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Not a fan of Rihanna and I don’t really like orange juice either, but the woman (Ingrid Michaelson) in the most recent Tropicana commercial has some really cool covers.
Posted on April 11th, 2013 at 6:44 pm by Brainy Smurf
Music, Television | No Comments »
I couldn’t help but chuckle at Grant’s recent comment regarding my issues with the Land Rover.
He said, “Shoulda bought a Ford.”
It’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to a comment that I made on his site back in 2009 where we were both kicking ourselves for not buying a ton of Ford stock back when it was on the brink of worthlessness.
Re-thinking back to that time, and imagining if I had pulled the trigger on buying into Ford like I’d wanted to, what would I have done with it since?
Would have I have wisely sold it for a tidy profit before this most predictable downward trend of the past few weeks?
Or would I still have it in my portfolio?
Well, I’ll tell you… I’d still have it.
Since there’s nothing on television worth watching on Sunday or Monday nights, for the past few weeks I’ve found myself wathing those hoarding shows on A&E and TLC.
Personally, I much prefer the TLC variation of the show. It’s far less confrontational.
Anyway, from watching these shows, I think I’ve somewhat confirmed something that I’ve long suspected anyway.
I have hoarding tendancies.
No, no, I’m not *anything* like the people on the show but I do have a thing for collecting and accumulating things (cough, hockey jerseys, cough, cough) and then being reluctant to ever part with them.
Remember that $30k worth of photography equipment? Yeah, I should have sold the stuff that I no longer used back then for a tidy sum.
A Canon 10D, Canon 1D, and a Canon 1D Mark II aren’t worth nearly as much now — and I’m *still* not using them and have no plans to either.
Still, I’d have a hard time parting with them.
And that’s exactly what would’ve happened with the Ford stock.
Posted on August 20th, 2011 at 8:00 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Mistakes, Television | 2 Comments »
Money Beagle‘s comment to Monday’s posting was so awesome that I thought a response was worthy of its own posting.
Click here to read the original post — and his follow-up comment.
Really, you need to click on the link — otherwise the rest of this post is meaningless.
Regarding me missing the mark…I beg to differ.
Don’t get me wrong — I thought it was a good commercial. Well, the first minute or so of it was good.
I thought the soundtrack worked (partially because you never heard his (Eminem’s) nasally voice).
I thought the message was, well, it was good too.
I just thought the star was all wrong for the reasons I listed out originally.
Beag mentioned the Grammys — Eminem’s got to have some curb appeal. Good point but that’s the thing — how many folks over the age of 30 have ever heard any of the songs nominated in any of the categories?
We’re about the same age — right in the center of that most coveted advertising demographic. I don’t know about you, but I pretty much punched out of the modern music scene in the Dave Matthews era and the waning days of Pearl Jam.
Don’t get me wrong — I know who Katy Perry, Taio Cruz, and Miley Cyrus are. I’m not totally out of touch.
I’m also not ashamed to admit that I enjoy listening to all three… Back-to-back-to-back…
At the same time, though, I have zero interest in the acts performing on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ Eve celebration anymore. Haven’t had any interest in over a decade. The same holds true for the Grammys — performers, nominees, and presenters.
I think I’m in the majority on that one. I still watch the show but mostly because nothing else is on on that night — kinda like how I watched the Super Bowl even though my Bears weren’t in it.
Point is, Eminem has little appeal to me and probably everyone that I know over the age of 30.
On a tangent, since I mentioned the Dick Clark thing, I’d like to take this moment to mention that Will Smith’s daughter is terrible. Just terrible. “Whip My Hair?” Huh?
Now, for the whole “Made in the USA” thing, well, I know that that hasn’t been the case in the auto industry since, well, probably the early 1970′s — just like you mentioned.
I drove a GEO Metro in the early 1990′s. It was a GM product. Inside the door, it said Suzuki. Go figure.
My BMW was assembled in the heart of NASCAR country. German engineering? Yeah, right…
My Scion was actually assembled in Japan. I’m actually pretty surprised by this.
