Asynchronous Television at Hulu

NBC Universal and News Corp. (Fox) joined forces earlier this year to create a rival video-on-demand service to Google's VOD empire (YouTube, Google Video, Blogger Video, etc.) - called Hulu. Right now it's in beta testing, and I've been fortunate enough to be selected relatively late in the game as a beta tester. Truthfully, though, Hulu beta and YouTube are different animals. Hulu currently just offers industry-official broadcast media, whereas YouTube contains user-created media and copyright-infringing media.

I don't know if you'll be able to see this video, but here's a full episode of The Office, with limited commercial interruption:

You gotta love this satire of the 9-to-5, hierarchical, bureaucratic, climb-the-ladder microcosm of civilization. Anyhow...

Instead of paying various monthly subscriptions to digital satellite, digital cable, and/or TiVo, you can just pay for (extremely) high speed Internet, buy a media PC (not for creating or productivity, just for receiving - har, har), buy a large flat panel hi-def TV, and buy a good surround sound system. Put those all together, along with next generation video game consoles, and you'll have a sweet entertainment center. Use free VOD services like Hulu whenever possible; otherwise pay for movies and episodes on Amazon.com or iTunes as you go.

How's that for being a cheap geek? Anyway, sign up for Hulu, and you might get into their beta test; otherwise, wait until the site goes public. From what I've seen, it's very convenient. I'll give some props to these industry dinosaurs for trying to adapt in this new media age.

Just read the new KOTCS trailer

Somebody on Myspace with a supposed "IN" posted a script for the upcoming trailer to INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. Let's ignore the fact that I'm all over this movie like white on rice. Let's not get into discussions about the title, whether it should even have been made, or whether it will suck or not (it won't). Let's discuss THIS:

Why is it called a TRAILER if it comes BEFORE the film? Wouldn't that be called a FORERUNNER? Or a HAULER? Or an UPFRONT? Think about it.

Well, as always, WIKIPEDIA has our answer, as well as some fun notes on who was the first real announcer in a trailer. read on:

Trailer (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Trailers or previews are film advertisements for films that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema, on whose screen they are shown. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a film programme. That practice did not last long, because patrons tended to leave the theater after the films ended, but the name has stuck. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A movie in a double feature program) begins.

History
Prior to the 1960s, trailers were mostly created by National Screen Service and consisted of collections of slowly edited scenes, often without narration, but with large graphic words splashed across the screen. Those that did have narration used stentatorian voices. In the mid 1960s, Andrew J. Kuehn revolutionized the trailer industry with his independently produced trailer for Night of the Iguana, using provocative voiceover by an actor (a young James Earl Jones). Film dialogue was used to tell the story and fast paced editing coupled with dramatic music created a whole new art form. His format was so successful, he began producing this new form of trailer with partner Dan Davis.
Kuehn opened the west coast office of Kaleidoscope Films in 1971 and Kuehn and his company dominated the trailer industry for the next three decades. As Hollywood began to produce bigger blockbuster films and invest more money in marketing them, directors like Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and Barbra Streisand began to depend on Kuehn and Kaleidoscope for their ability to create the best trailers theater-goers could see. Kuehn is responsible for trailers ranging from The Sting to The Exorcist, and Taxi Driver to Superman and Titanic. He is famous for creating the line "Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water," for the Jaws campaign.
Kuehn alumni include leading trailer makers and marketing creatives. Top trailer vendors like Cimarron, Bacon O'Brien, The Ant Farm, Aspect Ratio and Trailer Park have all been run by former Kaleidoscope creatives. Michael Camp headed the trailer department at Paramount, Tom Kennedy at MGM, and top editors Greg McClatchy, Jeff Werner and Vince Arcaro all started their own successful trailer companies. Bob Harper began his career as a messenger at Kaleidoscope before becoming a producer and quickly Vice-Chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment. Top industry trailer composer John Beal credits his career success to his thirty-year collaboration with Kuehn.

Pretty cool, eh?