I know this isn't RIA-related, but I just have to post this.
I'm currently re-reading Fahrenheit 451, an awesome book where Ray Bradbury (living legend of American litterature) displays his incredible ability to predict the social/political path the world would eventually take. Anyways, the gentleman author deserves every accolade/income-generating opportunity that he can get, which brings me to one of the strangest, off the wall commercials that I've ever seen.
It is like a compilation of an Ad agency list of what not to put into a commercial:
I give an A+ for boldness to the people at SunSweet. It's a wonder they're even still around. I guess those must be some good prunes.
A thought:
Why is it that I sincerely doubt that in this day and age, any modern advertisement agency would waste their time creating a commercial featuring a best-selling author of fiction (other than perhaps Algore, inventor of The Internets).
I'm currently re-reading Fahrenheit 451, an awesome book where Ray Bradbury (living legend of American litterature) displays his incredible ability to predict the social/political path the world would eventually take. Anyways, the gentleman author deserves every accolade/income-generating opportunity that he can get, which brings me to one of the strangest, off the wall commercials that I've ever seen.
It is like a compilation of an Ad agency list of what not to put into a commercial:
- Self-referential humour sticking it to the company that's vying for your money -- CHECK
- "Bada-bing" sound-effect after a bad pun is thrown out there -- CHECK
- Giant disembodied head of bespectacled sci-fi writer (who isn't in a bikini or ogling someone who is) -- CHECK
- Stock footage of NASA geeks turning dials and pushing buttons -- CHECK
- Mentioning the wrinkles on prunes -- CHECK
I give an A+ for boldness to the people at SunSweet. It's a wonder they're even still around. I guess those must be some good prunes.
A thought:
Why is it that I sincerely doubt that in this day and age, any modern advertisement agency would waste their time creating a commercial featuring a best-selling author of fiction (other than perhaps Algore, inventor of The Internets).
Back To Mr. Bradbury's Book
I definitely encourage everyone to read Fahrenheit 451. In it (to his credit and our chagrin), writing in the early 50's (that's the nineteen-fifties, folks), Mr. Bradbury describes a society not altogether dissimilar to our own.
In fact, he describes iPods/ear buds, big-screen TVs and interactive multi-media. (In fact, now that I think of it, he even predicts something akin to the O.J. Simpson police chase/shows like as "The World's Wildest Police Chases") This, all written in a time where people used "rabbit ears" to pull in a snowy black and white feed from one of the "Big 3" networks... and this only during "prime-time". Not exactly the 24 hour CNN/FOXNews news-cycle we have today.
On the political side, the author foresees the politics of celebrity where smooth-talking, attractive leaders use the threat of foreign wars to distract from domestic troubles and to constrain individual freedoms. Bradbury predicts political correctness becoming law, assisted largely by the apathy and intellectual illiteracy of an entertainment-sedated public, as well as a malleable intelligentsia. (Say it ain't so!)
Some of this may seem self-evident in today's political atmosphere but keep in mind that Harry S. Truman was president of the U.S. at the time.. not exactly a macchiavellian leader.
All that to say that it's a good read and well worth your time. It had a great impact on me when I first read it as a kid (thanks, Aunt Pat for my copy!). Re-reading it now, well it all makes even more sense.
I definitely encourage everyone to read Fahrenheit 451. In it (to his credit and our chagrin), writing in the early 50's (that's the nineteen-fifties, folks), Mr. Bradbury describes a society not altogether dissimilar to our own.
In fact, he describes iPods/ear buds, big-screen TVs and interactive multi-media. (In fact, now that I think of it, he even predicts something akin to the O.J. Simpson police chase/shows like as "The World's Wildest Police Chases") This, all written in a time where people used "rabbit ears" to pull in a snowy black and white feed from one of the "Big 3" networks... and this only during "prime-time". Not exactly the 24 hour CNN/FOXNews news-cycle we have today.
On the political side, the author foresees the politics of celebrity where smooth-talking, attractive leaders use the threat of foreign wars to distract from domestic troubles and to constrain individual freedoms. Bradbury predicts political correctness becoming law, assisted largely by the apathy and intellectual illiteracy of an entertainment-sedated public, as well as a malleable intelligentsia. (Say it ain't so!)
Some of this may seem self-evident in today's political atmosphere but keep in mind that Harry S. Truman was president of the U.S. at the time.. not exactly a macchiavellian leader.
All that to say that it's a good read and well worth your time. It had a great impact on me when I first read it as a kid (thanks, Aunt Pat for my copy!). Re-reading it now, well it all makes even more sense.
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