Posts filed under 'Entertainment'
Posted December 21st, 2006 by Scott
The red carpet was rolled out Monday night in Second Life (SL) at the DVD release party for the movie “A Scanner Darkly,” starring Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson. Neither were at the event unless they went incognito as SL avatars. With approximately 50 or so avatars present and dressed to impress, I mingled among reporters, bloggers, and developers chit-chatting about everything that one would in real life (RL). One of the main topics of conversation was that no one had seen the movie in the theatre, but was motivated to watch it after participating in the SL festivities, myself included.
Besides interacting with others and listening to the DJ spin music, I had the opportunity to explore the area, buy the movie, play around with some optical illusions, listen to sound clips from the movie, and even get placed in a few photo opps! See my pics of the event.
Could this be the future of DVD releases? I think so. It made purchasing the movie an experience. Kudos to Marc Girolimetti from Green Grotto Studios and all the other players that made this event possible.
Posted December 7th, 2006 by Scott
August 1, 1981 marked the beginning of an era known as music television (MTV). The first music video to air on MTV was by The Buggles, their 1979 hit song “Video Killed the Radio Star.” This video was the first of its kind and sparked a trend that drew a huge youth audience for the next two decades.
The idea of music videos being played on TV 24 hours a day is a fad that has slowly begun to fade out. Now cable and satellite channels airing 24 hour music television are provided to subscribers at additional costs. Macworld recently published an article stating that the UK record label Ninja Tune will launch a music video channel in the online world of Second Life.
With the introduction of music videos in SL, come new opportunities for advertising. If someone can watch music videos all day everyday for free, what’s to stop businesses from utilizing the channels for advertising? Pontiac recently sponsored a live concert on its own Motorati Island in the virtual world. The event was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel with a performance by Jay-Z. Is this the beginning of the end for music video? Probably not, but according to CIO Insight, it’s definitely video evolution.
Posted November 28th, 2006 by admin
With Google backing it, YouTube is now the Mecca of user-generated video. Seeing this success, other video sites like Break.com are increasing efforts to get people to contribute content to them.
Reuters reports that Break.com is now increasing the amount it is paying to original content uploaded to the site. Videos can now fetch $400 and short films $2000 if the video gets up to the homepage. Break.com is not the only user-generated video site that is offering money for content but it was one of the first sites that started paying video makers for their content. Previously known as Big Boys.com, the site is known for videos with funny pranks, accidents and some of the funniest videos ever seen online.
This is good news for users. Anyone can now be an instant star or earn good money if they are in the right place at the right time — with the right kind of equipment.
For instance, take the recent Michael Richards (Kramer in Seinfeld) incident in a comedy bar. Although CNN and other mainstream media had their take on the incident, it was TMZ that broke the news. The video was supposedly taken by a member of the audience and TMZ paid a large sum of money to get the exclusive.
Everyone is a star in new media. Don’t forget your camera phone wherever you go. For all you know, you might become a great big star or director with your next shot.
Posted November 21st, 2006 by Scott
Did you ever dream of becoming a professional athlete when you were a child? How many times have you sat in front of the TV screaming at the top of your lungs for the coach of your favorite team to take someone out of the game? An online phenomenon has swept the nation over the last decade, putting the power of coaching a team into the hands of the everyday viewers. It’s called Fantasy Sports. Currently, there are anywhere between 15 and 18 million fantasy sports players in the US. The competition covers a wide range of sports including football, baseball, and basketball.
When football season comes around office spirits tend to rise as fantasy league participants take charge of their own fantasy football team. A Washington Times article stated that companies could lose an estimated $20 billion in productivity a year because employees spend an average of 10 minutes per work day managing a fantasy football team. Despite the negative impact on productivity, some executives have learned to live with it. In the same article, CEO John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas stated, “The potential damage to morale and loyalty resulting from a fantasy football ban could be far worse than the loss of productivity caused by 10 minutes of online team management.”
What exactly are you part of when you join a fantasy league? Many users sign up for fantasy leagues merely to be able to talk about it around the office with colleagues. Others use fantasy as a way to stay in touch with friends from whom they have drifted apart over the years. And believe it or not there are even those sports fanatics who actually think they should be a coach in the NFL. Whether you’re a first time player or a defending fantasy trophy holder, everyone is brought together to be part of the same social channel.
Next Posts
Previous Posts