Daily Dose of Common Sense

LG is doing a PSA campaign with James Lipton (of Inside the Actor’s Studio fame) warning teens to think before texting. I’m not sure it’ll work but kudos to LG for tackling the issue.

There are 4 ads, and Lipton’s beard plays an important role in each. This one is my favorite. Yes, Lipton says “tweets about his beets.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8H4CB6ok4E

[Via AdFreak.com]

Too much, too soon. That’s my reaction to this ad from The Gap:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMPWlWDvsI

Actually, I’m not ready for holiday cheer. Not this early, and certainly not with this much enthusiasm. This ad makes me think I’ll never feel cheery again.

Can we just get to Thanksgiving without the holiday hoopla? We know gift-buying season is right around the corner and stores count on consumers opening their wallets to make their year-end profits (especially this year). But, with some stores putting out holiday decorations in August, we’re already feeling creeped out. Give us some space, retailers!

We have now learned that most of us are too lazy to even fast-forward through the commercials in our recorded programs. The NY Times said:

According to Nielsen, 46 percent of viewers 18 to 49 years old for all four networks taken together are watching the commercials during playback, up slightly from last year.

Even the networks are flabbergasted:

“It’s completely counterintuitive,” said Alan Wurtzel, the president of research for NBC.

Apparently, everyone over-estimated us. Experts say TV is a passive activity, which accounts for the reason why viewers sit through ads when they don’t have to.

I watch a lot of TV in the background while doing other things. Therefore, I’m not paying attention to either the show OR the commercials. You say waste of electricity; I say pleasant background noise. But, if I’m really watching a show (perhaps a 30 Rock or Mad Men episode), you better believe I skip the annoying commercials.

So, wake up and don’t waste your time! Skip the ads in your recorded shows. On average, you’ll save 18 minutes during each hour. It may not sound like a lot at first, but here are some suggestions on how to spend an extra 20 minutes in your day. (Write your own obituary? Really?)

Photo

This is a great bit by the Daily Show on the fear-mongering surrounding the H1N1 vaccine. So much misinformation and so little time. But, as usual, the DS and Jon Stewart nail it. Enjoy, and get vaccinated when you can!

[Via RationalMoms]

No, this headline was not from The Onion. The readers of AskMen.com have voted Don Draper–of AMC’s Mad Men–the most influential man of 2009.

Handsome? Yes. Nice dresser? You bet. But most influential man?! This is a fictional character, people. How is he even in the running?

I love Mad Men. Don’t get me wrong. It’s an amazing show. However, Draper’s character isn’t exactly squeaky clean. He stole another man’s identity and began another life, where he fathered three children with a woman he hasn’t been faithful to. Yes, he’s an ad genius. That’s about all Draper’s character does right. Is this what some people aspire to these days?

Last year, the winner in the AskMen poll was Barack Obama. A real person who also happens to be the President. (He’s fallen to #3 on this year’s list.)

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[Thanks, Asylum]

I’m a big fan of TV. We recently got Verizon’s FiOS, which has a crazy amount of channels to choose from. So far, I love it. But, as I’m flipping through the guide, some completely ridiculous shows just jump out at me and beg to be commented on. So, here is our first installation of “shows lacking in any common sense whatsoever.”

Boooo!
It’s a ghost! No, wait–it’s just Medium and Ghost Whisperer. These two shows, which are shown back-to-back in what must the network must have dreamt up as “the crazy-chick block,” are based on the premise that ghosts are real. But, they’re not. No evidence of the paranormal has ever been proven. Sooooooooo…..??

That’s why shows like Psych and The Mentalist are so great. They present paranormal abilities as shams, and stress the use of careful observations to solve crimes.

TLC: W.T.F.?
TLC, originally started as THE LEARNING CHANNEL, has totally gone off the rails. Forget that they give Jon & Kate as well as the circus sideshow with 18 kids a platform. That’s bad. But, it’s shows like I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant, Your Kid Ate What? and Toddlers and Tiaras that really depress me. Is this really the best TLC can do?

While I haven’t watched these three shows, I’m pretty sure the titles tell me all I need to know. I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant. I find that hard to believe and feel very sorry for you and your kid. Your Kid Ate What? Let me guess. Was it really horrible, potentially dangerous, and embarrassing for you, the kid’s parent? So, you’re sharing that memory with the world because….?

Toddlers and Tiaras is just plain wrong. I don’t want to know about a fringe group that dresses up little girls in pageant gowns and Tammy Faye Baker makeup. Please, please, let me live in that ignorance bubble a little while longer. Oh, I can’t? Thanks a LOT, TLC.

Who watches this crap? I’m no TV snob, and will watch (according to my husband) just about anything. But I do draw the line at shows like these.

Tell me what you think. What shows do you think show a lack of sense?

Photo courtesy of Flickr: angelrravelor

Ladies, get a grip.

In their September issue, Glamour magazine printed a picture of a plus-size model. The 20-year old model–who looks refreshingly natural and beautiful–is a size 12-14 and this is her second appearance in Glamour.

