"Any Publicity is Good Publicity" or "Terror-Tactics are Great For Business"

[nyarhotep]

i knew the show was stupid, but this just takes the cake:BOSTON - Nine blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger

Comments

[somerled]

Achewood! You too? About a year and a bit ago, I even blogged this nightmare I had about Achewood, in which it required you to interpret the characters as elements in a circuit diagram, then figure out the current flow, in order to understand the cartoon.

As for cartoons, video games, and stunts, I prefer them to have a little leeway and err on the side of being a stupid nuisance, rather than err on the side of "public safety" and nanny-law-writing killjoys. I mean, I can live with a few cartoons sucking.

[nyarhotep]

well, as publicity stunts go, this was an effective one. hell, they got national acclaim and didn't even need to pay the postage. so, some stooge from marketing is slapped on the wrist and has to 'expense' a fine - the audience which watches Aqua Teen is in stitches over this. i say they just added 20% to their bottom line

[nyarhotep]

prolly squirm and squawk for a while, soak up the publicity, and forget about it. i can't see Boston really getting any traction on the indictment. though, i do wonder why Boston reacted the way it did when none of the other cities even blinked. something's hinky about that

[nyarhotep]

from what articles i've read, it sounds like 10 some odd cities were blipverted, but Boston was the only one to get cranky. i still think something's up with that; correct me if i'm wrong, but Boston isn't known for its peppery temperment (tea party aside)

[psycheluna]

Explaining humor kills it. Sometimes you either get something or you don't and its ok if you dont. :)

The part they left outta that article was that Boston was NOT the only city that had this gurilla market him them - they were just only city dumb enough to react this way.

As for Achewood - I hear that you have to read it from the begining and then to current ones to really get it. There was an article in time about it recently, especially the blogs part of it.

Achewood is still one of my favorite things on the earth. It still makes me laugh almost every day.

[nyarhotep]

i dunno - anything predicated upon, "you really have to know the series to find it funny" seems tenuous to me. granted, most serials are funnier with background, but if the humour demands intimate knowledge of every strip for the last five years, it sounds more like fan-fic. however, i will endeavor to read it from the beginning anyways, as i don't like not getting the joke

[atlanticat]

I don't watch any of it, don't get it, don't care to. I restrict most of my watching to stuff on DVD, cooking shows, racing, figure skating, and the assorted fact, theory, and speculation-based shows on the Discovery network of channels.

However, I think it's a good deal more frightening that a bunch of folk got completely up in arms about some advertising agency setting up a collection of Lite-Brites all over the city. Oooh, they had circuit boards and wires...so does just about anything electronic these days. This happened in ten different cities and only one had a fit about it.

If this is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave, why do we always seem to be jumping at shadows?

mostly harmless

[nyarhotep]

i have to believe something else was at work here. from what i saw on CNN, the devices were obviously adverts or, at least, obviously harmless. it's hard for me to believe that Boston, and only Boston, overreacted to them - especially considering New York was another targeted city and they, of all cities, would be hyper-sensitive to bomb-threats

as for Land of the F'ed and Pwn of the Brave - i got nothing. i guess militarily outspending the top ten gov'ts on the planet makes one edgy. ¿with great power comes great paranoia?

[samwize]

I got into Aqua Teen because my friends liked it. I figured my friends have good taste, so I'd give it a fair veiwing. At first I couldn't stand it. After a season had been dumped into my brain, it moved straight on to my "Media to save in a fire" list

[samwize]

Oh and "Frisko Dingo!" is freakin HI-LARIOUS!

...

But only if you watch the whole damn thing from the beginning. Otherwise it's just incomprehensible.

[nyarhotep]

i've heard that FD is the shazzbot, but i'm not around on a regular basis to catch it. ¿can't you get them online somewhere or other? the Adult Swim website?

"I forgot you could tempt me with things that I want."

[samwize]

Well, yes, you can get them online "somewhere", but I don't know if there's a legal way to do so, which as I recall is a big deal for you. iTunes maybe?

Now, if you want non-drmed versions of the whole first season (takes about 2 hours+ to watch), that can be arranged, if you don't mind the taint of piracy...