Heath Ledger Found Dead in NYC at Age 28

NEW YORK (AP) - Heath Ledger, the talented 28-year-old actor who gravitated toward dark, brooding roles that defied his leading-man looks, was found dead Tuesday in a Manhattan apartment, facedown at the foot of his bed with prescription sleeping pills nearby, police said.

There was no obvious indication that the Australian-born Ledger had committed suicide, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.

Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the SoHo apartment that is believed to be the home of the "Brokeback Mountain" actor, Browne said. The massage therapist and a housekeeper found his naked body at about 3:30 p.m. They tried to revive him, but he was already dead.

"I had such great hope for him," said Mel Gibson, who played Ledger's vengeful father in "The Patriot," in a statement. "He was just taking off and to lose his life at such a young age is a tragic loss."

Outside the Manhattan building on an upscale street, paparazzi and gawkers gathered, and several police officers put up barricades to control the crowd of about 300. Onlookers craned their necks as officers brought out a black bodybag on a gurney, took it across the sidewalk and put it into a medical examiner's office van.

As the door opened, bystanders snapped pictures with camera phones, rolled video and said, "He's coming out!"

An autopsy was planned for Wednesday, medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.

While not a marquee movie star, Ledger was an award-winning actor who chose his roles carefully rather than cashing in on big-money parts. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain." During filming, he met Michelle Williams, who played his wife in the film. The two had a daughter, now 2-year-old Matilda, and lived together in Brooklyn until they split up last year.

It was a shocking and unforeseen conclusion for one of Hollywood's bright young stars. Though his leading man looks propelled him to early stardom in films like "10 Things I Hate About You" and "A Knight's Tale," his career took a notable turn toward dramatic and brooding roles with 2001's "Monster's Ball."

(AP) The body of actor Heath Ledger is removed from a Soho apartment by the NYC Medical Examiner team... Full Image

Ledger's publicist, Mara Buxbaum, said in a statement: "We are all deeply saddened and shocked by this accident. This is an extremely difficult time for his loved ones and we are asking the media to please respect the family's privacy and avoid speculation until the facts are known."

In the Australian city of Perth, where Ledger was born and raised, his father called the actor's death "tragic, untimely and accidental."

"He was (a) down-to-earth, generous, kind-hearted, life-loving, unselfish individual, extremely inspirational to many," Kim Ledger said, reading from a prepared statement. "Heath has touched so many people on so many different levels during his short life."

Ledger eschewed Hollywood glitz in favor of a bohemian life in Brooklyn, where he became one of the borough's most famous residents. "Brokeback" would be his breakthrough role, establishing him as one of his generation's finest talents and an actor willing to take risks.

Ledger began to gravitate more toward independent fare, including Lasse Hallstrom's "Casanova" and Terry Gilliam's "The Brothers Grimm," both released in 2005. His 2006 film "Candy" now seems destined to have an especially haunting quality: In a particularly realistic performance, Ledger played a poet wrestling with a heroin addiction along with his girlfriend, played by Abbie Cornish.

(AP) Australian actor Heath Ledger poses at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., in this... Full Image

But Ledger's most recent choices were arguably the boldest yet: He costarred in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan - as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the "Batman" villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.

Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan said this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.

"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Ledger told The New York Times in a November interview that he "stressed out a little too much" during the Dylan film and had trouble sleeping while portraying the Joker, whom he called a "psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

(AP) Actor Heath Ledger attends a special Cinema Society and Hogan hosted screening of "I'm Not There"... Full Image

"Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night," Ledger told the newspaper. "I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going." He said he took two Ambien pills, which worked for only an hour, the paper said.

Ledger was a widely recognized figure in his Manhattan neighborhood, where he used to shop at a home and children's store. Michelle Vella, an employee there, said she had frequently seen Ledger with his daughter - carrying the toddler on his shoulders, or having ice cream with her.

"It's so sad. They were really close," Vella said. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and an amazing father."

Before settling down with Williams, Ledger had relationships with actresses Heather Graham and Naomi Watts. He met Watts while working on "The Lords of Dogtown," a fictionalized version of a cult classic skateboarding documentary, in 2004.

Ledger was born in 1979 to a mining engineer and a French teacher and got his first acting role playing Peter Pan at age 10 in a local theater company. He began acting in independent films as a 16-year-old in Sydney and played a cyclist hoping to land a spot on an Olympic team in a 1996 television show, "Seat."

