August 2007 - Posts
We've just discussed the best and worst commercials, but how about spending a day on another "worst" -- worst song lyrics? A friend sent me this link from Spinner.com, which is chock full of fun music lists -- saddest songs, monumental flops, best opening lyrics, worst band photos and more. But the list that caught my eye was their list of the 20 worst lyrics ever.
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As always, it was a close race. Which commercial would be chosen the year's worst, enshrined into the MSNBC.com Hall of Fame along with Digger the Dermatophyte, the woman plugging a boat leak with Tampax, and HeadOn? (Apply directly to your forehead!) There were plenty of strong contenders for the "worst" honor, whereas your choices for "best" ad were kind of all over the place.
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Another round of Multi-link Monday. Tomorrow we'll announce the TV commercial winner (and loser), so be sure to check back then.
• To dreeeeeam....the impossible dreeeeeam. To taaaaaake...the Impossible Quiiiiiiiiiiz... It may not be impossible for you, but it sure is for me. It's a good day when I can get past the first question! Warning: Takes a while to load, but it's worth it. You only get three lives, but you can start over as many times as you want.
• I've linked to SodaConstructor before, but not in a while. It's a cool site that lets you build goofy, springy models and watch them move all around. Like learning physics without the stress of the tests and the homework.
• Usually I link to pretty light fare in Multi-link Monday, but this is more serious. Vanity Fair has a long article about Arthur Miller's son, Daniel, born with Down Syndrome in 1966, when attitudes were much different than they are now. Daniel was institutionalized for much of his life, and his father seems never to have come to terms with him, but the story has a happy ending in that Daniel is now living with a couple who take care of him.
• Our recent Guilty Pleasures feature included one editor admitting her GP is a Weblog about Baby-Sitters' Club books. That series is too young for me, but I have to share these two Weblogs dissecting the Sweet Valley High series, 1Bruce1 and The DairiBurger. Oh, those gorgeous identical twins, their paradise of a California town, and their so-called "problems."
• Reader-submitted link: Misti sends The Oracle of Starbucks, which she picked up from Slate. "If you type in your regular coffee order it will tell you about yourself," she writes. "Apparently I (venti white chocolate mocha) am clueless, and possibly a stripper." Don't feel bad, Misti -- I tried typing in three different drinks and got the "clueless stripper" comment each and every time. Hmm...
On Tuesday, I offered up links to a batch of your favorite TV commercials (couldn't get to them all, but tried to find the most frequently mentioned ads). Now it's time to let the really bad ads have their due. Consider yourself warned: Watch these commercials at your own risk.
These aren't the only ads in contention, so feel free to mention other ads, or comment on these, in the comments. And then give thanks for TiVo and the blessed fast-forward button.
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We're down to the last week of the TV commercial contest. I'll announce the results on Tuesday, Aug. 28. But as a refresher, here's as many clips as I could find of some of the front-runners in the "best ad" category. (I'll add the "worst ad" links later this week.)
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Just a note: If you'd like to suggest a link for Multi-link Monday, you can either post it in the comments or send an email to testpattern (at) msnbc.com. Posting it in the comments is just as easy, and I read it more quickly. (Don't worry, link suggestions don't get posted immediately, they sit there until I can use them, and then I copy them out of the comment for use on a Monday. You get credit, of course.) The Test Pattern mailbox works, but it's a haven for spam, and I don't check it as often.
• Is there a book from your childhood that you've been racking your brains to recall? For $2, you can submit a description to Stump the Bookseller, and people will try to reunite you with that favorite tome. It's also fun to look at the list of most-requested titles, which includes a series dear to my heart -- Lenora Mattingly Weber's Beany Malone books.
• There are plenty of fun baby-name sites out there, but Nymbler tries to pick names you'll like by first letting you select other names that strike your fancy. You can also block names you dislike. It didn't really work well for me -- the names it suggested were pretty boring --but others have raved about it.
• I'm a big fan of the Showtime series "Weeds," which features a different artist performing Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" as its theme song each week. The show is holding a contest: Make your own music video of the song and send it in -- you could win $10,000. (Link via the wonderful Pop Candy.)
• I've linked to this before, but it now has a new URL. Stuck in voice-mail hell and frustrated because you can't seem to fight through the recorded loop and reach a real person? GetHuman.com offers tips and tricks on what phone buttons to press to break through to major companies from all over the nation. Pressing "0" works often, but not always.
• Reader-submitted link: Jen in Houston shares this very cool YouTube video of an extraordinary artist, saying "A friend of mine forwarded me this and I thought it might count as a candidate for Multi-link Monday. It's certainly worth watching. Be sure to watch all the way to the end for the big reveal!"
Our summer TV commercial contest is winding down. I'll announce the winner -- and the big loser -- on Tuesday, Aug. 28. But before we get there, let's discuss one of the hot-button topics relating to TV commercials: Ads for personal products, from hygiene items to medications to birth control and more.
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A few weeks ago, while I was attending the TV critics' summer press tour, a friend and I decided we were tired of being surrounded by today's stars. So we headed off just a few miles from our hotel to visit the final resting places of some of yesterday's stars.
