Simply Everything

By Peter K. Lam

Disney Acquires Marvel for $4 Billion

I was surprised by the announcement of the Disney/Marvel merger earlier today. It came out of left field. I think many people in the comic book industry had no idea this was in the works. Marvel Entertainment has been doing pretty well with its growing film franchises based on their popular and well-known characters. With the establishment of Marvel Studios to oversee the film production, one would assume that Marvel had no intent of selling their business to another corporation. What’s done is done I suppose. So what does this merger actually mean for Marvel’s business and the fans?

From a business standpoint, Marvel made a smart move. Merging with Disney will only strengthen their brand. Now with Disney as their financial backbone, Marvel will have longevity and the ability to further expand their brand and reach an even greater audience. Disney is a powerhouse and so is Marvel in its own right. Combining their businesses will probably increase overall revenue in the long run for all parties involved.

For the fans, this may be seen as good or bad news. Disney is a very family oriented business developing such projects like Lion King, Snow White, and others. How will a company with this kind of track record deal with inherently violent and gorey Marvel films like Blade and Punisher?

Disney used to own Dimension Films which had the original Scream franchise. One would hope that Disney will once again take a step back and allow creators do their jobs without interference. The worst possible thing would be for Disney to get involved in the creation of the Marvel films and possible screw it all up. If they step back like they did while they own Dimension Films, this merger will be a good thing for everyone. If they do get involved in the creative process for the Marvel films, I fear that the essence of what make Marvel films great will be lost.

It was also reported that current Marvel Entertainment CEO, Ike Perlmutter, will continue to oversee operations after the merger. This is a good sign in my eyes. Hopefully this means that Disney will allow Marvel to operate pretty much as it always has but now with a powerful financial backing that was missing before.

By Peter K. Lam

Behaviorial and Geographic Ad Targeting on Facebook

The latest post from the Computer World blog talks about older generations of users starting to dip into the world of social networking. An older demographic of users opens up new advertising opportunities. When Social networking first started, I didn’t think that it would really have much impact. I think my first taste of social networking was with Friendster which was a long time ago.  At the time the only thing Friendster was able to do was to connect users with other people much like a giant address book and then users can send messages to one another through this platform. It laid the foundation for social networking as we know it today.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites have evolved into a mass communication tool capable of reaching a very targeted demographic. Users on social networks create profiles that state their interests, education, and other personal information which they want to share with their friends. This information has become very useful in terms of online advertising and internet marketing because advertisers and marketers are now able to create behaviorial ad targeting and even geographical ad targeting.

When I’m on Facebook I always notice the ads that show up on my profile. They are always ads that cater to my interests, age group or geographical location. When you really think about it, it’s kind of creepy that social networking sites have evolved so much that it’s pretty much capable of analyzing a person from the data provided in the profile and spit out ads which have the highest probability of being clicked.

Whoever came up with this technology is brilliant even though it may seem a bit intrusive. Behaviorial and geographical ad targeting truly personalizes ads based off of user provided data so that users feel more inclined to click. I’m sure that those ads have a high response rate because it targets such a specific group. I know that I have clicked on a few ads while browsing on Facebook simply because the ads are really interesting and I wanted to find out more.

Behaviorial and geographical ad targeting are essential tools for any internet marketer. If you aren’t already using these tools, you should start. Such personalized ads really connects with users which will hopefully help generate more revenue in the future.

By Peter K. Lam

Keifer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in FOX's 24

If you are as tired as I am of watching reruns of shows, there’s relief just around the corner! The new fall 2009 tv season will start in a few weeks so you can finally stop having withdrawals. I’m not really having withdrawal pre se, I’m just getting bored with seeing the same old stuff on TV. I need freshness! So what new shows are you most excited for or what returning TV series are you waiting to come back? I have a whole list of stuff I’m waiting for!

Returning Shows
DOLLHOUSE – This one is by far the show I’m looking forward to most. Joss Whedon’s show was one of those threatened to be cancelled and it was a surprise to many that it garnered a second season. FOX executives have said that this time around they will stay out of Joss’ way so that the show can really take it’s course and grow into its own. All I can say is, “WOOT WOOT!!”

Smallville – Smallville is one of those shows that has only gotten better every season. I watched some of the first season and I liked it a lot. Unfortunately the next few seasons afterwards did not grow on me but the fanbase continued to grow. I started watching again with season six and the show had become an endearing giant among men. I’ve been hooked ever since. The seasoned veteran enters its ninth season this September but it still remains very strong in ratings for The CW. Although season nine is supposed to be the last season of Smallville, The CW confirms that the show may live on past season nine. I sure hope so because Smallville still has so much life in it.

LOST – ABC’s LOST is also entering its final season. I have been intrigued by this show from the very beginning. The mystery behind the island and its inhabitants have gripped viewers for several years and it’s all coming to an end! LOST returns midseason in January which is not too long a wait. I really want to know what the deal is with the smoke monster and how some people seems to not die on the island. I’ll have to wait till January to find out.

24 – 24 is also coming back midseason in January. 24 is one of those shows that people just can’t stop talking about. I didn’t watch a single episode of the show until last year. My cousin lent me season 1 – 5 which I had left in a corner to gather dust for almost two years. I finally got around to watching all season 1 – 6 from August/Sepember 2008 to December 2008. Trust me, I was watching crazy 4 hour stretches of the show in one sitting, sometimes even more. I did an 8 hour marathon a couple of times. 24 is so addicting.

New Shows
Vampire Diaries – Hot off the trail of the wildly popular film series, Twilight, comes a TV show in the same vein of vampire love drama called Vampire Diaries. I’m pretty interested in seeing this after viewing a few trailers. It seems to have a darker and adult-like theme that may proven more mature than Twilight. I haven’t seen or read any of the books in the Twilight series but from what I heard, (apparently the Twilight vampires “sparkle” in sunlight), there are people that simply love it and others hate it and its also geared toward females. Vampire Diaries seems to also be geared toward females but the interesting dark edge this show has is kind of reminiscent of Joss Whedon’s classic, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m sure that Vampire Diaries will not be as great as Buffy the Vampire Slayer but at least it won’t have sparkly vampires so that’s a plus.

Flash Forward – The only thing I know about this show is that the entire world blacks out for several minutes and everyone during that time sees a glimpse of their life six months in the future. It’s an intriguing concept, one that is original and creative. I’ll catch this show to see what it’s about but I don’t know how a show like this can last more than one season. People are already saying that this new show could be the next big phenomenon since LOST.

So those are the TV shows I’m looking forward to the most. There are more shows I’m interested in but these are the ones that have my full attention. If you love tv shows, movies and entertainment in general, you can go and discuss the latest TV shows and movies over at TVChannelSurfers.com!