Archive for August, 2010
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Tell The Invisible Chimp I Can’t See Him Today
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 16, 2010 by admin in Popular Media
Monday, August 16th, 2010In the bizarre and bloody PR battle of carnivores vs vegetarians, things can take strange turns, like when this PETA campaign against Dodge backfires.
The carnivore vs vegetarian conflict is a bloody battleground. In a marketing war being waged with weapons like cologne that smells like meat (see the commercial here), things can often take an unexpected turn. A couple of PETA’s most reliable weapons of mass distraction are nudity or scantily clad celebrities, which was for instance effective when PETA was the winner and the American Hot Dog Association was the wiener last year when PETA dogged the AHDA by suggesting you stick something different between your buns on National Hot Dog Day. You can’t win ALL the battles though, and we think a US automaker Dodged the bullet pretty cleverly recently when PETA complained about the exploding chimp in this commercial (also below), and Dodge responded by digitally making the chimp invisible, but otherwise leaving the commercial intact. Not surprisingly, Dodge got exponentially more ad views with their strategy. We tried to contact the invisible chimp for comment, and although his agent insisted we couldn’t see him, he did say in a phone interview that he expected to be bigger than Trunk Monkey. We also had the still grieving Bubbles the Chimp on the line, who disagreed, saying “Invisible Chimp, I knew Trunk Monkey, Trunk Monkey was a friend of mine. And sir, you’re no Trunk Monkey”. Decide for yourself. Both versions of the ad below. With a bonus Trunk Monkey clip. Read the rest of this entry »
The Terror Babies Of Texas & The Psychology Of Politics
[ Comments Off ]Posted on August 15, 2010 by admin in Politics
Sunday, August 15th, 2010The most rudimentary understanding of psychology explains a lot of what’s wrong with American politics. Even delusions of monster babies from the future that want to kill us.
Because most political dialogue amongst the citizenry these days instantly spirals downward into irrational, knee-jerk, and poorly-reasoned rants about terror, immigrants, socialism and taxes, we often fail to step back and look at the psychological underpinnings of politics in general. Looked at through such a framework, the basic forces at work are quite simple. It all goes back to Psych 101, where one learns that the leaders of any group of people – elected or not – are essentially replacements for our parents. When we’re children, the parental role is first replaced by our teachers and school officials, and later, as we gain more autonomy, by our bosses and other figures of authority, which for some may include some kind of spiritual guidance or deity. As you enter adulthood, if you aren’t the leader of some other type of group, like a business, social, or religious organization, you probably lack the audacity or strength of character to be a political leader. You will forever remain – at least metaphorically – in the role of a child. On the other hand, if you have a sense of self that makes you feel entitled to make decisions on behalf of others, regardless of whether or not you know anything about them, and if you have the communication and organizational skills necessary, your narcissistic tendencies will have the opportunity to flourish, and you stand a good chance of being a politician or some other kind of leader. All of which explains a lot about the dynamics of American politics today. Speaking metaphorically, our parents – who are supposed to provide us with a secure home, feed us, educate us, and guide us into self-sufficient responsible adulthood – have flown the coop. They’ve absconded with our allowance, blowing it on big parties, scandalous relationships, brawls with the neighbors , and half-baked schemes for rebuilding the shattered financial security resulting from their irresponsible behavior. And then, in their guilt and dysfunction, they’ve gone on and tried to point the finger at us , as if their inability to run the household is our fault. As kids, we don’t know how to react to all of this, so instead of calling them out for their shenanigans, we fight amongst each other like dysfunctional siblings. For their part, our “parents” know in their hearts that they’ve created the social and economic mess we’re all in, but are reacting like any parent would when they lose control of the kids. They’re shouting and relying completely on hyperbole to try and scare everyone back into line. Which only riles everyone up more, causing some of the kids to run away from home, others to mope around demanding that someone take care of them, and yet others to scream and shout that they have the solution, even though they’re the ones that most recently trashed the house. So is there a solution? Personally, I think some other families in the neighborhood are going to see a more prominent role in the community before we get our domestic squabbles worked out. Especially when our parents’ guilt and frustration is leading them to create nearly psychotic delusions of, for instance, imaginary terrorist babies. I’ve included a couple of clips below that demonstrate some of the metaphors I’m joking about here. Both clips are with the generally mild-mannered (and probably bleeding heart liberal) Anderson Cooper. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Like Button Alternatives
[ 7 Comments ]Posted on August 14, 2010 by admin in Technology
Saturday, August 14th, 2010I really hope you like this. Because if you don’t, I’m assuming you hate it.
