the world beyond recruiting

Hope you all enjoyed your Labor Day!  Three day weekends are always a great way to start a four-day work week.  Here are some links from around the “creative world.”

“The American” won the weekend box office. “Machete” came in second.

AdvertisingAge: What Big Brand Are Spending on Google

Ever sat back and wondering, “Hmm…I wonder what are the top 10 viral ads of all time?”  Now you know.

AdAge: Israeli Teens Swipe Wristbands to Update Facebook Status

Joaquin Phoenix skipped his own world premiere of “I’m Still Here” at the Venice Beach Film Festival today.

CNNTech: Kanye West and how Twitter’s changed how we communicate

For old time’s sake: ImmaLetYouFinish.com

BrandFreak: ‘Machete’ spoofs imagine other films based on racial stereotypes

AdFreak: Fake girl plays in traffic to scare bad drivers

In case you are looking, here are 100+ upcoming social media and tech events

Joaquin Phoenix is still acting fairly wacky these days (the term industry insiders are not using). The reclusive, bearded, former-actor who shunned Hollywood has become the subject of his own documentary entitled, “I’m Still Here” (directed by Casey Affleck). However, he didn’t even show for the world premiere at the Venice Film Festival today. (No word on if it was in honor of Labor Day.)

That’s a pity, since Phoenix, the brooding, respected, totally serioso actor in Walk the Line and Gladiator, has been a gossip-writer’s dream subject for two years now — from Oct. 2008, when he announced he was renouncing movies to be a rap artist, through his infamous gig Feb. 11, 2009, on The Late Show With David Letterman, when the star showed up in his fat bearded-guy look and glazed, incoherent persona, cuing Letterman to ask, “What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?” and to cap the interview with “Joaquin. I’m sorry you couldn’t be here tonight.”

Still AWOL at the world premiere of his movie — which plays the Toronto Film Festival Friday, the same day it opens in Los Angeles, before a limited run in other cities — Phoenix left plenty of questions unanswered. Like: Is this movie for real? Many industry sages believe the whole thing is an elaborate hoax: pulling a Garbo at age 33, declaring he was going to excel in a new field he was unprepared for, sitting for a feature-length portrait, warts and all (in fact, nothing but warts), by Affleck, his sister Summer’s husband. Tired of having to interpret other people’s scripts when he possesses the soul of a creative artist, Phoenix says plaintively, “I don’t wanna play the character of Joaquin any more.” Yet he is fully aware of the paradox that an ex-actor is the subject of a movie: “My life is becoming a film about me not wanting to make a film.”

Truly unbelievable.  Even director Casey Affleck admits that audiences will be confused.  Huh?

Even director Casey Affleck admit that audiences will be confused.  What?

I said, even director Casey Affleck… Oh.

You’ve gotta give it up to GEICO and The Martin Agency.  They keep bringing simple, memorable, humorous spots to TV/Internet.  Between the Cavemen, the gecko, and these new animal-inspired ads, they know what they are doing when it comes to building a brand name and building up brand equity.

If you haven’t seen them, here are a few of these ads. Enjoy these while on break…

Woodchucks

Little Piggy

Octopus

Today’s Rundown LA features a guide on the right way to do next weekend’s Charlie Saikley 6-Man Volleyball Tournament on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier. For those of you who don’t understand how a volleyball tournament can be so much fun, this picture will offer 1,000 words, which is still not enough to describe the good time to be had…

If you are in the area, you should definitely consider participating in some manner.  And consider checking out The Rundown’s guide to maximize the potential of your day. And, also, tell everybody there about Eleventh Hour…but in the most professional way possible at a beach full of inebriation and sand volleyball.

Welcome back to Around the Creative World. Hopefully you’ve settled down after NBA Free Agency 2010, World Cup Soccer 2010 and the wide range of amazing summer movies.

Here are links from the worlds of entertainment, media, advertising, marketing, tech and more…

• Eminem is Not Afraid to hold the top Billboard spot for the third straight week with his album, “Recovery.” (Get it? This is clever journalism at it’s finest.)
• Deadline:  Magnolia Will Platform Joaquin Phoenix Mockumentary By Casey Affleck Sept. 10
• Tom Cruise is returning for Mission Impossible 4. (I only mention this because, remember when he was crazy? Wow. What a recovery. America loves a comeback…if you are famous.)
• The Hollywood Reporter: U.S. ad revenue expected to rise to $170 bil
• Captain America and Thor will be 3D movies. (Duh. Why wouldn’t they be? Until a 3D film fails to make a profit, the Avatar standard has been set.)
• The Rundown USA: What Women (Don’t) Want: Mel Gibson’s NSFW meltdown, from mashup to kitties
• Disney is promoting their upcoming Sorcerer’s Apprentice through Twitter.
• Geico: Octopus (Kind of stupid, in my opinion, but I give it a free pass, considering it’s a Geico commercial.)
• Mashable: Improv Everywhere Brings “Star Wars” to NYC Subway Car [VIDEO]
• AdAge: How to Become a Top 10 Twitter Trending Topic: Be Dead, Be Lame, Be Annoying and/or Be on TV

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger posting for boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

California lawmakers are considering putting flashing ads on license plates, doctors are urging the Coliseum not to hold another rave, and the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles beat the San Francisco Giants last night.

