Okay, so I've been working with designs that I think would make good buttons. I tried out the schizo watch (due to his round nature, of course, and the fact that he was recommended by multiple people), but that, ironically enough, didn't work out the way I wanted. It was too round; there was not enough rood space for text.
Of what I've gone through, I've found four designs which I think work pretty well. While I don't know if they'll fly with the powers-that-be at Comic-Con, I am kind of guessing they will.
I was also considering, maybe, using two designs (to mix things up) and split my buttons up that way (a bit more expensive, but more variety). I'm not sure.
The only other decision I'd need to make would be between using a 1.5" button and a 2.25" button. Any thoughts there?
(Oh, we'll be working on business/postcards later. Now is the time for buttons!)
1. I just got an acceptance letter yesterday for the UC Berkeley Undergraduate Marketing Association Creative Committee. Pretty much makes up for that other thing I didn't get into (which, by the way, I heard is having a little trouble).
2. After scrapping my crappy old resume and drafting a whole new one, I brought it to a resume critique workshop in preparation for and internship fair occurring today and tomorrow. With the exception of a few location issues, they said it was solid all around. Score!
3. A resident of mine who applied to be an RA got the position! Which is doubly impressive because apparently this year, 2/3 of the staff are returners (it was about 30-40% when I was applying), and so acceptances were low, even for perfectly qualified people. In fact, out of 250 people who were interviewed, only 37 got the job. So I am very happy for him (especially since I feel I had some hand in it. :P)
Okay, now with that out of the way, I wanted to bring up something fun that I saw the other day. While looking for pictures of cereal boxes to help me with my consumer behavior group project (see, it relates to the good news somewhat), I stumbled across this little website.
For those too lazy to click that link, it's for some old PBS Kids website called "Don't Buy It" which, though it apparently hasn't been updated in four years, teaches kids to be smart consumers and question what they see on advertisements and such (in effect, it's trying to foil my plans). Among other things, it talks about where the money you pay for products goes to, as well as how buying designer clothes is a waste of money.
(Quick aside: I was just at an Urban Outfitters the other day. I would really, really like to buy their shirts if they weren't thirty-frickin'-dollars!)
Wait, didn't I say I found this while looking for cereal boxes?
Well, yes. You see, when you type "cereal box" into Google, the second thing to come up is a little game on the PBS site where you can design your own cereal box, complete with color, box character, name, claim, prize, and...um, that's t. Truth be told, there's not that much variety, as each of those categories only has 3 or 4 options (with the exception of the name category, which apparently doesn't have a word filter. For shame, PBS!).
However, it's still possible to make something awesome out it. So, without further ado, here's Andrew Schnorr's custom cereal: While I won't mention that the cereal the little critter is holding is obviously not the cereal that you actually get, I will mention that I think this might be the single most brilliant title for a cereal EVER!
Think about it.
The ads would be awesome.
And think about the scene inside grocery stores when kids ask for it.
Sheer beauty.
Well, that's all for me. Wish me luck at the internship fair!
I almost never, ever click on the ads that appear on MySpace. Mainly because they fall into one of three categories.
1. The Activity Ads - These are flash-based ads that make you accomplish some sort of ridiculous task (often against some computer opponent) in order to win a prize. Examples include "Eat the hot dogs to win a ringtone," and "Swat the flies to win an iPod!" Of course, the wide selection of activities is tempered somewhat by the fact that it all involves clicking a button again and again as fast as you can.
2. The Personal Ad - Mostly by the tasteless dating service True. These have gotten a lot more sophisticated in recent years. They began as simple pictures of, I dunno, naked chicks holding teddy bears in front of their not-safe-for-work areas, with cliché phrases like "It's nice to be naughty." Apparently, a lot of other online dating services hate True, because it completely destroys the good image they tried to build. Anyway, nowadays True tries to "trick" you into believing that there is a live female right now(!) ready to have a steamy conversation with you. They accomplish this (again, with flash) with a fake instant messaging window in which "kcblondie" (who enjoys improv cooking and jewelry) types in: "hi. wanna chat sometime""hello?""are you there? lol.""come on, you can ask me anything ..." Complementing this witty banter is a clip of some chick typing, laughing, waving, and adjusting her blouse, all set on a continuous loop, ala Speed. Personally, I think it may have been more realistic if the video actually synced with the instant messages, seeing as half the messages were sent while she was adjusting her blouse, not even looking at the keyboard. But I digress.
