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
I went out a few times this week and brought my camera along. There are a lot of little parks around the Tallahassee area and while the wildlife can sometimes be small (squirrels, birds, turtles, etc), I tried to just work within the possibilities of what was nearby. If I had to name a common thread between these photos it would be “light.” See how the sun shines through the magnolia leaves. The shadow of my dog looks a lot like a wolf. Peaking through two trees is the setting sun. I also include a few other photos that I like, especially the stack of turtles!
GMC, LeBron James, and the crabs are back for another ad for the electrified version of the Hummer. There is a new addition to the music behind the ad, too. Take a look then scroll down for more info!
The title of the ad is “Again?” and I kind of must agree… why are we AGAIN seeing an ad for an SUV that costs six figures, takes over an hour to charge, and according to Car and Driver also takes nearly $100 to recharge? Plus, who in the loving world needs a vehicle that “crab walk” at such a minimal angle? I mean, if you can design the wheels in this way, just go all the way and have them turn perpendicular to the vehicle so we can parallel park by just moving directly sideways into the spot.
The Music. You’ve heard this song in previous Hummer EV ads. It’s Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On.”
The second half of the commercial features a cover of “Immigrant Song.” The original is by Led Zeppelin but this is performed by Karen O, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross.
Final Take. The ad is OK. The Hummer is lame. I’ll take one of these old ones any day over the new EV models.
Are you interested in purchasing (and by purchasing, I mean getting on the wait list) an EV Hummer? If so, what am I missing that makes it so great?
A while back I wrote about the intense imagery of song lyrics I heard in church one particular Sunday. I called the post, “A crimson flood, huh? A story of bad song lyrics.” The specific line in the song where I took notice was the phrase, “crimson flood,” as in, the blood of Jesus which covers our sin. While I love the reminder that none of us are worthy or able to save ourselves, it was that phrase that took me right out of worship. That happens to me sometimes when I don’t like the lyrics or, like many modern worship songs, we sing the same 5 words 27 times.
I’ll put my foot in my mouth on this one because the lyrics are actually not THAT bad. They’re somewhat poetic and vivid, like the songs in old baptist hymnals. Perhaps the melody is a bit bland but who am I to judge? But I’m the worst hypocrite because just the other day I had one of those old hymns repeating in my mind…
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins…” as the song goes. Welp, if crimson flood is a bit too graphic, where does that put a fountain of blood? Yeah, I’m a hypocrite. But I’ll keep on being a hypocrite because “There Is A Fountain,” just reading the lyrics again warms my heart so much. Most hymns blow modern worship songs out of the water! Or should I say, out of the crimson fountain?
Here’s one of the best versions of the hymn, performed by Selah.
She must be floating on a raft in the Gulf of Mexico. Stuck in a snowbound Texas airport. Got bit by a rattlesnake. Hit by a greyhound bus. Lost in one of those mirror rooms. Stuck on top of a ferris wheel. Watching all of Lord of the Rings back to back to back. Said something at the same time as someone else and hasn’t been unjinxed. Waiting for her EV to be fully charged. She’s waiting in line to show her receipt on the way out of Sam’s Club. On stage in Branson, Missouri. Dangling from a ski lift in Colorado. Wrestling a wolf. Playing “whoever talks first loses.” She got a new phone and lost my number. Fell through the ice while she was ice fishing. She time travelled back to the future. She started dating Leonardo DiCaprio. Donated her phone to Ukraine. The cocaine bear ate her. She’s running across the country. She stared at the sun for too long and now she’s in the hospital for an indefinite amount of time. She can’t text because she lost her arms and legs swimming with piranhas. She became a nun. She’s having a Hallmark month-long movie marathon. She choked on a whole bunch of lady bugs. She got hit in the head with a garbage can lid by a WWE wrestler.
In other words, I’m out of ways to say this woman is gone. In song form…
I almost called this post “Is America doomed?” but whatever the title is, I think the answer is… maybe. Maybe I’m just watching too many YouTube videos but, unlike what the President said in the State of the Union Address, this country is not OK. OK, I kind of half-way retract that. That’s the problem, though… politicians. Politicians in Washington, for example. Example after example is even on the television, like those shows about people that are 600 lbs, they just need to find the button called ‘reset’.
They’re too far gone to come back, you know? We need a reset button because I believe there might be no coming back from where we are now. We’ve given the wrong people way too much power and I can’t think of a story (whether real or just in the movies) where any person or group has voluntarily given up power they gained.
Somehow it’s gone from the government being “of the people, by the people, for the people,” to a government formed of people who think the rest of us civilians work for them. Love or hate him, Donald Trump was right that the swamp needed to be drained. That’s another way of saying we need a reset button.
But back to those YouTube videos I watch. There are some absolutely crazy, childish, mentally ill people out there and if we’re not careful, they’re going to keep our country on a downward spiral to complete chaos. I was going to say complete anarchy but those people, for the most part, don’t want to do away with government, they want MORE government control.
I’m encouraged by a few things. Walking around in the woods. It’s quiet, it’s peaceful. The animal kingdom doesn’t have a problem with science and the natural order of things. This is where humans keep getting it wrong. Up is down. Left is right. Good is bad. It’s nonsense. The other encouragement lately is the news out of Asbury, Kentucky.
“Can you see God? You haven’t seen him? I’ve never seen the wind. I see the effects of the wind, but I’ve never seen the wind. There’s a mystery to it.”
billy graham
America could use a nice breeze right about now, don’t you think?
Out of the Wilderness 