Move over, Cooking Mama. Mario Batali, Masaharu Morimoto, and Cat Cora are horning in on your virtual kitchen with the new video game “Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine.”
Due to hit stores sometime around October 25, “Supreme Cuisine” offers you the chance to “cook” on your Nintendo Wii or DS game system, much like “Cooking Mama.” This isn’t Mama’s kitchen, though. Not only will you be battling three of the real Iron Chefs in your virtual Kitchen Stadium, but you’ll be expected to work on multiple dishes at once, all while battling the clock, just like contestants on the show.
And the best part? You also get your own virtual Alton Brown as commentator. Virtual Alton isn’t quite as cute as the real thing, but since I’ll probably never have real Alton in my living room, I suppose it’s a fair trade. The Chairman is there, too, as portrayed by actor Mark Dacascos (also recently seen as Sensei Ping in my favorite summer television show, “The Middleman”).
I found out about the game while surfing Alton’s website, but you can get more details at the game’s official site, including an image gallery that shows off the characters as well as the food.
From what I can see so far, the game looks absolutely beautiful. The graphics used for the food are more reminiscent of Pixar’s Ratatouille than “Cooking Mama.” And while the game motions appear to be fairly similar to those required in Mama’s kitchen, it definitely appears to be more of a challenge overall — which ought to be interesting, considering Mama’s not easy to please. Priced at $39.99 for the Wii and $29.99 for the DS, “Supreme Cuisine” costs a bit more than “Cooking Mama,” but is more than reasonably priced compared to other Nintendo games, or even other video games in general.
And to me, at least, it looks to be totally worth it. “Iron Chef: Supreme Cuisine” combines three of my favorite things — food, television, and video games (four, if you count Alton Brown). What more could a geek like me ask for?
Allez cuisine, indeed.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
My Favorite Time of the Year — TV Time!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
No, not that time. No trees, no presents to buy, no joyous music that makes you think you’d rather have a sharp stick in the eye than hear one more chorus of “Jingle Bells.”
No, it’s WAY better than that — a whole season of brand new television to watch!
It’s hard to believe that summer is over already, but the networks will roll out season premieres beginning next Monday. The first week of premieres will include:
Monday, September 1 — “Prison Break,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Two full hours!
Tuesday, September 2 — “90210,” The CW, 7 p.m. CDT. Also two hours. (Yeah, I’m gonna give it a try. Watched the old one, too. What’s your point?) If “90210” isn’t your thing, do yourself a favor and spend that night watching a repeat of the two-part finale of “House” — these two episodes, titled “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart,” are two of the best hours of television ever made.
Wednesday, September 3 — “Bones,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Again, two hours! The television gods are definitely smiling on me.
If all goes as planned, I’ll be inspired to check in with recaps and comments for these sometime next week. For a full list of fall premiere dates, click here.
No, not that time. No trees, no presents to buy, no joyous music that makes you think you’d rather have a sharp stick in the eye than hear one more chorus of “Jingle Bells.”
No, it’s WAY better than that — a whole season of brand new television to watch!
It’s hard to believe that summer is over already, but the networks will roll out season premieres beginning next Monday. The first week of premieres will include:
Monday, September 1 — “Prison Break,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Two full hours!
Tuesday, September 2 — “90210,” The CW, 7 p.m. CDT. Also two hours. (Yeah, I’m gonna give it a try. Watched the old one, too. What’s your point?) If “90210” isn’t your thing, do yourself a favor and spend that night watching a repeat of the two-part finale of “House” — these two episodes, titled “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart,” are two of the best hours of television ever made.
Wednesday, September 3 — “Bones,” FOX, 7 p.m. CDT. Again, two hours! The television gods are definitely smiling on me.
If all goes as planned, I’ll be inspired to check in with recaps and comments for these sometime next week. For a full list of fall premiere dates, click here.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Saturday Night at Bigfoot Lodge
As much as I detest the constant “what are we going to have for dinner?” debate, I do love that it takes us to some odd places at odd times. Last night, the debate started pretty late, so our options were limited. We wanted Soul Fish, but by the time we got all the way in from the ‘burbs, it was closing in less than an hour and had already emptied out. EAToo said it was a shame we didn’t have our coupons for Bigfoot Lodge with us. I replied that they weren’t good on Saturday, anyway, but that it sounded great and isn’t all that expensive. So off we went.