3. The Cell Phone Magician - These are lovely ads that say "Find out your horoscope!" and "LEARN WHO HAS A CRUSH ON YOU!" "Good Lord!" you say, "I may finally learn if Sandra fancies me as I her." So, you click on it. You're sent to a website that has a cartoon crystal ball or something. You have to enter in your gender, then your age, then your...phone number? Ah, you see, because they'll text you with your crush's name. "Well, that seems painless," you say. Sure does, until you read the fine print and see that you're paying $6.99 or $9.99 for these tidbits. And Lord help you if you use AT&T. Those bastards will tear a full $19.99 off your wallet's corpse each month on these plans. The kicker is, I'm pretty sure that they just send out the same thing to everyone who applies: "Your crush's name is: Doris."
Now, to be fair, there's more than just those three types. But you'd be amazed exactly how much of MySpace they fund. And even when there is a (relatively) normal ad on MySpace, I still usually don't care. hence, I generally click on about 0.02% of the ads I see there.
But sometimes - just sometimes - there is something that catches my attention for some reason.
Like the other day, I saw an ad for something called Fathead. Remember those life-size cardboard stand-up figures? Well, these are like them, except they're some sort of sticker-like object, you stick them on your wall, and they're ridiculously expensive for what you get.
Well, this ad that I saw had a picture of the WWE star the Undertaker. Now, I'll make a small confession. When I was in my early teens, I was a fan of the WWF (back when it was still called the WWF) and the 'Taker was one of my favorites (which actually goes back to an old WWF arcade game from the early 90s). So, I decided to click on this picture to see what it was about.
And that's when it showed this as an example of what you can do with their products:Parents, quick note: if this is in your child's room, you are a bad parent! I mean, good gravy. It's bad enough that this 11-year-old's room has this life-size image of a guy with a trench coat and an angry face. But the fact that it looks like he's levitating is really what would give me nightmares if I were in that kid's shoes. Extra covers over my head, thank you.
Now, to be fair, that background picture is a stock one they use for all their different designs, so you could just as easily have Tiki Barber on there 9whoever the hell that's supposed to be).
However, I'm torn between whether I find the kid's bedroom to be the most ridiculous, or this one right here. Ah, yes, nothing adds a touch of casual professionalism like a tattooed monster on your office wall. Imagine what being interviewed by this guy must be like.
So, anyway, if I've taught you nothing else (and I think that may be the case), it's to not bother clicking on MySpace ads. Not only is it taxing on your computer (what with spyware and the like), but it's taxing on your eternal soul.
There's some random YouTube director who keeps sending me their videos. I don't know why, but I decided to actually click on this one, and the first minute-point-five were very, very interesting (I didn't watch anything after that).
For those who don't know, my father is the President of Ancient Harvest Quinoa Corporation (whose website I will work to update as soon as he sends me some graphics and logos and such), the largest distributor of quinoa (quite possibly, the world's healthiest food) in North America.
Now, considering that this individual gave this YouTube video to me, I can only assume they're spamming it throughout the system. And when I saw it, there were no comments. Perfect. If you check now, you'll see that the first comment is by someone called "THEBOLSHEVIK" (what a coincidence). Here's what it says:
"Quinoa has to be one of the best healthy foods I've ever eaten. It's a shame so few people have ever heard of it, but since it looks like it may be getting some exposure now, more places will carry it! ^_^"
So there you go. Now, anyone who looks at the comments will see that and be influenced. I'm quite proud to have completed my civic duty as the son of the self-proclaimed "King of Quinoa". Now, if you've ever had quinoa, go praise it on the comments on that video. If not, go eat it and then praise it. Your friend Andrew will thank you!
