This is the brand new "Angels and Demons" spot that aired last night during the Magic-Celtics game, and I want to share it not for its coolness, but rather for the fact that it creeped the hell out of me. Especially the opening five seconds....

How they didn't use a shot of Paul Pierce during the fifth sign, the truth, is just a crime. Not bad though.

Check This Out: Angels and Demons NBA Promo TV Spot (First Showing)

A few weeks back, Chris Bosh was invited fill in for the weatherman on CTV in Toronto, and today the network decided to post the "pregame" video. Not only is Bosh just about the chillest dude you will ever come across, but there is even some "Anchorman" discussion. Via My Hogtown....

"Let's chill AND go over it," is officially my new phrase of the week. I love how the dude talking to him is holding a Basketball to look cool. Weathermen are so hip! Oh and CB4 still needs his own TV show. Someone start an online petition.

Chris Bosh's "Preparation" In The Green Room Before His Guest Weatherman Apperance (My Hogtown)

It's round two of the Randy Moller Experiment over at the Dan Le Batard Show, and I couldn't be more pleased. We need something like this to get us going on a blah Tuesday, right? Right! So get your popcorn ready, sit back, and enjoy....RME 2.0!

(Oh and please make sure you listen around the :30 mark for what could be the best call in the history of Sports)

Bonerama!? Are you kidding me??? And Meatloaf too? This is just too much. I have to go lay down.

I don't have any clue why ESPN sat down with Tom Cruise this past weekend. Wait, I take that back. Of course I know why, but that doesn't make it any less random. Stu Scott talked with the Actor/Scientologist about his new movie, his love of Sports and Brett Favre, for over SIXTEEN! minutes, and here it is in its entirety. I do encourage you to do what I did, and just randomly click around once the video has loaded, and try to figure out what Tom Cruise is talking about. Every answer is in the exact same tone an

"Valkyrie, your new movie. Uh, it's about the plan to assassinate Hitler. It's one of those edge of your seat, intense movies, especially the last 45 minutes. In what ways does that kind of intensity, match or maybe even supersede, the intensity of great Sports.....event."- Stuart Scott

Are you kidding me?!?! I can't even come up with words to describe how asinine that question is. Pointlessness of the interview aside, good lord that is pathetic! I'm sorry for having subjected you to that.

Tom Cruise finds Brett Favre to be an inspiration (Watchdog)

(P.S.- How creepy is that still shot of Cruise before you hit play? He's watching you with one eye people, and if you don't go see "Valkyrie", he will use his superpowers to destroy you!)

It's been awhile since we've had an ESPN "movie promotion" post, so this announcement comes with perfect timing. Jim Carey will appear on Monday Night Countdown with Chris Berman and the gang to promote his new movie "Yes Man".

Actor Jim Carrey, star of the upcoming Warner Brothers film The Yes Man, will appear on this week’s Monday Night Countdown in a pre-taped special segment. The piece will play off the theme of Carrey’s new film as he asks viewers a series of NFL-themed questions, answering an emphatic “YES” to all and getting increasingly excited as he progresses.

Well at least he's not a guest in the booth with that same cheesy angle, right? Hopefully the group won't overdo the whole segment, but with that collection of individuals, I don't see how that's possible.

(Via ESPN PR)

I've seen some odd promotions in my day (mostly from ESPN), but this one might take the cake. From Lightning Strikes via Puck Daddy comes this set of creepy photos that give you a look at Tampa Bay Lightning co-Owner, Oren Koules's attempt at marketing his newest movie. The film in question is Saw V and if you've seen any of the previous four you know just how creepy that idea is....

Lightning goalie Mike Smith on Saturday night wore a mask the team hopes will become a collector's item for fans of the grisly Saw movies and benefit some charities in the process. On one side of the mask, a picture of the creepy clown doll that taunts the movie's victims and police, on the other, the evil Jigsaw and his female accomplice, the architects of the bloody on-screen mayhem. Chains on both sides of the mask appear to pull apart a mouth.

Lightning owner Oren Koules is the Hollywood producer responsible for the series that continues Friday with the release of Saw V. Goalie Olaf Kolzig also will wear a mask depciting [sic] the movie, but the team said it has yet to arrive.

It was unclear how many times the masks will be worn. Smith's will be auctioned to benefit the Lightning Foundation. Kolzig's will be auctioned to benefit Athletes Against Autism.

Well at least they're being auctioned off for a good cause. Apparently the latest Saw film features someone wearing the mastermind, Jigsaw's face around so that shot in the middle is going to haunt me for a few days or so.

Saw fans, Lightning masks are for you (Lightning Strikes)

I always try to avoid the back-to-back ESPN posts, but I just couldn't pass on this item. ESPN is always looking for one movie or another to get into bed with, and was even helping to promote one as recently as last night. Monday Night Countdown used the theme from the new Bond movie (although not as much as I originally thought they would), but I've also posted on cross-promotions with "The Mummy 3", "The Gameplan" and "Live Free Or Die Hard". Well this week's movie collaboration comes with the DVD release of "Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and it's actually a much better promotion than any of the annoying ones they tried above.

