Parents and administrators have become hypersensitive in recent years. After Columbine administrators banned black trench coats. More recently a teach performed pantie checks at a school dance. Today brings news of a girl change her “outrageous” hairstyle. What could be so offensive she HAS to change it? Dreadlocks. Give me a break.
After reading an article in Time magazine that described how many advertising companies are using more and more guerilla marketing tactics, I came accross this story. The story describes how Starburst has recorded a hot new single that is currently number 28 on the record charts in Australia. The article in Time described Red Bull putting empty cans of the drink in trash cans and on pub tables before the drink was released in London. Other stories included people acting like tourists asking you to take their picture with the latest digital camera or cute girls in bars asking you to by them namebrand drinks (ie. “How about you buy me a refreshing Mike’s Hard Lemonade”). One exec describes it as “real life product placement.” Scary.
It is being reported that babies in L.A. recieve a lifetime of toxic air in 2 weeks. This means your average 2 week old baby has already taken in more toxic air than the US Government deems acceptable as a cancer risk over a lifetime. And I thought Mexico City was really bad!
Apple has really outdone itself with its new application iCal. Apples integration with between iChat, Mail (why not iMail?), Address Book, and iCal is amazing. If you go to email a person in your Address Book who is online in iChat you can just click the iChat link to start a new AIM conversation. Want to tell your friends about a party you’re having? Drag them onto the event from Address Book into iCal and send the invitations – they just double click to add it to their iCal. How cool is that?
It’s been one year since the 9/11 attacks. I’m trying to not watch TV or find programming that does not involve the horrific images of 9/11. On CCN.com they are taking proposals from any and all on what should be done with the 16 acres where the WTC once stood. In my opinion we should replace it with what was once there. How better to show the world we will not back down than to build what once stood? If it were up to me we would build them even bigger than before.
The marketroids have finally gone too far. They some how suckered 5 people into legally changing their names to Turok in anticipation of the new XBox game of the same name. The 5, who were chosen out of over 10,000 applications from mynameisturok.com, will recieve an XBox and 500 pounds. A particularily scary quote from the article quotes one marketroid as saying, “The five Turoks will no doubt speak to and meet tens of thousands of people between them over the next year and will be walking, talking adverts for the Turok video game.”