Bits & Bobs - 7th Edition

Bits & Bobs collects some of the cool things around the interwebs that I think are noteworthy and worth your time but don't necessarily fill up a full blog post or news item. On with the show...

A LONG TIME AGO, IN A MOVIE THEATER FAR, FAR AWAY...

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StarWars.com announced on Monday morning that a new 88-second trailer for the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be released in 30 select theaters on the Friday following Thanksgiving. The 88-second teaser trailer will be the first (official) look at the production but has a lot of fans in an uproar that it's such a limited and short-timed release. After weeks of hearing rumors that the teaser trailer would be revealed with something "much bigger than being attached to the new Hobbit film," the confusing marketing and messaging has a lot of Star Wars fans scratching their heads wondering if they'll be able to see the trailer online officially and sadly the overwhelming consensus is that many will most likely be viewing the teaser for the first time as some shaky hand-held iPhone video. Not exactly the ideal viewing conditions for the first live-action Star Wars footage in almost ten years. We'll see what happens later in the week and if the marketing message becomes clearer. Always in motion, the future is (apparently).

HOLD ON, LET ME TAKE A SELFIE

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While it wasn't a big surprise, when ABC canceled the much maligned but incredibly misunderstood show Selfie, I'll go ahead and admit it: I was a little bummed. On the surface level, the Karen Gillan and John Cho starring show appeared to be a vapid reflection of Kim Kardashian culture incarnate. I was apprehensive about watching it at first. But sharp writing and a comment on the socially networked culture was to be had and the show actually really grew on me. That and David Harewood's Seinfeldesque boss character really tickled me. The good news is that show runner Emily Kapnek has "unofficially" Tweeted that the remaining episodes of the show will eventually make it to Hulu, where hopefully it will find an audience that will give it a chance.

HE WEARS THE PAN...

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Joe Wright, the man behind Atonement, The Soloist, and Hanna has been hard at work on a retelling of the Peter Pan legend simply titled, Pan. The trailer for the film was released amidst the fully of trailers this Thanksgiving week and it's an interesting take on the story. Shades of Spielberg's Hook in there, a little bit of Guillermo del Toro feeling storytelling, and a whole lot of Hugh Jackman in heavy make-up playing Blackbeard. Check out the trailer through YouTube here and let us know what you think in the comments. Have reboots gone too far? Is this a good approach to retelling a classic story? Let us know how you're feeling (even if the answer is "hungry for massive amounts of turkey tomorrow").

Bits & Bobs - 3rd Edition

Bits & Bobs collects some of the cool things around the interwebs that I think are noteworthy and worth your time but don't necessarily fill up a full blog post or news item. On with the show...

Go Home Drunk Hulk, You're...

As of October 6th, Drunk Hulk finally sobered up and will no longer be posting updates to his Twitter. For those unfamiliar, Drunk Hulk was a fictional character on Twitter with over 190,000 followers who would comment on the day-to-day goings on with a spin that only a drunk gamma-ray powered lug possibly could. Among my favorites were Drunk Hulk's views on Miley Cyrus (SHE NATIONAL TREASURE, NEED BE BURIED AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!), and many others. Salon had a great write-up on the character's creator, actually a writer from Poland. So long, Drunk Hulk - we'll pour one out for you.

Get Ready for Paul Feig's Ghostbusters III With New Writer

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I'm going to relegate this to the Bits & Bobs column since Ghostbusters III news since 1992 has virtually been given away like free discs of AOL software (they still do that, right?) but The Hollywood Reporter has broken the story that The Heat writer Katie Dippold is joining director Paul Feig on his new Ghostbusters film. Dippold joins the ranks of Etan Coen, Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, and of course Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd who have attempted to crack the code of a third film in the franchise. For more information on the long story of Ghostbusters III, check out this feature on SPT that goes into detail which was written before Feig even entered the picture. The beat goes on.

