You've got to see it to believe it. Production hiccups in mainstream media are always fun.

This commercial for Japanese green tea is quite clever and funny. Though the dialogue is in Japanese, the entire TV spot is sub-titled in English. On closer inspection, we notice that the brand of green tea is Chinese. In other words, the commercial is for a Chinese-language market -- Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China , we don't know and can't tell. But as green tea is Japanese and -- and as, presumably, the best green tea is made in Japan -- the commercial makes its point about aunthenticity and quality by being done in a Japanese kawaii style being and in Japanese instead of one of the Chinese languages and dialects. (Props to Sam for the tip.)

After five years, tons of acclaim from critics, high-ratings and devoted fans, the Fox Television series "24" has finally won an Emmy Award, the trophy going to the show in the Best Drama Series category, as well as in the Outstanding Actor category, with the award given to the show's star Kiefer Sutherland . Though the show is on hiatus until 2007, "24" stills stands to reap the benefits benefit from the win (hello, DVD sales! Ka-ching!). The show is one of the most innovative, original and ground-breaking dramatic television programs ever produced. For some, it's also one of the most infuriating -- let's just say that suspension of disbelief is very important when watching "24." For those who don't know, the key to the show is that its narrative arc takes place in real time. In other words, one hour of "24" equals one hour of actual time and events in the story. (Though to be accurate, each episode is really only about 40 minutes of filmed content so ... you get the idea.) The show beat out HBO's "The Sopranos," the long-standing winner in the Best Drama Series field. Yeah, it's about time that Keifer Sutherland kicked Tony Soprano's ass!

Less than a week after effectively being fired by Paramount Studios' parent company Viacom,Tom Cruise has found investors to back his future film-production ventures. Or as Time puts it, "A Star is Reborn." Ah, shucks -- and we had thought this was the last we'd ever see of that iditotic, toothy grin on the big screen. But no. More of Tom and his pearly-whites smile will be coming to a theater near you for many more years.

The release of Cruise from his 14-year deal with Paramount was a major shock, considering how big a star the actor is. Then again, Cruise's bizarre behavior during the past year was pretty shocking for a star of his caliber as well. However, even after his notorious sofa-jumping incident on Oprah and his subsequent outburst with Matt Lauer on the Today Show, "War of the Worlds" managed big success in 2005. The same can't be said for "Mission Impossible III," which, while not a flop, certainly failed to meet expectations at the sumer box office.

It was the poor performance of "MI:III" that was cited by Viacom boss Sumner Redstone when he lashed out at Cruise and announced that he was terminating Paramount's relationship with the star.

Whether Cruise's film career continues to find success or not, rest assured, he is not disappearing from the mediasphere anytme soon, not with TomKat and all the tabloid-frenzied media junk that comes with it.

This video just about explains it all. It's clever, weird, funny and subversive, but ultimately harmless and amusing. In a nutshell, the Improv Everywhere group stages one of its surreptitious scene-causing pranks in a large, major retail space, in this case a large group (looked like about a hundered people) of would-be shoppers synchronize watches and deliberately and simultaneously shop in slow-motion for five minutes at a Home Depot in downtown New York City. The Home Depot staff have no idea what's going on. It's all captured on video.

Following on the heels of the recent Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner, we can't help but get a good full-throttle of a laugh out of this resurrected clip from the early 1970's. (The clip was screened during the Comedy Central Roast). The video shows the actor Willam Shatner performing a dramatic spoken-word-like "interpretation" of the song "Rocket Man" at the 1978 Science Fiction Film Awards. The song was a big hit for pop star Elton John way back in 1972. The performance is definitely cringe-worthy and a product of its time and place.

Shatner, who at the time was best known for playing Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series, seems to be taking the rendition all a little too seriously, which just seems to make it worse (or "better," depending on your POV). His acting and, ahem, "interpretation" are laughable, but totally earnest. Actually, the entire concept behind the performance was pretty laughable. What were the producers of this show smoking? Truly, it's one of those things that is so bad, it's good. Really, you have to give Shatner credit though for putting his 100% all into the performance. Somehow, this just seems to enhance his ironic-hipness quotient by a factor of five. This clip is a cult classic.

