Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Day 299 - Badvertizing, A Miracle For St. John Paul II, The Hero That Gotham & Every Other City Needs, The Moulin Rouge Maulers Are Oui & Oh So Far This Season, and It's My Way Or We Watch Roadhouse

Mr. Silver
So I saw a thing in a commercial that bugged me.  An effect of discernment vs. artists and advertisers...
It showed a man planting a tree.
He was in a brown outfit, all coordinated, like a service uniform: Shorts, short sleeves, hat. No gloves
Clean.
He puts the perfect pot-shaped tree ball in a perfect hole in a perfect manicured lawn with no sod removed around it. 
There are old growth trees in the immediate vicinity.
And then he reaches his hand down and brushes it towards the hole...as if manually pushing dirt in around the ball...yet there is no dirt there whatsoever on the perfect lawn.
(flash of realizations) "WHAT the F was THAT?!?"
There wasn't a single thing right in the entire scene.
8:58 AM Mr. Blue
What was it for?
8:58 AM Mr. Silver
I don't even remember.
I was so taken aback by the combination of everything wrong.
9:00 AM Mr. Blue
*fades to black*  "Coors Light (drink responsibly)"
9:00 AM Mr. Silver
A pro landscaper in shorts?  Short sleeves?  No gloves?  No dirt?  Planting a tree under big trees that would just kill it?  Brushing at a dirt pile for said tree, in a hole that is too small, in a putting green lawn, with bare hands instead of a trowel, for the too little dirt that ISN'T ACTUALLY THERE!
"Coors Light...go home, we're drunk..."
9:01 AM Mr. Blue
I’ve noticed a lot of commercials are intended to be comical but the punch line is just someone (usually a female) saying "DUDE?" or "SERIOUSLY?" or "YEAH, THAT JUST HAPPENED."
Like... they paid writers to write that?  They got actual currency?
For a while it was someone saying "awwwkwward", but that seems to have died off.
9:06 AM Mr. Blue
I guess commercials aren't meant to be artistic or even long-lasting.
They're supposed to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
The writers and marketing team don’t care if a commercial is rehashed and laughed at 10 years from now.
9:09 AM Mr. Silver
Probably a mixed blessing if it does last, too.
"Woo!  Viral hit!  Millions of clicks!  Best campaign ever!"
(10 years later) "I can't believe we're still stuck with this same God-damned slogan because one 30 second spot went viral 10 F-ing years ago."
9:14 AM Mr. Silver
(Excited ad firm presenter) "Our top people have really been working hard on a new direction in music, imagery, and logos for your product.  We’re sure you’re going to love what we’ve come up with, and would like to start by showing you th-."  
"Too risky...how about we do something more with the talking cat thing?"
"... ...Sure..."
9:15 AM Mr. Blue
I imagine the writers pitch a really funny, unique idea to the CEO/Pres/VP in a staff meeting. 
Big-wigs are all like "Uhh... don't get it." 
Writers: *sigh* "What if the girl just looked at the camera and said 'dude, seriously'?" 
"Hahahaha!  I love it!  You've got the account."
9:18 AM Mr. Silver
(CEO) "Too... ...complicated.  How about 'that's what SHE said'?"  (execs all laugh...marketing team all looks sad)
9:18 AM Mr. Blue
LOL, yeah.
Big-wig "I like your idea of having an all-American family, but what if we put a spin on it and make the dad a bumbling doofus that would almost seem incapable of functioning on his own?"
9:21 AM Mr. Brown
Bla bla bla bla bla, you were gonna buy this phone anyways, bla bla bla bla bla.”
9:22 AM Mr. Blue
These days, McDonalds is like "Let’s spend $10,000,000 to make this commercial look like it was done by poor art school students on LSD."
I’m talking about the Filet-o-Fish ones.
9:26 AM Mr. Silver
"The young mixed-race couple just doesn't look excited enough in the ‘playfully-eating-a-single-fry’ scene.  Give them some more speed."
"But they've already had enough they don't want to eat the fries."
"Ah."



Mr. Silver
Another miracle for John Paul II
11:20 AM Mr. Blue
Hahaha
11:21 AM Mr. Brown
And so that’s what happens when you use the Lord’s name in vain.”
11:21 AM Mr. Blue
If that's not an omen against his canonization, I don't know what is.
11:30 AM Mr. Silver
Maybe the kid was an a-hole
Maybe he challenged the sainthood.  "Eh!  Papa!  Iffa you issa really a saint, how ‘bout you show me-a a miracle, eh?"
(WHAM!)
(In heaven, Pope JPII) "Sorry...I couldn't show you a miracle on earth.  Ready?  (fans cards) Pick one and don't show me what it is...ok, put it back in..."



Mr. Brown
I’m hoping when Superman meets Batman that Batman is beat to Hell.
That way it’s realistic.
11:55 AM Mr. Silver
The ol’ one-punch vaporized-head trick?
11:56 AM Mr. Brown
No no.
I mean Batman has been at his job for so long he is beat to Hell and back.
Kind of like how the recent Batman movies went: he kicks ass, but is all kinds of beaten up.
The mortal human factor.
11:58 AM Mr. Silver
Superman "So (peers briefly but intently) Ah! You’re really Bruce Wayne, eh?  Hmm...good cover.  Gotham...pretty messy place.  You do questionable work here."
Batman "I've been protecting this city for 30 years...Kent."
Supes "Yeah...  Hey, is that your famous computer?"
Bats "That terminal is just open cases."
Supes "Ah.  (Looks...scans 3 seconds)  Be right back."
(zips out...10 count...zips back)  "OK, you can retire.”  (taps delete on case load).
Bats "What?  What did you..."
Supes “Oh...I ID'd all the criminals involved, located them, disarmed everything, dismantled all their stuff, disabled all the vehicles and communications... Stopped for a taco...  Then I wrote all the evidence and details up for Commissioner Gordon.  And on the way back here I took a second or two to correct all the security issues at the prison and Arkham Asylum since, frankly, the big bad guys used to just walk out of the place at will." 
Bats "Ah!  So you didn't catch any of them!  I'm still relevant!"
Supes “Well, they're tied up if that's what you mean.  I just told the police where to pick them up is all.  I drew a map."
Bats “I see...  So... Where'd you get the taco?  I'm...kinda needing to emotionally eat right now..."
Supes “A little street stand in Tijuana.”
12:07 PM Mr. Brown
LOL
12:10 PM Mr. Blue
Yeah, Superman doesn't need Batman.
12:11 PM Mr. Silver
Not really, no.
12:11 PM Mr. Blue
And why is Superman not in the normal Batman canon?
Why use the Bat Signal when you can call Superman?
12:19 PM Mr. Silver
The Superman Signal is a squeaky dog toy he picked up on the way to meet the commissioner.
Superman "OK, everyone authorized to use my signal give it a squeeze...k...got everyone's variant.  Later (zooom)!"
12:26 PM Mr. Brown
Was there any story line where Batman used a drug to enhance himself?
12:26 PM Mr. Silver
"Quick...Robin!  The Bat Viagra!  Also, go to your room...Catwoman and I have grownup things to discuss."
12:27 PM Mr. Blue
Heheh



Mr. Brown
I got a football injury this weekend.
And no, I did not play football.
It was a Kinect game.
7:55 AM Mr. Silver
Heh
7:55 AM Mr. Brown
It’s a field goal game and I went for a big kick.
Mr. Silver
Set it on the "Can Can" level, eh?
7:55 AM Mr. Brown
Dragged the big toe under my foot straight in to the ground.
I thought I ripped all the tendons in the toe.
7:57 AM Mr. Silver
"It was the big skirt that came with the game.  I was kicking just fine, making about 85%, and then my leg tangled in the petticoat."
Mr. Silver
(Music, dancers on screen in front of field goal post, feathered helmets, Jerseys for the Moulin Rouge Manglers, voluminous skirts) 
"Boys,
Can you kick the foot-balls
Past the blocking girl wall? 
You will find us absolutely so dis-trac-ting! 
So,
Kick as fast as you can
If you think you can can. 
Come on now and score the ex-tra point!  Woo!"
(that was surprisingly hard to get going)



Mr. Silver
Doctor on "Dirty Jobs" - "Fortunately all of the effects are temporary...except the death thing."
Mr Pear
We just need to remember that.
1:25 PM Mr. Silver
Yes
1:28 PM Mr. Silver
That should be much easier to slip into a conversation than the "Roadhouse" line.
Ever tell you that one?
Mr. Silver
I've watched the movie once and found it pretty ridiculous.
But Swayze delivered a line that really stuck.
1:30 PM Mr. Pear
The suspense…
1:31 PM Mr. Silver
The unbelievable hotty doctor is patching him up and says "You'll need stitches.  Do you want a local?"
And he replies "Pain don't hurt."
Mr. Pear
Hahaha
Oh man.
My first thought was "But I do other things real good".
1:35 PM Mr. Silver
Afterward, I schemed with Mr. Pig Iron: "We must remember this stupid line and apply it somehow.  A conscious effort...practice.  It must be handy and ready."
And so, we agreed on one.
And one Fall day, we - the people who watched it - are going to go out for the evening.  And Mrs. Pig-Iron says.
"It's going to get cold out, you want a jacket?"
and we remembered, and both said, in Swayze's tone:
"Cold don't cool..."
1:42 PM Mr. Silver
I've not gotten to use it again.  Though I still will deliver "It's my way, or we watch 'Roadhouse'." When something needs done and no one wants to do it. 
I've just realized I've never blogged that story.
2:01 PM Mr. Blue
Ever hear the story of Bill Murray and Kelly Lynch?
I guess Lynch's husband is a movie producer, and he's produced some of Murray's movies, so they're friends.
Every time Roadhouse is on TV (and that's pretty often), Murray calls up Lynch's husband at home and describes the sex scenes with his wife in enthusiastic detail.
"Oh! Swayze's got her up on the wall! She's up on the wall! She's biting Swayze's neck!  I just saw breasts! I saw 'em!"
2:04 PM Mr. Silver
I love that, yeah!
I think Bill and Brian both do it
2:23 PM Mr. Blue
Lynch's implants were way off in that movie; like 2 grapefruit halves hanging on a wall.
2:35 PM Mr. Silver
I can't recall...really don't wanna watch Roadhouse just to verify grapefruit halves though.

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