For anyone who ever watched a movie from the 1980s, you will have seen the cheeky face of the young, precocious talent of actor Corey Feldman. It didn’t matter whether he was in The Goonies, The ‘Burbs or Dream a Little Dream, Feldman would light up the screen with his dazzling charisma and terrific acting ability. So, what happened to one of the most promising actors to emerge in the last fifty years?
Corey Feldman was often mislabelled as a teen heart-throb. Despite devastating good-looks, Feldman’s talents deserved better than being labelled as just a face in a movie. His delivery of hilarious lines while maintaining the seriousness of a underground pirate’s lair in The Goonies helped the movie gross a massive 61,000,000 dollars.
Feldman was always destined to be a star and maintained the integrity of his work throughout his career. In the 1980s when sixteen per cent of American actors were called Corey, not once did he consider changing his name to improve his marketing potential.
After starring in a commercial for a fast-food burger chain, Feldman was hooked on acting. Insisting on paying for his own acting lessons, the three-year-old put in the effort to land his first major film role at the age of eight, outshining Malcolm McDowell in Nicholas Meyer’s Time After Time.
The 1980s launched Feldman upon the world, and he took to the role of international superstar like a duck to water. Feldman’s duck would not be cooked with orange like the trendy dish of the time - it would fly and sometimes walk briskly into bigger and better movie roles.
Feldman’s quirky image enabled him to become instantly recognisable, often wearing thick-rimmed black glasses and talking a lot. His character in The Goonies was called Ralph Mouth, because of his inability to keep quiet. Feldman himself is often quiet and is tired of the constant accusations of loud behaviour.
Corey appeared in The Lost Boys with another Corey. Feldman and Haim were the two coolest Coreys of the time, although Corey Matthews, a fictional character in the US show Boy Meets World, would weakly attempt to steal the Corey crown. Feldman would outlive the others and is still on TV more than thirty years after that ambitious toddler promoted fast food to an obese nation of Americans.
Feldman’s career highlight occurred when he was awarded the part of Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Although Feldman could probably have performed the physical aspects of the role, turtle kung fu and pizza eating, he did only provide the crazy voice.
As the 80s became a distant memory, the number of working Coreys reduced significantly. The actors union introduced a rule to reduce the number to just one by the turn of the millennium. The battle was on, but Corey Haim had almost given up acting and so the cage fight between Feldman and Haim failed to materialise. Feldman won by default and would continue to act.
Since the 90s, Feldman has starred in classic films such as Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, My Life as a Troll and the blockbuster smash of 2008, Lost Boys: The Tribe. Feldman continues to remain in high demand and performs in films, shows and documentaries as himself or as a character played by himself. Feldman is versatility personified and will endevour to rediscover the glory days of his youth.
I have been an England supporter for 22 years now, after being drawn in by the excitement of the World Cup in 1986. Vaguely remembering Lineker’s goals, my dad’s anger as Maradona handing Argentina victory and the disappointment when being made to go to bed after the game are overshadowed by the key fact that I was now an England fan.
Being an England fan is not really all it’s cracked up to be. Apparently, we invented the game so we should be the best at it. Sadly, we have recently been proven with our failure to reach Euro 2008, that this isn’t true. In fact, we were beaten in the qualifiers by a country that is younger than me, and even two years younger than Theo Walcott.
So why are we not that good at soccer, and when will we ever win a major tournament again? These questions are impossible to answer, making the life of an England fan a very uncomfortable and disappointing one. Through my experiences as an England supporter, the traditions and routines seem to be as cyclical and (sadly) eternal as the Ouroboros snake that eats itself.
Will the cycle ever be broken and why hasn’t it happened since 1986. I am an optimist that will always expect a positive result from the England team. However, I do not suffer delusions of grandeur and expect us to win every tournament that we enter. So, when the World Cup arrived in Italy in 1990, all I hoped for was some good performances and a decent run.
Italia ‘90 proved to be the best England performance since the World Cup win in 1966. Despite a shaky start with draws against Ireland and the Netherlands, and an unconvincing win against Egypt, England progressed to the knock-out stages. The second round game with Belgium remained goalless for 119 minutes before David Platt volleyed the whole of England into jubilation.
A difficult quarter-final against tournament dark horses Cameroon was met with optimism and apprehension in equal measures. Another Platt goal and two Lineker penalties finally ended the African’s dreams, sending England to a semi-final with arch-rivals West Germany.
