Tag: hollywood

Twitter Race: Ashton Kutcher vs. CNN Breaking News

As you may have read recently, Ashton Kutcher and CNN are having a light-hearted contest to see who can become the first to amass 1 million followers on Twitter. At the moment, @cnnbrk has 980,761 followers while @aplusk has 980,001. It’s a tight race! If he wins, Ashton has said he will donate 10,000 mosquito bed nets to charity in honor of World Malaria Day, an offer than CNN quickly matched. Electronic Arts, Oprah, and others are getting in on the action now too.

It’s great that some charities will benefit from all of this, because it’s a silly race. Having said that, it’s also a good opportunity for me to write down some thoughts I’ve had over the last few months as more and more celebrities have joined Twitter:

  • If I were TMZ or PerezHilton, I’d be scared to death of Twitter. When celebrities themselves are breaking the stories that the gossip blogs would normally cover, it doesn’t paint a rosy picture for the future of sites that depend on getting the news first. And it’s not like they’re very good at analysis.
  • Related to that, what a great opportunity for celebrities to take back some control over what is said about them! If a negative or untrue rumor hits the net, a celebrity can post a tweet about it immediately to clear things up. Not to say that celebrities are honest 100% of the time, but you get the idea. Posting to an official website just isn’t the same as directly tweeting half a million engaged followers, who will in turn spread the word.
  • I think this’ll humanize some celebrities. I’m sure they all use Facebook, but we can’t be their friends or see their activity there. With Twitter, anyone can see whatever a celebrity posts. They don’t get anything special – they have the same account as everyone else.

As for the race, I hope Ashton wins. He’s becoming a sort of celebrity ambassador for the web and all of the cool things people are doing with it. For instance:

[Larry] King has invited Kutcher to appear on his show, "Larry King Live." Kutcher, saying "this is a saga for the Internet," asked King to come on his Internet show to settle things.

Among other things, he’s the Creative Director for VoIP startup Ooma, and he continues to experiment with online video through his company Katalyst Media. Who knows if any of his projects will be successful, but the fact that he’s out there experimenting and paying attention to what’s coming next is encouraging.

Apparently @Oprah’s first tweet will be tomorrow when Ashton is on her show. I’m interested to see what she does with the service.

What do you think? Do you care about celebrities on Twitter? By the way, CelebrityTweet is a site that tracks celebs on Twitter.

UPDATE (~12:15 AM MST): Ashton did it, he beat CNN to 1 million followers!

Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair – so what?

Allow me to stray from my usual meanderings for a moment to the media storm du jour – Miley Cyrus’ so-called “racy” photo in the June 2008 issue Vanity Fair.

miley cyrus The photo that has everyone up-in-arms is shown to the right. First of all, let me say that I don’t really like it. There’s something weird with her make-up I think. Maybe it’s because I like blondes, or maybe it’s because Miley is only fifteen years old, but I’d rather look at Lindsay or perhaps Keira and Scarlett. Vanity Fair has definitely produced some excellent stuff over the years.

I don’t see what the big deal is with this photo, yet everyone is yammering on about how it sets a bad example. And of course, Miley and her handlers are playing the blame game. Here are some things to consider:

  • Since when do tweens read Vanity Fair? I realize the photo is splashed all over the place now, but seriously, it’s not like she posed topless on the Disney Channel or anything. Parents, do your jobs.
  • She now says she’s embarrassed? Disney says she was manipulated to sell magazines? Bullshit to both. I have to believe Whoopi – everyone knew what was going on. These sorts of things don’t just happen by mistake.
  • Vanity Fair will likely sell a ton of magazines thanks to this shoot. They’re also not hiding anything – they’ve put a behind-the-scenes section online, and a video of the shoot.

Here is what Miley originally said when asked if she was “anxious” about the photo:

No, I mean I had a big blanket on. And I thought, This looks pretty, and really natural. I think it’s really artsy.

And here’s what she said in a prepared statement:

I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.