Classic SPT: Watch Ol' Bandit Tweet

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He only takes his hat off for one thing... wait, that should be a hashtag. #yotyhofot

Hey kids, keeping this nostalgia train rolling, here's another Classic Still Playing with Toys article resurrected from the depths of March 10, 2010. Enjoy!

If there's one thing that I've learned having suddenly found myself unknowingly in the world of marketing buzzwords, "social networking is changing everything." Indeed, things like AIM, Facebook, and Twitter have changed a great deal in our day to day lives, but I got to thinking... you know what? Twitter is literally just the new CB radio... come back?

Let's be honest, who doesn't want to be Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit?

The dude has a solid defined personality; he's beloved all over the CB radio by his well-known call sign, he has a way of breaking up Sally Field's marriages, he has a cool hat, cool car, and when the Bandit calls out on the CB for help - everyone responds.

Everyone wants to be the Bandit.

You sign up for Twitter, you "follow" people under their designated usernames/call signs/codenames, you throw out news and opinions as you see them, chat in fragments with people you don't know, and when something's going on - you "scan the dial" to find out more information.

The thought occurs to me each and every time that I log in to Twitter to search for news before it's broken anywhere else - for example as I pass what appears to be a convention of cops on Santa Monica Blvd. and quickly log into Twitter to read how "Wampa261" just witnessed an gunpoint standoff mere blocks and minutes before I had passed by.  How did I find out about Corey Haim's passing this morning, where's the first place I check now for Avalanche game updates, where is the first place I went when a weird lady interrupted the Oscar winner for feature-length screenplay and I was left saying "WTF, mate?"

Twitter.

Not Google, not a message board, not Facebook, not a phone call to a friend... in two seconds, I can find hundreds of people talking about anything and everything just by logging in and doing a quick scan of Twitter. It's instantaneous, in fact - much like the internet made print newspapers and magazines scramble to retool themselves, it's sort of interesting how our social lives are suddenly shifting now that we have this instantaneous source of information. 

I literally knew about Corey Haim's passing the SECOND that I woke up - my iPhone, which also acts as my alarm, sent me push notifications from Twitter that a friend had direct messaged me with the news at three in the morning... crazy...

"What's going on across the street on Hollywood Blvd.? There are cop cars everywhere and they're not letting people walk the sidewalk..." Log in to Twitter... in 140 characters or less, you read that someone has committed suicide at the Hollywood and Highland Center. It's that instant. When my parents and I were stuck on I-70 coming down from the mountains over Christmas Break, we weren't glued to the radio waiting for a traffic report, I was literally Twittering with people that were ten miles ahead reporting the road closures and tunnel conditions. Eyewitness reporting to a frightening level. I've read that emergency services are now trying to find ways to utilize Twitter... can you imagine how quickly the "emergency broadcast system" will be implemented into a service like Twitter or Facebook once they figure it out? The revolution isn't going to be televised; it's going to be sent through the tubes...

I'm just in complete awe how; in the time between I started high school and today, things have changed so drastically. I've gone from wanting a "super-cool" neon landline phone in my bedroom and not having a cell phone, to suddenly no longer having a landline and not knowing what I'd do without my cell phone. I've gone from being yelled at by the parents for being connected to AOL for too long to being connected at all times, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Communication has been made easy, quick, and to the point (which has been a blessing and a bane for someone who really has always felt awkward on lengthy phone conversations... I won't even go into how being connected 24/7 has changed relationships and dating, because even I can't figure out how you're supposed to do it anymore).

It's crazy, Betty...

It really makes you wonder... what's next? Ten years from now, when I'm receiving a heads up display in my contact lenses and my girlfriend or wife is trying to chat with me all day when I'm at work through the implanted audio chip in my head - will I be writing a similar post about how the implant chip is just like Twitter? Seriously, where are things heading? And buzzword filled day job: please don't make me answer that question... let's leave it up to the people that have advanced it this far so quickly, eh?