(Props to Sam for the tip.)

In spite of the over-hype and the backlash-hype about the over-hype, and in spite of some low opening box-office numbers, "Snakes on a Plane," starring Samuel L. Jackson and a ton of serpents, slithered into the top spot at theaters this past weekend, ahead of the Will Farrell comedy "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." "Snakes" earned about $15 million. The film cost $30 million to produce, so it appears on track to make a profit after its domestic and international theatrical runs, as well as on its subequent DVD release later this year.

The always irritable, or rather "edgy," New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum dissects Johnny Drama, the easily-irritated and dimwitted character played by Kevin Dillon in the HBO original hit series Entourage.

In the show, Johnny Drama is a past-his-peak television actor and the older half-brother of Vincent Chase, a hot young movie star of the moment. Johnny is part part of Vincent's entourage (hence the show's title), riding the coat tails of his brother's fame, hoping some of the success will rub off on his own down-in-the-dumps acting career. Kevin Dillon's character along with the shark-like super-agent Ari Gold (played by Jeremy Piven), really gives Entourage the comedic juice that makes the series fun and memorable.

Dillon's character, though a pathetic, impulsive, easily-provoked and dopey loser, is well-meaning. Most of the time, he manages to land on his feet and find a modicum of success in spite of himself. According to Rosenbaum, this makes Drama a new kind of everyman hero archetype of irritibality for a younger generation, a hero missing from the pop-culture landscape for a long time.

In the Global Graphica street art file this week ... there's a bunch of new images showing fresh paste-ups by Tiki in Nolita, New York City.

Photo courtesy Global Graphica / Ivan Corsa Photo

The much-hyped, much-buzzed-about and much-anticipated film "Snakes on a Plane," which opened nationwide this past weekend, was suspiciously not available for press screenings ahead of the theatrical release. This led many to speculate that the film was really, really bad after all. The title and trailer didn't exactly suggest "Oscar-winner" to begin with, but it was reasonable to expect a competent, original and entertaining film worthy of at least few good or generous reviews.

Now that the film is out and critics have viewed it, the reviews will start flying (or slithering) in. The New York Times review of "Snakes on a Plane is already in, and the verdict is, well, "positive." That it's the New York Times is a very good sign. To quote the Old Gray Lady:

As it happens, "Snakes on a Plane" isn't just about rubber reptiles and Mr. Jackson spewing pearls of profanity; it's also a solid, B-movie-style entertainment crammed with "Boos!" and lightly scented with a whiff of social metaphor.

Nothing, however, quite beats the aggregated verdicts and the at-a-glance collective wisdom of film critics on MetaCritic. So far "Snakes on a Plane" has earned a MetaCritic score -- or "metascore" -- of 60 out of 100, which means "mixed or average reviews." This tally was based on 28 reviews at the time of this posting. The movie also earned an "8.4" average out of 10 from 224 MetaCritic user votes.

The highest score of 100 came from Film Threat magazine. The L.A. Weekly review was scored at 90. The lowest scores, 25 and 38, were given to reviews from The Onion A.V. Club and Rolling Stone magazine respectively.

What can we say ... snakes on a plane, mutha'fuckaaaa!

There was a fascinating article last week in West, the Los Angeles Times magazine, on Joe Francis, the slimey entrepeneur and impressario behind the "Girls Gone Wild" series of amateur soft-porn DVDs you see advertised on cable channels late at night. According the to article titled "Baby, Give Me a Kiss," Francis assaulted Claire Hoffman, the L.A. Times journalist who wrote the piece. The article generally paints a portrait of Joe Francis that makes him seem like a guy with a majorly high asshole-quotient ("AQ"). But that's not as surprising as his reported behavior and his treatment of women in general and of Hoffman during her interviews with Francis. What is also surprising is that he's been associated with Paris Hilton from time to time ... er, wait ... Paris Hilton? Well, actually, that really isn't suprising, is it?