The nation’s hopes rested on the team, and their performance would not disappoint. Outplaying West Germany for most of the game, a Lineker goal would take the game to extra time and then penalties. Here, I would learn the horrific realism of being an England fan. German players do not miss penalties and sadly Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle did. The pain would last for six years as we failed miserably at Euro ‘92 and failed to even make the World Cup in 1994.
So, Euro 96 arrives in my home country and the nation is gripped in football fever. England flags are everywhere, cars, houses, haircuts and tattoos - the nation believes and the optimism is back after years of depression. With Terry Venables as our coach, Gascoigne and Shearer on the pitch - nothing could go wrong. It was our year.
A slow start, followed by great victories against neighbours Scotland and a 4-1 thrashing of the Netherlands, with a young me in the crowd, saw the country reach fever pitch. Only Spain stood in our way of another semi-final, but we needed two bad refereeing decisions to keep us in the game before Seaman saved the decisive kick in the penalty shoot-out. Semi-final versus Germany - let’s not bring it up again.
It was another penalty shoot-out defeat. And if it wasn’t Gareth Southgate that missed, it would’ve been the next player or the next. Germany never miss penalties so we might as well have just gone home then. It hurt just like it did in 1990, but now I was old enough to stay up and watch the post-match discussions. This made it worse, re-running the moments where Gazza’s boot was inches from winning the game for England.
Penalties seem to be our downfall, so obviously we would practise them regularly before, during and even after the tournaments. We won’t get caught out like that again. We will score every penalty in the next tournament and go on to win it. France ‘98 arrives and it’s close enough to feel like we are playing at home. The crowds will be full of English fans and the team will go on to glory.
Group stages were boring, Michael Owen should’ve started the games and Darren Anderton still gets picked. So, second round and we face the Argentinians. Owen and Shearer score, a sign of things to come we hope, but a moment of madness from the most stupid person in the world and we are down to ten men. Beckham, the idiot, kicks out as he lays down, forcing the referee to send him off. We lose on penalties and everyone hates Beckham for a few years.
That is what the nation remembers but an impartial view will clarify what happened. Beckham flicked a leg that brushed the opponent’s leg, forcing him to collapse. Ref sees his big chance to make a name for himself and sends off the golden boy of English football. England were denied a goal by Shearer’s elbow as he clatters keeper as Sol Campbell rises majestically to seal victory for the beleaguered England.
Penalty shoot-out again and we send up Paul Ince and David Batty to take a penalty each. Yeah, Ince and Batty took a penalty in a World Cup shoot-out. I still remember the realisation sweeping over me as these two players that rarely hit the target with a five yard pass would be taking one of the most important kicks in their lives. Ridiculous.
Euro 2000, Phil Neville ruined it. 2002 World Cup, David Seaman caught off his line. And so we move onto the problems with the Portuguese. 2004 and 2006 proved to be just the next tournaments in the long line of bitter disappointments for England fans.
For the first time in many years, England had players that were as good as some as the best in the world. Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard and Rooney are just some of the great players that we had at our disposal. And yet we would still fall short in the big games and leave the nation clutching at ifs and buts.
Euro 2004 would show off the amazing talents of a young Wayne Rooney. Scoring four goals in the group matches, the nation would rest a lot of its hopes on the shoulders of Rooney. As we faced Portugal in the Quarter Finals, everything seemed to suggest we could finally win a major tournament.
This optimism was obviously misplaced and England would again have their hopes shattered in a penalty shoot-out. Owen scored inside three minutes, and England would lead for a long, long time. Rooney limped off with an ankle injury after 26 minutes and took our hopes with him. When John Terry decided to allow Helder Postiga a free header the game was all square.
However, a Sol Campbell header in stoppage time disallowed for absolutely nothing sent the game into extra time. A goal from each team would keep the scores level but Campbell’s header would still grate on England fans’ minds. As usual, England would continue to battle on but when penalties would decide the game, the fans would expect the worst.
Beckham stepped up for the first penalty and sent it high and wide into the crowd, however, we would hang on for several more kicks before finally giving in to fate. So, we called on Darius Vassell to ensure that the status quo would be maintained.
The FIFA World Cup 2006 and England would take a team capable of winning the tournament. Poor performances and a lack of attacking creativity dampened the optimism, but England still possessed a great squad and would beat Ecuador in the second round. Sadly, we would face Portugal again and Rooney would leave the field early again.
