When Jaws came out in 1975, the nation screamed in terror. We went to the theatre in droves but we avoided the beach. The Great White Shark came into our lives and it changed movies forever as the first summer blockbuster.

If you rent the movie now, it’s still scary but hardly believable. It was a big mechanical shark and it moved liked a big mechanical shark. As a moviegoer, we wanted to believe it was real. We wanted to go there with Spielberg.

Think back to Jurassic Park in 1993. Most of you probably saw it. I don’t know about you, but those dinosaurs looked real. They were roaming the earth and I was in awe.

If you rent the movie now, it’s not too believable. It looks like early computer animation. The dinosaurs look fake, the background looks fake, it all looks fake. Except for the Jurassic Park waterfalls, which happened to be real.

Now we have Avatar and we’re all falling for it again. Oh sure, it is stunning and looks like nothing we’ve ever seen before. But in another 15 years will this 3-D technology look dated? Who knows? For now, I’m buying it.

The point is that we want to be transported. We want to believe. The reason that magic is so powerful has very little to do with the magician and everything to do with the audience. I want to believe what’s possible. Don’t you?

Hollywood’s Paramount Pictures decided to postpone the release of Martin Scorsese’s film “Shutter Island” from October 3, 2009 to sometime in 2010. In effect, this knocks the film out of Oscar contention for 2009.

Paramount Chairman Brad Grey was quoted as saying, “Our 2009 slate was green-lit in a very different economic climate and as a result we must remain flexible and willing to recalibrate and adapt to a changing environment.”

That may be what he said but what he meant was “We have Oscar bait with “Up In The Air”, not “Shutter Island.” The fact is that Paramount did not want to overspend marketing a movie that wasn’t going to win any awards on March 7.

In movie circles, Martin Scorsese is as close to God as you will find. He is considered the best filmmaker alive today. So I wonder how the conversation went down between Brad and Marty:

Brad: Sir Martin, could I have a moment of your time?

SFX: FOOTSTEPS AS MARTY WALKS AWAY

The new Communications Arts advertising annual is out and it’s full of surprises. What is most surprising is the lack of perennial winners in this edition.

Fallon got shut out. Fallon. Now keep in mind, from 1986 through the 90s, no ad agency in the country was winning more awards than Fallon. Many other dominant players were also relatively quiet compared to past years. Hal Riney was shut out. Weiden & Kennedy had one winner. Goodby fared a little better — they got four things in. Even Crispin Porter + Bogusky was down this year, with just three entries represented.

So what does all this mean for the industry? Well, with all due respect to the creative powerhouses, I believe that award show bias is dissipating. Work doesn’t get stamped as a creative home run just because Crispin did it. I commend the judges for their integrity.

Secondly, great work can be done by any agency for any client. Here are some names of lesser-known agencies that graced the pages of CA: Energy, BBDO, Cutwater, Preston Kelly, Downtown Partners, McGarrah Jessee, Jones, Sukle, Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, amongst others.

And it’s not just “edgy” clients like tattoo parlors and skateboards that get recognized. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. If an ad agency can do great work for a “safe client” then their degree of difficulty is taken into account. Here are some “nonedgy” brands that made it in this year.

What does all this mean for Barkley? Well, good things I believe. It’s all about the idea. The fact that we are located in the middle of the country is not an obstacle. It’s all about the idea. The fact that we don’t have an athletic shoe or a soft drink on the roster is not an obstacle. It’s all about the idea. Simple and unexpected. That’s all it is.

This year we didn’t get in CA. But it won’t change our resolve. Next year we will. We begin now. Right now.

On a final note, you might be thinking, “who cares about another award annual?” Well, I do. For one thing, CA isn’t just another award annual. In fact, it’s always been my favorite annual because it’s so thin. Only the very best creative gets in. But more importantly, I believe in the power of great work to multiply a client’s success.

Communication Arts (CA) celebrates creativity. But interestingly enough, if you look at the index of winners, you won’t see the big creative agencies of the past dominating the annual. In fact, some perennial winners like Fallon were shut out. And some clients like Nike barely made their presence known. What does that mean for our industry? What does that mean for Barkley? Good things, I believe. Stay tuned for more on the subject.

A promising young actress is dead at 32 and the press coverage is pathetic, right along with the reader’s comments. Questions loom from drug overdose to anorexia. Her husband in time of grief is not spared either. He is called a drug pusher and “a fatty.”

This type of sensational journalism is not new. In fact, it seems to have reached a fever’s pitch with Tiger Woods. And it thrives because of popular sites like TMZ, which I must reluctantly admit that I follow. In fact, it’s my primary news source.

But the Brittany Murphy coverage crossed the line. I contend it doesn’t matter if she died from a drug overdose or natural causes. I contend it doesn’t matter if she was a great actress or a poor one. A young person is dead and that death should be mourned.

Brittany Murphy, RIP.