I know why you’re paranoid. They *are* out to get you.
Okay, some days you don’t know whether to cheer or scream when you’re proven right. At this year’s Chlotrudis nominating committee meeting last Saturday, I mentioned to several people the odd fact that one cannot search “Shortbus” on IMDB and get the intended result: the beautiful soul-enriching film by John Cameron Mitchell. Now, thoughts of censorship flashed through my mind, especially because I’d searched all the other 273 Chlotrudis-eligible titles without difficulty. And because you can get to the Shortbus page through a search for John Cameron Mitchell. But silly me. I gave IMDB the benefit of the doubt and put it down to a flaked out index.
Well don’t I feel stupid? Read this. Especially the part about the films you can find in IMDB.
Question 1: What’s the big fucking deal? It’s not as if they are screening the films. The “objectionable content” isn’t displayed and never has to be.
Question 2: 9 Songs? Hello…. no more porn that The Brown Bunny, which is unretrievable by title. And A Hole in My Heart is retrievable? Holy shit.
Question 3: How does Helen Mirren feel about the fact that people can get to Caligula through her entry on IMDB… but not by the title?
Question 4: Do you know who owns IMDB? Amazon.com. I know it’s convenient. But please think again before you buy anything from them. And I apologize in advance to my friends with wish lists. You may get duplicates.
Question 5: How are you supposed to know that you aren’t getting hits because you haven’t registered and enabled “adult titles” to come up in searches?
What the hell is wrong with people?
Oh, and get this! The blog post I referenced is wrong. You don’t need an IMDB Pro account to enable “adult content” searches. But you better not be using Internet Explorer! I don’t know why yet, but in Mozilla Firefox, I can enable such searches in my free, registered account. But even with this setting enabled, I can’t find Shortbus in Internet Explorer! And I can’t even find the setting in that browser. WTF?!
I think I have a crush on an elf.
Now that I’ve discovered the world of alternate reality gaming (see my recent post about Cathy’s Book), I’ve become hooked on a little holiday nonsense known as The Reindeer Games. It consists of ten progressive puzzles released on a timetable over the twenty days before Christmas. As you solve each one, you’re given the password for the next. The first ones to respond correctly get points, too, but I got into the game a little late to rack up any points yet. But now I’m caught up through puzzle #4 and I am not sure how well I’ll sleep tonight with puzzle #5 coming out tomorrow!
But the best part of the game is emailing the PM my answers. The whole thing is run by this very clever, courteous, and gracious elf named Snowball McJinglebell. I can’t say enough good things about this marvelous sprite. And he works so hard managing this whole thing. I think I have a crush on him. Don’t tell Michael. Oh, yes, and Mrs. Claus is very sweet too.
But if you want to get in on the games, you better jump in there now. Only fifteen days left till the big holiday!
They say these things in Boston too. They just drop their R’s here.
Once again, I think I’m learning about the silly, hip web site late, but I thought I’d share it just the same. This morning Susan linked to Overheard in New York from the Title of Show blog. I’ve lost the last hour just hitting random quotes and I’m sure I’ll keep going. Some of my favorites so far:
Hipster: Aren’t you some kind of traitor? You’re going to film grad school, and you saw Click on opening night? –Mondo Kim’s, St. Mark’s Place
Professor guy: Okay everyone, I will see you in 3 weeks. Have a good Thanksgiving!
Girl #1: 3 weeks, that’s awesome!
Girl #2: I know…3 weeks, that’s like a month!!
Girl #1: Literally. –Meyer Hall, Washington Place
Overheard by: piecesWoman #1: Wow, everyone is wearing their iPod. I only wear mine to the gym.
Woman #2: Well, if you have a commute, it is good to take it with you.
Woman #1: Really, so it works underground?
Woman #2: Yea, it even works when you are wearing green.
Woman #1: Fuck you. –43rd & 5th
Overheard by: daveA girl and guy are making out on the street. Guy: I gotta go.
Girl: Wait, come back.
Guy: I’m busy.
Girl: What’s your name?
Guy: Bill.
Girl: How can I get in touch with you?
Guy: Google it. –11th Street & 3rd Avenue
Overheard by: Tibbie XTween chick #1: So when we went to Canada, we had deer.
Tween chick #2: Really? Doesn’t it have a special name too?
Tween chick #1: Yeah. Verizon, like the phones. –M14 bus
Overheard by: MelissaAn ice cream truck is going up the street. Little girl in wagon: Daddy, that truck song is annoying.
Hipster dad: Yes, the commodification of your desires is annoying, isn’t it? –Bedford & N 10th
Overheard by: susan
Cathy’s Book: If Found Call 650-266-8233
Go ahead, do it. Call the number on Cathy’s Book. You know you want to. Don’t worry. I guarantee she won’t answer. You’ll get her voicemail. You don’t have to leave a message. … But if you’re clever, you can figure out her voicemail access code and learn a little more about her. And you know … this book is Cathy Vicker’s personal journal. If she’s in trouble, it might be your duty to poke around in a bit to find out what’s going on. But wait — what’s all this crap glued to the inside front cover in a baggie? Newspaper clippings, vital documents, a take out menu, business cards, sketches, a ripped up photo? Aw man. This could become pretty time consuming.
At least it did for me. I’ve spent the better part of two days following up on every lead I can find in this little parcel. I’ve been calling phone numbers, cracking access codes, comparing signatures, and piecing together dates. Seems that this precocious 17-year-old girl has hooked up with a fella named Victor of about 23 — probably too old for her to be dating in any case — and he may be involved in drugs? Questionable genetic research? The Chinese Mafia? At any rate, Victor’s co-worker has been murdered, Cathy’s got a mysterious needle mark on her arm, and her best friend Emma needs Cathy to pitch in on their joint Biology project.
To solve the mystery I’ve mostly been investigating web sites: both factual, pre-existing ones and fictional ones constructed for the conceit of this ARG. (That’s “alternate reality game,” Mom.) Cathy and Emma have their own My Space and AIM pages, of course. But there’s even a site for a fictional wireless phone company with a forum in which all of Cathy’s new helpers can share secrets. Here, let me get you started in your investigation.
I really can’t say enough about this book. It’s quite ingenious. Of course, this sort of strategy has been used before to market products, as in the ingenious ilovebees.com ARG for Halo 2, but this is the first full-scale attempt (that I’ve been aware of) to actually incorporate real world knowledge discovery, interactive media, realia, and Web 2.0 applications to complete a literary work. And some of the reasearch is kinda hard, so to get the most from the book, you’ll likely have to spend some time engaging in the online community. It really raises this use of social networking tools from “viral marketing” to “community building” — from a trick to a tool, from a gimmick to an experience.
Of course, you can just read the book if you want. It’s not Proust or anything, but it’s written well enough. I’m sure the young women it’s marketed to will appreciate that Cathy is both amazingly confident and a bit of a screw up. She has no problem driving into San Francisco and wandering Chinatown by herself, but she has a problems fulfilling the basic responsiblities of friendship. And her problems range from the amusingly minor to frighteningly serious. It’s a wild ride worthy of Buffy Summers.
Really, though, if you don’t follow through on the questions you still have by getting your nose out of the book, you know you’ll regret it. Go ahead. Open up the baggie. Pick up the phone…