Rooney would lose his footing in a challenge with Ricardo Carvalho, before setting a firm foot down on the Portuguese player’s midriff. A red card, and Rooney would take the nation’s hopes with him as he made his way down the tunnel. Penalties would decide our fate again, and again Portugal would obviously win.
After three penalties each, the score was only 1-1 with Lampard, Viana, Gerrard and Petit missing. So, with Portuguese in front we put our faith in Jamie Carragher, a player with three goals in nearly 400 games for Liverpool. Were we shocked when he missed? Of course not, especially as it allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to score the winner.
Football, or soccer as the Americans call it, is known for taking your hopes and dreams and smashing them before your very eyes. The key to being an England supporter is to accept the inevitable penalty shoot-out defeat and move on. We have never won a shoot-out in the FIFA World Cup Finals and are never likely to. It is also fortunate that Sol Campbell has not played for England for a while because the disallowed only add to the false-hope that we have in England.
I have failed to mention the 2008 European Championship qualifying campaign for a reason. This was the first time that no England fan had any faith in our team, due to the selection of Steve McLaren as manager. We failed to qualify and England fans enjoyed watching an international tournament for the first time since USA ‘94.
So, you watched the TV show and were either envious of the bodies of Pamela Anderson and David Hasselhoff or maybe you lusted over that massive chest that the Hoff possesses. Well, your teenage years may be behind you now but you could be getting a dream trip to your past with the Baywatch Musical.
Anyone who has ever watched the Los Angeles County Lifeguards between 1989 to 1999 will know how perfect the show is for a musical adaptation. Those slow-moton runs will be amazing with a stage full of Pammies and Hoffs, moving in sync as they grip there orange baywatch buoys.
Following the success of Jerry Springer - The Opera and all sorts of other musical adaptations, it would appear that there would be no reason why Baywatch the Musical wouldn’t be a runaway success. The campness and costumes would be ideal for the stage, and some of the music has already been written.
The Baywatch theme would be a massive crowd-pleaser; “Some people stand in the darkness, afraid to step into the light…”. Simply close your eyes and imagine the curtain raising as this song resonates through the theatre. Breathtaking…
Pamela Anderson has already stated her intention to be a part of the musical. “I want to do Baywatch the musical. Wouldn’t that be insane?”. Indeed it would Pamela, and you could make it something special. However, there must be one man involved to ensure the show is a copper-bottom hit.
The Hoff.
As soon as the Hoff can get the show in production, we know that Baywatch the Musical will be on its way to theatre greatness on both sides of the Atlantic. He has attempted to buy the rights but so far has had his efforts thwarted. Let’s hope the red tape is removed and the world can become a better place.
If you can’t wait until then, take a look and have a listen to those hypnotic opening credits that many a teenage boy will have still locked in his memory. Here you go boys, enjoy yourselves.
One of the most important positions in a soccer team, as with many team sports, is that of the goalkeeper. The primary role of the goalkeeper is to prevent the opposition team from scoring any goals. As the only player to be allowed to use their hands, the goalkeeper is also responsible for organising the defence and often beginning team attacks.
Goalkeepers, as the last line of defence, have a lot of responsibility and therefore must have specific abilities and skills. There have been numerous great goalkeepers in history, all offering different reasons why they are so effective in this position. Here we will examine what skills are required to make the best goalkeeper the soccer world has ever seen.
If you ask soccer fans who they think the best goalkeeper ever is, they will all come back with varied responses based on their nationality, club loyalties, age and football knowledge. This article will focus on the three best goalkeepers that I have seen in the last thirty years of football. Obviously, opinions will differ as I attempt to reason why these goalkeepers are the greatest.
Currently 26 years old, Czech Republic international Petr Cech is know as being one of the greatest goalies currently playing. For his club, Chelsea, Cech helped them to their first league title in fifty years in his first season. He followed this with another league title as well as taking Chelsea to their first Champions League Final in 2008.
Cech, at six foot five, is an intimidating presence in goal. As an important aspect of goalkeeping, his height is used to his advantage as he dominates the penalty area, while also being agile and an excellent shot-stopper. At 26, Cech is still yet to reach his prime as goalkeepers play well into their 30s and can even become better with age, as demonstrated by England international David James (38).
The most expensive goalkeeper ever, also one of the most expensive players, Gianluigi Buffon has represented Italy almost one hundred times. Signed by Juventus in 2001 for a record-fee of fifty-two million euros, Buffon has won four Serie A league titles as well as the FIFA World Cup for his country.
