Vulture

Aaron Sorkin Takes a Swing at Moneyball

Lane Brown — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:30:41 -0500

Are you sick of hearing about the Moneyball movie that Columbia put on ice three weeks ago following concerns over Steven Soderbergh's screenplay? Of course you are! Which is really too bad, since the studio has tapped Aaron Sorkin to revamp Steve Zallian's earlier script in the hopes of reviving the project. Brad Pitt is reportedly still attached, though Soderbergh is no longer involved. [THR]

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Filed Under: aaron sorkin, brad pitt, moneyball, movies, steven soderbergh

At Last, Jay-Z to Reveal Lyrical Inspiration Behind ‘Izzo (H.O.V.A.)’ in New Book

Lane Brown — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:15:54 -0500

Because the man simply isn't busy enough these days — what with his upcoming album, new record company, and war on T-Pain — Jay-Z is in the final stages of negotiating a deal with Random House shingle Spiegel & Grau to write a book "commenting on and telling the stories behind his lyrics," reports the Observer. But that's apparently not all! Jay's literary agent, Matthew Guma, purportedly approached publishers earlier this summer with plans for the Jiggaman to pen three books — the one being acquired by S&G, plus a memoir and a business book. Also, look out for his impending Joyce Carol Oates dis track.

Jay-Z Close to Book Deal With Spiegel & Grau [NYO]

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Filed Under: books, jay-z

L.A. Times Columnist Returns Bette Midler’s Stolen Emmy!

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:05:17 -0500

Tom O'Neil, the Los Angeles Times blogger who has never met a story he couldn't work an awards reference into, wrote a fascinating column today that explains how he came into possession of the Emmy Award that Bette Midler won in 1978 for Best Variety Special and, ultimately, how he came to discover he had purchased hot goods. He then reached out to Midler's people and returned the stolen statuette. Now that's what we call journalism! [Gold Derby/LAT]

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Filed Under: bette midler, emmys, good deeds, kudos, tom o'neil

Sci Fi Becomes Syfy: Why?

Christopher Bonanos — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:40:32 -0500

This week, after months of advertising, the Sci Fi network becomes Syfy, and it’s not hard to see why. Sci-fi is a genre, not a name; Syfy is a copyrightable word, and a brand-new one, with undetermined associations or attachments. NBC Universal, the network’s owner, says it wanted to freshen up the brand. They also wanted to “broaden” its appeal, which is to say that they’d like to soft-pedal any association with little green men — not to mention the little gray men who watch them on TV.

So why does this sound like the dopiest idea ever to touch down on planet Earth?

For one thing, there is that awkward spelling. One’s first instinct is to pronounce it to rhyme with “beefy.” (All that’s missing is a capital F in the middle, in the manner of FedEx or MySpace — the voguish style that copy editors call “CamelCase” because it has a hump in its back.)

Now, let’s say you see an ad for the network on a bus shelter, and puzzle it out. Your thought process goes like this: “Seefy? What’s Seefy? Oh wait… sigh … fi… I get it. Like science fiction.” All you do is translate the new name into the old one. This is not rebranding. It changes no association in the consumer’s mind. It just adds a layer of translation to trying to figure out what the hell that word is.

The brands, slogans, and package designs that really stick with consumers are pretty rare. If a marketing team is lucky enough to create an identity that does resonate, especially one that becomes familiar enough to achieve catchphrase or pop-culture status, that brand identity is absolute gold. You don’t discard a slogan that’s achieved high earth orbit. You wring every possible bit of juice out of it. The day M&M’s quit using “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand,” they threw away a slogan absolutely everyone in America had come to recognize. Not smart.

A few companies have figured this out, even if it took them awhile. Starting in the sixties, Coca-Cola backed away from its hourglass green bottle, never mind that the object was one of the most recognizable trademarks on earth. Finally, in 1993, some smart guy in Atlanta wised up, and ordered Coke’s twenty-ounce bottle reshaped to evoke the old ones. And what happened? Coca-Cola instantly saw a spike in sales, and stole back a significant bit of market share from Pepsi. They didn’t have to rename it KokhyKohla to do it, either.

