When Google first rolled out Hangout video chats for Google+, part of the plan involved allowing hanger-outers to watch YouTube videos together. While many questioned the usefulness of the feature, we’re now seeing what Google had in mind all along: a Super Bowl post-game Hangout where users dissect the big game’s commercials.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t part of the Google+ Master Plan at the initial unveiling, but a Hangout based around Super Bowl ads does strike us as one of the better uses of the service’s YouTube integration. Google’s partnering with NBC to run the Hangout, tapping sports business reporter Darren Rovell to host.
“The day after the Super Bowl is when people head back to their office water coolers to discuss what they loved and what they didn’t,” Rovell said in a press release. “Our conversation is about taking all those water cooler conversations and bringing it to a national, digital stage.”
As part of the deal, NBC will promote YouTube’s Ad Blitz, the page where the site asks users to vote on their favorite Super Bowl ads. In turn, YouTube will serve up NBC ads and promos for the big game all weekend. This marks the first time YouTube has had any kind of partnership with the Super Bowl broadcaster. Rovell will reveal the winning ad of the Ad Blitz on his CNBC show, SportsBiz: Game On on Feb. 17.
Google+ Hangouts are generally limited to 10 users, but some users can create “Hangouts on Air,” which expand beyond that limit by allowing others to watch the Hangout as a live stream on YouTube.
Love the idea of an official Google+ Hangout about the ads? Will you join? Let us know in the comments.
2011年7月28日星期四
Captain America: The First Avenger
RECALLING the cliffhanger TV series of the 1950s, Captain America: The First Avenger establishes the origins of one of the most popular superheroes from the Marvel Comics stable.
Admittedly, director Joe Johnston has an arsenal of state-of-the-art digital effects at his disposal to spruce up the old-fashioned ideals in Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's script.
However, there's something rather charming about the underlying themes of self-sacrifice and valour, and a chaste romantic sub-plot between the strapping hero and his feisty dame that never strays beyond a kiss.
Only the sadistic killing spree of the central villain - a power-hungry Nazi officer with a burned-off face - warrants the 12A certificate that makes Johnston's film unsuitable for very young audiences.
Captain America opens in the present day with the discovery of the wreckage of a gargantuan craft then flashes back to 1942 Norway.
Diabolical German officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) steals a Cosmic Cube belonging to Odin and charges mad scientist Dr Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) with harnessing the Cube's power as part of his plans for world domination.
Meanwhile in America, German defector Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) is spearheading a secret programme to create the ultimate soldier.
He chooses asthmatic weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as the perfect candidate for the treatment.
"The serum amplifies everything inside: good becomes great, bad becomes worse," explains Erskine.
As if by magic, Steve is transformed into a muscle-bound hunk and he enthusiastically does his bit for the Allied effort by portraying a fictional character called Captain America at war rallies.
When good friend James Buchanan (Sebastian Stan) is presumed dead behind enemy lines, Steve joins forces with playboy inventor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to parachute in behind enemy lines as Captain America and single-handedly take on the Germans.
Captain America: The First Avenger is an entertaining introduction to the iconic characters, using digital trickery to impose Evans's head on a scrawny body before his metamorphosis.
Atwell makes her entrance by punching an insubordinate soldier in the face and she embraces her role as the gutsy love interest with fervour, sparking smouldering screen chemistry with Evans.
Their final scenes together are nicely judged, echoing a tender moment from Michael Bay's slam-bang Armageddon.
Action sequences are orchestrated with aplomb including a daredevil descent into a moving train.
'Captain America Will Return' promises a title card at the end of the film in place of the additional scene we have come to expect from comic book adaptations.
Indeed he will, alongside Iron Man, Thor and Hulk in the big-budget film version of The Avengers, which will be smashing and crashing into cinemas in summer 2012.
Admittedly, director Joe Johnston has an arsenal of state-of-the-art digital effects at his disposal to spruce up the old-fashioned ideals in Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's script.
However, there's something rather charming about the underlying themes of self-sacrifice and valour, and a chaste romantic sub-plot between the strapping hero and his feisty dame that never strays beyond a kiss.
Only the sadistic killing spree of the central villain - a power-hungry Nazi officer with a burned-off face - warrants the 12A certificate that makes Johnston's film unsuitable for very young audiences.
