Links of the week

A few pieces of news about The Hobbit leads this weeks batch of links, but there's also news for The Dark Knight Rises and some great dietary suggestions. Also, my strange addiction to Hunger Games casting reports has finally come to an end.

Advertising Advertising

It's Super Bowl day today. Possibly the biggest American event of the year (because Christmas doesn't count because someone would sue if it did). I'm not really a sports guy--at all. I don't have a horse in this particular race, so to speak. But I am interested in the ads, especially the fact that they're such a big deal. Volkswagen has already released it's Super Bowl ad, which is 90% a cute kid dressed as Darth Vader (having been that kid, I approve), and apparently points out the car's state-of-the-art keyless entry.

Another, which I was looking forward to, is the spot for Cowboys and Aliens, which director Jon Favreau tweeted this morning (and I, of course, retweeted because it's about the best use of Twitter I can think of).

There's some others on YouTube already for Doritos and Pepsi, and I get that the companies are trying to justify their $100,000 per second, but this really seems to be bordering on the obscene, when the ad is a big deal because it's--what? Going to be a big deal? Basically, the entire system is, "We paid a lot for the ad, so watch it because it must be great, because we paid a lot for it." And tons of people are going to watch it, because tons of people are going to watch it. I really wish I was in a business like that...