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Let's start off the week right with five fun time-wasting Web sites.
• Which book are you? Take this fun (and short!) quiz, and if you don't like your results, go back and change one answer and it will take you through an entirely different path. Apparently I'm "Watership Down."
• Rolling Stone often features controversial list of the best bands ever. But here's one writer's list of the top 10 fictional bands of all time. I'm glad he included The Rutles and Billy and the Boingers ("Bloom County" fans are nodding in recognition about now), but as much as the #1 band is a campy classic, did it really deserve the top spot? Above Spinal Tap? (Via Metafilter.)
• Teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman has built a scale model of Disneyland in his back yard. Apparently the bluest skies he's ever seen are not in Seattle, but in Anaheim. (Via Danny's Land.)
• Here's a link for cat-lovers -- and possibly, for cat-haters. Japan really knows how to pamper and humiliate its pets at the same time. I think if I dressed my cat up as Hello Kitty he would wait until I was fast asleep and then kill me.
• This week's reader-submitted link is from Tanya in California. She says: "Here's an addicting site that I love. ... Remember 'sand art' from when we were kids? This is very similar, and very cool to play. Have fun!" Don't miss the cool gallery of art that's already been made.
We've been discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly TV commercials for most of the summer. It's turned out to be quite easy this year to find some purely awful ads, but a lot tougher to find good ones that we can get a consensus on.
We'll see what happens in our new polls. I've pored over past posts and comments and selected 13 frequently mentioned good ads, and 13 bad ones. If you don't see your favorite or least favorite commercials mentioned, that doesn't mean they can't still win -- please post them in the blog comments, I may have forgotten a top contender.
Vote here for the BEST commercial.
Vote here for the WORST commercial.
Obviously 2007 isn't yet over, but shoot for ads that have aired this calendar year (and which haven't won the contest before). It's OK if the ad is one of a series that's been around for a while...so many people mentioned Mac vs. PC that I included that series, because Apple keeps making new versions. For some ads, I mention a very specific commercial, for others, I mention a concept -- it depended on whether a certain ad seemed to catch viewers' notice or the entire series did.
As happens almost every year, there's one ad that really splits the audience. Half the viewers seem to love it, half can't stand it. The Geico Cavemen have split your vote in the past, but this year it's the text-messaging kid in the "IDK, my BFF Jill" ad. You'll see that commercial in both polls, so vote as you like.
The poll will not be the final determination of who wins -- online polls are incredibly easy to fix for any bored Web surfer with a few minutes to spare. But I'm hoping it will help narrow down the competitors. Vote away!
The TV critics usually make time for a couple of set visits on press tour. Last year we hung out in the operating rooms of Seattle Grace Hospital via our "Grey's Anatomy" visit, and walked the hallowed halls of The Barn in Farmington on "The Shield." This year, set-touring day was jam-packed with a half-dozen visits, but I was easily most excited about our trip to the "Heroes" set.
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Here's our weekly roundup of intriguing, time-wasting Web sites, also known as Multi-link Monday.
• Reader-submitted link: I know I've linked to this before, but I still love it. The Pop vs. Soda page lets you select what you call a carbonated soft drink (pop? soda? Coke no matter what flavor it is?) and then plots it out on a map of the nation. I'm from Minnesota, and we ALL say "pop," none of this "soda" business. Thanks to Tiffanie for the link!
• Have you seen WalkScore.com? Plug in your address (home, work, whatever) and it rates how walkable the area is as far as reaching stores, theaters and the like. I wish I'd known about this when we were looking for a house.
• Ruh-roh! Real crime, or "Scooby-Doo" plot? Take this quiz and see if you can tell.
• "Superman Returns" has been out for a year, but this game is still kind of addictive: Play Jimmy Olsen and see if you can snap a front-page photo of Superman. I am Super-horrible at this.
• I've just discovered wardrobe weblogs, where ordinary folks share their fashion choices each day. There are plenty out there, but I especially like Dress Kevin (vote on what Kevin should wear each day) and What's My Wardrobe Today? I can't imagine sharing this kind of info on a daily basis, but it's kind of fun to page through someone else's closet.
TV critics often hear from viewers who are angry that there are so many reality shows on TV, and since the number of sitcoms is dwindling, they blame the reality shows for pushing out the comedies. That may be true in part, but if the sitcoms being pushed out are anything like ABC's new "Carpoolers," I'm not crying too many tears for them.
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It's my experience that those who read James Patterson books really, really
love James Patterson books. When I read crime books, I tend more towards Jonathan Kellerman myself, but Patterson's fans are legion. And his works are no strangers to the screen, whether big or small: "Kiss the Girls" and "Along Came a Spider" have become films, while various other books have been turned into TV movies. Now, though, an entire ABC series "Women's Murder Club," is based on Patterson's books.
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At the summer press tour, it's surprising how little personal time critics actually spend talking about the new fall shows. We're so buried in factoids about them all day long that when we get a chance, we want to discuss something -- anything -- else. But when shows are discussed, the question we ask each other most is "Which shows have you liked?" The same five or so shows almost always come up, and ABC's "Pushing Daisies" is almost always among them.
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