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The trailer for Extract, the latest film from Mike Judge (Office Space, the underrated Idiocracy).
From ComingSoon:
In “Extract,” writer/director Mike Judge returns to the fertile territory of the American workplace, rotating his perspective away from the white collar cubicle warriors of “Office Space” and towards a blue collar boss — a small business owner — who employs an odd cast of losers, loners and misfits in his flavor extract factory.
Over at Making Light, Avram Grumer has kicked off a fascinating discussion from yesterday’s Brawndo post here at kottke.org.
Avram notes that the introduction of a product to the real world based on one from the fictional world is nothing new, citing Holiday Inn hotel and Bubba Gump restaurant chains as examples. While he’s coined the term “tlönian” for this phenomenon, based on the Borges story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius,” a commenter suggests “defictionalization,” a Google search of which currently places the Making Light discussion as the #2 result, so I’m thinking it has staying power.
Other notable examples of defictionalization: the Red Swingline stapler from “Office Space” (1999) (another Mike Judge movie!), the Buzz Rickson’s MA-1, made in black only after William Gibson wrote it that way in “Pattern Recognition,” and of course, Spinal Tap.
A Tap-related Polymer Records t-shirt is available at Last Exit To Nowhere, where fine defictionalized goods are sold. I’d wear it just to channel Paul Schaffer’s Artie Fufkin as frequently as possible.
And to the snackfood and energy bar manufacturers out there: who among you has the temerity to sell me some Soylent Green?
The graphic design of the futuristic world depicted in Mike Judge’s Idiocracy. I love the signage that doesn’t fit on the hospital. (via do)
Mike Judge’s Idiocracy is out on DVD in early January. Hopefully this one will find an audience on DVD like Office Space did. The movie had a very limited release, possibly because Fox didn’t really want anyone to see it.
A positive review of Idiocracy, Mike Judge’s “new” movie, a film that Fox has been loath to release and promote. One to look for on DVD, I guess.
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