Captain America opens in the present day with the discovery of the wreckage of a gargantuan craft then flashes back to 1942 Norway.
Diabolical German officer Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving) steals a Cosmic Cube belonging to Odin and charges mad scientist Dr Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) with harnessing the Cube's power as part of his plans for world domination.
Meanwhile in America, German defector Dr Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci) is spearheading a secret programme to create the ultimate soldier.
He chooses asthmatic weakling Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) as the perfect candidate for the treatment.
"The serum amplifies everything inside: good becomes great, bad becomes worse," explains Erskine.
As if by magic, Steve is transformed into a muscle-bound hunk and he enthusiastically does his bit for the Allied effort by portraying a fictional character called Captain America at war rallies.
When good friend James Buchanan (Sebastian Stan) is presumed dead behind enemy lines, Steve joins forces with playboy inventor Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper) and officer Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to parachute in behind enemy lines as Captain America and single-handedly take on the Germans.
Captain America: The First Avenger is an entertaining introduction to the iconic characters, using digital trickery to impose Evans's head on a scrawny body before his metamorphosis.
Atwell makes her entrance by punching an insubordinate soldier in the face and she embraces her role as the gutsy love interest with fervour, sparking smouldering screen chemistry with Evans.
Their final scenes together are nicely judged, echoing a tender moment from Michael Bay's slam-bang Armageddon.
Action sequences are orchestrated with aplomb including a daredevil descent into a moving train.
'Captain America Will Return' promises a title card at the end of the film in place of the additional scene we have come to expect from comic book adaptations.
Indeed he will, alongside Iron Man, Thor and Hulk in the big-budget film version of The Avengers, which will be smashing and crashing into cinemas in summer 2012.
2011年4月7日星期四
Other significant moments in hip-hop haberdashery
The DMV's own Wale is wearing a suit on cover of Self Made, Vol. 1, the forthcoming project from the artists signed to Miami rapper Rick Ross' Maybach Music Group label, and it is freaking people out.
Wale fans are unaccustomed to seeing him so dressy, and they're also worried that the rapper may be abandoning the Nike Boots that made him "flyer than the rest of 'em," not to mention famous. Add to that the fact that when casually attired rappers don anything tailored, it's often a harbinger of a new watered down, less authentic sound, and it makes sense that people are concerned.
But, while the sight of Wale in a suit has a prompted a glut of Men's Wearhouse jokes on Twitter, it shouldn't necessarily be cause for alarm--wearing a suit doesn't always signal a sell-out.
There are many different types of hip-hop suits. Yes, there is the "shiny" suit immortalized in countless rap lyrics as a symbol of going pop, but there are also gangster/mobster suits (see late N.W.A, early Death Row Records), "mack" suits (see Big Daddy Kane, Pete Nice), and "court date" suits (see Murder was the Case-era Snoop, Tupac).
So, on the occasion of the debut of Wale's new grown-man style, let's revisit just a few of the great moments (and horrible embarrassments) in the history of the hip-hop suit.
1988: Big Daddy Kane releases Long Live the Kane; pretty much everyone in the video for "Ain't No Half Steppin'" is suited up.
Wale fans are unaccustomed to seeing him so dressy, and they're also worried that the rapper may be abandoning the Nike Boots that made him "flyer than the rest of 'em," not to mention famous. Add to that the fact that when casually attired rappers don anything tailored, it's often a harbinger of a new watered down, less authentic sound, and it makes sense that people are concerned.
But, while the sight of Wale in a suit has a prompted a glut of Men's Wearhouse jokes on Twitter, it shouldn't necessarily be cause for alarm--wearing a suit doesn't always signal a sell-out.
There are many different types of hip-hop suits. Yes, there is the "shiny" suit immortalized in countless rap lyrics as a symbol of going pop, but there are also gangster/mobster suits (see late N.W.A, early Death Row Records), "mack" suits (see Big Daddy Kane, Pete Nice), and "court date" suits (see Murder was the Case-era Snoop, Tupac).
So, on the occasion of the debut of Wale's new grown-man style, let's revisit just a few of the great moments (and horrible embarrassments) in the history of the hip-hop suit.
1988: Big Daddy Kane releases Long Live the Kane; pretty much everyone in the video for "Ain't No Half Steppin'" is suited up.
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