the world beyond recruiting

Happy Avatar Day. Today is the day that James Cameron’s Avatar most likely surpasses Titanic as the top grossing film of all time. Proving that technology really is taking over our lives. It now dominates movies, too. I know Avatar is the first movie I’ve ever liked, strictly because of the effects. Digital effects are never supposed to be the star of a film–or so I thought–but that’s the case for Avatar.

I’ll be interested to see what James Cameron will do around 2019 to top this. Maybe he’ll create the first film experience where local actors in costumes are hired to come out of the screen and interact with the crowd during the film. Theaters across the country, and worldwide, will spend thousands installing new IMAX movie screens with doors in them… But until that day, I guess we’ll have to watch this outdated 3D stuff.

• The Hurt Locker has been voted best film by the Producers Guild of America. Really glad to see this film getting the praise it deserves.
• As mentioned, Avatar, with an estimated $1.841 billion in worldwide boxoffice, is expected to pass Titanic as the top grossing film of all time.
• Conan O’Brien’s final Tonight Show aired on Friday. In case you didn’t see it, here it is on Hulu.
• Speaking of Hulu, Nielsen is preparing a system to include all ad-supported online TV watching in their ratings.
  
• AdAge: Why This $3 Million Baby Is Back on the Super Bowl
• Jeff and Erin are getting married!!! Who are Jeff and Erin? I have no idea, but their Hollywood blockbuster trailer-style “save the date” video is fairly epic. I kind of want to crash their wedding…but I’ll probably be busy on 10/09/10.
• In a somewhat uncomfortable situation, the “Pants on the Ground” guy performed a private show for the Minnesota Vikings. (The Vikings are on the ground after blowing that game against the Saints. At least, Favre is.)
• And, did you hear the White House has it’s own iPhone app? Press Secretary Robert Gibbs loves it!

Brian Laesch has compiled these links for Eleventh Hour’s “beyond the world of recruiting” blog.

Last night marked the end of Conan O’Brien’s 7 month run as host of NBC’s long-running franchise “The Tonight Show.” His successor, obviously, will be the same person he succeeded: Jay Leno. The chin returns. (Which I say with the utmost respect. I just like calling Jay Leno “the chin.”)

What will happen? Where will Conan O’Brien end up? Fox?

How will Jay Leno fare in his return? Huge ratings spike (beyond the initial guaranteed spike due to curiosity, of course)?

Who cares. Well, besides NBC. I mean, the cool thing to do is say that you don’t care…but deep down, everybody has an opinion on the feud that took place the last few weeks–unless they don’t care about either host, or television in general. I’ve already prepared myself for a world without Conan when he was originally on hiatus, waiting for The Tonight Show to begin. But that doesn’t mean I want it to be that way. The return to Jay Leno doesn’t seem “progressive” enough for the NBC. Oh well.

In case you missed Conan’s final show last night (weird to be typing that already), here it is, in it’s entirety, on Hulu.com. It’s good that NBC realized that no matter how much Conan badmouthed them these last two weeks, it was good for ratings, including online. Adios, Conando. (Too sentimental?) Here it is:

Brian Laesch will be awaiting the return of Conan O’Brien.

Hope you had a good Martin Luther King, Jr. Day yesterday. Apparently, MLK still inspires to this day. After a dismal performance last week, everybody on my fantasy basketball team played out of their minds, including the white guys (foreign players). Unbelievable. Now I see why Dr. King was so big (totally kidding).

Seriously though, I hope you enjoyed your day off and remembered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while doing so.

And remember to text ‘HAITI’ to 90999 or ‘QUAKE’ to 20222 to help the folks in Haiti. They still need it.

Here are the links:

• In case you haven’t heard, Presidents Bush and Clinton heave teamed up to create the Clinton and Bush Haiti Fund. You can go there to donate money to Haiti, or text ‘QUAKE’ to 2-0-2-2-2.
• As I mentioned before, you can also text ‘HAITI’ to 9-0-9-9-9 to donate through the American Red Cross.
• NBC is finalizing the deal for Conan’s departure. Jay Leno says, “it’s business.” And an “I’m With CoCo” rally with hundreds of people took place outside Universal Studios’ Gate 2 yesterday. Conan responded by sending Tonight Show staffers outside with pizzas for the protesters.
• In case you didn’t hear, Avatar won best picture at the Golden Globes, and it’s boosting Imax shares.
• Variety: Hollywood helps Haiti
• The Chinese are pulling 2D versions of Avatar to make room for a Confucius biopic. This is my favorite story of the day.
• AdvertisingAge: At CBS Television City, TV-Watching Is a Science
• Here’s an outdoor ad in the UK that was designed to anger women…and worked, easily. Case closed.
• Del Taco orders up the weird with a new campaign?: “The Del Taco Super Special Show“
• Want to see every single ad from Apple and TBWA’s “Get a Mac” (John Hodgman vs Justin Long, PC vs. Mac) campaign? Not necessarily? Well here it is anyway.
• Creativity’s TV/Video Spot of the Day: International Rescue Committee: Haiti (Text ‘HAITI’ to 25383.)

