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
Even before I started reading 12 Ways Your Smart Phone is Changing You*, I’ve had a strong desire to break the chains locking me to my cell phone. This is not as easy as it sounds, as you might guess. I use my phone for so much of my work, 2 sources of income are literally all app-based. So it’s a little tricky.
My plan lately is to have a certain time I shut my phone off, and then a certain time I power it back on in the morning. I guess most habits take time to develop, right? So this is turning into a marathon, not a sprint.
Original plan: off at 10pm, on at 8am
Is it working? Wellllllllllllll, some days it does, others, not so much. I’m still tweaking the routine but I’m determined to make this a priority for my daily life. I don’t want to be a slave to this device! It’s a fantastic tool for work, as I mentioned above about the jobs I have that are app-based, and can help keep in touch with people all over the world… but real life is happening all around me, not just in my small Nokia smartphone.
Do you have any methods of “disconnecting” that have worked for you? Chime in below and let me know!
*As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission for any purchases made through links in this post, at no additional cost to you*
I recently posted about the GEICO commercial “Flag Football with Jerome Bettis.” While that commercial is funny, it’s actually a terrible comparison… getting help from GEICO is “having Jerome Bettis on your flag football team easy,” while Jerome Bettis commits at least 5 penalty-worthy actions in one play.
But GEICO is known for having pretty hilarious commercials, so I thought I should point out one that’s been airing on and off for years. From what I could find, it was originally produced in 2015 and features a horror movie-like scene.
The tagline: “If you’re in a horror movie, you make poor decisions. It’s what you do.” It goes on to say if you want to save money on car insurance, switching to GEICO is “what you do.”
This spot is great because 1) it’s funny, 2) good acting and 3) it plays off of the stereotypes we all know from scary movies. The black person dies first. Someone goes off alone to do something… then dies. Everything happens at night. There’s usually one lone survivor. On and on the cliche’s go. If you want to see more of these stereotypes, just watch Scream 1, Scream 2, or Scream 3. Or Scary Movie, I suppose. Check out this article on who the actresses are in this ad.
The comparison of ‘this is what you do if you’re in a horror movie’ to ‘this is what you do if you want to save money on car insurance’ is easy to understand, and while the Jerome Bettis commercial misses the mark because it’s an inaccurate illustration, this horror ad hits it right on the head. Or should I say, slashes it?
Leaving science and everything that makes sense out of this, the 12-year deadline for the end of the world is the best thing Democrats could have ever come up with. Why? Well, I haven’t heard anyone say this yet, maybe they have and I’m just unaware, but here’s why the Democrats are putting most of their eggs in this climate change timeframe…
It’ll be the year 2030 when the so-called climate change timetable is at it’s end point. At this point, either the world ends, as suggested by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or it doesn’t. And here’s where it gets good for the Democrats…
Scenario 1 – the world ends
Democrats announce the ultimate “I told you so!”
Scenario 2 – the world doesn’t end
In this case (and what I think the Democrats will do since the world isn’t going to end in 2030, at least not because of global warming), the Democrats will say, “We did it! Thanks to all your hard work and the amazing vision and leadership of the Democrat party, we’ve avoided disaster. Now, you should trust us with your vote, your money, and your future!” They’ll use this heroic act of saving the world to push their party forward and ask for everyone to join in with the party of the future. They’ll say, “Republicans and conservatives would have brought the world to an end, but thank goodness the Democrats did something about it!”
The ironic part is this: even if no one did anything environmentally responsible from today till January 1st, 2030, the world wouldn’t end. The Democrats know this, so no matter how much effort is or isn’t put into “saving the world,” they’re going to take credit because of what’s going on now– the party-wide push to fix global warming. In 2030, they’ll say it was all thanks to them.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think they have a 12-year plan to set themselves up as the saviors of the earth? Comment below!
With so many options for watching movies at home, it’s no surprise I’ve seen 3 this week. Honestly, though, I think I spend more time just trying to find a movie to watch. You know how that goes!
I don’t have Netflix anymore, so actually the only streaming movie service I subscribe to at the moment is Hulu (an incredible deal of around $11 bundled with Spotify).
Movies this week were as follows:
Rattlesnakes (Hulu)
John Wick 3 (Redbox)
Purple Rain (DVD from library)
How I felt after…
Rattlesnakes was interesting, tense, and had a good twist at the end. I actually think it would be worth another viewing to see if I could pick up on some of the clues that hint towards how the ending goes.
John Wick 3. I really wanted to like this movie. I mean, the guy goes on a rampage after someone kills his dog… that’s a motive I can get behind. But in this 3rd chapter, I just didn’t feel anything. It reminds me of why I stopped watching “Walker, Texas Ranger” way back in the day. Stay with me here for a sec, even with the old reference! Chuck Norris as Walker always kicked butt. He never lost a fight. I knew by the end of the episodes he would come out on top. So no matter what situation he was in, it became predictable, eliminating any suspense. John Wick wasn’t going to die. It’s like he was immune to everything that would kill any normal person. Maybe that’s the draw, actually. And I’ll say this… the stunts, fights, and dog training, all of that was amazing. Like, beyond amazing. It’s worth watching for that alone, but as far as invoking any feelings, I give it a 3 out of 10.
The one that’s stuck with me the most is Purple Rain and I can’t exactly pinpoint why. It’s an 80s movie, so parts of it were a little cheesy but that goes with the territory. I had this same feeling when I watched Whitney in theaters, after watching the final episode of Wonder Years, and a few other shows/movies. Days later, still affected somehow. Like I said, I can’t quite explain what it is. My favorite scene, the one that I’ll remember the most from this movie… towards the end during the performance of “Purple Rain,” Prince walks over to a band member, one of two women who wrote the song (Prince wrote it in real life, but in the movie, this woman character wrote it), he leans over and kisses her on the cheek. This gesture signals that he’s finally put aside his pride to admit this woman and the other woman are talented songwriters, and he needs them in the band. It just seemed so real and unscripted. Put a smile on my face and was a great way to wrap up the film.
Have you seen any of these 3 movies? If so, what do you think? Share in the comments below!
Out of the Wilderness 