Track 2. Fanatics

This week in class we're talking about fan fiction and our screening this week is the movie Trekkies.  When I was first told that we were reading about Trekkies and fan fiction my first thought was the movie "Galaxy Quest." "Galaxy Quest" is a movie that follows the cast of a fictional show called "Galaxy Quest" (a poor mans Star Trek).  The movie opens with the cast of the show at the annual Galaxy Quest Convention where they are approached by some strange fans.  It turns out that these fans are actual Aliens who have seen the show and the heroic things that the crew has done and thinks that it is real.  The Aliens then kidnap them in hopes that they will help them save their planet from destruction.  The reason though that it makes me think of Star Trek fans is because there is a scene in the beginning where is Galaxy Quest Super fan asks the captain of the ship (played by Tim Allen) a technical question about something on the show that only super fan like him would know.  The captains response is something along the lines of "get a life kid!"  Ironically later in the movie the Captain has contact this fan again to request help with navigating a maze of giant steel pistons, that only a super fan of the show would know the pattern for.
If you haven't seen Galaxy quest I do recommend it and it has an all-star cast. Tim Allen (Home Improvement, Toy Story) Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Aliens, Avatar) Allen Rickman (Harry Potter) Tony Shalhoub (Monk).

Heres the trailer for Galaxy Quest.

One other funny thing I thought of when I heard we were talking about fanatics of Star Trek was an old bit from late night with Conan O'Brien from several years ago.  He sent out one of his legendary characters Triumph: The Insult Comic Dog to do some "reporting" at the premiere of Star Wars Episode 2 attack of the clones. Make sure you wait for the Star Trek fans appearance near the end.
In order to watch the actual video you have to copy and paste the link in a new window (a lot of work I know)

http://youtu.be/7zWNJHS9PBE

Track 1. Brostache

Although most of todays commercials are annoying (Flow from the progressive commercials) some can be quite entertaining, especially this one from Geico.

This is easily one of my favorite commercials on TV right now.  Geico, the insurance company that is being promoted in this add, has created some of the of most creative, original, and funny add campaigns out there today.  It started for them with the Geico Cavemen and the Geico Gekko and has now expanded into several other campaigns such as this one.  Geico saw the world of insurance marketing expanding and instead of trying to be serious like State Farm, who uses the guy who played Pedro Cerano in Major league and the president in "24".  Or trying to be annoying like Progressive i.e. Flow and their new adds of people being annoying to other people in an office building.  Geico wanted to stand out with their own weird, quirky, and funny adds.  I can't say that what they're saying in this commercial is not true either because there are some people that act just like this.  My friend as a matter of fact love to play with his fart sounds app.  Also after watching this add you can't not check the iPhone app store and see if these apps are available, I did.

My First Post (Introduction)

Hello Everyone,

This is my media blog for my Studies in Cinema and Media Culture course at the University of Minnesota.  On this blog I'll be posting about various forms of media I experience everyday whether its music, movies, television, billboards, magazine adds, or even an add on the side of a bus.  Ill try to look at them for any type of meaning they might be trying to display and sometimes I may just post a random though or question about a type about some type of media I saw, and sometimes I may just post something I think is cool.  So stay tuned, and if you can't get enough of this already exciting blog follow me on Twitter at @Free_Mason7.

Mason Sellers