Kevin Muldoon

I watched an interesting documentary on YouTube tonight called home. It’s a 90 film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand which shows the beauty of earth and how we are destroying it.

If you’re a ‘Discovery Channel’ type of person, I’m sure you will enjoy it

HOME is an ode to the planet’s beauty and its delicate harmony. Through the landscapes of 54 countries captured from above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand takes us on an unique journey all around the planet, to contemplate it and to understand it. But HOME is more than a documentary with a message, it is a magnificent movie in its own right. Every breathtaking shot shows the Earth – our Earth – as we have never seen it before. Every image shows the Earth’s treasures we are destroying and all the wonders we can still preserve. “From the sky, there’s less need for explanations”. Our vision becomes more immediate, intuitive and emotional. HOME has an impact on anyone who sees it. It awakens in us the awareness that is needed to change the way we see the world. (HOME embraces the major ecological issues that confront us and shows how everything on our planet is interconnected.)

Link : Home Project

My friend Michael sent me a link to the trailer for Call of Duty 6 AKA Modern Warfare 2. This game is a direct sequal to COD4, a fantastic game which I played to death last year.

It’s set for release on 10th November, just in time for Christmas

Link : modernwarfare2.infinityward.com/

I was bored tonight so was browsing around aimlessly on the net. I came across the wiki page for Pac Man, one of the first games I remember having (for the atari 2600) when I was a kid.

I was surprised to read that the game was originally called Puck Man but Midway changed the name to Pac Man because they were concerned that vandels would scrub out a part of the P and make it look like an F to make Fuck Man (how cool would it be if he was called Fuck Man!!!).

So if you ever come across a Puck Man machine, you now know that it’s probably not a fake. Infact, it’s probably worth a lot of money

Anyone who has seen Will Ferells excellent Anchorman will remember this scene about the ultimate after shave ‘Sex Panther’.

I was browsing FireBox today noticed that you can now buy it for £29.95. Not sure if it’s any good. Probably quite expensive for a gimmick but it would be a good gift for anyone who loves the film (think it would be a bit sad if you bought it for yourself though!!).

Link : Sex Panther

When I am updating one of my websites I sometimes put a film on in the background. So that it doesn’t disturb me too much I usually put on a film I have already seen.

Tonight I put on Casino Royale, Daniel Craigs first Bond film and in my opinion, one of the best Bond films ever made. I remember there being some product placement in the film but it wasn’t until tonight that realised how bad it was.

Theres a huge pause when he gets into his Ford Mondeo, the constant pauses when he uses his ‘Sony Ericsson’ Phone, the super close view of his Sony Vaio laptop and last but not least, the blatant advertisement for Omega.

When sitting on the train Bonds female counterpart is trying to size him up and states that he is the kind of person who was born poor but got richer later so probably overcompensates by buying expensive items. She then asks if his watch is a Rolex and he cooly answers ‘No it’s an Omega’ (or something to that effect). She then comments that it’s a beautiful watch.

I appreciate that these companies pay a lot of money to get their products placed in films and I know it helps with financing a movie but surely there comes a point where whoring the film out is not needed. I’m a fan of the Bond films but they have surely made enough money over the years to reduce this kind of thing, particularly when it’s detrimental to the quality of a film.

Of course, this kind of thing is very common in Hollywood, it just seems to be more obvious in some movies rather than others.

What do you think about Product placement in films, does it bother you?