The Droid and the Pinto

Did you hear that Verizon is coming out with a new phone in November to compete with the iPhone? I guess that this means that the iPhone won't be going to Verizon anytime soon. Anyway, here is the commercial that is being shown for the "Droid" - the hopeful iPhone competitor:


I wondered how telling it is that the commercial is basically comparing the benefits of the Droid to the what the iPhone lacks. Is any form of comparison actually a compliment? It probably is, to some degree. I started to think about what other product had begun its commercial campaign by comparing itself to an already well-loved and successful product. Here is such an ad or, "blast from the past:"


OK, maybe the Droid will have a better run than the Pinto, but it is fun to wonder.

Who the Hell is Wolf?

No explanation needed. See video below:

Lyndon, Ladybird, Fred, and Ethel

This time of year always brings with it a flourish of Kennedy specials; not the awards show - but the specials that focus on the JFK assassination, the "curse" of the Kennedys, etc. I have to admit, I am a sucker for anything regarding the assassination. I was about a month old when it happend in November of 1963. In fact, I was at the pediatrician for my month check up. That is what my parents tell me - I don't actually remember it (as you probably already know).

Last night the History Channel featured a show called, "The Kennedy Assassination: 24 Hours After. It was excellent, and focused on the first 24 hours after President Kennedy was killed. It particularly described Lyndon B. Johnson's (Kennedy's then Vice President) actions. It was the first show that I have seen in a long time about this topic, which actually brought new information to light. One fascinating subject that was addressed, was how the United States, and the world for that matter, had to adjust to seeing two such different people in the White House. They compared the youth, suaveness, and New England charm of John and Jackie Kennedy, with the not-so-much youth and southern styles of Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson.

Something about seeing those two couples compared, reminded me of the I Love Lucy Show. It is like John and Jackie Kennedy were Ricky and Lucy Ricardo, and Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson were Fred and Ethel Mertz. Everyone liked Fred and Ethel, and they even had some qualities that Lucy and Ricky lacked; but, did you want to see them in their own series? Naah, not really. It was kind of like LBJ got his own spin-off, but it only last one season. Well, anyway, here is a snippet of an I Love Lucy Show, that features the whole gang (I mean Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel - not Lyndon and Ladybird):

Mr. Balloon Man

Hey - Mr. Balloon Man - if you are going to create this fake news story about your son being carried away in a weather balloon just for the media attention - don't ask your six year old son to lie for you. Six year olds are not great at lying. In the video below, you don't do really well at lying either. Wolf Blitzer is like Santa or a Rabbi - you can't lie to Wolf.
I am attaching a snippet of the interview below:


I am glad that the little boy is alright and that he actually wasn't in the basket of that weather balloon. Yesterday, every time I heard or saw the phrase "balloon boy," I kept picturing George Costanza and the Bubble Boy from the Seinfeld show. By the way, George Costanza is a much better liar than the Dad in this news story. Remember what George said, "it's not lying if you believe that it is true." Maybe you should have taken George's advice, Mr. Balloon Man. Well, anyway, here is the Seinfeld clip:

Huffington Post and Green Acres

The picture of Vice President Biden posted above, is plastered on the Huffington Post Website this morning. The accompanying story is Arianna Huffington's take on why she feels that VP Biden should resign. The reason for this resignation, she believes, is Biden's conflicting view with President Obama on sending more troops in Afghanistan. He is a short excerpt from her post:

Well, how about making the mea culpa unnecessary? Instead of saving it for the book, how about future author Biden unfetter his conscience in real time -- when it can actually do some good? If Biden truly believes that what we're doing in Afghanistan is not in the best interests of our national security -- and what issue is more important than that? -- it's simply not enough to claim retroactive righteousness in his memoirs.

I don't think that Vice President Biden should resign. To me, that is Obama's main point in supporting a Lincoln-esque - "Team of Rivals" - type of approach. If everyone agrees with the president and just says, "yes" - you end up with what we had for the previous 8 years.

Now that the mature, political stuff is out of the way, I have to move on to the more immature matter at hand. As un-PC as it is, whenever I see Arianna Huffington on television, I immediately think of Green Acres. Why Green Acres? I think of Green Acres because Arianna Huffington's way of speaking reminds me of Eva Gabor's style. I grew up in the 60's and 70's, and Green Acres - as silly as it was - was part of my childhood. I know that Arianna Huffington is brilliant and one of the most influential females in the political writing world today - but I can't help myself. Take a look for yourself, and see if I don't speak the truth. Video snippets of both Arianna and Eva are linked below:

Elizabeth Cheney and Michael Moore

I don't know about you, but I feel that Elizabeth Cheney's (Dick Cheney's daughter) group - Keep America Safe - seems to be borrowing a little bit from Michael Moore. Take a look at their website's video below, and see what you think. Don't the implications seem to mirror those from Moore's Farenheit 911? The link to the NPR story regarding the Keep America Safe group is here:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#2ZlhP4/www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/10/cheney_obama_keep_america_safe.html?ft=1&f=103943429/stumblethru:undefined

As NPR writes, Elizabeth Cheney's group says it aims to "provide information for concerned Americans about critical national security issues." Her co-founders are conservative commentator William Kristol and Debra Burlingame, sister of an American Airlines pilot who was killed on 9/11. Burlingame is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.

Carly Simon and Starbucks

Ok, it seems that over the past year or so, that neither Starbucks or Carly Simon have been doing that great. Who I am to judge? I know, I asked myself that too. But lets face it, Carly hasn't been on the top of the charts for years now, and Starbucks is losing business to Dunkin Donuts. So, what do you do when two brands are struggling - you team up. I don't think that sounds like a good idea either - but Carly Simon did. Now she is suing Starbucks, saying that terrible sales of her latest album, This Kind of Love, was a result of Starbucks (music label - Hear Music) mismanagement. The link for the NYT article is below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/arts/music/12simon.html

Well, however the legal aspects work out, I prefer to look back to a time when both Carly Simon and Starbucks were more cool - or hot I guess. Here are a couple of videos below: