And THE “Annie Award” GOES TO …

“Rango” Wins Best Animated Feature @ 39th Annie Awards

Paramount Pictures $135 million budgeted, computer-animated feature “Rango” took top honors as ‘Best Animated Feature’ @ the 39th Annual “Annie Awards”, Saturday, February 4, 2012 in Los Angeles.
The 2011 Western comedy, directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Graham King, follows a chameleon who winds up in the town of ‘Dirt’, an outpost in desperate need of a new town sheriff :
“…a pet chameleon (Johnny Depp) becomes accidentally stranded in the Mojave Desert after his terrarium falls from his owner’s car. After meeting an armadillo named ‘Roadkill’ (Alfred Molina), he narrowly avoids being eaten by a red-tailed hawk.
“The next day he meets desert iguana ‘Beans’ (Isla Fisher), a rancher’s daughter, who takes him to ‘Dirt’, an Old West town populated by desert animals.
“At the ‘Gas Can Saloon’, the chameleon, using bravado and improvisation, presents himself as ‘Rango’, a tough drifter, who quickly gets in the face of outlaw ‘Bad Bill’ (Ray Winstone), narrowly avoiding a shootout.
When Rango kills the returning hawk, the Mayor (Ned Beatty) appoints him the new sheriff and has him start by investigating the criminal source of the town’s water problem…”

“Rango” screenplay is by John Logan, from a story by Verbinski and Logan. Music is by Hans Zimmer. Producers are Nickelodeon Movies, Blind Wink, GK Films and Industrial Light and Magic.

Super Bowl Ads 2012: Here Are The Winners And Losers

There’s fascinating disconnect between which advertisers  the media thinks did well on last night’s Super Bowland what the research  says was effective.

To hear the  business press tell it, Clint Eastwood’s “Halftime  in America” spot rocked  the house. It was indeed a great spot from a creative point of view.

But it didn’t even show up in the Ace  Metrix Top 10. Ace Metrix measures a panel of 500  consumers who watch ads and rate them for effectiveness. That research says Doritos’  sling baby ad won the night.

It was also a big night for dogs. Volkswagen’s much anticipated follow-up to  its little Darth Vader spot from last year used an obese  dog getting in shape to gets its revenge on a VW it wanted to chase down the  street (and then somehow ended up in the Star Wars cantina scene).

Skechers used a dog — Mr.  Quiggly — in a greyhound race.

As did Bud Light, whose appeal with Weego,  a rescue dog, was heartwarming.

So did Doritos, in another comedic appeal revolving around the whole Dogs  v. Cats war.

There weren’t any total disasters  — last year both Groupon  and HomeAway  had to apologize for their ads — but there were some failures in the sense that  clients ads bored people or went unnoticed.

Chase ran an ad that for the life of me I can’t recall even though I am  paid to remember these things. And TaxACT’s  ad, featuring a kid who urinates in a swmming pool, was disgusting.

 

Who says the “Big Party” has died?

It's enormous. It may have been invite-only, but it wasn't exactly "exclusive"

INDIANAPOLISMark  Cuban capped off a wild week of Super  Bowlparties with a blowout DirecTV-HDNet party last night.

 

The invite-only shindig featured a performance by Katy  Perry, and was touted as the weekend’s most exclusive party.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-super-bowl-party-2012-2?op=1#ixzz1lbVsK4A1

 

Superbowl Tweeting…

 

In the final three minutes of the Super Bowl last night, there were an average of 10,000 Tweets per second. So how does this compare?

Big TV events are becoming an increasingly popular catalyst of activity on social media, with sporting events being at the top of the list. Many of us can no longer enjoy a Super Bowl without checking Twitter every three seconds. Last year, there were several moments during the Super Bowl that set records for the most tweets per second during a sporting event, with a high of 4,064 TPS.

The TPS record was held by a U.S. women’s soccer team’s game at 7,196 Tweets per second, which came among other notable Twitter events: Steve Jobs’ death at 6,049, Bin Laden’s death at 5,106 TPS, the day of the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami in March at 5,530 TPS, and the Royal Wedding in England in April at 3,966 TPS.

Clearly, we are getting a glimpse of the increasing relevance and popularity of Twitter during important events, as Twitter’s official Twitter account (head explosion) announced tonight that, in the final three minutes of Super Bowl 2012, there was an average of 10,000 tweets per second.

No doubt the 2012 Olympics in London, and 100 other events will give the Super Bowl a run for its money, but, for now, let us revel in tweet history.

How 9 Tech Giants Traded After Going Public [INFOGRAPHIC]

How 9 Tech Giants Traded After Going Public [INFOGRAPHIC].

Devil’s Knot Casting Announced…

Colin Firth has joined Reese Witherspoon in Atom Egoyan-directed drama about the West Memphis 3, Devil’s Knot.
The actor will play Ron Lax, a private investigator who was the first pro bono supporter of the defendents as they headed to trial in 1993. Lax built one of the most prominent private investigative firms in the Southeast, and offered his services for free to the defendants, who at the time were reviled because of the heinous nature of the crime and the sensationalized reports about devil worship and ritualistic sacrifice. All of that was later proven to be unfounded, after Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted despite not a shred of physical evidence. The detective was an unsung hero and helped find the DNA in the knots that bound one of the victims, that cast suspicion on Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Steven Branch, one of the 8-year old murdered boys.
Reese Witherspoon will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of Branch. She initially believed the trio murdered her son, is eventually persuaded that the three suspects are innocent and wrongly accused.
The script is based on investigative reporter Mara Leveritt‘s 2003 book Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three. The book is an in-depth chronicle of the trials that sent the three to prison for the murder of the three 8-year old boys who were found hog-tied in a drainage ditch.
The project begins filming next summer in Louisiana.
Devil’s Knot comes to theaters in 2013 and stars Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth. The film is directed by Atom Egoyan.

Super Bowl Viewers Will Check Phones 10 Times During the Game [STUDY]

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Nearly half of Super BowlXLVI viewers will check their mobile device as many as 10 times during the game, and almost a third of viewers under age 45 will watch the game “with device in hand.”

More than 80% of viewers say they’ll use their mobile device during the game at least as much as they did during last year’s Super Bowl.

That’s all according to a recent survey by research firm Harris Interactive. The study was commissioned by the mobile marketing company Velti, and shows that fans are increasingly reaching beyond just their in-person friends and the game broadcast itself for Super Bowl updates and interaction.

The survey also reinforces the potential that mobile brings for innovative advertisers — and the possible drawbacks of shelling out $3.5 million for a 30-second commercial break slot. Just 13% of poll respondents who plan to use their mobile device said they will do so during actual game action. That means they’ll likely be pecking away for stats, Facebook, or Twitter updates during the valuable commercial broadcast time.

French Court Fines Google $660,000 Because Google Maps Is Free

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Google faces a $660,000 fine after a French court ruling that the company is abusing its dominant position in mapping by making Google Maps free.

According to The Economic Times, the French commercial court “upheld an unfair competition complaint lodged by Bottin Cartographes against Google France and its parent company Google Inc. for providing free web mapping services to some businesses.”

Bottin Cartographes provides mapping services for a cost, and its website boasts several business clients such as Louis Vuitton, Airbus and several automobile manufacturers.

The French court ruling requires Google to pay $660,000 (500,000 Euros) in damages and interest to Bottin Cartographes, along with a 15,000 Euro fine. That means Google’s total cost from the ruling is about $680,000.

A Google France spokesperson says the company is still studying the court’s decision and reviewing its options, adding that Google is “convinced that a free high-quality mapping tool is beneficial for both Internet users and websites.”