I think this might be the first time for “Scenes I Love” that I’ve chosen from something other than a film, tv show or video game. But then again the scene I’ve chosen this time around surpasses any attempts to shoehorn it into a particular label or genre.
The latest “Scenes I Love” comes courtesy of Old Spice. It has starring in the scene the person who I believe is not just the most interesting man in the world (sorry old Dos Equis Man), but probably the most awesome one out there. I believe him to be the human form the Almighty takes when walking amongst the humans the Almighty created was required (sorry Morgan Freeman). This scene is just awesome and why I love it. There’s nothing much else to say.
If you don’t think this to be scene as not being awesome then you just don’t have it and will never have any of it and people will know.
We’ve been talking a lot about guilty pleasures here at the Shattered Lens. Most people, when they hear the term “guilty pleasure” assume that the term applies only to film and the occasional episode of Ringer. However, I would argue that there are wonderful guilty pleasures all around us. You just have to be willing to look.
One of my favorite guilty pleasures is watching anti-drug PSAs that feature either incorrect or nonexistent slang. As an example, allow me to offer you this little gem from the whole Above The Influence anti-drug campaign. In this one, a student in a diner learns that choosing not to get “twisted” guarantees you a free meal.
I love this commercial almost as much as I love the “A.J” Broadview Home Security commercial and that’s saying something!
Okay, so basically this is just a commercial for a show that I don’t watch but it’s just so adorable that I had to feature it. The show, by the way, is called Psych and it’s on the USA network. I know a lot of people who love this show but I’ve honestly never seen it, largely because I always forget just where exactly the USA network is located on AT&T U-verse.
But if I do end up tracking down the USA Network and watching an episode, it’ll be because of this commercial. Seriously, it’s just so adorable!
As you watch this commercial, just remember that it’s an advertisement for Citibank that was made after the federal government bailed out them out. So, if you’re an American citizens, chances are that you paid for this commercial.
Okay, there’s so much about this commercial that is just soooo wrong.
The guy narrating the commercial has a truly annoying serial killer-style voice. Seriously, he sounds like Dexter should be dumping his corpse over the side of a boat.
The woman playing the mother is a terrible actress as evidenced by her notably “enthusiastic” reaction to whatever it is that she eats at the local “deli.”
There’s also this whole idea of Turkey — which has one of the WORST human rights records on the planet — serving as some sort of 21st century version of post-World War I Paris. It’s nice of Citibank to let us know that actually, there’s little difference between Istanbul and Queens.
Also, don’t you just hate the faux casual way that their son is all like, “So, I just decided to send them their old seats from the stadium…” I mean, get over yourself.
But ultimately, this commercial fails for one big and obvious reason and there’s a very important lesson here. This commercial’s failure is ultimately all about casting.
We’re specifically given two bits of information in this commercial. First off, we’re told that the narrator’s father has moved to Turkey because he was “transferred” there by whatever soulless corporation it is that he works for. And we’re also told that his father celebrated his ”30-year anniversary” in Turkey.
And I guess that would all be good and well except for the fact that his father appears to be about 130 years old in the commercial. Seriously, his company should be paying him a pension as opposed to sending him off to live in one of the most oppressive countries ever. His wife only appears to be 120 but that still means that she was probably in her 90s when she gave birth to her smug little mass murderer of a son. He owes her a lot more than just some nasty, germ-filled seats from “the old stadium.”
You know what would have made this commercial a lot more effective and enjoyable? If the seats from the old stadium had arrived with a few dozen bags of hash taped to the back of them. And then we could have watched that 130 year-old man try to smuggle them back to the United States just to then get caught right before boarding the flight back home.
Hi. I came across this old commercial for Crystal Meth on YouTube earlier this year and it has really stuck with me. I have a fear that this is another one of those things that everyone else on the planet has already seen but oh well. Better late than never.
It’s debatable just how effective this commercial is, to be honest. Because while I don’t think anyone would say it’s necessarily a good thing to get hooked on meth, that little jingle is so freaking catchy. I have to admit that I recently found myself singing it while I was cleaning the kitchen. Also, and admitedly a lot of this has to do with me being OCD, it’s hard for me to really see the downside of having the cleanest house on the street. So, no, the commercial did not sell me on meth. But it did make me want to go clean the house.
Finally, I can’t end this post without including Sin33′s remix of the Meth Song.
If you’ve already clicked the YouTube video attached above then you can see that it has action, comedy, sci-fi, nature, and Godzilla-style city destruction. All of them delivered by actor Terry Crews who can and will destroy Chuck Norris and that’s without help from his human-eyed tiger.
It was a tough call for me to pick this as the best commercial since a past Old Spice commercial with God (Bruce Campbell) shilling their product was my previous pick for best and greatest ever. But God didn’t have a tiger or city destruction in his Old Spice commercials.
If you follow me on twitter then you can probably guess what I consider to be “the best freakin’ commercial ever.” It premiered (in its full form) during the last Super Bowl and it made me smile whenever I saw it on come on TV. It was a commercial that I loved so much that it took me a few times to realize it was actually selling something (a car, in this instance). Up until then, I just thought the commercial was a showcase for Sockmonkey and his friend, the freaky little red thing.
I’m speaking, of course, of the Kia Sorrento “How You Like Me Now” ad campaign.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should buy a Kia and this commercial left me with absolutely no desire to trade in my beloved Chrysler Sebring convertible but it did inspire me to order sockmonkeys for myself, my older sister Erin, and my niece Shannon.
As great as the song (How You Like Me Now, performed by Heavy) is and as much charisma as that little red monster thingee displays, Sockmonkey really is the star of the commercial. Seriously, I might actually watch the Daily Show if they fired smug, aging badly, oddly devoted to Stephen Colbert, old Jon Stewart and replaced him with tattooed, fast-driving, water-skiing, mad dancing, fast driving Sockmonkey.
(Yes, I said fast driving twice! Because that monkey really drives fast! And, uhmm, not because — as some people claim — I have a five-second attention span…)
The last time I saw this commercial, my friend Jeff commented, “I bet that monkey gets a lot of tail.”
“Silly!” I replied, “He’s already got a tail!”
Later, I realized I may have misunderstood his meaning.
(True story)
But anyway, it’s a fun little commercial whether it makes you want to drive a Kia or not. And, a definite plus, it’s not half as disturbing as those old Calvin Klein jean commercials.
One of my favorite recent DVD discoveries is an underground film from 1969 called Putney Swope. Directed by Robert Downey, Sr. (who, as we all know, was the father of not only Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes but Sgt. Osiris as well!), Putney Swope is a hilarious satire of advertising, race relations, and everything in between. It’s a must-see for anyone interested in American independent film, American satire, or just plain vulgarity in the service of art and humor.
Since the film takes place at the Truth and Soul Advertising Agency, it features several fake commercials that are so spot-on perfect that they could easily pass for the real thing if not for all the profanity and occasional nudity. Below is my favorite Truth and Soul Commercial:
