Vivek out, but is he gone forever?

The Iowa caucuses came and went and surprising no one, Trump was the clear winner followed by DeSantis and Hailey. Due to coming in 4th, Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump. I haven’t heard any official chatter about Vivek being Trump’s VP running mate but if that happens, I wouldn’t hate it. I think Trump could do a lot worse in picking a Vice President running mate. I can’t help but compare Vivek dropping out to the moment Beto O’Rourke was faced with the same situation back when he was running against Joe Biden.

After it was clear Biden was going to be the nominee, Biden said something to the effect of O’Rourke having an important role in the Biden administration. That’s amounted to a total of… absolutely nothing. How embarrassing for Beto. He loses to the oldest, whitest man the Democrats could prop up and still doesn’t have any role on a national level. That could be why he’s blasting Biden now and refuses to ask for Biden’s endorsement on anything he’s running for in Texas.

I think Vivek’s future is much brighter than Beto’s for a couple reasons: 1. He’s so much smarter and quicker on his feet. 2. At the time of this posting, Vivek has never said “Hell yes we’re going to take your guns.” Yeah, Beto went there… and he’s been irrelevant since.

The Republican nomination is probably about as mysterious as we think it is, and that is… not mysterious at all. It’ll be Trump. But who he’ll pick for VP is still a mystery. Biden on the other hand, is just one big mystery. Even he doesn’t know what he’ll do next.

-Out of the Wilderness

Let Them Celebrate – NFL in Vegas Commercial, The Music, and a Real Petition?

For 24 hours, people in Vegas are allowed to do whatever they want. No, this isn’t the plot of the next Purge movie, it’s a random petition I don’t understand at all. The commercial is posted on the “Visit Las Vegas” YouTube page so I guess it’s supposed to be satire. Here’s the ad featuring Tobe Nwigwe and Chad Ochocinco Johnson, the song is called “Excessive Celebration (Touch Down In Vegas)”…

It’s not about the football players celebrating because a little search of TD celebration history shows that touchdown celebrations used to draw yellow flags up until 2017. But the penalty was relaxed and explained on the NFL website:

Examples of celebrations to be allowed under the new guidelines:

» Using the football as a prop after a touchdown
» Celebrating on the ground
» Group demonstrations

The relaxed rules aren’t a free for all. Offensive demonstrations, celebrations that are prolonged and delay the game, and celebrations directed at an opponent, will still be penalized, the letter said, in order continue “sportsmanship, clean competition, and setting good examples for young athletes.”

I’m still mostly confused. According to the petition website:
This is why we are proposing that everyone in Las Vegas must be allowed to celebrate freely on February 11, 2024. The freedom to celebrate is undeniable, and we believe this extends to those participating in events hosted in Las Vegas. 

This is Purge-level stuff here and it’s just weird. If it’s meant to be funny, I don’t get it. What exactly do they want allowed on this day in Vegas that isn’t already? Sex in the streets? Setting cars on fire? Beating up rival fans on Fremont Street? If anyone knows what this is about or if you can help make sense of it, chime in below!

-Out of the Wilderness

Progressive Pigeon Needs A Smartwatch – The Commercial and More

Move over Dr. Rick. Step aside Flo. Jamie can ride his motorbike off into the sunset. There’s a new spokesperson spokesbird commercial flying into our homes (not flying into windows, thankfully). Actually it’s a pair of pigeons becoming our brand new feathery friends. Progressive is following up their pigeon flys south commercial with the celebrity voiced-creatures chatting about smartwatches. Take a look then scroll down for more…

The Voices. By now you probably know the voices of these two birds are that of H. Jon Benjamin and Retta. Now that there are 3 ads in the series (I saw another one about donuts recently), I think we can expect more commercials starring these two funny pigeons.

Lefty or Righty. Have you ever noticed on which arm people wear their watches? The person walking by wearing a smartwatch has the watch on the left wrist.

In this post, I dive into how to tell whether a person is left- or right-handed and part of it has to do with watches. Check out that post and let me know if you agree. These birds have a hurdle to jump for smartwatches and it’s this: Where will they wear it? Around a wing? That’s cumbersome and they might have trouble flying. Around their neck? It would be tough to see the screen.

But Which Watch? Do you have a favorite brand of smartwatch? Brands like Apple, Garmin, Samsung, and Fitbit all have their nice features but I’d go with a Garmin. I have two and I love them. My first was the Vivoactiv HR and then I bought the Forerunner 245 Music so I can download songs right to the watch and listen while I run. In case the birds read this and check the comments, leave your thoughts below on which smartwatch they should be looking for! For $750, I’d go with this red Garmin Forerunner 745. Hot tamale! Yeeyeeyeee!!

-Out of the Wilderness

The Hotels.com French Commercial – The Song, the Hotel, and More!

There’s a country song with the lyrics, “I don’t know what she said but I sure like the way that she said it,” and that’s exactly how I feel about the song in this recent Hotels.com commercial. Check it out…

The Song. The song is called “Lo Boob Oscillator” by Stereolab and if you’re thinking about boobs now, you’re grounded for a week! Stop giggling like a middle school boy and listen to the full track below.

Parlez-vous français? I don’t know why French songs grab my attention when they’re used in commercials but one of the first ads that drew me in was from UK travel group TUI back in 2021. Have you seen this ad featuring a song by Juniore? Gosh, I still love that song. But back to Hotels.com’s use of the Stereolab song, which was released in the mid-1990s. It’s just so darn catchy! For an in-depth dive into the song, there’s a great post by dlee you can read here.

The Hotel. If you’re ever in Girona, Spain, you can book a room at Palau Fugit, the very hotel used in this commercial. Will that make you a great artist like the daughter in the ad, probably not. OK, definitely not. But at least you’ll get a good night’s sleep, right? Isn’t that mostly what hotels are for?

If you like the ad, leave a comment below and if you don’t like it, leave a comment below. I post every day at 1pm central so I’ll see you again tomorrow…

-Out of the Wilderness

The FedEx Beach Wedding Commercial – Every Driver’s Nightmare

As a person who’s done delivery work over the years, nothing ticks me off more than an arrogant and entitled customer. Well, maybe an oblivious one is worse. Imagine bringing orders to an an address, turning in to find out it’s an apartment complex, and the customer didn’t list an apartment number in the order. That, or there’s a gate with a code and you don’t have the code. Customer isn’t answering their phone and your efficient afternoon is busted! Is it obvious apartment deliveries tick me off? Well, this new FedEx commercial might even top that. They call it “Tall Tales of True Deliveries.” This one features a guy named Joe. Take a look.

So this jackass leaves a note in all caps commanding the driver to stop doing his job so he can rush the rings out to a beach wedding. Entitled much? If I were this driver, I would absolutely NOT be bringing the rings to the beach wedding.

Note: Bring rings to beach wedding.

Me peeling out of the driveway:

I guess it’s one thing to go over and above your responsibilities as a delivery driver. The whole “go the extra mile” thing could apply here but whoever wrote the note did it in the complete wrong way. How about form it as a question? A big favor? Don’t all caps me, bro. Pay no mind to the fact that the FedEx guy has a full day of deliveries, but sure ask him to set his job aside so you won’t be inconvenienced. Plus, you have groomsmen and bridesmaids for a reason. Send them over to the house for the rings, you dimwit.

OK, rant over.

How do you feel about the FedEx commercial? Leave a comment below but please don’t do it in all caps!

-Out of the Wilderness