Madonna's Eurpoean tour is currently in full swing, with the material girl about to start the German leg of her concert series. But the authorities there are "monitoring" her shows to see if her performances may be in violation of a German law against engaging in behavior insulting to a person's religious beliefs, specifically Catholicism. In her recent U.K. concerts, Madonna has performed a song while being mock crucified on stage.

And speaking of "Snakes on a Plane," Samuel L. Jackson appeared on Comedy Central's the Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote his slithery new action-thriller. It's a funny segment, with both Jackson and Stewart hamming it up. The requisite promo clip from the movie is shown, and it's the one where Jackson utters his famous expletive-ridden mofo line, so it's full of bleeps. Good stuff.

Gotta see it to believe it. Check out the trailer above for the much-anticipated, much-hyped movie "Snakes on a Plane." It looks so ... bad ... and so chessy ... and yet so good -- we can't help but be intrigued. JUst watching the clip makes us want to see it on the big screen, popcorn in one hand, soda in the other. Dude, seriously, it's astounding isn't it how a well-edited trailer can make you want to shell out $10.50 and spend two hours of your time watching what your otherwise logical brain tells you is clearly crappy cinematic bubblegum.

Yo, that's right, muthafuckaaaa! You've got hand it to screen actor Samuel L. Jackson for picking a winner when he sees one. Jackson signed on to star in the movie "Snakes on a Plane," the much-hyped action-thriller that opens this weekend in the U.S., based only on the title, the basic premise, and the name and credibility of the director originally attached to the film project. (That director was Ronny Yu, the Hong Kong and Hollywood horror filmmaker.) Jackson didn't even read the script -- he probably just said "Sign me up, muthafucka'!"

More importantly, you have to hand it to Jackson for knowing how to promote the hell out of a movie, generate a ton of buzz, interest and free publicity for an admittedly cheesy-titled movie six months before its release. There should an Academy Awards category for Best Actor Who Promoted His Film. Jackson would win it.

The film got a lot of attention on the Internet, especially in the blogosphere, and even in the mainstream media (MSM) during the past year while it was in production. That was because New Line Cinema, the studio behind the project, attempted to change the movie into a more sanitized film titled "Pacific Air Flight 121."

But the internet buzz and media attention generated when the film's screenwriter leaked details of the proposed changes on the Internet, and Jackson's public activism, led New Line Cinema to revert back to the original concept and title. In fact, the films has spawned a groundswell of creative activity on the Web, becoming an Internet phenomenon long before the movie or even its trailer were scheduled for released. Yup, there was even a "Snakes on a Plane" blog.

And so now we've finally got "Snakes on a Plane," in which Jackson gets to utter what will doubtless become a classic piece of film dialog: "I've had it with with these muthfuckin' snakes and this muthafuckin' plane!"

Even if the film is total crap, it could generate a ton of cash at the box office and find a massive DVD afterlife as a cult classic. There are indications that the movie is crappy. The studio has not scheduled the usual pre-premiere press screenings, which suggests that New Line Cinema knows the flick is bad and don't want to allow the press the chance to publish any negative criticism ahead of the all-important opening weekend.

We recently posted on Air Massive about the Chicago band OK Go. We've really liked their music, which Friend of the Massive (FOM) Jess turned us onto. A couple of weeks ago Jess also tipped us about OK Go's most recent music video for the tune ''Here It Goes Again." If you haven't seen it yet, it's an amazing and clever clip of the quartet dancing in a carefully choreographed routine. The band did a similar dance number for the video for their previous single, "A Million Ways," which went on to become a massive viral hit via the Internet. The video for "Here It is Again" takes the dance idea one step further (no pun intended): the four members of OK Go do their dance on eight moving treadmills. The routine in "Here It is Again" is so good that it defintiely tops the dance in "A Million Ways." Dude, if they could pull this off in a live performance, we'd be even more impressed. As the OK Go explained to Entertainment Weekly in a Q&A, the band spent eight days choreographing the dance. Since the group had limited means, they bought the eight treadmills used just for the video shoot with the understanding that they'd be able to sell them back after they finished the video. (Merci beaucoup,, Jess.)

