Just another WordPress site

As CNN aptly quotes, “Mmm…renewal.” According the story, the renewal will allow The Simpsons to become the longest-running TV comedy, edging out The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet. I’m really happy to hear that the show is guaranteed to be around for at least a couple more years but worry that it will become tired and stale. Some particularly bad episodes like last week’s make me wonder whether the writing has already sunk to that level. However, in my opinion this season overall has seen a slight upsurge in the quality and humor of its episodes, although still paling in comparison to some of the earlier seasons. Let’s hope this good news doesn’t lead to complacency…

Apparently the former Skid Row frontman is performing the dual lead in “Jekyll & Hyde” on Broadway. I found this somewhat surreal bit of information on a blog of sorts by none other than Adam Curry, former MTV VJ. In this entry, he has a pretty fun story about hanging with Sebastian Bach in Moscow in 1989.

An arrest warrant was issued for Bobby Brown by a Dekalb County, Georgia judge for violating an order not to leave the state pending his trial on a drunk driving charge. How did they know he had left the state, you may ask? Well, when you perform live at the *televised* American Music Awards in *Los Angeles*, it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. What a dumbass.

For an addictive game, try Flash Flash Revolution. It’s basically like one of those dance arcade games with the pads you step on to the beat, but here you hit the arrow keys instead. It sounds simplistic, but don’t be fooled…

adweek.com presents its list of the Top 20 Ad Campaigns of the Last 20 Years. Each entry in the list is linked to a page with more information and examples from their respective campaigns. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Coke and Pepsi made the list, but I was quite happy to see that Absolut did as well. I’ve been collecting Absolut ads since the early ‘90s and never tire of their variety and originality; I have well over 600 now and still keep up the collection.

There are several recent TV ad campaigns that may eventually make a list such as this one. I’m guessing that more of the people producing these ads are close to my age; the references, music, and sense of humor used in many of them definitely point in that direction. However, I predict a backlash to this sudden nostalgia. I have a strong connection to music, so when someone suddenly appropriates a song and plays it ad nauseum, it really bothers me that my impression of the song becomes tainted. I suppose that’s what remote controls are for, but it doesn’t change the fact that many songs I considered forgotten gems have become mainstream sell-outs.

Well-known author John le Carré has written an eloquent op-ed piece on W and his Crusade (W’s horrible gaffe, not mine) in the UK’s Times Online. Although lately most of Europe has been on a general anti-American spree, it’s not without some merit. le Carré voices some legitimate concerns that the American press has seemed to ignore…

…or maybe just morons. ZDNet reports on a study finding that “78 percent of respondents claimed they found pop-up ads ‘very annoying,’” yet statistics in another study show that “pop-up impressions jumped from 1.2 billion to 4.9 billion between January 2002 and September 2002.” One explanation offered is that “Current click-through rates are inflated because many Internet users are not familiar with how to close the pop-up window.” Even though I never underestimate the stupidity of the average user, that just can’t be right. I think that for whatever reason some people just can’t resist clicking on those stupid pop-ups, ensuring that they get enough hits to stick around. DON’T DO IT! With Mozilla as my browser I can’t remember the last time I saw a pop-up ad (newer versions of Netscape have the same capability, I believe), and even with Micro$oft IE there are applications to filter out pop-ups. Use them. Love them. And stop clicking on those damn ads!

I kid you not, although I wish I was. “Director Steven Soderbergh and actor George Clooney are eyeing a March 2004 start date for "Ocean’s Twelve,” a sequel to the hit 2001 Las Vegas crime caper.“ Ocean’s 11 was an OK movie, but not strong enough to merit a sequel in my opinion. And then there’s the matter of the story. It was a fun plot, but one that forced you to suspend your disbeliefs in the name of movie magic the entire time. So Hollywood’s reaction is to milk it for all it’s worth with yet another improbable situation with an even larger ensemble cast. Sorry, can’t see that working…

“The disguised e-mails, being sent to key Iraqi leaders, urge them to give up, to dissent and to defect,” as well as touting foolproof penile enlargement techniques and get rich quick schemes. OK, I made up the last part (at least, I hope I did).

This page has a huge collection of the advertising artwork of Theodore Geisel AKA Dr. Seuss. I knew he did something like that before becoming famous for his children’s books, but I had no idea of the extent of his work. It’s a little disconcerting to see his familiar style in such a different context…