Sky Arts, ENO Court Opera-Goers of Tomorrow

Hoping to win new ears for high culture, the English National Opera and Sky Arts enlisted three well-known directors to jazz up some arias.

See all three clips. Kinda sucks that Baz Lurmann wasn't invited, given that he's tried interpreting La Boheme before, but everybody's probably still pissed at him over Australia.

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Fiat Faux-Pas, Burger Bed, Hulu's Super Bowl Foray

- Hulu will be launching an ad campaign on Super Bowl Sunday. It's promised to "reveal the secret behind" its, uh, Huluness.

- Something about sharing fluids.

- Burger Bed. For some reason we instantly think Burger King (maybe the Whopper Virgin influence?), but it has nothing to do with that, actually.

- AgencySpy is unhappy with Fiat.

- Don't just rock that rosary, rawk it. Popin' it up on YouTube.

- Interested in movie marketing? No? Youwill be.

- M&Ms is giving away a trip to Paris. Go win it. Then we can sit around together and stare sullenly at the rain while the wifi blinks in and out of operation.

- Trust Me's Eric McCormack on being an ad man.

adidas originals Mark High Stakes in Hold 'Em

Kevin Garnett and Young Jeezy place bets with the reckless abandon of toddlers with Lincoln Logs in "Poker Game."

The stakes are high from moment one, but we couldn't help smiling when Jeezy sprinkles the pot in chips and goes, "S'nothing. I got basketball money too." Rich black people! Always so quotable.

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Proof that Sex and Celebrity will Always Get You on Somebody's List.

In a 2001 spot called "Proof," Kylie Minogue shimmied into a garter belt and rode a velvet mechanical bull under the watchful eye of a creepy old woman with a paperback novel.

Their objective: to prove Agent Provocateur was the world's most erotic lingerie by giving movie-going chavs big hard woodies. It's cheeky shit, but what erotic spark it lights is quickly dampened when the geriatric refugee from Grimm's Fairy Tales starts laughing maniacally.

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Because America Can Never Have Enough Burt Reynolds. Or Stale Coffee.

Denny's promises to "bring dignity back to breakfast" in this teaser for "Thugs," a :30 spot slated to run in the Super Bowl's third quarter.

This represents its first-ever Super Bowl spot, and it's guns a-blazin: narrated by Burt Reynolds with a little Sopranos going on, mixed with Pulp Fiction cafe grit and some hipster sans-serif, but all in all we got a hankering for IHOP.

The work -- directed by Canada's Perlorian Brothers for the charmed folk at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners -- looks promising. But based on way too much experience, no amount of advertising can convince us that Denny's isn't one of the most depressing places in the world to visit.

Their mozzarella sticks are cool though.

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Yo, Bitch! Obama Girl Steps Into iJustine's 'Hood

You know her. You've seen her. We know her. We've seen her. And she loves us. Yea, that's right. See if you can get your own personalized video from Obama Girl aka Amber Lee Ettinger.

So anyway, Obama Girl and Barely Political creator Ben Relles, along with Next New Networks, have launched Barely Digital, a technology comedy site which will feature shows, product reviews, and comedy sketches, bringing satire to the world of technology.

Explaining things a bit further, Next Networks CEO Lance Podell said, "In 2008, Barely Political set records and won millions of fans by satirizing the media's infatuation with politics. It was clearly the breakout online video property of the year. With Barely Digital, we're taking the same creative talent and applying it to the tech scene, which like politics, is another huge focus area of pop culture and media that's ripe for parody. Barely Digital is our first new network to launch in 2009, and we believe it will quickly become a very popular source for tech humor and entertainment."

Obama Girl to take on tech? Uh oh. We think tech babe Justine Ezarik might have something to say about this. Who knows, maybe Justine will challenge Obama Girl to a hair-pulling video thrown down to kick Obama Girl's ass back to Washington .

Brace Yourself For Lebron James

On January 18, 2009, Lebron James will announce his "first love." Will it be football? Will it be basketball? Will it be to become a rapper? Those are the speculations surrounding a recently released video in which James faces an audience and says, "First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming out here today. After having a long discussion with friends and family, I've decided to follow my first love."

Thankfully, we won't have to speculate for much longer but it's likely this is tied to Nike. If it were simply an announcement as to his desire to play another sport or become a rapper, there'd likely not be paid advertising on Google promoting the video.

Whatever. We'll know Sunday.

UPDATE: One theory points to his first love being Reebok and all this is is yet another marketing stunt.

Danica Exposes Herself in the Name of GoDaddy. Again

As always, domain-buying service GoDaddy took the fullest advantage of its liaison with Danica Patrick -- and her beaver -- for this year's Super Bowl spots, whose scripts appear to have been written by pornographers in financial distress.

Here's a trope you might've seen before: pubescent boy's fantasies, realized.

And this spot, confusingly dubbed "Baseball," plays on trashy court TV. I think it would be better served if it were renamed "Enhanced? I'll show you enhanced."

Cast votes for your favorite on GoDaddy.com up to January 23rd. Like last year, each spot continues in a (gasp!) unrated online version.

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Sofia Coppola Lends Camera Eye to Miss Dior Cherie

As demonstrated in Marie Antoinette, Sofia Coppola is really good at making pretty productions, unfettered by complicated narratives. It's this quality that makes her such a fetching fashion advertiser.

We give you the Coppola director's cut of Miss Dior Cherie, an ad for Christian Dior's bopper-honing fragrance.

Fortified by Brigitte Bardot's beachy Moi Je Joue -- and by model Maryna Linchuk's Lolita-like coquettishness -- it's sublime, frothy and fun: the perfect cocktail for girls that haven't yet graduated to Chanel No. 5.

See prints here.

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Nastia Liukin Strikes Pose for Max Azria

Five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin invades fashion rags for BCBG Max Azria. The limber gymnast brings physical abandon and sugar-plum-fairy guilelessness to a medium dominated by sullen, overposed divas.

Just another treasure from the haute coffers of Jeremy Dante.

Visa first captured Liukin's porcelain ballerina quality in this ad for its "Go World" campaign, which aired during the Summer Olympics. Shortly after the Games, honey was deluged by spokesmodel opps. Clamoring suitors included Cover Girl, Vanilla Star and Wheaties.