PIXEL MAVERICK

Not the prettiest way to get 1 point for the tie with UK, but we (go USA) will take it and be happy.  I don’t think either UK or USA have anything to worry about based on the boring play I saw from the other teams in the group.

As happy as I am about the tie, I can’t help but feel bad for UK keeper (Green).  That guy has been saving goals at the European professional level for his entire career and this is what he will be remembered for.

This commercial has been running heavy for the past month so I am sure that all of you have seen it — and most likely you all thought the same thing I did ….“Man what a let down that this was for AT&T!”.

As much as I hated realizing that it was an AT&T spot, I have to give the agency responsible credit for creating a great commercial.  They zeroed in on the fact that the majority of people do things for a living that they are not entirely happy with.  Music is such a great trigger to tap into emotion.

This great commercial would have come full circle for me if it had been for any number of things that could relate to a person chasing his/her REAL dreams.

• Going back to school (Any college as long as it was not one of those fake online schools or annoying ITT deals)
• Starting your own business (Kickstarter, Bank Micro-loans, etc)
• Changing professions (Job board, Executive recruiting, etc)

What did you want to be when you were 5 years old?

I came across this horrible product this morning while doing my morning blogroll reading (via AdFreak).  I continue to be amazed at the products that people will invent …invest in …and ultimately purchase.

I don’t see this product becoming the next Snuggie, but I am sure it will become a top seller in the wedding gag gift category.  If they made a doggie-bed version of this blanket, I would buy it for my gastrointestinally challenged dog.

Perhaps these guys should merge their business with the Butt Stench guys, and they could own the entire stink category.

What would happen if New York City was attacked by a hoard of old school Atari game characters and 8-bit pixel shrapnel?

Patrick Jean created this video (I am assuming as a spot for Atari) which gives a spectacular answer to that question.

It is a really smart way to leverage the equity of Atari’s past, and make it relevant for today.  Plus the animation and reality are blurred together so well by excellent creative that it compounds the brilliance of the strategy exponentially.

It was all done so well I had a hard time figuring out which part I liked best — the Space Invaders looming over the city, the Tetris building mashup or the Donkey Kong barrel toss.

After careful review, I think that Tetris has the best cameo appearance.

What do you think?

A composer named Eric Whitacre came up with the idea to lead a virtual choir of singers.  Each one singing their respective voice (soprano, tenor, etc) part and splicing them all together into the following amazing video.

Wow!

Wow again.

If you are like me, after seeing something this amazing you want to know “how”.  A simple Google search later and I found that the composer (Eric Whitacre) wrote a blog post about how he put together this virtual choir.  Check it out.

Brilliant.  Inspiring.  Cool.

….Beautiful.

This is hands down the best non-lyrics performance EVER!

(Laaaaaaaa-la-la-Laaaaaaaaaaaaa).

This guy is actually a triple threat if you can stop laughing long enough to pay attention:

• Amazing voice & lyrical master
• Strong dance moves
• His hair alone deserves some credit for the performance

It is doubtful that this video will ever make it all the way to Rick Roll infamy, but it is clearly on the rise.  My brother found this gem yesterday and sent me the link.  At the time it was at around 1,000 views and now it is at 22,000.

I just saw an HILARIOUS new spot for Tums.

Ok, so there is a a guy at a tailgate party and he is eating a hot-wing, …well he is trying to eat a hot-wing before the hot-wing starts assaulting him with several bitch slaps to the facial region.  I think there is even another spot where a taco is giving someone a beat-down, ha ha.

No, really I swear it is funny — I am just not doing it justice with my storytelling.  Hold on a second and let me show you the commercial on YouTube.

…Well??  Hold on let me search again, I swear it is hilarious.  WTF?  Where is the commercial?

Way to go Tums, you missed a big opportunity for people to interact with your brand & with others by commenting.  You haven’t had a good commercial in years and when you finally do you fail to capitalize on it beyond the 30 second spot.  Whoops!

According to BrandWeek, the spot comes from Grey, NY …so I guess they share the blame for the missed opportunity.  Way to go Ad Agency.

Apparently I am not the only one who thought the new spot was great and wanted to share it.  One google search and I found that someone else was looking for the video too.

I love the answer this person got too, ha.  So, if someone took the time to ask about it on Yahoo Answers, my assumption is that there are probably several ad geeks and bloggers that wanted to post the video and say congratulations to Tums for a great spot.  Whoops again.

This video has gotten a lot of mentions in blogs this week, and now I see why.  All I can say is “WOW!”.

If you can watch this spot and not get a lump in your throat or feel any emotion, …then you are a cold heartless robot and you really don’t need to wear a seatbelt anyway.

Their patented Warrant Streamline Program is revolutionizing the Bail Bond industry one deadbeat dad at a time.  Like other paradigm shifters before him (Jobs, Gates, Ford …) D. Spence was not satisfied with the status quo and did something about it.  Kudos sir!

This nugget of local badvertising greatness was found on one of my favorite blogs MTLB (Make The Logo Bigger).  If you don’t already follow the blog you should.

Saw this video on Make the Logo Bigger and it cracked me up.  Infomercial greatness.

FINALLY, something that I can wear to a business meeting OR just to step out of the RV into the bitter cold to empty waste into the closest storm drain.