It turned out to be a great idea. We found a parking spot downtown without too much trouble — kudos to the guy who parallel-parked his ginormous white SUV behind us on Gayoso after the little Yaris left, without messing up our new car. (EAToo did an excellent job with the parallel parking as well.) Even better, after we got inside Bigfoot, our “10-15 minute” wait suddenly morphed into about five minutes. Woo-hoo!
Bigfoot Lodge is one of my favorite places, for several reasons. The food is always good and relatively inexpensive, the portions are huge, and the service is always dead on. Plus, we again defended our title as the “World’s Greatest Aunt and Uncle” the night we took the princess there and got the make-your-own s’mores. Baby girl apparently enjoys fire and toasted marshmallows just as much as her aunt does.
Last night’s trip turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. One reason was the music. Bigfoot has a great digital jukebox, and apparently someone our age had gotten hold of it right before we got there. When we arrived, Journey’s “Faithfully” was playing. A few songs later, “Elvira,” by The Oak Ridge Boys, came on, at which point we could overhear one of the managers explaining that the song was “really big at the skating rink” and yelling, “Wait! Here comes the bass part!” (Admit it – if you’ve ever heard the song, you know you love it.) I, myself, was belting out “Summer Nights” from Grease — fortunately, the place is loud enough that no one could really hear, so we weren’t thrown out.
One thing I don’t always like at Bigfoot is sitting in the front window. The entire front of the restaurant is glassed-in, and I always feel like the exhibit in a people aquarium. So I was glad we were sitting back just a bit last night. Right up until we had a bit of a celebrity sighting outside the window. Watching the people walk by outside, I turned to EAToo and said “That’s funny. That kind of looks like — it is! It’s Joey Dorsey!” My suspicions were soon confirmed by the crowd that was forming around him, cell phone cameras in hand. Just as I have always heard, the 6'8" Tigers’ forward was extremely gracious to his fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs, with that big, sweet, genuine grin he’s so well-known for. It’s obvious watching him that he still can’t believe he’s such a rock star around these parts. Just for a second, I kind of wanted to go outside and get a picture (and I probably would have taken the kids outside if we’d had them last night — they both adore him), but the poor guy was getting mobbed badly enough already. Besides, we had some serious food on the way....
Especially since EAToo and I finally decided to try Bigfoot’s signature appetizer, the “Poutine.” (That’s pronounced “pooh-tin”, by the way.) I wish I could have taken a picture, but I hadn’t been planning on blogging — as far as I knew, we were just as likely to end up at Krystal last night. But I will do my best to describe the Canadian wonder that is poutine in words, instead. The dish begins with a ginormous plate of french fries. (And make no mistake — at Bigfoot, these puppies have never been frozen and do not originate from a plastic bag.) I don’t eat fries out a lot, anyway, but I always make an exception for the handmade ones at Bigfoot.
But these weren’t just fries. Oh, no — these were covered (dare I say bathed?) in a beautiful brown gravy which was perfectly seasoned and not a bit too salty. Also included was a lovely, fresh cheese. I’m still not sure what kind of cheese, but it’s a lovely, fresh one, about the same texture as fresh mozzarella. The curds, like fresh mozzarella, were soft enough to melt just a bit in the hot gravy, without disappearing entirely. And the proportions were perfect — it was possible to get fries, cheese, and sufficient gravy with every bite. EAToo enjoyed them as much as I did, which is a grand endorsement, considering that he has issues with most of the softer cheeses. If I had any argument at all with the poutine, it was that it’s a big enough appetizer for at least four people — and EAToo and I probably shouldn’t have tackled it alone.