After several independent films, Ledger moved to Los Angeles at age 19 and starred opposite Julia Stiles in "10 Things I Hate About You." Offers for other teen flicks soon came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, 'You're crazy,' my parents were like, 'Come on, you have to eat.'"

Actor Brad Renfro Dead At 25

Actor Brad Renfro is dead, the Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed to Access Hollywood.

Renfro's body was discovered at his home in the Wilshire area of Los Angeles, by his girlfriend, authorities told the LA Times.

He was declared dead at 9 AM, a coroner’s spokesperson told the paper.

Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the LA County Coroner told People, the actor was drinking the night before he died. He was also heard snoring in the hours before his death.

Drug overdose is a "possibility considering his history, but right now all we have is the history of his drinking the previous night," Harvey told the magazine. "All that we have is that he was last known to be alive during the morning hours and he was snoring."

Renfro was 25 years old.

Renfro got his first big break in acting when he was discovered by director Joel Schumacher, who cast the then 10-year-old in “The Client.”

The breakout 1994 role pitted the young actor on screen with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.

He quickly graduated to tween movies like 1995’s “Tom And Huck,” opposite Jonathan Taylor-Thomas before moving on to indie dramas including 2001’s “Ghost World” opposite Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi.

Despite his success, Renfro was drawn to the dark side.

The talented actor found himself in frequent trouble with the law beginning in the late ‘90s in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.

In 1998 he was charged with cocaine and marijuana possession but managed to skip out on jail time by making a plea deal.

Three years later, Renfro made headlines again, this time in Florida, when he was charged with trying to steal a yacht in Fort Lauderdale.

In December 2005, a handcuffed Renfro was splashed across the LA Times when he was arrested after attempting to buy heroin from undercover officers conducting a sting operation on Skid Row in downtown LA.

Renfro seemed to be getting back on track — he started a band — FROAD, and got back into the movies.

Just last fall, the actor was filming a part in “The Informers” alongside Billy Bob Thorton and Wynona Ryder.

Actor Brad Renfro Dead At 25

Actor Brad Renfro is dead, the Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed to Access Hollywood.

Renfro's body was discovered at his home in the Wilshire area of Los Angeles, by his girlfriend, authorities told the LA Times.

He was declared dead at 9 AM, a coroner’s spokesperson told the paper.

Craig Harvey, chief investigator for the LA County Coroner told People, the actor was drinking the night before he died. He was also heard snoring in the hours before his death.

Drug overdose is a "possibility considering his history, but right now all we have is the history of his drinking the previous night," Harvey told the magazine. "All that we have is that he was last known to be alive during the morning hours and he was snoring."

Renfro was 25 years old.

Renfro got his first big break in acting when he was discovered by director Joel Schumacher, who cast the then 10-year-old in “The Client.”

The breakout 1994 role pitted the young actor on screen with Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones.

He quickly graduated to tween movies like 1995’s “Tom And Huck,” opposite Jonathan Taylor-Thomas before moving on to indie dramas including 2001’s “Ghost World” opposite Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi.

Despite his success, Renfro was drawn to the dark side.

The talented actor found himself in frequent trouble with the law beginning in the late ‘90s in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.

In 1998 he was charged with cocaine and marijuana possession but managed to skip out on jail time by making a plea deal.

Three years later, Renfro made headlines again, this time in Florida, when he was charged with trying to steal a yacht in Fort Lauderdale.

In December 2005, a handcuffed Renfro was splashed across the LA Times when he was arrested after attempting to buy heroin from undercover officers conducting a sting operation on Skid Row in downtown LA.

Renfro seemed to be getting back on track — he started a band — FROAD, and got back into the movies.

Just last fall, the actor was filming a part in “The Informers” alongside Billy Bob Thorton and Wynona Ryder.

Kazem El Saher gets the Qatari Nationality

As a reward for his great artistic production Iraqi singer Kazem El Saher was given the Qatari nationality. Qatar had already decided to do the same thing with other influential Arab personas, in all fields.

On the other hand, El-Saher is currently preparing for the release of his musical epical work "Gilgamesh Epic" in Doha, Qatar.

El-Saher is therefore holding many sessions, under the supervision of the Qatari ministry of Culture, in preparations for the release of the huge work.

"Gilgamesh Epic" has been written by famous poet Kareem Al-Iraqi, and composed by El-Saher himself. The name of the work's director has not been settled yet. Moreover, the cast of the work is supposed to reach 500 artists; singers and actors. The Gilgamesh Epic is to be released by the end of this year.

