A new video has just popped up online claiming to be a "completely real" demonstration of new hoverboard technology. The product being advertised is named HUVr, and the company making it is named HUVr Tech. Here's the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4vE_vpkr90#t=59
Checking out the website, you find that the project started out as a summer project at the MIT Physics Graduate Program. You will also find that HUVr's customers and partners include Mark Cuban and Tony Hawk, and they each contribute a quote to the site. At the top of the site is a BTTF inspired countdown clock that has the destination time marked as December 2014.
I REALLY want to believe that this is for real. Unfortunately, after watching the video several times, I think I can see where the strings are attached to the people's shirts (look at the guy's hood and the girl wearing the blue shirt's shoulders. They look like they are being lifted up ever so slightly). It's clear that the video is indeed an elaborate and well executed fake. So, several possibilities remain as to what is really going on here.
Possibility 1: HUVr is real. The video is only meant to act as a demonstration as to what the HUVr will look like, and how it will act. The tech is indeed very real, but the product isn't quite ready for field tests yet. expect it to be unveiled in December of this year. It's also possible that the product shown works, but the strings were used to exaggerate it's floating capabilities. Also, the website's legal terms page looks pretty legit to me. Admittedly, this is the least likely possibility but I'm still holding out some slim hope that it's this one that ends up being real.
Possibility 2: Viral marketing for the Back To The Future Musical. A Back To The Future Musical has recently been announced to be heading towards London's West End in 2015. This matches up with the "destination" date on the website. Still, it must have cost A LOT of money to create a fictional HUVr, hire the actors from the movie, Mark Cuban, Tony Hawk, other "Real" people (i.e.: hired non-name actors), and HUVr spokespeople. If it is all for BTTF: The Musical I'm expecting it to have a lavish budget and to be filled with high-end SFX. In other words, the damned thing better blow my socks off if they're willing to go this far for a prank/hoax.
Possibility 3: Viral marketing for a film reboot/sequel for Back To The Future. Yes, rumors have been circulating 2013 and 2014 about a possible film reboot/sequel for BTTF. Nothing concrete has been announced yet, and normally by the time a viral marketing push starts we at least have some concrete info to work with. Naturally, a film would have more than enough money to hire the Delorean, the actors, and to create a fake HUVr. However, my gut tells me that this is another one of the not as likely possibilities due to lack of info, unless they are using this fake product to gauge interest on how popular the BTTF franchise still is.
Possibility 4: Viral marketing for a new IPhone app. In the video and in the website, there is a good amount of talk about an app that would be used to control your hover. Here's an excerpt from the website: "The HUVr App is is the control center for your HUVr Board. Activate your board via Bluetooth before each use and track route information such as path, distance, speed, and time travel. You can also rate and share locations with the HUVr community or via social media to Twitter and Facebook." In other words, this HUVr product is actually a virtual reality app. Would it come with a replica HUVr Board that we could toy around with? The site also name drops MIT a few times, maybe the proceeds would go to MIT antigravity research? Who knows. If I was a betting man, I'd place my money on this option (and I would be VERY disappointed if I was correct).
Possibility 5: Viral Marketing meant to get us hyped for new self-lacing Nikes. Self-lacing Nikes have been officially announced and are to be coming onto the market sometime in 2015 (I'm not making this up, you can google it if you want), maybe this fake product is really just meant to get us thinking about the Back To The Future franchise that way it's fresh on our minds when they make another announcement regarding self-lacing Nikes in December.
Possibility 6: It's just a cruel, cruel hoax. It's not advertising anything, hyping anything, or marketing anything. It's just a hoax meant to tease the fan boys. Several people have done research and found that Lauren Biedenharn, a costume designer and artist, was involved with the commercial. When digging deeper they discovered that her employer and producer was website Funny Or Die. This is a BIG (like, slap you in the face BIG) clue that it's all just a cruel hoax (another clue is that the main engineer guy in it showing off the HUVrs is a paid actor. His name is Nelson Cheng. On his about page it mentions that he is in an upcoming project from Funny Or Die. I'm betting this would be that.). Still, I'd like at least some confirmation. Maybe I'm just hoping there is SOME kind of payoff, instead of a reveal that it was just a prank, while Funny Or Die points and laughs at us.