I only mentioned the “across the river” to connect it with the Justin Bieber reference. That, and hailing from southern Ontario, I know first hand that the landscape is dotted with humongous auto assembly plants. And technically, Windsor, Ontario could be considered a Detroit-area assembly plant like you mentioned — close or not, it’s still in another country.
I also thought it was appropriate as they threw “Imported” from Detroit right in your face as if Detroit itself is another country. What’s up with that?
We’re in total agreement that Chrysler had/has lost its edge. I blame the Plymouth Voyager explosion of the mid 1980′s. Mini-vans were their bread-and-butter back then and they held on to that “image” for far too long.
They do need some “edge”. But I still say that Eminem in a Super Bowl commercial was the wrong way to go about it. On MTV, during a Jersey Shore marathon, sure, but not the Super Bowl.
When it comes to widely viewed events (such as the Super Bowl), the memorable commercials are the ones that have appeal to the masses.
Comedy is one way to get there — though that generally works best for beer commercials.
The Volkswagen Passat Darth Vader spot used comedy and a “villian” from 35 years ago. That worked. My son is the same age as your little one (to the day, I think) and he knows who Darth Vader is. My mother knows who he is too.
It appealed to all ages (and genders) making it a perfect Super Bowl commercial.
VW is not suffering from an image crisis though…
Back on topic and regarding what I think was a poor casting choice for a Super Bowl commercial.
The last big, BIG televised event that I can think of was the Winter Olympics last February. You may or may not remember the BC Tourism commercial that ran nearly every break featuring Sarah McLachlan, Ryan Reynolds, Michael J. Fox, Steve Nash, Kim Cattrall, and Eric McCormack.
If not, here it is:
Same idea as the Chrysler commerical, while not all local to Vancouver or even British Columbia, all of them are Canadian and pretty much everyone on the northern half of this hemisphere will know of at least one of those celebrities. Further, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll have a neagative image towards any one of them either…
The 30-something crowd knows who Sarah McLachlan is, whether it’s from her music of the late 1990′s or the ASPCA commercials that can make grown men cry.
Ryan Reynolds was named People’s most beautiful person three years in a row. I’m not certain why — he’s alright, I guess — but that crown ensure that grocery store tabloid readers know who he is along with all those folks going to see his chick flick movies.
The older crowd would know who Michael J. Fox is from his time on Family Ties. Or even the Back to the Future movies. More recently, he’s the face of Parkinson’s disease. He’s well known and, as far as I can tell, pretty well respected too.
Steve Nash was the NBA’s MVP for a few seasons. All of the wannabe jocks know who he is.
Kim Cattrall covers the cable crowd. She was one of the stars in the Sex in the City series that got so many people to pay extra for HBO. She’s also been in tons of movies and even dated Pierre Trudeau (a former Pime Minister of Canada).
Eric McCormack, rightfully so or not, covers the gay crowd. I’m not sure if he’s actually gay or not, I don’t think he is — it doesn’t really matter — but from his role on the tv show Will & Grace, I’d say that the masses just assume he is.
How do these six spokespeople differ from Eminem? Well, first off, the variety alone ensures that 95% of the audience will identify with at least one of them. Maybe Chrysler should have had a few more cameos.
Further, though, and more importantly, they all have pretty squeaky clean images.
I’m not an expert on any of those celebs — I listed pretty much all I know about them — but I do know that their image is treated with higher regard than that of Eminen. Image is everything.
That’s why I thought the commercial was terrible.
You just don’t want a perceived thug telling you they’re coming back. To me, that’s the message Chrysler sent and it’s 100% because of the casting. It’s not edgy — it’s almost insulting.
Oh, and I don’t see Detroit making a comeback.
Dearborn, maybe.
Okay, does this mean we should have a rap showdown?
;0)
Seriously — I really appreciate the well thought-out, not to mention long, comment. Thanks Dude!
Posted on February 8th, 2011 at 10:33 pm by Brainy Smurf
Blogging?, Rants, Retro, Television | 4 Comments »
I’m going to ignore the Brisk Iced Tea commercial for the time being but what was Chrysler thinking?
