GEICO Pollen Stuffy Nose Commercial – The Actress and More!

“The hot dog smells from the hot dog guy!” is something I’ve been repeated to myself this afternoon. It’s stuck in my head and although I looked up Progressive allergy commercial, the commercial is still a memorable one from not Progressive, but GEICO.

The stuffed up woman is actress and comedian Jenna Jimenez. In her own words, she is “obsessed with knitting, rollerblading, and picking things up with her monkey-like toes.” I didn’t see any toe picks* on her Instagram but there are other photos you’ll probably enjoy.

The hot dog smells from the hot dog guy. Who else can immediately smell the ketchup and mustard when she says this line? The bun. The hot dog. Such a wonderful aroma. The only thing that doesn’t quite make sense (but it’s necessary for the commercial, I guess) is that why would anyone who suffers from outdoor allergies (myself included) walk through such a dense garden of flowers, weeds, and foliage? It’s a death wish!

*you can’t say “toe pick” without including the reference.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Blackening… Lots of cursing but was it racist, too?

I love a good horror/comedy so when I found The Blackening on DVD at my local library, I was fired up. I had leftover Chinese food set up for dinner and with the rain pitter pattering on my camper roof, it was the perfect night for staying in. Popped the dinner in the microwave, popped the DVD in the player. On with the show!

I guess I was expecting more laughs. More edge-of-my-seat thrills. It’s a satire film, right? Well, if it weren’t for my amazing Mongolian Tofu from Tan’s Asian Cafe, the whole night would’ve been a bust. I’ll just say it plainly. The movie sucked. This comment on YouTube perfectly sums it up.

Any horror or humor that was welling up got tangled up with four things: One, the overuse of the ‘f’ word. Two, if the ‘n’ word is taboo, you wouldn’t know it by watching this film. Every other line had a “n this” or “n that.” It was exhausting to watch. Three, the random telepathy between a few of the characters. I mean, what? Four, some of the lines were delivered so fast I couldn’t understand what they were saying. A muddled mess is how I’d describe those conversations. It reminded me of this character from the Cosby Show. She spoke fast but did it so well.

Thank you.

That’s all Mr. Huxtable could say, and that’s about all I can say about this movie. Thank you for trying. Don’t make a sequel unless it’s actually funny or scary. Also, if you lose half of the cursing, it won’t hurt the plot a single bit. A few moments in the movie had me wondering this: if the roles were switched (and the movie was called The Whitening), would there be chaos in the streets? Probably. But in 2023, it’s culturally acceptable to debase white people so this movie gets a pass, even though the “satire” felt more like biased displeasure.

-Out of the Wilderness

Michigan Against Everybody… Arrogance On Display

There’s a phrase going around since the University of Michigan was caught cheating (allegedly) in a major way. To football fans, it seems pretty obvious that they definitely cheated. The same way everyone and their mother knows OJ Simpson is guilty. OJ slithered by on a technicality and then a phrase was forever etched into American history.

“If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.”

The gloves, for whatever reason, didn’t fit. In similar fashion, Michigan football fans could say the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. The punishment so far is that their football coach has been suspended for the remainder of the season. The crime, they’d say, doesn’t even exist! But more disciplinary action is most likely on the way as investigators dig in for more evidence. It’s obvious to everyone, just like OJ’s guilt.

The phrase popping up on football Saturdays is this:

“Michigan Against the World” or “Michigan Vs. Everybody.”

There are at least two problems with this. One, they’re portraying themselves as the victims, the underdogs, the unfairly punished. Reality paints a different picture. The real victims, if or when Michigan is found guilty of cheating, are the teams who were cheated on. How many games did Michigan win because of the advantage gained by the illegal spying? Those teams are the victims. The Michigan football players who had no idea this was going on but will have their legacy, their memory erased or tainted, they are victims.

Two, to elevate yourselves so high that you think the entire world is against you is the most arrogant move. Not to burst your bubble Michigan, but no one outside of upper North America has even heard of you or any other college football team, for that matter. The phrase reeks of elitism and a puffed up image of one’s self. Arrogance. Ego. Pretentious a-holes.

I reminds me a little bit of the NFL and Major League Baseball. When a team wins the Super Bowl or the World Series, they’ll call themselves world champions. Ok, sure you won the highest challenge in your league but most other countries don’t even have American football leagues. Other countries play baseball but I didn’t see the Texas Rangers playing against any teams in Japan, Cuba, or even Canada. So calling yourselves “world champions” is a stretch.

Thinking it’s you against the world, Michigan, is a stretch, too. If anything, it’s you against Ohio State fans who relish in your demise. Plus other football fans who don’t appreciate that you cheated… allegedly.

-Out of the Wilderness

Jason Aldean and a Disappointing Behind-the-Scenes Video

Just a couple of days ago I posted about Jason Aldean’s video “Let Your Boys Be Country,” which you can read here. Great music video by a great director, Shaun Silva. Then as I opened up YouTube today I found a behind-the-scenes video, sounds good to me! I clicked on it because who doesn’t love a good backstage pass to the making of a video, right? Well, this one, folks, will leave you disappointed. It’s basically 3 minutes of a few people saying “Hi, I’m (name)” and the rest is a montage of clips from the music video. Boo. They started so strong with Shaun and Jason joking about having to wake up early. That’s the stuff fans want to see.

As an example of a behind-the-scenes video that offers more, here’s the one for “Try That In A Small Town.” This one is better because it offers us more information instead of just a long montage of clips with barely any context.

I’d suggest that any behind-the-scenes clips should be almost 100% about information. Who’s doing what? Show me craft service. What’s the crew eating for lunch? Where are you filming the video and why? Could there even be a look into the edit suite as the music video is being assembled? What can fans see that will give them an insight into how the final video is made? Treat it as a documentary of the making of the video. I know everyone on set has an important role and maybe getting clips for a BTS video isn’t a high priority, but if the final product shows its lack of importance, then just don’t make one at all.

-Out of the Wilderness

Sunday morning football… is nothing sacred anymore!?

In the current 2023 NFL season, 5 games have kicked off, or are kicking off, on Sundays at 930am eastern. So it’s not too early for the players, these games are all overseas (London and Germany). I’m a little miffed because it used to be that there weren’t any games until 1pm eastern on Sundays. That means games start at 1pm and don’t end until around 1130pm. That’s a lot of football, even for a die-hard fan. Not to mention the Monday night games and Thursday night games. Some Monday nights have double headers, too. Thursday night games were added to the schedule in 2006. Fine, whatever. But now there are Sunday morning games, too?

What about church? What about rest?

I’m finally to the point where I’m starting to believe there’s such thing as over saturation. If the NFL could have games regularly on Fridays and Saturdays, you know they would.

At what point does the scheduling of these games become an assault on our privacy, our spirituality, or our mental stability? I know what you’re thinking, “Just don’t watch.” Well, sure, that’s an easy solution. But at some point someone needs to stand up and say, “Enough. Enough now.” And yes, that’s a direct quote from Love, Actually. Sundays were once regarded as a day of rest! I think Mormons even still treat it that way completely, meaning they don’t do any work or ask for anything that requires someone else to work.

As of the day of this posting, there are businesses that won’t open on Sundays, Chic-Fil-A being the one that most people refer to.

I’m sure the 930am NFL games are here to stay, and it makes me a little mad and a little sad.

-Out of the Wilderness