Upon seeing the photo, readers went crazy. Finally! they said. Someone like us! Blogs and media everywhere were agog, and some were calling it “the picture you can’t stop talking about.” Here was what the editor-in-chief of Glamour had to say about the response:

I’d loved this photo at first sight myself–we’d commissioned it for a story on feeling comfortable in your skin, and wanted a model who looked like she was. But even so, the letters blew me away: “the most amazing photograph I’ve ever seen in any women’s magazine,” wrote one reader in Pavo, Georgia. From another in Somerset, Massachusetts: “This beautiful woman has a real stomach and did I even see a few stretch marks? This is how my belly looks after giving birth to my two amazing kids! This photo made me want to shout from the rooftops.”

She goes on about the other letters and emails received which say how thrilled women were to see this photo.

While it’s nice of Glamour to throw “real” women a bone, let’s get a sense of perspective here. This photo wasn’t on the cover. It was on page 194. Yeah, that’s 1-9-4. And, it wasn’t even a full-page photo. It was three inches by three inches. So, the image was fairly small and buried somewhere in the magazine. Why, exactly, are we all so ecstatic?

We should be outraged. Don’t give us a puny picture buried somewhere in the magazine. Put average-sized women on the covers. Use “normal” women to model clothes and makeup and hairstyles. The average size for American women is now 12-14, so why can’t the fashion and advertising industries get the hint? Like Liz Lemon on 30 Rock said, “It’s like those Dove commercials never even happened.”

Women should boycott fashion magazines until they get the big picture. Think it’s harmless? The fashion and advertising industries can adversely affect young girls in through negative body image and eating disorders.

So, show the publishing and fashion industries what you really think by NOT buying magazines that promote a gaunt, thin body image. Maybe, when they can’t sell magazines or dresses, they’ll come around. Maybe.

A study just released claims that one in ten teenagers has posted a nude or seminude photo of themselves online. This incredibly high number should cause some head scratching. Like a hasty tattoo, these photos could be hard to later remove and therefore haunt these teens for years.

I have a friend who says that everyone should get nude pictures of themselves taken when they are eighteen years old. He says you’ll never, ever look better so document it while you can. Well, I didn’t and now that I’m sliding down towards forty, I have to say I agree with his logic. So, I certainly can’t begrudge teens for taking racy pictures of themselves. But, posting them online? We all know how iron-clad the online privacy is these days. Do these kids care nothing at all for who sees their photos?

I guess the teens uploading these types of photos aren’t planning careers in politics or anything with a morals clause. Nike might not be thrilled with seeing its star player’s bait and tackle all over the Internet, even if they were old pictures. Before she started scene-stealing on Ugly Betty, Vanessa Williams got in a little bit of trouble due to some nude photos, as have many other actresses. I guess if you’re going into porn, building a fan base with some nude photos might be a smart move. But, I doubt very many teens are thinking about future careers or potential employers. So, what about parents, teachers, classmates, neighbors, or other family members? Not everyone would want Mrs. Mitchell or Uncle Bob to see their racy photos on the Web.

Someone needs to remind kids about long-term ramifications and the Internet. Remember the Facebook privacy bruhaha from earlier in the year? The social network giant caught all kinds of flack after saying they own your content–even after you deactivate your account. Nothing ever goes away, folks. Not even when you delete it.

[Via PatsPapers.com]

Photo courtesy of Flickr: visualdensity

Rupert Murdoch, the powerhouse behind News Corporation, believes that you will pay for online news content. He is confident that sites such as FoxNews.com and NYPost.com can be profitable using a pay-per-article model. The goal is to be so successful that the other news sites follow suit.

It’s true the Internet has taken a huge bite out of the newspaper business. Papers all across the world are struggling as people turn to more immediate and cheaper sources of news. Good reporters and writers aren’t cheap, and maintaining a Web presence is expensive. We’re not begrudging anyone from operating on a pay-per-article basis, as does the online version of the Wall Street Journal (wsj.com). But, with so many sources of free news available, I am not sure users will feel the need to fork over hard-earned cash.

Would you pay to read Page Six online in order to find out who Britney Spears was spotted with last night? Likely not, when you could read it so many other places for free. Murdoch’s goal is to create content so unique and desirable that the cost will make sense to the user. I’m not sure News Corp. is the trailblazer that can pull it off, but good luck with that.

A friend of mine is an author of some computer software books, and he recently told me about his biggest current headache. He spends three to four hours a week chasing down Web sites that post illegal copies of his books. So, three to four hours a week GONE while trying to protect his intellectual property that some other bozos are giving away for free.

If you haven’t written a book, it’s not easy. It takes many, many days and a lot of mental anguish. I know this particular author spent months away from his day-to-day job, his family, his friends, and his life while writing his two books. And yet, some folks think it’s okay to rip it off and offer free digital downloads of the content. So, each week, my friend writes to the various sites to demand they take his book down. So far, all have complied and there’s been no need to hire Arnold T. Pants, Esquire at Law. But, it’s a shame that any author would need to spend so much time on these intellectual property pirates.

This brings back memories of the Napster days, when a lot of people wanted free music downloads without offering the artists any compensation. I know we’re all greedy bastards at heart, but this is stealing. There are a lot of artists out there that depend on the revenue generated from their hard work. And, even if they don’t need the money, people still deserve to be compensated for their thoughts and ideas. You think Stephen King wants someone giving his books away for free?

So, don’t download books for free. There, I said it.

**Shameless Plug Alert! Here are links to my friend’s books. If you need to learn Flash or ActionScript, he’s here to help!