Sunday, July 16, 2006

Snakes on a Plane

The blogosphere as focus group:

Although its anticipated cult status is high, the film doesn’t seem to have been created as a ready-made cult classic. It began like many other action films, as a god-awful B-movie script with a simple premise and simple thrills that needed some rewrites. It was filmed to be a PG-13 snoozer with the working title “Snakes on a Plane.” A groundswell of Internet love for the title emerged. The title was changed by New Line Cinema to “Pacific Air Flight 121.” The Web erupted into e-riots. The studio, realizing the golden, rotten egg upon which it sat, restored the original title and shot new sequences to push the rating from PG-13 to R.

And like a snake shedding and re-shedding its skin, “Snakes on a Plane” was born and reborn.

Everyone who hears about it loves “Snakes on a Plane.” And yet no one has actually seen it. There are countless homages and parodies of all levels of production value on the Web that millions have enjoyed—from film mash-ups using previous footage of Samuel L. Jackson and nature shows, to camcorder images of white college-age males in their garage. None of these are based on the movie. This preemptive attack of fandom was caused by the four syllables that make up the title.

But can it top Con Air?

The new CBS Evening News

When Katie Couric takes over on on September 5:

The multiplatform strategy will involve simulcasting the first segment of the evening news on CBS Radio News, which will be made available to its more than 500 affiliated stations around the country. Already committed to the simulcast are WCBS-AM in New York, WTOP radio in Washington and WBZ in Boston.

The strategy will also include on-demand, extended Webcast interviews (done by Ms. Couric or CBS correspondents) and daily on-camera Web rundowns of the news lineup for the television broadcast that evening.

“Our goal on Sept. 5 is that whether you’re in your car, on your computer, commuting, listening on your cell phone, or, God forbid, at home watching television, that the CBS news will be available to you,” said Mr. McManus.

ALSO IN THE TIMES: News Online Seems to Have Long Shelf Life.

Fighting fire

Last year Georgia equality put a billboard up in the Atlanta area featuring a gay fireman. The locals reacted:

Mike Lakey, 34 and a father of two, felt the billboard was a joke.

“So, we are supposed to believe that there are actually gay firemen?” he said. “I bet the other firemen don’t know, otherwise his ass would be kicked.”

I was reminded of that because San Diego has a lesbian fire chief and she’s being called upon to be a role model:

San Diego’s new openly lesbian fire chief is trying to come to grips with being a gay role model now. “I’m kind of adjusting to it since this has all been finalized,” Tracy Jarman said in an interview. Jarman was selected by Mayor Jerry Sanders June 20 and approved unanimously by the City Council on June 26. She already was serving as interim fire chief following the resignation of former Chief Jeff Bowman.

Jarman initially turned down a request to be interviewed by the gay media and, after we got her to change her mind, she still answered “no” when asked if it’s “noteworthy” that the nation’s eighth-largest city selected an open lesbian as fire chief. “I think it’s really based on my leadership, my character, experience, the knowledge I bring to the position,” she said.

Times’ Hillary misquote

From Kos:

Your liberal media at work, this time courtesy of Anne Kornblut. She wrote:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, returning to her red-state ties, chastised Democrats Saturday for taking on issues that arouse conservatives and turn out Republican voters rather than finding consensus on mainstream subjects.

Without mentioning specific subjects like gay marriage, Mrs. Clinton said: “We do things that are controversial. We do things that try to inflame their base.”

Only problem, Clinton’s “we” was referring to the Republican-controlled Senate. From the transcript which I received via email:

Wouldn’t this be a good agenda for America: safeguard America’s pensions; good jobs for Americans; make college affordable for all; protect America and our military families; prepare for future disasters; make America energy independent; make small business and healthcare affordable, invest in life saving science; and protect our air, land, and water.

You know, Blanche Lincoln has a bill to make healthcare affordable for small business, I have a bill I was talking to you about with respect to energy independence, we have legislation sitting in the Senate to address these problems.

But with the Republican majority, that’s not their priority. So we do other things, we do things that are controversial, we do things that try to inflame their base so that they can turn people out and vote for their candidates. I think we are wasting time, we are wasting lives, we need to get back to making America work again, in a bipartisan, nonpartisan way.”

Now, every other reporter covering this event got it right, but not Anne Kornblut.

Standards are really slipping at that joint.

Duncan got that email too.