transparency in movies, blackberry

wouldn't it be cool if there were transparency in movie posters? ok, so you'd never know what it was about, what actors were in it, what genre it is, or if you could take your little brother to it--but can you tell what you were being subliminally sold through product placement? YOU BETCHA! [haha] and let's be honest, product placement is what really matters otherwise everything would still be low-budget.

apparently, Ocean's 11 may be responsible for my purchasing habits or brand emotions regarding: Apple, Dr. Pepper, HBO, Ketel One, and Tropicana. see how these movies may have influenced you; check out the awesome posters spotlighting Ocean's 11, Dark Knight, Iron Man, the Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill 1, and The Bourne Ultimatum here.

on another note somewhat, i think the hype created by the new Blackberry Storm commercials is pretty sweet. and i don't even like Blackberry. but you know what would be sweeter? Blackberry owning up to its "crackberry" name and doing a series of spots a la Trainspotting. hell yeah. see the infamous baby crawling on the ceiling withdrawal scene here, youtoubed for your pleasure.

ok, for real iPhone? this isn't high school.

it isn't even elementary school.

at least i can relate to the iPhone insanity.
way back when, when the earth was cooling and i was a wee 5th grader, cell phones were on the periphery of our existence. they were something nebulous, though we were conscious of them. more importantly, someone picked up on that.

there were these walkie-talkies in ridiculously fun colours. you could "dial" your friends. they were all the rage. ALL. THE. RAGE. that was what we subjected our parents to. miles of lines outside Toys R Us. only to find they were sold out. but we had to. had to have them! it would have been the end of my little 5th grader life.

i was so excited the day i finally got my teal walkie talkie set.
except then they were banned from school the very. next. day. [sigh]

lesson here kids? yes, Apple is badass. yes, the iPhone is better than the previous iPhone. yes, it's shiny. but it will still be there tomorrow [and at least they won't be banned from work! haha]. go ahead, be the Pinnacle Of Cool and All that is Shiny Status Symbol for 5 minutes in repayment for the hours spent on line.

but here's a secret: i won't think you're any less tech savvy because you got it on Monday. in fact, since AT&T is losing stock so quickly, you'll probably wind up with it on Monday anyway. just doing up the hype doesn't do it for me [but here are some fun things that might].

i think what a lot of this has to do with is people like things to get excited over. we don't have enough space for surprise, intrigue, and excitement in our day to day lives as we did when we were children. some joke about technology being "our new toys"--but i think it's true. for some folks, this was Black Friday. the day when all the Christmas lines are ridiculous and half the fun is the insanity. but just like Black Friday... i'm staying home.

even your cellphone is being stalked.

stalkerrrr!! ...or perhaps, stalkee.

apparently a Northeastern study is tracking cellphones and their locations without letting the users know. 100,000 cellphone users were selected at random from a population of six million for six months. there is no opt-in or opt-out, however they do say all identifying information has been "scrambled." they only want to study human habitual patterns to help with traffic, urban planning, et al.

i believe them...

i just don't believe the folks who're going to capitalize on that concept.

Marc Rotenberg, a founder of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in washington, said the study "raises questions about the protection of privacy in physical spaces, when devices make possible the capture of locational data."

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said "your cellphone is not something I would consider a public entity."

...this is why i Just Say No to BrightKite.