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 can’t exactly put a finger on why, but every time I see a “The RealReal” commercial, I am immediately frustrated and annoyed. Here’s the latest ad…
I have a couple of thoughts on why I don’t like the ads. First, the name of the company is dumb. What kind of name is “The RealReal,” anyway? Secondly, they offer luxury brand names at 90% off retail price. That’s quite a discount! Such a price reduction sounds fishy, like I’m buying a Rolex under a Manhattan bridge. This might be nitpicky, but in the ad above, the font type drives me crazy. The lines in each letter are too narrow.
Lastly, if you’re promoting the resale (they never actually say out loud that these are used clothes) of these luxurious brands, would it be a good idea to NOT shoot the ad in a small, very small, carpeted room that’s probably in an old warehouse near a Manhattan bridge?
Just my two cents. Maybe I should just use those two pennies to buy a name brand shirt, they’re so cheap at The RealReal!
No matter how rich, no matter how poor, if someone is the biggest jerk or the nicest person in the world, everyone who’s ever lived lays down and waits… and waits… and waits… until they enter into a mysterious trance for 5 to 10 hours each day. Is that not super weird?
I think about the 21-year-old gang member running around with 15 guns, pounds of marijuana, tattoos on his face. At some point each day he lies down on a couch or mattress, pulls a sheet over himself and sleeps. The most feared person in a 5 block radius innocently sleeping. He probably has a calm look on his face while he’s in the most vulnerable state one can be in.
Think about someone you greatly admire. Let’s take football legend Tom Brady. When he’s awake he’s doing things like breaking records and winning Super Bowls. But even he, the GOAT, at some point each day puts on his soft clothes, rolls the sheets back to climb in bed for a good night’s sleep… just like the rest of us non-GOAT people. Like the gangster, he probably has a calm, peaceful look as his body recharges.
**Regarding famous people sleeping, check out this post on my best guess for how famous people sleep, based on their personalities.**
From the worst of us to the best of us, we all enter into such a vulnerable position… and we do it every day! Laying there, thinking about stuff but trying not to, listening to calm music or the sound of a fan, hoping and waiting for our minds to take us to a crazy place we call a dream.
It’s weird, right? But kind of cool, too, that we all do it.
I won’t beat around the bush in this post. I really, really, REALLY wanted to like Ft. Clinch State Park! In the days and weeks leading up to my 4 day camping trip, I had a lot of anticipation. I mean, what is there not to look forward to? Exciting things like being near the beach, finding sharks teeth, and a fort that goes back hundreds of years were at the forefront of my mind as I drove 3 hours from Tallahassee, Florida.
I guess I’ve sort of beat around the bush, haven’t I? I’ll say this… the fort was really cool! Visiting and walking through it is where I got my best pictures from the whole camping trip. I enjoyed ocean kayaking. As far as wildlife, I saw dolphins and an alligator (in the ocean, yikes!). But besides that, I was underwhelmed for a few reasons…
1. The campground is very spread out. To see the fort or explore trails from your campsite, you need a bike or car. I like being able to walk to the adventures, and this is not that type of experience.
2. There are 2 campground areas. One on the Atlantic side has no shade, but it does have gravel sites. I was parked at the campground closer to the fort. It had shade (a major plus), but the sites were dirt. I HATE DIRT SITES. For the first few days it didn’t rain and dirt still got everywhere in the trailer. On day 3 it rained and of course, that multiplied the dirt being tracked in from my shoes and my pups’ paws.
3. In 4 days, I found 5 sharks teeth, and this was after searching a couple of times each day. A pretty big disappointment. I’m not good at sifting through shells, I get that. Some people can find more in a short amount of time, but I was frustrated with the lack of success on my part!
Overall, my expectations were not met. It’s not necessarily any fault of the park itself (except for the dirt sites that, again, are absolutely no fun especially when it rains). My take-away is the great preservation of the fort. I enjoyed reading some history, walking where soldiers once trained, and getting a glimpse into what life was like so many years ago in the south. OK, enough talk! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip…
Publix is known for having great commercials. In fact, one my all-time favorites is a Publix holiday ad from 2005… do you remember this Valentine’s Day tear-jerker? Well, Publix is back now with a timely “back to school” commercial and it’s as sweet as you’d expect. Check it out then scroll down for more info…
Is the fridge gonna close itself!? Spoken like a true adult. But the daughter has the last laugh when she repeats the line as her dad holds a prepackaged meal he retrieved from the refrigerator. Touché, young one.
Alternate version. Publix used an X before it was cool! But the Latinx community can enjoy the back-to-school ad in Spanish, too. A few differences… the English version includes the sassy “fridge” comment, but the Spanish version below doesn’t. In fact, you’ll only see one of the two actors speaking in this version. The daughter has a conversation at lunch, which is in English.
A couple of other differences… when Dad is at the bedroom door, he says, “Baila conmigo.” This translates to “Dance with me.” In the English version, he says, “Remember this?” Both sticky notes from Dad say that he’s proud of her. Her sticky note says, in English, “Proud of you, too,” but in Spanish her note translates to, “and I of you.”
But wait, there’s more. Backtracking to the beginning of both ads, the English version starts off with “First day!” spoken by an excited dad. The Spanish ad, Dad says the daughter’s name. Looking back over it, the Spanish version actually says nothing about it being the first day of school, unless it’s inferred by how she’s preparing a lunch and sitting in the cafeteria in front of a poster that says, “Welcome students.”
What do you think about the ads? Has Publix maintained their reputation of having fantastically heartwarming commercials? Comment below!
In church this morning there was a song with lyrics about freedom. It reminded me of the three “non-churchy” songs that always pop in my head, two of which are about birds and freedom. What can I say, I love birds. But surprisingly, not one of the songs is “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Go figure!
From singers you might possibly may have barely heard of before, here are three songs about wanting to be free.
Out of the Wilderness 