Lil' Wayne and Katie Couric? Say It Ain't So!!

This whole thing is so uncomfortable and yet pretty amazing that a journalist like Katie Couric would give Lil' Wayne the time of day. Granted, it's for a Grammy's Special piece for said award showing airing next week and he's performing at. Make of this what you will. I don't know if I was more surprised to be led in with a pre- roll Olay ad (in front of Lil'Wayne?) or Lil' Wayne calling himself a journalist and Katie Couric not laughing in his face.  I'm a big Weezy fan so I'm with it.


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Best Google Street View Ever

Thanks to FilmDrunk for digging this up.  So many jokes to be made at these guys expense.  It's like World of Warcraft meets Lord of The Rings meets two potential virgins living in their parents basement in Pennsylvania.

Chrysler Just Pissed Me Off

Chrysler got $4 billion in emergency aid from the U.S. government and has said it will seek another $3 billion in government loans. And yesterday it agreed to form an alliance with Italy’s Fiat as it looks for the road out of the woods. (The Fiat deal fine print reportedly makes it conditional on Chrysler’s getting that extra U.S. loan).

Now, Chrysler plans to help underwrite the fourth installment of the “Terminator” movie series, “Terminator Salvation,” where it will place its vehicles in cameo roles. The film is scheduled for release later this year. Financial terms of the sponsorship deal were not disclosed.

“This spring, Terminator 4 comes out and we will be one of the sponsors,” Chrysler director of media Susan Thomson said in a presentation at the Automotive News World Congress. “We have a following with the Terminator movies and we are going to continue with that.”

So, Chrysler= timeless battle between humans and machines? Is the goal here to convince consumers that a Chrysler minivan will help you and your family escape evil drones from putting the human race in the books under extinction?

I'm sorry; I'm in advertising and I think it must continue in order for our economy to stabilize and reinvigorate consumer confidence. But is this really the best way? How about advertising deals that bring savings to beleaguered Americans looking for an opportunity to save money on what could be a realistic necessity? I believe in continued spending and non- slashed marketing budgets. Especially for the automakers who are the spine of our economy, but this seems a brash spending play when a more strategic long term plan could do wonders.

Blackberry App Store Slated For Spring Launch

Research In Motion announced today that they’ve sent notice to their developers to begin submitting applications for their upcoming application storefront. “Bring us your innovative genius,” said RIM in a statement to their current stable of developers. Obviously endless comparisons to the Apple App Store are set to begin now in a battle of nerdy aka genius developers fighting for code supremacy. I enjoy sitting back and picking a side without actually knowing a single technical spec for how these apps get built. Off to the nerdery for a debate on whose SDK is more applicable to the [enter engineering jargon here] My vote is that Apple continues to dominate. Anyone have a contrary belief?

Heineken And The Walk In Fridge

A Nintendo Follow Up Piece

Folks may have been renting Xbox 360 titles like mad last year, but that didn’t do much for console sales. The research company NPD Group announced sales figures for the Wii and DS earlier today and the numbers are astonishing.

Despite the current economic conditions, Americans purchased 10.17 million Wiis in the year 2008. Not only is this a huge sales figure, but it’s also the first time Americans have purchased 10 million units of a game console in a single year. The handheld DS came very close to the 10 million mark with 9.95 million units sold. Last year Nintendo moved 8.52 million DS portables. Of all game consoles sold in America, the Wii accounted for 55 percent sold while the DS took up a whopping 72 percent.

NPD data released for December and all of 2008 also included the following:

* The industry’s top 4 selling games of 2008 were: Wii Play™ at No. 1, Mario Kart™ Wii at No. 2, Wii Fit™ at No.3, and Super Smash Brothers™ Brawl, at No. 4.
* Industry annual revenues jumped 19% in 2008 over 2007, and Nintendo products were responsible for 99% of those additional retail dollars.
* Nintendo DS set another industry record for system sales in any month, with 3.04 million units sold in December.
* Wii broke its own monthly record, set in December 2007, by selling 2.14 million units last month.
* In December, Nintendo titles filled 20 of the top 30 spots on the best-seller list. Six games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top 10, including Wii Music™ for Wii (No. 9), which has now sold 865,000 units following its launch in October 2008, and Mario Kart DS for the Nintendo DS (No. 7), which has sold a total of 4.3 million units 38 months after launch.
* Activision’s Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock and Guitar Hero® World Tour, and MTV Games/EA’s* Rock Band Special Edition Bundle all sold more units on Nintendo platforms than any other platforms in 2008.
* More 3rd party units were sold for Wii than any other home consoles in December for the 2nd consecutive month.
* For the year, more than 132 million games were sold in America for play on Nintendo systems.

(courtesy CrunchGear)