It is dubbed as the true story of the most prolific serial killer in history. With comparisons to the meager victim counts of Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer, we are told that "Gustave" has claimed over 300 victims. And is still at large. It's Jason and Freddy combined (of Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, respectively), but only this horror villain is real. The imagery on the trailer is of never-ending skulls, and the movie is Primeval. But here's the kicker. The premise has a punchline. Gustave is better suited for National Geographic than a horror film. Why? He's a crocodile, something the movie's promoters intentionally sidestep. That said, he is real, and he is given honest coverage in a National Geographic article that's worth the read.
FIRST-TIME VISITOR?
ANALYSIS: APPLE'S 'TABLET' DEVICE
Watch My Video Interview
WHAT I'M READING NOW
Arthur C. Clarke: Childhood's End
What amazes me about Clarke is that his writing is unbelievably compact without losing any punch. This is the first book that I have read from him, and it's a great read, surprisingly not overly dated, which is amazing given how much time has passed since he wrote it.Mr. Scott Eyman: The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930
Excellent read so far; looks at the rapid transition of the film industry from the silent era to talkies, seeing it not as evolution but as mutation that wiped out its predecessor. Classic disruptive innovation but compelling, engaging story, excellent narrative.Cory Doctorow: Little Brother
I very much enjoy Doctorow's writing style. His book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, introduced the concept of the Whuffie, or reputation score. This book deals with security, privacy, hacking, terrorism and the police state. Fictional, fun read.Steven Johnson: The Invention of Air
Really good read on Joseph Priestley, a Zelig-like inventor who is credited with "discovering" oxygen, and being a huge influence on Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, et al. The book is as much an allegory for the value of being cross-domain, the power of nuance/iteration, the leverage afforded by open/social networks and the role of game changing tools in innovation. The book loses steam in the last 1/3.Professor Richard E. Foglesong: Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando
This is the first book that I am reading via the Kindle reader on my iPod touch. Great book that shows how Disney maneuvered its way into establishing Disney World as it's own pseudo government, free from the oversight and controls of traditional city, county and state control. Hardly, a slam piece, it shows how centralized planning can lead to a better, more fully conceived product (think: Apple), but also shows the pitfalls for eager cities and states willing to agree to any and all pre-conditions to secure major corporate patronage.Robert B. Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials)
One of my recurring interests is better understanding how to influence the actions of others. This book looks at the psychology and underlying trigger mechanisms, such as reciprocity, that drive people to act in the way that you want them to. Relevant to people in sales, marketers and pretty much anyone who wants to turn the gravity of persuasion to their advantage.George Friedman: The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century
Provocative, enjoyable, compelling read that makes the somewhat counter-intuitive argument that the next 100 years is destined to be the American Age (US), replacing the European Age, which has been the locus of gravity for the past 500+ years, and that our emerging counter-challengers will be Turkey, Mexico, Japan and Poland - not China or India.Jessica Livingston: Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
Not since I read Accidental Empires many years ago have I had so much joy and insight reading about the AHA moments, the blood, sweat and tears, the mistakes, the victories and the lessons learned in the birthing of tech startups like Apple, Lotus, Hotmail and a couple dozen other seminal companies. If you are an entrepreneur or want to know what being one feels like, this is a must read.Ian Williams: Rum: A Social and Sociable History of the Real Spirit of 1776
The history of rum, with the exotic spirit as a key character in the founding of the United States. Next book in my Chatopic group, and a fun read so far.Pip Coburn: The Change Function: Why Some Technologies Take Off and Others Crash and Burn
I have been ruminating a lot about the relationship between user experience and user adoption. Coburn is one of my favorite writers/analysts from back in the days of Red Herring, and this book focuses on the user experience/user-centered approach to solutions thinking. Personally, Inmates are Running the Asylum is a better book.
Grab my RSS feed
« Channel Me and the Rules of New Media | Main | vSocial launches vQuote Video Sampling »
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c285b53ef00d834d9518a53ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Serial Killer, Gustave and Creative Marketing:
Comments
Verify your Comment
Previewing your Comment
This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.
As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.
Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.
READ MY COLUMN @ O'REILLY RADAR
READ THE 9 TRUTHS
READ MY MICRO-BLOG: TWIT-WORTHY BITS
Search My Blog
- Loading
FOLLOW MY TWEETS
Recent Posts
- Is Facebook a Brand that You Can Trust? (Guest Column @ O'Reilly Radar)
- James Cameron's ‘Avatar’: The Citizen Kane of the 3D Medium?
- Goodnight Moon, and Goodbye Microsoft Entourage!
- Google Android: on Inevitability, the Dawn of Mobile, and the Missing Leg (Guest Post @ O'Reilly Radar)
- Pattern Recognition: Rationing Health Care; Rickrolling; and Capitalism 2.0 or Uh-oh!
- Steve Jobs is the closest thing to Walt Disney since Walt Disney
- What's a @TimOReilly Tweet worth? 5850 clicks, 100 re-tweets and counting
- O'Reilly Radar Guest Post - It's in the Bag! The Apple Tablet Computing Device
- The Probability Tree: On Decision Matrixes, Outcome-Orientation and Venture Investing
- iPhone’s 100K Apps milestone is the New '7-Minute Abs'
Recent Comments
- healthy sports on James Cameron's ‘Avatar’: The Citizen Kane of the 3D Medium?
- Mark Sigal on Posterous: The Copy-and-Post Revolution in (Micro) Blogging
- Joe McCarthy on Posterous: The Copy-and-Post Revolution in (Micro) Blogging
- Mark Sigal on Guerrilla Marketing, Facebook and the Highjacking of ‘Official’ Class of 2013 Groups
- Phillip Batz on Guerrilla Marketing, Facebook and the Highjacking of ‘Official’ Class of 2013 Groups
- j on Flip Video News Network: Crowd-Sourcing meets CNN
- metalcycle on Guest Post for GigaOM - Android vs. iPhone: Why Openness May Not Be Best
- Mark Sigal on Pattern Recognition: Rationing Health Care; Rickrolling; and Capitalism 2.0 or Uh-oh!
- engrish on Pattern Recognition: Rationing Health Care; Rickrolling; and Capitalism 2.0 or Uh-oh!
- canlı radyo on Pattern Recognition: Winning Blue Prints, Moneyball (NBA-style) and Justin.tv
A friend of mine was psyched to go see it, until I told her the serial killer was a crocodile. Man, was she angry about the misleading marketing! She went from eager-to-go-see to no-way-no-how very fast.
Thanks for the link to the National Geographic article, which is a bit more honest.
Posted by: John "Z-Bo" Zabroski | January 17, 2007 at 09:24 PM
No worries, John. The funny thing is that I was similarly intrigued by the marketing, so much so that I did a google search on the movie and "gustave" which brought me to the truth.
Regards,
Mark
Posted by: Mark Sigal | January 17, 2007 at 10:00 PM
What I usually do is I have a folder in my Bookmarks for "Movies" with bookmarks for IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic. The latter two provide me with good insight about what movies to go see. Anything 90% or above is usually worth the $10-12 of a theatre ticket.
The last couple of movies this approach has "recommended me": Children of Men, Casino Royale, Pan's Labyrinth.
All good.
Posted by: John "Z-Bo" Zabroski | January 18, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Gustave is better suited for National Geographic than a horror film. Why? He's a crocodile, something the movie's promoters intentionally sidestep.
Posted by: Buy Canada Viagra | March 12, 2009 at 09:30 PM