What’s up with kids toys today? Had to mail something at a UPS store this morning, and saw one of these “My Very Own Laundry Center” boxes on the floor behind the counter.
(Except the one I saw had a vacuum included as well). Really?! Dream big, little girl and one day you could be a hotel maid! And of course they use a little African-American girl and a little Latin-looking girl. I’m not racist but I think the creators of this toy might be.
Suspicions confirmed. Little white girl gets on the box for the vanity set. Sorry, DELUXE vanity. We need to start ‘em young onto the trophy wife track. Little girl’s gonna be a spoiled toddler in a tiara in no time!
It’s like a YouTube version of X-men, with more hormones.
Teenage boys do exactly what you expect teenage boys to do with super powers once they acquire them. (Although how they do is never fully explained.) You have your typical high school archetypes: the popular jock, the bullied outcast and the slightly more mature non-conformist. The amateur, semi-documentary film style is reminiscent of movies like Cloverfield and Blair Witch, except the entire movie is ‘found footage‘ style, from the perspectives of the teens themselves. It was annoying at times, but made it seem a little more realistic. The special effects were still Hollywood-worthy, though.
The plot reminds me of a more condensed, less whimsical Harry Potter. The story of an outcast kid that’s relatively cheery at the beginning, add some magic, then progress to dark and angsty at the end, culminating in an epic battle. Definitely worth seeing in the theater at least once. 4/5 stars.
Moral of the story: Teenagers are too moody to have supernatural powers.
Let me preface by saying I didn’t actually watch the Super Bowl this year. I could care less about the Giants and the Patriots and there really isn’t a need with the half-time show all over YouTube and the commercials even being released a week early.
First of all, the half time show. It seems that Madonna has solidified herself as the eternal pop goddess to rein over all other music minions. I didn’t know anything about the show beforehand, but there were a ton of cameos from LMFAO to Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. and Cee Lo Green. And if you have ever listened to MIA before, you shouldn’t be surprised that she flipped off the camera. Mad props to a fantastic show, but of course the producers had to make up for the abomination that was the Black Eyed Peas last year.
So being in the ad biz myself, I had to watch the infamous ads. Super Bowl spots just don’t have the prestige that they used to. The majority were for movies and cars – America sure is is desperate to sell us some damn cars. Anyways, I had a few favorites that stuck out from the rest.
1. Maybe the most manly, epic Super Bowl spot ever created. Victorias Secret Supermodel Adriana Lima, Motley Crue, A Rhino Rodeo, a lumberjack sandwich and MMA fighter Chuck Liddel. But for Kia, really?! I think it’s going to take a lot more than one bad ass commercial to make them into a bad ass car brand. Props to David & Goliath for this little bit of entertainment (plus a 5 hour promo video of Adriana Lima waving a flag for all you dudes out there.)
2. This commercial has it all – beer for the guys and a little rescue dog that’s simultaneously cute and ugly for the chicks. The beer spots tend to be near the top of my list every year but I really like that this one was tied to an animal-loving cause. Props to McGarryBowen in Chicago for this cute spot.
3. The Acura spot playing up the Seinfeld-Leno car rivalry also makes my LOL list. It must have been so much fun to be one of the creatives at RPA Los Angeles brainstorming all of the ridiculous things that Seinfeld would offer in exchange for being the first owner of an Acura NSX from the Soup Nazi to Manhattan zip lines.
Honorable mention goes to the witty E-Trade baby by Grey New York.
And then, there’s the majority of the ads that just kind of blended together. Chrysler (and W+K), way to make the exact same ad as last year except with Clint Eastwood instead of Eminem. You’re from Detroit, we get it. Most of your cars still suck (and I can say that because I drive one.) There was bound to be a 2012 apocalyptic ad, but the “oh sh*t” moment happened at the end when they called out their friend who didn’t make it because he drove a Ford. Ballsy move, Chevy. I wonder if Ford will retaliate…
The vampire ad for Audi was pretty funny, but I don’t know many Twilight-obsessed tween girls that can afford that calibur of sports car. The polar bear ads were pretty weak too. Polar bears + football = lame. Then the Hyundai Cheetah spot really pissed me off. As a former big cat enthusiast (I was obsessed when I was little), I know that Cheetahs are the only cat that can’t roar DAMMIT! They make little chirping sounds like this. The Doritos sling baby was annoying and predictable. As was the missing cat spot. Lets just say I didn’t like any of the Doritos spots. Cars.com did a direct lift from Johnny Knoxville’s dual character in MIB 2. Why can’t these agencies come up with something original?!
The Chevy Sonic spot was interesting and obviously trying to appeal to the youth market by taking a cue from Jackass and Red Bull. Except, I’m not sure how it sells the REAL benefits of the car considering you will never go skydiving or bungee jumping in that (or any) car yourself. The Pepsi spot was pretty weak too. Here’s their recipe: start with some Pepsi, add a reality show winner (Melanie Amaro from X Factor) and throw in a few random celebrities. (although I can’t say I’ve seen Elton John in very many commercials.)
Thats enough outta me. If you want to watch all of the spots, I’ve found the best source to be fastcocreate.com.
Took yesterday off, but this was my office when I walked in this morning. Update: Got these birthday ‘catcakes’ later in the afternoon! <3 my work peeps!
So my birthday is tomorrow which puts me smack dab in the middle of the Aquarius sign. I don’t know much about it other than it’s the water-bearer sign. How lame is that? If we had to go to college based on our astrological signs, my school’s mascot would be pretty lame. What are we going to threaten the other teams with? Water balloons? Super soakers?
We would get our asses kicked (collectively – I don’t mean me, because I’m awesome at sports) at sports by all the animal sign schools. There’s Leo U, home of the Lions, Cancer State, home of the killer crabs, University of Aries, home of the rams, Scorpio A&M, home of the scorpions, Sagittarius State, home of the Centaur Archers, Taurus Tech, home of the bulls, U Cap(ricorn), home of the surly Sea-Goats, U Pisces, home to the fighting Fish and Gemini-versity, home of the Double-teaming Twins. I guess it could be worse. We could be the Libras (Military School) or the Virgos (Catholic School). At least my sign doesn’t have any sexual restrictions.
OH COME ON! My planet is Uranus. Really?! “We’re going to throw water balloons at Ur anus!” And how is the element air and not water? Whoever invented these signs must have been on some ancient equivalent of crack.
If my sign had something to do with Mermaids, that would be one thing. But, just to carry around a bucket of water? Lame! The only degrees we can get at Aqua U are fire fighting, lawn maintenance and bar-tending.
I guess we do have that one flower-child fueled song from the 60′s. Damn hippies. I give up. Is it too late to change my birthday?
You know you’re sleep-deprived when you tell your boyfriend at breakfast that “Thou shalt not serve cold cinnamon rolls” is the thirteenth commandment. “Really? What are 11 and 12 then?” he said. After a good 90 seconds or so of LOLing, I was like “I don’t know!”
And the Lord did see the cinnamon rolls dripping with warm, gooey icing, and he was pleased.