Buffon is fast approaching the best years of his career, and so people will expect to see some of his best performances for both club and country in the future. Some of his most impressive appearances have come in big games, including a dramatic late penalty save to deny Adrian Mutu in a Euro 2008 group match against Romania.
During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which Buffon’s Italy went on to win, he only conceded two goals to a Zinedine Zidane penalty and an own-goal by team-mate Cristian Zaccardo. With five clean sheets, and a 453 minute consecutive scoreless streak, Buffon was later names goalkeeper of the tournament.
At 44 years old, the finest goalkeeper of the last thirty years is the great Dane Peter Schmeichel. A relatively late-starter to achieve greatness, Schmeichel would be 27 by the time he joined Manchester United for a ridiculously small fee of half a million pounds. In the next ten years Schmeichel would cement his place as the greatest goalkeeper United would ever have.
Schmeichel represents all the aspects that make the perfect goalkeeper. Tall, intimidating and vocal, Schmeichel would berate his defenders if he felt they were risking yet another clean-sheet for him and his team. He played 129 times for his country, the most for any Dane in history, even scoring a goal. His heroics at the 1992 European Championships, turned long-shots Denmark into eventual champions and showed Schmeichel’s off to the viewing world.
This was his international highlight, although he would go on to appear in the World Cup Finals in France, 1998. However, Schmeichel’s Manchester United career would coincide with the launch of the Premier League and United’s dominance over the competition. In the eight seasons that Schmeichel played, the club would win the league title five times and finish runners-up the other three.
These achievements would not be his greatest as Schmeichel would go on to lift the UEFA Champions League title in 1999. Manchester United’s greatest ever season would be capped in Barcelona with a dramatic Champions League victory over Bayern Munich, with United clinching the treble of Premier League title, FA Cup winners and European champions (for which Schmeichel was named captain).
After leaving United in 1999, Schmeichel would go on to play top-flight football in Portugal and then after a return to England. Schmeichel retired at the end of the 2002-03 season as the greatest Premier League goalkeepers after keeping clean-sheets in almost half of his appearances.
Great goalkeepers are often the difference between a good team and a championship-winning team. These three goalkeepers are among the best ever and all have won titles to show that the goalkeeper is one of the key positions to fill to make a truly great soccer team.
For every person that has bought a flight on the internet and wondered why it is so cheap - this article will explore and hopefully dispel the myths that surround budget airlines. Like everything in life and as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for. But is it worth saving that extra cash for your trip or splashing out on this small part of your holiday.?
So, you buy the ticket at a great rate, albeit with some hidden taxes, charges and fee and prepare for a great holiday. As the day of departure approaches, you eagerly anticipate the holiday or trip itself, but you are probably a little apprehensive about the flight. For those who haven’t used budget airlines before, it is hard to know what to expect from the flight.
Travelling by aeroplane can be awkward, irritating and tiresome so you expect a budget airline could be worse. All the worst things about flying will be emphasised by the ‘budget’ part of the flight company. Will you regret this decision that seemed such a good one when you made the booking?
Leading up to the flight, you may get e-mails regarding information that you need to provide to assist a smooth check-in. You can opt for an online check-in, allowing you priority boarding on to the plane. This is a great idea as some flights will not have seat numbers, forcing groups to be separated as the plane fills up.
Providing the information via e-mail enables a quick check-in at the airport with queues reduced to a few people at a time. The whole process is reasonably easy and makes your experience even better as you seem to be able to take more advantage of the duty-free and airport shopping.
Boarding the plane is as difficult as normal airlines, if not more difficult due to the lack of numbered tickets. As you make your way up the stairs, the delays are noticeable as people hunt for enough seats together to keep their families and friends close by. This is mildly irritating, especially in the cold and wind, but also can be a common problem on the more expensive airlines.
Finding a seat is a race and for people travelling in groups is a dog-eat-dog situation. Regular budget fliers are clearly aware of how to take advantage and will punish hesitation in the newer budget travellers. Go in focussed and make sure you grab that seat before someone else does. You will regret it if you delay for only a few seconds as a budget airline is a dangerous place for consideration and politeness.
Once seated, those travellers over a metre tall will notice the considerably small amount of leg-room allocated. As a flier that struggles with my knees on any aeroplane, I was quick to realise that leg-room is at a premium on budget flights. Again, early boarding can rectify this problem before it starts, be quick to grab the emergency exit seats as there is ample room for six footers and up.