On the other hand El Saher is to throw a concert at The Jarash Festival of Culture and Arts, which celebrates its silver jubilee this year. El-Saher's concert has been delayed since last year, when the Festival was suspended because of the Israeli aggression over Lebanon.

El-Saher's attendance at the festival this year marks a first time record, for it is to be his sixth participation after the years 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2004.

Regarding El-Saher's song "Atohebony?", director Hussein De'eibes decided not to shoot the video clip for the song at Beirut, because of the unstable conditions between the Lebanese army and some armed militia there.

The shooting is to take place at Cairo, Dubai or Syria. In addition to video clipping "Atohebony?", De'eibes will also shoot two of the songs in El-Saher's last album "Yawmeyat Ragol Mahzoum", namely "Nay" and "Ensa".

De'eibes also finished the montage of the song "Tehebny Moat", by the Jordanian artist Diana Karazoun. The song was shot at the Dead Sea Panorama, and is to be broadcasted later on Arab satellite musical channels.

Movie Marketing Madness: Cloverfield

original post from http://www.moviemarketigmadness.com/

Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size fo a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surrea, horrifying event of their lives.”

That plot description comes from the official site for Cloverfield, the new movie from director Matt Reeves and producer J.J. Abrams. But that really doesn’t do justice to the impact that the movie’s marketing campaign has had on the audience, especially the audience online.

To understand just how fervent the buzz has been about the movie, you kind of have to look at how Paramount sold the movie in two completely different ways to two completely different audiences. Or, as I call it:

The Tale of Two Cloverfield Campaigns

Campaign The First (Or, We Are Selling You A Movie Which You May Like to See)

This campaign has been, for the most part, made up of the traditional elements of a movie marketing push. The intent has clearly been to sell the movie to a particular audience using, as most campaigns do, clips and other material from the movie in order to build interest and enthusiasm.

The first trailer, as we all know, debuted in front of this past summer’s blockbuster Transformers. Aside from a few reports on AICN, ComingSoon and a handful of other sites the trailer mostly took the audience by surprise. And even those members of the audience who knew a trailer for a new, mysterious J.J. Abrams would be appearing I don’t think knew what they were about to see.

Certainly a big enough chunk of the audience was shocked and awed that the ensuing wave of online commentary was among the most massive I’ve ever seen. Everyone, it seemed, came out of seeing Transformers and searched for this movie, untitled in the trailer, that seemed to chronicle via digital video camera first a going-away party for someone named Rob and then the invasion of New York by something capable of decapitating the Statue of Liberty.

When those people – and others – did go and search for the one clue that was readily available, the movie’s release date, they were taken to what for a long while was the movie’s official website, 1-08-08.com. There they saw a photo from Rob’s going-away party.

This site would occasionally have photos added to it, sometimes of things that were obviously related to the movie like two women staring up at something horrific or people evacuating the scene of a disaster. Other times photos would be more cryptic and mysterious, like the one showing a chef holding up his creation.

Each one was time-stamped, allowing the visitor to see when it was taken. This was especially helpful on the ones that were obviously movie-related since you could arrange them in such a way to build a chronology of the night’s events, moving from party to terror. Biro later clued me in to the fact that you could shake them with your computer mouse and have them flip over. A couple of them then had something written on the back. Specifically, the one of the chef had the recipe for whatever it is he’s holding, and the one with a couple of party-goers had a note from the girl in the picture, Jamie, wishing Rob well on his trip. (Note: Remember that name for later)

Eventually a teaser poster appeared for the still-unnamed movie. While still not divulging the name, it did show the Statue of Liberty, now sans head, standing watch (now harder because of the lack of said head) over New York City. There’s also, if you look closely, a wake in the water between Liberty Island and the Manhattan shore. That was one of the first clues in this mainstream campaign that the monster that will invoke such havoc on the city springs from the depths of the sea.

The mainstream campaign then largely died down somewhere around in the early fall. Pictures continued to be added to the 1-18-08 site, but that was about it. This seemed to be a direct result of the fact that the movie was still unnamed. After all, it’s hard to run a mass-awareness campaign for a movie whose name is still being held as a secret.

That’s just one of the reasons that releasing an un-branded trailer was such a big risk. Not only do you miss out on the chance to tell the audience for that trailer what the name of the movie is, a name they can then plan with and add to their list of movies to see, but you kind of lose the ability to run an extensible campaign. While you can get away with such a move with a trailer you certainly can’t run un-branded TV spots. That’s not going to create mystery and intrigue, it’s going to create mass confusion and turn people away from that movie where the studio can’t even be bothered to tell us what it is they’re advertising.

