Generally speaking, I trust my judgment and instincts. Though I’m certainly guilty of my share of mistakes in the past, the right choices I’ve taken in life far outweigh the wrong ones. Without getting too philosophical I feel that the reason for this is mainly due to my general positive outlook on life.
But something that irks me like a hooker on Valentine’s Day (c’mon, you know it’s gotta bother them at some level) is when I knowingly and consciously fall for over marketing.
After an hour of debating on whether I’d enjoy Juno or not, I buckled under the marketing push at Amazon and bought the damn double disc special edition. And I’m torn up about it up, down, sideways and back again.
Your awful-glamorization-of-teen-pregnancy asses better deliver on the 23 bucks I shelled out to be entertained!
What if I don’t like it? Then I’ll have another DVD that I don’t want on my shelf. Then after a couple of weeks of seething regret I’ll just end up reselling it at my local SecondSpin for a quarter of the price I paid for it. I’ll hate myself for falling into the whole Fox marketing trap. It’s not the money. It’s the principal. I never thought all that highly of Jason Reitman’s other films, why did I think this one would be any different? This is like the 2007 equivalent to the Little Miss Sunshine debacle a couple of years back. And I hate Little Miss Sunshine (apparently I was only one of like six people who didn’t like that mediocre flick… or man enough to admit it). Etc. Etc. Etc. It never ends.
On the other hand, I think Ellen Page was fantastic in Hard Candy. Michael Cera is pretty much great playing the same guy in everything he’s in (Hey Jon Heder, take a hint! It’s okay to create your entire career playing the exact same guy in every movie like Cera does. It not only gets the bills paid, it also keeps him relevant!). The tone of the marketing campaign was really well done (right up my sensible alley). Blah. Blah. Blah.
Dude, just play this one guy for the rest of your life. You’re not Pacino.
Plus, it’s not every day that one looks forward to experiencing “the year’s most clever and heartwarming movie” written by a former stripper turned Oscar winning screenwriter. I specifically like to reserve Thursdays for that.
On the more productive side, I used the opportunity to also buy a couple of books from my wish list that I’ve been putting off since late last year: John Battelle’s The Search and Allen Adamson’s Brand Simple. Along with Mark Penn’s Microtrends, Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail and Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point among others I’ve heard nothing else but how fascinating and informative The Search is and how it’s “probably on Bill Gates’ reading list” and all the rest of that jazz.
I’ve been putting this off for far too long.
The internet / new media industry continues to fascinate me to no end. Despite all the less than positive news lately on Yahoo, Microsoft, Google etc. I still feel very bullish on the near future prospects of this awesome industry. Though I initially graduated college with a traditional film degree with an emphasis on writing, I’ve been very much involved with the New Media sector for the past three plus years. And things change every day. It’s part of the challenge. It’s also most of it’s appeal. Though I’m not a kook like many athletes can be, I do have just enough superstition in me so as to not discuss my current developing deals yet. But eventually I’d like to discuss it further here soon.
I’m also getting Brand Simple mainly for my New Media Company and the reasons described above but also because it’s just one of those books whose description and reviews on Amazon just hit the right chord with me to feel the need to buy it.
Seriously dude. Just play this one guy. Even if no one else wants to make the movie, just go out and be this one guy.
So in essence, whether I end up enjoying Juno or not it’s pretty much a moot point now. It’s already caused me to get those two other books that I desperately needed to get on. And that can’t be that bad a thing.
I suddenly feel much better.
Whew!
But Juno better still kick some major ass.
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
Posted by cap
