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THE TRUMP-GRIMACE CONNECTION
Mar. 14th, 2016 06:16 pmSo this happened in 2002.
Two words: running mate.
Burger time,
This is dF
Two words: running mate.
Burger time,
This is dF
THE BLUE LIGHT
Oct. 12th, 2015 05:09 pmITEM [via Chart Attack]: A former K-Mart employee has uploaded 56 cassettes worth of K-Mart background music on the internets.
Here’s the October 1989 edition.
I listened to some of it. It’s a somewhat surreal experience, especially when the seeded store promos kick in.
I’m fascinated by stuff like this. Not the music itself so much as the packaging of it. I came across stuff similar to this in various music libraries of radio stations back when I was employed in the business – some on cassette, some on vinyl. We didn’t use them – they’d just never been thrown out. Or in the case of the cassettes, they were often reused for recording, but sometimes the original content was still there.
Anyway, as awful as the music is, it had a purpose – the songs weren’t chosen at random or slapped on in any order. The New Yorker has a pretty interesting tl;dr article about Musak (the former king of elevator music, defunct as of 2013) and the art of “audio architecture” here, if you want to know more.
Alternately, here's the abbreviated Mental Floss version.
The soundtrack of our lives,
This is dF
Here’s the October 1989 edition.
I listened to some of it. It’s a somewhat surreal experience, especially when the seeded store promos kick in.
I’m fascinated by stuff like this. Not the music itself so much as the packaging of it. I came across stuff similar to this in various music libraries of radio stations back when I was employed in the business – some on cassette, some on vinyl. We didn’t use them – they’d just never been thrown out. Or in the case of the cassettes, they were often reused for recording, but sometimes the original content was still there.
Anyway, as awful as the music is, it had a purpose – the songs weren’t chosen at random or slapped on in any order. The New Yorker has a pretty interesting tl;dr article about Musak (the former king of elevator music, defunct as of 2013) and the art of “audio architecture” here, if you want to know more.
Alternately, here's the abbreviated Mental Floss version.
The soundtrack of our lives,
This is dF
I get spam.
Sometimes it’s from law firms.
And sometimes it’s a bit terrifying.
The mind boggles.
Answer the question,
This is dF
Sometimes it’s from law firms.
And sometimes it’s a bit terrifying.
The mind boggles.
Answer the question,
This is dF
Oh, and also you’ll be able to do yr shopping list via TV.
[Via A Word From Our Sponsor]
Wrap it up,
This is dF
[Via A Word From Our Sponsor]
Wrap it up,
This is dF
You probably know by now that U2 has a new album out. And odds are you already knew that because it suddenly appeared in your iTunes. Or, if you don’t have an iCloud account, you knew about it because of all the iCloud users going insane on Twitter about finding some f***ing new U2 album on their f***ing iTunes and how the f*** do I f****ing delete it and BTW what the f***ing f***, Apple?
I think the outrage is a little overdone, but I can see why people are annoyed. I admit I didn’t, at first – my first thought was, “It’s in the cloud – it’s only on yr device if you download it. Don’t want it? Just delete it. What’s the big deal?”
This is because my own iTunes account isn’t set for automatic downloads of purchased items. Many people do set their iDevices for auto download, which means an album they didn’t ask for just ate up some of their data plan and is now taking up valuable storage space on their iDevice. So I can see why that would bug people.
Many users are also bugged that Apple is sticking things in their iCloud account without at least asking first, which is also understandable – especially given recent revelations about iCloud’s security issues. It’s sort of like U2 sneaking into yr house and slipping their new album into yr record collection – or, for the auto download people, sticking it in the CD changer of yr stereo.
Of course, it seems a lot of the complaints are based on the premise that U2 fucking sucks and I don't want their fucking albums even for free, fuck you U2. Which suggests that they might object to it less if Apple had given them a free album by a band they actually like.
Anyway, the whole episode is a bit strange, as new album promotions go. Reportedly Apple, U2 and Universal were negotiating this for about a year. U2’s motivations are pretty obvious – Apple’s are less clear. According to Forbes, it’s probably a tactic to beef up iTunes (which saw music sales drop last year, due to more popular streaming services like Spotify and Pandora) and a way to promote Beats Music (the streaming music service Apple bought a few months ago).
Whatever Apple in mind, they clearly didn't really think it through in terms of how users would react to it. I guess you can look at it as an interesting consumer experiment in music distribution. Lesson learned: if you want to give away music online, ask first. I mean, the deal with U2 included a $100 million marketing campaign. Surely some of that money could have covered the cost of sending every iTunes user an email with a link to the album if they wanted to download it. The reaction probably would have been more favorable.