Today, we're going to be talking about advertisements. More specifically, we're going to be watching some advertisements. Even more specifically, we'll be watching some ads from those old jokers at the Sony corporation. Specifying even further, we'll be watching commercials for a $600 video game system. The Sony Playstation 3 has been well-known for it's off-kilter commercials. Personally (and I thought I'd never say this about anything related to Sony), I love them.
...That's not a good sign.
In case you've forgotten (or never saw) the American commercials, here they are, beginning with the most (in)famous, the "PS3 Baby" Commercial:
Yes, according to this commercial, the Playstation 3 levitates and possesses baby dolls. I may have actually paid $600 for something that did that. Apparently, though, that commercial really backfired for Sony (I can't imagine why), and now there is apparently a joke in their marketing department that if someone screws up, the "PS3 Baby" will haunt them in their dreams.
Not being satisfied with one crazy commercial, Sony then released a second.
So...so far the PS3 possesses dolls and summons crows from chicken eggs. These weren't really helping Sony's "evil" image, wouldn't you say.
One of the most common complaints about the American PS3 commercials is that they didn't really say much about the product itself. The third commercial was meant to fix that.
Get it? It's a "smarter processor," so it can solve Rubik's cubes...with its mind!!! This was not the most widely-known commercial (the baby earns that honor), but it is considered the most effective of the American commercials. I think my favorite response to this commercial was to the effect of "I hope stores don't stock the PS3 by the Rubik's cubes. It'll be like a warzone."
Now, you may think that the American commercials may be bad (in that they say very little about the console itself, but it is ironically the most informative of the major campaigns. For example, look at this Japanese commercial:
(The PS3, incidentally, was released in Japan on November 11th, or 11/11.) Now, when I look at a fork, I see a fork. When I'm a character in a commercial and I look at a fork, I still see a fork. Not this lady. When she looks at a fork, she sees a release date. Same with their other commercials. Example? A kid sees four tall, vertical smokestacks, except he doesn't. He sees a release date too.
(I will admit, I always laugh at the end, when it just sounds like the announcer is say "Jujujujujuji.")
Now, this is bad, but it's still remotely related to the product. That's more than the European commercials can say. No, those commercials (dubbed the "This is Living" campaign) don't even mention the PS3, Sony, or anything related to anything! They're...they're...here, watch this one:
Okay...okay. So, we have a guy in a bathtub talking about how we're all wasting our lives (ironic for a video game commercial). He then tells us he's going to buy some chocolate, points a gun at us, and laughs. I...I may be alone in my analysis, but that just makes my brow furrow. What? I mean...what?
Now, another thing. That commercial is over 2 minutes long. Apparently, long commercials are the thing to do in Europe. How do I know? Here's another one! This is the full, uncut quintessential "This is Living" commercial. It gives a little background on Mr. Tub there, as well as a bunch of other residents of this hotel.
Be warned, this commercial is not for the faint of heart; it contains full rear nudity and nippleless breasts, a guy sticking his hand down his briefs, apparent drug use (they can apparently get away with a lot on European TV) and a whole lot of "What the hell?!" moments.
I find it fun, once every minute, to remind myself that this is a Sony ad for a video game console. Try doing that. Whenever you do, you'll probably just shake your head in disbelief.
See? The only time you know it's a PS3 ad is for a full six seconds at the end. I...I really don't know how to describe the absurdity of this. If they sent this in as some short film to Cannes, maybe they'd get an honorable mention, but this is an advertisement. An advertisement! You're supposed to convince people to buy a product, and all I'm seeing is that drugs and exploding suitcases filled with money is the definition of "living" to some Caribbean hotel owner.
