I've never seen some of the most talked about "cult" movies:
Xanadu
Plan 9 from Outer Space
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Troll 2
Troll 2 is on that list because it's been hailed by numerous critics and film buffs as the Worst Movie Ever...and because of that has somehow achieved cult status.
It turns out there is a new documentary about the rise in cult status of Troll 2. The documentary is called Best Worst Movie, and it premiered as the 2009 SXSW Film Festival. It's not about the making of Troll 2, but the making of its cult status.
Dan Trachtenberg, Alex Albrecht and Jeff Cannata, of the Totally Rad Show, recently reviewed this documentary during their live show at SXSW 2009, and they all agreed it was one of the best movies ever.
Not best documentaries...best MOVIES ever.
So, I'm renting Troll and Troll 2 soon, and then I'm going to watch Best Worst Movie!
For more information and updates about where you can see the documentary, check out the website for the documentary.
Guys Being Guys - Hilarious clip from an old episode of the Totally Rad Show that captures the essence of a beer-fueled fit of laughter among good good friends. TRS is my favorite show on Internet television network Revision3. Check it out for more good times with these guys.
Failure by Honda - Like Michael Jordon's famous failure commercial for Nike, this bit of inspirational wisdom is about the the opportunity of failing. Specifically, about Honda's culture that allows drivers, designers and engineers to draw upon failure to motivate them to succeed.
Doug Meacham, a rockstar from Richmond, had some interesting thoughts about the short film. He says that, too often, failure doesn't support the short term, high performance expectations of the average publicly traded company. And that failure is necessary for success for above average organizations. Reminds me of this interesting discussion between Best Buy's Robert Stephens, Steve Bendt and Gary Koelling.
So Many a Second - A visualizer that shows world statistics on a human scale. Depicting the ongoing stream of events, this application tries to get the user in touch with the emotional actuality of these objective data. For example, every second 4.2 babies are born and 1.7 people die, making the population growth 2.5 people per second. This helps visualize that idea.
Data visualization is a pretty popular subject right now. It really helps to understand the meaning of complex issues through the graphic interpretation of the data. Presentation Zen is also a great resource to learn more about making presentations more effective, for example this impressive presentation.
Here's a little musical slide show of pics from my recent ski trip to Vail.
Here are 7 things that made the trip especially memorable for me:
Flying directly into Eagle County airport - very convenient and makes renting a car unnecessary
Staying at a condo right in Lionshead Village, and VRBO to help find it - the central location is ideal for proximity to the lifts, rental shop, village, bus service and Subway!
The drive to the Ritz-Carlton in Bachelor Gulch for dinner and drinks - Hummers of Vail is a great service
The fresh powder of the Blue Sky Basin
Playing 5-person Chinese Checkers while waiting for pizza delivery at 2AM
The usefulness of a Camelbak hydration system while on the mountain
The greatest friends in the world to share the experience with
Think you can come up with the wittiest caption for the image below? Submit your caption by leaving a comment!
And the winner of Witty Caption Contest #2 goes to...Boogsy! Congratulations, Boogsy, you win a 6-month supply of Duct Tape for submitting the wittiest caption:
VCR Hack - This creative video is incredibly well scripted and edited. At what point did you realize that it was...?
Wordle - This is fascinating. Compared to all other inaugural speeches, Obama's use of the words "crisis," "jobs" and "generation" was unique. The words "government" and "great" were unusually absent.
Jonathan Feinberg created this fascinating collaborative toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. It's called wordle. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.
Following Obama's inauguration, Feinberg saw several blog posts and newspaper stories featuring Wordles of the inaugural address. So he compared it to all others to see what makes one person's words distinctive.
Secrets on Post Cards - PostSecret is not new to me, but it might be new to you. One of the most popular blogs ever created, it is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.
Value of Twitter - It's one thing to figure out what Twitter is. It's another to be part of the conversation about how to figure out what it's worth. That's a discussion Michael Arrington is starting. And in the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, he shows TechCrunch traffic driven from Twitter. Interesting stuff. Read this blog post and the already hundreds of comments that follow.
Busted by Facebook - Here is why people think Facebook is so Junior High. It's not because of the time wasting or the cyber stalking or whatever else the media says.
...what happens when you live in the awkward part of the venn diagram where “facebook friends” and “real friends” don’t overlap.
Case in point:
Odd Todd Laid Off - I watched my first Odd Todd cartoon several years ago and my life has never been the same since. This is his first cartoon. It's what started it all. Since then he's created an empire. If you have some time, go visit his site and watch his cartoons!
