Finally, a great name for a movie! From today’s Hollywood Reporter:

“Igor” centers on a mad scientist’s hunchbacked lab assistant Igor, who has big dreams of becoming a scientist and winning first place at the annual Evil Science Fair. It will be distributed domestically by the Weinstein Co., which also has secured rights in most foreign territories. Weinstein Co. will be selling “Igor” at next month’s American Film Market.

Piven will voice the role of Dr. Schadenfreude, Igor’s nemesis, with Shannon voicing Eva, a giant, indestructible monster invented by Igor. They join a cast that includes Steve Buscemi, John Cleese and Christian Slater.

Can “Interbrand, the Final Fury”, be far behind?

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From Playlist Magazine:

Microsoft’s forthcoming digital music player, dubbed Zune, may make some Hebrew speakers gasp. The name for the device—which will take on the Apple iPod when released later this year—sounds like a vulgarity, specifically the “f” word, in Hebrew…

…Microsoft breaks the controversy down to pronunciation. “While we do acknowledge the similarity in pronunciation to Hebrew zi-yun, that is not the intended meaning of the name Zune,” according to a Microsoft statement. Bloggers have picked up on the difference—one humorously writing that if you say Zune to rhyme with iTunes, out pops the profanity.

Buck, cluck, chuck, yuk, muck, puck, pluck, luck and truck all sound very similar to the “f” word, but the point is they are not the “f” word. There is nothing to this “controversy”, except that it gets Zune talked and written about. And Microsoft should be thrilled to be even accused of having a connection with a physical act that is natural and pleasurable. How often is that going to happen?

A few years ago Buick ran into a similar problem, albeit a direct hit, and changed the name of their Lacrosse model for the Canadian market.

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It’s “National Character Counts Week”, and it runs from October 15th to the 21st. According to a presidential proclamation issued in the afternoon of Friday, October 13, 2006, we are all to hold ceremonies, celebrations, barbeques, etc in observance of said week. And “National Character Counts Week” is to be observed and explained throughout the public school system. From the official White House website:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 15 through October 21, 2006, as National Character Counts Week.

I call upon public officials, educators, librarians, parents, students, and all Americans to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-first.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Yes, zero days to prepare festivities is quite short notice, but you can’t always count on some character to give you a week to prepare.

So stop procrastinating and throw something together. Clearly, this is meant to be important.