Contextual madness.

Great deals on flights to the promised land.  (Via.)

Btw...

- A nicely-shot overwrought bullshit metaphor.
- Does the SunChips® bag really break down?
- Egyptian lies.
- Carol Of The Belts.
- United States of Awesome.
- Gene Roddenberry’s original pitch for Star Trek (PDF).

AdVerve 63 - Cryptomeat, Revolution + Still No Jetpacks

No answers yet to why this is not our reality. Or yours.

Play the show now.

Dave Wilkie of Where's My Jetpack? (@jetpacks) and Radio Free Babylon joins us for some good-natured ad blogger fun. And there's a lot of that to be had in this king-sized episode. We cover your questions, Old Spice Guy redux, revolution in Egypt, Taco Bell’s iffy meat situation, sexy robots ... and, hell, for the very last time, why we still don't have an even distribution of jetpacks in the world. (There may be in Japan. Can somebody check?)

Vote Tim Pawlenty/Michael Bay 2012.

The endless campaign cycle is now officially an American art form. Courage to Stand is the new feel-good hit of the campaign season. It’s from former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, and does what any ad should: polarize. The title of this post itself inspired by one YouTube comment: “Tim Pawlenty/Michael Bay 2012. Government assistance for the few, lens flares for everyone.”

Don’t forget a rockin’ soundtrack by Aerosmith, Mr. Skaman290. He does share some of the same sentiment found on AdRants, where some hate the second coming of Reagan in glorious production value, while others see nothing wrong with a narrative of inspiration and American values.

Btw...

- North Korea is just like us. Sorta. (Via.)
- Made something cool every day. (Via.)
- Get rich quick ads from 1909.
- Josh Sings Kanye.
- Even rabbits bite.
- Tyler Perry will not go away.

The Big Unit's Chillin’... His landscape is thrillin!!!

I used to feel bad for Just For Men. Slightly more appealing than an FSI, they’re doing as much as they can with a very conservative approach. The vibe they have is one which is skewered by Old Spice, and as much as the candidate needs a younger look before he gets hired approach irritates me, their sports series is growing on me. (This is the only clip of the spot I could find; not sure why there’s timecode on just one scene.) The brand though is probably seeing good sales and attributing it to the amazing robotic delivery of Clyde Frazier & Co. Cheesy copy doesn’t hurt the cause either, and this Randy Johnson spot is no exception.

“Is gonna be sexy... this is gonna be nice.”

(NSFW.) Animated character Frank walks you through Netflix’s biggest shortcoming: An embarrassing lack of popular titles in their streaming library. Amazing how blind the fanboys are when touting things like a Netflix button for remote controls, (because hey, I want a quicker way to watch more useless titles), or a new Facebook integration (because hey, I want a better way to share them with family and friends). It’s the same approach automakers use when they know they have a so-so car: give sheeple more cupholders and 100,000 mile warranties and they eat it up instead of demanding better.

(Via.)

Btw...

- DonQ returns as Master of all skills, jack of none.
- The NBC Sports Agency?
- Mrs. Mom.
- Career Tree.
- Mr. Mori.
- Wonder Bread raincoat.
- HP’s Mad Men dayz.

“Like us on Facebook for a chance to keep watching the game.”

This violates my self-imposed ban on pre-Super Bowl hype, but one thing I saw on Twitter today is something I whine about often. (See? Look at me all self-effacing!) If you watch one thing besides the game (and of course the commercials), look closely at how many spots will either not have integration with an online component of the campaign you just saw, or only drive you to their main website from a 3-second flash of a url. It’s as if the digital strategy of large brands is in hoping people will DVR or pause their spot on YouTube to read the url.

Cue more of the same a week from Sunday. 

Goats are the new monkeys.

Download the show now or listen through iTunes.

The goat driving commercial was on as we recorded this week’s show. Prescient? You decide! Did we discuss Charlie Sheen’s seemingly unending appetite for adult film stars and hotel rooms? No, maybe next time. What we covered was far sexier: iPadage, advertising Rock Stars™, Google’s new CEOage and Facebook in the can – literally. Joining in were Ad Age’s Rupal Parekh, KickApps’ Alan Wolk and The Rabbit Agency’s Dirk Singer. Good times? Oh, they were had by all.