I feel sorry for Miley – her “handlers” are now telling her to say things she doesn’t mean. They should have supported her instead.

miley cyrusAnd here’s my biggest question of all – how come no one has a problem with the second photo, of Miley and her Dad? In my opinion, that’s a much more disturbing photo. If you didn’t know any better, would you look at that and think, “oh what a lovely father-daughter photo”? I sure wouldn’t.

I wanted to post this so that I can look back on it one day when I’m a father, to see if my opinion has changed at all. At the moment, I have no issue with the photo. I think it’s up to Miley’s parents to ensure she is comfortable with the shoot, and it’s up to the parents of her fans to make sure they set a good example, talk with their kids, and not leave their copy of the magazine lying around the house. Just my two cents.

By the way, I dedicate this post to Justice, the biggest Miley fan I know! 😉

Read: Vanity Fair

10 Reasons For Simultaneous Movie Releases

Post ImageIn my humble opinion, the way movies are released today sucks. First they hit the theatres, then DVDs, then video-on-demand services, and finally television. The movie studios really like these different release windows for some reason. Why not release movies to all of these distribution channels at once? It makes a lot of sense to me. The hottest item during the Xmas shopping season in 2006 was probably HDTVs, and I suspect it will remain a big seller this year and next. Watching new releases like Spider-Man 3 in the comfort of my own home sounds very appealing.

The idea is finally being explored:

Comcast is trying to make the “simultaneous release” dream happen, but with prices being proposed in the $30-50 range per screening, the dream looks more like a Hollywood acid trip.

Yeah, that price simply isn’t going to fly. The article includes a bunch of really great analysis, so check it out.

Here are ten reasons why I think the “simultaneous release” dream needs to happen (in no particular order):

  1. Drinks and snacks at the theatre are horribly overpriced – talk about price gouging. Not to mention the cost of gas to get from your house to the theatre! I’d rather eat the food I already have in the house, thanks.
  2. There aren’t any crying kids, cell phones, or other distractions in my house. Oh and my floors aren’t sticky either.
  3. I don’t like being forced to sit through fifteen minutes of commercials before the movie previews start. It makes seeing a 90 minute movie a two hour experience (and that’s assuming you don’t line up to get good seats).
  4. Many people have invested thousands of dollars into a comfortable home theatre system – simultaneous releases let them make the most of it.
  5. Hollywood would make more money. Increased sales and reduced marketing expenses.
  6. Pause! You should control the viewing experience, not the theatre. Want to pause for a few minutes? Go for it.
  7. We’ll get better quality movies. Instead of making only movies that are likely to do well at the box office, Hollywood would be free to make all kinds of movies with each one being widely accessible.
  8. Theatre owners would be forced to revisit their business. Why do we go to the theatre? I think “to see a movie” is a secondary reason. The primary reason is to socialize. Perhaps theatres will come up with a better overall experience when their backs are against the wall.
  9. Independent and other small movie studios would play on the same field as the big boys. Remember all the trouble Mel Gibson had to go through to get The Passion of the Christ released in theatres? It wouldn’t have been such an issue in a world with simultaneous releases.
  10. Control over the volume. Control over the temperature. No parking necessary. You can lay down if you want. Etc.

Anything else? I think it’s only a matter of time until the simultaneous release becomes the norm.

Minka Kelly

Ever come across someone you think might make it big one day? Well that’s what happened to me when I saw Minka Kelly, so this post is here in case she does become a star – then I can say, told you so! She’s been in two movies according to IMDB, and has guest starred in a few TV shows, including “What I Like About You” which is where I first saw her. She’s not listed in the credits for the movie Serenity at IMDB, but at least one website includes her in the cast (and I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know).

Other than that, I don’t know anything about her. There’s no bio information on IMDB, she doesn’t appear to have her own website, and even the photos of her are few and far between (she’s pictured here with Donald Faison). My advice to her agent – get a website and make sure it’s the top result in Google! Right now a search for “Minka Kelly” returns mostly porn links.

I think she’s really pretty, and potentially talented (the few clips I’ve seen are too short to really judge, but they weren’t bad). I like her name too, very unique. Maybe she’ll make it!