Why is she whispering in these Kohl’s Commercials?

Being ghosted. Green tea at room temperature. Hang nails. I’ll take irritating things for $500, Alex! The Daily Double in today’s Jeopardy game goes something like this: She did this because shoving needles under your fingernails was too nice. In Jeopardy fashion, the answer is: Why is Ellie Kemper whispering in the new Kohl’s commercials?

If you want to pump me for information, just threaten me with more Kohl’s Mom commercials and I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I might’ve even spilt the beans about Operation Midnight Hammer–not that I knew anything about it… allegedly– just to avoid what Kohl’s officially calls loveable and infectious. But they got one thing right, I guess. These ads make me sick like I have an infection. It’s a shame, too, because actress Ellie Kemper is usually pretty endearing. Her roles in “The Office” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” were great. But these Kohl’s commercials need to be waterboarded till they beg for mercy. They aren’t funny. That’s another thing Kohl’s corporate claimed in their press release:

She is a stylish sidekick with a bag of tricks for getting the best deals at Kohl’s and offers practical solutions and humor to help shoppers find outfits for all of life’s moments, from weddings to work and everyday events.

Humor? I beg to differ. Just off the top of my head I can think of 3 things that are more funny than any Kohl’s Mom commercial.

A regretful, politically correct Amy Poehler.

A home video of your weird uncle (Yes, yours. My uncles are cool!) at Christmas.

A horror movie where everyone makes the right decisions and easily escape.

Kohl’s, do the right thing. File these under “Welp, we tried,” and come up with a new campaign. Please!

-Out of the Wilderness

Benson Boone in Mr. Electric Blue and Is Moonbeam Ice Cream Really Real??

There’s no such thing as Moonbeam Ice Cream, I promise! I researched it when I posted this about Benson Boone’s music video “Mystical Magical.” However, and I hope you’re sitting down for this, THERE’S A MOONBEAM ICE CREAM COOKIE. No lie. Go to your nearest Crumbl cookie shop this week for the cookie version of Moonbeam Ice Cream.

He’s really running with the Moonbeam Ice Cream thing as it makes an appearance in his latest music video for “Mr. Electric Blue.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I don’t know if anyone’s having more fun in the music industry than Benson Boone… or is it Benson Bone? Check out the self-deprecating music video below, directed by Matt Eastin.

Benson seems to have all the ingredients for a great career and this week he’s inspired the ingredients of a great cookie. See what I did there? That’s a call-back to the Crumbl cookie offer. Hmm, something tells me we’re going to see Moonbeam Ice Cream on the freezer aisle before it’s all said and done.

-Out of the Wilderness

Accidentally Out of Triathlons

This has been a weird year and it’s almost halfway over already. Truly, I can hardly believe we’re nearing the end of June and guess what I haven’t done this year? I’ll give you a hint…

Still need another hint? OK, I’ll use my fancy pants new Samsung phone to create another AI image…

I can’t give you a third hint because, well, then it’ll just be too easy for you. Plus, it’s in the title you goofball! We’re six months into 2025 and I haven’t done one triathlon.

It’s not totally my fault, though. Weather is also to blame. For one thing, winter. That’s why my first race this year was a duathlon (run/bike/run). Water temperature, even in Florida, can get really cold in the winter so a lot of races exclude swimming. If you ever want to participate in a winter triathlon, you’ll often see duathlons instead of triathlons.

And then… and then there was the storm clouds. Radar wasn’t looking good but I drove the two-hour trip to my first triathlon of the year only to have it cancelled 5 minutes before arrival. Seriously. Other friends of mine have had races cancelled, even 70.3 half Ironmans. So it’s going around like a flu. But I’m still training as if I have a race coming up soon… which is sort of true. Next race on the calendar is early July so I’m hoping to complete my first tri of the year with only 5 months left in the year. 🥴

-Out of the Wilderness

5-Photo Friday #9 – Artificial Intelligence Helps My Drawings

I just got a new phone because my Galaxy Flip 4 was sputtering on fumes for the last few weeks I had it. In a surprise twist, I was picking between the Flip 6 and the Motorola Razr and went with the Samsung S25 Ultra instead. It’s been so fun to learn more about the phone. My favorite feature so far is the “Drawing Assist” which will take images I barely make recognizable and turn them into what I was trying to create. Artificial Intelligence the way I like to see it used! So from my sketches, here are my top 5 favorite AI interpretations.

Pretty cool feature on a pretty cool phone. For more of these AI-assisted pictures, check out the folder here and while you’re there you can see my professional photography, too… or just click here to go there directly. You’re cool. Have a good weekend!

-Out of the Wilderness

Another Simple Favor – Spoilers of a Terrible Movie

If you’ve seen A Simple Favor, you probably wondered like I did how they could possibly make a follow-up movie. Never underestimate Hollywood’s ability to create something out of thin air. In this case, it’s a secret dead sister who’s magically not dead. Before I watched Another Simple Favor, I was very skeptical about it. I just kept thinking that there was no way they could make a smooth transition from the first one. The two women were basically mortal enemies by the end of it and now audiences are supposed to believe the pair come together again for a whole new plot?

I don’t want to necessarily influence your opinion of the movie but……… it stunk sooooo much. This post about it sums up all the reasons why and for me I’ll just narrow it down to two three four reasons it was one of the worst sequels, nay, the worst movies, I’ve seen in a long time.

  1. Emily and Stephanie are friends after Stephanie is the reason Emily is in jail for a very long time. In no scenario would these two people ever want to speak to each other again, in the real world or in any movie. Yet here they are acting like best friends.
  2. There are multiple scenes with lengthy exposition– Emily or one of the other characters going on and on and on and on with dialogue to help explain the plot.
  3. The amount of gay kissing, incest, homosexual references is enough to make James Charles blush.
  4. The surprise in this movie was that the third sister– the triplet who was stillborn– wasn’t actually stillborn, just stolen by the mother’s sister. Stories like this tick me right off because it’s so clear producers/writers knew what I knew… that there’s no logical way to make a Part 2. They got so desperate to make another one, they just made up a new part of the story, that the third sister resurrected from the dead. 🙄 I’ve seen soap operas storylines better than this movie.

I haven’t even mentioned that the movie is over 2 hours long. Lots of people don’t mind long movies but anything over 2 hours, it better be worth it. This movie was not. On a positive note, there were a handful of laugh-worthy scenes but at no point in the entire 2 hours did I think to myself, “I’m glad I’m watching this.” Save yourself time and inevitable anger by skipping this one.

-Out of the Wilderness