Of course, if they did it that way, then Tim Cook wouldn’t be able to say that Songs Of Innocence is the “largest album release in history” (on the grounds that Apple’s 500 million iTunes users “purchased” it). But Billboard has said it isn't playing along with that tactic.
And so much for that.
As for the actual album … is it any good?
I’ll let you know when I listen to it. I will say two things in advance:
1. I do like U2, but not all of their albums are great. That’s particularly true of their previous album No Line On The Horizon, IMO.
2. The preview tracks I heard on iTunes before I downloaded it weren’t very inspiring. But you can’t always tell with previews. And hey, free album.
Well, we’ll see. Stay tuned.
All that you can't leave behind,
This is dF
I think the outrage is a little overdone, but I can see why people are annoyed. I admit I didn’t, at first – my first thought was, “It’s in the cloud – it’s only on yr device if you download it. Don’t want it? Just delete it. What’s the big deal?”
This is because my own iTunes account isn’t set for automatic downloads of purchased items. Many people do set their iDevices for auto download, which means an album they didn’t ask for just ate up some of their data plan and is now taking up valuable storage space on their iDevice. So I can see why that would bug people.
Many users are also bugged that Apple is sticking things in their iCloud account without at least asking first, which is also understandable – especially given recent revelations about iCloud’s security issues. It’s sort of like U2 sneaking into yr house and slipping their new album into yr record collection – or, for the auto download people, sticking it in the CD changer of yr stereo.
Of course, it seems a lot of the complaints are based on the premise that U2 fucking sucks and I don't want their fucking albums even for free, fuck you U2. Which suggests that they might object to it less if Apple had given them a free album by a band they actually like.
Anyway, the whole episode is a bit strange, as new album promotions go. Reportedly Apple, U2 and Universal were negotiating this for about a year. U2’s motivations are pretty obvious – Apple’s are less clear. According to Forbes, it’s probably a tactic to beef up iTunes (which saw music sales drop last year, due to more popular streaming services like Spotify and Pandora) and a way to promote Beats Music (the streaming music service Apple bought a few months ago).
Whatever Apple in mind, they clearly didn't really think it through in terms of how users would react to it. I guess you can look at it as an interesting consumer experiment in music distribution. Lesson learned: if you want to give away music online, ask first. I mean, the deal with U2 included a $100 million marketing campaign. Surely some of that money could have covered the cost of sending every iTunes user an email with a link to the album if they wanted to download it. The reaction probably would have been more favorable.
Of course, if they did it that way, then Tim Cook wouldn’t be able to say that Songs Of Innocence is the “largest album release in history” (on the grounds that Apple’s 500 million iTunes users “purchased” it). But Billboard has said it isn't playing along with that tactic.
And so much for that.
As for the actual album … is it any good?
I’ll let you know when I listen to it. I will say two things in advance:
1. I do like U2, but not all of their albums are great. That’s particularly true of their previous album No Line On The Horizon, IMO.
2. The preview tracks I heard on iTunes before I downloaded it weren’t very inspiring. But you can’t always tell with previews. And hey, free album.
Well, we’ll see. Stay tuned.
All that you can't leave behind,
This is dF
CANTON-EASY!
Aug. 18th, 2014 12:28 pmCirca 1959:
Also, when you have Chun King luau parties, remember that it's bad form to point out that luaus are Hawaiian, not Chinese.
[Via Simple Dreams]
See also: This TV ad for Chun King, written by Stan Freberg. Featuring Arte Johnson as the lift operator.
FUN FACT: Chun King was actually started by an Italian guy from Minnesota – the same guy who came up with Jeno’s Pizza Rolls. (Like egg rolls, only it’s pizza!)
King of chun,
This is dF
Also, when you have Chun King luau parties, remember that it's bad form to point out that luaus are Hawaiian, not Chinese.
[Via Simple Dreams]
See also: This TV ad for Chun King, written by Stan Freberg. Featuring Arte Johnson as the lift operator.
FUN FACT: Chun King was actually started by an Italian guy from Minnesota – the same guy who came up with Jeno’s Pizza Rolls. (Like egg rolls, only it’s pizza!)
King of chun,
This is dF
THE PAWS THAT REFRESHES
Mar. 19th, 2014 10:52 amJapan makes chewing gum so refreshing it feels like a giant cat is carrying you to the office.
No, really.
