Product Placement

I know that reality shows aren't cheap. There are competitions, guest stars, lodging, food, bonus prizes, and hosts to be paid for. Not to mention $250,000 dollars has to come from somewhere right? But, if a large television network has multiple shows giving out that much money (or more) per season, you'd think that they would have enough money to hire better advertising specialists.

Tuesday night is Biggest Loser night. Always. Two hours of watching morbidly obese people getting their butts kicked. It makes me feel better about my exercise habits. While I love the show, it is THE single worst show at product placement that has ever been shown on television. It doesn't even attempt subtlety. The most frequent product is Subway by far.

The contestants will take a hike down to the nearest town. By the end of their strenuous adventure they will be starving and exhausted. As they stumble into town one of the trainers (usually it's Bob) will say, "Hey guys look at this! There's a Subway right down the block!" The next few minutes of the show will contain the name Subway at least 3 dozen times. This is a small portion of the conversation that goes on at Subway:

Bob: "Hey guys we're so lucky we found a Subway. At Subway you can get a delicious, heart healthy, filling, and did I mention delicious Subway sandwich. They even have breakfast at Subway. Subway's breakfast egg-white sandwiches are the perfect start to your day. Don't you love Subway?"

Contestant 1: "Bob, I am so glad you brought us to Subway. My Subway fresh fit sandwich is so great! I'm so glad that Subway offers healthy, delicious, affordable food!"

Contestant 2: Hey Contestant One! It looks like you have the Subway fresh fit black forest ham sandwich. It looks almost as good as my Subway breakfast egg white on an english muffin. Ha ha ha.

(If there's playful (scripted) banter in the conversation of course it looks more natural right?)

Bob: Alright guys, enough talk, we can't stay at Subway forever! Finish your Subway sandwich and then you guys get to run ten miles back to the ranch. I've already spoiled you too much with all this Subway.

By the end you are definitely craving Subway, which obviously is the point, and you feel ridiculous for even letting the thought cross your mind.

This scenario is played out with at least three other products throughout the episode. Yoplait yogurt, Subway, Ziploc, Extra gum, Brita filters, Biggest Loser protein powder and Luna bars are the products featured most frequently although there are definitely more. Not to mention, every commercial break will advertise for the same things again.

I really am OK with product placement to an extent. It is smart advertising to see a product in a real setting, but does it really have to be so blatant? Can't the producers work things in a little more naturally?

Headline: Local grocery store doing their part to help customers during the recession.

You know the days when you look through your fridge, pantry and cupboards and there's nothing you want to eat so you tell your mom, "Mom! you need to go shopping there's nothing to eat!" And then she goes off on you saying how the pioneers and the pilgrims had to eat weeds and rodents and I should be grateful that I have a fridge full of ketchup, salad dressing, and hot sauce.

What, that doesn't happen to anyone else? Dang.

Anyway, that was not the situation with me. I literally had nothing to eat in my entire apartment. Other than inedible things like baking powder, brownie mix, and vegetable oil, I had maybe a single tortilla and some peanut butter.

It should come as no surprise that my grocery bill was obscene. Imagine my excitement when my cashier handed me this:

Wow, what a steal. I can save 50 whole cents on my groceries next week! Let's get real. It would make sense if the promotion was get 50 cents off every $5 or even $10 you spend, but 50 cents off $50 is only 1%. Really?

It's talent week at the Glenwood!

So far life in my apartment has been great. There are a few downsides (the top drawer in the bathroom falls out if you open it too far, the kitchen table and chairs are wobbly, and our hallway slopes), but the positives far outweigh the negatives. There is one weird thing that I can't quite decide if it's a bad thing or a good thing though
Starting Sunday night Natalie (my roommate) and I kept hearing different things coming from another apartment near our bedroom. This is how it went down.

Sunday: Harp music
Monday: Guitar
Tuesday: Singing
Wednesday: Singing AND Guitar
Thursday: This one was the weirdest. We couldn't decide if it was open mic poetry night or someone reciting Shakespeare. Either way someone would speak dramatically, and then people would clap afterward.

Since then we haven't heard things as consistently as we did the first week. Sometimes I still get to go to sleep to harp music though, which is nice. My only question is who on earth brings a harp to college?

Here's your change sir.

It's been almost two weeks since school started. College is so completely different from high school. One of my favorite differences is that there are so many things and people to watch. Sometimes weird, sometimes hilarious. This happened today:
A guy was at the vending machine getting a soda right next to the table where I was reading. He paid with a $10. He got his soda and waited for his change. All of a sudden the vending machine started spitting out nickels. The fact that he got roughly $8 in quarters is funny by itself. But the best part was that instead of pouring the change into the compartment at the bottom of the machine the coins came flying out of it and landing on the ground all around the vending machine. It was all I could do to not laugh out loud. Either way, it completely made my day.

