This is the first time I have ever seen a blooper reel used as a campaign commercial. If they expected that this is supposed to make him cuddly enough to elect, they've completely lost it.
One of my work partners-in-crime had her flight take off from Narita five minutes before the earthquake hit Japan. She dealt with typhoon Tokage the previous week.
I don't think she's leaving stateside any time soon.
It sucks when you know that the "tools" you've been expected to use in a project consist of a kiddie chest full of Fisher-Price plastic monkey wrenches.
Heck, I could have a lot more fun wth the wrenches....
My previous trips to Seattle, I'd taken to tuning my radio to KNDD. That was not always easy, as the station seems to have serious dead spots in and around Seattle. I usually found at least a couple of new songs that I'd then wander over the iTunes and buy.
Not this time, though. Even though they claim they are still the station with music in the morning, they've adopted a new definition for "music", because all I was hearing was the morning mouth. The guy is heavily into "ooh, let's 'epater le bourgeois'". Geez, that was old before Alice Cooper showed up almost thirty years ago. Heck, it was old after all the Lenny Bruce wannabees ran loose.
So, little music and lot of stupid. I wandered over to k-rock (krqi) and listened to it. Trouble is, it's pretty much playing the same list as 104.9 down here in SJC. Nothing new there.
There must be something else on the dial--any Seattle residents want to let me know?
Back from a week in Seattle. Looks like I might have hit the last of the good weather as well. It was sunny and fairly warm the entire time.
One thing I noticed was that even with the shorter days, everyone was trying to stretch as much as they could out of those days. I watched crew and kayaks on the ship canal and Lake Union, lit up so no one could miss them, gliding across the water in the deepening twilight. And I saw the same thing in the early morning as well, although we had the extra added attraction of fog on the lake.
And everyone had their dogs out, from the golden retrievers and the huskies taking their owners for a trot around Green Lake, to the very elegant and well-mannered Italian Greyhound I met outside of the Fremont PCC.
There's definitely the feeling of get out and have a good time outside before the weather socks in for the winter.
During my Sunday phone call to my mother, she asked me if I knew anything about this "blog" stuff. Apparently her hometown newspaper had done an article on how all those teenagers were blogging, and how dangerous it was (her interpretation).
So,
1. My mother has heard of blogging
2. My mother is worried about blogging
Check, and check.
Yup, it's hit mainstream.
If I woke up next to someone wearing a Burger King mask and full costume, you'd bet I wouldn't be as sanguine as the people in the commercial.
....
Unless I was in Las Vegas. Then I'd just roll over and go back to sleep. I'm not eating that crud in any case.
One of the Nethercutt (Republican running for Senate in Washington) commericials has been redone--again. I was wondering why his staff hated him so, and wanted him to look bad. In the previous rendition of the commericial, he was shot up close with a standard lens, which caused a mild fish-eye effect, and lit from below, which gave him a lovely "someone is holding a flashlight under my chin at the campground fire" look.
Note to people running campaigns--run the effing commercial with the sound *off* to see what's being projected. Nethercutt had a sneer in v1.0 of the commercial. Even if I'm not listening to what he says, the look says volumes.
Corollary to such-- don't re-loop, and especially don't loop over dialogue that's altogether different. For hearing lipreaders like me, you're giving me a headache. For hearing-impaired lipreaders, you're likely either scandalizing them (hi mom!), or sending them into shrieks of laughter, and no one else in the room can get in on the joke.
I don't know why more political commercials that do this (especially the really funny ones) aren't showing up in the media.
I was talking to the flight attendants on the way up to Seattle (the person in the row ahead of me was vying for grandmaster idiot status during the flight), and they commented on my iPod.
Turns out that they like the iPod, but people keep wearing them during the pre-flight "how to get off the plane in an emergency" talk.
C'mon, people--take the headphones out of the ears and listen to the nice attendants. It's all of a couple of minutes, and it won't hurt you.
Here again. The place is about 2 weeks off of peak colour, but some places are very nice. We're having a bit of a warming trend, and it's dry. I'll take it.
Seattle continues to be the city that will resist invasion because there is no signage. Even the I5 signage is too little, too late. And the off-ramps put the civil engineering nightmares in California to shame for sheer awfulness.
However, the rental car people took my thoughts on the Ford Taurus seriously, and gave me a Ford Escape XLT. That makes driving around here quite a bit better. But with on-demand 4x4, I really feel like I ought to find a mountain to climb.
The Cubs last game of the season today, and it turns out that this was Chip Caray's last game for the Cubs as well. Not a huge surprise--the statements being made in the press all season by both Caray and management indicated that this Caray wasn't going to be leaving the Cubs organization feet-first.
And the noises sound like Steve Stone may not be far behind. He "retired" a couple of season back after a bout with valley fever, and came back after it was very apparent that his successors just didn't have the chemistry.
Now, a colour who can work with multiple Carays? I'd grab him, but I'd also be someone who knew that Stone isn't going to repeat the party line. Inarticulate jocks and over-itellectuallizing dweebs are a dime a dozen--someone who's played the game and can offer intelligent commentary isn't.
I hope whoever ends up with Stone appreciates what they're getting.