is an Olympic skier in an Olympic skiing stance. Would be this big of a deal if there were a man on the cover?