Tags: Beancast

All you needed was Atari.

Atari own video games but then tried for a bigger piece of the computer market in this 1981 spot (with Jack Palance handling the voiceover).

The heartbeat of America.

Chevrolet – the heartbeat of America in 1987. What’s changed in 24 years? Not much apparently. Discover it all over again for the first time!

The way they were.

Mobil Oil with some butt ugly from 1996. Wait, most everything in 1996 was butt ugly. I’ll give Bowie a pass though. (C’mon, it’s Bowie.)

Btw...

- Taco Bell: Run for the court order.
- More Marshall Mcluhan than you can manage. (Via.)
- Monopoly house. (Via.)
- If Tarantino directed The Matrix. (Via.)
- Morgan Spurlock, now the Ad Doc guy.

Yeah, that Kevin Smith.

He’s probably flying under the radar of people who prefer their social media case studies neat and tidy, but take some time to see what Kevin Smith has been doing this past year. In sharing his life and work across almost every media channel there is, he’s as *integrated* a brand experience as I’ve seen. Honest and raw defines his approach, and it’s one which indirectly highlights the insincerity of many brands which try to be genuine, or worse, your friend.

Are his tactics something to be emulated by Procter & Gamble? Probably not. But if nothing else resonates here, see how with everything he does, he never seems to talk down to people, instead answering them by being brutally honest. Which also means it can be social media as Golden Rule when people push back. While a brand doesn’t need to flip off its customers, it can still be more open and honest with them.

Burger King introduces the Beef Dirigible.

They say America doesn’t innovate anymore? Okay, Europe, this puts to rest THAT idea and the one about the Fat American. Look what just invaded your continent – again. It’s the triple-patty X-TRA long chili cheese burger with chile-cheese sauce and jalapeños. The HELL? Only thing missing are wings and a cockpit. Geez, why does new food technology like this get relegated to launches in Europa first? AREN’T WE THE OBESE NATION? DIDN’T WE INVENT GRILLS AND STENTS? Why isn’t that being prototyped here is all I want to know.

Coenfographic mania!

While I never dug The Ladykillers, I would be considered as they say, a serious Coen brothers fan. And fans dig stuff like this infographic of all their movies and awards, courtesy of Tom Muller. RIGHT?

(Via @luckthelady.)

Contextual madness.

An ad for an expert construction defect witness service is *probably* not the best one to run inside a clip about how fast a building can be built.

Shapoopi 2!

In case you didn’t get enough of the first Vern Fonk shapoopi.

Btw...

- “God and Gays agree that polyester is a sin.”
- Michael Vick, a whole other person.
- Diversity-free agency sites.
- Communist Monopoly.
- Puppy Bowl VII. Really?
- Mike Wallace interviews Rod Serling. They both smoke. It’s old.
- Photographers and illustrators, save a tree, will ya?

Overheard internet.

Yep, they wrote it...


“Mark just needs to follow the very simple privacy instructions on his FB page and this sort of stuff would never happen.” 
– Dph


“I grew up in a communist country. I know government run oppression.  You US born Americans tend to be grossly uninformed and helplessly credulous to the point of self destruction. Sadly, you pull the whole country down.  If you trade liberty for security, you don’t deserve any. Our fathers said so. If you think that immoral scanning and pat-downs make your flight safe, you really are a willful ignorant. You tell me, that I should not fly if I don’t like the pat-downs. I tell you I want my freedoms, my dignity and my flight so it’s your turn to stay home.  Is there anything you would stand for and be ready to die for, you self pleasing American?  As an American for 15 years, I tell you that the decay of this country is more than evident. And the downfall is not due to my conservative leanings, but to your cavalier attitude toward freedom that you don’t appreciate. Yep, destroy this country with your liberal stance and wait for the Chinese to define human rights.”
– florin

Bear vs. wolves.