But the gamble of the unnamed trailer certainly did pay off for Abrams and Paramount here. That likely had as much to do with the fact that it came from Abrams, whose core audience is certainly used to trying to decipher his stuff from “Alias” and “Lost” as it did that the trailer dropped in front of Transformers. That audience is, in large part, going to be pre-disposed to sci-fi type movies that make a big splash in order to get their attention. That latter audience is also of an age and a disposition to be online, where they can post their reactions to the trailer to their blogs, their social network profiles or in some other fashion spread the word online, even if it’s just through one-to-one communications like email or text message.

But then around mid-December the official campaign started back up in earnest.

The first salvo was a new trailer that, instead of seeming like it was pulled from the opening of the movie (which it kind of was) this one looked and felt more like a traditional trailer. The scenes presented were pulled from throughout the movie and presented a better look at the core group of characters that we’d be following in the movie.

This new trailer also opened with a few shots of Rob’s going away party. But preceding that was a title card designating, in military-type speak, the footage as being part of “Case Designate: Cloverfield” that was recovered at the site “formerly known as Central Park.”

More importantly, it finally gave the movie a name, the same one most of the online world had been using as shorthand most of the time: Cloverfield. I argued shortly before that revelation that Abrams and Paramount would be wise to retain the Cloverfield name largely because that’s how people had been referring to it in countless online and offline discussions. Branding it as anything other than Cloverfield would, I thought, create an unnecessary speedbump in the word-of-mouth momentum the movie had built up. So, while by no means thinking they made their decision based on what I had said, I was relieved they went with Cloverfield, which Abrams later admitted was the name he had for the project all along.

The release of this trailer followed the same rough pattern as that of the first. It debuted in theaters in front of screenings of Beowulf. That was followed by cellphone videos people had shot at those screenings, followed by the official release online the following Monday.

Now, though, the game had changed. The movie now had an official, publicly known name. The mainstream audience that might be wary of viral techniques or movies they don’t even know the name of could now fully be appealed to.

The release of the trailer online brought with it the launch of Cloverfieldmovie.com, the movie’s new official site. At first the site was incredibly sparse, just sporting the poster artwork as a background and the new trailer as content. More was added to the site later, including the “how vague can we be” plot synopsis at the top of this article. The teaser trailer was also added, as well as links to the movie’s Facebook and MySpace brand pages.

Also on the site is a widget people could grab. That widget contained a video clip of the first five minutes of Cloverfield complete with introduction by producer Abrams himself. The widget could be embedded anywhere – blog, social network profile, personalized home page and more – and also came with a contest attached to it. You could either just snag the widget or, if you wanted to try and win a screening of the movie for you and your friends or other swag you could register and grab a personalized (at least on a code level) version.

The contest was structured so that the person who had the widget with their personalized identifier grabbed by others the most won the screening, with subsequent lower prizes for those coming in on down the food chain.

Despite the issue I had with the contest (why wouldn’t you just go to the official site and grab your own instead of helping someone else?) I do think the idea of the widget was a good one. Not only did it provide fans with a much lusted-after look at the opening sequence from the movie but it also incentivized the spreading of word-of-mouth, giving widget grabbers something tangible for their participation in spreading the reach of the clip.

Around this same time the advertising for the movie began. The poster finally got branded. Ads showed up online to some extent (most of the few that I saw were billboard or tower units that contained video as well) but especially on TV. At first the TV spots seemed, based on what I was hearing on Twitter and elsewhere, to be limited to outlets like Sci-Fi Channel and such, but in the final weeks the reach expanded to just about everything I watched – and I don’t watch much TV. There also appears, based on this photo from Jeff Wells, to have been some outdoor advertising done.

Paramount even began using MSN’s new mobile ad format to reach users of smart phones and other advanced devices under the thinking that technophiles greatly overlap with the movie’s target audience. I can’t say as I disagree with that thinking, and indeed it follows the same sort of thought process as placing the teaser trailer in front of Transformers (discounting the fortunate corporate studio synergy available there).

In all just over 15 TV spots seem to have been produced, a mix of 30- and 15-second spots. Some showed a new shot here or there (including one that featured a new shot of the attacking monster, though of course it was obscured nicely) but mostly the footage was pulled from what we had already seen in one or both of the existing trailers. You can check them all out on this YouTube playlist I built with the help of CloverFieldClues.

