New ideas

At work, we're charged to come with ideas to position a product. Sometimes we come up with new ideas, but there's a good chance it's not really new, but someone else, somewhere else, has done the same thing. You see, originality is something entirely impossible to quantify. Occasionally someone comes up with a truly inspiring and original idea that completely sets the world on a different course. Before Einstein came up with his theory of relativity, most people thought the study of physics was pretty much done. There was nothing more to figure out. then along came Albert, and the world only started knowing what it didn't know.

Now, equating ideas in advertising with E=mc2 is something one could only do on a Friday morning without enough coffee. Its teetering on falling apart, my entire point. The reason for this post was the movie Ocean's 13. In the brief description of the movie from Salon.com, you get this: "Clooney, Pitt and Damon gamely give it another go in this raffish, if fluffy sequel to a sequel to a remake."

Along for the ride this summer is Fantastic Four 2, a sequel to a movie no one liked. Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Spiderman 3, Die Hard 4, the aforementioned Ocean's 3. There's even a sequel of sorts to Bruce Almighty called Evan Almighty which, when you understand the plot, doesn't even make sense as a movie title.

I have a theory about fast food that goes like this: the reason people go to Mcdonald's is not because they are going to pleased with the result, but because they know they aren't going to be displeased. They know what they are getting at McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King et al. It's not great, but we know it won't be horrible. There's an inherent risk in getting a burger from Jimmy's Grease Pit. It could suck. Of course, it could also be awesome.

The point is, there are some movies out there like Knocked Up that have a sort of unknown to them. They could be this year's Little Miss Sunshine, or they could suck. Whereas, Ocean's 13, you know probably isn't the best movie ever, but it will be fun to relive the original, and the characters are likable, and you know you won't be overly disappointed. That's the theory anyway.

But I should caution you: we've already seen a 3 this year. We watched Spiderman 3. And it disappointed. So be careful.