Bear Grylls, the man us men will never be like – LOOK AT THAT NAME ALONE – is now shilling Degree’s anti-wolf perspiration protection. While I give Mr. Bear utmost respect for trying to catch a shark for dinner from the beach – by hand – I still go back to outpost.com for true free-range wolf terror though. Yeah, I don’t know, I thought we were supposed to get more refined across the board, instead, things seems to be inconsistent and disproportionately more sophomoric, especially in terms of executions of themes that came before. Sure Axe appeals to a younger male demo, and of course in the same category, Old Spice smartly rewrote the book on what it meant to be a manly man. In both their cases, they were and are, over the top parodies of a past where guys wore aftershave as cologne, and Hai Karate, English Leather or Brute meant you got chicks man, chicks.

VD - GET YOU SOME!

For all the talk about where things are going in this business, either digitally or socially, etc., we still need to resort to bullshit wordplay. Way to grab the lowhanging fruit kids. Proud a ya! Just because Vampire Diaries’ demo is younger, why should they worry about reinforcing the idea that an STD is perfectly fine. Hey, after all, it’s not AIDS, right? All that matters is that people notice, amirite? Own that pun VD writer. Own it.

(Via.)

“Hundreds of things to enjoy.”

Life in 1990: Almost anything you could do in the *real* world, you could do with Prodigy. Who didn’t want to get scores before TV! Quaint, but a lot of the promises of a Prodigy future actually came true – just, not with them is all.

Btw...

- Oh look, another AIDS awareness agency case study. (Semi-NSFW.)
- If your (blank) isn’t becoming to you, you should be coming to us.
- Twitter is...
- 100 years of IBM.
- Just call it the Happytron. PEOPLE LOVE THIS THING.
- Sci-Fi Movies that ignore the laws of physics.
- Bummed. I kinda wanted it sooner than three days.

ASICS sheds.

I’ve not been a huge fan of the type-meets-body tactic seen in more than a few spots lately, but I’m digging it in this ASICS spot. Done a whole lot smoother than the rest, I also like how words like ‘stress’ reinforce the theme of sport releasing more than sweat.

(Agency: Vitro.)

The way they were.

These looks back are like punchlines to the set-up of: “How bad *were* they?” Burger King in 1996? More than words people. More than words.

The way they were.

Look at the hot sexy left nav action on NBA.com back in 1996.

Tell ’em Sally sent you.

Probably the nastiest job-a-thon site you will see this week ever. BUT THAT’S THE POINT. Philly’s own 160 over 90 unleashes on thee some of the earliest web design hell known to mankind, all in service of their current job opportunities. Starting February 10 at 6:00 am, ECD Jim Walls will conduct interviews non-stop for at least 24 hours via Skype, “until he collapses.” Yes, way too much of the web looked like this way back when – minus the Sally Struthers, though.

(Via.)

AdVerve 62 - Snookapocalypse

Play the show now.

We whip out an old standard: Five for Five, which takes us from life with two suns to Starbucks' fun-packed new iced drink size, Trenta (a whopping 16 ml bigger than the average capacity of the adult human stomach! Although nowhere near maximum capacity as this handy illustration shows).

Somewhere in there we manage to make (too much) time for bestselling author Snookie and her homies on The Jersey Shore. Is there hope for mankind? Ask again in 2012. If we're slathering on the sunblock at 10:30 PM, then the answer is no.

“You can lick the crack...”

Where was I all this time as Rico the Rat was shilling for Air New Zealand, aka ‘Sleazeland’ as a few people are calling the airline. An airline known for racy ads might be preferable to one with lousy customer service or worse, safety issues, no? The staff disagrees though, apparently not digging the character of Latin origin (think how Latinos feel being associated with a rat), going as far as calling out the company for allowing language in the ads that goes beyond what even employees are allowed to say:

“A female staff member who deals with the public said the advertising campaign was a ‘contradiction. Air New Zealand has strict internal policies for its own employees. Rico as the face of Air NZ is the reverse of that.’”

After watching most of the spots (here), you find some that are lame and some that are mildly offensive I suppose, like the one above comparing a screen to a woman. Is asking for permission ahead of time or forgiveness after the way to go if you want to get attention? You decide!

I’ll take Lazy Teenage Superheroes for $300, please.