Think you can come up with the wittiest caption for the image below? Submit your caption by leaving a comment!
And the winner of Witty Caption Contest #1 goes to...Tdawg! Congratulations, Tdawg, you win a $10 gift certificate to Rajivny's Restaurant for submitting the wittiest caption...
"Are you the Russian Joe Camel? Cuz I'm looking for an extra wide menthol."
On February 26th, I made some Idol predictions for this season. I was right about Anoop Desai coming back, and I still think Adam is our next American Idol, but Danny and Lil will probably last longer than Allison and Alexis. So, based on last night's first "big stage" performances of the Top 13, here are my predictions for the Top 5:
Adam Lambert
Danny Gokey
Lil Rounds
Allison Iraheta
Alexis Grace
And I think Jasmine and Jorge are going home tonight.
I just witnessed the dog literally fall over from the force of his own tail wagging. He was pretty happy to see me.
"Dude, you're funny," I said to the dog.
This reminded me of a sermon I heard about finding and appreciating the joy in your life. And so I thought about it.
"What brings me joy?" I thought to myself.
"Well, that dog sure makes me smile a lot," I replied, to myself, awkwardly.
"OK, this is crazy...I need to write a blog post about joy," I concluded.
So, I went to go sit at the computer, chuckling about how the existentialism was so obviously a bi-product of my current "economic downturn," asking the question again:
"What brings me joy?"
But just then, as I walked down the hallway, I saw the answer right in front of me.
Joy is seeing a friend for the first time in over a year.
About a month ago, I posted a YouTube video of this hilarious new infomercial for the Slap Chop. The guy in the infomercial is named Vince Offer. He's also the guy behind the ShamWow.
One of funniest lines during Vince's product demonstration for the Slap Chop was when he says, nonchalantly, "you're gonna love my nuts" and then proceeds to show how the Slap Chop can chop up nuts for the kids' sundaes.
OK, it's not just his nuts that I'm fascinated with.
It's his technique; his attitude; how he's actually quite entertaining, all the while making the point that if we don't buy a Slap Chop, we're stupid and will have a boring life. Millions of Slap Chops and ShamWows later, Vince is laughing all the way to the bank. And not only that, he's winning awards for doing so.
What especially fueled my interest was: How does this guy do it? How are real connections made between a persuasive message and its intended audience? And how is value created in that? How is it entertaining and win-win? I decided I'm going to write an in-depth blog post on the subject, and will provide the link here soon.
Hey, have you heard the one about the woman who called 911 three times because she didn't get her chicken nuggets?
It is, in fact, real news. In fact, after the story broke yesterday, it's all over the Internet and even on the homepage of CNN.com. She did commit the crime of misusing 911, that it wasn't a real emergency. But I mean, seriously, how absurd (but perhaps devilishly witty) is it for the reporter to include these riveting details?
Customers at the McDonald's where the incident occurred had mixed feelings about the McNugget meltdown. Daniel Slaton said he typically orders McNuggets when he goes to McDonald's, saying simply, "I just like them better than anywhere else."
So, at first, I thought it might be a joke. It is indeed pretty funny. I thought perhaps the news story was somehow related to The Onion, a "fake news" organization.
And (in perhaps a subconscious effort to try to erase the story and its reflection on some people's seemingly misguided and irrational tendencies to see injustice instead of normal interpersonal conflict from my memory) it made me think about how great it would be if it was a fake story.
Seriously, what a great fake news headline! "Woman Calls 911 After McDonald's Runs Out Of Nuggets"
At first, it reminded me of a time when I walked into Arby's and they told me I couldn't order a roast beef sandwich because they were out of roast beef. I just laughed and went to Chipotle.
Then, it reminded me of my respect and admiration for the work that goes into producing news satire and parodies, specifically for The Onion News Network, an amazing process that actually starts with the writing, and meticulous editing, of great fake news headlines.
If you're not familiar with The Onion, you've got to check it out. The best way I can describe it is that it's like those fake commercials on Saturday Night Live, but instead of product parody, The Onion produces news satire and parody. But the irreverence and often over-the-line, look at current events is all so frighteningly similar...and maybe even insightful.
To compile this list, I thought about anything that has ever made an impression on me in one way or another, and then I wrote down the first 10 things that came to mind. Some are more serious than the rest, but they’re all things that made me stop and think or inspired creative ideas of my own.
It’s been a fun exercise. You should try it! To make it more meaningful, think about why something impressed you and what you learned from it. If you want to share your most amazing things, please leave a comment below!
