Volkswagon has a new spot out that I love for its clever integration of the small print. A guy stands at the bottom of a hill while a train of silver Volkswagon’s weave their way down a windy road towards him. After splashing through a puddle, the lead car stops opposite the man. The driver rolls down his window and the guys asks him, “Professional driver on a closed course?” The driver nods yes once in reply.

At least for me, this commercial really stood out from the morass of advertising muck for the innovative way it took the “professional driver on a closed course” small print with which we are all familiar and made it integral to the commercial itself. Although this was a normal ad, the art of integrating a message within an engrossing creative concept will be the key to successful television advertising in our TIVO ad-skipping age. “Story” spots already experience better audience retention than more traditional ads. Expanding these techniques to the reinvention of the commercial paradigm will be crucial for advertisers hoping to get their message across in the years to come.

For those who haven’t heard, The Washington Post, home newspaper of Berkeley Breathed’s “Opus” comic strip, has refused to run two installments of the popular comic in its print editions because of a bandwagon-crazy character who becomes a radical Islamist as her latest fad. Several other newspapers have joined the Post in banning the two strips, although some (the Post included) are distributing them on their websites.

Besides the obvious censorship concerns that banning the strip brings up, there is a second, perhaps even more important, issue at sake–inconsistent, unequal application of said censorship. Christianity in general and Catholicism in specific (with regards to the Church child molestation scandals) are frequently raked over the coals in comic strips and newspapers in general. By not running these Opus strips, the Washington Post is in effect saying it is okay to poke fun of Christianity but not to do the same of Islam. Quite a double-standard.

I seriously doubt the Post is pro-Islam and anti-Christianity. But such extreme inconsistency raises great concern over the papers’ potential biases in running other stories. If they are willing to censor these comics strips, what more important information may they withhold for unspoken reasons?

I’m sure no one believes that a paper should censor any and all material that some subgroup might find offensive. Besides being a moral and ethical quagmire, doing so goes against the very tenets of free speech. That leaves as the only fair solution (and perhaps the only one in true accord with the US Constitution) running all comic strips and articles no matter whom is the target of humor or criticism.

My film “Tales From Beyond” has been accepted into the 2007 South African Horror Fest at the Labia Theater in Cape Town, South Africa, October 26-31, 2007. Please visit http://www.horrorfest.info for more info.

Although no official title has been declared, Lucasfilm has registered the following possible titles for the long-awaited Indy IV with the Motion Picture Association of America:
Indiana Jones and the City of Gods (rumors of this title have already circulated)
Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold
Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant

Since all the major studios, their subsidiaries, and large indies register titles on the MPAA list as a measure of protection (those titles registered first get priority), odds are the eventual title may very well be one of these.

I haven’t been a fan of Barry Bonds since he broke Pittsburgh Pirates fans hearts after the 1992 season and signed with the Giants for a lot more money than the small-market Bucs were able to offer him.

I had the good fortune to attend the 1993 home opener for the Pirates, where the Giants happened to be the visiting team. As soon as Bonds took his position, a shower of dollar bills, coins and flags given away that night littered down upon the field. It took seven minutes to clear the field before play could resume.

Surliness with the press and allegations of steroid use hasn’t helped Bonds’s image in my mind.

That having been said, I thought asking Bonds’s in the post-game press conference after he broke Hank Aaron’s record last night whether the record was tainted was completely out of line.

I didn’t catch who asked the question, but for this one night, I felt that the media should ignore the scandal. Steroid use or not, 756 home runs is an amazing feat. If it turns out, surprise of surprises, that he is clean after all, he should have been able to enjoy this moment unspoiled.

The questions and arguments can begin again today, and an asterisk can be added at some point in the future if he is found guilty. But the reporters last night should have just let it be.