As the flight commences, don’t expect a meal. Free food is one of the sacrifices that budget airlines will force upon you. Not the biggest loss, especially as it usually adds a substantial amount to the overall cost of the flight. If you get hungry while flying, take some cash and take advantage of the various snacks available. They may cost a small fortune but what do you expect when you are flying a thousand miles for five pounds.
Don’t expect a peaceful journey. You may feel bombarded with sales pitches and various products will be presented for your perusal. Again, they are looking to boost profits and who can blame them when they get me so far for so little money? If you manage to resist the hot croissant, glass of wine or scratch-cards (for charity, of course) then the flight will still be cheap.
When you land in your chosen destination you may face the next problem with budget flights. It would appear that a lot of the cost of flying could be in the location that you land. The flight may tell you that you are landing in Barcelona or Rome, but you could be a hundred miles from the city. Again, this can be sorted out pretty easily with a train or bus ride - not pushing the cost of travel to anywhere near that of a non-budget airline.
Overall, the cost of flying with a budget airline is certainly the key benefit. Regular fliers with premium airlines will find the flights a little uncomfortable and not as pleasurable but the price certainly makes up for any inconvenience.
As long as you know what to expect, budget airlines tick all the right boxes and sacrifice the luxuries that you won’t miss at all. The flights are cheap and still get you there so what’s so bad about no in-flight meal and restricted leg-room? Budget airlines may be cheap but that’s not a bad thing when they offer such a competitive service to those of us that can’t afford to fly in a winged five-star hotel.
In the last decade, the internet has grown at such an exponential rate that Andy Warhol’s famous phrase that ‘everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes’ becomes more of a prophecy than a prediction. Warhol’s interest in celebrity and fame is now replicated throughout the world as the ambition to be famous is more common in children than ay particular profession.
Those searching for their fifteen minutes of fame could do a lot worse than appearing on the internet’s video sharing sites. There are plenty of sites on the web where one could find their time in the spotlight, YouTube, MyVideo, Flickr and Vimeo to name just a few. So what makes a video star on the internet and how do they become the next internet phenomenon?
As mobile phones become increasingly powerful, some of the best internet videos have been filmed on these pocket-sized inventions. One such video appeared on a variety of video sites showing two men arguing aboard a bus in Hong Kong. The six minutes of footage show an older gentleman, known as ‘Bus Uncle’ verbally attacking a man for asking him to be quiet.
The film was taken by a fellow passenger in order to provide evidence in the event that the altercation turned violent. As the clip circulated, its popularity rocketed and became a media phenomenon in Hong Kong. Various phrases from the clip have entered popular culture in Hong Kong, with the words of Bus Uncle appearing in songs and on t-shirts.
A camera phone on public transport caused similar controversy in South Korea in 2005, when a woman was photographed refusing to clean up after her dog. The lady, aboard a Korean subway train, watched as her lap dog defecated on the train’s floor. Refusing to clear the mess up, she even accepted a lady’s tissue, only to wipe the dog’s behind and leave the mess on the floor. After leaving the train at the next stop, her actions would be national news.
The owner of the camera phone posted the images on a popular website in Korea, leading to internet groups discussing and identifying the woman in question. As the vigilante campaign gained momentum, the lady was forced to quit her university course and made a public apology as a plea for calm. Despite her actions, the woman’s punishment at the hands of internet vigilantes seemed to far outweigh the misdemeanor.
Hollywood films have also used the internet’s vastness to promote word-of-mouth advertising. From The Blair Witch Project to Cloverfield, viral advertisements have been used to create a buzz around a film’s release. One film that appeared to do a lot more with the internet interest was Snakes on a Plane, referred to as ‘perhaps the most internet-hyped film of all time’.
As the movie gained popularity with internet users and in chat-rooms, the film’s makes went as far as incorporating online feedback into the script. The movie had become an internet phenomenon long before its planned release, performing disappointingly at the box office despite the intense anticipation. Maybe this is indicative of the internet’s dominance of media in the twenty-first century, or perhaps because internet clips and chat-rooms are free.
‘Never work with children or animals.’ Actor, W.C. Fields, made this comment long before the internet had made stars of so many children and animals. Two of the biggest hits will forever be known as Star Wars Kid and Dramatic Chipmunk. These two video superstars have amassed over a billion views between them.
