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Topic:
The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Magnus_Darcrider
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
9/17 10:04am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
- Date Edited:
9/17 4:54pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Magnus_Darcrider
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HB, MAJOR Serial Killer Moment there... 
I thought they were joking, but seriously, What the Frak???
Be seeing you,
Magnus Darcrider
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Killin’ ‘em all and takin’ their stuff since 1987. Pugnantes Malos, No Hos Pugnetis Zombie-Chick Magnet http://steamcommunity.com/id/darcrider http://twitter.com/Darcrider
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morgan-aleghieri
Title: Queen of redundant updates
(event manager)
Registered:
Mar '06
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Date Posted:
9/17 3:26pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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What the heck was that? I'm really not sure  Might have made more sense with sound, but then it might actually make less sense. 
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"L'il Rorscach’s Journal, March 21: Fwuffy bunny squeezed out candy wainbows on sidewalk. This city fears me, for I have seen its twue face."
"My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
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GoobaFish
Registered:
Apr '02
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Date Posted:
9/17 3:37pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Can I have those 2 minutes back please?
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NeecH
Registered:
Feb '03
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Date Posted:
9/17 6:16pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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I thought that was hilarious... 
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I'm what Willis was talkin' 'bout! http://pepperedgnome.blogspot.com/
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BigBossNass1138
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/17 6:52pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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The second ad, which can be viewed at Microsoft's website, is longer and better. It's certainly bizarre, but I think I get what they're doing with it, and find it an interesting tactic, and I'm a sucker for that Seinfeldian sort of humour.
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HappyBob
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/17 8:49pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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About 50% of the campaign counts as Seinfeldian comedy. The other half consists of lines, one after another, with seemingly no connection between them.
I'd love to see the brief for this, just to figure out how a logical message turned into this. It's like the advertising agency narrowed it down to six or seven ideas, then said "you know what? Let's do all of them".
It throws you so off-balance, it's impossible to watch without forming a strong opinion one way or the other. Few ads are this capable of getting people talking, and in that sense, it's brilliant. The message itself might be burried inpenetrably deep, but the fact that these commercials exist at all tells me something is right with the world.
I think I just might love it.
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Magnus_Darcrider
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
9/17 10:26pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Both ads should be available from the link I sent.
If they were designed to just get people talking about the ads, then this is potentially the greatest viral marketing idea ever.
And now I want to see Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates touring America, Hard-Travelin' Heroes style
In other news, last week Bill O'Reilly of FOX's The O'Reilly Factor interviewed Barack Obama. It's well known I despise O'Reilly, he represents everything that's wrong with the US Media and the US Right. That being said, he does occasionally surprise me. This is one of those times:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
O'Reilly's thoughts on the interview and Obama on his website.
Be seeing you,
Magnus Darcrider
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Killin’ ‘em all and takin’ their stuff since 1987. Pugnantes Malos, No Hos Pugnetis Zombie-Chick Magnet http://steamcommunity.com/id/darcrider http://twitter.com/Darcrider
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HappyBob
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/17 10:56pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
- Date Edited:
9/17 10:57pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
HappyBob
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O'Reilly is an intelligent, switched-on man who has refined his TV persona - however despicable - to a fine point. And as his appearances on The Colbert Report show, he doesn't take himself as seriously as one might think.
After moments like this, I find it hard to entirely dislike the man off the airwaves. Not to say I'm at all happy about him being allowed on them.
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BigBossNass1138
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/17 11:07pm
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Your point about the Microsoft ads is a fair one, HB. I just can't bring myself to dislike them. I'm too charmed by the non sequiter nature of them, and the simple fact that Bill Gates actually comes across as really funny.
And I think that's the point. Here's my take on this: For the last 18 months or so, Apple has been kicking Microsoft's ass publicity-wise with its insufferable "I'm a Mac" ads. The public perception is rapidly reaching this notion that Microsoft is old and stodgy and boring and crap. Which they're not; Microsoft is full of great products. Even the "troubled" Windows Vista has found its feet in the same way Windows XP did after its shaky first couple of years. The products aren't their problem, their problem is image, which is why they're paying $300 million to this ad agency to change that. They need to respond to Apple's smug ads without aping them and looking reactionary. So instead what they're doing is taking the man who the world knows as The Face Of Microsoft (despite the fact that he doesn't actually even work there anymore) and making him look goofy and funny and human. At the same time they're going to hit up on various concepts, like "people connecting" that exemplify things you can use a Windows PC to do. There's also lots of subtle little things, like Bill's famous old mugshot being used on his Shoe Circus discount card, and the old, crazy, control-freak grandma very likely being a dig at Steve Jobs ("She's been with us for twelve years"). Plus it's really looking like they're positioning this as a weird webisode sitcom that's gotten a crazy amount of publicity via all the tech blogs, and even freakin' Penny Arcade. It's not about selling products or making converts; Microsoft owns 90% of the world's computer market. It's about cleaning up their image, especially with the "blogosphere" types, the Digg crowd. They've been divisive, but they're getting a frankly ridiculous level of publicity.
