okay, so a little bit ago, i posted a comment on a stupid newswire post about the gm product placement in the new transformers movie. i think the poster sort of missed the point. who cares how lame and evil the hummer is for the environment? the rich idiot republicans are going to buy them no matter what, and nothing (i'm serious, NOTHING) you can say or do will stop them. short of destroying all the factories and assassinating all corporate representative, people are going to buy vehicles with big, inefficient engines.
you know what that is? it's a supercharged v-10 engine from ford.
you want to know why i put that pic up? because while supercharged, ten-cylinder engines are generally excessive, and guaranteed inefficient gasoline engines, this particular engine is HYDROGEN POWERED. and it is installed in buses in florida, and soon to be elsewhere as the hydrogen infrastructure spreads.
eventually, hummers will come with hybrid or even hydrogen powered monster engines. and you know what? they'll be massive, powerful, and inefficient, but they'll burn the single most abundant chemical element int he universe, hydrogen, whose combustion creates only water in its exhaust fumes.
gas is going the way of the dinosaur, to put it ironically. but for the meantime, who cares if stupid, ignorant rich people drive stupid, ignorant vehicles? they will whether you like it or not. that kind of thing is something i've always had to deal with. the notion that, whether i like it or no, people will do dumb things and i just hav eto deal with it or avoid them at all costs.
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back to the point. it's a fucking movie. seriously. a heavily computer-generated one at that. most of the vehicles are cgi rendered for the better part of the movie. not to mention the ones that ARE real, especially the tanks, could be driven otherwise in much more inefficient ways. i guarantee the high speed driving was done at lower speeds, and thus lower consumption levels, and hell, the tanks could have been in iraq or afghanistan destroying other countries' infrastructures and societies.
who gives a giant, transforming fuck about a movie? who cares if it's a giant advert for cars? our ENTIRE (and i mean that literally) childhood was spent fighting over who was cooler, thundercats or silver hawks, transformers or he-man. they were only cartoons because a federal law was repealed, which formerly banned making tv shows for the purpose of promoting existing toy lines. he man, transformers, centurions, m.a.s.k., silver hawks, she ra, thundercats, biker mice from mars, ninja turtles (although at least they had a comic book before a toy line), even as far forward now as gundam, big o or dragonaball - all for the purpose of selling toys and merchandise, be it video games, action figures, lunchboxes, whatever.
the entire world is a marketing scheme by religions for their god as a product.
who seriously cares if it is? yes, it's lame. yes, it certainly cheapens the effect, both from a kid learning the truth about his childhood heroes as well as a person learning about the nonexistance of a higher power.
but to rip into a movie (even and especially one which harkens back to the innocence before we knew what the word marketing meant) because of product placement, when every single movie has it, is ludicrous.
michael bay said in an interview (i'm pretty sure you can find a quote in wikipedia for transformers the movie) that the product placement saved millions on the production of the film.
it's only natural for gm to insist on exclusivity for prominent vehicles. if you want the new camaro, you have to include a hummer and a gmc truck. come to think of it. the solstice is damn near a porsche, style wise and jazz was a porsche, so go for it.
personally, i thoroughly enjoyed the film, and i'm going tomorrow with chris and norm, whom i've known since 1984 and 1987, respectively. we grew up with this stuff, and to be able to put aside all of the bullshit and tension that our lives have, to become kids again for two hours and twenty-three blessed minutes, is something i couldn't dream of declining.
so you don't like gm cars. who cares? i'm a ford guy and i admire and respect a cool car like the camaro regardless.
so you don't like michael bay. okay. neither do i, but the movie is effective with him at the helm, and he came to respect the world we knew in our fantasies as kids.
so you don't like the movie. awesome. don't pay for a showing and that means i won't have to hear you groan during the film.
but, by all means, and i mean this with sincerity, fuck you if you think i'm going to let anyone get in my way of enjoying memories of a time when rent and work and bills and stress and uncertainty for the future didn't figure into the equation. it's this, or i drink myself into a stupor nightly to forget how lame life can really be.
