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
Hello there! My name is Ben. I’m a hobby writer, photographer, dog walker, and fine print reader. Some of these tiny words will really stop you in your tracks (like this ad from If It’s COVID, Paxlovid). Other times it’s just funny and confusing. That’s what’s going on today with a frisbee I found at Walmart. Not only is it a disc that flies, but it ALSO glows in the dark! Yeah, now you can throw day or night.
This frisbee was in the “clearance” section of a nearby Walmart and even though it’s not very heavy and might not last long, throwing at night would be something fun to try. But then I read the fine print.
So let me get this straight: I need to throw a GLOW IN THE DARK frisbee in a well-lit area? Now I’m really confused. I might reach out to 50 Strong (makers of the frisbee) for a comment. Someone needs to explain themselves!
There’s football pre-season, season, playoffs, the championships, and there are the months we wait again for pre-season. But I *suppose* watching the men’s version of the NCAA basketball tournament has had some dramatic, nail-biting games and below has been the best I’ve seen in a long time. Take a look at this crazy ending of the Furman vs. Virginia game last week.
I was on vacation with family because the kids of the fam were on Spring Break. Headed out the door to throw a frisbee and I thought, there’re just a few minutes left so I’ll slow-poke my way outside. As the game ticked down to the final seconds I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I’d put it up on the level of a few great sports moments in history I’ve seen live like…
Auburn beating Alabama in the “kick-six”…
Landon Donovan scoring a game winning goal in the World Cup.
Kerri Strug winning gold on a bum ankle…
Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl winning interception against the Seahawks…
Honorable Mention goes to Leon Lett making a big mistake in a regular season game against the Miami Dolphins.
I’m sure I’ve seen more but those are the moments that stand out as the NCAA tournament continues this weekend. But seriously, how long till football’s back?
California REALLY wants people to come visit itself. There are a handful of commercials saying such, like this dream sequence featuring stars from the state. A recent ad shows kids and parents (not surprisingly, the ad is called “Kids and Parents”) having big fun, as Claire Huxtable would say. But this isn’t Vanessa having big fun in Baltimore, it’s California baby!
What’s the big deal? A couple of take-aways from the commercial are…
1) Kids are expensive. In this 30-second ad families played on the beach, ran through forests, bought tickets for the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, rode horses on the shore, walked through a field of lights, flew down zip lines, went to Universal Studios, and visited a zoo. In all, it’ll cost families about $1.3 billion trillion dollars to do these things.
2) They picked some recognizable locations for the shoot. The two that stood out to me were the lighted columns near the end.
Reminds me of a great music video from a long time ago, “Bromance.” Keep watching to see the same (or similar) columns in the music video… in Los Angeles, possibly?
The clip near the Golden Gate Bridge reminds me of a turning point in the movie The Internship starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. Great movie.
The Music. The soundtrack for this California commercial is a song called “Run the World!!!” by Dayglow. Listen the track below and follow the band on Instagram, too: @DayGlowBand.
Are you booking your trip now? Looks like a lot of fun to explore the natural wonders of California, just bring your cryptos to pay for it all. See you tomorrow!
There are a couple of new songs out now, along with accompanying videos. One is from country superstar Brad Paisley and another from a relatively new rapper, Tom MacDonald. They both have guests appear in their songs but you might be surprised who one guest, country singer John Rich, duets with. The other duet includes a current president so we’ve got some heavy hitters in this post today.
Tom MacDonald burst onto the scene a couple of years ago with his many, many tattoos and bold rap lyrics bashing American politics and government in general. In my recollection up to that point in history, calling out the hypocrisy in Washington, D.C. wasn’t a common part of the rap world. It was mostly old, straight, non-rapping white men (much to the disappointment of Katy Perry) complaining about liberal agendas.
Brad Paisley is a well-known country singer who’s been around for decades. He’s married to actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley. Brad has the skill and ability to sing heartfelt songs that’ll make you cry then turn around and sing a playful song that will restore happiness with some laughs. It’s quite the talent he has!
So in their latest songs, which one brought on a country singer as a collaborator and which invited a sitting president? You’d think that Brad’s song would be ultra patriotically pro-America (it IS country music after all) and the rapper would be pretty much the opposite. But listen to these two songs as the videos play and decide for yourself which musician seems to have caught on to the broken system in Washington. Spoiler alert, Tom is with John Rich and Brad is with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 👋😇🤓🤯🕺
“End of the World” has serious and deep messages and I suppose “Same Here” does, too. But the playful video from Tom MacDonald is the perfect way to offset the heavy thoughts. Brad doesn’t have an official video yet but if he puts one out, you can bet it won’t be lighthearted. It’s surprising to me how different the songs are yet both could be classified as country music. I can’t help but think the writers of Brad’s song are missing something while the writer of Tom’s song is fully aware of what’s going on. Maybe the truth is somewhere between the two sides (liberal vs. conservative) but perhaps we could all agree that most of the politicians claiming to have our best interests in mind, don’t.
… and to answer the question in the title of the post and based on their latest songs, YESSSSSSS Tom MacDonald is a lot more patriotic than Brad Paisley. On top of that, Tom’s is a nice addition to rap (and country music, for that matter) while Brad’s won’t be remembered for anything except being the dumbest country song ever.
Hi there! I write daily about different things in my personal life (being ghosted, up close with wild bison, living with a sassy beagle) but also public happenings through original satire, or info about the Anne Heche car crash, and, of course, popular commercials. I’ve been seeing this Pfizer COVID ad recently so thought I’d do a little research on it because, much to viewers surprise, it’s not a Saturday Night Live skit. Take a look then scroll down for more thoughts…
Are Side Effects Worse? Some people would rather just have COVID than endure the side effects of this medication. As listed on the commercial, they are: hives, trouble swallowing, trouble breathing, yellow skin, yellow eyes, dark urine, altered taste, diarrhea, high blood pressure, muscle aches, abdominal pain, nausea, feeling unwell, liver problems, issues with HIV medicine, and conflicts with birth control. Sounds rather alarming, right? This is partly why it kind of comes across like an SNL skit. I mean, is it much different than this SNL clip?
Among the Stars. Recognizable stars sometimes appear in Pfizer-sponsored COVID commercials like the one with P!nk, Michael Phelps, Jean Smart, and Questlove. This one for Paxlovid includes Jennifer Candy-Sullivan (daughter of John Candy) and actor Michael Rivera (guy playing video games).
I’m in full belief that this ad, and any that come after it using the “If it’s COVID, Paxlovid” tagline, will get stuck in our heads like the SKYRIZI commercials, of which there are many. Unfortunately, at this point Paxlovid comes across like more of a comedy than something to take seriously. Plus, it doesn’t have a catchy jingle like SKYRIZI and I’ll admit I catch myself singing that song at least a few times per week.
Out of the Wilderness 