The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie was finally out last weekend. I ended up watching it on Saturday morning. It was so funny and hilarious and I love it so much. I actually didn't take this picture on the day of opening but I saw this yesterday at the Century Theatres in San Francisco Westfield Shopping Center. I was tempted to sit upside down like Bart in the picture but there were a few people at the theatre entrance.

Anyway, Victoria snapped this picture with me sitting next to Homer Simpson! I wonder what it would actually be like to live in such a family!

"A Mighty Heart" and Nouvelle Vauge - In a Manner of Speaking

Over the weekend, I got a chance to see a movie called "A Mighty Heart", which is an adaptation from the book written by Mariane Pearl, the wife of Daniel Pearl. Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002. The movie more like a docu-dram which illustrates the disappearance, the investigation, and the subsequent discovery of the death of Daniel Pearl. Angelina Jolie did a fantastic job in portraying Mariane Pearl in the movie, without exaggerating the trauma that Mariane endured during the disappearance and the subsequent death of her beloved husband. It is particularly welcoming to know that movie does not take any political side. It merely states the entire incident of Daniel's disappearance and the internal turmoil that Mariane experienced during that period of time.

Daniel Pearl happened to be a graduate of Stanford University, where I did my graduate studies in Sociology. I remember hearing a lot about his death at Stanford during my time there but I didn't put much time to figure out the story behind his death. If you want to read more about Daniel Pearl's life, I'd suggest that you check out his entry in wikipedia.

When the end credits were showing on the screen, my attention was completely grabbed by the song "In a manner of Love" by Nouvelle Vague. It's such a beautiful song that I couldn't help but downloaded the entire album by Nouvelle Vauge. Click on the name of the song and it will redirect you to the song in YouTube.

By the way, I did a very stupid thing by searching the video shot by the terrorists showing the death of Daniel Pearl. The movie referred to the video a lot so I was intrigued by what actually was shown on it. I should have never done that because I ended up feeling so troubling that I couldn't fall asleep!

7-Eleven turns into Kwik-E-Mart

I was reading news online this morning and am excited to learn that twelve 7-Eleven stores have turned into Kwik-E-Marts from Simpsons. I think it's one of the best marketing campaigns I have seen for movies in recent years.

They actually changed the names of those 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Mark and stocked each re-decorated store with products you can see in Simposons. You can get the famous Squishee, Buzz Cola, Pink Donuts, KrustyO's Cereal, even a Radioactive Man Comic Book! You can check out the list of Simpsons-inspired products at http://www.7-eleven.com/sip.asp.

This marketing campaign actually transforms your day-to-day shopping experience into a special one that you feel that you are actually living in the same town as the Simposons in Springfield, IL. Most movie-related marketing campaigns only have movie-inspired products for sale in supermarkets or some lucky draw for you to win some special limited edition products. Therefore, cognitively, it's impossible for a shopper to fully immerse themselves in the a pseudo experience and feel the urge to see the movie and buy the products. I am sure the sales of those Simpsons-inspired products will be excellent. Trust me, you will see them showing up on eBay very soon!