I got the message of the commercial — yeah, yeah, Detroit is making a comeback and Chrysler is trying to market themselves as edgier or something by using a local celebrity in a wicked long commercial.
On paper, or in a brainstorming marketing meeting, that sounds like a pretty good commericial, I’ll admit.
But then you choose Eminem to star?
What, was the scummy Kid Rock unavailable?
Now I know that Emimem has a pretty big fan base but his fan base would only make up a tiny sliver of the total Super Bowl audience — most of which would have tuned out long before the commercial aired anyway…
To the masses, Eminem is the guy who can’t get a full sentence out without using profanity, beat his girlfriend/wife, and on top of that, he hates his mom too.
Would you want someone like that as your spokesman for a 12-million dollar plus spot during the Super Bowl?
The vast majority is who Chrysler should be marketing towards…but they chose not to.
I won’t be buying a Chrysler. I probably won’t be buying anything out of Detroit — actually.
Seriously, though, most of the cars are made across the river in Canada anyway. “Imported” from Detroit is right…
Justin Bieber might have been a more appropriate spokesman… and, last time I checked, he still lives with his mom.
Posted on February 7th, 2011 at 6:36 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Rants, Television | 2 Comments »
I’ll confess openly to actually desiring a Snuggie anyway but now I *really* want one!
To think, if it weren’t for the Snuggie being included, I probably would’ve lifted the better of the songs off of the internet somewhere for free… I know it’s wrong.
Now, though, I’m going to spend $30 on the album. Or someone will get it for me for Christmas. (Hint, hint — the blue one, not the zebra print.)
Great marketing on Weezer’s part.
Posted on November 4th, 2009 at 5:55 pm by Brainy Smurf
Music, Television | 6 Comments »
Unlike my previous post, this one actually is about Michael Jackson.
Even though I wasn’t born in the US, if I had been, I’d be one of those bicentennial babies. What that basically means is that the Jackson 5 were a little before my time. But it also means that I was the perfect age for MJ’s solo career.
My parents were still listening to popular music when “Off the Wall” came out in 1979 so I got my share of “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You” riding in the back of the car.
I don’t remember either song being a favorite (neither could top Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” or Christopher Cross’ “Ride Like the Wind”), but I certainly remember hearing them an awful lot.
By the time Thriller came out, sure, my parents had turned the dial to the oldies stations instead but I was six years old by then — I had access to my own radio dial.
Best of all, our next door neighbor was an audiophile. His “band” was the Who but he also had the Michael Jackson album before anyone that I knew. I’m not sure he’d be willing to admit it but he had it in his collection probably the same day that it came out.
We used to go over there, put on his enormous headphones and giggle endlessly wondering what on earth “Ma-Ma-Se, Ma-Ma-Sa, Ma-Ma-Goo-Sa” meant… Back then, you couldn’t just jump to a song as easily as you can now (partly because we weren’t allowed to actually touch his turntable) so we listened to “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” (the first track on the album) more than any other song on the record. In fact, I’m not sure we ever listened to the flip side…
My friend Chris and I even used the “Ma-Ma-Se” thing as a greeting? Weird.
We were living outside Chicago at the time and I remember walking to school with Chris and his older brother Kurt pretending that the sidewalk was lighting up in front of us like it did in the “Billie Jean” video.
I also remember very long sessions of attempting to moonwalk on the kitchen tile with our slipperiest socks on. I never quite mastered it.
I remember the hi-fi guy, Kurt and Chris’ dad, saying that it was a fake special effect but we kept trying anyway…
As 1st graders, we had no idea what the song, “Billie Jean”, was about but we certainly knew all the words. When “Beat It” came out, well, game over, everyone that I knew was asking for the Thriller record for their birthday.
I got it on tape that summer — along with a tape recorder.
Then we moved to Connecticut and my access to Hi-Fi music was dashed. But with the move to New England came something new — cable television and MTV.
Not only could I listen to MJ, now I could see him too! I’d seen the videos before, probably on Solid Gold or something, but never over and over and over again.
I remember when the Thriller video came out — I think it was even listed in TV Guide — my parents even watched. And they enjoyed it!