Starting today, if you go to ESPN.com and search for the keyword "Indiana Jones", you'll be linked over to a set of videos. Seven university bands (Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Florida, LSU, USC and Texas) have all performed, John Williams' Indiana Jones Theme and the school with the most votes with receive a $25K donation from Lucasfilm Ltd. for their school's band program.

I say that it's a good promotion for a few reasons but the obvious ones are the donation, it's not plastered all over ESPN.com or on Sports Center, and most importantly.....the song and performances are pretty badass. My vote is going to LSU not only because they have both the mascot and cheerleaders dressed as Indy (amazing look btw), but anytime you can give me a Les Miles cameo where he tells me to, "Have a great day"....I'm in your camp....

Battle Of The Bands And The Quest For The Crystal (ESPN)

Last year ESPN started a deal with record labels where they started using songs from albums coming out the next day for their bumper music during Monday Night Football. At the inception it seemed like a great idea, and that it was a mutually beneficial venture for both parties, but fans quickly learned that ESPN just wouldn't draw the line in terms of the artists they'd choose. The likes of The Eagles and Rick Simerly were played ad nauseam, and the once good idea turned into one giant distraction.

Well this year will apparently be no different and our first installment of "MNF Music" will take place during next week's Ravens-Steelers game. What's the music that you'll be inundated with, you ask? Well it's the theme to the new James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace" of course! Via ESPN....

SportsCenter Monday Kickoff (6 p.m.) and Monday Night Countdown (7 p.m.) will include brief video montages of football highlights mixed with the song and music video “Another Way to Die,” the theme for the upcoming James Bond film Quantum of Solace. The music was written by Jack White of The White Stripes and Raconteurs and is a duet between White and multiple Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys. The song will also be heard throughout the MNF telecast, continuing “Monday Night Musicians,” an initiative introduced last season where ESPN's music department works with record companies to highlight upcoming music releases of popular performing artists within Monday Night Football games.

I guess there could be worse artists out there to get beat over the head with, but I'm guessing by the end of the game we'll be throwing things at the television screen. Also, while the single comes out the next day, the movie itself doesn't even come out until November. It would seem to make much more sense to do this promotion then, but what do I know? I don't really have a problem with the idea in theory, but let's at least try to make the artist/song fit into the game somehow this year, okay?

This is actually via NBC, so I'm not sure if I entirely believe it, but they have evidently proven me wrong. I had them coming up short of their break even mark ($1 Billion) for months now but they seemed to have reached and passed their lofty goal....

NBC Olympics has surpassed $1 billion in advertising for the Beijing Olympic Games. The announcement was made today by Seth Winter, SVP Sales & Marketing, NBC Sports & Olympics.

"We've always said that the Olympics is one of the most powerful properties in all of television," said Winter. "While we are thrilled with this milestone, we still expect to write more business as the Games begin and great stories continue to evolve."

NBCU's Olympic sales received a boost from its primetime coverage of the U.S. Olympics Trials for Swimming, Gymnastics and Track & Field, which saw ratings increases over 2004 and featured buzzworthy performances from marquee athletes such as Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, Tyson Gay and Shawn Johnson. Advertisers also have noted the recent stellar ratings for the U.S. Open and Wimbledon on NBC, as well as the Super Bowl.

With the help of a John McCain campaign to best Obama and the addition of primetime coverage for popular Sports like Swimming, NBC is back in the black. All the big ones will be there (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Kodak, VISA, Nike, Google) and don't forget those fancy Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor ads either. I hope the $750K turns out to be worth it.



(Via NBC PR)

Get Ready For A Ton Of "Mummy" Promos During The Olympics (Awful Announcing)

You know the promotions I'm referring to if you watched the NBA Finals. ABC had tie-ins with Hancock for the "superheros" of the game and more annoyingly, Wall-E showing up at the game. Well NBC is going to do the same thing but with the movie "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor"....

The campaign kicks off Tuesday with an extended 150-second spot that will run during the NBC series America's Got Talent.

The spot, which also will be cut into variations ranging from 10 seconds to two minutes for NBCU's cable networks and in-theater pods, utilizes special effects that fuse Olympic footage with Mummy scenes.

One such moment includes a backflip by one of the film's stars, Michelle Yeoh, who morphs into a gymnast on a balance beam. In another, a fight between stars Brendan Fraser and Jet Li is transported to fisticuffs in a boxing ring.

In the film, the mummy of an ancient Chinese emperor returns from the dead, along with the region's legendary terra cotta warriors. Much of Mummy was shot in China, which will host the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in August.

It's a good thing I don't watch NBC during the Summer. While the technical aspect of some of them are pretty cool, I have to tell those involved that these are the most annoying things ever created. Once or twice it's fine but the frequency they were used during the NBA Playoffs was just over-the-top. Let's hope NBC doesn't go overboard with them.

NBCU Preps 'Mummy,' Olympics Cross-Promo (Brandweek)