I expressed some disappointment with the fact that TV spots had been produced and were airing. Part of that was the feeling that the marketing for the movie, which had been pretty clever up until that point, would now be dragged down in order to reach a mass audience who is just hoping for some decent entertainment so they can escape their worries for a while.

To some extent my fears wound up being justified. The spots sold the movie primarily as a monster movie and not as anything all that special. There were little hints and hat-tips to the trailers and such but for the most part the advertising campaign was selling a movie about a beast that attacks New York and the people who are scrambling for survival.

That actually may well be an accurate description of the movie. But for those of us paying attention online the campaign had a second, more engaging level to it.

Campaign the Second (Or, Why Did Jamie Eat That When Teddy Told Her Not To?)

This branch of the campaign has happened parallel to the mainstream campaign, occasionally coming close to but never quite joining that other push. This one has been designed to be more interactive, engaging and interesting to the online audience.

The main conceit driving the online campaign has been that the events of the movie take place on January 18^th, 2008, the film’s release date. We are following the character’s lives, though, through MySpace pages, online video and more in real time as they all careen toward that date. So when it’s 12/15, for instance, in our world, it’s 12/15 in the movie’s world as well.

There are two main components to this online ARG (alternate reality game) that need to be explored.

The first is Slusho. Slusho is a frozen drink concoction – kind of like a Slurpee – that apparently is so addictive and enjoyable that the marketing copy point for it is “You can’t drink just six!” Slusho started out as a throw-away reference on Abrams’ “Alias” TV show but now is playing a key role in the movie.

In fact the Slusho product home page was one of the first sites found that was confirmed to be part of the Cloverfield campaign. The page features all sorts of cartoon characters and a bit of information on the drink and the company that makes it, Tagruato Corporation. You could even buy Slusho t-shirts and hats and download buddy icons and other stuff for your use.

The animation and images on the site have provided a rich vein for those seeking clues as to the movie’s plot. Some of these are probably intentional red herrings, but that hasn’t stopped people online from wondering just what role Slusho plays in the movie.

About a month or so before the release date the fictional Tagruato ran a contest asking people to create their own commercials for Slusho, spots that needed, the rules said, to emphasize just what a non-stop happy experience Slusho was. The contest was very real and solicited a good number of entries, a statement to just how much people wanted to have some fun and – and this is the important part – how much they wanted to participate in the build-up to a movie they were obviously looking forward to.

Creating a campaign that’s so immersive and engaging that people will spend their day creating videos for a product they know is fake means the creators have obviously tapped into something truly special. Most real brands have a hard time doing that. These consumer creators are, hopefully, being embraced by Paramount for just how much effort they’ve put into helping the studio out.

That kind of engagement aside, Slusho went from “plays into the movie somehow” to being directly related to the movie’s events in the weeks just prior to release.

That’s when Rob announced, via his MySpace blog, that he had been hired by Slusho and would be heading to Japan shortly. With that announcement not only has Slusho been brought directly into the lives of one of the movie’s characters but we now know just why Rob’s friends needed to throw him a going-away party.

Around that same time tragedy befell the fictional Tagruato Corp. But let’s back up for a minute.

The company’s home page had been the subject of much scrutiny and speculation since it was found online. The site occasionally fell victim to “hacks” that put up mysterious messages from those obviously displeased with the company, including once when a page of a book was put there that seemed to hint at some danger Tagruato knew about but was willfully ignoring.

Visitors to the site could even sign up for email messages from Tagruato, most of which were all about how wonderful the company was and how well it was progressing in getting Slusho’s key ingredient – seabed’s nectar – approved for sale in the United States.

There were also sonar images occasionally that showed something large and unidentified moving through the waters of the Atlantic Ocean on a westward course, seemingly heading toward the Eastern shore of the U.S.

That path included a stop at a drilling station owned by Tagruato that lead to the tragedy alluded to earlier.

Told via news reports from around the world, the Chuai Station owned by Tagruato is seen falling into the sea. Those news reports are made up of footage shot from helicopter as well as video that seems to be shot from inside the station as people evacuate and then try to escape to safety on a motorboat.