The problem, for Sci Fi/Syfy, is that their name is ultra-familiar — but for what its executives perceive as the wrong thing. An association with science fiction, because of its geeky connotations, may limit the network’s ability to branch out. But frankly, that is not a problem that can be addressed by misspelling the name. If you want to get out of the science-fiction genre ghetto, guys, you’re really going to have to stop making series like Battlestar Galactica and showing Star Trek reruns.

Lost’s Benjamin Linus Gets the Bobblehead Treatment

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:15:15 -0500

As any subscriber to Bobblehead Monthly will tell you, the apex of this decade's bobblehead movement was when NBC released the now-legendary Dwight Schrute edition. Since then, the industry has suffered from a clear-cut case of overexposure. That said, if we were heading to Comic-Con later this month, we'd definitely wait in line to get our mitts on one of these limited-edition Benjamin Linus bobbleheads. Although, we'd vastly prefer one of Frogurt. [Daily What]

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Filed Under: benjamin linus, lost, this guy's a collector, toys, tv

Mary-Louise Parker’s Alice in Wonderland Significantly Less Terrifying Than Tim Burton’s

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:45:12 -0500

About two months ago, Mary-Louise Parker expressed regret for agreeing to film a scene in Weeds while in the nude. At the time, she confessed to More magazine that "I didn't think I needed to be naked. I fought with the director about it, and now I am bitter." Well, from the looks of her NSFW photo spread in the new issue of Esquire, it appears that she didn't experience the same issue with the photographer who conducted this particular shoot. As a supplement to the interview, Esquire shot a video of (a clothed) Parker reading aloud from a copy of Alice In Wonderland alongside a giant teddy bear and a plate of milk and cookies. We're not quite sure that this two-minute video will hold up to Tim Burton's upcoming, trippy feature film, but one thing is for certain: Mary-Louise Parker's version definitely won't give you any nightmares.

Disquieting Bedtime Stories with Mary-Louise Parker: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [Esquire]

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Filed Under: alice in wonderland, bedtime stories, mary louise parker

Nancy Pelosi Torpedoes Plan to Honor Michael Jackson in Congress

Lane Brown — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:15:08 -0500

In the unlikely event that you decided not to take a bathroom break during Texas Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee's never-ending eulogy at Michael Jackson's funeral on Tuesday, you might've heard her mention plans to introduce a congressional resolution to honor the deceased King of Pop (this would've been shortly before the TelePrompTer instructed her to "Please end your comments"). Well, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scuttled the whole thing as it might "open up to contrary views that are not necessary at this time to be expressed in association with a resolution whose purpose is quite different." By this we can only imagine she means that such a resolution might spark a debate among House Republicans over who can do the best moonwalk.

Pelosi Nixes Jackson Memorial Resolution [Caucus/NYT]

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Filed Under: michael jackson, music, nancy pelosi, sheila jackson-lee

KRS-One and Buckshot Have Officially Saved ‘Hip-hop’

Nick Catucci — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:45:47 -0500

We live for paradoxes like the one presented by “Robot” and its video. Abetted by a young fellow named Buckshot, KRS-One — the great rap curmudgeon and self-declared arbiter of hip-hop “authenticity” — makes a typical argument (preordained, impossibly broad, supposedly self-evident) about the state of rap music: specifically, that many MCs are robots, replicants who rely on technological gimmicks like Auto-Tune. The paradox is, of course, that the song and the cleverly robot-themed video are themselves gimmicks. Which is great: Rap grew out of gimmicks — rhyming, record-scratching, samples, and indeed, the very idea of hip-hop authenticity. But more important, the song and its clip are more appealing and poppy than anything we can remember KRS-One doing in years. (We look forward to his and Buckshot’s album collaboration, Survival Skills, due in mid-September.) Still, Kris, we have to ask: If rap’s such an institution, why are you always trying to tear it down?

Wall Street Analyst Apologizes for Being Dumb About Up

Lane Brown — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:00:13 -0500

Pali Research's Richard Greenfield, the guy who three months ago predicted Up would be a commercial failure, has admitted he was "dead wrong" after the movie made $265.9 million and became Pixar's second-biggest hit behind Finding Nemo. Miraculously, he continues to be employed. [NYT]

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Filed Under: movies, pixar, up

The Secret Ingredients in Brüno’s Cage-Fighting Scene: A 90-Minute Wait and $1 Beers

Lane Brown — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:45:41 -0500

In Brüno, Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie ostensibly designed to expose real American homophobia, some of the most damning footage comes from a cage-fighting match in Fort Smith, Arkansas, during which Brüno, disguised as cage-fighter "Straight Dave," upsets the audience when he starts making out with his opponent. Chairs and epithets are hurled, and while there's obviously no excusing either, Newsweek today has the details of how the scene was shot, which sort of makes the reaction seem slightly less spontaneous.