In my business class, we learned that there are three different things you want to do in advertising: 1. Inform 2. Persuade 3. Remind
Let's look at how these commercials fare in those criteria: 1. Inform - No. Just...no. If you can find any real information about the product in anything you've seen so far, please, tell me. I know a lot about all the current systems, and I can tell you that I learned nothing of the PS3 from those ads. 2. Persuade - Well, do you want to buy a PS3 right now? Well, I for one am not, especially after what that military dude said about wasting your life. (If the American commercials showed true-to-life abilities of the console, I might have reconsidered this point.) 3. Remind - This is probably what these commercials do best. "Hey, we're Sony. Remember that." They assume that everyone already knows who they are and what they're product is/does, so they are simply putting up ads to remind you that they're there.
So yeah, one out of three. That usually doesn't pass muster in a marketing view.
Now, for kicks, let's look at the first Nintendo Wii commercial that was made for American TV:
Okay, let's look at the three points again: 1. Inform - The commercials show a pretty good demonstration (albeit grossly exaggerated) of what the play-style is like, as well as what some of the games look like. 2. Persuade - Well, in the commercial, the people playing the games are smiling, or at least appear to be enjoying themselves. 3. Remind - The thing about the Nintendo Wii is this: it'll never, ever let you forget that you're playing the Nintendo Wii. In their games, menu, and menu loading screens, you'll see the word "Wii" everywhere. Similar is true for their commercials. With that little music at the beginning, those two cute-but-creepy Japanese dudes, and instance of the word "Wii", you'll never forget that this is a Nintendo commercial the next time you see it.
Right now, the Wii is outselling the PS3 worldwide by a factor of more than 2:1. Now, there are of course other factors involved (price, game exclusivity, etc.), but I can't help but think that advertising played some role in the whole thing.
So remember, unless you're advertising on the Superbowl (in which case product irrelevance is generally well-accepted), don't follow Sony's example.
...And don't put possessed baby dolls in them. That's just creepy.
Me: "Wow, that was the most awesome commercial ever." Co-Worker: "Wait? How is that like a mini-mall?" Me: "It's probably as close as a furniture store can get to being like a mini-mall." Co-Worker: "But a mini-mall needs more than one store, doesn't it?" Me: "Well, being a flea market is kind of like having multiple stores." Co-Worker: "But how is even like a flea market? It's not a flea market at all." Me: "...Well, that's irrelevant. The fact of the matter is, it's a memorable ad." Co-Worker: "But does it make you want to shop at this place." Me: "Not only does it make me want to shop there, but when I have a daughter, I will offer her hand in marriage to the owner." Co-Worker: "Won't he be a little old by then?" Me: "Yeah, but with advertising like this, he's sure to be loaded by that time."
Google & Me
You may notice that I no longer have any AdSense ads up any more. This is because Google kicked me from their service. I pressed them as to the reason, and they told me it was due to this post, because in it, I say the following:
"Take a look around some time at the ads on here. Some of the actual websites can be pretty funny to look at (just don't sign up for them). And whenever you do click on something to laugh at, I get a few cents in my pocket."
And this, in and of itself, breaks the terms of service (I can't tell people to click on ads). I told them that I'd take the whole post down and never make mention of it again if they'd be forgiving. Unfortunately, that didn't appease our Google overlords. And so, I was no longer welcome at AdSense. (I still think that the real reason is because I made fun of their ads, but whatever). So, I decided to take off my ads, since their not doing anything for you me.
Still, when I received a postcard from AdSense (postmarked while we were still on good terms), I got a little teary-eyed.
Google & Me, Part 2
Let it never be said that I hold grudges. I'm currently using another Google application (which I'm sure is run by a completely different part of their company, away from those AdSense folks) called Google Analytics. This is a really interesting/useful tool, and if you use Blogger, it's really easy to add to your blog. Basically, if nothing else, it tells you the following things:
-Visits and page views on a daily basis.
-Percentage of visits by new and returning users.
-The relative locations of your visitors (I find this the most interesting).
-Percentage of visits from various sources.
After having this a few days, I can say the following things:
-Wow, very few people comment (relatively). I have about 120 unique visitors on a day, and very little of that translates into comments. I guess you people like to stay silent (by the way, I can only account for inviting about half of those visitors, so if I've never met you, hi!).