We followed that up with a burger for EAToo — the “Four Cheese” — although he would have been happy to skip the American and make it a “Three Cheese” with the Cheddar, Jack, and Swiss. (No, even EAToo wouldn’t try to eat the entire four-pound “Sasquatch” burger alone in an hour, although he has shared it with friends before.) Bigfoot is one of the few places where he can order his burger medium rare and I can order mine well done, and we both get what we want. I had the “Asian Egg Roll Salad.” I’m not normally a salad kind of girl, but who can argue with a salad topped with sesame seeds, fried wontons, and egg rolls stuffed with pork shoulder barbecue and slaw? Not me, especially if the whole mess is covered with Bigfoot’s light but flavorful sesame ginger dressing.
We didn’t have any room for dessert last night, thanks to the poutine. But Bigfoot does have a wonderful dessert menu as well. They also have great sandwiches, including a really good bratwurst and an amazing pork tenderloin sandwich — the night I ordered it, I had to trim so much meat off the thing just to be able to pick it up that I could have had a second sandwich. They also have a really good, reasonably priced kids’ menu. You can check out the entire menu here.
Obviously, EAToo and I don’t really get the idea of “too far to drive for food.” But we hear that some people do, so here’s some good news for those of you who may not want to make the trek to downtown Memphis to sample the wonders of Bigfoot Lodge. According to this post, the owners are currently asking for input on where to locate Bigfoot #2. I’ll keep my ear to the ground and post about it if I hear any further news.
Bigfoot Lodge
97 S. Second Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 578-9800
Open 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 a.m.
Seven days a week
It turned out to be a great idea. We found a parking spot downtown without too much trouble — kudos to the guy who parallel-parked his ginormous white SUV behind us on Gayoso after the little Yaris left, without messing up our new car. (EAToo did an excellent job with the parallel parking as well.) Even better, after we got inside Bigfoot, our “10-15 minute” wait suddenly morphed into about five minutes. Woo-hoo!
Bigfoot Lodge is one of my favorite places, for several reasons. The food is always good and relatively inexpensive, the portions are huge, and the service is always dead on. Plus, we again defended our title as the “World’s Greatest Aunt and Uncle” the night we took the princess there and got the make-your-own s’mores. Baby girl apparently enjoys fire and toasted marshmallows just as much as her aunt does.
Last night’s trip turned out to be one of my all-time favorites. One reason was the music. Bigfoot has a great digital jukebox, and apparently someone our age had gotten hold of it right before we got there. When we arrived, Journey’s “Faithfully” was playing. A few songs later, “Elvira,” by The Oak Ridge Boys, came on, at which point we could overhear one of the managers explaining that the song was “really big at the skating rink” and yelling, “Wait! Here comes the bass part!” (Admit it – if you’ve ever heard the song, you know you love it.) I, myself, was belting out “Summer Nights” from Grease — fortunately, the place is loud enough that no one could really hear, so we weren’t thrown out.
One thing I don’t always like at Bigfoot is sitting in the front window. The entire front of the restaurant is glassed-in, and I always feel like the exhibit in a people aquarium. So I was glad we were sitting back just a bit last night. Right up until we had a bit of a celebrity sighting outside the window. Watching the people walk by outside, I turned to EAToo and said “That’s funny. That kind of looks like — it is! It’s Joey Dorsey!” My suspicions were soon confirmed by the crowd that was forming around him, cell phone cameras in hand. Just as I have always heard, the 6'8" Tigers’ forward was extremely gracious to his fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs, with that big, sweet, genuine grin he’s so well-known for. It’s obvious watching him that he still can’t believe he’s such a rock star around these parts. Just for a second, I kind of wanted to go outside and get a picture (and I probably would have taken the kids outside if we’d had them last night — they both adore him), but the poor guy was getting mobbed badly enough already. Besides, we had some serious food on the way....
Especially since EAToo and I finally decided to try Bigfoot’s signature appetizer, the “Poutine.” (That’s pronounced “pooh-tin”, by the way.) I wish I could have taken a picture, but I hadn’t been planning on blogging — as far as I knew, we were just as likely to end up at Krystal last night. But I will do my best to describe the Canadian wonder that is poutine in words, instead. The dish begins with a ginormous plate of french fries. (And make no mistake — at Bigfoot, these puppies have never been frozen and do not originate from a plastic bag.) I don’t eat fries out a lot, anyway, but I always make an exception for the handmade ones at Bigfoot.