The Star Wars Kid, as he is affectionately known, is the star of a short video he filmed himself. In the film, Star Wars Kid is seen mimicking Darth Maul with a golf ball retriever in the place of Maul’s double-ended lightsaber. It is estimated that the video has been seen in various guises over 900 million times, making it the most popular video in internet history.
However, the story of the real Star Wars Kid is far more tragic. After being found by one of the boy’s classmates, the clip was shared at school via file-sharing tools and led to him facing taunts and bullying at the hands of his peers. His family eventually won an out-of-court settlement after filing a lawsuit against the perpetrators and their families.
The dramatic gopher or dramatic chipmunk, is a five second clip of a prairie dog (not a gopher or chipmunk) turning round to look at the camera. Accompanied by humorous music to emphasise the sinister look in the prairie dog’s eyes. The dramatic gopher/chipmunk/rat-thing has been duplicated and replicated many times, with more musical remixes and parodies than can be named here.
So, what have we learned from this handful of internet phenomena? There appears to be no guidelines or rule-book when predicting or monitoring the success of viral ads, video clips and online promotions. With such a vast number of video clips being uploaded every day, it is almost impossible to predict the next phenomenon that will grip the internet and its users. Fifteen minutes of fame is now attainable with just a camera and a funny-looking nondescript animal, and for that alone let me say… God Bless the Internet.
For those of you that read my blog titled “Win your fantasy football league in 10 easy steps“, it is time to follow my words with actions.
I told you so...
Admittedly, it is early days but with a strong start I hope to push on and defend my title successfully. This time last year, I was struggling near the foot of the table after not using the league’s transfer system properly.
Keep checking for regular updates and to see if I am all mouth and no trousers, or maybe I am the fantasy football messiah. Time will tell.
Since its original creation and subsequent commercial introduction in the late 1980s, the internet has grown exponentially at an almost limitless speed. The internet, as its predecessors television and radio, is becoming the most dominant media for new marketing techniques. As video killed the radio star, will the internet kill the TV star?
TV advertisements or commercials have evolved. The clear, concise product messages of the past are often replaced with unusual, obscure short films, although some ads will still use the obvious approach when promoting a product. As the internet’s share of commercial sales grows, more companies are using its influence to introduce products to their intended market.
Due to the size and scale of the internet, web advertising needs to be more effective than ever before. At a time where adverts struggle to even reach their target market, viral marketing is quickly becoming a cost-effective as the ‘virus’ concept spreads and more potential customers become ‘infected’. Viral Marketing is generally considered to be video clips, games, images, e-mails and recently text messages.
In the mid 1990s, Hotmail.com was offering free e-mail services, a revolutionary concept at the time. One of the first examples of viral marketing, Hotmail.com would offer free e-mail addresses with a simple promotional tagline. The message would spread through groups and communities rapidly and the campaign was a success. Hotmail.com had made its mark, the product had become well-known and popular and the brand had been established with just a small number of viral messages.
An early successful example of viral marketing enabled The Blair Witch Project (1999) to take 250 million dollars at the box office, with a tiny production budget of just 22,000 dollars. The marketing campaign relied heavily on word-of-mouth promotion, with internet chat rooms building anticipation and intrigue about the film’s content and time of release.
The Blair Witch Project was a movie with actors, however, prior to its release the film was rumoured to be a documentary by college kids that had gone terribly wrong. The rumours spread quickly and the infected would go on to infect more and more people. By the time the film was released, the buzz around it was at fever-pitch. The Blair Witch creators were pioneers of the viral ad, with viral marketing in its early stages - the standard had been set.
A great viral ad will gain attention and intrigue around a product, so consequently the product must be good, if not great. As the money spent on viral ads increases with the format’s popularity, the expectation on each viral will also increase. A viral ad’s success will be judged on the amount of views the clip achieves, not necessarily on the related sales.
Increasing sales is inevitably the main target for any company looking to use viral marketing, but the main objective of the ad will not be to promote a specific product. To prevent the viral being too similar to a conventional advert, the product or company name will not be a prevalent part or will be completely absent from the clip.
Recently, there have been many video clips that the viewer would not immediately associate with the product. A UK television advert for Dairy Milk chocolate emerged in September, 2007, featuring a gorilla playing drums to the Phil Collins song, In The Air Tonight.
The advert, three times the length of a regular TV commercial, begins with a close-up of the gorilla’s face. As the camera begins to pan away, the song begins and the gorilla is seen to be seated behind a drum kit. He creaks his neck before launching into the emphatic drum solo. The final shot is the Dairy Milk logo with its slogan ‘A glass and a half full of joy’. The video currently has about two million views on youtube, a major success as a viral ad.