-I have visitors from all over the world! My biggest hot spots are Oakland (meaning Berkeley), Los Angeles, Long Beach, and...Schaumburg? I guess those are my Chicago relatives. I also think I know who's coming from Santiago Chile. The two most interesting places I've seen are Ojala, in what seems to be Sweden, and the delightfully-named Chungbuk, in what I first thought was Vietnam, but turns out to be South Korea (once again proving my ineptitude with geography and navigation).
-It's fun splitting up pie charts into pieces!
A Rose by Any Other Name...
I think they just mulched or manured the plants by my back door. And that sucks, because I need that door open to keep cool. .....MyGod, does it reek!
EDIT: I originally was planning on posting the picture by itself, perhaps explaining it another day, but then I realized I'm not that mean. (If you're a Berkeley student, you can probably skip this unless you want to hear a political rant.)
Right now at UC Berkeley (and, I'm assuming, at a lot of campuses), we're having our Associated Student of the UC (or ASUC, conveniently rhyming with "they suck") elections, better known as "they worst period of the academic year."
During the upcoming weeks, practically no sidewalk in Berkeley will go unchalked. No moron will go without holding up a picket sign for someone he's never met, just so he can get a few bucks an hour. No flyer will miss the epic journey from printer to hand to hand to trash. And no Cal student, regardless of how much he loves or hates politics, will go without hearing the words "Student Action."
Student Action is a "political party," the campus equivalent of the Democrats or Republicans. Actually, make that the Democrats and Republicans. Because, you see, at Berkeley, one of democracy's cities on a hill, we essentially have a one-party system. And that party is Student Action.
Student Action is a self-aggrandizing, self-glorifying, elitist club who claims to serve the students but time and time again has done projects - projects that no one asked for - which conveniently gave them a revenue source. And, like any political organization, it is not about a heaping helping of foul play.
And yet, year after year, the people in this party are voted into office without fail for the simple reason that the names of their candidates have been pounded into students again and again (along with the normal assortment of empty promises) through all heavy, high-priced advertising.
One word comes to mind when I think of this scenario (though, in fact, it's two words): "Political Machine." Basically, if you want to get elected, you pretty much have to be part of Student Action (or, at the very least, on their good side). Is Student Action the new Tammany? Thankfully, no. But, as far as campus politics go, it's pretty damn close. Here's their cycle of power: 1) Use expensive, ubiquitous advertising around campus, hammering knowledge of you into the poor, unsuspecting voter. 2) The voters choose you for the mere fact that yours was the only name they recognized on the ballot. 3) You're in! Hooray! 4) Hurry, start some projects that will make you and Student Action lots of revenue. 5) Harvest the green cash money. 6) Lather, rinse, repeat.
Needless to say, I'm not voting for them. Well, I'm not voting at all (I hate politics, after all), but if I was, I wouldn't vote for them. Hell, I even have an aquaintence/co-worker running for VP, and I would have no intention of voting for her. But don't you worry: she'll make it. I'm so confident of that, in fact, that I was thinking to myself today, "You know, you could have all evil monsters running, but as long as they were part of Student Action, they'd get voted in."
And thus, my little fake ad was born. And now all you non-Berkeleyans get it...or, at least, you should...
Google AdSense is a funny little creature. It allows you to receive revenue on a website, even if you may not be commercial site. Basically, you don't have to do anything to get revenue (small though it may be). Seeing as I like my money for nothing and my checks for free, I decided at the beginning of this blog that I would sell my soul to capitalism. Hence, I put not only one AdSense bar in my blog, but two. One on the side, on at the bottom.
Now, in case you're wondering what's so different about these ads, it's that they're managed by Google (as everything shall be one day). Hence, Google uses their internet dominance to give "specially-tailored" ads to you, the consumer. The way this works is as follows: when you're on a website with....you know, I'll just let Wikipedia explain it:
Each time a visitor visits a page with an AdSense tag, a piece of JavaScript writes an iframe tag, whose src attribute includes the URL of the page. Google's servers use a cache of the page for the URL or the keywords in the URL itself to determine a set of high-value keywords. (Some of the details are described in the AdSense patent.) If keywords have been cached already, ads are served for those keywords based on the AdWords bidding system.