But these weren’t just fries. Oh, no — these were covered (dare I say bathed?) in a beautiful brown gravy which was perfectly seasoned and not a bit too salty. Also included was a lovely, fresh cheese. I’m still not sure what kind of cheese, but it’s a lovely, fresh one, about the same texture as fresh mozzarella. The curds, like fresh mozzarella, were soft enough to melt just a bit in the hot gravy, without disappearing entirely. And the proportions were perfect — it was possible to get fries, cheese, and sufficient gravy with every bite. EAToo enjoyed them as much as I did, which is a grand endorsement, considering that he has issues with most of the softer cheeses. If I had any argument at all with the poutine, it was that it’s a big enough appetizer for at least four people — and EAToo and I probably shouldn’t have tackled it alone.
We followed that up with a burger for EAToo — the “Four Cheese” — although he would have been happy to skip the American and make it a “Three Cheese” with the Cheddar, Jack, and Swiss. (No, even EAToo wouldn’t try to eat the entire four-pound “Sasquatch” burger alone in an hour, although he has shared it with friends before.) Bigfoot is one of the few places where he can order his burger medium rare and I can order mine well done, and we both get what we want. I had the “Asian Egg Roll Salad.” I’m not normally a salad kind of girl, but who can argue with a salad topped with sesame seeds, fried wontons, and egg rolls stuffed with pork shoulder barbecue and slaw? Not me, especially if the whole mess is covered with Bigfoot’s light but flavorful sesame ginger dressing.
We didn’t have any room for dessert last night, thanks to the poutine. But Bigfoot does have a wonderful dessert menu as well. They also have great sandwiches, including a really good bratwurst and an amazing pork tenderloin sandwich — the night I ordered it, I had to trim so much meat off the thing just to be able to pick it up that I could have had a second sandwich. They also have a really good, reasonably priced kids’ menu. You can check out the entire menu here.
Obviously, EAToo and I don’t really get the idea of “too far to drive for food.” But we hear that some people do, so here’s some good news for those of you who may not want to make the trek to downtown Memphis to sample the wonders of Bigfoot Lodge. According to this post, the owners are currently asking for input on where to locate Bigfoot #2. I’ll keep my ear to the ground and post about it if I hear any further news.
Bigfoot Lodge
97 S. Second Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 578-9800
Open 11:00 a.m. – 2:30 a.m.
Seven days a week
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Your Chance to Vote for the Emmys!
Ok, well, maybe not exactly.
Or, you know, at all.
But you can vote in the online contest for “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” — the winners will be shown during the 60th Annual Emmys telecast on Sunday, September 21.
Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the Emmys. They usually only serve to irritate me, as the same few shows and actors win over and over, especially during the last decade or so, when some truly brilliant people and shows have been overlooked just because they were on broadcast television instead of cable. I mean, honestly — someone should get Hugh Laurie an Emmy, about five minutes ago, just for his American accent. Or his gorgeous eyes. But I digress...
This year, I actually have a few dogs in the Emmy fight, including “Lost”, “House”, “Pushing Daisies”, and “Mad Men”.
So I’m watching the press on it a bit more closely than usual, and found this story about the “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” competition. As always, I was a little skeptical, since the Emmys don’t usually congratulate cutting-edge television. But as the article mentioned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, I decided to at least take a look.
Even if you don’t vote, I’d definitely suggest taking a look at the nominees for a great walk down television memory lane. I recognized many of them from the pictures on the links, but each has a video clip attached as well. The comedy clips ranged from the brilliant (Suzanne Pleshette’s surprise cameo at the end of “Newhart”), to the iconic (Lucille Ball’s candy conveyor belt schtick from “I Love Lucy”), to the downright confusing (“American Idol”? Even if you must lump music moments in with comedy... American Idol?!?!).
I ended up voting for Carol Burnett — even 32 years later, her “Went with the Wind” skit still cracks me up every time; when complimented on her dress made from drapery — curtain rod still attached — she replies, “I saw it in the window and I just had to have it.”