Companies of all sizes will be looking to benefit from the buzz surrounding viral marketing videos. One of the world’s biggest companies, Nike, launched the legendary video showing Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho hitting the crossbar four times in a row without the ball touching the floor. Viewed over 50 million times, the video is classed as possibly the best viral ever made. The confusion about how genuine the advert was, as seen in the case of The Blair Witch Project, only increased its popularity as communities shared the video and questioned how it was made.
A new viral ad launched by Holiday Extras, the UK-based holiday add-ons company, features comedy actor Paul Kaye as a car-park proprietor. The clip, at 92 seconds, shows an hideous alternative to the service that the company aims to offer the customer. This inversion of a traditional television advertisement shows how far advertising has moved since it inception. Having only recently been launched, it will be interesting to see how many views the video receives.
A successful viral advert relies on viewing figures, not the popularity of the advert itself. The aim of the viral is to launch or reinforce a brand identity and to encourage word-of-mouth promotion. With little or no money involved, the viral can be seen by a massive audience who will then talk about it to non-internet users. As the new media grows, so will the competition, forcing viral ads to be more diverse and attention-grabbing than ever.
So, what will the future hold for viral marketing? As the internet becomes the dominant marketing tool for companies of all kinds, it will be used in different ways to promote products and services. As quickly as the viral marketing epidemic spread, a vaccine may appear in the form of new advertising techniques. It is the companies and advertisers that must stay ahead and attempt to infect the public with progressive, innovative campaigns.
Punk is described in the dictionary as a ‘loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music, popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s’. So, with bands in the 90s and 00s still being labelled as punk, did it really end in the early 80s and if so, why did punk-rock disappear?
The style of music, attitude and fashion that would evolve into ‘punk-rock’ began with the garage rock bands of the late 1960s. Velvet Underground and the Stooges would pave the way for the mohawked, safety-pinned punks of the 1970s, with their raw sound and apparent embrace of the anti-image.
Punk rock, as we know it now, first surfaced in the mid 1970s when the USA, UK and Australia saw the arrival of fast, edgy, simple songs that shocked the music industry to its core. Punk evolved from garage rock and stripped music of its complexities to create a short, sharp sound that contrasted dramatically with the glam-rock and disco of the era.
The sounds coming from USA seemed to find their spiritual home in New York City at the CBGB club in Manhattan. CBGBs began life as a bar, before reopening as a rock club in late 1973. Early Television gigs would set the tone of the club, as the punk sound would gradually gain momentum in the New York music scene. The Ramones, godfathers of three-chord punk, would play their first gig at the venue on August 16, 1974.
Across the Atlantic Ocean, the British were in the middle of the recession and the working classes were looking for an outlet. The Sex Pistols, the new band managed by Malcolm McLaren, played their first ever gig at St. Martin’s College on November 6, 1975. The Sex Pistols, fronted by punk icon Johnny Rotten, epitomised the anarchy, anger and fury of England’s youth and quickly gained notoriety for their fast, furious and chaotic performances.
The influence of the Ramones clearly went further than the New York scene. Britain embraced the punk rock movement with some of the most-influential bands originating in the English scene, The Clash, The Damned and Buzzcocks as well as Cockney Rejects and Crass. However, punk wasn’t limited to the UK and USA as the antipodean punks would follow on from the New York and London.
Australia was the next country to face the punk invasion when The Saints released their first single in 1976. Formed in Brisbane in 1974, The Saints demonstrated the same quick, raw sounds as their overseas contemporaries. Bob Geldof put the Australian band in the same bracket as the influential UK punks when he said “Rock music in the 70s was changed by three bands - the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and The Saints.”
On December 1, 1976, the Sex Pistols appeared on Thames Today, a prime-time London TV show. The show’s host, Bill Grundy, inadvisably goaded the band and provoked a foul-mouthed response from guitarist Steve Jones. The profanities would spark media controversy that would only serve to fuel the fire of punk in the British youth. Punk had truly arrived.
As punk moved from the underground clubs to the mainstream, the fashion, attitude and behaviour would be replicated. The Sex Pistols would self-destruct after just one studio album at the end of a tour of the US. At the end of a chaotic gig at the Winterland Ballroom on January 1978, Johnny Rotten addressed the crowd with “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”. This appeared to be mocking the crowd, however, it was the same feeling that Rotten had while playing in a band where he felt let down and isolated. Rotten left The Pistols and the band was finished.