[Via Archie McPhee]
That’s good gum,
This is dF
No, really.
[Via Archie McPhee]
That’s good gum,
This is dF
You know the one I mean – the Super Bowl TV ad where people sang “America The Beautiful” in languages other than English, causing certain people of a particular political persuasion to lose their shit?
Yeah, that one.
Obviously I think the whole thing is just stoopid – partly for reasons John Scalzi has covered particularly well, and partly because no one – not even jingoistic dingbats – should be surprised that Coke is invoking the idea of racial harmony and other Communist concepts as an ad hook. I mean, it’s not like they’ve never done this before in an iconic way or anything.
But then we live in an age of revisionist/alternative history where yr preconceived beliefs can always be instantly reinforced, so it’s not like past history actually means anything anymore.
That said, I do think it’s easy to focus indignant outrage on a particular group of ignorant dingbats and say, “That’s how bad it is in America right now.” Which would be true if these people represented any kind of mainstream.
I’m not that convinced that they are. Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. But look, when yr benchmark is “Of the dumb-ass extremist bigots we cherrypicked off Twitter, 100% expressed dumb-ass extremist bigoted opinions,” it’s a little hard for me to get that worked up over it.
Okay, sure, you can point to the conservative talk radio people going off on the ad. But of all the names I've seen mentioned, only a couple of them pull ratings of over 1 million listeners a week, and even if we take the top audience numbers as gospel, yr still talking about maybe 20 million people max.
That’s a big number – especially if yr an advertiser. But compared to the US population, it’s insignificant – less than 5%.
Don't get me wrong – it’s worth knowing such people exist, and it highlights how far we have to go on the whole race/tolerance thing, and that’s worth highlighting because there are far too many politicians and media pundits keen to milk that fear card for everything it’s worth and convince the rest of us that they’re the true voice of America.
But it’s also always worth remembering that these people don’t represent nearly as much of the country as they like to think. So I don’t see the point in investing too much emotional energy into stuff like this.
Besides, you have Glenn Beck complaining that Coke is trying to be divisive after he admitted not two weeks ago that he’s built his career doing exactly that (so he ought to know!). So it’s not like I can take any of this too seriously.
That’s the song I sing,
This is dF
Yeah, that one.
Obviously I think the whole thing is just stoopid – partly for reasons John Scalzi has covered particularly well, and partly because no one – not even jingoistic dingbats – should be surprised that Coke is invoking the idea of racial harmony and other Communist concepts as an ad hook. I mean, it’s not like they’ve never done this before in an iconic way or anything.
But then we live in an age of revisionist/alternative history where yr preconceived beliefs can always be instantly reinforced, so it’s not like past history actually means anything anymore.
That said, I do think it’s easy to focus indignant outrage on a particular group of ignorant dingbats and say, “That’s how bad it is in America right now.” Which would be true if these people represented any kind of mainstream.
I’m not that convinced that they are. Maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part. But look, when yr benchmark is “Of the dumb-ass extremist bigots we cherrypicked off Twitter, 100% expressed dumb-ass extremist bigoted opinions,” it’s a little hard for me to get that worked up over it.
Okay, sure, you can point to the conservative talk radio people going off on the ad. But of all the names I've seen mentioned, only a couple of them pull ratings of over 1 million listeners a week, and even if we take the top audience numbers as gospel, yr still talking about maybe 20 million people max.
That’s a big number – especially if yr an advertiser. But compared to the US population, it’s insignificant – less than 5%.
Don't get me wrong – it’s worth knowing such people exist, and it highlights how far we have to go on the whole race/tolerance thing, and that’s worth highlighting because there are far too many politicians and media pundits keen to milk that fear card for everything it’s worth and convince the rest of us that they’re the true voice of America.
But it’s also always worth remembering that these people don’t represent nearly as much of the country as they like to think. So I don’t see the point in investing too much emotional energy into stuff like this.
Besides, you have Glenn Beck complaining that Coke is trying to be divisive after he admitted not two weeks ago that he’s built his career doing exactly that (so he ought to know!). So it’s not like I can take any of this too seriously.
That’s the song I sing,
This is dF
This post is dedicated to Megyn Kelly.
PRODUCTION NOTE: This post is intended to be tongue-in-cheek.
Any colour you like,
This is dF
PRODUCTION NOTE: This post is intended to be tongue-in-cheek.
Any colour you like,
This is dF
DAMN FINE COFFEE! IN A CAN!
Sep. 4th, 2013 11:26 amRemember when Special Agent Dale Cooper sold out and did coffee commercials in Japan?