The drama clips cover a bit more random ground, but I guess there’s at least something there for everyone. I’ve never been a big fan of “Miami Vice” or “Grey’s Anatomy”. (There. I said it. I don’t watch Grey’s. I’ll probably lose my girl card over saying so, but it’s true.) But the “Moonlighting” clip of Maddie and Dave’s fight-turned-passion is just as powerful as it was 20 years ago. And they even threw in a smattering of great sci-fi moments, from “The Twilight Zone” (in case you weren’t aware, To Serve Humans is a cookbook), “Star Trek” (Harland Ellison’s legendary “City on the Edge of Forever”), and my all-time favorite scene from “The X-Files”. Was Mulder finally kissing Scully onscreen a “memorable moment”? Why, yes, it certainly was.
Ultimately, though, I had to go with “Buffy.” The “blue ribbon panel” chose Buffy’s death scene from “The Gift.” Now, I’m not convinced that “Buffy” was even Joss Whedon’s best television show. And “The Gift” is easily the second-best episode of “Buffy”, behind “The Body”. But much like my comedy pick, years later, I still cry every time I see Buffy Summers say good-bye to her sister and sacrifice herself to save the world.
My only nitpick with the clips, overall, was that a couple of the comedy clips were far too dramatic, and kind of belonged in the other category. I don’t care if “M*A*S*H” was a sitcom. The scene where Radar enters the operating room to announce Henry Blake’s death? Well, it’s apples and oranges. You can’t really compare it to the funny stuff.
So vote now, and go back and vote again when the second round picks up on Tuesday, September 9. Even if the Emmys ultimately get it wrong (again) this year, they’re making an effort to celebrate great television, and I think we should reward them for it by participating.
Unfortunately, there’s no ballot to vote against Ryan Seacrest as one of the Emmy hosts. Oh, well. I guess you can’t have everything.
Or, you know, at all.
But you can vote in the online contest for “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” — the winners will be shown during the 60th Annual Emmys telecast on Sunday, September 21.
Normally, I don’t pay much attention to the Emmys. They usually only serve to irritate me, as the same few shows and actors win over and over, especially during the last decade or so, when some truly brilliant people and shows have been overlooked just because they were on broadcast television instead of cable. I mean, honestly — someone should get Hugh Laurie an Emmy, about five minutes ago, just for his American accent. Or his gorgeous eyes. But I digress...
This year, I actually have a few dogs in the Emmy fight, including “Lost”, “House”, “Pushing Daisies”, and “Mad Men”.
So I’m watching the press on it a bit more closely than usual, and found this story about the “Television’s Most Memorable Moments” competition. As always, I was a little skeptical, since the Emmys don’t usually congratulate cutting-edge television. But as the article mentioned “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, I decided to at least take a look.
Even if you don’t vote, I’d definitely suggest taking a look at the nominees for a great walk down television memory lane. I recognized many of them from the pictures on the links, but each has a video clip attached as well. The comedy clips ranged from the brilliant (Suzanne Pleshette’s surprise cameo at the end of “Newhart”), to the iconic (Lucille Ball’s candy conveyor belt schtick from “I Love Lucy”), to the downright confusing (“American Idol”? Even if you must lump music moments in with comedy... American Idol?!?!).
I ended up voting for Carol Burnett — even 32 years later, her “Went with the Wind” skit still cracks me up every time; when complimented on her dress made from drapery — curtain rod still attached — she replies, “I saw it in the window and I just had to have it.”
The drama clips cover a bit more random ground, but I guess there’s at least something there for everyone. I’ve never been a big fan of “Miami Vice” or “Grey’s Anatomy”. (There. I said it. I don’t watch Grey’s. I’ll probably lose my girl card over saying so, but it’s true.) But the “Moonlighting” clip of Maddie and Dave’s fight-turned-passion is just as powerful as it was 20 years ago. And they even threw in a smattering of great sci-fi moments, from “The Twilight Zone” (in case you weren’t aware, To Serve Humans is a cookbook), “Star Trek” (Harland Ellison’s legendary “City on the Edge of Forever”), and my all-time favorite scene from “The X-Files”. Was Mulder finally kissing Scully onscreen a “memorable moment”? Why, yes, it certainly was.