Most Amazing No Limit Texas Hold'em Player
In No Limit Texas Hold'em poker, it's undoubtedly more important to "play the player" than it is to play the board (the cards). Sitting at a table playing this game to win takes some pretty intense concentration. To become a champion it takes an amazing ability to read the other players. Daniel Negreanu is one of my favorite players because of his skill at reading people.
Some quick history if you're thinking, "who is this guy?": Negreanu is one of the best all around players, was the youngest World Series of Poker winner in history, is a two-time World Poker Tour winner, has three World Series bracelets, has authored a poker strategy book and has been named player of the year twice.
Negreanu has said that the most important skill he employs is observing what hands his opponents play and how capable they are of playing them. Here are some examples of him doing exactly that...and the reason why he is my Most Amazing No Limit Texas Hold'em poker player.
Many times he actually calls out what the other players have before seeing their hands. Here he calls a set of threes in Doyle Brunson’s hand during a cash game:
If you want to see more amazing reads, here's Negreanu against Matt Traudt in a World Series game, playing Traudt’s tendencies well. And here he calls Ryan McClean's pocket aces.
Most Amazing Golf Shot
Playing the game of golf can be one of the most enjoyable or frustrating experiences; I know from experience. The effort involved in choosing just the right club with just the right amount of power and technique, and doing that consistently over time, while maintaining a level of concentration whereby nothing distracts you, is something that nobody has mastered better than Tiger Woods.
The game takes a lot of skill and practice, but to reach the top, you need to have the technique of a champion and a little luck every once in awhile. And that's what happened on the 16th green during the 2005 Masters at Augusta. It was one moment worth the $20 million a year Nike pays Tiger Woods, and a moment that makes it my Most Amazing Golf Shot.
Most Amazing iPhone App
Ocarina is certainly one of the most innovative iPhone apps. It’s a musical instrument created for the iPhone. Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements. And it's a social application. Tap on the globe icon and you will see and hear other Ocarina players throughout the world. It enables beautiful music to be created, appreciated and shared…utilizing the iPhone technology. And I think that's really neat, which is why it’s my Most Amazing iPhone App. This particular video is showing the Ocarina being played to the tune of the infamous Nintendo game Zelda.
Most Amazing Film
This is an experience that I'll never forget. The Greatest Places is a large-format film that takes you on an educational journey to seven of the most geographically dynamic locations on Earth. It’s a 45-minute film I saw when I was a kid at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The screen size is almost 7,200 square feet. The film takes you on a journey through these Greatest Places:
The Chang Tang plateau, in Tibet, with an average height of 15,000 feet
Madagascar, which is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including lemurs, chameleons, spiny globefish, and up to 10,000 species of flora, 80 percent of which are found nowhere else on Earth!
The Okavango Delta in Botswana, which is a 6,000-square-mile maze of lagoons, channels, and islands
The Namib Desert, which stretches 1,200 miles in length, but averaging a width of only 70 miles, and is home to the highest sand dunes in the world
Greenland, the world's largest island, where sled dogs are the major mode of transportation
Iguazu Falls, a crescent-shaped cliff about 2.5 miles long, in between Brazil and Argentina, with 275 individual cascades and waterfalls that plummet up to 269 feet into the gorge below
The Amazon River, which forms a network of water channels that permeates nearly half of South America
The inspiring nature of this film makes your imagination go wild. It showed me for the first time how diverse the Earth is and how exciting these places are. It also taught me that the forces of geography and nature on Earth’s ecosystem can be a way to better understand forces in other ecosystems, like our society and world economy.
Geography gives us a framework to understand the world. Seeing this film, for me, had a profound impact on the way I look at everyday problems and that every little element of life is connected to a vastly greater force and system. And that’s why it is my Most Amazing Film.
According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the average American is exposed to over 500 commercial messages in a day. Most of that is just noise. So how does great advertising cut through the clutter?
“Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” is a reference to one of the most memorable ad campaigns of all time. It’s also the title of Luke Sullivan’s masterpiece guide to creating great advertising. It’s honestly one of the few books I’ve read word for word from front to back, and then again.
I can’t possible explain how enjoyable and resourceful this book is in just a few sentences. One reviewer on Amazon.com sums it up nicely: “It's intelligent, witty, thought-provoking, and informative, but without being preachy. It's not a text book. No. It's better than that: it's a goldmine.”