Let me refresh yr memory.
It’s a four-part mystery explained and wrapped up in two minutes – half of which is spent extolling the virtues of Georgia Coffee.
Now THAT’S storytelling.
And anyway, it makes about as much sense as Twin Peaks ever did.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks when it aired. But it did kind of lose the plot a third of the way through Season 2. And the less said about Fire Walk With Me the better.
Still, I regard Agent Cooper as one of the greatest TV characters ever created.
FUN FACT: Georgia Coffee wasn’t happy with the results of this campaign. Consequently, plans for a second series of commercials were scrapped.
It’s true,
This is dF
Let me refresh yr memory.
It’s a four-part mystery explained and wrapped up in two minutes – half of which is spent extolling the virtues of Georgia Coffee.
Now THAT’S storytelling.
And anyway, it makes about as much sense as Twin Peaks ever did.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I was a huge fan of Twin Peaks when it aired. But it did kind of lose the plot a third of the way through Season 2. And the less said about Fire Walk With Me the better.
Still, I regard Agent Cooper as one of the greatest TV characters ever created.
FUN FACT: Georgia Coffee wasn’t happy with the results of this campaign. Consequently, plans for a second series of commercials were scrapped.
It’s true,
This is dF
STYX ON WHEELS
Aug. 23rd, 2013 12:13 pmThis was the coolest thing ever in 1979.
[Via The Cult Of Ray]
Well, possibly. But yes, children, at one time Styx really were huge enough to rate a contest like this.
And I should know. I was a fan.
It seems funny now, but Styx really seemed bad-ass when I was in junior-high school. “Renegade” was the big hit on the main rock stations, and sure, they followed that up with “Babe”, but still, a lot of their album cuts were pretty heavy. Also, they were the first band I ever saw live (the Paradise Theatre tour, even – “no opening act”, the ticket said).
And for all that, of all the bands I loved during that time, Styx is the one I haven’t really reconciled myself with yet. I’ll wear my love for Electric Light Orchestra and Wings on my sleeve, but I don’t talk about Styx much.
I’m not sure why. I haven't really listened to them since I graduated from high school, apart from whatever of their hits get played in the background (usually “Babe” or “Come Sail Away”), but in my head, at least, Styx hasn’t aged well as a band. Certainly the lyrics haven't – good as Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw were at writing hit songs, their lyrics often veered between corny and pretentious on any given song. Which works when yr 15, but not when yr 47.
Still, nice van.
PRODUCTION NOTE #1: Notice that the ad is for record store retailers, not Styx fans. I think the idea was to use the van as a promotional tool, or possibly a giveaway.
PRODUCTION NOTE #2: Notice also the “Beta-format Videotape units”.
Oh what a giveaway,
This is dF
[Via The Cult Of Ray]
Well, possibly. But yes, children, at one time Styx really were huge enough to rate a contest like this.
And I should know. I was a fan.
It seems funny now, but Styx really seemed bad-ass when I was in junior-high school. “Renegade” was the big hit on the main rock stations, and sure, they followed that up with “Babe”, but still, a lot of their album cuts were pretty heavy. Also, they were the first band I ever saw live (the Paradise Theatre tour, even – “no opening act”, the ticket said).
And for all that, of all the bands I loved during that time, Styx is the one I haven’t really reconciled myself with yet. I’ll wear my love for Electric Light Orchestra and Wings on my sleeve, but I don’t talk about Styx much.
I’m not sure why. I haven't really listened to them since I graduated from high school, apart from whatever of their hits get played in the background (usually “Babe” or “Come Sail Away”), but in my head, at least, Styx hasn’t aged well as a band. Certainly the lyrics haven't – good as Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw were at writing hit songs, their lyrics often veered between corny and pretentious on any given song. Which works when yr 15, but not when yr 47.
Still, nice van.
PRODUCTION NOTE #1: Notice that the ad is for record store retailers, not Styx fans. I think the idea was to use the van as a promotional tool, or possibly a giveaway.
PRODUCTION NOTE #2: Notice also the “Beta-format Videotape units”.
Oh what a giveaway,
This is dF
MUSIC IS THE SOUND OF WINNING
Jun. 25th, 2013 11:02 amAt least if you ask Benson & Hedges.
[Via Beatnik Daddio]
They're not big Blues fans at B&H, I take it.
Sing when yr winning,
This is dF
[Via Beatnik Daddio]
They're not big Blues fans at B&H, I take it.
Sing when yr winning,
This is dF