Brian Laesch posted these links and reminds you to text ‘QUAKE’ to 20222.

It looks like NBC read my previous post, “Does Jay Leno own NBC?,” and decided to show him who was boss. Just kidding. But “The Jay Leno Show” has been cancelled, and rumor has it that Jay Leno has been asked to host a half-hour show at 11:35 p.m., followed by Conan at 12:05 a.m. According to inside sources, Conan is not happy about it.

And that’s all I have to say, about that…

Here are the links:

• Variety: NBC kicks ‘Jay Leno’ out of primetime
• Variety: Conan O’Brien ’stung” by NBC
• Avatar won the box office for the fourth consecutive weekend with $48.5 million domestically. In related news, I’m still waiting for a rapper to paint their car “Avatar blue”…
• Boxoffice.com tracked the total weekly Tweets about The Book of Eli, The Lovely Bones and The Spy Next Door. Not sure why they The Lovely Bones led the way, easily, with 7,123 Tweets. (I actually thought it would be a lot higher than that…)
• You’ve seen the new Domino’s campaign that basically says, “our pizza sucked, but it’s good now,” right? BrandFreak wonders why we should believe Domino’s now, if they lied to us before…
• In case you are interested, Hornet’s Peter Sluszka created the animation sequences from the new Michael Cera awkward comedy, Youth in Revolt.
• The Simpsons celebrated their 20th anniversary last night. Did you watch the special? Morgan Spurlock hosted it…so I didn’t feel like watching, for some reason. Or maybe it’s the fact that the show has been on for twenty years. I love The Simpsons…but it feels like they celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2002.
• Want to turn your Apple iPhone into a World War II fighter plane!? Oh…you don’t? Never mind.
• MediaFreak: The return of ‘Lost’ is less than a month away, and still so many questions (Let’s hope they get cleared up.)
• Rumors has it that the Apple Tablet will have a webcam and 3G connectivity… Good thing AT&T’s map won’t get in the way of viewing someone’s webcam. Hey-oh!

Thank you. Thank you, very much.

Brian Laesch compiled this list of links from the worlds of entertainment, advertising, marketing, tech, and more for boutique recruitment agency Eleventh Hour.

By now, you’ve heard the rumors about Jay Leno reclaiming “The Tonight Show,” moving back to the 11:35 p.m. timeslot, moving to Fox, or whatever other rumors are out there. (I may start a rumor that Jay Leno refuses to comply with his current contract unless NBC bring in James Cameron to shoot the show in 3D.) One thing seems certain: the status of Jay Leno’s new show seems completely uncertain. (THR: ‘Jay Leno Show’ future uncertain. See?)

But does Jay Leno own NBC? It’s all speculation at this point, but with all of the stories out there in the trades, the mainstream media, and the Twitter stream, it seems that the comedian/mechanic has the upper hand in all of this. NBC says they are committed to keeping Conan O’Brien…but they seem more interested in keeping Jay Leno and their affiliates happy, at any cost. I understand the concern over appeasing the affiliates who do not like Jay Leno leading into their local news. But shouldn’t they be just as worried about losing Conan? Sure, Conan’s ratings have come nowhere close to Leno’s on The Tonight Show…but isn’t Conan’s younger audience better for the future of The Tonight Show franchise? Or maybe NBC is ahead of it’s time. Maybe Conan should be the host of the Tonight Show in 10 years, when more of his long-time fans are more frequently settled down at home. Or maybe NBC should just move The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien to NYC and the magic will return.

Whatever happens, it seems as though Jay Leno will get his way, and go riding off into the sunset in some sort of antique car that he will only drive once.

Let’s face it, for whatever the reason, Jay Leno owns NBC. His monologue last night confirms it (via THR):

“What does NBC stand for — never believe your contract?” He also suggested he might switch networks. “If we did get canceled, it will give us time to do some traveling,” he said. “I understand that Fox is beautiful this time of year.”

Brian Laesch forms these opinions on very little “inside knowledge” and mostly the same information available to the general public…but in a cool way.

Eleventh Hour is back after an entertaining weekend on the Westside.  Below are some of the topics and stories causing enough of a stir that we felt you too should be in the know.

• Seth Rogen co-wrote Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, beginning their 21st season.
• The Onion announces Pepsi’s decision to no longer advertise its popular soda product.
• Saturday Night Live’s cast member Slate f-bombs in her debut and season opener.
• Move over Bart Simpson as Seth Green becomes latest Butterfinger spokesperson.
• Conan O’Brien’s to return to the Tonight Show after a stunt gone wrong during last Friday’s taping.
• CNN sat down with King of Leon at the Sunset Marquis in West Hollywood to discuss the success of their fourth album, Only by the Night.
• 11thr will be at the Whip It premiere tomorrow night.  Here’s a preview of Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut.

Matt Suttner is not smooth on roller skates but loves to watching the speed and power of roller derby dames!

Here’s a guide on what to DVR (or TiVo) this weekend. (Because “What To Watch” is out-of-date.) I don’t expect, nor do I hope, that anyone will be spending the weekend indoors watching television, but there are some things you may want to watch at a later date.