This short laughs at all the attempts at branded content out there costing far more. As one comment said, imagine if they had $600. (Richard Simmons’ initial inhaler gag alone is worth the $300.) Watching it, it feels like you just caught Robert Rodriguez’ El Mariachi for the first time, while itself a flick that wasn’t cheap, still cost next to nothing to make compared to a typical Hollywood feature of the time, or Clerks and what Kevin Smith did with credit cards to finance it. Here, a decent story about Lazy Teenage Superheroes for $300 probably just landed writer/director Michael Ashton and his crew on the radar of every film studio out there. Good on ya, youngins.

(Via Boing Boing.)

Btw...

- The Genius Dilemma.
- McDonald’s has 83 things for sale.
- Gamers rejoice – Duke Nukem is back.
- It’s all about the bejeweled Wheat Thins.
- After seeing this, I officially turn in my Manville™ card.

He probably does.

Does Jesus hate Obama? Ad creator and comedian Richard Belfry says no, that it’s just a harmless commercial. “THE AD THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE” is now the old... *sigh* How many more of these before The Big Game™ will we see? Not sure, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it compared to another one of the those Emerald Nuts spots, actually.

Guy with an arrow and a camera.

Want some future-forward thinking on this? Look elsewhere. I’m not really sure what period we’re in here... the post-whatever stage of the internet? But people putting cameras on anything shows no signs of letting up, apparently. He will probably get his own reality series on some outdoor channel soon enough.

(Via.)

THE AD TACO BELL DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SEE.

Taco Bell Pulls Ads From 'Skins' Over Racy Content: MyFoxDC.com

Wait, I mean, the show they don’t want their ads to be seen on... Their food however, is still available. *sigh*

It was ahead of its time for its time!

Amazing tool that Commodore Amiga! A short clip of Andy Warhol *painting* Debbie Harry back in 1985.

Btw...

- David Bowie – Heroes, German version.
- A Twitter of One. (Via.)
- Nic Cage loses it. (Via.)
- BP is hiring a Director, Media and Communications... in Florida.
- David Bowie - Heroes, French version.
- A right proper take on Law & Order.
- Meet Rubber.
- Hot water coolness.
- David Bowie - Space Oddity, Italian version.

Overheard internet

Yep, they wrote it...


“It’s either going to be very boring, or grossly factually inaccurate.” 
– JellyFox


“Ray Bans are a standard douche bag accessory. Especially large, freshly polished black ones, worn indoors, (see the Williamsburg L Train). These painfully fake viral videos make my and every other reasonable person's testicles hurt, but sadly, they will surely resonate with the target audience: attention seeking man-boys who require a wearable prop in order to confidently present themselves to the world.”
– Anonymous

Nirvana.

Fleeting as it may be.

Btw...

- I’d like a large half-pepperoni, half-cavity please.
- From the pages of the GoDaddy Super Bowl Playbook.
- Batman tail fin theory.
- The Snookcalypse is here.
- Video games vs. real life.
- Lightercycles.

“Does anyone remember... floppies?”

SAID THE FORMER FRONTMAN OF A BAND CALLED ZEPP. I was in Staples and saw they still sell Zip disks. WHO USES THOSE ANYMORE? Then I had this poster forwarded to me on how digital storage and memory have changed in just a decade. Circle of megabyte life now complete.

(Via Tony.)

Find your FINS.

So FINS for the Wall Street Journal is like Ladders, then? OR Monster... or Careerbuilder, or.... Maybe instead of six-figure gigs they specialize in finding pet-friendly jobs? I think you’re left asking why is this special from any other site and why should I care, let alone use it. If anything, it does come off most like LinkedIn – with a sponsor. I have to fill out info the way I would there too, and likely, will be hit up at some point by their resume makeover crew... for a nominal fee of course. When it comes to searching, I just think we’re past the *exclusive* come-on of Ladders and instead, just want to look at a list of existing opps without the registration gate. (Krop.com, Mashable, etc.) No site promising leads to great jobs comes without some sort of price. It’s also the first campaign on a brand site that I’ve ever seen which listed creative credits. (Who does that anyway?)