If this whole thing did end up being a prank, the only way that Funny Or Die could make up for the emotional pain they have caused me and others is if they really did do HUVr Board events where you could sign up to be strapped to a harness, strap a prop HUVr Board to your feet and get to fly around on it for a few minutes. I would pay good money to get to do that. The only reason I bring this up is because live events do appear to be possible since HUVr recently posted on Facebook saying "We look forward to showing you just how real HUVr is with a series of live events coming soon to major U.S cities." They also say that "Pre-Orders will be available by the end of the month (that would be March) and we hope to ship in December 2014." (With end of March being thrown out, we have yet another date to look forward to now. Plus, will we have to pre-order in order to partake in the live events?). If this is all just another piece of the gag, or if HUVr actually plans to make good on their promise of live events is still left to be seen.
So, while no one has a real clue what this HUVr really is, if it's real, or what it's promoting. The good news is we only have 9 months to wait until we find out the truth....which is also bad news (because 9 months is a very long time to wait, and I'm an impatient fellow). Either way, this has been ROADS BTTF News. Until next time, remember: Where we're going we don't need roads!
HUVR official website: http://huvrtech.com
Self-lacing Nikes: http://solecollector.com/news/tinker-hatfield-confirms-nike-mag-will-release-with-power-laces-20151/
UPDATE: 3/5/14- Possibility 6 ended up being the correct one. Those bastards at Funny Or Die finally owned up to HUVr being a cruel prank on their part. You can watch their "apology" video HERE: http://www.slashfilm.com/funny-die-fake-hoverboard-video/
To me, it sounds in the video like they are scolding us for being such morons and nerds. Either way, Funny Or Die is dead to me now. That is all.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
OSCARS REACTIONS
I have a real love/hate relationship with The Oscars, and this year only made that all the more obvious with who The Academy decided to give the awards to.
First of all, Ellen was not a great host. She spent most of her time in the aisles bugging numerous different celebs. I'd say she was kind of terrible, but to such an extent that she became somewhat enjoyable. Take that as you will.
-I love Bill Murray but he looked half dead here. I loved his quick tribute to Harold Ramis. It seemed to be impromptu and not part of the script, but was it really? I can't tell.
-The acceptance speech for Let It Go was absolutely adorable.
-Why did they allow Tyler Perry on stage? Please, stop encouraging him!!
- Charlize Theron looked yummy in that dress, very sexy and beautiful.
-Gatsby won both Best Production design and Best Costume design, both awards it deserved to win. I'm very happy it got some recognition.
-I think that Wolf of Wall Street deserved Best Adapted Screenplay. Every line of dialogue in that film sizzled and popped. Instead, The Academy awarded the Oscar to 12 Years A Slave, which also had a good script....it just wasn't anywhere near as good as Wolf's.
- Her won Best Original Screenplay, and it damn well deserved to. I'm honestly overjoyed.
-Can't understand why they didn't give Best Director to Steve McQueen. Alfonso Cuaron nabbed the award, but he didn't really deserve it. I found Gravity to be a fantastic art film, and the visuals and technology were amazing...but everything else in that film I found to be lacking. That's right, I'm one of the very few who was not absolutely crazy about Gravity. It's a great film, certainly....but only as far as technology and visuals. I honestly felt it was the Avatar of 2013 (albeit, a better and more re-watchable version of Avatar). This brings me to my next point....
-The Academy's mantra this year seemed to be: When in doubt, go with Gravity. The film picked up Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects (awards it deeply deserved), but those were the only awards the film really should have won. Instead, it just kept rolling on like an unstoppable and scary force of nature, nabbing the awards for Best Director (as previously stated), Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing as well. On the other hand, this does support my previous statement that Gravity works best as an art film above anything else....so there's that.
