Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
Good morning. It’s pretty common now for catchy songs to be transformed into jingles about drugs. There’s Oh-oh-oh-Ozempic! And who can forget “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman changing into “We-Go-Vy”! Now Johnson & Johnson is dipping into some old church hymns and obviously it’s rubbing some people the wrong way. Check out the ad for Caplyta.
There are certain songs I can let go of. “Oh oh oh, it’s magic!” is already dead to me because all I can think of now is Ozempic. Wegovy ruined The Greatest Showman. But I refuse to give this song up. Caplyta appropriates a gospel song from the early 1900s, “This Little Light of Mine.” I hope to God that the next time I hear this song, I don’t automatically think of Caplyta. What a tragedy that would be, right?
Like families tend to do, the one I belong to is growing… and growing… and growing. Normally we get gifts for each other: parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws, nieces, nephews, etc. It has been great because I’m part of a great family. This year things are probably going to be different since we’re planning to do our first White Elephant gift exchange.
But instead of just grabbing a hunk of junk around the house, we have a spending minimum and maximum, which will hopefully make each surprise gift valuable in one way or another. We’re also doing 2 rounds so each person will end the day with 2 gifts from the White Elephant family gathering. Personally, I’m excited about it because while getting tangible gifts is fun and can be meaningful, I think the experience together is what will be the most fun. Hopefully lots of laughing and reminding ourselves that we love each other, tightening the knitting between us all.
How about you? Do you have Christmas day present opening traditions? What’s worked or hasn’t worked? What we’re doing might turn into an epic failure but at least we’re all in it together. 🤗
I’m always fascinated when creators (cinematographers, camera people, directors, etc) can do a long scene in a single take. Taylor Swift did it with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the movie 1917 appeared as though it was a single take, and there are plenty more. Well, I’m thankful to be alive for another addition to the one-take marvels, the new ad from politician Jasmine Crockett. Make sure you’re sitting down so you don’t faint watching history in the making. Check it out…
Was that blinking or are her eyelids just not strong enough to hold the weight of those lashes? Girrrrrrrrrrrrl. Texas ought to be thankful for a candidate who lists their credentials, leaving no doubt that they’re capable of the job. Oh wait, alls she did was tell us Donald Trump thinks she’s dumb. Well, that was…….. dumb. She gave us the problem without the solution. I’d say that I’m *guessing* this ad really misses the mark and that maybe I’m an outsider who doesn’t know a thing about what works and what doesn’t, but it’s not really a guess at all when someone disables the Youtube comments. That’s basically like the losing team running the ball on 3rd and 25. They know they won’t get a first down. The other team knows they know. The fans know. Both teams know the fans know they know.
I’m so embarrassed for her that it’s almost spilled over to the “pity” part of my brain. She’s not quite to the same level as a movie that’s so bad, it’s good… but she’s definitely doing some really dumb things to which Southerns would respond:
“Bless her heart.”
“Oh, sweetie.”
“She means well.”
“Well, aren’t you precious?”
“Well, I’ll be.”
I think we’ve reached a new retro era in American society. At least I hope so. It’s the antiquated idea possibly making a comeback: Politicians are public servants. Not rockstars. Jasmine, today, yes today, you can still take your video down. At the very least you can get feedback from the people you want to serve– enable the comments on Youtube. You know, find out how people are really feeling about your outstanding commercial.
Just a simple post today to remind myself that the neighborhood horses love carrots. It is so inspiring to me that I reminded myself to go get carrots…for me! What’s good for the horse is good for the human, right?
I’ve been playing pickleball pretty consistently for the last few weeks and while I’ve inched forward in my skills, the most interesting part is looking at the maps recorded on my Garmin watch.
To record this, I just set up a new “activity” because as far as I know there isn’t a pickleball setting on Garmin watches. If there is, I’m not sure what else it would record worth its weight in gold because for me the map is the coolest feature.
Out of the Wilderness 