With all this Charlie Sheen stuff...

...I can't help but wonder if they'll put it on TV. I mean, they'd probably have to put it on really late night cable TV where they don't censor swear words (or at least censor them out).

I can't help but wonder, though... what kind of ads would anyone put on that show, if it was to be one? I mean, what, would they put ads for anger management counselors? Or... Anti-Depressants? Or maybe they'd just put up trailers for the next G.I. Joe movie or some other ultra-action-violent movie/video game.

I can hardly imagine the pitch video whatever broadcaster would send out to potential advertisers would even sound like...

"Basically, this show's all about Charlie Sheen ranting incessantly about random crap that rarely ever makes any sense! He's angry all the time, he's probably on drugs, but hey, he gets people laughing at his misfortune! It's the new reality TV!"

Granted, it sounds like a pretty weird show... "Charlie Sheen's random rantings about everything and how he's a winner!" where he just gets in front of the camera and goes on for an unscripted rant. Is this going to be a new kind of reality TV or something?

I mean, rambling, less-than-sensible rants on the internet can be funny, but TV?

A way to reduce tuition?

A thought just occurred to me... I've seen advertising (though extremely minor advertising) throughout campus. What if there was advertising allowed in, say, the Ford Stadium? Or... maybe places like the Student Union. I'm sure some companies might be willing to pay for advertising there, since a lot of people go in and out of those places relatively frequently.

I'm not going to go as far as to say to add commercials to lectures (that would be incredibly stupid) but still... if advertisers pay a good share of money to place these things, maybe tuition could decrease a bit... or at the very least increase less.

A prime direction to go with Virtual Reality

I just thought of this... I've seen ads in those catalogues you find in the seat pocket of airplanes for these glasses that you put on and it plays videos and movies and the like on the lenses of the glasses (although I don't know if you can actually see through them, they just play up on how you can watch movies and the like through these glasses) and I got thinking... if technology advances to the point where it can create a setting that allows for you to move around freely in a virtual environment, they should probably start with running/jogging trails to give to people who like to work out on either the track, treadmills, or ellipticals. Imagine running on a treadmill, but seeing yourself running along your favorite park trail that you couldn't go on today because it's raining, or icy, or whatever.

Or maybe running the streets of a foreign city that you've never been to and may never get a chance to go to.

Or maybe the streets of a city in a fantasy world like Lord of the Rings, or Narnia, or what have you.

Or, if you're technologically savvy, a world you create yourself!

That would be cool.

Viral Marketing

I think Viral Marketing is an effective tactic that should probably be used more.

So, I present my list of things that I think could benefit from a viral marketing campaign:

- Art shows

- Science Fiction conventions

- Tech Expos

- The International Spy Museum

- Museums in general

- Armed Forces Recruiting

- Travel Agencies

I just answered my own question!

Remember that post where I wondered why local food places are generally better than national chains?

I just thought of a perfect reply:

"So we can get them all to ourselves!"

"To get outsiders coming down here to taste what they can only taste down here!"

"To show them what this town has that others don't!"

Movie critics

Movie critics should have their own shows. I know that Roger Ebert (if you don't know, he's a well-respected film critic in Chicago) had a show way back when, but still... I think movie critics should host TV shows where they talk about what they thought about movies. I imagine they'd be considerably more fun to watch than reading a bunch of text reviews (although Ebert's text reviews of bad movies can be quite funny).

What gave me the thought is this website. I go to the website every so often to watch really funny reviews of generally bad movies. What if stuff like this was on TV? Wouldn't that be entertaining? It could be like, comedy gold, you know?

Disney and Star Wars

So, as most of you know, Disney has a tendency to "open the vault" every few years and re-release a classic movie for a very limited amount of time. For instance, right now, Disney's released a remastered edition of Bambi, and last year they released a blu-ray edition of Beauty and the Beast.

Star Wars is kinda doing the same thing. Right now, it's been planned that the Star Wars series is being re-released in theaters in 3D format. Say what you will about the prequels or the drawbacks of 3D conversion after you've already filmed it on regular film, but you have to admit, that's pretty smart. I mean, like Disney, Star Wars has tons of fans that will flock to this like bees to honey! Only Star Wars is doing this in theaters and Disney does it on home media.

I'd actually be interested to see Disney films being re-released in theaters. Or better yet, a freaking crossover between the two films! That could either be hilariously bad or pretty good... I don't know, but that would be interesting to see.

Comic Books can be like movies

I've come across a graphic novel called Grandville by Bryan Talbot. Very good story... kinda like an alternate history Sherlock Holmes if directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Then I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqMuf2ejpok

That's quite a thought... what if graphic novels were given movie-ish trailers? They could very well be on-par with the popularity of movies if these were broadcast on TV! Heck, I've even seen movie-esque trailers for a freaking novel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uvw_GJpow0

This was a trailer that might have been shown on TV (I don't really remember if it was) of the third installment of a book series I was a huge fan of (The books written after this one kinda... sucked) but still! Promoting a book like a movie! That's awesome! People should do that more often!

All in favor of promoting novels and graphic novels like movies say "Aye!"

Nerf

I think I've noticed something... Has anyone else noticed that Nerf toys are gaining popularity among the high school/college crowd? Or was that just something that kinda sorta happened back when I was a freshman?

I don't know, but either way, I think Nerf should shift their marketing towards the older age demographics and maybe advertise towards them, too. I mean, Heck, how many male kids didn't like nerf guns, and I don't imagine that many of them don't like them anymore. I won't be so bold as to say it could replace something like Paintball or AirSoft, but still... it could be something big like that.

Local Stuff

Has anyone ever noticed that locally-owned food stores, restaurants, and the like always seem to have superior quality (on average, at least, or maybe it's just me) than those you can find almost anywhere? For instance, I personally find the burgers and fries at The Burger House to be far superior to those at McDonald's or Burger King.

Why is it that these places go national with relatively OK food while the places with amazing food is geographically restricted? I guess the most logical answer would be because the national and worldwide chains use cheaper stuff to sell at lower prices. That does make sense, but still, if you made the best possible product with superior ingredients like the spice that they use at the Burger House, wouldn't that mean that they would make a considerable amount of money with their craft?

Actually, now that I think about it, there's a growing chain called Five Guys that started as a local place in Washington, D.C. that's now spread as far out as St. Louis, my hometown. Maybe the trend is catching on, or perhaps they're just a fluke that got lucky. I don't know, but I sure hope it's the former, not the latter.

Or heck, even if McDonald's burgers just one day started tasting as good as Burger House burgers, I'd be happy.

Music Videos

Why is it that music videos don't often have much to do with the actual lyrics of the song? I mean... wouldn't that be a better expression of the music, or are they just trying to cram in stuff that they know people will watch?

Heck, even a video that moves in rhythm to the beat of the music would be good but... ah, what do I know, I guess. Still, if anything, that would be something that's probably rarely been seen before.