Life-Changing

This morning, as usual, I picked may way through the news on my tablet, carefully avoiding coronavirus hysteria and articles on what ‘our president tweeted concerning things he knows nothing about.   It seems there is less and less that I bother to read.   Oh, there are a few things I liked.  The coronavirus has at least pushed climate change off the front pages … and Kindly Uncle Joe is making a comeback against Crazy Uncle Bernie.  And as always there’s something to give me a laugh to offset the grim news.  Today’s gem is an article on BGR titled This hidden Google Maps trick just changed my life.   Having recently been battling with Google Maps to get my home address to appear in the right place, I was intrigued.  Imagine my disappointment when I found that the trick was a way to add preferences to the restaurants that Google Maps suggests when you search in an area.  Really?   If that changes your life: (1) you are eating out entirely too much; and (2) you really don’t have a life.

The Spic n Span Incident

The Boulevard Apartments

When my Dad cam home from the Army Air Corps at the end of WWII, we moved from my grandmother’s house, where Mom and  Ilived while Dad was away, to an apartment in New Haven on what was then called simply The Boulevard.  The buildings were converted Army barracks and I remember my Mom saying that the wind blew right through the walls on cold, blustery days.  Still, it was our first home as a family and my oldest memories as a child reside there still, even though the buildings are long gone.  There are memories of baseball games between the buildings and of my Dad breaking his leg as he jumped over a fence to retrieve another kid’s baseball glove that I’d thrown there.  There was walking to Truman School, always a little nervous as I crossed the railroad track because I’d dreamed of a train coming off the tracks to chase me down the street.  There was Dad teaching me to ride the bright red Columbia bicycle I got for Christmas.  And there was the Spic n Span Incident, in which an eight year old learned not to believe everything he heard in commercials.

Highjacking Christmas

This has been a Get Ready for Christmas weekeed. I’ve done some Christmas shopping for friends and decorated the house. I spent Saturday morning in the park writing then came home to put up the tree. Muri was out running her own errands so I put my Christmas playlist on the stereo and turned it up to the Wife-Not-Home level. Decorating the tree is one of thos jobs I procrastinate until I begin it, then it is one of my favortie times of the holiday. We have been adding ornaments to our tree for 46 years, so each ornament I hang has a time and place attached. Rhode Island the year we got married. The year we adopted our son. The year we moved to Anaheim Hills. We had plans to go out for dinner with our friends, Ron and Kerry, on Sunday at Gulliver’s Restaurant, which is always beautifully decorated for the season, so we postponed Date Night until then. So, between decorating and errands, I watched a lot of TV. There was the NCAA FCs Football semi-finals, Chatanooga vs. New Hampshire.  Watching a game between two teams I could care less about is a lot more relaxing than watching one of My Teams. Yes, I’m a poor loser. And I watched the fourth quarter and overtime of the Lakers vs. the San Antonio Spurs.   If you are a sports fan at all, you know my Lakers suck this year … if you’ll pardon the expression … but they managed to win on a last second three-pointer by Nick Young.  Yay.   I’ve watched the tail end of The Avengers and  Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.  I watched USC try their best to lose to Army in basketball and win anyway and I watched UCLA try their best to beat Gonzaga and lose anyway.  Double yay.  And naturally, since I’ve spent the so much time in front of the TV, I’ve gotten to watch advertisers Highjacking Christmas in the annual barrage of December TV commercials.

The Perfect Body

In the interests of scrupulous honesty, let me say that this is not a picture of my current body.  If it were, there might be a record number of CONTROL-ALT-DELETEs today (yeah, as if enough people will actually see this post to move the needle.  One can only dream).   It was taken perhaps thirty years ago when my obsession was running, not writing, as I was approaching the transition area of a triathlon.  Oh, I still do triathlons, just of a different sort.  These days the three events are blogging, gardening and walking (truth: eating is in there somewhere but doesn’t that sound bad?).  So, while you admire the bod I once had, let me talk about an article I saw on the internet (OK, perhaps my current triathlon is surfing the internet, eating and blogging.  Which explains my current bod).  Apparently, Victoria’s Secret has produced a new advertisement titled The Perfect Body (go figure) that has come in for substantial criticism for sending the wrong message to our young women (go figure).  These are the bodies in The Perfect Body commercial, by the way.

