The Glass is Half Full (of Oil)
I really can’t believe that this headline reads “BP Spill May be Fixed as Soon as July 27.” As soon as? Haven’t we been dealing with this long enough? Should’ve it have been fixed like, 2 months ago?
Archived entries for Rants
Stick Your Ad Where it Counts
Pandora has been sucking pretty hard lately. I first noticed a month or two ago that half of my stations are playing horrible songs that sound nothing like what I’m listening to. For example, my Eminem station has been playing bands like The Fray and Daughtry. What?! How are these two artists even remotely similar? Clearly I’m in a thug mood, not a soft, corny rock mood.
This morning, I heard my first ad on the Pandora iPhone app. I’ve enjoyed listening ad-free for months, but the inevitable day has come. I hate bad advertising. And to me, popping a 15 second audio spot about a Clorox Stain App in the middle of an internet radio station is bad advertising. Granted, I haven’t checked out the app, but why would I want to? I don’t know what everyone else uses their iPhones for, but I certainly don’t spend time downloading pointless apps for products such as a laundry detergent. Nothing about that 15 second spot made me want to spend the time going to the app store to see what it’s all about.
I know it’s pretty much mandatory in the modern day advertising world, but I hate advertising that uses non-traditional media placement when there’s absolutely no reason for doing so. Companies are just slapping their brand on Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, etc., because it’s where people are spending their time. The one thing they need to remember is it’s not enough to simply throw something on Facebook and say, “be our fan!” In my opinion, there needs to be more to get people truly involved. There needs to be a reason for this brand to be on Facebook that makes sense with the placement. That’s sort of what I tried to accomplish with my Crest Whitestrips idea in my portfolio.
Bottom line: companies and agencies need to be smarter with their brands. Put them in the right spots. Make the entire execution convey the right message. Don’t underthink any aspect of the campaign. Every little bit counts.
Proper Etiquette for Unity of Tall & Short people
If you’re vertically blessed, I’ll let you know that 5′2″ is a rather unfortunate height for most of life’s situations. One of the worst is being on the floor at a concert. You’re either front row, or you’re better off being in the stands. The common 6 foot man tends to mistake you for an arm rest as he shoves his sweaty armpits right into your face. And of course, he’s too busy rocking out (or on drugs) to notice you shoving him off of you. And let’s not forget about the 6ft, 250 lb man in front of you who decides to take off his shirt and expose his stubble from a 4 day old back shave. Especially when the crowd pushes your face right into this sweaty brillo pad, and doesn’t let up until the band goes off stage.
I haven’t been to any concerts recently, but I was reminded of another “sucks to be short” situation on the train this morning. NYC is basically flooding right now due to three days of nonstop rain, so you can only imagine how packed the trains were. And of course, people are not smart enough to throw on some water-friendly rain boots, so the subway stairs are always crowded with morons in high heels and ballet flats tiptoeing through the 4 inch lake of water at the bottom. Needless to say I missed the train while controlling every urge not to stomp past these people in my rain boots. Thankfully there was another train approaching, and there weren’t nearly as many people on board this one.
So I got on the train and stood against the far door. A tall man moved in front of me and stood well within my personal bubble with his back to me. When you’re a foot and a half shorter than the person next to you, it’s easy to feel claustrophobic when your face is pressed into their back. I figured he was just packing in for oncoming passengers, but when I realized no one else was boarding the train, I started to get a little annoyed. It seemed like with each bump and turn the train took, the man moved closer to me. Then the man turned sideways and with each tiny jolt the train made, his elbow whacked me in the bill of my baseball cap. And he did nothing about this, he just stood there, looking around. He had enough room around him to start swing dancing, but yet he felt the need to smother me.
Over the next few stops, the car began to fill up. He turned slightly so that he was now facing me, and put his hand on the door behind me to maintain his balance. His arm was literally over my shoulder, right in line with my eyes, not more than 2 inches from my head! The car was not even that crowded, so I started maneuvering and put my gym bag between us. He used this as an invitation to lean, and rested his torso and arm on my bag. I looked at him as I readjusted my bag, hoping he’d get the hint, but he just stood there listening to music. Thankfully the next stop was mine, and I got off that train immediately. And he followed. We transfered to the same train, but I made sure not to get on anywhere near him.