Exhausting!

If you’re under the age of twelve and your parents are crazy enough to let you go on an airplane by yourself you are granted the luxury of a chaperone. They usher you through security, get you to the right gate, sit next to you during the flight, and deposit you into the hands of your guardian waiting outside the gate. If you’re lucky enough you even get a neat airline pin that in reality is to classify you as child traveling alone, but in your eyes it’s a symbol of status.
Fast forward a few years. Most of the teenage population is just as inept as a twelve year old at navigating the airport, yet they don’t get babysitters. Sure being eighteen years old I don’t think I would like being watched by someone I don’t know, but I need as much help as I can get to get through the airport.
First, you print your tickets at a handy touch screen kiosk, not. If your parents pity your ineptitude enough they’ll make your reservations for you. It makes things easier, but once you get the the airport it may or may not turn out that you don’t have the information the kiosk wants. Wait in line, talk to the baggage check woman who is nice enough, but wants your information quicker than you can physically give it. But then you have a ticket and everything is fine. “Well, that wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected” you think to yourself. “All that’s left to get through is security” which everyone knows is a nightmare.
Everyone knows, that in theory that security is expected to be a very tedious and VERY long process of waiting in line, emptying your bag of electronics and metal, taking off your shoes, getting prodded by a metal detecting stick, and after you’ve done all that trying to get all your things together while other people’s cartons full of electronics, shoes, and bags keep piling on top of yours. Everything about that process is true, except for one. Getting through security is a whirlwind. Imagine that whole list in fast forward. Efficiency is fantastic don‘t get me wrong, but if I hadn‘t had flip flops, the extra step of tying my shoes may have caused me to have a break down.
Comparatively the process of getting on the plane is relatively simple, almost relaxing. Once you’re past all the metal detectors the rest of the airport seems quiet and calm. You plop down on a chair with metal arm rests (in my opinion the dumbest idea ever, especially during a long lay over), partake of the free wi-fi and spend the next hour watching you tube or Hulu, writing a blog, or checking the news feed on Facebook. The boarding call is made over the intercom and you shuffle into the line, walk onto the plane and enjoy the next few hours of your life reading sky mall and looking at cloud formations that are so close it feels like you can touch them. The plane touches down and you walk out of the airport ready to enjoy that well deserved vacation. Enjoy it, because five days from now you get to go through that wonderful process all over again.

Simple Pleasures

Today as I was pacing through my house trying to find something to occupy my time I found myself complaining in my head about how cold it was inside. Meanwhile I looked out the window and saw that it looked like a beautiful evening. I went outside and found the temperature was perfect so I sat myself down with my favorite book, turned on my favorite Pandora station, and enjoyed the next few hours in complete bliss. As I was reading I started thinking of how, with all the millions of things to do in life my list of favorite things ever doesn't include skydiving, paragliding, partying, traveling, or watching the Superbowl. Sure, I do enjoy doing some of those things and others are on my bucket list, but when it comes down to it my favorite things are those that are sweet and simple. These are a few of my favorite simple pleasures.
1. driving down the road with all the windows down and the radio blasting
2. reading a book/taking a nap/chatting on the trampoline on a perfect summer evening
3. swinging on a swings at a playground
4. drawing/doodling with sharpies
5. driving for no reason with your best friend
6. finding your favorite colors in a package of pens and finding any and every excuse to use them
7. running through the sprinklers
8. watching the clouds
9. sleeping
10. watching home movies and looking at old photographs.
11. watching lightning
12. playing in the rain.

Tree house on steroids

Today I saw this headline on Yahoo news.
Treehotel--a cluster of six 12' x 12' hotel suite cubes suspended in the air in the middle of a forest of Sweden. Not only are they individual hanging hotel rooms but they're also invisible. Somehow (i'm not sure how because the article wasn't terrible specific) images are reflected on each of the six walls so it just looks like the rest of the forest including the wildlife. Next to hanging in the air and being invisible, they are also extremely eco-friendly. All the material is recycled and it's solar powered and basically there's just a lot of green stuff going on. The craziest part is the toilets. Instead of flushing they incinerate the contents (I'm not sure how I feel about it because it just seems like so many things could go wrong.) Since the hotel is in the middle of a forest near the arctic circle the recreation in the area (as if observing the surrounding forest and marveling over the fact that you're in an extremely classy hotel hanging 18 feet in the air isn't enough) you can take guided tours and go hiking all over the Swedish wilderness. How cool is that!
I have no idea how to reserve a spot, and no doubt since there are six rooms the waiting list must be 3 years long, not to mention it must cost an arm and a let, and possible a hip and a kidney or two, I would still LOVE to go there someday. Maybe I'll put it on my bucket list or something... which would imply I actually HAVE a bucket list-which I don't.

Prank

This is the best prank I have ever seen. Can you even imagine what you would do if you were in this situation?