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Filed under: Pet Friends | Tags: books, cats, funny, furry, pets, romance, weird, wtf
The collection of stories “The Magical Christmas Cat,” turned out to be a romance novel of sorts after all. Written by Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh and the incomparable Linda Winstead Jones, this collection contains stories that all focus on the universal topic of women’s cats turning into hot men during Christmastime and whisking them off their feet.
The promotional materials allude to the stories being about “a distinctly alluring feline touch.” I don’t know, all of this seems a little close to the Furry family for me. I don’t know if the lonely women reading these stories do any yiffing but I hope that their sheer desperation wouldn’t lead them to do more lewd things to their “distinct felines.”
Can you imagine the readership for this? Are we talking mid-40s, tweed-wearing, just plain sad or bizarrely sexually aroused or what? Interesting subject matter. Apparently it is pervasive enough of a topic to be carried in a mainstream bookstore like Borders or Barnes and Noble. I’m wondering if any of the women who read this are featured in this doc:
Filed under: Famous People We Wish We Were | Tags: crap, dumb, film industry, marketing, movies, silly, trailers, wtf
Depending on one’s preference, the twenty minutes preceding the feature presentation are either the best or worst part of the cinema experience. Much like proto-butter topping on popcorn, movie trailers could be the most entertaining, tantalizing part of one’s day or the worst. They tease and beckon with a curling finger and a wink; they showcase the best 3-5 minutes of a plot, brand the film with music blasted by Dolby digital and they connect to a target audience.
The narrow branding of trailers seems to be yet another indication of film eroding from its traditional role as a collective medium of entertainment to a personal, individualized experience. In the ‘60s, everyone loved the Beatles, wore paisley and saw “The Graduate.” In 2009, everyone has his niche band, niche clothing store and a movie can be marketed to any of these vastly divergent tastes.
The trailer for the 2007 movie “Lucky You”, starring Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, is a prime example for the warping that niche marketing often creates. Depending on which one an audience was given, the movie either was a Las Vegas riot, a contemplative jaunt, suspenseful gambling epic or a romantic comedy depending on choices of editing, lead in music, lighting, dialogue, and introduction of characters. One line of dialogue was even comically used in two completely different contexts. At one point Drew Barrymore’s character says, “when you mentioned your father, your eyes got all quiet.” Yet, in one trailer the line seems romantic, cuddly and something that unites her romantically with the male lead. In the other, it is a foreboding, melancholic line that leads one to believe that the male protagonist is ruminating about a strained relationship with his father.
Meaning is muddled by the ever-increasing scope of film advertising. Viral videos, web campaigns, Twitter accounts and niche marketing can make a movie into anything its audience needs. These newfangled, easily modified trailers make movies as artificial as their concession stand counterparts. Now, not only is the melted butter on the popcorn fake, so are the coming attractions.
