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’m totally about to let you down because this post isn’t a romantic list of real characteristics I found in any real woman. But I do wish all the women a happy month since evidently March is “Women’s History Month”… which I had no idea was a thing until it showed up in my Google calendar as a U.S. holiday, but anyway, did you all know we are supposed to celebrate women’s history in March?
I’m more interested in the woman of my future.
Perfect circle back to my dream woman. I mean, she was literally in a dream I had recently. We were seated side by side eating macaroni and cheese. As I always do, I added a layer of ketchup because ketchup makes most dinners better (come fight be about it, bro!) and I glanced over to her plate of macaroni and she had ketchup on hers, too.
That’s when I knew I was in love with her.
Does this lovely woman exist? Maybe only in my dreams so… I hope I’ll see her again when I fall asleep tonight 🙂
Every time they’re in the news, I wonder why I need to care about the goings-on of the royal family? Recently, there was an Oprah interview of Harry and Meghan, former royalty, with a slew of “bombshell” revelations about the entire family, etc. I’ll even go back to the royal wedding (check out my 2018 post about the wedding craze) as highlighted below and ask again… who cares?
There was a frenzy here in the U.S., people buzzing with excitement in anticipation for the wedding, and happiness that it would be televised globally. Then the newlyweds parted ways from the royal family but so much for fading out of the spotlight because everything they do is in the news. I guess if I lived in Britain it would be relevant to my life… but I don’t. This is ‘Merica!
This sentiment of mine was also awakened again last week as news of the pope going to Iraq made headlines. I’m like….
I honestly couldn’t care less about where the pope goes, what he does, what he says about anything going on in the world, much less American society. Why is there an obsession with his whereabouts and opinions on stuff? I get that he is the leader of the Catholic faith and all, but does that warrant national, or even international, coverage on the evening news?
From what I can decipher, and I’m not meaning to sound sexist, but it seems that most of the folks who care about the royal drama are women. When the wedding was big news, I don’t think I read a post or tweet from any man that was eagerly awaiting the ceremony. Maybe there is something related to growing up wishing/pretending to be a princess that connects the royal family with women across the country. Maybe that’s why boys who wished/pretended to be a professional wrestler loved Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, and more recently Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Thanks for going along with me down a random trail of thoughts today. What’s your take on the Harry and Meghan drama? How about the celebrity status of the pope? Chime in below or else I’ll administer on you Iron Sheik’s signature move, the camel clutch!
Kohl’s really nailed it with their holiday ad from Christmas 2020, and now they’re back with an adorable new commercial that might just make you grin from ear to ear. Check it out…
This commercial was shot in Burbank, CA, more specifically at the address: 721 North Orchard Drive. The market value of the home is around $1 million. This link should take you to Google street view so you can pan around to see the rest of the neighborhood.
The grumpy delivery guy is perfectly portrayed by actor Michael King. His sly smile at the end is the perfect way to wrap up the commercial! His reel can be seen here.
The young actress who gives so much personality to the ad is Liliana Bonilla. She is perfect for this ad, showing such joy and spreading that to the neighbors (and the grouchy delivery guy 🙂 ) who pass by.
The song playing as the soundtrack to this ad is “Sunny Side of the Street” by Jon Batiste. The full version is below.
Check out Michael King on Instagram (@MikeKingJr).
While I was walking my dogs recently I had my phone in my pocket, listening to music on Spotify. When I walk my dogs, I can’t really fiddle with my phone so I pretty much have to “set it and forget it.” This brings about a critical decision that needs to be made: What do I listen to? What music can I listen to and not care to switch it to anything else?
This leads to the logical next question… which band can you play and just… let play? For me, there are a handful, which I will list for you now:
The Head and the Heart Needtobreathe DCTalk Prince Beach Boys
Those are a few I could think of right off the bat. I can play the music from any of these bands/singers and be 93% content (we all know there are some songs you just can’t listen to all the way through…. soooo…. that’s 7%). Lately, I’ve been letting Spotify play me the entire catalog of The Head and the Heart while we’re on one of our mile-long walks. Song after song, I’m thinking, “Oh yeah, I love this one, too!” I think, of all the music I’ve heard at least as an adult, this band has lyrics that are the closest to how I’ve felt about life and relationships. I really love their music.
How about you? Is there a band or artist you can listen to and not need to skip past any tracks? Let me know in the comments. I’ll leave you with a favorite track from The Head and the Heart.
The funniest thing happened the other day with one of my posts. In January I wrote a satirical blog called “Joe Biden Replaces White House Physician with Dr. Seuss” (which is super funny and you should read it 🙂 ). This post had some traction with readers but then just a few days ago the number of viewers spiked. I’ve learned that when something like this happens, I need to check the news.
The first time I had a post spike in the number of views was something I had written about the band Boney M. Here’s the post. Years later this post started getting a lot of views, which was odd because it was so old. Come to find out, a member of the band passed away so folks were Googling him, and I guess my blog post is what came up.
This has happened a few times, even recently with a post about the TV show “Saved by the Bell.” I wrote about a weird connection the show has with “Beverly Hills 90210” and months later, THAT post spiked. The uptick in viewers is because one of the cast members, Dustin Diamond, passed away, so people were searching for all things Screech, I guess.
Now this Dr. Seuss post spiked and it didn’t take long to figure out why. The whimsical writer was in the news for a handful of books he wrote decades ago, last century in fact, books that had popped up as being insensitive by 2021 standards. Did I have any idea when I wrote my satire that Dr. Seuss would be politically relevant only a few months later? Nope. I wish I had foreseen that coming though, then I would’ve scoured the city for copies of the books that are now officially out of print.
Side note that is sort of related: I went to a few thrift stores to see if there were any of the “controversial” books and so far I’ve come up empty-handed. It would be nice to get a copy of one of these books… not for posterity but to sell it on eBay. They’re going for hundreds of dollars! Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to be able to thank Dr. Seuss for helping me pay my mortgage this month?
It would, it would be gank and hank and nankily great, to have the cash to pay the bank, pay the bank so the bank does not have to rankily wait.
Out of the Wilderness 