No, I’m not talking about New Year's Eve … just one of the biggest nights of the year for American marketers and advertisers: The Superbowl. After years of coming up with those clever, snazzy (and sometimes not so much) ads to fill million-dollar time slots between a sporting event watched by nearly half of U.S. television households, advertising heavyweights are passing the torch to the wannabes. As the AP reports, 30-second advertising spots during the Superbowl have a “reported average price of $2.6 million,” so counting on amateur advertisers to conceive and produce worthy commercials “isn't for the faint of heart.” But major advertisers are taking the plunge into territory pioneered by MySpace, YouTube, and American Idol. Doritos, Chevrolet, and the NFL all ran contests this year for creating ads or ideas for ads that will appear in Superbowl spots. The advertisers’ strategy appears to be based on two “buzz” topics in the marketing, media, and entertainment industries. First, like MySpace and YouTube, and even sites like Wikipedia, the commercials tap into the presumed (or perhaps proven) appeal of “user-generated content.” Other companies have made even more substantial investments in consumers’ thirst for user-generated entertainment, e.g., News Corp.’s purchase of MySpace and Google’s purchase of YouTube. Second, the Superbowl advertisers counted on the "wisdom of the crowds" to choose the commercials, or commercial ideas, they will run. For example, the five finalists in the Doritos commercial contest were posted online for a popular vote. The winner will be revealed when it airs on game night. Sound familiar, American Idol fans? As Carey pointed out last week, other companies are achieving success by relying on user submissions and the judgment of a community or consumers. And still others, such as Simon & Schuster, are sponsoring contests inspired by these consumer trends. So the question is, what will get the biggest buzz on February 4th – the professional football or the amateur commercials?
No, I’m not talking about New Year's Eve … just one of the biggest nights of the year for American marketers and advertisers: The Superbowl. After years of coming up with those clever, snazzy (and sometimes not so much) ads to fill million-dollar time slots between a sporting event watched by nearly half of U.S. television households, advertising heavyweights are passing the torch to the wannabes. As the AP reports, 30-second advertising spots during the Superbowl have a “reported average price of $2.6 million,” so counting on amateur advertisers to conceive and produce worthy commercials “isn't for the faint of heart.” But major advertisers are taking the plunge into territory pioneered by MySpace, YouTube, and American Idol. Doritos, Chevrolet, and the NFL all ran contests this year for creating ads or ideas for ads that will appear in Superbowl spots. The advertisers’ strategy appears to be based on two “buzz” topics in the marketing, media, and entertainment industries. First, like MySpace and YouTube, and even sites like Wikipedia, the commercials tap into the presumed (or perhaps proven) appeal of “user-generated content.” Other companies have made even more substantial investments in consumers’ thirst for user-generated entertainment, e.g., News Corp.’s purchase of MySpace and Google’s purchase of YouTube. Second, the Superbowl advertisers counted on the "wisdom of the crowds" to choose the commercials, or commercial ideas, they will run. For example, the five finalists in the Doritos commercial contest were posted online for a popular vote. The winner will be revealed when it airs on game night. Sound familiar, American Idol fans? As Carey pointed out last week, other companies are achieving success by relying on user submissions and the judgment of a community or consumers. And still others, such as Simon & Schuster, are sponsoring contests inspired by these consumer trends. So the question is, what will get the biggest buzz on February 4th – the professional football or the amateur commercials?
The New York Times has an article about the curious life of "Nobody's Watching" a sitcom that was supposed to be dead, but has been resuscitated by YouTube. 
There's an article on USA Today's website about Disney's recent decision to post online--for free--some of their most popular shows, such as "Lost." The episodes can be viewed only on ABC's website, complete with ads that CAN'T be skipped. From my perspective, what's interesting about this is all the other things you can't do, such as download the show to a laptop or portable video player like an iPod (as someone who recently bought an episode of "The Office" on iTunes and watched it on a plane, I can attest that this is pretty neat). I guess people who missed an episode at home, or forgot to TiVo it, will choose to sit at their computers and watch the whole thing, but I think the current thinking doesn't really adhere to a Web 2.0 "attention economy" kind of thinking; the experience should be much more adaptable than it is. Excerpt: "The move comes as all the major networks are dabbling with potential ways to reap revenue from on-demand availability of their shows — including offerings online and on pay TV — while also trying to keep viewers tuning in for their network broadcasts."
From Matt: The scriptwriters made quite a few changes from the book, but they were all for the best - and booklover though I am I have to admit that its better to see magic than to read about it.
From Mina: I adore this film. Monsieur Hulot’s very modern sister and brother-in-law don’t know what to do with Tati’s charmingly untidy and bungling protagonist, who inhabits a world where meaning is still more important than appearances.
From Carey: A must see Hayao Miyazaki’s anime is Laputa: Castle in the Sky, originally released in 1986. A fantasy film that explores the altruistic and compassionate nature of humans, aspects lost through repeated exposure to power, technology, and the complexities brought by the combination of the two. 