p.s. - i thought shia lebeouf was great in "holes" and he was great in this movie too. quit being a hipster skeptic, knocking on mainstream stuff because it's 'in' to do so and admit when a movie is just plain fun.
jeez.
you know what that is? it's a supercharged v-10 engine from ford.
you want to know why i put that pic up? because while supercharged, ten-cylinder engines are generally excessive, and guaranteed inefficient gasoline engines, this particular engine is HYDROGEN POWERED. and it is installed in buses in florida, and soon to be elsewhere as the hydrogen infrastructure spreads.
eventually, hummers will come with hybrid or even hydrogen powered monster engines. and you know what? they'll be massive, powerful, and inefficient, but they'll burn the single most abundant chemical element int he universe, hydrogen, whose combustion creates only water in its exhaust fumes.
gas is going the way of the dinosaur, to put it ironically. but for the meantime, who cares if stupid, ignorant rich people drive stupid, ignorant vehicles? they will whether you like it or not. that kind of thing is something i've always had to deal with. the notion that, whether i like it or no, people will do dumb things and i just hav eto deal with it or avoid them at all costs.
---
back to the point. it's a fucking movie. seriously. a heavily computer-generated one at that. most of the vehicles are cgi rendered for the better part of the movie. not to mention the ones that ARE real, especially the tanks, could be driven otherwise in much more inefficient ways. i guarantee the high speed driving was done at lower speeds, and thus lower consumption levels, and hell, the tanks could have been in iraq or afghanistan destroying other countries' infrastructures and societies.
who gives a giant, transforming fuck about a movie? who cares if it's a giant advert for cars? our ENTIRE (and i mean that literally) childhood was spent fighting over who was cooler, thundercats or silver hawks, transformers or he-man. they were only cartoons because a federal law was repealed, which formerly banned making tv shows for the purpose of promoting existing toy lines. he man, transformers, centurions, m.a.s.k., silver hawks, she ra, thundercats, biker mice from mars, ninja turtles (although at least they had a comic book before a toy line), even as far forward now as gundam, big o or dragonaball - all for the purpose of selling toys and merchandise, be it video games, action figures, lunchboxes, whatever.
the entire world is a marketing scheme by religions for their god as a product.
who seriously cares if it is? yes, it's lame. yes, it certainly cheapens the effect, both from a kid learning the truth about his childhood heroes as well as a person learning about the nonexistance of a higher power.
but to rip into a movie (even and especially one which harkens back to the innocence before we knew what the word marketing meant) because of product placement, when every single movie has it, is ludicrous.
michael bay said in an interview (i'm pretty sure you can find a quote in wikipedia for transformers the movie) that the product placement saved millions on the production of the film.
it's only natural for gm to insist on exclusivity for prominent vehicles. if you want the new camaro, you have to include a hummer and a gmc truck. come to think of it. the solstice is damn near a porsche, style wise and jazz was a porsche, so go for it.
personally, i thoroughly enjoyed the film, and i'm going tomorrow with chris and norm, whom i've known since 1984 and 1987, respectively. we grew up with this stuff, and to be able to put aside all of the bullshit and tension that our lives have, to become kids again for two hours and twenty-three blessed minutes, is something i couldn't dream of declining.
so you don't like gm cars. who cares? i'm a ford guy and i admire and respect a cool car like the camaro regardless.
so you don't like michael bay. okay. neither do i, but the movie is effective with him at the helm, and he came to respect the world we knew in our fantasies as kids.
so you don't like the movie. awesome. don't pay for a showing and that means i won't have to hear you groan during the film.
but, by all means, and i mean this with sincerity, fuck you if you think i'm going to let anyone get in my way of enjoying memories of a time when rent and work and bills and stress and uncertainty for the future didn't figure into the equation. it's this, or i drink myself into a stupor nightly to forget how lame life can really be.
p.s. - i thought shia lebeouf was great in "holes" and he was great in this movie too. quit being a hipster skeptic, knocking on mainstream stuff because it's 'in' to do so and admit when a movie is just plain fun.
jeez.