That’s what’s going on around Los Angeles, home of recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour. Here’s what’s going on around the “creative world”:

• Toy Story 3 won the weekend box office for the second consecutive weekend (by the way, THR dubs this second consecutive weekend a “sophomore session,” just in case you need an unnecessary way of saying it).
• The Hollywood Reporter: B.O. trading venture won’t launch despite OK
• You’ve probably heard that Steve Carell is leaving The Office. This completely sucks, but, he has not changed his mind.
• AdAge: Why TV Advertisers Are Spending More for Less This Season
• Branded entertainment is set to increase, according to ADWEEK. I guess it’s better than advertisements on license plates.
• FIFA actually feels bad about some of the horrible mistakes made by referees during the 2010 World Cup. They are going to consider using video technology. (Technology: 1 – Stubbornness: 0)
• Mashable: iMovie Hacked to Work on iPhone 3GS
• The Rundown (USA): iBad: Admit you’re wrong with iPology
• CrunchGear: Barnes & Noble financials: e-book store blowing up like what
• And, in closing, yes, it was a tough loss for the U.S. weekend. But, let’s, at least, remember the good times.

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger posting on behalf of Marina del Rey-based boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.

First of all, let’s remember one of the happy moments of the U.S. Soccer Team’s run in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa:

I have no idea who those people are, but they were in Hollywood so it seemed appropriate. For some reason this video excites me at first, and then it slowly annoys me…but maybe that’s just because the U.S. lost to Ghana today. Whatever the case, it was a great moment with the U.S. beat Algeria.

Now comes the depressing part…

As you probably know (hopefully you aren’t counting on this blog for your up-to-the-minute sporting news), the U.S. lost to Ghana 2-1 in overtime today, eliminating the U.S. from the World Cup. It was a frustrating game. In the first half, Ghana looked dominate. Then, in the second half, the U.S. looked dominate…until they scored. Then they seemed to ease up. In overtime, the U.S. looked exhausted. Ghana scored early. That was that. There were also several great looks throughout the game that the U.S. could not convert on. Frustrating.

In my eyes, unfortunately, this proves that United States soccer still has a ways to go. It wasn’t a bad World Cup, per se, but losing is never a reason to relax–especially in the first round of elimination. What do you think? Did the U.S. improve upon past World Cups? Or is it stuck in rut? In a primarily football, basketball, baseball (heck, even X-Games) country, can we someday produce a team that can compete? We have 300 million people. Let’s hope so…

Brian Laesch is an independent blogger, posting for boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour, located in Marina del Rey, California.

Speaking of a big win for ABC and the media in general, last night’s NBA Finals Game 4 featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics was the highest rated NBA Finals game since the 2004 Los Angeles Lakers-Detroit Pistons series. With an 11.6 overnight household rating, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it was 6% higher than last year’s rating for Lakers-Magic. And it won the night, earning a 4.7 rating, 14 share and 11.7 million viewers.

In fact, ABC owned the night:

It’s even a win for ESPN.com…

So, with the series tied 2-2, and no favorite apparent, the current winner is still ABC. Congratulations, ABC. You’re the best! (A.K.A. Please throw us a bone for this congratulatory blog.)

Four-hundred medical marijuana outlets are being forced to close or relocate all over Los Angeles. That’s what’s going on in Los Angeles. Here’s what’s going on around the “creative world.” (There is not supposed to be a correlation between those two topics…)

• Shrek Forever After 3D leads the box office.
• Conan’s new home is trying to create a stir and win him an Emmy for his work on his old network.
• AdAge: Cinema Advertising Grew Again, Albeit Modestly, in 2009
• ADWEEK: BP’s ‘Apology’ Ad Not a Complete Disaster
• AdFreak: Porsche open to Mini’s idea of having a race
• BrandFreak: Adam Carolla leaves his mother-in-law in the dust for Klondike
• Twitter will be changing links and how they are displayed…
• And… Street Artists Add A Little Porn To The iPad All Around San Francisco For WWDC

Tonight is the night. The 2010 NBA Finals featuring the Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics. The media couldn’t ask for a better match-up (except for maybe Kobe vs. Lebron–good thing there was no puppet show this year). (Here’s the STAPLES Center getting ready for tonight’s starting lineups. And, Ron Artest gets his own column here.)

Here is ESPN’s preview of the series:

Here’s a video that has hardly anything to do with basketball:

Here at recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour, there is some conflict. We are located in Los Angeles (Marina del Rey), but President Jeff Ganter is a Boston Celtics fan. Uh oh.

(This is a blatant attempt to attract LA transplants from Boston to Eleventh Hour. My apologies…but I still think it’s a really, really good idea, Boston-originating LA transplants. You should definitely check us out.)

Best of luck to the Lakers and Celtics. And congratulations to ABC/ESPN. You guys have already won. The rest is gravy.