Ultimately, though, I had to go with “Buffy.” The “blue ribbon panel” chose Buffy’s death scene from “The Gift.” Now, I’m not convinced that “Buffy” was even Joss Whedon’s best television show. And “The Gift” is easily the second-best episode of “Buffy”, behind “The Body”. But much like my comedy pick, years later, I still cry every time I see Buffy Summers say good-bye to her sister and sacrifice herself to save the world.
My only nitpick with the clips, overall, was that a couple of the comedy clips were far too dramatic, and kind of belonged in the other category. I don’t care if “M*A*S*H” was a sitcom. The scene where Radar enters the operating room to announce Henry Blake’s death? Well, it’s apples and oranges. You can’t really compare it to the funny stuff.
So vote now, and go back and vote again when the second round picks up on Tuesday, September 9. Even if the Emmys ultimately get it wrong (again) this year, they’re making an effort to celebrate great television, and I think we should reward them for it by participating.
Unfortunately, there’s no ballot to vote against Ryan Seacrest as one of the Emmy hosts. Oh, well. I guess you can’t have everything.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Harry Potter and the Ginormous Marketing Blunder
Okay, let’s get it out of the way — I’ve been a bad, bad blogger. My only excuse is the insufferable wall of heat that hits Memphis every year, making everyone (meaning: me) not want to do anything until it's over. And lucky me, it came early this year.
(Well, it’s not exactly my only excuse... but more on that later in the week.)
But the heat wave has broken now, so it’s time to blog again. Plus, I’m really mad and I need to rant.
It came to my attention on Thursday night that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, previously scheduled for a November 21 release, has been pushed back to next summer, and is now set to premiere on July 17, 2009. This irritates me, for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of which is that it totally ruins my plans for my birthday this year, on November 22.
But even more irritating than finding out that I would have to wait an extra eight months for the movie was the way in which the news was presented. Now, I understand the decision from a business perspective — sort of. Obviously, the writers’ strike took longer to become obvious in movie theatres than it did on television screens, due to the exponentially longer production schedules, so it makes sense that Warner Bros. wants to spread a bit of the wealth into next year. Of course, I’m sure The Dark Knight is partially responsible as well, causing those at the WB to be concerned about keeping their overall profits up next year.
That’s all well and good. It doesn’t excuse the fact, however, that Warner Bros. announced their decision in what can only be described as a textbook example of how to outrage their customers. So, just in case a situation like this arises again, I’m offering the guys in charge at the WB some free advice on public relations:
1. The fans are not stupid.
In an effort to put a happy face on the news, Jeff Robinov, president of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, was quoted as saying that “The good news (for fans) is that the gap will now be shortened between ‘Half Blood Prince’ and the first part of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’” Oh. So we should be grateful to the studio for putting off the premiere. They’re just doing us a favor.
I hate to be the one to tell Mr. Robinov that most Harry Potter fans are smart enough to figure out that it also lengthens the gap between Half Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix. If you must give the fans bad news, at least don’t underestimate their intelligence and try to convince them to be happy about it. The only people grateful to Warner Bros. over this move are the people who produced Twilight.
2. Don’t taunt the fans.
Warner Bros. president Alan Horn took a different approach in trying to reassure fans. He told reporters that “I’ve seen the movie. It’s fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”
Now, I’m not advocating lying to the fans, or trying to mislead them in any way (see no. 1). But really? You honestly think it softens the blow to mention that you’ve already seen it, and it’s great? I imagine that quote spoken in the voice of Nelson from The Simpsons, followed by “I’ve seen it and you can’t! And I could have let you if I wanted to! Ha ha!” I mean, really?
3. Don’t make matters worse by embarrassing your own company.
Not handling your fans well is one thing, but hanging one of your corporate subsidiaries out to dry? Of course, we don’t know exactly when Warner Bros. made this decision. But you would hope they would have done so early enough to get out ahead of the annual “fall movie” media blitz. And if not, you’d think they still would have had enough class to give a “heads up” to the folks at Entertainment Weekly. Also a division of Warner Bros., EW put out their annual Fall Movie Preview issue this week, only to be embarrassed Here’s the cover:
Um, yeah. ‘Cause that’s not embarrassing or awkward. At all.
