Brown Motion

Is there truth in advertising? This is the modern day yoda question.  I just finished watching a docu/mocumentary about advertising paid for by a bunch of advertisers.  It was titled - POM Wonderful presents - the Greatest Movie ever sold. Created and directed by Morgan Spurlock who is a comic, film producer and director.  This movie was fun to watch.  When I was in my MBA program I had to decide a subject to major in and I chose not to pick Marketing.  Why?  Some innate idea that prevented me from pitching in to help others pitch.  What I do not know but just this wonky notion of why should anyone pitch anything to anyone? Well I guess to that extent I am a sell out.  Only a little.  You see I started an experiment recently that my loyal readership will have noticed and that is the annoying ads scrolling on the right banner and the bottom of this blog. I did not have any ad space prior to a month ago for the many years I had this b...

Dentist Whatley to Dalton Trumbo.  Okay let me explain.  One of my favorite comedy sitcoms was a show called Seinfeld in the early nineties (which I consumed through the early aughts).   A character on that show was the protagonist's dentist called Doc Whatley played by Bryan Cranston.  Bryan also plays the lead role as Dalton Trumbo in the biographical movie by that name.  More than two decades since that side role Cranston has dominated the screen in this biopic of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. The story tells of the time when Trumbo and another nine screenplay writers were blacklisted as Communist agitators by the local film making community and therefore treated as second class citizens.  It is an interesting time in American history where this sort of segregation in Hollywood drew some strong sentiment 'for' and 'against' the 10. It is a story of character, family, morality and persistence all in one.  Trumbo's family supports his rights to exp...

Had side splitting laughs for a few late hours on a recent visit to Hollywood. Specifically to a run down looking brick building with cigarette smoke hanging on like grim death on the outside.  Even Jesus - or some homeless dude that looked like his eminence made an appearance and was I think looking to score free weed. The place is The Comedy Store on Sunset and was started a few decades ago by a dude from Detroit.  Many a famous comic like Chris Rock, Jim Carey and director(s) I admire like Judd Apatow have made their way through here to Hollywood success. In fact the night I went with some friends I made at a local conference (on some boring topic), Judd presented his act - that of his daughter reaching 18 and essentially freeing Judd from parental obligations of her well being. Most comics were new faces (at least to me but I am told by veteran TV watching and joke club visiting members that they are in fact on their way to being famous) and did a splendid job of be...

This spring has been good in terms of getting to watch some good film-making.  We watched 'Room'; 'Bridge of Spies'; and then this latest one called 'Spotlight'. Spotlight is titled after an investigation and research team that works inside the Boston Globe, a 150 plus year old newspaper (today owned by a private wealthy investor).   This bunch of veteran journalists in Boston broke the story on the Sex Abuse Scandal that has infected the global Catholic Church system. This major news item was published on the front pages in 2002 after a couple years of hard investigative journalism.  While the screenplay is representative of the reality and the number of investigators it took to uncover these sad truths about child abuse and molestation of the nth degree by god's chosen few, it does shine the spotlight on the hypocrisy that we live in. While the Boston natives were themselves stunned to learn of the evil lurking in their place of worship, and the var...

I did not know who Noah Baumbach was till I saw this film that he directed.  Starring Ben Stiller (honestly I give him cred because of his dad Jerry Stiller in Seinfeld whom I loved) and Naomi Watts (whom I quite like as an actor) play the role of 40 something NY couple that is longing for a change in their childless existence.  The movie is similar to some others I have seen in the serious comedy /satire genre with what Hollywood or movie watching public might consider B or C grade acting talent (take Albert Brooks or Paul Rudd in 'This is 40'). The plot revolves around the 40ish couple crossing paths with a 20ish hippy pair who live a very energetic and ad hoc life.  From the stereotype of making their own food (and ice cream) even in NY, to their whole Bohemian chic lifestyle, the older couple gets enamored to the point that they emulate them in their own life.  From taking hip hop lessons to taking wild hikes in the middle of the night wearing...

I stumbled on an interview with the film producer Brian Grazer.   He is very noticeable in a crowd I would assume with his gelled pointy hair style and lean face that appears curious. The book (A curious mind) is his journey through the last few decades of him being CURIOUS. I agree with his basic premise in that not too many of us retain our early stage curiosity as we age.  That I feel is our biggest loss.  With our fancy degrees and high faluting job titles and chasing other material accouterments we tend to lose sight of what really matters. It was someone's curiosity and the need to ask WHY or HOW  that got us to where we are from where we had been.  From travel by car to flight and from reading books to having the world in your pocket a la smart phones curiosity has paved the way to make new ideas fruition.  It also helped Heinz develop a ketchup bottle that stands upside down and let out enough with a simple squeeze. His book partly...

Watched an interesting movie called 'State of Play'.  I may have blogged about this few years ago when I first saw it.  But since I forget what I saw and what I remember this may be a repeat title /topic - except that it might be a bit different take on the same story. So this story with a wonderful cast (Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe,  Robin Penn and Helen Mirren) is about a truth seeking journalist (Crowe) who is friends with a now Congressman (Affleck) from Pennsylvania.  At the heart of the story is two unrelated incidents or so it seems.  A couple of guys get shot in a Washington alley and a lady staffer on the congressman's research team dies in a mysterious train accident.  The journalist smells it and gets on it because he is only trying to earn his living. The story was originally written as a BBC series and Hollywood made a movie of it.  Who says the left coast does not copy a good story?  I have not seen the origina...

Like any well run business the movie producing industry also wants to know what it can sell and to whom.  Where it can make big money and gain market share. Their product aka films needs to resonate with or at least marginally stimulate the scattered demographic into action to go buy a ticket, rent a dvd or download their content. That brings us to what they produce and how they market.. Most marketing is packaged into what the story is about.  Sometimes not.  Previews are a good way to get attention.  So what the industry spit out in the last 12 or so months was with the omnipresent hope to get into the hearts and wallets of the young and the restless; those looking for a casket; those that fought wars or those that wished we did not; those with big wallets and those without... Then various producers hit on a major theme of playing the AGE card and cranked out entire movies to market the theme - 1. This is 40 - this is really about couples that hit the mag...

There are enough jokes about why size still matters. As a Matter of Fact the whole idea of sizing things has been sized up you would think. You think wrong. We as a species keep oscillating between what we want. First their was Mad Max. Had a cult following. So much so that they had to dish out I think three versions of it till they maxed out or went mad. Hollywoodies can do that. Then there was Max Factor - in some countries anyway - it was a talcum powder. What it was aimed at was a Max Heat climate where the Min was the Max you get in some countries. Hence the talc was a huge factor in addressing the Max. Then came BigMacs. Big and Macs (by any other spelling) together. That showed our appetite for all things Max for Minimum cash. That became the mantra for many a brand - from Walmart to Kmart to Taco Bell to Dollar Stores where you got Max for a Min. Then came the iPad for Maximum enjoyment but with a Maximum price tag. But our tastes had changed. We were ready to ...