PingRay's ON THE RADAR

Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 10

Books by Other Means

“A music video for books, but on the Internet.” One can imagine that kind of elevator pitch if VidLits had been offered to a Hollywood executive. But VidLits, animated mini-stories based on new books, were originally the result of sweat equity by its two key creators, writer/TV producer/founder Liz Dubelman and animator Paca Thomas.

In an interview with PingRay, Dubelman said she had the idea for VidLits one day while listening to “This American Life” on public radio. “This is good,” she says she thought, “but with the Internet we can add pictures and effects. It’s really all about the story. We figured stories are in books and books needed to be marketed. VidLit could be like a jukebox for books.”

As it turns out, original VidLits--without book companions—are also popular on the site.  Example: "Craziest," written by Dubelman herself, about her obsession with the game of Scrabble and its mystical meaning in her life. And “Portico,” an entire “world” based on storytelling, is in the works.

The most successful VidLit so far is the one for “Yiddish with Dick and Jane,” which, according to Dubelman, was viewed 1 million times in the first 8 weeks on the site…and is still going strong.

“Yiddish with Dick and Jane,” a primer that re-interprets the classic children’s book with the highly expressive expressions found in Yiddish, was written by Ellis Weiner…the same Ellis Weiner whose “Santa Lives” VidLit is our NetStories selection for Issue 10. 

How is it that the same author defends both Yiddish and Santa Claus, you might ask?

“I am able to do this,” Weiner told PingRay, “because I am a recipient of what I call ‘Judeo-Christian culture.’ Having written the Judeo- part, I wanted to address the Christian part. Unless what I’m thinking of is actually ‘Judo-Christian culture,’ in which case I should have been writing about martial arts, and this whole Santa thing has been a terrible mistake.”

On the assumption that “the whole Santa thing” was not a mistake, what could be next for such an ecumenically diverse author?

“My co-author, Barbara Davilman, and I discussed ‘Yiddish With Archie and Veronica,’” Weiner said, “but our editor (rightly) talked us out of it. Instead, we are completing ‘Yiddish With George and Laura’ (really), which will be published by Little, Brown in September of 2006. So far the ‘log line’ for it is, ‘the whole mishpochah [Yiddish for extended family] up at

Kennebunkport,’ which says it all. Actually it doesn’t say it all. It says it all about the story part. The Glossary will be something different. Meanwhile, I look forward to doing two sequels to ‘Santa Lives’, tentatively entitled ‘The Tooth Fairy: What Does She Want From Us?’ and ‘The Easter Bunny: An Inquiry.’ “

Why, one might ask, is Weiner is apparently more suspicious of the alleged Tooth Fairy and the iconic Easter Bunny, than of the overweight guy who risks injury on your property by entering through a roof opening not meant for ingress, in the middle of the night, in all kinds of neighborhoods?

We may have to wait for the books…and the VidLits…to find out.

Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 9

Point System

The Web is full of entertainment that complements another piece…or many pieces.

Sometimes, they’re fleeting connections, the way similarities can appear when you’re flipping between late night movies on TV. At other times, it’s as if they were part of a double- (or triple- or quadruple-) feature, a thematically-connected bill at the local Bijou.

Take this Issue’s Net Movies selection, “DAMNED IF YOU DO,” in which a newly-dead man tries to qualify for Hell, and our last Issue’s Net Movies selection, “IN GOD WE TRUST,” in which a newly-dead man tries to qualify for Heaven.

Director/Writer Jimmy Zeilinger reportedly got the script idea for “DAMNED”…in which David, frustrated by a life of disappointments, tries to break every Commandment to get into the endless party in Hell… when he saw Charleton Heston in “THE TEN COMMANDMENTS” and noticed that the actual 10 Commandments weren’t named. 

In “IN GOD WE TRUST,” Robert must get a few more points to enter heaven. Apparently, both Heaven and Hell are point-based; too bad one can’t use those left-over air miles.

Interestingly, Jason Reitman, director of “IN GOD WE TRUST,” directed another short film, "CONSENT," in which lawyers for a soon-to-be-intimate young couple negotiate the legal points on a sexual consent form while the would-be lovers wait patiently on the bed. The idea that emotional, intimate occasions—love-making, death—can be determined on a point scale is both inherently funny and…given the plethora of get-into-heaven-if-you-do-this clerical sermons and calibrating guides to sexual behavior…quite close to implied standards. "I think the humor comes out of the darkness in the material, the fact that these characters speak so frankly about life and death,” Reitman says, speaking about a recent feature he directed, “THANK YOU FOR SMOKING”…but he could also be talking about two short films that, together, are by-the-numbers guides to the hereafter.

Speaking of ... PingRay's Issue 6

The Legend of Sub Chick

When "Subservient Chicken," our Online Gadgets & Toys selection in Issue 6, was first released in April, 2004, not a few people thought it was a hoax--that someone had mis-appropriated Burger King’s good name as a spoof on "we'll do whatever you say" marketing. Or, as in BK's brand promise: "Have it your way."

In fact, the hoax question was so often asked that one authoritative hoax-busting site (snopes.com) was led to post the truth: it really was from BK.

Now, about 15 million or more viewers later, "Subservient Chicken," created by the Crispin Porter + Bogusky ad agency in Miami and The Barbarian Group in Boston, is one of the textbook successes of “viral marketing” --although, in these days of bird flu, it's hard to conceive of a more inappropriate label.

From the "you gotta check this out" angle--a key requirement for all PingRay selections-- Sub Chick still makes the sale. It is so over-the-top and artfully amateurish that it still charms and amuses us. And the roughness and prompt responses makes it feel as if it's a live, interactive...albeit clunky...transmission.

But, goofy fun aside, did it sell more chicken sandwiches? Adweek and others tried to answer that question. Apparently, sales increased at BK, but without a direct "chicken-then-egg" connection.

Lest it seem like a two-hour production, keep in mind that "Sub Chick" has several hundred video clips, selected on the fly from a quick scan for keywords in your typed command--supposedly, 400 commands in all. And, in case you were wondering about exactly what tricks this puppy has up its sleeve, someone with way too much time on their hands has compiled a list of what the Chicken will and won't do.