Super Sonic

I just love the commercials for Sonic where various people are sitting in their cars and having random conversations that sometimes relate to the food and sometimes don't. One of my favorites is the one with the two girls where one asks the other if she still eats a bowl of cookie dough after a bad date and her answer is that she is too old for that so she only eats half a bowl, or sometimes two. Her expression when her friend points out that two half bowls is a whole bowl is great. As a group the spots featuring the married couple are probably the best - the wife's delivery is fabulous. These commercials all feature members of Second City in Chicago, so they are probably improvised as well, which makes them even better in my mind. By the way, I've only been to Sonic once, but if you get a chance to go definitely order the cookie dough blast shake - awesome!!

Sounds of the Season

A Denver radio station has been advertising that from now until the New Year they will be playing only seasonal music, and I have to say this is a great marketing strategy if you are looking to have people boycott your station. Seriuosly, who wants to listen to Christmas music for 2 months straight? Not me! And before you label me a grinch, let me assure you that I enjoy the classic Christmas carols: Little Drummer Boy, Carol Of The Bells, Deck The Halls, etc. However, there are only so many variations of these that are tolerable - I am reminded of a CD we had at my last job that featured a version of O'Tannenbaum, sung by very operatic voices who not only weren't following the standard tune, they didn't even seem to be singing related notes. I actually only know what song it is supposed to be because I looked at the liner notes. Absolutely unbearable. My daughter plays better music with her plastic piano, which only has four keys and she plays with her fists. Of course, if you stick to the classics only, it is bound to get more than a little repetitive, which of course is why people are continually trying to write new Christmas songs. I can pretty much say that as a group these all blow. With the exception of Santa Baby and All I Need For Christmas Is You, there are no good modern Christmas songs* - and I think that's fine. I want to hear and sing the carols I grew up listening to - the classics are classics because they are good. There is absolutely no need for any new Christmas songs, except to fill the hours and hours of air time needed by idiot radio statoins that want to drive everyone crazy by playing nothing else.

*I would like to add Jingle Bell Rock and Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer to my list of acceptable modern Christmas songs.

Pony Rides for Everyone

You've got to love the new Verizon commercial where one girl gets a pony but is jealous of her friends' new Verizon cell phones. They are all staring at the pony with such disbelief, as it snarls and destroys a dog house - hilarious. It is such a great play on the fact that every little girl supposedly asks for a pony at some point, and the choice to make this one apparently rabid is great. "Does he bite?""yeah." So funny.
In other pony news, the Toyota commercial where the mother is talking on the phone about how much she saved on her new toyota (model?) and asks that her daughter not be told because she wants a pony is sort of funny too. Not so much the whole commercial itself which is actually kind of stupid, but definitely the little girl all dressed up in her horrible pink cowgirl outfit looking like she is about to launch herself at her mother in fury. Her expression is great, although of course telling your 6 year old she can't have a pony shouldn't be this big of a deal. But that kid is scary so maybe that explains it.

We Don't Need Your Charity

'Tis the season to be give, and also for countless commercials begging your donations and generosity for others. I firmly believe in helping out the less fortunate in any way possible, but some of these so called charities have gotten me a little peeved. I hear all kinds of commercials asking for donations of new toys or clothes or whatever, and to me this seems very greedy and more than a little tacky. I realize the desire to have new things, but come on people - this is charity. It might seem a little harsh, but in my opinion people in the position to need charity should be happy to have whatever they get - beggars can't be choosers as the saying goes. Now, this doesn't mean that they should get worn out or ruined things, but there are plenty of barel used toys and clothes out there that have a lot of life left in them and could use a new home and someone to love them. Forcing people to buy brand new items for donation is just feeding our already over-consuming culture and creating more and more garbage and cast off items. I hate throwing things out, and I end up filling my house because there are practically no places to donate things to anymore - earlier this year I tried to give some practically brand new window blinds to a thrift store and they wouldn't take them because they were used. Um, hello - thrift store! I will happily donate brand new food items (obviously an area where used isn't feasible), but beyond that I will only patronize charities like the Salvation Army or Goodwill whose goal is to minimize waste as well has helping the needy.
some charities who will take donations of used items:
The Salvation Army
Goodwill Industries
Vietnam Veterans of America
Soles4souls

Absolute-ly love it

The commercial where the fat guy jumps into the pool, swims its length, and emerges a perfectly toned model? Awesome. A creative twist on two of societies biggest issues: obesity and beer goggles.

Aquadots

Several weeks ago there was a recall for a toy called Aquadots. Apparently, when the small beads that make up this toy are ingested they turn into GHB - better known as the date rape drug. That's something isn't it? You give your kids something new to play with and suddenly they are zombies lying on the floor (I do have to admit though that this is sort of appealing in terms of long car rides - assuming of course you could manage it without an actual coma and risk of seizure). Now, a recall is absolutely necessary in this case, but I can't help thinking that any toy with tiny little beads should only be played with by kids who have outgrown the urge to put things in their mouths anyway. In fact, the packaging is labeled 4+ years, and of course the first case of a child being harmed after ingesting the beads was a 20 month old. I have a 20 month old and I would never knowingly let her play with any type of little beads, toxic or not, because she will undoubtedly put them in her mouth and I wouldn't want her to choke. So while I think whoever was watching that poor child was being somewhat negligent by letting them play with a toy that is inappropriate (here Tommy, play with this choking hazard), I guess I also have to thank them for bringing the toxicity of this toy to light. Hopefully their child recovers and no more children are harmed.

Amendment:
I wanted to add that I wonder how many creepy perverts out there heard about the recall and rushed out to get their hands on some free GHB for their personal use. I hope none, but you never know.

All I want for Christmas is a Power Drill

Another seasonal Lowe's commercial has me peeved. In this one a guy asks a female sales lady to help him pick out a gift for his wife. This dunce goes through riding lawnmowers, a leaf blower and various powertools before settling on a gift card. The general idea of the commercial is cute, and the characters aren't nearly as annoying as the stupid lady from the other commercial, but come on - it's a commercial for Lowes. Unless this guy is married to my mom (and if he is she has some explaining to do to my dad) he is still going to be in the dog house unless he wises up and realizes the place to shop for his wife is not a hardware store.