DON’T YOU WISH YOUR LOGO WAS HOT LIKE ME?

Sure it’s all caps, but hot sexy logos SHOULD be in all caps, yes? The I Design Your Logo crew is back with Rad Sad, where you upload any logo, and ad bloggers SUCH AS MYSELF, can have their yea or nay way. Okay, so it’s Digg-like in and up/down kinda way, there are enough *so-called* logos there to vent on. Or in the case of Starbucks, venti on. Yeah, you do, don’t ya... you saw what I did there.

The way they were.

Google – 1998. Sexy!

Abide The Dude.

If you’re into his Dudeness, you need to see this PBS American Masters doc. I came across it after I saw True Grit, a role which he simply owns, in yet another Coen Brothers classic. The main thing it reveals is how his indecisiveness in figuring things out is just part of his overall process. Whereas we have too many people in our lives trying to squash that aspect of what we do and force us to decide, sometimes ya gotta let that shit abide. Bridges always come off to me as one of those actors who appear disconnected from things in real life, but when the camera rolls, something just clicks and he’s in the moment and as *there* as anyone. Beyond acting and songwriting, he’s also still shooting behind the scenes pics of his films using the Widelux (worth a look if you haven’t seen the work yet).

Btw...

- People watching spaceships. (Via.)
- This is why you don’t leave scientists alone.
- The Jobs show must go on.
- Ted truth.
- War, what is it good for? (Via.)
- I’ve been meaning to talk to Jim about his scalping problem.

They say you want a revolution... for $1.98.

I don’t think you realize how inexpensive it was to stage a revolution back then. A *joyous* revolution at that. No, for real, look at the joy there.


(Image.)

Hitachi putting the “T” in IT.

To the clown! Who’s getting more work these days, Mr. T or Tim Allen. Damn, slow down fellas. Save yourself for the inevitable Super Bowl overexposure coming our way as agencies scramble to find a use for y’all. Best part(s)? The Baby Stewie heads and the backwards apostrophe on Mr. T’s shirt. Hitachi Data System Virtualization.

(Via BFFB.)

A cruise for every demo.

Your mom’s on Facebook and SHE’S ON THIS CRUISE, looking for Mr. Right Now. And vice-versa. Nice simple series of animated stop-motion travel spots from directors Ubik for Saga, the UK’s over-50 travel site. “Cruises” above, with “Spent That Too” and after the jump.

JustinLeaks.

Design the next hairstyle for journalism’s man of the decade. (No, yeah, we started voting yesterday.)

(Via 99 Designs.)

Btw...

- Good stuff vs. the bad stuff.
- Why people eat Subway.
- Lennon for sale.
- Mr. Mom is still Mr. Mom.
- Banksy for sale.
- Mall fountain texting is bad for you.

iRelax.

Behind on posting today but back in action for another five years as I just got had the keyboard on my MacBook Pro replaced. Based on the two hour turnaround from the local Apple Store? I could care less if Steve Jobs is off blazing a few with The Dude. Long as he keeps customers happy. Relax kids, when Steve goes away and comes back, stock prices double. YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE. They probably have five years worth of new toys in the pipeline already, including but not limited to the iBeam, the iPack and iCar.

(Image.)

“I have a bid.”

Good to see eBay weigh in on Martin Luther King’s day. Now you can touch history for only $5K.

Whatever Happened to Style?

Aka, whatever happened to using a different song than say, four years ago when VW used J. Ralph’s One Million Miles Away. Aka, YouTube is just Communication Arts for the next generation of creatives to draw inspiration from. Because we've changed so much since then, I'm sure it’s taken on new meaning for Chrysler, though. Or has it:

“Not a one single black guy in this ad..LOL -- They all look nicely dressed like Mad Men.”
furiousgtz

(Via Mack.)

Your mom hates this.

This is what your mom gets for being on Facebook. EMBRACE THE HORROR, MOM. Nice spin on the typical testimonial from PS3 for Dead Space 2, with companion site Yourmomhatesthis.com.

Why I need satellite radio.

