Target Centermass

Day: September 26, 2005

  • Update on the Serenity Screening

    In advance of its pending national opening, the movie Serenity has become the subject of an internet experiment. As I mentioned here, the marketers of the movie have invited bloggers to a limited number of screenings. I signed up, as did who the heck knows just how many others.

    The marketers responded, and at least one potential blog-screening participant, Steve H. at Hog on Ice, was chagrined.

    The more I think about it, the more I think I should blow off the bloggers-only screening of the movie Serenity.

    It’s nice to be treated like a professional writer, and to be given a seat at a free showing of a movie. But that isn’t what’s happening here.

    The confirmation email I got from Grace Hill Media says I have to show up 45 minutes before the movie, find a Universal rep, produce the email showing that I’m part of the “Blogger Bonanza,” and see if they want to give me a seat. And I have to do this on a Tuesday night, after driving over 20 miles through rush-hour traffic.

    That’s not how you treat someone you respect. They’re hoping I’ll write a review which will be seen by a few thousand people, hundreds of whom will presumably buy tickets after reading what I write. In other words, they’re hoping I’ll provide a service that will benefit them economically. In return, I’m entitled to a guaranteed seat.

    Certainly, Steve has some valid points here. Nevertheless, as did Rick Blaine, in this case I understand the point of view of both the hound and the fox. In a campaign seeking attention from bloggers, Steve has to be considered one of the big guns, having passed the one million mark for hits on his SiteMeter. Still, the Serenity marketers are treading their way through unexplored territory. Perhaps a scattershot welcoming of the blogosphere is the best way to build a groundswell of publicity, or maybe targeting particular large bloggers is the better route. Who knows?

    As for myself, I’ve once before been to a no-guarantee screening, for a late-’90s movie that I cannot recall (I can only remember being glad I had only stood in line at a co-worker’s urging rather than actually spending money on the drivel). I will comply with the marketing requirements, if only because I’m a sci-fi buff (goodness knows I’ve pimped out Battlestar Galactica enough on this blog). Actually, I’m intrigued by both this marketing concept and this movie. The required synopsis is as follows:

    Joss Whedon, the Oscar® – and Emmy – nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal.

    I have not seen a single episode of Firefly, upon which this movie is based. I will be taking with me to the screening a co-worker who is a fan of the series for feedback from an insider’s perspective. Expect a spoiler-free review here tomorrow or Wednesday. If the blogger screeing is bungled and I don’t catch the flick, expect some vitriol instead.

  • Sheehan: Busted by the Left and the Law

    Regarding Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, the dear Mother Sheehan of the anti-war movement, I recently blogged that she was fighting tooth and nail for a sixteenth minute of fame.

    Meanwhile, my lingering question about Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan is this: Is there some sort of methadone equivalent for limelight addiction?

    I guess I did not know then the extent of her adult attention desire disorder, nor the lengths that Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan would go to in her need to feed on publicity.

    First, Angry in the Great White North catches Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan whining over the weekend at the Daily Kos. Her complaint? Hurricane Rita was getting too much coverage, leaving one to conclude just who Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan felt was robbed by this.

    i am watching cnn and it is 100 percent rita…even though it is a little wind and a little rain…it is bad, but there are other things going on in this country today…and in the world!!!!

    Even for the Kos leftists, this is childishly too far. Angry in the GWN has selected several comments that I wish you would read. Here’s a small taste:

    Give it a rest

    Sorry Cindy, but I must say that the suffering in Texas right now is quite pertinent. In fact, at a time when we have people suffering, left homeless and devastated from “a little wind and a little rain,” I think you can take a break from the camera just for a moment.

    That wasn’t enough to slow Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, though. After getting appropriately rebuffed by the left, Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan today decided to fight the law.

    A leading anti-Iraq war activist has been arrested outside the White House for what supporters say was as an act of civil disobedience.

    Anti-war protesters ended three days of demonstrations in Washington by congregating at one of the main gates to the White House.

    Police asked them several times to move on, saying they were gathering in a restricted area. When they refused, they were arrested.

    The first to be taken into custody was Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq and a leader of the anti-war campaign. She moved to the public arena last month when she staged a vigil outside the Bush family ranch in Texas, demanding a meeting with the president.

    As her supporters applauded, she was taken away by police and was expected to be released after being processed on minor charges.

    The law won.

    So, too, did Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan. Currently, a Google News search for her name and the word “arrested” returns 1,130 articles and many more related entries. Ahhhh … Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan scored another attention fix at last!

    Still, John Hinderaker at Power Line finds reason to question Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s judgement in this little circus of civil disobediance.

    I may be wrong about this, but I don’t think it is wise for Sheehan to go out of her way to cultivate associations between her anti-war protest and similar events in the 1960s. I really don’t think that images of her being carried away by policemen, hobnobbing with Communists, marching with Joan Baez and Jesse Jackson, etc., are helpful to her cause. I think such actions will cause light bulbs to go on in many Americans’ heads as they realize, “Oh, she’s one of those!” [emphasis in original]

    So true, but also true is the concern that the media will fail to convey to the public the radically out-of-the-mainstream nature of Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan’s statements and associates. Had the media already been willing to objectively do so, Mother Sheehan would have been but a pitied blip on the nation’s radar.