funny for sure Eric...but surely not the 1st step to masses flocking to buy their products. If this is the 1st ad of many, fair enough - but i predict fail. - Zee at WeDoCreative
Clever ad, SuperBowl-class in terms of stickiness. And chewiness. This is just an icebreaker to get people talking. One of those icebreakers with chewy mint-gel centers. - Wade Dorrell
you could be right. All i know is that if it this wasn't Bill Gates & Seinfeld and they hadn't spent a fortune on it...i probably wouldn't be sharing or watching. - Zee at WeDoCreative
I like Jerry Seinfeld. (I think. I may actually just like Larry David's writing.) I like Bill Gates, even though I'm not keen on MS. But this? Not so much. - Marci Maleski
Hmm. Let me watch it again after sniffing some glue. Maybe it will then make more sense. - Andrew Leyden
This is the worst commercial I've ever seen. It's pointless, banal, and does not even mention Windows. How exactly is this supposed to "fight back against the Mac vs. PC ads" like the agency claimed?! - Sparky
Unflexible shoes that are uncomfortable at first... so Vista essentially :) - John Worthington
Sparky, I think not mentioning "Windows" by name is the point. The point is to make you smile, then draw a picture in your head of the future of computers being FUN, then sear the logo into your brain. The associative cortex in your brain does the rest. - Karim
Karim - there is nothing FUN about that advert. It's BillG being awkward. The whole thing made me cringe. Apple is on the attack - MS needs to respond. This kind of thing (same thing they did for Zune) might appeal to a small audience, but it fails to really advance the brand or put the product out there and make the product _sexy_ - Sparky
I respectfully disagree. The "Get a Mac" campaign ("Hello, I'm a Mac...") doesn't really "put the product out there" or make the product "sexy" -- it basically just trashes the competition in a humorous way. The iPod ads are genius, but they just picture silhouettes of people flailing about on brightly colored backgrounds. The famous "1984" and "Think Different" ads do *NOTHING* to put the product out there or make it look sexy. - Karim
The best ads aren't trying to drill to the product's feature list into your skull, just as the best propaganda doesn't really get into a lot of boring details. It's all about evoking an emotional response -- either a positive emotion associated with the brand, or a negative emotion associated with failure to use the brand. Danica Patrick doesn't talk about GoDaddy's networking infrastructure. - Karim
As for humor that makes you cringe, I guess you don't like any film with Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler... :-D I thought it was funny that Bill poked fun at himself, but I'm sure not everyone did. - Karim
The number one job of our Federal government is running a military organization to protect our country. He's addressing the job he is applying for not playing to peoples fears. - ChiliMac via twhirl
@Chili Don't use logic, it will just make their heads explode - John Denver
@David: What do WMD's have to do with this post? And none being found does not mean they did not exist. Sadam gave us every reason to believe they were there. - ChiliMac
So getting shot down in a war we lost proves McCain can run the military. Also, getting hit by a train proves you can run Amtrak. - Karim
Also I believe "Porkins," whose X-wing exploded at the end of "Star Wars," said that getting shot down gave him the experience necessary to lead the Rebel Alliance. - Karim
Isn't it great? My daughter has only been walking about a month. She went from scooting on her butt to crawling, walking and climbing up on the coffee table in about six weeks. We had to do some emergency baby proofing. - Brian Norwood
Looks like you'll be needing to update that AT&T family plan and get him an iPhone soon. - Jeff P. Henderson
I think it would have been complicated from an Exchange integration point of view, as you can create separate todo items in Outlook, or you can flag emails for follow up, use different colored flags and categories, add reminders, etc. etc. The iPhone is otherwise very well-integrated with Exchange, so having a separate to-do app that's *not* integrated with Exchange would have been kind of klunky. Apple had their hands full with Mobile Me. - Karim
I think I would prefer a president who doesn't spend four hours a day on FriendFeed - Bob Stemen via twhirl
he doesn't how how many houses he owns. and no, that isn't an old argument. it's fact. - ::Kristen::
@Kristen - He doesn't own any. His wife owns them. Again, I hope a president has more important things to worry about that how many houses his wife owns - Bob Stemen via twhirl
FriendFeed would be good. I would be more worried he'd discover Solitaire. - Robert Scoble
Bob, who is running for President that is on FriendFeed? - PC Easy via twhirl
Attackign people for being sucessful ultimately doesn't fly. The class war stuff playes well to the far left but utterly fails in the middle. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
nobody I hope! sorry that was supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek jab at Scoble's comment about McCain not using a computer. Next time I WILL remember the emoticon - Bob Stemen via twhirl
Agreed. In that I include the "protestors" who dropped sandbags from an overpass onto moving vehicles and the morons who had stockpiled buckets of urine and weapons to disable vehicles. Of course their real goal is to get arrested so that they can scream brutality. - Soulhuntre via twhirl
Yeah nobody should ever protest. - PC Easy via twhirl