So there you go. More simply put, the ads you are shown depends on the page you're on. If you're on a soccer fan site (either of them), you might see an ad for Adidas cleats or something.
Okay, enough preamble. Where am I going with this? Well, I like to think that I've covered a wide variety of topics thus far in this blog, so I want to see what Google has seen in it. I'm going to look at each of my posts up to this point, and I'll see the kinds of as each one has.
Shall we get started? Yes. Good. On we go!
It had to begin somewhere...: A quick scan showed that the most common theme in the ads was blogging. Which makes sense, seeing as this is a blog and all...*cough* My introductory post was no different. The most interesting of them, I feel, was an ad for "Moms Blog", which said, "Share your story and read blogs from moms like you." No matter how many times I read it, it never sounds quite right. Oh, and there's another funny one which asks point blank, "Are you stupid?" Looking at the Stars...: Okay, this one wasn't much different; most of the ads still dealt with blogging. One interesting one was "Free Blog Ringtones!". I didn't know that in addition to being an integral part to Web 2.0, blogs also had a hit musical career.
An Evening of Wii Boxing: I figured this would either show stuff relating to the Wii or to boxing. It turned out to be the latter. More specifically, it had to do with boxing workouts, although there was one tempting offer for a "free punching bag."
The Horribleness Must End!!!: This one confused the hell out of me. I got an ad for "Handguns for Self Defense", which asks the immortal question, "What type of handgun is the best for self defense?" Never mind the fact that I was writing about the English language. People want their guns, apparently.
LaRouche! LaRouche! LaRouche is on Fire!: One of the ads on this one had the title "Cal Berkeley University." Isn't that nice, an ad for Cal. What's the description say, though? "Move your career forward with an accredited online degree." That doesn't sound like Cal at all. In fact, if you were to click on the link, you'd see that, unlike the prestigious University of Phoenix, Cal isn't on their list of "accredited" schools at all! What a gyp!
Revelations and Taglines: This also had stuff to do with self-defense, including $25 stun-guns. I guess Google's reasoning is "If you're associating with freaks like this guy, you're going to have the need to protect yourself sooner or later."
The Rotten Apple, Part I: Here I was expecting the ultimate irony; that on a page in which I express my hatred for Apple, there would be ads for the company. Actually, all the ads were for volunteering, the most interesting being, "Prayer Volunteers Wanted: Prayer Touches Lives - Reach hearts around the world with your prayers." A beautiful sentiment, to be sure, but a funny thing to advertise...
A (Quelled) Announcement...: I actually got an ad to a specific blog on this one. "Shane Sanders Blog Column - Insightful Articles on Sports, Economics, Life." You'd think this is some hoity-toity professional, don't you? Well, you'd be wrong. It's just some guy with 11 posts on a LiveJournal and (the best part) no comments.
The Rotten Apple, Part II: I found some spyware-removal program ads at the bottom of this one. I think that's the first practical ad I've seen so far.
The Best Grifts Come From the Heart: One funny "Blog" ad I saw said the following: "Eons is a leading blog community for adults over 50 years old." I'm sorry, but the term "eons" really has to be a downer to some of the old folks, particularly those who wish to be young again. "Sorry, Gramps, you can't be with the in-crowd. You're in the eons."
Today Was a Big First for Me...: There was some more volunteering ads here, including one which offered an "Internship in Nepal" (as well as other places) for $799. So, not only are you not getting paid for your volunteer work, but you actually have to pay them to work for them. Brilliant strategy.
