FunnyOrDie, bored with the Web, goes HBO

HBO is buying 10 half-hours of original comedy from FunnyOrDie.com, the website that brought the world "The Landlord" and also ... also ... wait, let me just Google around for a second ... hold on one second ... HERE!  It also brought the world "Porn Star Politics." 

I threw a dis on FOD last year because they hadn't come up with that many good new videos, and I have to agree with myself.  Although to play devil's advocate, there's really no one anywhere who's been able to produce funny Web videos consistently. 

On the other hand, if you have the likes of Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay lending their names to the site, you'd think they've be able to come up with at least one good viral viral video every month. And the fact that they haven't speaks volumes about how much energy they put into this endeavor, other than as a promotional vehicle for their movies. The thing about FunnyOrDie that initially got everyone so excited was the promise of high quality Web content from Hollywood's funniest people. That just hasn't materialized. 

Now they're moving even further away from that idea, back in time toward traditional TV and its stuffy old formulas. As smart as these guys looked when they launched, the whole thing has come to resemble a glorified publicity effort. 

Funny or die? I've made my decision.

image: Ferrell, Apatow & McKay from funnyordie.com

(image courtesy Dirk HR Spennemann)

The Rocky Mountain News (thanks io9) reported yesterday that there's a guy in Denver who claims to have video of a living extraterrestrial, but he's not showing it because he wants to save it for his movie.

Jeff Peckman is the same guy who is attempting to set up an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver -- ostensibly to allow us to prepare for the inevitable encounter. If you read the ABC News article linked in the previous sentence, you'll see that Peckman even got a professor from Colorado Film School to "authenticate" the footage. That's right, a certified movie expert thinks this is the real thing. 

(Amusingly, the quote ABC news gets from Prof. Jerry Hofmann is somewhat more equivocal:  "If this was faked, it's the most elaborate fake I've ever seen," he said. "This is no 29-cent puppet." But, er, isn't every hot new UFO video the most elaborate one we've seen? If you were just showing spinning pie plates, it'd be hard to get much attention.)

As someone who's written about UFO hoaxes before, I find it very difficult to take anything like this seriously. If there were actual indisputable alien footage, it would be simultaneously the most incredible scientific discovery in history and the most explosive news story of all time. Scientists, reporters and governments the world over would be clamoring to analyze it. At that point, it seems unlikely that it would be within one UFO believer's power to keep it secret.   

UPDATE: This is apparently a still from the video in question. It just so happens to portray the alien peering into someone's window.  What could be more recognizably, uninspiredly E.T. than that?

It's guffaw-worthy that the reason he gives for sitting on this bombshell is that he's embroiled in movie talks: "No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," Peckman told the RMN. 

Forget just putting it up online and letting everyone judge for themselves. Eveyone knows you can't make money on YouTube! Even with a real live alien that looks better than a 29-cent puppet.

As much as the Spitzer prostitution scandal wants to fade into the past, some people just can't let go.  National Lampoon Inc., a publicly held company that owns Web, TV, audio and movie properties, has launched a comedy site called WhoreDiamonds.com, a riff on the bejeweled ratings system used by Spitzer's Emperor's Club escort service (Wonkette joked about the diamonds way back in March).

But is all fair in love and whores?  The NatLamp site asks users to rate real prostitutes on a scale of 1 to 10. Some of the pictures, a rep for the site said, are sourced from real escort agencies. But the rest are mugshots of women who have been arrested for prostitution.  Mugshots are publicly available, so the site has decided to stockpile them from police websites around the nation, and construct a virtual pillory of prostitution arrestees (not convicts, mind you).  The police shots show women who are the kinds of street prostitutes who  have probably turned to the sex trade out of desperation--the signs of drug addiction, poverty, and abuse are all over their faces.

Mugshots are a matter of public record to ensure the transparency of the justice system and to protect the rights of prisoners.  It's one thing to grab a booking photo of Paris Hilton or Mel Gibson, but to try to make a snickering profit off of women who have fallen into society's lower reaches--that's the worst kind of bottom-feeding.

It's old news that National Lampoon Inc. has built a business on "whoring" out the great comedic name that Doug Kenney and co. built in the 1970s.  At this point all they're doing is killing a dead dog.

Denver man's real, live alien video being saved for a documentary

(image courtesy Dirk HR Spennemann)

The Rocky Mountain News (thanks io9) reported yesterday that there's a guy in Denver who claims to have video of a living extraterrestrial, but he's not showing it because he wants to save it for his movie.

