I knew any exhibit as obtuse as the one I saw at Comic-Con this weekend had to be about The Prisoner! I visited the address on the card I was handed: 70.87.154.219. After staring at an unhelpful splash screen for an awkwardly long time, eventually the site loaded: six screens of 6 x 6 images apiece. All I had to do to unlock their hidden meaning was to click on images with six of something in them. I’m starting to detect a theme here…
Anyway, here are some of the images I found which worked for me.
six red locks on teal wooden door
6 sign on green brick wall
black stadium seats among red seats
roulette wheel on 6
six-fingered hand
rotary phone face all 6′s
six stacked stones against blue sky
digital stock chart
six diamonds
Q-bert blocks
Pictures with six things in them, easy enough. This list can also be described as “things they already know at kotaku, io9 or toplessrobot”, but I thought I’d list it here anyway. After you solve this little puzzle, it takes you to a place to enter your email address, then dumps you out on an already available blog following the remake of The Prisoner. The number they gave me is 590875… but I refuse to answer to it.
And thus my viral marketing role is fulfilled. Enjoy!
A couple of friends found more posts about the Watchmen ad winners!
Television Without Pity has a story on the Watchmen ad, along with links to five of their favorites, including my own Ozymandias toy ad! It’s so satisfying to see people picking up on the nuances I put into the video, like the mispronunciation of “Ozymandias” by the disinterested A/V tech in the video’s pre-roll. You may also notice the copyright at the end is in roman numerals, which while not that unusual, is a touch I think Veidt would have insisted on.
The ads also showed up on sci-fi blog io9, which included four of their favorite videos — guess which familiar toy ad makes an appearance? I’m really excited that people like the ad enough to keep posting it. While you’re there, you may want to also check out a Veidt hairspray ad that is so 80s it’s almost unhealthy.
File under: impotent nerd rage, big-time important stuff
I’m sorry to report that “Home Is Where The Hate Is” has been the first lame episode of The Venture Bros.
*DISAPPOINTING SPOILER ALERT*
The hilarious and edgy aside about Sergeant Hatred’s pedophilia problem alluded to in season two was blandly dragged out only in service of a couple of toothless gags. The bomb in Dr. Venture’s back, sure to unravel Sgt. Hatred’s career and also the endgame in The Monarch’s henching plans? Ends in a fizzle. Literally. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out what Dr. Girlfriend’s murderous moppets would do once they caught 24 and 21, or what plan the henchman would form to escape the tiny terrors, only to have the episode proper end with them still on the run. Again, no ending. It’s like the writers simply gave up 2/3rds of the way through. You’ll notice even Brock is disinterested in the episode’s proceedings.
I can accept the episodes that are light on action because they usually advance the characters, but this takes two minor footnotes (The Monarch moves into Phantom Limb’s place, Sgt. Hatred runs a by-the-book henching arching of Dr. Venture) and stretches them out into a mediocre 22 minutes. After last week’s episode — or the exceptional, mind-blowing season three opener — I know what the writers are capable of. This isn’t even close.
*END OF DISAPPOINTING SPOILERS, I HOPE*
You can buy a tee-shirt commemorating the worst episode yet of Venture Bros, but why?
My Watchmen ad got a nice mention over at über-nerd site Topless Robot today in Ozymandias Action Figure with Real Bastard Power. If not for the video, check out the comments by some eagle-eyed readers.
Besides oozing self-conscious parody (it’s too low budget and chintzy to be an actual commercial), the whole thing has an early-nineties vibe. And looking past the VHS wear-and-tear effects, it’s obvious it was filmed on low-end DV, probably as a cheap way of adding to the aged look. This reeks of a studio-made viral.
I’m not at all bothered that I got sussed out in about five comments; I’m just happy to be mistaken for studio-made viral marketing!
Just a reminder I still have this Watchmen video up on YouTube, and its merit is based solely on something boneheaded like the number of views, so keep watching!
Honestly, if I wanted more views, I should have put a girl in short-shorts wiggling her ass.
No matter how many times I see it, I always get something new out of watching Blade Runner. I’d seen the Theatrical Release only a few weeks ago and just caught a midnight showing of The Final Cut. I thought it would be a bit much, but that wasn’t the case at all. Here are a few new things I noticed after the latest viewing:
The constant downpour in Los Angeles and the proliferation of bicycles and chintzy electric cars always presented a flawed future, but it is more relevant now to fears of climate change. Together with artificial animals replacing those brought to extinction, it shows humanity trying too little too late to correct the damage it’s done. I’m both amazed and saddened that this is still a significant theme over 25 years later.
This is a commercial for the Adrian Veidt action figure that was never aired, due to cancellation of the toy line. Found this on an old VHS. Did they ever make any of these??
Here’s my entry for the YouTube Watchmen ad contest. The best ones will get put somewhere in the background of the upcoming Watchmen movie, which is pretty exciting. Hope you like it — the winners are determined by the most number of views / highest rating, so watch early, and watch often!
I may be the last to learn about it, but Veidt Enterprises is looking for commercials for its new ad campaign due out in first quarter 2009. Deadline is June 2! This isn’t mine, but here’s an example of what they’re looking for:
It may be for a completely fictitious company, but at least it’s better than hawking ketchup. Hawking Ketchup — the smartest ketchup in the known universe!