Hamburgers and Hamsters

A few years before I retired from Big Industry, an enlightened Division Manager decided that all his executives, including Principal Engineers, needed to learn about marketing.  He enrolled us in a ten week Executive Marketing Course at an unnamed university** in Los Angeles where we learned how to do market research and and conduct advertising campaigns.  I got to participate in a focus group, testing the market for electronic tire pressure monitors among Harley Davidson owners.  I learned how to design advertising for different market segments and I learned about target demographics.   It was all very interesting … and a great deal of fun … but since we only dealt with the Department of Defense, which told us exactly what they wanted in specifications, it was pretty useless information.  Sometimes, though, it all comes back when I watch the advertisements that make it to TV.

Endorsements

On my way to a doctor’s appointment this morning, I was listening to talk radio, not my usual sports talk but a news show.  Do your remember when we tuned to FM radio because they played fewer commercials?  Of course you don’t … it was eight and a half million years ago.  These days, talk radio has almost as many commercials as talk, unless you count the commercials delivered by the talk show hosts themselves.  I’ve always thought that a journalist loses credibility when he does commercials on his own show but given the state of radio journalism … sports talk or not … is there really any credibility to lose?  Still, whether it’s a sportstalk host hyping male hair removal or a political commentator hyping his own brand of iced tea, I’m inclined to prefer professionally done ads.  Sometimes, they even provide blog-fodder.

I Ain’t Buyin’ It

As I age, I find I have less and less patience with commercials, which is one of the reasons that Muri and I rarely watch TV together unless I’ve recorded it on Tivo.  She gets tired on my ongoing commentary on the commercials and my monologues with the product spokesman.    Still, occasionally we watch an old movie or sports together and she has to put up with it.   So here on Top Sites Tuesday #238, once again, I’m going offer Two Thoughts on Tuesday on the commercials I love to hate.  The other night, the network kept playing the latest series of H&R Block commercials a green bow-tied tax accountant telling us we need to get our billion dollars back.

Late but Cranky

OK.  You were warned.  In writing about my holiday good cheer while Holiday Shopping, I told you I keep my Inner Curmudgeon locked in the basement during December and that by the time I let my Inner Curmudgeon out in early January, he’s pissed.  When I opened his cage door on New Years Day, he reminded me that I didn’t even let him rant about our least favorite holiday commercials.  So, before I head out into the world today, I’m going to let him have his rant.  Perhaps if he lets off some steam, he won’t get me into a fist fight in the park with some helicopter Mom who’s letting her child throw rocks at my ducks.

Laugh Insurance

If you are a regular reader here on Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog you know that periodically I wax curmudgeonly over TV commercials.  Occasionally, after a particularly dumb ad, I’ll turn to my wife, Muri, and say, I can’t believe they actually paid someone to write this crap.  But pay they do, to the tune of 36 Billion dollars for TV  advertising in the first half of 2013.  That’s Billion with a B.  I also frequently wonder whether advertising actually works … I can’t think of a single time that memories of a commercial influenced my purchases.  In fact, I’ve been inclined not to buy products whose advertisements I found annoying or stupid (At this point my grandkids would say, You said a bad word, Papa. You’re not supposed to say stupid.  And I’d say, OK.  But they don’t read my blog, so stupid it is).   According to an article in The Atlantic by Nigel Hollis, I’m wrong about advertising … it does affect me.  And that’s what I want to talk about here on Top Sites Tuesday #226 – Two Thoughts on Tuesday.

Is Anyone Listening?

You know, I work hard to keep Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog stocked with interesting posts.  I offer mature views on life, movie and theater reviews and music.  I talk about marriage and spirituality.  Yes, I occasionally rant like the curmudgeon that I am but even then, I try to keep my sense of humor.  But sometimes … just sometimes … I wonder, Is Anyone Listening?   Case in point – AT&T.  I’ve been an AT&T customer for longer than most of their employees have been alive, so they should be listening to me.   It’s about those commercials.  You know the ones I mean.   The ones with Beck Bennett, sitting in the classroom with the uber-precious kids spouting clearly scripted precocity.  What’s better, more or less?   What’s something slow you’d like to make faster?  I know, I know, these are subjects tangentially related to mobile phone service but should I really care what a bunch of kids say?  These commercials are so annoying I actually change the channel to avoid them.  I’ve posted about them before … why are they still on the air?   Yeah, yeah, I know.  You are a telecommunication giant and sixty-nine year old men are not your target demographic.  Most people actually LIKE these annoying little larva.   The other day, Muri and I were trying to decide between fast food and a sit-down restaurant and she asked me, Which is better, faster or slower? sounding just like that dork in the commercials.   So I get it, AT&T … you’re not going to take what I’m sure you see as very successful commercials off the air to satisfy one old curmudgeon.  But your latest commercial crosses the line.  The gloves are off.