According to Newsweek, audience members, baited by this flyer and expecting to see "Blue Collar Brawlin'," were deliberately kept waiting for 90 minutes at the door. Once inside the venue, they were served $1 beers as part of a promotion that was only advertised to last an hour; they were made to believe the deal was always just about to expire, but it continued the whole night, as per the instructions of the filmmakers who later reimbursed the catering company.

Again, there's clearly no excusing F-words or thrown chairs — but if someone made you stand in line for 90 minutes to see one movie, then showed you a completely different movie (Transformers, for example), plus you were drunk, you might be a little upset, too.

How Real Is 'Brüno'? [Newsweek]

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Filed Under: bruno, movies, sacha baron cohen

Jason Bateman Beat Drugs, But What of His Ketchup Addiction?

Emma Pearse — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:30:00 -0500

"I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate … Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It's like ketchup and French fries — I don't want one without the other. So that's the moment: Do you want to continue being great at being in your 20s, or do you want to step up and graduate into adulthood?"—Jason Bateman on how he got back on top of his game [Details]

"That used to drive me mad. But I recently did a panel with some other lead actresses and January Jones was there and she told me she gets scripts the day before [as well], so that made me feel a lot better."—Rose Byrne is only happy when her colleagues are unhappy [Age]

"I guess I'm guilty of that, although I didn't try to fool anybody. I would have been happier if I'd been cast as a young lawyer or something; I definitely didn't want to be in a teen comedy. It was the opportunity that presented itself. When I was 18, I didn't look like a fully formed human being. I was so skinny and so baby-faced. I was kind of a late bloomer, and that's how that happened."—Alan Ruck didn't really want to be in Ferris Bueller's Day Off at age 29 [LAT]

"I must admit, when Victoria and I met Tom, I remember turning around to Victoria and saying, 'Cruise is a great name, but we could spell it different.' And also, living in Spain, Cruz is spelled the way it is in Spanish. So that's why we got it."—David Beckham on naming his third son after the world's most devout Scientologist [Contact Music]

"I’m an actor who sometimes writes. I’m currently on a show called 30 Rock and, until its untimely yanking, a different show called Moral Orel, which I also co-wrote, directed and produced. I also did some storyboarding on it. I liked it a lot. Some shut-ins might know me from the Tenacious D short about The Greatest Song in the World, while others will recognize me as a jubilant audience member at the Comedy Central Roast of Flavor Flav."—Scott Adsit explains exactly who he is [Daily Cross Hatch]

“If to get my record into 2 million people’s hands, it means putting it next to the dog food in Wal-Mart or next to the cash register, more importantly, that’s where I want it placed … That’s why bands who had their heyday in the 80s are still around. They’ve got more savvy. Only an idiot would say, ‘I don’t want to do that because it defeats my art.’ I’m afraid Bob Dylan would do it, too.” —Def Leppard's Joe Elliott on being fine with selling his soul to sell an album. [PopMatters]

Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, Together Again for the First Time

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:20:21 -0500

Talk about a chest-off! The dreamy duo of Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are confirmed to take the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater by storm this fall in a production of Keith Huff's play A Steady Rain. Previews are scheduled to begin on September 10, with the official opening set for September 29. [Arts Beat/NYT]

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Filed Under: a steady rain, broadwaypocalypse, daniel craig, hugh jackman, keith huff

Where the Wild Things Are Gets a PG Rating

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:35:21 -0500

All those kids who bawled endlessly and shit their pants during that infamous test screening of Where the Wild Things Are must've had extremely fragile emotions, because the MPAA just rated the film PG for "mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language." Guess this means we won't be seeing any of the Wild Things' wangs. [Playlist]

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Filed Under: movies, parental guidance suggested, spike jonze, warner bros., where the wild things are