As they speed away from the station, though, wreckage begins to be hurled up out of the sea by some mysterious force, with a large chunk of support beam eventually falling on the boat containing the survivors. Tagruato issued a statement saying while it couldn’t explain why huge debris came flying out of the water, the destruction of the station was almost certainly the work of an eco-terrorism group that had targeted the company

Accompanying this development were one and then two more pictures that were added to 1-18-08.com, the first time pictures on the site represented something that was happening in the real-time campaign. The first showed a shot seemingly torn from the news coverage of the station disaster of the ill-fated boat and its occupants. The second showed a shot of the station from farther back, with part of the picture pixilated out, like they were trying to hide something. Say, for instance, part of a huge monster. The final one was a night-vision shot of some sort of massive bombardment attack on the station.

This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only time the ARG campaign and the mainstream push intersected. While 1-18-08.com was certainly part of the overall online experience, it wasn’t part of the unfolding real-time events. It existed outside of the progression of the rest of the movie’s characters, acting as a hub of pictorial hub for those enthusiasts trying to sniff out every possible clue from the pictures released there. While that’s still true of this last batch of additions it’s worth noting that this is seemingly the one break in continuity that’s happened in the campaign.

So if Slusho/Tagruato is the first component of the online alternate reality campaign what, you might be asking, is the second?

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Jamie & Teddy.

Jamie & Teddy is a site set up by, well, Jamie and Teddy. The two characters from the film’s universe are dating and apparently serious enough that registering a domain together was a logical step. The site plays host to video messages from Jamie (the girl, just to be clear) to Teddy, who has gone off to Japan as part of his job. She sits on her bed and flips open the webcam and records her thoughts to Teddy.

In the first couple episodes that was about it. Jamie would tell Teddy how amazing he was, how she enjoyed their last night together or their last text conversation or something like that. But then at some point Teddy stopped communicating. At first Jamie appears concerned that he’s too busy or something but eventually concern turns to frustration.

During this communications breakdown (I’ll give everyone a moment to go over to iTunes and start their Led Zeppelin. Ho hum. La dee da. OK, done? Let’s continue.) Jamie receives a package from Teddy containing a wrapped box that, according to the note, she’s not to open until a date in December. It’s between the arrival of the package and the “Open on…” date that things start to go south, with Jamie in full “You slimeball you left me for some skanky whore” mode when opening the package.

Its contents are a Slusho hat, a small packet of something wrapped in tinfoil and a message from Teddy telling her he’s been kidnapped by Tagruato and to make sure the package’s contents get into someone’s hands and, whatever she does, don’t eat what’s in the packet.

Of course she later eats it.

Whatever it is – most people online believe it’s the mysterious “seabed’s nectar” that goes into Slusho and I think that makes sense – it has some odd effects in our dear Jamie. Shortly after tasting it (which she does after making a call to Teddy’s place of employment in Japan, which seems to produce an ominous reaction) she bolts away from the camera saying suddenly that she’s going out. That’s followed by a message from an utterly drunk Jamie. That, then, is followed by her donning what can only be described as a purple ninja suit and doing an interpretive dance to describe the depths of her loathing for him. That, in turn, is followed by her dismembering a teddy bear (get it- Teddy = teddy) in a slow and deliberate manner.

After Jamie ate the nectar or whatever was in the packet I opined that the only acceptable conclusion for her character at this point was for her to die. The character seemed to be getting dumber episode-to-episode, and the idea that this ingredient in its pure form is fatal would have added some real depth to the online aspect of the campaign. Alas we already knew that was not to be since she shows up in one of the pictures on 1-18-08 that were taken on at Rob’s party the night of the attack.

I’ll give credit where credit’s due. Despite the de-evolution of Jamie, the series was pretty entertaining and interesting to watch, especially when the connection to the movie’s events became more and more clear. You can watch all the Jamie & Teddy videos here.

That same thing can be said of the entire alternate-reality campaign. Watching the characters move in their own ways toward their fate – whatever the movie shows that to be – is intriguing. It helps us view them not just as characters on the screen but people who we’re invested in emotionally.

That sort of investment seems to have been the primary goal of this branch of the campaign. What I mean by that is along the same lines as what Karina said last week, that in times of disaster – especially disaster on this sort of scale – what we worry about most is our own physical safety and the physical safety of our loved ones. Other concerns will come later but in the moment, when so many things are endangering our well-being and we don’t know what it is that’s causing it, it’s all about preservation.