Of course, I’m still planning on my usual ritual of re-reading all of the books, followed by seeing the movie as early as I possibly can. Preferably in IMAX. (Did I mention that I’m a geek?) But I refuse to be happy or grateful about the delay, no matter what anyone at the WB says.
If they wanted fans to keep the fans happy (or at least relatively non-violent) despite the postponement, it would have been much easier to deflect the bad publicity by focusing on this. If it’s true, I’m pretty sure it will definitely make everyone forget about the release date.
(Well, it’s not exactly my only excuse... but more on that later in the week.)
But the heat wave has broken now, so it’s time to blog again. Plus, I’m really mad and I need to rant.
It came to my attention on Thursday night that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, previously scheduled for a November 21 release, has been pushed back to next summer, and is now set to premiere on July 17, 2009. This irritates me, for a multitude of reasons. Not the least of which is that it totally ruins my plans for my birthday this year, on November 22.
But even more irritating than finding out that I would have to wait an extra eight months for the movie was the way in which the news was presented. Now, I understand the decision from a business perspective — sort of. Obviously, the writers’ strike took longer to become obvious in movie theatres than it did on television screens, due to the exponentially longer production schedules, so it makes sense that Warner Bros. wants to spread a bit of the wealth into next year. Of course, I’m sure The Dark Knight is partially responsible as well, causing those at the WB to be concerned about keeping their overall profits up next year.
That’s all well and good. It doesn’t excuse the fact, however, that Warner Bros. announced their decision in what can only be described as a textbook example of how to outrage their customers. So, just in case a situation like this arises again, I’m offering the guys in charge at the WB some free advice on public relations:
1. The fans are not stupid.
In an effort to put a happy face on the news, Jeff Robinov, president of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, was quoted as saying that “The good news (for fans) is that the gap will now be shortened between ‘Half Blood Prince’ and the first part of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.’” Oh. So we should be grateful to the studio for putting off the premiere. They’re just doing us a favor.
I hate to be the one to tell Mr. Robinov that most Harry Potter fans are smart enough to figure out that it also lengthens the gap between Half Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix. If you must give the fans bad news, at least don’t underestimate their intelligence and try to convince them to be happy about it. The only people grateful to Warner Bros. over this move are the people who produced Twilight.
2. Don’t taunt the fans.
Warner Bros. president Alan Horn took a different approach in trying to reassure fans. He told reporters that “I’ve seen the movie. It’s fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”
Now, I’m not advocating lying to the fans, or trying to mislead them in any way (see no. 1). But really? You honestly think it softens the blow to mention that you’ve already seen it, and it’s great? I imagine that quote spoken in the voice of Nelson from The Simpsons, followed by “I’ve seen it and you can’t! And I could have let you if I wanted to! Ha ha!” I mean, really?
3. Don’t make matters worse by embarrassing your own company.
Not handling your fans well is one thing, but hanging one of your corporate subsidiaries out to dry? Of course, we don’t know exactly when Warner Bros. made this decision. But you would hope they would have done so early enough to get out ahead of the annual “fall movie” media blitz. And if not, you’d think they still would have had enough class to give a “heads up” to the folks at Entertainment Weekly. Also a division of Warner Bros., EW put out their annual Fall Movie Preview issue this week, only to be embarrassed Here’s the cover:
Um, yeah. ‘Cause that’s not embarrassing or awkward. At all.
Of course, I’m still planning on my usual ritual of re-reading all of the books, followed by seeing the movie as early as I possibly can. Preferably in IMAX. (Did I mention that I’m a geek?) But I refuse to be happy or grateful about the delay, no matter what anyone at the WB says.
If they wanted fans to keep the fans happy (or at least relatively non-violent) despite the postponement, it would have been much easier to deflect the bad publicity by focusing on this. If it’s true, I’m pretty sure it will definitely make everyone forget about the release date.
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