Aka notes from the road... While trying to get the playoffs on AM radio Sunday – yes I said AM – I passed a great sign with Rush Limbaugh. (Older image above but it was the same top half, but instead Jim DeMint graced the bottom with a little spin on the typical call to action slash refrains of most all political spots: “America Bless God.” The better part though was discovering nothing but hardcore preaching on the dial from South Carolina up through West Virginia, land of the soul miner’s daughter. For realz kids. Which sounded a little something like this and this. Excuse the crappy audio but all I had to record snippets with was my cell. (On the second one, he shouts out some kind of sound in-between each line. Energetic!) That was also before I discovered Gun Talk. I really need Sirius.

AdVerve 61 - A Grand Communications Condom

But will it protect them from pop-ups? Via.

Play the show now.

Theoretical artist Ben Kunz (@benkunz) of Thought Gadgets and Media Associates kicks off the year with us in a conversation about what the cool kids are after: Quora, curation, and a bigger TV in the basement.....?

We also squeeze in some ruminations on the future of the postal service, Netflix and Ben's suspect affinity to the youngest son of the 12 sons of Abraham. Trust us though, it all comes 360° and wraps nice-and-tidy into the title which drew you hither: users manifesting a profound subconscious need for a communications condom.

Btw...

- Who gets the blog when I go?
- An unreasonable hassle. (Via.)
- Too much tweetformation.
- Dude, okay, how do I get off this thing.
- Move over Gary V, it’s Stanley T.

Yep, children are the pas... future.

Old tech + kids today equals hilarity - or puzzled looks. Watch when the girl picks up the record.

(Via.)

Btw...

- Blah Blah Blah. (Via.)
- How to buy an iPhone at the worst possible time. (Via.)
- Warhol wrist watch.
- The Stay Puft Marshmallow snowman.
- The forever lazy now have their own uniform.

Putting the free in freelance.

Should you work for free? As long as it’s not a start-up, make it rain, bitches! Nice flowchart on the perils of saying yes to free... especially to mom.

(Via American Copywriter.)

Overheard internet.

Yep, they said it...


“Which one means you're a wizard?” 
– SamDFA


“Ohmygodddd!! That was wonderful! She managed to make that perfectly normal kid look like a tiny prostitute (prostitot?)!!! ADORABLE.”
– SBGBlogs

The way they were.

Twinkies, the food that never expires. Same can’t be said of its website design, though. From 1998.

To the cow cloud.

I’m in a cow/zebra/cloud eye candy mood. “Zow” by Taras Hrabowsky is a segment from a larger Adult Swim piece.

(Via.)

It even had a missile car.

Since I’m on such a gun/war/violence kick, look at this gem from way back when.

Btw...

- Speaking of bringing your friends.
- The Colored Hockey League.
- Sex drives tech.
- Laser popcorn.
- Viagra bed.
- La vida New York.

Load up on guns, bring your friends.

She is overboard and self-assured, isn’t she. In one regard, it’s wrong to assume rhetoric alone sent our boy over the edge in Arizona. Especially considering his friend said he never watched TV, radio or any of the other forms of media people want to cite as the reason for why he lost it. That argument is a bit of a stretch from my perspective because obviously the dude had to have heard about the event from somewhere, but, I’ll concede the point since I’m fair and balanced like that.

Given his girlfriend broke up with him though, does that mean we now watch anyone who just broke up on Facebook for warning signs? Obama’s use of the memorial service as a state of the agenda was a little too political for my liking, but there was a valid point made regarding the level of discourse in this country: It sucks, and has for some time. Even the poster above, which is itself a commentary on where things stand in that regard, is being called incendiary.

“We create birthday movements.“

“Below the line executions like the family dog.” Awesome self-promo effort from john st. using standard agency case study language as applied to the more special moments in life. The lesson: Kids go insane for pink ponies at birthday parties. A value add!

(Via.)

Kisstletoe!

Aww, c’mon, that’s kinda cute. A tree, a tag and some Prince.

(Via.)

Monster trucks are no match for Ken.

One call does it all people. Ken Nugent will put a ‘stranglehold’ on insurance companies. You just need to get hurt first, then give him a call.

Because true love means hitting all six numbers.

Oh, she’ll pay attention, now that you hit Mega Millions.

