Free Fun

This is exactly what we need to do for books. I know its one thing to do it for something funny - and not every book is funny - but how can we make it fun, make it fast, make it free, get it passed around and expose the author and the book to masses?

FROM THE LATIMES: Last week, Will Ferrell became the latest "real" celebrity to star in a homemade-looking Internet video. "The Landlord" is a genuinely funny two-minute movie in which Ferrell plays a layabout who is accosted by his angry landlady. The catch: Pearl, the landlady, is played by a 2-year-old.

"I want my money!" she shrieks at Ferrell's character, then taunts him with a string of unprintable invectives.

Pearl's lines, including her explanation of why she needs the money so urgently — "I need to get my drink on" — are helpfully subtitled.

After being posted on a new video site called FunnyOrDie.com, "The Landlord" quickly went viral and had scored nearly 1.6 million views as of this writing, piling on tens of thousands more every hour.

The questions, too, came fast and furious: What was this new video site, with a direct line to Ferrell's Internet debut? Was FunnyOrDie.com an industry shill set up to generate buzz for an actor with a major picture out?