Imagining my son being 7 years old now instead of one month, I’m not sure I’d be able to “enjoy” the music or the videos he might be watching right now. Somehow, in the early 1980′s Michael Jackson was able to appeal to 7 year olds AND 37 year olds.
My next big MJ memory came a few months after the big Thriller music video.
I had the jacket from Thriller in 3rd grade — it was awesome.
Yeah, my parents were too cheap to buy me a glittery glove that I also wanted but they totally went all out and hooked me up with a red and black pleather jacket.
Did I mention yet that it was awesome?
I remember it almost having a Michael Jackson like effect at the bus stop.
No, the girls weren’t passing out or anything just being in my presence but they were asking to try it on and I thought that was pretty cool.
While I can’t prove it here with photographic evidence as I’m not sure a photo of me in the jacket even exists — thank god, too, evidence like that would have jeopardized my popularity in high school — trust me, I had it. And it *was* awesome.
I’m sure that if I dug through the attic enough, I’d find it. Or maybe my parents still have it? Mom?
Anyway, I’m not really sure where it ended up but I’d hate to think that we just threw it away…
The next time Michael Jackson came up was when I was just heading into junior high school.
It was the end of the summer and I had a birthday party to go to and I wanted to buy the “Bad” tape for my friend Ryan.
Problem was, the album was being released the day of the party *and* it went over the $10 birthday present limit my mom had set. (Yeah, back then, cassettes were $16.99 for a new release).
My mom ending up buying the tape last minute (going over the $10 limit) and as my friend was opening his other presents, I was a little worried about how he’d react to mine.
See, Michael Jackson wasn’t as cool as he’d been when we were in third grade but when he opened it, everyone at the party was excited. (I did a little fist pump in my head. Yes!)
I remember after the party, when his mom was driving us all home, she had the tape playing in the car (they were loaded so, unlike the rest of us, they had a tape player in the car – remember, this is 1987!) and we were all in the back clapping along to “The Way You Make Me Feel” which was the first song on the album that none of us had ever heard before.
If I remember correctly, that was pretty much the last real birthday party that wasn’t just a sleepover with a few friends that I ever attended. Later that week, we were, afterall, junior high schoolers and far too grown up for “Fudgie the Whale” cakes.
His next album was “Dangerous” with the big prime time network debut of the “Black or White” video and the morphing faces at the end.
I was in high school at this point and while it was okay to admit that you thought the end of his video was cool, it was best to keep being a fan on the hush-hush.
I bought his Dangerous album in Germany on tape because, yeah, I didn’t have a CD player yet and because I was certain that I would probably never again see any of those Germans there to witness me purchasing it.
Yeah, in 1992, there was a little bit of shame in admitting that you liked Michael Jackson *and* Pearl Jam.
I’d say that it was the first MJ album that I didn’t play the crap out of.
It’s not that it wasn’t worthy, but I think my tastes had begun to slide over to less mainstream stuff like They Might be Giants. And, um, Pearl Jam.
Crazy to call a guy like Michael Jackson mainstream, huh?
The last time I gave Michael any thought, prior to Thursday, was when HIStory came out in 1995. It was in the summer of 1995 and I was taking a few courses in University.
My friend Alison, almost as a joke I think, suggested that we line up to buy the album at midnight.
Thinking that sounded like more fun than watching Baywatch and Unsolved Mysteries reruns I said that I’d be up for it.
When we got to “House of Sounds” on Princess Street in Kingston, which still sold records at the time, there was already a line up?!
I couldn’t believe it!? At a time when few would admit to even liking Michael Jackson, he could still get people to line up in the middle of the night to buy one of his albums. Amazing.
Anyway, 6 minutes and 15 seconds past midnight, I owned HIStory… and Disc 1 (best compilation EVER!) is the CD player in the car right now…
(Though I must admit, I had to dig through a few boxes this morning to find it.)
Posted on June 27th, 2009 at 9:22 am by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Life, Music, Retro, Television | 5 Comments »
It’s the big news story here in Connecticut now that the “Travis the Chimp” hoopla has finally subsided.