- Now, it's time for a bit of a rant. McConaughey won for Best Actor. I do not agree with this. I'm sick and tired of The Academy robbing Leo of his time in the Oscar spotlight. Yes, McConaughey is a fantastic actor.....but I don't feel like he deserved a win for his work in Dallas Buyers Club (he was honestly a lot better and tons more memorable in his one scene in Wolf of Wall Street). Yes, it was impressive that he pulled a Bale in The Machinist and lost a lot of weight for the role, but besides that I honestly wasn't impressed with his performance. Leo on the hand was in two of the year's best films, and nailed his role in each. I'd say he put on the role of his life in Wolf of Wall Street. He should have won Best Actor, he deserved it....but The Academy just keeps yanking it away. I'm beginning to wonder if they have something against him.
-Will Smith presenting Best Picture: A marvelous choice. I was in heaven.
-The Academy made the right choice when it came to Best Film for a change. I still think Her was Best film of 2014, but 12 Years A Slave was still more than worthy of the award. The Academy actually rewarded a film that is not just challenging, but also important. That's good news folks.
So there you have it, all my thoughts about this year's Oscars. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go catch some Zzzzzzs. Till next time friends!
First of all, Ellen was not a great host. She spent most of her time in the aisles bugging numerous different celebs. I'd say she was kind of terrible, but to such an extent that she became somewhat enjoyable. Take that as you will.
-I love Bill Murray but he looked half dead here. I loved his quick tribute to Harold Ramis. It seemed to be impromptu and not part of the script, but was it really? I can't tell.
-The acceptance speech for Let It Go was absolutely adorable.
-Why did they allow Tyler Perry on stage? Please, stop encouraging him!!
- Charlize Theron looked yummy in that dress, very sexy and beautiful.
-Gatsby won both Best Production design and Best Costume design, both awards it deserved to win. I'm very happy it got some recognition.
-I think that Wolf of Wall Street deserved Best Adapted Screenplay. Every line of dialogue in that film sizzled and popped. Instead, The Academy awarded the Oscar to 12 Years A Slave, which also had a good script....it just wasn't anywhere near as good as Wolf's.
- Her won Best Original Screenplay, and it damn well deserved to. I'm honestly overjoyed.
-Can't understand why they didn't give Best Director to Steve McQueen. Alfonso Cuaron nabbed the award, but he didn't really deserve it. I found Gravity to be a fantastic art film, and the visuals and technology were amazing...but everything else in that film I found to be lacking. That's right, I'm one of the very few who was not absolutely crazy about Gravity. It's a great film, certainly....but only as far as technology and visuals. I honestly felt it was the Avatar of 2013 (albeit, a better and more re-watchable version of Avatar). This brings me to my next point....
-The Academy's mantra this year seemed to be: When in doubt, go with Gravity. The film picked up Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects (awards it deeply deserved), but those were the only awards the film really should have won. Instead, it just kept rolling on like an unstoppable and scary force of nature, nabbing the awards for Best Director (as previously stated), Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing as well. On the other hand, this does support my previous statement that Gravity works best as an art film above anything else....so there's that.
- Now, it's time for a bit of a rant. McConaughey won for Best Actor. I do not agree with this. I'm sick and tired of The Academy robbing Leo of his time in the Oscar spotlight. Yes, McConaughey is a fantastic actor.....but I don't feel like he deserved a win for his work in Dallas Buyers Club (he was honestly a lot better and tons more memorable in his one scene in Wolf of Wall Street). Yes, it was impressive that he pulled a Bale in The Machinist and lost a lot of weight for the role, but besides that I honestly wasn't impressed with his performance. Leo on the hand was in two of the year's best films, and nailed his role in each. I'd say he put on the role of his life in Wolf of Wall Street. He should have won Best Actor, he deserved it....but The Academy just keeps yanking it away. I'm beginning to wonder if they have something against him.
-Will Smith presenting Best Picture: A marvelous choice. I was in heaven.
-The Academy made the right choice when it came to Best Film for a change. I still think Her was Best film of 2014, but 12 Years A Slave was still more than worthy of the award. The Academy actually rewarded a film that is not just challenging, but also important. That's good news folks.
So there you have it, all my thoughts about this year's Oscars. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go catch some Zzzzzzs. Till next time friends!
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