Boat against the current

"And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly back into the past." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Bad television writing

You need to shake up your writing staff if their version of deus ex machina is having one character grab another’s cell phone and delete a voice mail that would have gone a long way towards resolving last season’s cliffhanger.  Seriously?!  Because every cell phone I have ever owned has required a pass code to check for voice messages.

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Nice profile of Jon Stewart & TDS

New York magazine has Jon Stewart on the cover this week, with an interesting piece about the evolution and cultural influence of The Daily Show.  I love Jon Stewart so very, very much and I never miss an episode.

Pay special attention to Glenn Beck’s e-mail response to the magazine’s question, “What do you think of Jon Stewart?”  Should I even be surprised that Beck manages to talk mainly about himself?

The link is embedded in the post title above.

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If I won’t buy the product, is the ad still good?

In my previous post, I included an Old Spice commercial that makes my husband and me laugh every time we watch it.  And it’s been a freakish number of times already.  

I fast-forward through commercials, so it’s rare when I take notice of one.  But every once in a while, one slips through and tickles my fancy so thoroughly that I will stop to watch it every time I catch a glimpse.

I find it odd, though, that my favorite ad campaigns are for products that I won’t buy.  Not because the products are too expensive, not because I’m not the right demographic, but just because I Do.  Not.  Want.  Which leads me to wonder: are these ad campaigns successful even if they don’t compel me to buy the wares they’re selling?  Does it count for something that people talk about the ads (as media) without succumbing to the pressure to buy?

My favorite campaigns for products I won’t buy include:

  • Old Spice — man on a horse and its variations.
  • Bud Light — Real Men of Genius.  This long-running campaign was hysterical; I still sing the tunes, but you couldn’t pay me to drink that crap.
  • Kia Sorrento and Kia Soul for their use of music.  The former actually inspired me to buy the single “How You Like Me Now” by The Heavy, so I guess there was some consumerism at play.  As for the latter, all I can say is doo dah dippity.
  • The Mars Blackmun commercials for Nike, starring Spike Lee and Michael Jordan.  (Reaching way back, I know.)

If I gave it more thought, I’m sure I could round out the list more fully, but you get the idea.

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I’ll tumble for ya…

Inspired by @missbanshee, reassured by @semioticity, I’ve come to play on Tumblr.  Oh, let’s hope this does not end up on the trash heap of all my other moribund interwebs projects!