Alan Is Good

No apologies for any bias or skew this post may contain.  The past 5 years have been horrendous for American horror, and original films like the SAW franchise have been our only saving grace from throwing in the towel and letting Japan go ahead and handle the entire genre.

Yes, the SAW franchise is five sequels deep.  I strongly recommend watching them chronologically, as the story definitely builds upon each previous movie.  In an age with remakes abound,  films produced around gore/new CGI tricks instead of storyline and plot, the SAW franchise is original, unpredictable, and THE most successful horror franchise ever.  Fact.

I put together a rough breakdown of the box office success the SAW franchise has seen to date:

(Hover over the movie posters to see movie data) More »

I saw this gem on YouTube recently.  E-Mom tells us how to check out what our kids are REALLY doing by logging onto the Facebook and the Twitter.  Watch.

First off, its via the Today Now! video series by way of the Onion, so it is indeed satirical.  There is no actual E-Mom.  Actually, I’m not sure if Vanksen buzz and communication agency is aware that its satire, as they comment on the video in a tone that’s either obliviously serious or sarcastically beyond me.  (PS: Hire me)  Even so, beyond the lulz to be had, the commentary here is noteworthy.  There are more and more parents joining Facebook and Twitter, and while they all get a honeymoon period where its so ‘cute’ that they can post on your wall, the monitoring undertones are a clear and present danger. More »

Facebook Is Now In A Complicated Relationship With FriendFeed

First off, Facebook acquired FriendFeed for $50M this week.  If you’re not familiar with FriendFeed, its an aggregator of your activity on Facebook, *Twitter (<—- :-O )*, Youtube and dozens of other compatible social networks.  It’s a good site to use.  TechCrunch posted pics of the meeting:

Yeah, these guys party real hard.  Anyway, everyone goes around whispering that this is really bad news for Twitter, but 9 out of 10 people I asked couldn’t give a decent explanation for how or why.  Sensationalism and drama are awesome, don’t get me wrong, but its good to be able to simplify and dissect conflict. More »