The Marketing Tidal Wave

Yeah, so I'm studying a Masters in Marketing and spend almost every hour of the week trying to work out how to extract as much money from as many people as possible, even if they don't need to. I know it's not the most noble way to go in life and it makes me seem shallow when I meet people studying more helpful courses such as Nursing or Teaching but I'm just trying to look after number one - me!

Anyway, I know how much marketing and advertising appear in society today. Well, I thought I knew but didn't realise how excessive it can be until it affected me the other day. I'm warming up for soccer, strectching, and at one point all I was looking at were my goalie gloves and football boots. Now, I have played soccer since I was a wee kid and have experimented with many companies' products. After trial and error, I prefer to wear Nike boots and gloves. Honestly, I find them most comfortable and effective at what they're supposed to do and yes, they do display a fancy logo, I can't deny that.

Look, here are the boots and gloves I wear:



And then it struck me, there are a hell of a lot of "Swooshes" I'm advertising here and counted them. How many Nike Swooshes would you expect to be on one pair of boots and one pair of gloves? Think about it.....eighteen? Yeah, eighteen! That really blew me away, eighteen - just in case you missed the first seventeen. It's a funny world, it really is.

In other news, following my blog on movie sequels, it appears George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon were reading. Guys, if you are, say hi! Because it turns out they have decided to sign up for Ocean's 13! Now I love Ocean's 11, it's one of my favourite movies because just like the Bond films, I watch it and want to be like those guys on screen, they're so cool. So obviously, I was excited for Ocean's 12, more excited than any other movie I've ever seen, apart maybe from the 3rd Austin Powers. I was so excited I paid for Cole to come and see it with me and Doctah for his birthday, my addrenalin was making me forget the value of money. Seriously, why would I want to go with Cole? Anyway, I was let down. It was not a patch on the first one, what a dissapointment.

So Ocean's 13, I am only allowing you to continue with this project as it is an opportunity for you to redeem yourselves and make up for Ocean's 12....you have been warned!

Gonna Fly Now

So I spent a hell of a lot of time yesterday playing Rocky. It's so good, loved it from the moment Dan got it on his Xbox, way-hay back in the day. Finally my brother found it available on PS2 and I have a new career mode going as Mr T, I mean Clubber Lang. Honestly, it's so good, when I wasn't playing and was actually doing work, I was still doing my awesome Mr T impressions all day long.

This kinda links into an interesting story in the paper this week, listing movie sequels that were better than the original. Now I know nearly every single person on the internet lists their own opinions on this and fair enough, whatever they think. But I think that for a respected journalist to publicly state Kill Bill 2 (which I love) is better than Kill Bill 1 (which I love even more), is pushing the boat out a little too far. However, I do agree that both Shrek 2 and Toy Story 2 are better than their originals. Did you know Tom Hanks got paid $50,000 for Toy Story 1 and $5,000,000 for Toy Story 2? Yeah, really. And I'm kinda glad they're quitting whilst they're ahead, after reading plans for Toy Story 3 have been scrapped, unlike Rocky, with the 6th movie seemingly going ahead.

And after pretending to be Clubber Lang and watching Rocky III this week, he's the best opponent of the lot. That's the only thing missing from the other films, no Mr T. He's so cool, I think I'm gonna watch the A Team tonight. Bit more nostalgia, honestly I never watch any new TV programmes.

On the subject of sequels, if you've never heard Guns N Roses' cover of Live and Let Die, download it, it's one of the best cover songs ever.

And MJ, you were the worst, most unfunny, sluttiest roommate ever. Shame on you.

What's a Commonwealth?

Despite possessing an A Level in the subject, it appears I know nothing about geography. My history isn't very good either but I already knew that. This week I have learnt that apparently countries including South Africa, Pakistan and Jamaica are part of the Commonwealth. Honestly, I had no idea and there are several others as well. My knowledge of British history certainly is limited in some areas.

However, I am going to blame the media and the royals. One of those two is usually to blame for everything and this case is no exception. Firstly it is the royal family's fault for former British colonies to find them unnecessary so they play their 'get out of jail free' card as soon as possible, dissapearing into oblivion. Secondly, because the so called 'British' media is so unbelievably Englishly biased, I have hardly watched any of the Commonwealth Games. Therefore, I have missed potential international lessons as I have decided I would prefer not to learn about some English person nearly getting into a final or nearly getting onto the podium, with barely a reference to that little principality next door. Maybe I should say well done to David Davies and every other Welsh competitor, as they may not get another mention until late tonight on BBC Wales. Rant over.

