Who's Your Daddy?

Amazon is doing something cute for Father's Day. If you're unsure what to buy for your dad, compare him to one of these famous dads and vote for your favorite:

I like the write-up for Darth Vader:

People who think of Darth Vader as a father figure often have mixed feelings about their own fathers. You admire strong disciplinarians, yet you tend to rebel against authority. When growing up, you were probably distant from your own imperious father, perhaps cultivating a closer relationship with an aunt or uncle. You still may feel as if you've never really known your father, suspecting that he may be keeping important family secrets from you. This mystery that has always surrounded him leads you to second-guess his motives--you may wonder whether he's trying to steer you down the wrong path.

The suggested gifts are cute too. The Art of Parenting Twins and Woolite Dark Laundry Wash are among the suggestions.

Oh, and there's a hoax item too -- a land cruiser tank you can buy for a mere $19,999.95.

On The Lot

Wow, how could a reality show with such good backing suck so badly?

I really had high hopes for On The Lot. The premise of the Fox show is that 18 undiscovered directors will compete for a $1 million movie deal with Dreamworks pictures. The show is produced by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett. The judges are Gary Marshall, Carrie Fisher and a random director of the week.

But it’s bad!

There have been about four episodes so far and they’re down to the final 15 people. Over 12 thousand people supposedly submitted films, but I’m not very impressed by the quality of films that we’re being shown. I’m certain that 18 students from NYU or UCLA would put together better films. I also think 18 kids could be found on YouTube with films with more raw originality.

I’m disturbed at the weak subject matter. Between last week’s shorts and this week’s, we’ve seen a film about vomiting, two films about farting, one about giving birth (while refusing to get off a cell phone) and one about peeing and they were all boring and stupid. And it’s not adolescent boys making these films! Three of the films I mentioned were made by adult females.

I’m wondering what the problem is. Was there something wrong with the selection process? Did they choose photogenic people over creative people? Did they pick people who had worked in the industry before over truly raw talent?

I think Zach is the likely winner, since he has the edge with editing and post production special effects, but I wonder if the show will be canceled before it gets that far?