Loving commercials

Most of the time, when it comes to ads, I want to run away like girls ran away from me in kindergarten. And the way they ran away from me in elementary school. And in junior high. And in high school. And in college. But I digress.

The reason why people have stuff like Ad-blocker is because they don't want to see the ads. It might seem obvious but that is the biggest reason why people want to block your ads. It's because your ad sucks. So, actually it doesn't matter if people see them or not, if your ad is uncompelling no one will want to click on it and view it. But if it is compelling then I'll want to see it no matter what.

Case in point. I run a Flash blocker when I use Safari. For the most part I find that most things Flash are just ads. Unless I go specifically to watch a video or play a game, I don't want Flash running around in my browser. But there was one time, the Flash blocker stuttered and allowed me to see a quick picture of the Ivan Brothers. They're a Capital One ad campaign and I spent some time trying to figure out who they were and what they were about.

Which brings us, gentle reader, to the amazing point which you have breathlessly waited for. Chinese people get this stuff. Or at least some of them do. I found that a lot of the ads that I see on TV are actually 30-second pieces of a longer production. For example, this Nissan commercial. Ads should be interesting; that's why they are created, to garner interest for your product. When they suck, like most ads do, people want to run away. But when they're awesome, I'm willing to watch it for more than 30 seconds.

Facebook and me

In college I swore that I would never get a cell-phone. Why did I want to be at somebody else's beck and call? Plus, it would be one more thing for me to forget. After graduating, though, I moved five times in three years. I confessed the folly of my ways and began trying to grow brain tumors near my ears by subjecting myself to low-power EM radiation. I bought a cell-phone. Fast-forward ten years. I swore I'd never be on Facebook. But what do you know:

So a little bit about my friends: me and Ringo used to jam all the time, singing HK pop songs. Whenever I'd see Wai-man I would say stupid stuff like: "No way man!" And Banas… she'd always be eating bananas. I can't wait for our 25-year high school reunion!

Anyways, I just wanted all of you to know that now I have been given the power to share and make the world into three dots. (See above). Face me. Or whatever people say when they want people to add themselves to their Face list.

Wind Bathing

My language class is diverse; we have students that are not only from different countries but are also from different age groups. One of my classmates is an older man from Korea (OMFK). Interacting with folks from different corners of the world is fun and interesting. Sometimes it is mind-boggling. Today was mind-boggling in the most awkward way. And for me to say that is saying a lot. Here's the almost instant replay. By the way, I know you can't read characters. I also know you can't read pinyin. If you could read characters and pinyin, I would write this story using characters and/or pinyin. But you can't, so I won't try to impress you with symbols that mean nothing to you or a string of latin characters that you would mispronounce anyway. Thus, I will relay this story to you in the language that you and I know best, good ol' American English. (Yes, I know that's a misnomer.) Without further ado: Teacher (T): OK, so what are other ways we can exercise. What about you OMFK? OMFK: Um. Well sometimes I like to "wind bathe". T: Hrm. "Wind bathe"? I've never heard of that. I've heard of people sun-bathing. What is "wind bathing"? [At this point, I'm confused and I'm frantically looking in my electronic dictionary. I can find the two characters but nothing is coming up.] Me (English) [To my American classmate]: Hey what does that mean? Classmate (English): Um. To take a wind bath. I have no idea. [So, at this point, I'm thinking I heard wrong. Everyone looks to OMFK for an explanation. His language is mediocre, so he's trying, with some difficulty, to explain.] OMFK: It's when you take off your clothes? T: Um. Huh? Me: Huh? What do you mean? OMFK: And you do exercises in front of an open window. It comes from Europe. It's really good for you. T: Ah. So for OMFK, he likes to exercise by wearing a minimal amount of clothes while... OMFK: No, NO clothes. [Awkard silence] T: No clothes while doing exercise. OMFK: Yes. It is very healthy. All I had in my mind was a picture of a naked man doing aerobic exercises IN FRONT OF A WINDOW ACROSS FROM MY OWN APARTMENT WHERE I COULD SEE HIM! I can understand doing the wind bathing...but surely you can put up some barriers for some privacy right? But I guess that would block the wind. And it would also block an opportunity for me to feel very uncomfortable.

The iPad Killer

The other day my pocket got picked. I ended up losing my wallet, which was a sad thing, but this event put me into a market for an item that I hadn't truly considered. If you know me well, (or if you know me superificially), you'll know that I'm a forgetful person. The statement itself isn't completely true. The truth is, if I consider something important, I'll spend a lot of time thinking about it, and thus, I won't forget it. Like our taxes. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could give money to my Uncle Sam, so I didn't forget that it was due on April 15th. But things like 'where my wallet is' gets a little less air time on WVRY (combination talk-show/Top 40 format). So there's been a lot of talk about the iPad these days. I'd like to introduce you to the iManPurse. This is part of my ongoing personal development journey. I'm not the same man that I was yestergay, so there's no real shame in pursuing new and different ways of living. Right? So what's an iManPurse? And how does it compare to an iPad? First of all, it's called an iMP. Just so you know. Similar to the iPad, the iMP can fit any kind of lifestyle. What we were looking for, in this case, was something that could complement the Coolness of Active Lifestyle. If this phrase seems strange, it is because it *is* strange. No matter, folks here seem to ignore English taglines anyways. So while you could get an iMP that reflected Luxury in Ageless Fashion or Fitness Mountain Tribes, I finally picked this one:

So right now it's a draw between the iPad and iMP since, I heard, you can customize your iPad by buying different apps. Whatever that means. Well let's look at battery life. The iPad gets 10 hours on every recharge. The saleslady told me that the iMP never needs recharging. Point goes to iMP. What about email? Well the iMP can carry your iPhone AND your letters from the post office. The iPad...can't carry your iPhone but it can carry your email. But it can't carry your letters from the post office. Point goes to iMP

When I touch my iMP I don't leave all sorts of nasty smudge marks everywhere. So I guess point goes to iMP here too. For cost, well I got my iMP plus a free wallet thrown in for $6.71. For the price of an iPad I could've had 74 differen iMPs. Think of all the possibilites: a jacket made of iMPs, a luxurious towel, and then maybe some handy briefs. (I don't think anyone would want to pick that pocket.)

This pretty much puts the iMP in the Top 10 Greatest Devices of All Time. I leave you with some action photos of the iMP in action.

Nice try! My wallet wasn't in my back pocket!

Check out this active lifestyle!

I ♥ iMP