Disasters Make Great Band Names

Plot To Blow Up the Eiffel Tower: nefarious Islamic terrorist scheme, or just a great name for a band? You decide. I wonder if Tsunami Bomb considered changing their name after, you know, the Big One.

The Saudi Kingdom: A Great Place to Live

Horrifying AP story making the rounds on Valentine's Day. You're never going to believe this, but the Saudis aren't at all down with Valentine's Day and have banned the sale of red roses to anyone, anywhere, at anytime. This is, according to NPR, because red roses promote love. Not that a fella has much of a chance of actually presenting his girl with flowers anyway, as "men and women cannot go for a drive together, have a meal or talk on the street unless they are close relatives." So you see, it's basically a big happy party every day of the year over in Riyadh. Instead of me getting on my soapbox yet again about theocracy, just read the article and become as incensed as I am.

Oh and by the way, Hindu Nationalists are jerks too.

Early Returns

We're still early in the pre-game here on Superbowl Sunday, but there's already been a few notable ads, namely from direcTV and Pizza Hut. The direcTV spot featuring the man walking through the metaphorical rooms of his life as he and TV technology develop. It's a great looking spot, with the only shortcoming being the grotesque makeup job on the actor as he becomes old. Why don't they just cast an older guy who looks like the younger actor? I can't think of a single example of anyone pulling off one of those "make him look like an old man" makeup jobs. Anyway, I think DirecTV played it smart today by buying a bunch of ad time during the pre-game at what I'm sure is a marked discount. It's defitely an "in-game" worthy ad, and what they lose in total viewership they make up for in repetition.

Here's the thing about Pizza Hut's ads with the muppets. I never get tired of 'em. It's weird, but the muppets are always a safe bet for me, and probably for a lot of other people. Who doesn't like the muppets? In fact, maybe the ad fails in that it only makes me more interested in muppets. I went online almost immediately to see if I could find some more clips of Animal being Animal. I love that guy.

Last thing before the game starts (maybe): I'm already prepared to announce that I don't care for the Cadillac ads. Remember your high school class elections? Always just a popularity contest, inevitably some poor kid hung in there trying to get some attention for his candidacy. He'd hand out candy and hang up painstakingly crafted yet still hokey campaign signs; even convince a few people to stop in the hallway to listen to their stump speech, with the only result being sympathetic acknowledgement and a failure to convince anyone at all. He just didn't quite have cool figured out, and thus couldn't shake his outsider stigma. That's Cadillac all the way. Still sticking with the outdated Led Zeppelin music in all their spots, still accosting us with Gary Sinise's grating VO, still telling us till they're blue in the face that this Cadillac is not the same as the one that sat in your grandparents' garage for 18 years. I'd love to be proven wrong about this and see Caddy revive its brand and pull a Mazda, but I don't see it happening. I see millions of guys watching the ads then thinking to themselves "I might be in the market for a new car, but I'm pretty sure I'm not at all comfortable with telling a woman that I drive a Cadillac. Especially when I can buy a brand-new, completely stacked Nissan Z convertable for 10 grand less."