So by setting up the campaign so that we got to know and even care about these characters the emotions we view the movie through have been changed. We’re not just rooting for the good guy because he’s the good guy, we’re hoping our friends Rob and Beth and the others make it to safety. Our emotional connection to the characters, and subsequently to the movie, have been deepened, probably resulting in a better experience as an audience. It’s the difference between watching a YouTube video of a roller coaster ride and taking the ride yourself.

Conclusion

It’s hard to call any campaign that inspires this much amount of fan scrutiny anything but a resounding success. It’s hard to call any campaign that inspires such a cottage industry of blogs devoted to just this movie – a movie that hasn’t even opened yet – anything other than a success. Obviously people were drawn in to the campaign by the mysterious, unnamed trailer and the unusual take on a disaster movie.

The two-pronged campaign certainly was a great decision by Abrams and the studio. I don’t think, even if things had kicked off as they did with that initial trailer, that potential fans online would have been as engaged and enthused if there had just been a poster, trailer and Website just like every other movie out there, no matter how cool the movie looked. It would have been subject to the same level of “insider” reports and spy leaks as every other movie.

But by, essentially, giving the online audience a regular supply of new rawhides to chew on Abrams and Paramount were able to earn their loyalty and turn them from casual or even devoted fans into surrogate marketing agents. The bloggers who write about movies in general or this movie in particular were the ones selling the movie, broadcasting the new material that was given to them all over the Internet.

The mainstream campaign, too, was a cut above – it’s hard to match those trailers especially. While I might bemoan the fact that Paramount had to advertise the movie in a traditional manner (remember, advertising is what you do when you don’t have a story to tell, and this one did) the fact of the matter is that they did have to. At least they did so pretty well.

Especially considering the mainstream campaign was hampered to some extent by the online execution. The CloverfieldMovie.com site couldn’t exactly be loaded with information since that would spoil the alternate reality being set up elsewhere. So that site feels kind of barebones. That doesn’t detract from the campaign, though, since that was born of necessity and not laziness or lack of commitment.

I think it’s the enthusiasm of the general audience that most qualifies the marketing as successful. Twitter, even just the subset including the people I follow, has been lousy with people talking about the commercials, trailers or discussion of when people will be seeing the movie. Some mainstream writers loved the interactivity and engagement. Others say the campaign has been far too clever for its own good.

Whatever your opinion might be, the campaign got people talking. The campaign got people caring. The campaign got people sharing of their own vocation. The campaign got people involved.

That’s success.

Gallery of images from 1-18-08.com:

Carlos est mort à 64 ans

PARIS (AFP) - Le chanteur Carlos, figure de la chanson d'humour française et fils de la pédopsychiatre Françoise Dolto, est mort jeudi matin à Paris à l'âge de 64 ans des suites d'un cancer, a-t-on appris auprès de sa soeur Catherine Dolto-Tolitch.

"Carlos est décédé ce matin à 09h45 à l'hôpital Beaujon", à Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine), a-t-elle précisé à l'AFP.

"Il a été très courageux", a souligné sa soeur.

Mme Dolto-Tolitch a indiqué que les obsèques de Carlos auraient lieu "sans doute mardi", sans autre précision.

"Carlos n'était pas seulement un ami, c'était mon grand frère. C'était un ami merveilleux, toujours gai, joyeux", a dit Sylivie Vartan à l'AFP.

Johnny Hallyday a confié sur RTL qu'il perdait son "frère", son "confident" et son "meilleur ami". "C'était mon frère. C'est une catastrophe (...). La vie est trop con", a déclaré Johnny Hallyday d'une voix émue.

"Carlos, on se connaît depuis qu'on a l'âge de 14 ans, on a à peu près le même âge tous les deux (64 ans, ndlr). C'est vrai qu'il était malade, il avait ce cancer du foie depuis quelques années maintenant. Mais il se soignait, je pensais vraiment qu'il allait s'en sortir", a ajouté le chanteur.

Carlos était une figure de la chanson française, qu'il a égayée avec son style rigolo et son apparence débonnaire.

Barbe fleurie, silhouette de bon vivant enveloppée dans des chemises à fleurs et des salopettes amples, il a enchaîné les tubes populaires et rigolos dans les années 70/80, parmi lesquels "Tout nu, tout bronzé" (1973), "Rosalie" (1978), "Papayou" (1983), "T'as l'bonjour d'Albert" (1985) ou "Le tirelipimpon" (1989).

Né Jean-Chrysostome Dolto le 20 février 1943, de Françoise Dolto, la célèbre pédiatre et psychanalyste, et d'un père russe, Boris Dolto, il anime à l'adolescence les soirées de l'Ambiance dans le quartier de Notre-Dame où il rencontre les frères Drucker, Michel et Jean, en 1957.