However, without wanting to lay into TV too much (let's never fight again), I must applaud UKTV Gold for its current campaign of trying to establish who is Britain's greatest comedy superhero? This means that when I finally finish work, I can spend an hour or two each night before I go to bed, with this fine selection of entertainers. Late night TV may be my favourite part of the day now, apart from sleep of course, that's where I'm a Viking.





You know, when I was working at Joe's I met a regular couple who emmigrated from Britain in the 70s. They'd been in Canada so long they'd never heard of Only Fools and Horses or Fawlty Towers and I felt so sorry for them. What a loss.

Links

I often flick through the website kontraband.com for my amusement. Here are the links to two videos I find particularly amusing, their titles say it all really.

Kill Bill with Super Mario sound effects

The real-life Simpsons opening credits
(actually nicked from youtube.com cos I lost it on Kontraband)

Enjoyo Boyos!

Shearer, Shearer, what's the score?

Hey Hey

Great weekend was had by all. Had a trip with the fam up to see little sister Bethan in uni in Manchester. Well, that's the official line. Really we went to see Manchester United vs Newcastle. Obviously I was so up for this trip as with being in Canada and taking my soccer seriously now so Saturdays are taken up, I hadn't gone up for 4 years! Unbelievable, and I call myself a supporter. But it was a great day and here are some photos from the stadium.




And after the match, I took part in my ritual of waiting in the freezing cold (never live in Manchester, it's soooooo cold) to gawp at the player's fancy cars and nick an autograph or two. Despite other people having the same idea, I did manage to pinch a couple including Christiano Ronaldo so I was well chuffed.





And as I hadn't been to Manchester for a couple of years, we decided to take a tour of the stadium and museum for some extra pics. I thought this an opportune moment to publicise to the English what the whole world is starting to hear about, the activities of Cole Hobson. However, I do think Carolyn should have warned the Dominican and her picture with Teri is missing some sort of sign.










Sorry for the photo overload but I can be a bit of a camera freak. Just ask my buddy Niall, who I'm going back to visit in DUBLIN for Easter, the next thing for me to look forward to. Also, going to Manchester did mean I missed the greatest one-day cricket match ever with South Africa beating Australia. I love cricket, Doctah J is wrong, it isn't pointless and I need to get back under to watch another one with the boys. Before I finish, thank you Igor for mentioning the fact Wales failed to beat Italy in the rugby on Saturday, I hadn't forgotten. But I did realise, even though I love watching United and soccer is my sport that I play, it doesn't beat watching rugby live, that's a game and a half.

Oscars

I'm useless at films. I haven't watched the Oscars for years as all the nominations go to films I never watch. However, I did see a little of the highlights last night, and spent the entire 20 minutes asking my brother who all the presenters were and what other films I may have seen the winners in - he didn't know much more. And stupid British TV, they never showed any of John Stewart which would have been interesting, apparently I needed to watch the live show.

What I will say is I'm glad George Clooney won as I've always thought he's a really cool guy and good actor. Haven't watched any of his recent films as they sound a bit too artistic and serious for my liking, but well done anyway.

Happy St. David's Day

As I'm sure you are well aware, March 1st is St. David's Day here in Wales, the day of our patron saint. I also heard on the radio this morning that today is supposed to be the first day of spring, but for the 2nd time in a couple of months, it has been snowing here! What's that about? Weird. To mark St. David's Day, Prince Charles is visiting my Dad today, as he usually does. Not really, he's actually visiting the university Dad works at as he's Chancellor or something and Dad is going to meet him. Which is more than he usually does in a days work. (both of them!)

In another show of patrionism, 2006 sees the 150th anniversary of our national anthem being composed. In times of turmoil (the rugby team is so screwed up, I can't describe it as events have been changing every day), one experiences great satisfaction from this song and I watched an extremely moving tv programme around its importance today before sports games, it always makes me feel proud of my nationality.

So have a happy and healthy St. David's Day and congratulations and thanks to Evan James and his son James James (no, really) on the anniversary of their most famous work.