The Lobotomist's Dream Post-Superbowl Extravaganza!!!: As can be expected, there were plenty of ads about the Superbowl and its commercials. One which I thought seemed a little too provocative was for "Banned Commercials - Too Hot For TV". However, a quick look at the URL showed that this was an ad for something more insidious than pornography - the pretentious, prevaricating propagandists known as PETA. I don't think there's a supposedly "good" organization I have less respect for. Begone, PETA ad! Off my blog!
Notice Anything...Different?: Being an extremely short post about my blog, the ads here also were just the same rehashes.
Music to My Ears...: Ah, I think this was the most distinct of them all. In addition to offering "Free Music Downloads" (which, if you look, turn out to be anything but), there is also an ad called "Soundtrack" in which "An all-star cast pays tribute to legendary composer Ennio Morricone". What? Not only is that not a soundtrack (it is a "Tribute"), I've never even heard of this man. And if I haven't heard of him, he's obviously not "legendary."
I Want to Know - Have You Ever Seen the Rain?: Ah, plenty of ads about rain clothing, including "Helpful Links for Rain Boots," which turns out to be nothing but a page of more ads. Lovely.
Through Tinted Glass...: They actually had ads for sunglasses on here. Sadly, though, none were for the kind I wanted. Rats! And here I thought I could actually work the system.
Required Reading: The only ad which caught my eye here was for the "Tom Howard Story Contest." They say they have $3,200 in prizes, but there's also a $12 entry fee. I've always been wary about contests with an entry fee, but who knows, maybe I'll submit my Sapphire story.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish...BLUE Fish???: This one also threw me for loop, as the most common theme here was for "Criminal Background Checks Made Easy". Hmm, maybe Google really does think I'm sketchy.
More like the "Goodbye, Break" Café...*cough*: There were even more Valentine's Day ads here, probably due to the fact that it was posted on that day. They seem kinda useless now, but I guess it's never too early to plan ahead.
Down the Rabbit Hole...: I always love the ads that say something to this effect: "Get a free copy of Windows Vista 2007. Offer expires today!" They never expire today, and anyone with half a brain knows they don't. Plus, having to sign up for a bunch of different offers just to get a free copy of a new, still-buggy product is neither appealing nor economically free.
Ashes to Ashes...: I thought the funniest ad here was for "Chimney-Cleaning Logs". Haha! 'Cause, y'know, ashes...
Why I Hate the News...: Here I was, talking about natural disasters, and the ads were about "Personal Soccer Training - Register Now for Individual and Group Sessions with an Expert Instructor." You see, this is the kind of ad that should be on either of the soccer fan sites.
Presenting the Greatest Team Ever!!!: In addition to an eBay ad searching "Roosevelt", there were ads for "Scalp Treatment" and "Hair Loss Treatment," which is ironic because none of those presidents were bald.
Monday Music Madness!!!: There is one ad here which says, "How to Copy Any DVD Movie - Copy & Burn any protected DVD Movie to a blank CD. Copies play anywhere." Despite being sketchy (partially because CDs are too small to hold movies), I find it amazing that such an ad can be legal. I mean, I have no qualms with...those people who copy movies, but this ad looks like it's begging for a letter from the RIAA.
An "Eye-Opening" Experience...: Surprise, surprise, eye exam and contact lens ads. One which tickled me offered a "Free Online Eye Exam." I'd be really curious to see how that actually worked (and if it was actually free), but I didn't want to give them my email address.
A Different Place to Rest My Hat...: One ad that caught my eye said, "Coffee exposed - A Shocking Secret Coffee Co's don't want You to know". Horrified, I took a look. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was only referring to "stale" coffee. No e. coli to be found.
How Funny Can a Guy Named Victor Be?: Finally, we have an ad for "Executive Protection" and "Armed Security Officers", which Google recommends you post around your house in case I ever decide to come over for a visit. My overall impressions? Google's AdSense isn't as accurate as I think they'd like it to be...plus, they obviously think I'm evil. Take a look around some time at the ads on here. Some of the actual websites can be pretty funny to look at (just don't sign up for them). And whenever you do click on something to laugh at, I get a few cents in my pocket. Everyone's a winner!