As part of a campaign to promote the second season of the television series "Weeds," Showtime's advertising agency has come up with a smart magazine ad with scented strips that smell like the wacky tobacky. It's a fitting use of the scented strip for a show that deals (no pun intended) explicitly and humorously with the sale and use of weed in an affluent, picture-perfect SoCal suburb. Usually, the scented strip technology is the sole province of perfume and cologne ads in Vogue or GQ. The ads appear in Rolling Stone magazine, which itself is an apt placement for such an ad. Brilliant idea.

From the Global Graphica files this week comes this series of images showing some downtown street art in the form of paste-ups by the Brooklyn-based artist Swoon. Hands down, Swoon is by far our favorite contemporary artist putting creativity on the streets and galleries of New York and other cities around the globe.

Talk about brand loyalty! Some 22-year-old dude in Washington, D.C. chose on a whim to have the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt pony logo tattooed on his left breast, the same spot it appears on an actual Polo shirt. That's original and amusing and a bit clever. But, actually, it's really kind of dumbass, too -- this guy is going to have to live with this polo tat forever. You can check out the Newsweek/MSNBC article and an actual picture of the guy and his tattoo here. This is the kind of stuff that makes over-zealous brand-management and marketing types drool with excitement and drone on and on with all sorts of extraneous blather about the power of brands. Not that we think brands and logos -- and how people use them -- aren't important, powerful, meaningful and interesting. They are. Rather we just dont' think they are to the extent that we have to endure extraneous blather about it ('cause that's just the way we roll, muthafucka'!) ;) Anyway, according to the Newsweek/MSNBC article, tattoo parlors are getting requests for tats of all sorts of brand imagery, including logos for Gucci and Sony PlayStation. Which gets us to thinking: how long is it before companies start paying people (or, not paying them -- get them to do it for free!) to get tattooed with corporate logos and product names as part of their larger marketing campaigns.

Call it music or call it performance art -- call it sublime crap even!-- but there's no denying that Norwegian band Hurra Torpedo's rendition of cheesy 1980's pop classic (and retro-karaoke hit) "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is torturously mesmerizing in its thunderous mix of melody and aural abrasiveness. Seriously, we had to watch the video twice. Dubbed "Norway's most famous kitchen appliance band," Hurra Torpedo is a trio. What makes their cover of "Total Eclipse" the singular sensation is its percussion. Two members bang away with cooking gear -- pans, pots, whatever -- on a set of battered stoves, while a frontman, Egil Hegerberg, handles vocal duties and plays guitar. Hurra Torpedo has made a name for itself by turning concert performances into art stunts (or, perhaps, the other way around). A few years ago they made headlines for featuring live sex acts on stage during their performance at a music festival. We'd love to know what song the band was covering for that show, "Afternoon Delight," perhaps? (Domo arigato to Jeff for the tip.)

We've spent the past few days holed up in our apartment with a nasty sore throat, killing the time by catching up on tunes from the band OK Go. The band's recent album "Oh No" was produced by Tore Johansson, the same Swedish producer behind Franz Ferdinand and the Cardigans. The OK Go have their own raw, energetic sound, but they share that same crispy, tightly-wound sound of not only Franz Ferdinand but a number of power pop-rock acts to emerge from the U.K. in the past couple of years, though OK Go is American (from Chicago, no less). But OK Go seem to have a lot more sizzle and power behind the pop veneer. Their tunes are catchier, heavier, fuller -- we can only imagine how Ok Go must sound when they take the stage. Would to see 'em. (Tip of the Kangol to Jess E. for tip.)