Deux ans plus tard, sa route croise au Caveau de la Montagne celle du couple Hallyday et Vartan qu'il accompagnera partout entre 1962 et 1972. Diplômé de l'école de kinésithérapie fondée par son père, il opte définitivement pour le show-biz en 1962, en remplaçant au pied levé Lucien Morisse à Europe 1.

Au début de la décennie 70, il troque les chemises et polos stricts des années "mods" pour des liquettes bariolées d'éternel campeur.

Infatigable chanteur, il multiplie les galas-camping --pour ses débuts, pas moins de 95 avec la caravane du tour de France en 1972-- et pendant 18 étés, de 1988 à 2005, 580 podiums pour la radio de ses débuts, Europe 1.

Il enchaîne aussi les disques d'or: "Y a des Indiens partout" en 1970, "La cantine" en 1972 et "Senor Météo" en 1975.

Après le succès du "Big Bisou" (composé par son ami Joe Dassin) en 1977, sa carrière de chanteur s'essouffle. Deux ans plus tard, longue parenthèse alimentaire --11 ans-- avec les tournages d'une série de spots publicitaires pour une boisson.

Il se marie en 1978 mais il n'aura pas d'enfant.

En 1988, la psychanalyse est en deuil: Carlos dit adieu à sa mère. Il parraine par ailleurs un parc d'attraction, Mirapolis, où il se produit pendant quatre mois.

Sous toutes les latitudes, il se met aussi à la pêche au gros et au documentaire. A la fin des années 80, il profite de l'explosion du paysage audiovisuel français pour y imposer sur les chaines câblées Odyssée et Voyage ses films tournés à Madagascar, Tahiti ou Saint-Martin.

"Plus de la moitié est consacrée à la pêche proprement dite, le reste à la fête et au plaisir, qu'il s'agisse de la bouffe, de la musique ou de la danse", expliquait-il à l'AFP en 1999.

Ce gros garçon jovial et bon vivant a publié une autobiographie, "Je m'appelle Carlos" (1996), et deux recueils d'histoires drôles (1997).

Carlos faisait partie des artistes qui avaient soutenu Nicolas Sarkozy à l'élection présidentielle.

Oscars & Grammys Hang In The Balance As Strike Rages On

Will artists like Justin Timberlake and Beyonce ignore the strike to enjoy the music? Will first-time Oscar nominees be denied their big moment?

After reducing the Golden Globes to 30-minute press conference, the ongoing Hollywood writer's strike could possibly change both film and music's biggest nights — the Oscars and the Grammys.

Access Hollywood has learned the Academy is preparing two versions of the Oscars this year — one if the strike ends before the broadcast on Feb. 24; and another if the strike continues.

Details of what an alternative Oscar night might entail have not been revealed, but Gil Cates, the producer of the award show, told reporters, the plan is to "play it by ear."

The looming question about Oscar night is whether the stars will attend if the strike is still ongoing?

If the Writers Guild Association and the Academy are unable to reach an interim agreement, the WGA is expected to ask the Screen Actors Guild to picket the event, according to Variety.

The producers of the Oscars say the show will go on regardless of the strike — actors or no actors.

However, the film world isn't the only industry affected by the writer's strike, as it now appears the Grammys could also suffer a similar fate.

The Grammy Awards requested an interim agreement from the WGA for its telecast on February 10, but it appears the usual star-studded night, might not have its usual shine.

"While no guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted," the WGA said Monday, as reported in Variety.

And yet, the situation worsens when it comes to music artists who are also actors.

"The WGA has informed us that this is struck work, and they expect to have a picket line in place," said a SAG spokesman. "In those circumstances, our members have been unwilling to cross a picket line, and we anticipate that solidarity will continue."

Nominees like Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Jack White, Jon Bon Jovi, T.I. and Fantasia also have careers in acting, and would be crossing the SAG picket line if they choose to attend the Grammys, according to Variety.

Other nominees, like Bruce Springsteen, the Beastie Boys, Joni Mitchell, John Mellencamp and Steve Earle have not crossed picket lines in the past, and are not expected to for the Grammys, according to Variety.

Many artists have not said if they will attend the Grammys until the details of the night have been worked out.

The WGA has granted waivers to the NAACP Image Awards, the SAG Awards, and the Independent Spirit Awards.