It always exciting when your own neck of the woods makes the national news but, of late, most of the news recently has been rather embarrassing for Connecticut.
(Before the chimp attack, it was this hit-and-run.)
For the record, no, I do not personally know anyone that has a pet chimpanzee. That’s even weird for Connecticut.
But now the focus is on Jerry Springer.
See, our governor Jodi Rell, who has always had through-the-roof approval numbers (easy when your predecessor went directly to jail) but is actually a horrible governor, comes up with terrible ideas on an almost weekly basis.
And usually a week too late.
For instance, it’s damn near impossible to have a Chimpanzee as a pet in Connecticut now. Last month, though, sure, if you wanted one, you could get one if you knew the right people.
Basically, she’s a reactionary Governor with little foresight.
If there’s a big car accident, she’ll propose widening the road. Cost is no issue. Doesn’t matter that the driver was drunk — if the road had been wider, it would have saved lives. Yeah, okay…
Really, that could be her legacy… She made the roads wider to accommodate drunk drivers.
Oh, and she added runaway truck ramps because of the mountainous terrain here in Connecticut. (For the record, we have rolling hills, NOT mountains — but we have runaway trunk ramps just like Colorado does… Thanks Jodi! Those were well-spent taxpayer dollars!)
Anyway, under her rule, the State of Connecticut has offered HUGE tax incentives in an attempt to turn Connecticut into the Hollywood East. I’m not making this stuff up…
Seriously, “Hollywood East”. Yeah…
You’re laughing, right?
Anyway, the first big catch is the Jerry Springer show. Now, I’m no Hollywood expert but I do know that Jerry Springer is filmed in Chicago.
So we undercut Hollywood Mid-West?
And all we got was Jerry Springer?
Seems Connecticut was aiming a little low…
Oprah? Hello?
Anyway, right now, this “acquisition”, if you could call it that, has everyone all excited about the additional tax revenue that will be coming to our state.
I think they’re wearing rose-coloured glasses.
First off, the tax incentives offered — and their willingness to pick up and move to Connecticut even though Jerry is fighting it — probably means that they won’t be paying ANY taxes.
That, and on a personal note, I’d much prefer it if the scheduled guests weren’t staying in hotels in my backyard.
Seriously.
Based on what I’ve seen on the Jerry Springer Show, many of them are more frightening than a rampaging chimp.
Posted on March 15th, 2009 at 8:25 am by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Rants, Television | 3 Comments »
Amid all of the sensationalism in the media (mostly NBC) over what Warren Buffett said this morning, the one line that they should be using to calm the masses is the one I haven’t heard a snippet of yet:
“I would never have a feeling that the Dow is going to go to 2,000 or 12,000 or 4,300 or 20,200. I don’t – I know over time it will go higher but if you buy a cross section of good equities, generally well capitalized companies, you’ll make money over 10 or 20 years. I haven’t the faintest idea where you’ll be in 10 months, but it really doesn’t make any difference.”
The media makes it seem as if everyone is a day trader dealing with individual stocks…
Warren comes in and essentially asks people to wait a decade and then get back to him on how much money they think that they ‘lost’.
Seriously, unless you’re in retirement or darn close to it, what’s going on right now doesn’t mean a thing. Peaks and valleys. Peaks and valleys.
Just chill, baby…
Posted on March 9th, 2009 at 6:55 pm by Brainy Smurf
Current Events, Finance, Rants, Television | 1 Comment »
Have you seen the latest Geico commericals? You know, the ones with that stack of cash with eyes “watching” people?
They’ve been running pretty heavily for a few weeks now… maybe even a month.
Now, as much as I like to hear a Rockwell re-mix, I just don’t get these commercials.
Plain and simple… they suck!
Kinda like Rockwell did.
Really, if you’re old enough to remember the original song, you’ll also remember that the only reason it hit the charts was because of MJ‘s back-up vocal…
Now, Geico’s message has been the same for years. You can save money by switching to them. Their advertising campaigns for the past 5 years or so have been brilliant!
