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
Allstate has quite a few memorable ads lately. I have written about a few of them, one catching on because of the beautiful island featured in the ad titled “Island,” which you can read about here. Or another about a controversial hood ornament, more on that here.
Now, though, Allstate shows a woman driving into Allstate town, and she gets a wave of endorphins after learning she has saved a bunch of money by switching to Allstate. Here’s the ad…
The Location. It’s not really Allstatetown. Going by the bridge (Pont de la Baells) in the last shot, this ad takes place in Spain… a bit north of Barcelona. Notice the green railing and the wall of rock as you approach the end of this bridge in the screen shot below from Google maps, then compare it with the last shot in the ad. Kudos to YouTube user Dani Marin for figuring this out!
The Music… playing in the background is “Private Gondola” by Jung Youth. Here is the full track.
The Dog. The pup in this ad looks like a vizsla. Gosh are they beautiful or what?
The crabs. The crabs in this ad look like dinner. My guess is they wouldn’t be dancing if they knew their fate.
Every once in a while I make a list and post it because first of all, I LOVE lists. I also love music, so today’s post is combining two of my favorite things. If you don’t know who Needtobreathe is, I hope you check out some of these songs and begin to love their music as much as I do. As I made this list, I realized most of my favorites are from the same album… called “The Reckoning.” While this is true, each album they’ve released does have at least one song I like! I’m not sure why I connect with “The Reckoning” more than the others. Perhaps trying to decipher why that warrants another post, if I were to ever figure it out. For now, though, here are my top 10 favorite Needtobreathe songs, in random order. Thanks for checking out my list!
Who Am I – This song is great for two reasons: it is about humility and at the same time, the awe-inspiring love of God. You grow your roses on my barren soul. Wow. Just… wow.
Girl Named Tennessee – You didn’t catch her name. Don’t worry, she never told you her name. The playful lyrics of this one made me laugh, and I could relate so much to the idea of liking a woman but knowing it will never amount to anything.
Difference Maker – Somehow this song pumps me up.
Multiplied – A beautiful tribute to a loving God. This is the type of worship I love to sing.
More Heart, Less Attack – The last minute or so of this song is simply the best. Concerning the message of the song, I would love to live my life with more love and less anger.
White Fences – The form, or structure, of the lyrics and the melody are so attractive to my listening ears. I am struggling to find the proper musical terms but it’s the sure and clear beats and how the lyrics mimic the beats that are just great. Can someone explain what this is in musical terms?
Slumber – I love the idea of realizing what is real and important (waking up from my slumber, in a spiritual sense). Baby, open up your eyes!
Lay ‘Em Down – This was, I think, the first song that really got my attention with the band. Southern, gospel, almost like a chant. Encouraging lyrics that remind me everything can be OK… if I lay my troubles down.
The Outsiders – While making this list, I was reminded how much I love this song. Don’t shrink back when you think you’re part of the minority, or an outsider. Stand tall, stand proud. We are the outsiders.
Walking On Water – A sweet reminder that with God, all things are possible. Who can walk on water except by the help from the One who made water?
Welp, we’ve reached the end. I hope you can listen to a few of these, I think you’ll like them. Let me know if you have a favorite or two. Thanks for stopping by!
I’m dipping my toes in the water of a new phone because mine is starting to be on the fritz. I have the LG Stylus and just the other day I checked Verizon’s website to see what the new phones are like nowadays.
There are a handful (Samsung, Motorola) that are flip phones, but with screens that extend through the length and/or width of the fully open phone.
Then I came across an ad for Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold3 phone. Call me a skeptic, but folding a screen just seems like a recipe for frustration. Here is the commercial…
The music playing as the soundtrack is “Believer” by Imagine Dragons. Although I don’t love the song choice, it’s quite fitting to use a song about believing something that hasn’t really existed yet. Early adopters will be all over this phone but like I said, I’m skeptical about its durability and level of frustration with a bending screen. I will not be an early adopter for this phone or the Motorola Razr.
Marques Brownlee has a review of the Samsung, so check out his take on it here:
Do you think this type of phone will be the next big thing, or a big flop? Comment below with your thoughts, and thanks for stopping by!
I’m not the first to point this out. How backwards is it that former president Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter indefinitely while a known terrorist group has a Twitter account and tweets about their takeover of an entire country? Does any of this make sense?
Those who say we’re living in a clown world are 100% right. It’s a circus out there and just like an actual circus, we are walking the high wire without a net. Sadly, our president is the ringleader and reminds me more of Bozo the Clown every day.
God, please forgive us for our trespasses against You and turn your compassion towards us! We cannot and will not make it without You.
As some of you know from previous posts (like this one written in lots of frustration!), my experience with Comcast/Xfinity had been good for a handful of years, but then on a random day a few months ago, the home internet connection became very unreliable. And by “very,” I mean I would trust Tonya Harding in a piñata factory more than a Comcast internet connection.
Something had to be done so I called and, after telling them about my disappointment, cancelled Comcast Xfinity, which made the woman on the phone sad. But she wasn’t too sad to still ask if I was interested in Xfinity mobile.
Then I went loco!! Oops, I mean – local. I drove to a Verizon store and signed up for a 4G LTE Jetpack!
This will help me have internet/wifi whenever I travel (more on that later) and my immediate needs for internet at home.
It’s been a week since switching to the cool little Jetpack…
…so now I’ll give you 2 things I love about it, and 2 things I don’t love.
LOVE
1. Reliable internet. Compared to what I was working with before, it’s such a relief to be connected consistently!
2. Mobility. I can bring this little piece of equipment anywhere and have WIFI.
DON’T LOVE
1. Sometimes when I power it on, it will say “no sim card detected.” No sim card means no internet. Boo.
2. Data limits. Although I have unlimited data, once I reach a certain # of GBs, it will slow down. I may have another post about how things go once I reach that magic number.
All in all, I’m very happy that I switched from once-reliable-but-then-completely-annoying Comcast to more-reliable-and-mobile Verizon. It’s going to be really nice to connect when I want and not have to wait for the WIFI to magically connect again. To this day, I couldn’t figure out why or when the Comcast WIFI was going to connect, so on any given day I had internet for maybe a few hours per day. What is this, 1995?
Out of the Wilderness 