Archive for the ‘Iron-Man’ Category

Why the Video Games Industry is Losing It

July 30, 2007

Which got more publicity, the open-to-the-public Comic Con this weekend in San Diego, or the industry-only E3 videogame convention at an airport hangar in Santa Monica earlier this month?

Comic Con, hands down, because they celebrated the fan–and because the movie studios flocked there to show off new films like IronMan with big guns like star Robert Downey Jr., director Jon Favreau, and 80-year old creator Stan Lee.  That’s word of mouth you can’t buy–and the kind of publicity the ‘new’ E3 for the business guys, not the gamers, no longer gets.

E3 sharply decelerated from 2006 to 2007, braking from 65 (thousand) attendees down to 3 (thousand and severly limiting the number of press.  ComicCon, by contrast, was by and for the fan boys E3 expelled; 124,000 showed up, forty times the video games ‘crowd.’ 

Keeping out the gamers who want to try the games is a riduculous strategy; no wonder the number one selling game in the U.S. is a kid’s game for Gameboy, Pokemon Diamond.  The teenagers are all out watching movies based on comics and fantasy, from Fantastic Four and Transformers to the Simpsons.


Robert Downey Jr in “Iron Man.”

Posted in ComicCon, E3, Iron-Man, Pokemon, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Let Paris Go

June 9, 2007

Let Paris Hilton out of jail.  What is gained by breaking a butterfly on the wheel?

For those howling for her head, the point is made.  Rich people and girls who just want to have fun suffer too. She did a few days in jail, just like the common people would do for a minor, non-violent first-time DUI.  (Many would probably not do any time at all.)  Let her do home confinement, or just let her go.

For those demanding she be punished, let he who is righteous, who has never had a few drinks and gotten behind the wheel, cast the first stone.  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Scalia’s daughter, to name only one, was arrested for DUI with three kids in her car.  She got probation and community service.

And for those who think “celebrity justice” is a joke, remember that not every celebrity gets off scot-free.  Heidi Fleiss, celebrity madam, served 3 years in Federal prison; the clients of her prostitution services served not a single day.   Oscar-nominated actor (can’t wait to see him in Jon Favreau’s Iron Man) served a hellish year in California state prison for drug offenses.

Who did they–or Paris Hilton–hurt?

Posted in Heidi-Fleiss, Iron-Man, Jon-Favreau, Justice-Scalia, Paris-Hilton, Robert-Downey-Jr., celebrity-justice | 3 Comments »