The Zen Master himself, Phil Jackson, will be on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien tonight. I hope he wears his Malcolm X hat, commemorating his 10th title. Plus, the master of vowels himself, Shia Labeouf, will be Conan’s top guest. I don’t understand why Shia LaBeaouf gets top-billing over Phil Jackson, but maybe they are basing it on demographics…and the fact that Phil may engage in a Zen-like discussion that would literally put people to sleep before they finished watching the show (but if the TV is left on, how does that hurt ratings?). Anyway, I guess we’ll find out. Maybe Shia will let Phil go first. Make that, maybe Steven Spielberg will let Phil go first.

Speaking of the Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher and other members of the 2009 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers will be on Jimmy Kimmel Live tonight. I hope they bring the trophy. Given the usual crowd on a Friday night around Hollywood Blvd., where they film Live, I expect some aftershocks of rioting.

And before that, on NBC, if you are into disturbing mysteries, Dateline has the story of two murder mysteries. One of which hits a little too close to home.

Other than that, unless you want to watch Alec Baldwin on SNL, again, the U.S. Open coverage on ESPN and NBC is where it’s at. Although, I don’t expect you to actually TiVo that. That’s one show this weekend that is worth watching live. As long as you are watching it live from a beach, pool or yacht, while soaking up some of that summer sun. (But if you don’t have a beach, pool or yacht part to attend this weekend, any social gathering will do.)

This has been my guide of “What to DVR” for the weekend of June 19th – June 21st. It’s completely biased and fine-tuned to coincide with my individual tastes. That doesn’t make it any less awesome though.

Have a great weekend!

Brian Laesch is a television critic for 11thr.com/blog.

Conan O’Brien has been a popular topic recently on Eleventh Hour’s blogspot so what makes you think we are going to stop now?  In honor of the newest king of late night debuting tonight, we dug deep to find fun facts about Conan you may not already know.

• As president of the Harvard Lampoon back in college, Conan led a heist to steal Robin from TV’s “Batman’s” costume.
• At the beginning of his late night hosting duties Conan was paid week to week.
• Conan took tap dancing as a kid.
• The White Stripes’ had Conan cameo in one of their videos.
• David Letterman has Conan’s back from the beginning.
• Without Conan we would not have Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.
• Conan looks like a blood relative to the Finnish President.
• Brad Pitt once bought a Ford Taurus from Conan.
• He once dated a “Friend.”
  

Matt Suttner thinks Conan O’Brien is brilliant and hopes the west coast won’t change his wacky character too much.

I’m back from Chicago.  Let’s not discuss the tournament.  Mostly because it didn’t go well, but also because…well, also because it didn’t go well.  I guess it’s now time to prepare for my inevitable future athletic mortality.

But in brighter news!, I’ve compiled another link of good creative news, stories and websites that you may enjoy/benefit from.  See?  I’m still like Michael Jordan with the flu.  Even when I’m down, I still come through in the clutch. (Besides, Hoop It Up, of course.)

• AdvertisingAge suggests you follow these 25 media people on Twitter.  I’m following them all.  Are you following Eleventh Hour?
• iJustine’s incredible internet celebrity career continues with Carl’s Jr. ads.  Unbelievable.
• Free mixtape downloads!?  I just discovered DatPiff.com this weekend and, man, I’m excited.  I’m sure I’ll have to sift through a lot of garbage, but they had me at “free.”
• Kid Rock and Jim Beam are going on tour together.  No…I mean…officially.
• Geico’s Kash (a stack of money with eyes) is still showing up everywhere.
• Trust Dr. Dre when it comes to Dr. Pepper–he’s a doctor.  I mean, Dr.
• The King will rudely wake you up in the middle of the night, and you’ll still buy his flame-broiled sandwiches.
• Conan O’Brien starts on the Tonight Show tonight.  Here are some promos. Hard to believe it’s already June 1st.
• Here’s a pretty funny ShamWow parody from the guys at Magic Hugs.
• Mashable’s Ben Parr gives you the “Top 7 Twitter Tutorials on YouTube.”
• ‘Up’ wins the Box Office this weekend, with an estimated 68.2 million.  No surprises here.
• Susan Boyle lost to a dance crew.  CNN interviewed some old entertainers about it.  It’s kind of weird.

Brian Laesch dreamed a dream about bloggingggggg!!!!!!

Yes, here at Eleventh Hour we are huge Conan O’Brien fans and stoked for his debut on “The Tonight Show.”  Only a little more than a week away, 11thr followed Conan through his new studio to find out what’s new in store.  As you can see below Conan is his wacky self as usual.

So…I lied; not the real set.  Man, I really had you there huh?  OK, Access Hollywood DID get the opportunity to join Conan on the new “Tonight Show” set.  I promise this time!

With Will Ferrell and Pearl Jam headlining the first show, there is a strong possibility for a leprechaun sighting!

Matt Suttner is already on the hunt for requesting tickets for a live Conan taping.