Ronald Reagan Proves to Be More Popular Than Michael Jackson

Mark Graham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:20:00 -0500

Eighteen different television networks carried live coverage of Michael Jackson's memorial service on Tuesday afternoon, and now we know how many people tuned in to watch it. Despite the fact that the ceremony was held on a workday and aired during the daytime, some 31.1 million people managed to find a way to get in front of a television to watch the tribute. While this is undoubtedly a massive audience, the numbers failed to surpass the 32.2 million who tuned into watch Princess Diana's funeral in 1997 or the 35.1 million prime-time viewers who watched Ronald Reagan be put to rest in 2004. This isn't quite an apples-to-apples comparison, though, as a number of gainfully employed people understandably turned to the Internet to get their coverage. MSNBC.com reported that they served up nearly 19 million video streams of the service, and CNN says that they had 10.5 million live streams. Now, if only there were a way to track how many office drones deployed the old Alt-Tab keystroke to switch back to their Powerpoint presentations and/or Excel spreadsheets as their bosses sauntered by their desks ...

Nielsen: 31.1 million watched Jackson memorial [AP]

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Filed Under: memorialpocalypse, michael jackson, tv

Hill: Why Brüno Made Me Really Proud of America! (Except for L.A.)

Logan Hill — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:50:40 -0500

Borat was the spastically hilarious reflection of Bush: a blundering bigot who exposed the sorts of blundering bigots who elect blundering bigots to public office. If Sacha Baron Cohen made money — and his fame — in large part by duping hicks,* it was cool, since his exploitation of the purportedly ignorant was done in the name of DailyShow–ish comedy for the greater liberal good. And, in 2006, it was cathartically fun to make fun of American ass-hats.

Brüno seems to want to go further. [Sorry, but everything below is a big SPOILER.] As David Edelstein has pointed out, the movie exists to satirize homophobia just as gay marriage is in the public eye. Goading and agitating, Baron Cohen stacks the deck relentlessly and hammers some easy targets, but the homophobia rarely erupts. And while this might be a comic failure, it becomes an almost Obama-like success — reminding us that there’s not such a difference between red-staters and blue-staters after all.

Despite the lunacy of "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," an extremely dull visit to a military base turns up almost no usable film. The drill sergeants are straight from central casting: predictable, professional, and clearly aware of the joke. Baron Cohen punks a few of Hollywood’s most obviously insane celebs, like Paula Abdul, but less creatively than Ashton Kutcher. A focus group reasonably opines that Brüno’s fake TV show, in which he holds up celebrity sonograms and asks "Keep It?" or "Abort It?," is an awful idea.

Then Baron Cohen heads to the woods with hunters (i.e. red-state rednecks who surely harbor horrible, hick hatreds). In the forest, Brüno minces, he prances, he makes all sorts of ludicrous sexual passes and insulting jokes. (I shudder to think of the taunting left on the cutting-room floor.) The guys? They just quietly stare into the campfire, refusing to take the bait, until Brüno invades one guy’s tent, buck-naked, in the middle of the night. At which point the guy tells him to leave. Here were three guys being pranked for a Universal Pictures blockbuster and insulted to their faces — and they were polite to the point of absurdity. I wanted to give them a big flannel-y hug.

Baron Cohen’s absurdist comedy is spastic and hilarious as ever, but the social commentary just seems more patronizing, staged, and ineffective. More and more, the Cambridge grad’s films are looking like a vicious travelogue in the vein of Bernard-Henri Lévy’s American Vertigo — only Cohen actively messes with people and wastes their time, instead of wittily denigrating them behind their backs. Compared to the manipulative Baron Cohen, these naïve Joe Six-Packs come off surprisingly well in the film: often patient, generally decent, and, inevitably, used. I often felt sorry for them. Unless they lived in L.A.

When traipsing about Hollywood, Baron Cohen absolutely destroys the people who want to be famous like him — but just aren’t as good at it. In Brüno, every celebrity-craving Californian is an asshole. Parents say they’ll give their toddlers liposuction, or submit them to photo shoots involving “lit phosphorous.” A reality-show vet tells Brüno to, yes, "Abort" that fetus. It’s hard to top the familiar moral bankruptcy of Hollywood, but Brüno does it. So, yes, the movie made me really proud of America for the first time in my adult lifetime of kick-the-hick comedy. But I still hate L.A.

*Full disclosure: I am from North Carolina.