I get why people don't like them. But I'm sure looking forward to the next "episode".
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Magnus_Darcrider
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
9/18 12:05am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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They are charming. My initial shock was the same kinda shock I experienced when I saw the film clip for Michael Bubble's "Spider-man Theme" after an all night bender with the law faculty; this looks interesting, but I can't fit this into my world view at this moment. My folks like these ads, but they've always like Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.
Glad to know I'm not the only one who finds those "I'm a Mac" ads smug and annoying
Everything you said about O'Reilly is spot on HB, and he doesn't take himself seriously; his appearances on The Daily Show have shown me that (still can't bring myself to appreciate Stephen Colbert's humour). His persona is still an extension of himself and what a disproportionate number of the American people want, and that grates.
Be seeing you,
Magnus Darcrider
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Killin’ ‘em all and takin’ their stuff since 1987. Pugnantes Malos, No Hos Pugnetis Zombie-Chick Magnet http://steamcommunity.com/id/darcrider http://twitter.com/Darcrider
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morgan-aleghieri
Title: Queen of redundant updates
(event manager)
Registered:
Mar '06
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Date Posted:
9/18 2:18am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Glad to know I'm not the only one who finds those "I'm a Mac" ads smug and annoying
No, no - Like the "Meet the Scout" trailer, those ads pretty much sum up everything I hate about Mac owners (smug, metro b@$t@rds...).
-----signature-----
"L'il Rorscach’s Journal, March 21: Fwuffy bunny squeezed out candy wainbows on sidewalk. This city fears me, for I have seen its twue face."
"My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today."
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BigBossNass1138
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/18 2:28am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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I love 50% of the "I'm a Mac" ads, and that's the hilarious and brilliant John Hodgeman as the lovable "PC." His counterpart, Justin Long, I have no strong feelings about other than very slight sympathy for how he's now typecast as that special kind of smug, hipster know-it-all you want to take a flamethrower to. It's the concept and styling of the ads I dislike the most, but then again I've never been a fan of Apple's smugness, or the fanaticism of the fanbase they're pandering to. I found them amusing when they began, but they've descended to pure mudslinging and self-congratulation, which you'd think that a company as supposedly enlightened as Apple would be above. Apple's products are great (like Microsoft's), but their corporate attitude and image rub me up the wrong way. Frankly, the best thing about the Sienfeld ads is that they don't lower themselves to that level. They may be unintelligible and border on absurdist performance art, but they're quirky and charming in a way the over-designed, finely honed, vicious, white-with-round-corners Apple ads will never be.
Wow. Weird soapbox moment there. So I feel permitted to descend into this minutiae of corporate politics because I finally own an iPod? YOU DECIDE.
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"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of." -Burt Bacharach http://steamcommunity.com/id/mrneutron http://twitter.com/timbo1138
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Magnus_Darcrider
Registered:
Nov '05
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Date Posted:
9/18 3:19am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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A piece of fanfic was recommended to me today, and now I'll recommend it to you.
Now I'm sure you're thinking, "What fresh Hell is this?? MD posting up fanfic??" Let me explain.
I was originally told it was a Vanity Fair piece, written like one of the Forbes Fictional Rich List Articles. Sadly this was false, but the premise was intriguing enough for me to read it. And it's good.
The premise: a Vanity Fair reporter interviews Tony Stark one year after he announces to the world that he is Iron Man.
You can read it here.
Be seeing you,
Magnus Darcrider
-----signature-----
Killin’ ‘em all and takin’ their stuff since 1987. Pugnantes Malos, No Hos Pugnetis Zombie-Chick Magnet http://steamcommunity.com/id/darcrider http://twitter.com/Darcrider
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BigBossNass1138
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/18 6:40am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Holy crap, Magnus, that was fantastic. Thank you very much for recommending it. It nailed the style perfectly. You'd swear it was genuine if you didn't know otherwise. It also perfectly captures the characters and more importantly the themes of what the world would be like a year after "The" press conference. Loved it, well worth staying up to read.
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"A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of." -Burt Bacharach http://steamcommunity.com/id/mrneutron http://twitter.com/timbo1138
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HappyBob
Registered:
Mar '02
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Date Posted:
9/18 7:00am
Subject:
RE: The Best (and Worst) Of The Web
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Bother. It seems Microsoft are about to pull the plug on the Seinfeld ads. Officially they're simply moving into "phase two" of the campaign, calling on other celebrities, but it does sound an awful lot like spin.
I'd like to be wrong. Here's hoping the non-Seinfeld ads maintain some of that non-sequitor webisode style. Sadly, I can't see this being anywhere near as charming with Eva Longoria and Pharrell Williams as spokespeople.
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