Don’t you love the Like button? No longer must we pause, actually think about something and articulate a response; we can either just “like” it or not. Which sort of raises the question: if you don’t click the “Like” button, doesn’t that mean that you don’t like something? I mean, when life is distilled down to a binary set of responses, and you don’t engage in the simple action of clicking a little “Like” button, shouldn’t your inaction be perceived as an active dislike? I’m going to assume so from now on, and be forced to ask: WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH??? The fact is that although I personally find it frustrating that on Facebook I can only “Like” something or not, or be someone’s “Friend” or not, Facebook will probably always thrive on this kind of binary decision making process. But that won’t stop some of us from pondering the possibilities. Mark Cuban for instance, thinks the Like button would benefit from some color coding. And a BoingBoing.net reader has proposed a “meh” button. So, never wanting to miss a ride on the meme wagon, we’ve come up with a few of our own. See below. And remember: if you don’t “Like” this article, we’ll be assuming you hate it. Read the rest of this entry »
Best Coast’s Crazy For You & Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 13, 2010 by admin in Music
Friday, August 13th, 2010Help us out with a late summer playlist. So far all we’ve got is some Best Coast and some Surfer Blood.
You know how hearing a simple pop song can instantly transport you to another time and place, and evoke all the feelings associated with it? Today I was sitting at an outdoor cafe in the sweltering humid 90 degree weather where I live, and was suddenly teleported to the crisp and tragically moody monochromatic autumn reality that hearing California Dreamin’ inflicts upon me. Which reminded me that probably the only thing I like about living in a part of the US that has seasons (dear God please help me get out of here before winter!) is the brief periods of moodiness that are inevitable first when you realize summer is ending, then later when everything starts literally dying, and then not too long after that when the deadly cold and passionless midwestern dread sets in. And to be clear, these “brief periods” I’m referring to last about three days, and then I otherwise really should be on medication. So I decided I need a late summer playlist to help ease the pain of the impending gloom. One of the first picks was easy. Best Coast’s Crazy for You from last month is a perfect beach pop backdrop for August with its mix of upbeat pop and moody, sixties-tinged, reverb-drenched teen ennui. It for some reason made me think of relistening to Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast, which made no sonic sense to me back in January when I first heard it, but suddenly does on a sweltering summer day. With all the guitars, reverb, and harmonies, both bands have a weird sort of Strokes meets Animal Collective meets Beach House kind of thing going on. Clips below. Any suggestions to keep a playlist going? Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook Politics – I Only Like You So I Can Hate You
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 12, 2010 by admin in Politics
Thursday, August 12th, 2010Why I quit voting and started “Liking”. And why I support the Palin/Quayle campaign of 2012.
I’ve discovered a new approach to political action that seems to confuse my friends, but which I’m confident will afford me endless hours of glee, and may lead to me never getting credit for creating the soon-to-be-popular phrase “I Only Like You So I Can Hate You”. I’ve joked a number of times recently that I’m drifting back toward the apolitical stance of my twenties, but somewhere inside, I knew that I was too addicted to America’s political shenanigans to be satisfied with simple satirical observation. So I’m doing the next best thing to voting: “LIKING”. One ironic side effect of the popularity of Facebook and their omnipresent “Like” button is that if, for instance, you find yourself for some ungodly reason looking at Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, you’ll notice you can’t make a comment on any of her surreal ramblings unless you “Like” her. So today, I did. Prompting a concerned friend to immediately comment with the astute observation that – and I quote – “in spite of appearances Ian, she’s not satire“. A short while later, I coincidentally saw Ben Quayle’s campaign video (also below) that’s been getting so much press today, and immediately “liked” him too, so I could misspell his name as I asked in the comments of his campaign page what a “Tax Cartel” was. Then, as I watched the clip again to make sure it wasn’t actually a Saturday Night Live clip like this one or some viral campaign, it hit me. The solution to all of America’s political woes. The Palin/Quayle campaign of 2012. My theory being that if they don’t win, they’ll at least siphon off enough “real” republican votes to give Obama another four years to figure out what the hell he’s doing before Newt Gingrich or somebody really scary runs. And if they do win, that’s a win for America too. As the nutjob teabagging Washington outsiders that they are, it’ll take them four years to even begin to figure out how to actually get anything done, and by then the global economic collapse caused by the Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama corporatocracy will have fully played out, and THEY’LL get the blame. Then we can all make a fresh start in 2016. So get on board the “I Only Like You So I Can Hate You” movement and help run the hugest campaign of subterfuge and disinformation in the history of politics. Read the rest of this entry »