People have the right to protest, but there's also the common decency of letting someone be heard...... That said, it was kind of funny.... - Chris Reed
@Chris I think common decency is not high on their priority list - John Denver
"People have the right to protest" -- not inside a private gathering, they don't - Craig Eddy
this was a great example of Prince Barak's supporters. - Tony Kanzia
I like to think that the choice of choosing a president is a public matter. - Chris Reed
Indeed it is, Chris. But the confines of the convention building are not particularly public. - Craig Eddy
People have a right to protest, but not the way they did. - Molly
it is a lack of respect and says so much about those people. same with the anarchists starting violence. - John Head via twhirl
Karim, there is no way you can justify interrupting a private event - Craig Eddy
On the deplorability scale I think it's not quite as bad as credentialed press having their faces slammed to the curb. - Karim
I hate to say it a lot of the Democrats who are protesting aren't being very respectful, but I know some may say why should they show respect if McCain doesn't show respect to America. *rolls eyes* - Molly
So John McCain dropping napalm on the Vietnamese is justified, but someone NON-VIOLENTLY interrupting a speech can *never* be justified. Hmmm. - Karim
John, and the exaggeration was? Did I get it wrong and it was high explosive instead of napalm? - Karim
@Karim what ever happened to being respectful? And not all the protests have been non violent at the RNC. Protests should be peaceful and without violence. - Molly
@Karim How exactly can you compare the acts of a few extremists with the job that a soldier performs during a time of war? - John Denver
John, just so I understand you, the "extremists" are the ones who protest non-violently, and the moderates are the ones who drop bombs on people. Did I get that right? - Karim
There are a number of albums where every song fits and works. Not a ton, but enough that I'd like to simply 'love' Joshua Tree and OK Computer and Demon Days and 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 etc. - AJ Kohn
I think OK Computer is fantastic... but two tracks too long. I always quit it at the bell at the end of 'No Surprises'. That closing, to me, makes the album perfect. - Akiva Moskovitz
I've done it... but I usually let it happen over the course of a few plays. Usually. - Michael W. May
The Wall is practically worthless except as a whole. The only reason why Comfortably Numb works outside of it is that it wasn't supposed to be a part of it; it began as a Gilmore solo song. - Akiva Moskovitz
Totally agree about The Wall. American Idiot is also better as the sum of its parts IMO. - AJ Kohn
"Have you ever seen a strawberry doughnut from the Donut Man? It is an iceberg of a doughnut, a flattened demisphere big enough to use as a Pilates cushion, split in two and filled to order with what must be an entire basket of fresh strawberries, and only in season. The fruit is moistened with a translucent gel that lubricates even the occasional white-shouldered berry with a mantle of slippery sweetness, oozing from the sides, turning the bottom of the pasteboard box into a sugary miasma in the unlikely event that the doughnuts actually make it home. The tawny pastry itself is only lightly sweetened, dense and slightly crunchy at the outside, like most good doughnuts, with a vaguely oily nuttiness and an almost substantial chew. It is the only doughnut I have ever seen that is routinely served with a plastic knife and fork. It is worth every penny of the $2.50 it costs." - edythe via Bookmarklet
I love strawberries and donuts! This is perfect! :O - Ron
did that description strike anyone else as food pr0n? :-D - Karim
thanks for the heads up, JMS. Here's the Vonnegut short story it's based on, if anyone wants to completely spoil the entire movie for themselves :-D http://instruct.westvalley.edu... - Karim
Thanks, Karim, I hadn't read this in ages. - Michael W. May
I had a huge crush on Mona but she told me I wasn't baconish enough. That was almost a true story. - Geoff Schultz
There is a lady I find attractive but purely in an appreciative kind of way. - Timothy Griffin
Yeah, here we go - Corrie Allison. http://beta.friendfeed.com/cor... I don't have a crush on her but she's undoubtedly very pretty...might have something to do with the fact that she looks quite like my baby. - Zee at WeDoCreative
Nice answer Timothy. Big Zee your crush is in here Bro! Don't blush! - Geoff Schultz
Haha! Corrie is in here isn't she :) No crush, but...hey there Corrie, how YOU doing? - Zee at WeDoCreative
"Now that comic strip artist Lynn Johnston has ended her creation, "For Better or For Worse," after 29 years, she's taking an unconventional approach: Rather than retire, she's revisiting the strip from the beginning. Starting Monday the strip regressed back to 1979, and will now include a mix of old strips and new ones (drawn to match her style from that era)." - edythe via Bookmarklet
This strip went in and out of my life, but the death of Farley had to be one of the highlights of the genre. It had as much emotional impact as any novel. Good dog. - Brian Norwood
Freezing cold doesn't sound good! If it seems worse than anything you've had before, you might want to check in with a physician. Get well soon! - Karim
"As we reported earlier this week, British street artist BANKSY has been on a southern road trip of late, starting in a pre-Gustav New Orleans before moving on to ALABAMA where he paid homage to the great white powers-that-be with his stenciled image of a hung KKK member on an abandoned gas station. Taking matters into their own hands yesterday, irate locals broke out their own spray cans to let the world know what they think of a snotty English street artist pointin’ fingers at their good ole boys. Too bad they didn’t realize that simply cutting out the stencil & selling it on eBay would have been the sweetest revenge." - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet
the message must've hit home a bit too hard - Cee Bee
For sure. You can see the anger in the spray strokes. Lol. - Tsega Dinka
When I lived in North Carolina you'd see Klan rallies here and there. One in/near Asheville was pretty disturbing - RAPatton
Really disappointing / scary to see evidence that this kind of narrow-minded crap still goes on.. +1 to Banksy for his continued efforts in opening peoples eyes and minds. - Nicholas Kreidberg
I don't know, the one on the right is too abstract expressionist for my tastes. Too Franz Kline. But at least it's a beautiful shade of black. :-) RAP some Klan rallies are more disturbing than others? :-D - Karim
The larger ones where you are the only people who seem to not want to be in the vicinity don't agree with them are more disturbing than the ones where people are disgusted at them - RAPatton
'Michael Redneck Palin' has a certain ring to it. - Andy C
Andy, we're talking about my baby, not Bristol Palin's. Although... - Gabe Schaffer
Levi if it's a boy, Jordache if it's a girl - Gabe Schaffer
Apollo for a boy and Starbuck for a very feisty girl - April Buchheit
how about red/black/blue/white i rarely see those used as names - bob
You could name it "1", then convince someone else to name their baby "2" and so on... guess whose kid gets famous if this takes off! - Philipp Lenssen
Try Nymbler. ; ) "Nymbler is the smart baby name guide that responds to your personal taste. Just choose a few names that appeal to you or let Nymbler offer ideas" http://www.nymbler.com/ - Erhan Erdogan
Congratulations (i'm wishing you well. it's not a name suggestion) :) - Daisy
Trig if it's a boy, Algebra if it's a girl - Gabe Schaffer
Thanks, Daisy. How about Daisy if it's a girl, and if it's a boy...Hibiscus? - Gabe Schaffer
“Why isn't Palin's speech online? I can only find snippets, and the GOP website only seems to link to commercials and a broken live stream. Google mostly finds old news (and more fragments): http://www.google.com/search?q...”
I have a link to the full text on my friend feed just look for the Palin picture on the top of my feed as of right now. - Colide81
It looks as if the full version was available on YouTube shortly afterwards, but it was not simple to find for some reason: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... - Simon
didn't you hear Palin say "ROBOTS.TXT is ACTIVE" at the beginning of her speech? - Maneesh Arora
Just about to say what Louis did. On iTunes RNC podcast. - Roberto Bonini
It was a very strong speech. It is tough to watch so much liberal-bashing and negativity for me, but I think she definitely "energized the base" as she was supposed to. I am still not sure if she energized them enough to get as much turnout as the Dems have been getting in this election, but I do think people underestimate Palin's appeal. - Bret Taylor
i thought it was a great speech. too bad Obama and Palin don't get to debate - Ranjit Mathoda
According to what I was reading earlier at RedState, the reason it's not online is she went way off script somewhere in the middle of the speech. Apparently the teleprompter broke. Same thing for Rudy's speech. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
They use teleprompters at convention speeches? (Added to the fact they have speech writers who think up the stuff in the first place?) - Philipp Lenssen
Convention speeches are one of the most tightly controlled speeches around. Yes, they use teleprompters so that the zings are perfectly timed. And I thought I could pretty much tell when she went off script and ad-libbed, and when she didn't. When she was on teleprompter, her timing was slightly different. Same with Rudy's, although I didn't watch much of his. - Justin Long
Maybe because the GOP is not quite as tech-savvy as they'd like you to think. Not that we think they are anyways. (As a comparison, I had a link to a video of Obama's speech - as well as a behind-the-scenes video of he and Biden signing their official acceptance papers - in my inbox the morning after his speech. That is what I call tech - and web 2.0 - savvy.) - Steve
Don't trust the "fact checking." I got the same press release from MediaMatters this morning. Liberal attack group. They usually have a basis in truth but widely skew things to make it look worse than it is. CBS is just reprinting their press release. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
It's all over youtube in 5 parts. Just search "palin rnc part #" - Jordan Hofker
underestimating the appeal? maybe, I didn't think it was good, she talks at you, she's a bit isolating, mostly talks about herself, and everything is caked with applause. - David Lynch
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI... story, transcript, and video there. you are absolutely right Paul, MANY Americans will LOVE speeches like that. after that speech I think she was an inspired choice for McCain. They're changing the game. Forget about winning over the middle. Get the right pumped up and to the polls! - Deva Hazarika
by far the best site to see the speeches on is the NY Times. you can click on parts of the transcript of each speech to skip the video forward or backward to that part. http://elections.nytimes.com/2... - Ranjit Mathoda
the speech has been lost in the hail of stories about her daughter, the vogue cover, her affair, etc etc etc - Jonathan Beckett