Mood: Meh.
Reading: Loudspeakers Vs.Torpedoes
Currently listening to: Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins
Quote of the day: "It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." - Robert E. Lee

Was surfing around the net as i usually do when i stumbled across THIS...

UNICEF Bombs Smurfs to Highlight Plight

Full article here.

Smurfette is left for dead. Baby Smurf is left crying and orphaned as the Smurf's village is carpet bombed by warplanes _ a horrific scene and imagery not normally associated with the lovable blue-skinned cartoon characters.

These are the scenes being shown as part of a new UNICEF ad-campaign on Belgian television.

"It's working. We are getting a lot of reactions and people are logging on to our Web site," UNICEF Belgium spokesman Philippe Henon said Tuesday.

The Belgian office of the U.N. children's fund said it has decided to use the creations of late Belgian artist Peyo to shock a complacent public into backing its fund-raising efforts for ex-child soldiers in Africa.

The 20-second video commercial clip now being shown on Belgian TV aims to show that war can happen in the most innocent of places, Henon said.

"We get reactions from all over the place," said Henon. "People are shocked and want to know the reasons behind this cartoon image."

The appeal is meant to raise money for UNICEF projects in Burundi, Congo and Sudan, Henon said. However, due to its graphic and disturbing scenes, this cartoon is not for everyone. The advertisement is aimed at an adult audience and is only shown after 9 p.m. to avoid upsetting young Smurfs fans.

The video is peacefully introduced by birds, butterflies and happy Smurfs playing and singing their theme song when suddenly out of the sky, bombs rain down onto their forest village, scattering Papa Smurf and the rest as their houses are set ablaze.

The bombs kill Smurfette leaving Baby Smurf orphaned and crying at the edge of a crater in the last scene of the video and finishing of with the text "don't let war destroy the children's world."

Well. Scratch yet another childhood memory...

Video is available here (clip of the scene in question from news report) and here (click on the link under 'video' at the top right of the page - its a more complete video although this one's more like a slideshow for some reason).

Its worth noting that the video campaign has yet to be officially released but when it does i'm pretty sure that it'll appear with all the others at the UNICEF Video/Audio site (which should be in the next month or two)

Then again it does seem that these days the UN is displaying a penchant for pursuing 'shock' advertising videos - the best example of which i've seem would have to have been the infamous Kickoff video which featured children at a suburban American soccer match being blown apart by a land mine (includes link to video). The following quote frames the reason and debate over it quite nicely:

Hard-hitting advertisements are sometimes required to overcome the desensitization suffered by a Western society constantly exposed to images of hardship through television and other media. However, there is a fine line between "hard-hitting" and "unnecessarily graphic".

*sigh* Are we so desensitized already? :(

Anyhow, on a lighter note, they've finally found Pierce Brosnan's replacement...

It's James Blonde

Article here.

He has just proved his ladykilling credentials by seducing Sienna Miller from under the nose of his friend, Jude Law.

Now Daniel Craig is about to become the biggest seducer of all - Ian Fleming's James Bond.

The actor, who found fame as Geordie in the BBC series Our Friends in the North in 1996, got the job after an 18-month mission to replace Pierce Brosnan.

Scores of others, including Law himself, Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom, were considered but rejected.

In the end a shortlist of two emerged - Craig and newcomer Henry Cavill. The pair were auditioned again and tried on tuxedos to see how they would look in the quintessential Bond clothing.

Craig, 37, whose choice will be confirmed by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson later this week, will be the sixth Bond, but the first blond.

He will star in the 21st Bond film, based on Ian Fleming's first book Casino Royale.

Craig has said he does not like the fact that the films are more about gadgets than feelings.

He added: 'It's a big machine and it makes a lot of money - so why would you change something that makes a lot of money?'

I don't know... a blonde Bond?