Most Amazing Invention to Help Save Lives
I first heard about the Play Pump on Guy Kawasaki’s blog, How to Change the World. I think I remember his post simply saying it was one of the most ingenious and revolutionary ideas he’d ever come across. And that’s coming from a successful venture capitalist who invests in ideas. Check this thing out:
Most Amazing Spanish Town
When I studied abroad in Spain during college, I decided to travel a bit by myself so I left a couple weeks early, before classes started. After a stop in Madrid for a few days, I took a couple trains and a bus south to the Costa del Sol and wound up staying right off the beach in a city named Marbella (“beautiful sea” in Spanish).
Like many European cities that also happen to be favorite tourist destinations, there are new developments and hotels and there’s and old part of the town. I stayed exclusively in the old town of Marbella. It was one of the most memorable travel experiences I’ve had. It was just a few blocks from the beach, a five minute walk from my hostel through the narrow streets and sidewalk cafes and the people there were very hospitable. I discovered some amazing restaurants and quaint parts of the city and wound up taking about 10 of my classmates back a month later.
Most Amazing Classic Radio Comedy
In 1938, Abbott and Costello began performing the Who’s On First comedy routine on a radio program. The bit is one of the funniest I’ve ever heard. Although some of their performances of the routine were filmed, and subsequently uploaded to YouTube, the best way to enjoy it is to listen to the audio only, just like the original radio experience. If you're using Internet Explorer, download it here. If using Firefox, just click the play button below. Enjoy.
Most Amazing Way to Download Free Music
Here's something I just discovered over the weekend. Follow these simple steps to download songs for free, without the use of file sharing applications, which are not healthy for your computer. The process is so quick and easy once you’re set up (just make sure whatever you download is a “backup” mp3 of a song you’ve already purchased.)
Step 1: Make sure you have the Firefox web browser, and you’re using it.
Step 2: Get DownloadHelper, a free Firefox extension for downloading media from websites. Install it and re-open your Firefox browser. Don't worry, it's clean.
Step 3: Visit Seeqpod, a website that allows you to search for and listen to music for free that it finds across the Internet. Search for a song that you like. I'm going to search for Coldplay's Viva la Vida in this example.
Step 4: When you start to see a list of songs that match, click on the arrow to move it over to the "play" area.
Step 5: Wait until the song loads and you hear your song playing.
Step 6: Using the DownloadHelper extension in your Firefox browser, download the song from the Seeqpod site by clicking on that down arrow and selecting the file. It will download it in mpeg format, not mp3 format, so you’ll need to convert the file. It will most likely download to your desktop.
Step 7: To convert the mpeg into an mp3, download a free media converter called QuickMediaConverter. Don't worry, it's clean. You’ll have to unzip the file and then double-click the Install.EXE file. Now that you've installed this program, open it.
Step 8: Using QuickMediaConverter, convert the mpeg you downloaded to an mp3 file and you’re done. It's a confusing interface, so make sure you look closely. You can simply drag the file to be converted into the center of the QuickMediaConverter screen and then select mp3. Then click the Convert icon at the bottom.
You'll notice it has been converted to a file on your desktop in .mp3 format. I suggest re-naming to either the artist or name of the song.
That's it. You're done downloading a "backup" copy of a song you have already purchased either online or on CD. :) Amazing, isn't it?!
Most Amazing Presentation
Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 - July 25, 2008) was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was invited to give a presentation as part of their “Last Lecture” series. This series was supposed to be about what you’d lecture on if you knew you were going to die and only had one speech to deliver. For Randy Pausch, it was real. He was dying of cancer and gave his last lecture at the university on September 18, 2007. In his presentation, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
The presentation was so moving that Oprah Winfrey asked him to reprise his presentation (and shorten it from over an hour to just around 10 minutes. It was truly one of the Most Amazing Presentations I’ve ever seen:
What Amazing Thingwould you add? Please leave a comment and tell me about it! It could be an amazing city, moment, food, actor, story, product, song, book…anything you can think of!
This is the first of many Caption Contests I'll be having on this blog. Think you can come up with the wittiest caption for the image below? Submit your caption by leaving a comment!
This blog is published by me, Jon Fredkove, and discusses creative solutions to business problems.
I write about the type of marketing efforts that achieve a dual purpose: to win sales and to win loyal fans. I believe marketing should be an entertainment experience with an embedded sales pitch. That's why I named it Embed The Pitch.
Follow me on Twitter, where links to new blog posts are delivered automatically as tweets. Email me if you'd like to get in touch.
Troll 2 is on that list because it's been hailed by numerous critics and film buffs as the Worst Movie Ever...and because of that has somehow achieved cult status.
It turns out there is a new documentary about the rise in cult status of Troll 2. The documentary is called Best Worst Movie, and it premiered as the 2009 SXSW Film Festival. It's not about the making of Troll 2, but the making of its cult status.
