Good lord, the “brand rapper” is everywhere these days. In between spitting rhymes for the top MC title in Los Angeles, former Deutsch LA copywriter Jason Pickar situated himself into this clip, which was shot over the weekend. Well, safe to say that this is not quite as romantic and/or alluring as Wren’s original clip, which has garnered somewhere in the range of 30 million views since its launch. At least our dude has his rap career and copywriting resume to fall back on.
We’ve covered the many adventures of Jason Pickar -aka the “Brand Rapper“–over the years, from his time landing on The Price is Right to his offer to work during Christmas in 2012. Now, the former Deutsch LA copywriter (on Dr. Pepper among others) and current LA-based freelancer, who goes by the stage name, Chozinn, is trying to take things to the next level and conquer the City of Angels via his rhyming skills. Pickar is among the top four MCs vying for the title in the “Who’s Next” contest that’s being held by L.A. station Power 106.
The contest is essentially dependent on votes (less than a week left!), and while the signup process is a little tedious (email signup is recommended over Facebook/Twitter), those who know the man or just prefer his tune to the rest can check out his profile here to help base your decision. And so, the next page in the Pickar saga turns.
Ford’s latest dive into original branded content is “Laugh Trek,” a web series starring comedians Moshe Kasher, Nick Thune, the 2014 Ford Fiesta with voice command something-or-other, and Made Man, the men’s lifestyle site from Defy Media (born from the merger of Break Media and Alloy Digital). Also, your aunt Judy may or may not have something to do with this.
Ford (who’s no stranger to the branded web series game) has made “Laugh Trek” into part road trip/part stand-up comedy competition hybrid, with this week’s episode challenging Thune and Kasher to make fun of a Korean pop song in front of Korean people. Now, to spare you from the 8-minute video, let’s just say that Kasher bombs pretty hard. The fact of the matter is that K-Pop is a pretty easy target, so spending a long amount of time making fun of something that’s mildly annoying isn’t very funny. Thune tries a different approach, pretending that the upbeat song is actually being played at a funeral and that he has been tasked with the eulogy to the deceased, a made up guy named Travis. It’s funnier, but, still, not great. As a fan of Thune, this made me a little sad.
If that somehow still sounded appealing, you can watch the first episode, “Retirement Home,” here and five more here as the season progresses. Credits after the jump. continued…
There was a time, all the way back in April, when the Internet was outraged at actor/director Zach Braff. You see, after seeing Veronica Mars fans quickly pony up over $2 million to turn the cult 2000′s TV show into a movie, Braff figured he’d turn to the same platform, Kickstarter, to get his next film project funded.
This caused a lot of butthurt, especially on social media, where complaining is an art form of sorts. “But, @ZachBraff is a multimillionaire,” tweeted the world in unison. “Why should people be give the rich #Garden State douche their hard earned money to make a second #douchetastic film?” Comedian Tim Heidecker took the complaining to the next level, actually tweeting Zach Braff a one-page script about his douche-y idea. This was all fun for a while, but despite the Internet outrage, Braff’s Kickstarter investors already raised more than he needed for the movie, and everyone stopped caring. Well, almost everyone.
Starting today, the guys behind the website Screen Junkies (featuring that “brand rapper” former Deutsch LA copywriter dude Jason Pickar) have turned to Kickstarter competitor IndieGoGo to start “Don’t Back Zach Braff.” The campaign discourages people to donate to Zach Braff’s movie, despite it already being funded last month and everyone moving on to more important things like Angelina Jolie and the How I Met Your Mother season finale. With $10,000, Screen Junkies will take out a full-page ad in the print edition The Hollywood Reporter discouraging the people to give money to Zach Braff’s already funded project which, even if it wasn’t, would still be a waste of money, because you’d be making a media buy in The Hollywood Reporter and this isn’t 1954. With $200,000 Screen Junkies pledges to make whatever this is into even more of an exercise in futility by buying a full-page ad in (hold onto your butts) Entertainment Weekly.
Yes, of course they’re doing all of this ironically and the purpose of stopping celebs from crowdfunding their future vanity projects. After all, when has doing things solely for the sake of irony not led to great ideas? Donate here, or, you know, you could not let whatever Zach Braff or other Hollywood folks are doing have any impact on your spending habits. Credits after the jump.
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