I mean, who would have thought that an auto insurance company could be so successful with a bunch of goofy commercials featuring digitally animated lizards and a trio of cavemen hocking their product/service?
It makes no sense, but even 5-year-olds know that “a 15 minute call could save you 15% or more on your car insurance” and that “it’s so easy, a caveman could do it”.
These commercials actually feature, well, “the money” you could be saving — they’re cutting right to the chase (for once) — but it just doesn’t work.
Weird.
Anyway, the whole ad campaign is worse than Microsoft’s Jerry Seinfeld spot…
What do you think?
Posted on January 7th, 2009 at 8:55 pm by Brainy Smurf
Music, Rants, Retro, Television | 2 Comments »
Starting to sense a theme this week?
After reading yesterday’s post, my wife couldn’t help but point out one of my Christmas gifts from her mother.
So, as I crunch away while watching the season premiere of the Biggest Loser (a guilty pleasure), it’s become apparent that sometimes happiness can actually come from eating yellow snow.
Posted on January 6th, 2009 at 8:00 pm by Brainy Smurf
Photo, Television | 2 Comments »
I admit it. I watch The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights. All two hours of it. Every week.
I remember when the show first started a few years ago. I didn’t watch it back then.
I often wondered, who would want to watch a bunch of shirtless people go to Fat Camp? I mean, if Richard Simmons isn’t involved, what’s the draw?
Am I right?
But last season, for reasons unknown, my wife and I watched the first episode. I was hooked. Even had a television celebrity crush on Brittany — that’s her pictured. She was one smokin’ fat chick.
Anyway, we watched it religiously through the entire season. It blew my mind to see these huge people morph into, well, people you wouldn’t even consider overweight (though in most cases, they were still a little heavy.)
Then, as with most weekly elimination reality shows, the wrong person won. That left a sour taste in my mouth — the show is stupid.
But this past Tuesday, my wife and I watched the season opener and guess what? I’m hooked again. No television crush this time, I just like the show.
I hate Jillian — not a fan of screamers. I realize some people need that type of treatment to get off their, um, fat asses but I find that I’m more motivated by someone with Bob‘s approach.
The whole thing kinda reminds me of running track in high school. We distance runners would all go up to the weight room and try to hold our own among the fat guys who threw heavy things (shot put and discus). They spent a lot of time in there. We, being walking stick men, obviously did not.
The top priority while in there pumping iron was to not embarrass yourself. That was it. More important than building up some muscle — just don’t embarrass yourself.
They, the chuckers and hurlers, had their own coach who was, well, a yeller. You know, screaming at them and calling them degrading things in an effort to get them to do more. I’d say he got mixed results.
Our coach, Kurt Fioretti, infrequently even came into the weight room, but his approach was a lot more like Bob’s. Always encouraging. He made us think we could do anything — and often times it was successful.
I’ll never forget at an elite invitational meet where I didn’t really belong, way outclassed, and he handed me my race number — you know, the stickers you see some runners stick to their bare legs whenever track & field is on television.
Well, those numbers are seed numbers. If you’re expected to finish first, you get the number one. Second, you get number two, and so on…
He handed me number 3.
“Number 3?! Are you kidding? Have you seen the field?”
“Yeah, I told ‘em you run a 4:09 mile,” he said with a sly grin and a wink.
Now, at the time, the fasted I’d ever run the mile was maybe 4:56. That was a decent time for a high school miler in the early 1990′s, but that kind of pace at this specific meet would put me a distant last.
Just being there, I was at risk of embarrassing myself.
No, make that, I was at risk of humiliating myself and the town name emblazoned across my chest.
I remember lining up at the starting line and having that uncomfortable feeling of those around me wondering who the “new” guy was.
The first lap wasn’t a problem — I’d never had a problem hanging with the studs at that point. The pace was faster than I was used to but I had it in me to stay up front — leading actually.
By the second lap, I knew I was out of my league. I was still leading but there was no way I’d be able to maintain this type of pace.
My coach was running back and forth across the infield so he could cheer me on the back stretch and the home stretch (something he’d never done in the past) mispronouncing my name the whole time, “C’mon Breeny! You’ve got this… Stay strong, you’ve got this Breeny!”
