CROCS
Like you're farting out loud at home

Exactly. I think I liked Imus because he was the opposite of Matt and Katie.

I loved watching Imus in the MSNBC days, partly because it was reassuring to see and hear somebody be as grouchy as I feel in the mornings and I also loved that it was a radio program being done on live television. It sort of lost something when they moved from the little radio studio to the MSNBC studios in Secaucus,…

The one I've seen has had (IIRC) T-Mobile branding at the end of it, but in looking it up it's an Apple ad, just with carrier branding at the end. It certainly has all the hallmarks of Apple's ad style, though, what with the atmospherics and the emotional grab and what all.

They couldn't do us that courtesy. Instead a version that surpasses any ASPCA ad in "I'm going to ruin the rest of your day" mind-stickiness.

All I know is that if I buy an iPhone through T-Mobile it will cause some little old man in a dusty warehouse to show me movies showcasing my past, backed by an ultra-sugary rendition of "Unchained Melody" with the emotion cranked up to 11. (I mean, seriously?)

Yep. The "magazine" concept of participation not only let networks control the shows instead of the sponsors and ad agencies (see, in particular, the quiz shows of the 1950s for what that could lead to), but it also let smaller sponsors afford sponsoring programs. Under the old model you had to be able to afford the…

Been watching a lot of Game Show Network lately and its ad haul is at least 60% pharmaceutical ads. At least 25% of the remaining time is life insurance company ads. They need to just call it the Impending Mortality Channel. Nothing kills the fun of a wacky Match Game more quickly than one of those weepy Entresto…

(Walt Garrison puts pinch between cheek and gum)

See also the ads for devices that are "FDA cleared." Which is a far different thing from "FDA approved," but they're banking you don't catch the distinction - and enough people buy the stuff to make it a winning strategy.

A few weeks ago I took my Toyota in for service at the dealership, and there was a C-HR in the showroom. Salesman came over, started talking it up to me, showed me all the cool features, and the more I looked at it the more I thought "yeah, this could be my next vehicle."

DEMOCRACY'S
A WESTERN SIN
SO JOIN THE JUNTA
AND ALL WILL WIN
MYANMAR SHAVE

Take heart amid the deepening gloom that your dog is finally getting enough cheese.

Part of my thinking about not having kids included my fears about the world they'd inherit. I didn't have kids, but my brother does, and I've transferred my worries to the world my nieces will live in.

Even into the '80s outdoors magazines and organizations devoted effort to environmental causes. (Heck, some issues of Field and Stream from the '60s had some pretty pointed comments about pollution and how the environment was going to hell.) I kind of ran in those circles in the '80s and sensed a change when the…

The cop who used to come to our classes had this big suitcase-style wooden case that would open up, and mounted inside were examples of all kinds of illegal drugs that, as the years passed, started to seem more and more like museum artifacts, especially as the labels started to turn yellow with age.

"Any questions you kids might have?"
"Yes, Officer…could you tell me and my classmates about the civil forfeiture statutes?"

My first teaching job was at a Catholic university and we were reminded to be respectful of the Church's teachings on sexuality and reproductive matters. Which meant I was constantly amused by how the information technology department was often referred to as DoIT.

And once we bring back McGruff, let's bring back McGriff. Because somebody needs to speak out for those Tom Emanski Defensive Drills videos.

In the late '70s and early '80s when the local cop would come to our classroom and give the anti-drug presentation we got to ride in the police van when his presentation was done. When you're in kindergarten that's either awesome or frightening.