Although the Pistols would attempt to carry under on under Malcolm McLaren’s guidance, the band was finished. As soon as punk had arrived, the genre had its first high-profile casualty. The Ramones would continue touring and playing for about 22 years, with a consistent line-up. The Clash would evolve and develop, becoming a major success in the USA disappointing many of their original fan-base with their newer, polished sound.
Punk arrived amidst a barrage of spit and obscenities, with such a fierce intensity that its shelf-life was inevitably short. As soon as the mainstream caught on to its popularity in the underground, pop-culture diluted the anarchic, angry, rage into a more profitable and contrived revolution. Punk bands wore the right clothes and said the right things to make some people lot of money.
Malcolm McLaren would epitomise this attitude with the amount of merchandise, recordings and eventually a movie to which he would attach the Sex Pistols name. It had begun as a snarl against the establishment but had quickly become a way to make a lot of money from a few ambitious boys from London. The time had passed, punk had erupted and dissolved in a heartbeat, but its influence would be felt for many years to come.
As an impatient, restless and easily-bored person, the idea of hours in a plane, car or train is not an attractive proposition. Planes are the worst for feeling restricted and confined, especially when you have long legs and aren’t lucky enough to get an aisle seat or additional leg-room. So, as you prepare for the long journey ahead, take a look at the following list and ensure you are well prepared.
Remember, once you are on that plane, there is no getting off to buy those things that you wish you had packed. Trains and cars offer a more flexible system, but you should still follow the same rules. You never know when you will get the chance to fill your bags with these life-saving items, so always prepare before you even start that journey.
The most uncomfortable part of the plane journey is not necessarily the plane or the journey. As Jean-Paul Sartre exclaimed in his play No Exit - “Hell is other people.” This famous phrase can often describe the feeling of annoyance as the noise, smell or constant nudging of your seat neighbour begins to irritate you to an almost psychopathic extent. There are many things that you can use to distract from this irritant, and you may need to use all of them.
The modern-day traveller has an endless amount of technology at their fingertips, and the aeroplane is the perfect place to take advantage of such great inventions. Mobile telephones are slowly becoming allowed some usage on planes, but until then, technology fans can make use of the other top inventions of the last century, the digital audio player and the handheld video game console.
The digital audio player or MP3 player offers a more convenient, streamlined and powerful version of the portable cassette player. Ten to twenty years ago, passengers would be carrying a brick-sized tape player, accompanied by a clutch of various cassettes with all their favourite tunes to keep them occupied and entertained. Today, the process is so much more simple.
A couple of weeks before your flight, download the songs that you want, put them onto your MP3 player and ensure that it is fully charged. Pack it in your hand luggage and prepare for a journey with the sound of decent music in your ears, rather than the horrendous screech of children or the monotonous drone of ‘that’ man that loves the sound of his own voice. If you don’t know who that person is, then it is probably you.
For those people old enough to remember Tetris, Sonic and Super-Mario, the next item will provoke nostalgia and emotional memories. As a child, journeys would fly by with the simple friendship of the handheld video game. There are so many of these to choose from, with simple often being the most effective. Hours will seem like minutes as you become so involved in the games, that when you close your eyes, the scenarios reappear in your mind and you continue playing them until you eventually fall asleep.
If technology is not your strong point, or your budget doesn’t stretch to these electronic saviours, there are cheaper alternatives that have been delaying boredom for hundreds of years. Magazines and newspapers can keep you interested for some time, with the additional bonus of a crossword or quiz to take up a few more precious minutes.
As a restless person, when taking magazines onto a plane, I often become annoyed with the magazine itself and regret wasting the money on purchasing it. You can buy a quiz-book or book of puzzles as these can help distract your mind for longer periods than celebrity-filled trash at three pound a go.
Facing hours on a plane and with early or late boarding times, a passenger may not have the opportunity to eat before their flight. Nearly all planes offer hot food when you travel now, but don’t expect a michelin-star meal or you may be terribly disappointed. Pack a few snacks and treats into your hand luggage, and enjoy the foods that you love without paying the sky-high prices on board.
Hand luggage is becoming increasingly important and the planning and preparation stage should be taken seriously. With more restrictions and rules in place, what you take on board will be closely monitored. Adhering to the rules, but packing important items that will help you enjoy your flight, will ensure that long-distance plane journey will fly by in the blink of an eye.
Pickard