The way they were.

THE GOLDEN ARCHES! 1996.

Guitar Hero – Flame Edition.

Okay, the best part besides the pretty tight gas disbursement chordal coordination? THE HOOP. The HELL is it doing there. Here’s hoping they do a whole series. FREEBIRD!

(Via.)

Flashdriving it forward.

A little simple promotion from Honest&Smile to regift it forward. Find a drive, take what you want off it, add something back, then pass it on. After of course you tell them about it on The Facebook™.

Tech you very much.

Excuse the Garrison Keillor moment. So cue the supposedly tech-savvy road warrior getting lost recently heading south through Amerika. It wasn’t really the GPS’s fault (even though I think it was), or Google Maps, which gave a different route than the GPS. No, it was pure operator error as I got distracted and missed the sign for the turn-off, throwing me into Tommy Boy country 20 miles away from where I *should’ve* been. But, even though I expected snarky attendant as I pulled into the only open station with people early Sunday, it was just a guy in a Browns hoodie and his little daughter behind the counter. Knowing this scene didn’t turn out well in the movie, David Spade here raises his hand to basically admit defeat and say I’m lost.

Btw...

- Meet the old tech... same as the new tech.
- Smell like Jersey Shore.
- Chernobyl, now open for filming.
- Graf vs. graf.
- We are all so freelance.
- Snuggie Sutra. (Via.)
- Red wine and Wheat Thins.

Snowmageddon 2!

Yes, where are your posts. I GET IT. Due to a heavy volume of work though, things have been light these past few weeks, so relax. Now, as I am decidedly not where the snow is about to kick NYC’s ass again, why not have a little fun from wireless carrier Yota before it hits as DUMBO waits for road crews to not plow – again.

(Agency: Tesch for Perfect Fools.)

The way they were.

Radio Shack - 1996. (“Text version?” Heh.)

Contextual Madness.

The shooting’s over but let the contextual madness begin. Just shows that whether it’s a drive-by or a mentally-disturbed zealot, collateral damage always happens. (And no, I’m not using the word allegedly with that dude. You kill a kid, is there really a doubt?) Even the ad to left of him knows it. (More fun after the jump.)

Overheard internet.

Yep, they said it...


“No offense, but this blog is so hideous it makes me want to kick a panda.” 
– maukdaddy


“Thanks! Yeah, if I remember correctly he said ‘cool, that’s one of the most unique one’s I’ve seen.’ And then as I was walking away he turned to me and said ‘and it’s not shit. And trust me, I’ve seen some shit ones.’ Bruce Campbell telling you your Army of Darkness tattoo is not shit...priceless.”
– LowLevelRebel

They say it’s a story of redemption.

Ted Williams, the recently homeless voiceover artist that would’ve made Barry White turn his head – shhh, no, he would’ve – is getting his second chance with among other things, some work at the end of the latest Kraft Mac & Cheese spot. From the Kraft side, they liked his story of redemption, and how everyone deserves a second chance. A fair point any other time, even though that’s the first time I imagine flimsy rational like that was used to justify a spot by Kraft. (While they might like the itinerant buzz now, don’t expect that logic to translate into an entire series with disgraced athletes.)

But while I was really trying to make that dog hunt, I noticed how this move to grab the latest morning talk show sensation – why not anyone then with a heartwarming story? - had me ignoring the spot itself just to get to the part where “that homeless dude talks.”

Kraft, there are a lot of others like Ted Williams out there on off-ramps. Some have legit reasons for being there; maybe some are scamming. (Either way, it’s still one helluva hard way to make a living.) If this idea of *redemption* is legit, get street teams in vans to go around donating prepared Mac n’ Cheese to these people where they are or to homeless shelters. Have Ted even handing stuff out. Circle of redemption now complete.

Think of the additional views on YouTube.

This is your brain on PSAs.

Kids, don’t do drugs, because if you do, they come to life and narrate PSAs. At least they did, way back when. Why, I could see Leonardo Dicaprio in the remake of this awesomeness.

(Via.)

The way they were.

YouTube edition - 2005.

Attention all baby-containing women.

