Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 02:48PM Tahoe Skiier and daredevil Chuck Patterson shows some wild new approaches to the big waves in Hawaii on two planks! Go figure.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 01:45PM Here's a heart warming story about man and animal sent to me by my friend Sissy. The story is about Damian Aspinall's reunion with a gorilla five years after the ape was returned to the wild. From a filmic standpoint the sweetness of the tale is driven home by a simple orchestral piano track. It's quite a moving piece but note the story telling is simple and straightforward. No tricks. I like it a lot, plus it's an elegant little tale. It's called Gorilla Reunion, from a show called Gorilla School.
Monday, February 7, 2011 at 11:32AM All in all the ads were not so impressive this year. Not sure why they were so sub-par but I was disappointed. One of my perennial favorites - BUDWEISER and BUD LIGHT were HUGE disappointments, and newcomer CARMAX's ads were stupid.
Here's a link to the Advertising Age Web site with ALL the SUPER BOWL XLV ads
ETRADE came through with a little better than average with its Tailor and Cat spots. My favorites - COKE's Border Crossing and the DORITOS Pug.
The Pug ad won its creator a million dollars, but the Pug ad itself was created for only $500! Here's the ad and an interview with its creator, JR Burningham, on CNBC.
Incidentally the Pug ad won the 'Best Ad' nod from USA Today.
Too much humor fell flat. The other Doritos ad that had the guy licking the other guy's finger was dumb. The mattress ads were kind of racy, but have no idea who the advertiser is. GROUPON was kind of funny, MERCEDES Welcome with a P Diddy cameo falls flat. PEPSI MAX - funny ad but horrible execution. They picked the wrong director for one.
The star commercials were really bad - SNICKERS with Roaseane and Richard Lewis, TELEFLORA with Faith Hill, GO DADDY with Joan Rivers - Boo, Boo and Boo to ALL of them. The Chrysler ad is great... but the ending with Eminem is sooooo LAME. Eminem is a wanker, so far from tough. His point to camera is bogus too. They almost had me with this one, but putting Eminem in the picture lost me. Eminem really went for broke with his sell out in the Brisk Iced tea claymation spot. He may be a good musician but he don't belong in ads.
Finally, in the better than average column we'll give a B- to VOLKSWAGEN for the Force and a B to the Beetle ad. Let's cross our fingers that all these advertisers kept some powder dry for the Ladies Super Bowl coming up in three weeks - The Academy Awards on Feb 27.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 12:48PM Here are two of my favorite Super Bowl commercials, one from 2002 and one from 2003. Let's start with the funny stuff. Simple but fantastic.
The second is a somber homage to 9/11. It was shown one time only during the Super Bowl. Still gives me shivers.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 09:49AM The fine art of animation has been cheapened in many ways by shortcuts, and cost savers... but every once in a while someone does it right, and that's a fantastic treat. Honda's Unpredictable life animated commercial takes you on an aninmated voyage that rocks. Great animation, great music and a soothing voice over make it a wonderful voyage in much the same way as classic Disney animation. So take a wonderful trip!