So my plea is this: if you’re standing next to someone who is clearly at a height disadvantage, don’t crowd them like they’re not even standing there. There is obviously a lot of open air above this person (around your face), but please treat that air space as if that person were just as tall as you. Though your face is comfortably far from us, your body is not. We do not want to breathe in your excessive cologne or nonexistent antiperspirant; nor do we want to eat balls of lint off the back of your sweater. Please, only crowd us when it’s absolutely necessary, and even then, never, ever breath through your mouth directly into our faces. Thanks 
Blogging Fail
Wow. I’ve been blogging my journey on my iPhone, and it hasn’t even been publishing to the site! And what’s worse is that my entire post list just updated and it erased all of my drafts! Wordpress on iPhone fail.
iPad: For Men & Women Alike
Without going into massive detail about the strangely-named iPad, (you can go here for that), I have to say that I don’t think I’ll be purchasing one of these any time soon. Granted, I haven’t used the iPad yet, but I don’t see what it’s offering that’s worth the money? It’s basically a glorified iPod touch with e-reading capabilities. Okay, so it’s the iPod touch + the Kindle. Except the only thing that made me remotely consider the Kindle is that it uses a dim screen and e-ink for less strain on the eyes. But the iPad? It’s just as bright and annoying as a computer, the iPhone, or the iPod touch. So this “revolutionary device” is really just a much larger iPod touch, so what’s the big deal? I just don’t feel like it’s a very good “inbetween” piece for an iPhone and a laptop. The iPad doesn’t even have flash, and it locks you into an AT&T contract exclusively! Hasn’t Apple gotten the hint yet? We hate AT&T! Their network is overloaded and doesn’t work worth a damn on our iPhones, why would we piss away $500+ more on a larger clone of the iPhone? And it’s not like the iPad can replace your laptop or your iPhone. It’s really just an add-on product that they want you to buy into. As far as I can see, there is no advancement in technology with the iPad. You would think that after a decade of constructing such a device, it would really break the mold and introduce us to things we never thought possible. The iPad was exactly what everyone predicted, and as far as I can tell, nothing more.
And don’t even get me started on how awkward the keyboard must be. And another thing- when I’m laying down, reading something on my iPhone, sometimes I don’t want the screen to auto tilt. I wish that was easier to control because that annoys the hell out of me!
Call me old fashioned, but I can’t bring myself to buy into a device that purchases digital books that I will never get to physically hold. I like the feel of a book or a magazine in my hands, so I can’t see spending the same amount on an e-version of a book when I can get a physical piece of literature in my hand- complete with a bookjacket design and all. I’m curious to see how this iPad does though, because it just seemed like a sub-par creation to me.
Lady Gag-me
You would think that with how outlandish (see: ridiculous) Lady Gaga is with her fashion sense, her music would be a little more edgy and daring. Instead she sounds exactly like every other no-name talentless hack out there in the pop world. I heard a new song of hers, Alejandro, on Pandora this morning, and it was so boring and monotonous. It sounded like complete garbage. No, wait, it sounded exactly like Ace of Base actually.
iPhone fail #485734
Last night I was headed to a friends house in Brooklyn when my iPhone decided to stop working for the fourth time that day. After getting off the train, my GPS wouldn’t work to find his address. So I called him. The call was dropped, and I was unable to call him back. Finally the GPS started working, so I made my way to his house. I get out front of his apartment, and go to call him to come down and let me in, and whatta ya know- the iPhone won’t turn on. I stood outside hoping that his apartment had a window facing the street, as I stared up at the building. Miraculously, after like 5 minutes he came to the window and saw me. I am so sick of not being able to use my phone when I need it. Oh and I was already a half hour late.
My iPhone
My iPhone wouldn’t turn on for the past 15 minutes. All of a sudden it popped on, and it’s stuck on the iPod. Any time I press the home button or the sleep button, it takes a screen shot of the iPod, and it won’t power off. It’s just sitting there, draining battery. Thanks Apple, for not telling me that my warranty is up. Now, I’m 35 days out and there’s nothing I can do. And there’s no way that I’m spending $200 on another iPhone that probably won’t work.
Oh, and what happened to the voicemail? Ever since I did the software upgrade I can no longer get a list of voicemails- it calls the voicemail number. That’s lame, I am not a fan.
iPhone 3G Problems
I have the iPhone 3g. I cannot receive text messages from people with Sprint. Does anybody else have this problem, or know how I can fix this? I’ve tried replacing the phone, and the sim card; neither have worked.