I’m *guessing* their bread is good for you, regardless of how many babies you might contain?

Btw...

- I did call them brand of the year, but now they need to chill.
- Hair removal, anyone? (Via.)
- Laser protest. (Via.)
- Babies are vicious horrible little terrors.
- R.I.P. OTB.
- Facebook now legal in Utah.

You have about 4.

Staring off-screen and awkward sign holding doesn’t diminish the overall online detox vibe of You Need to Get Off Facebook, written by Ross Gardiner. (Which can be found, ironically enough, on the Facebook.) Give it a chance to build even though at times it comes off as too earnest, as the more vulnerable and genuine moments bail it out. Although taken as an anti-Facebook rant, the theme could apply really to any social network you spend too much time on as well. Song: Thievery Corporation - Marching the Hate Machines. (Tip: Tico.)

AdVerve 60 - Holiday Edition.

Play the show now.

Aka, our Holiday Bonanza ’Stravaganza. Wrappin’ up the year like no other. (Not really. For a proper year-end wrapup, GET YOU SOME BEANCAST! Bob's two-hour special features John Wall, Ken Wheaton and US TRULY.)

We do a quick run-through of holiday likes and gripes, including agency cards, holiday traditions, films, ads and music. There’s also a brief but beefy manifesto on why we hate flashmobs more than anything else made by man. It’s a lot, so we stretch it out to 45 whole minutes. (Dig 45 minutes better than 30? We're kinda likin’ it, but tell us what YOU think.)

Also, I go off on a tear about hateables on Twitter. It's a riot times 10, and all the better for sending you off on your way toward 2011.

Link sausages:

- Stupid Dell XPS laptop flashmob in apathetic café setting.
- Burberry's bohemian holiday folk track.
- Modea's Buzzword Bingo.
- Help Luckie decide where to give.
- Have a half-assed crowdsourced Ducati Christmas.
- BONUS: A Christmas Story gangsta remix.
- BONUS: Chinese dude claims having sexual tryst with alien. (In French, but Google Translate that bad-boy.)

Image credit: Culturemob, for A Christmas Story: the Musical.

Yea! New Starbucks logo!

The mermaid formerly known as... Saw this on AdFreak and while Tim asks if people like it, I think in the current climate of fear that most brands find themselves, it doesn’t, and it won’t, matter. Social media gives them an out to change it back if the outcry is too much too handle. If you like it? Win! If you hate it though? Well, we were just *floating* the idea out there, so we’ll change it back. Another win! Which equals... win-win! I suspect the biggest gripe will be walking away from the use of the word Starbucks. Now, all the focus is on her, removing her possibly too much from the context people were familiar with. Will *brand advocates* care about that since they already live the brand? Probably not. (I was sad to see her belly button removed long ago.)

To DVD, and beyond.

Sorry about the really poor Buzz Lightyear wordplay. Suck it. After seeing a rerun of The Pixar Story last night, it’s easy to forget how far animation has come since the mid-90s. By comparison, the level of what’s out now either in video games or features is almost taken for granted. The clip above is from the Making of Toy Story specifically, but has a lot of the same players as the longer doc. (Check Pixar Story out on Netflix.) Thing that gets me after watching it is how a hugely successful company got started by people who didn’t know anything about computers (like director John Lasseter). Or how they had one computer to create new animations that hadn’t been done before, but still had to wait like everyone else for things to render. And it wasn’t just the vision of Steve Jobs that got them going, but his $10 million investment at the start. No bucks, no Buck Rogers. (Part 2 and Pixar trailer after the jump.)

The Mayhem continues.

This time, it’s Dean Winters as GPS gone amok. “Recalculating.” Heh.

Btw...

- Pajeans.
- Next up: Women pushing child on swing.
- CD for sale.
- 8-bit Tron.
- Kermit West. (NSFW.)
- Debtris.

How does this guy not have a job?

I haven’t been this inspired since seeing the story about the Bumfights guy who now has a book and management job. This guy’s voice is so amazing as not to seem real.

(Update: He does now. And chill on all the talk of ‘The power of Social Media™!’ Smacks WILL be issued.)

(Via AdPulp.)