In the end, I didn’t finish first.
I didn’t even finish third like I was supposed to.
I finished sixth with a time of 4:18.
I was ecstatic — I’d knocked 38 seconds off of my personal best. That’s over 12%. That’s HUGE!
After that, I never looked back — and that’s what I see on the show, primarily from those being trained by Bob.
Some motivation, a little encouragement, some shocking results, and then you’re off and running on your own.
It’s a good feeling, even if you’re feeling it vicariously through some really fat people while you lay on the couch with your pants unbuttoned eating ice cream.
I guess what I’m saying is that if you’re looking for a little encouragement for say, hmmm, how about putting more money in to savings, this show is a pretty good start.
No, it’s not about money (though there is the token cash prize at the end), but it’s not really about losing weight either.
It’s more about changing your ways to reach your goals. Some people need to be yelled at Jillian-style, others just need to be encouraged Bob-style. There’s a little something for everyone — just insert your own goal in place of losing weight…
(Now can someone get NBC to speed up the weigh-ins? Seriously, they draw that out for half an hour each episode… Totally unnecessary…)
Posted on September 19th, 2008 at 6:03 am by Brainy Smurf
Life, Motivation, Running, Television | 5 Comments »
I’m pretty excited for the Olympics to get going tonight (actually, later this morning).
Just this week my wife and I were talking about how we haven’t been watching much television lately. We don’t watch anything in prime time actually. (No, the conversation never turned anywhere near the idea of canceling cable to save money…)
But starting tonight, I think we’ll have something somewhat interesting to watch every night of the week! That is, if NBC doesn’t over sensationalize every single thing an American athlete does or has done…
I’m not really interested about how Amanda Beard loves animals, hates China, and likes to pose nude. I could really care less. The Olympics aren’t the place to go out and make a political statement or stage a protest. And she’s a freakin’ competitor?! Just jump in the pool and swim — in a regular bathing suit…
My first experience of unbiased Olympic coverage was back in 1992 for the Albertville Winter Games. At the time, I was in Germany and the television coverage was far from all German, all the time — even though they were speaking German.
It didn’t leave a huge impression on me back then, but for the last Summer Games in Athens, we happened to be in Canada and CBC’s coverage brought the memories rushing back.
It was… refreshing.
In response to NBC’s alleged over-reporting of the US athletes, Bob Costas recently responded, “Are Americans somewhat more interested in American performers? Of course they are, but we don’t insult the intelligence of the audience. They’re interested in any good story where ever it may appear.”
Okay, Bob… But, NBC does insult the intelligence of the audience.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Team Handball on NBC’s prime time coverage. Could it be because the United States is terrible at the sport? Do they forbid televising an event where the Americans get crushed or fail to even show up?
I dunno, the NBC coverage gets a little boring and old when you just keep on seeing one American after another win gold. That’s fine though, I’d agree that stuff should be covered. It’s a huge accomplishment.
But really, there aren’t that many events at the Olympics and they should probably show *every* medal winning performance whether an American is on the podium or not.
I’d appreciate that.
I doubt that I’m alone.
Based on their past coverage, to the casual fan, the US has apparently pitched a shutout against the world.
I mean, would it hurt to show, I dunno, the gold medal game in Team Handball between Denmark and South Korea? At the very least, it might enlighten a few of the geography-challenged out there.
I’m only using Team Handball as an example because it’s one of those games that I don’t even really understand, but it’s a fascinating thing to see. It’s fast, it’s rough, and it’s exciting. And every single one of the players is anonymous to me. That alone disqualifies its entertainment value for NBC, it seems.
NBC doesn’t seem to understand that to make great television, the public doesn’t need some sob-story background on the athlete from the wrong side of the tracks who’s bound for glory. I know I don’t need that.
I’d be perfectly happy if I never heard the names Michael Phelps, Dara Torres, on Shawn Johnson again…
And the games haven’t even started yet!?
Can you say, overexposed?
Posted on August 8th, 2008 at 6:25 am by Brainy Smurf
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