Jeff Peckman is the same guy who is attempting to set up an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver -- ostensibly to allow us to prepare for the inevitable encounter. If you read the ABC News article linked in the previous sentence, you'll see that Peckman even got a professor from Colorado Film School to "authenticate" the footage. That's right, a certified movie expert thinks this is the real thing. 

(Amusingly, the quote ABC news gets from Prof. Jerry Hofmann is somewhat more equivocal:  "If this was faked, it's the most elaborate fake I've ever seen," he said. "This is no 29-cent puppet." But, er, isn't every hot new UFO video the most elaborate one we've seen? If you were just showing spinning pie plates, it'd be hard to get much attention.)

As someone who's written about UFO hoaxes before, I find it very difficult to take anything like this seriously. If there were actual indisputable alien footage, it would be simultaneously the most incredible scientific discovery in history and the most explosive news story of all time. Scientists, reporters and governments the world over would be clamoring to analyze it. At that point, it seems unlikely that it would be within one UFO believer's power to keep it secret.   

UPDATE: This is apparently a still from the video in question. It just so happens to portray the alien peering into someone's window.  What could be more recognizably, uninspiredly E.T. than that?

It's guffaw-worthy that the reason he gives for sitting on this bombshell is that he's embroiled in movie talks: "No one will be allowed to film the segment with the extraterrestrial because there is an agreement in place limiting that kind of exposure during negotiations for the documentary," Peckman told the RMN. 

Forget just putting it up online and letting everyone judge for themselves. Eveyone knows you can't make money on YouTube! Even with a real live alien that looks better than a 29-cent puppet.

As much as the Spitzer prostitution scandal wants to fade into the past, some people just can't let go.  National Lampoon Inc., a publicly held company that owns Web, TV, audio and movie properties, has launched a comedy site called WhoreDiamonds.com, a riff on the bejeweled ratings system used by Spitzer's Emperor's Club escort service (Wonkette joked about the diamonds way back in March).

But is all fair in love and whores?  The NatLamp site asks users to rate real prostitutes on a scale of 1 to 10. Some of the pictures, a rep for the site said, are sourced from real escort agencies. But the rest are mugshots of women who have been arrested for prostitution.  Mugshots are publicly available, so the site has decided to stockpile them from police websites around the nation, and construct a virtual pillory of prostitution arrestees (not convicts, mind you).  The police shots show women who are the kinds of street prostitutes who  have probably turned to the sex trade out of desperation--the signs of drug addiction, poverty, and abuse are all over their faces.

Mugshots are a matter of public record to ensure the transparency of the justice system and to protect the rights of prisoners.  It's one thing to grab a booking photo of Paris Hilton or Mel Gibson, but to try to make a snickering profit off of women who have fallen into society's lower reaches--that's the worst kind of bottom-feeding.

It's old news that National Lampoon Inc. has built a business on "whoring" out the great comedic name that Doug Kenney and co. built in the 1970s.  At this point all they're doing is killing a dead dog.

Race to the bottom: National Lampoon's Whorediamonds.com

As much as the Spitzer prostitution scandal wants to fade into the past, some people just can't let go.  National Lampoon Inc., a publicly held company that owns Web, TV, audio and movie properties, has launched a comedy site called WhoreDiamonds.com, a riff on the bejeweled ratings system used by Spitzer's Emperor's Club escort service (Wonkette joked about the diamonds way back in March).

But is all fair in love and whores?  The NatLamp site asks users to rate real prostitutes on a scale of 1 to 10. Some of the pictures, a rep for the site said, are sourced from real escort agencies. But the rest are mugshots of women who have been arrested for prostitution.  Mugshots are publicly available, so the site has decided to stockpile them from police websites around the nation, and construct a virtual pillory of prostitution arrestees (not convicts, mind you).  The police shots show women who are the kinds of street prostitutes who  have probably turned to the sex trade out of desperation--the signs of drug addiction, poverty, and abuse are all over their faces.

Mugshots are a matter of public record to ensure the transparency of the justice system and to protect the rights of prisoners.  It's one thing to grab a booking photo of Paris Hilton or Mel Gibson, but to try to make a snickering profit off of women who have fallen into society's lower reaches--that's the worst kind of bottom-feeding.

It's old news that National Lampoon Inc. has built a business on "whoring" out the great comedic name that Doug Kenney and co. built in the 1970s.  At this point all they're doing is killing a dead dog.