No whining!

So today I'm not going to complain.

No trashing tv commercials, no chastising so-called news reporters. No whining.

Today the weather is cool, rainy, overcast and just plain gray. But who cares? It's not cold enough to need the furnace (not when your condo is on the top floor - heat rises!) and it is cool, so you don't need the air conditioner.

It seems like the trees leafed out overnight and the views from my decks are great - my building backs to trees and they're full and green and lush and beautiful. I'm sure the rain is helping. The calla lilies survived a winter in their pot in the storage unit, and it looks like the gladiolas and hollyhocks will come back, too. Indoors my tomato seedlings are about three inches high, and the spinach, lettuce, parsley, chives and oregano are struggling along but I have high hopes.

And gratitude.

And just for today, gratitude is all I need.

Miscellaneous peeves with other tv commercials

1. Billy Mays, a.k.a. the oxyclean guy. Billy, Billy, Billy.... enough with the SHOUTING!! I just don't buy anything from anybody who finds it necessary to YELL at me, bud. (and I will not, not, not include a link. I just can't stand this guy.)
2. On the topic of shouting, the "ShamWow" guy is annoying, too. Won't buy products from him, either. (https://www.shamwow.com/ver8/index.asp?did=&refcode=1002)
3. Where did the Tasters Choice couple amble off to? I miss them. Bring them back.
4. The ads for spacebags in big bundle packages that you "can only get on tv". O.k., so it sounds like a good deal but here's the kicker - they show all these women saying how fantastic it is to store so much stuff, and the one chick actually says it gives her house "so much more living space". Like, what? They're really enjoying watching t.v. in that closet now? (watch for yourself: https://www.spacebag.com/spacebag/)
5. Does anybody else find it pretty repulsive on the Hardee's ad where Padma swipes bar-b-q sauce off of her leg and then puts it in her mouth? Ughhh! (Perhaps I'm not the demographic.) (here's the link, for you guys out there: http://www.hardees.com/#/on-tv-now/padma)
6. Geico moneywitheyes ads. Enough said. (again, too annoying to link up)
7. And perhaps my biggest pet peeve with tv ads..... the ads within the nightly newscasts. If they would just stop using so much time telling what they're going to tell me, over and over - they'd have enough time to tell me two or three more stories! Seriously, folks, I'm watching you already! Quit telling me you're going to tell me something in a minute, and tell me more news! I'll stay tuned, really I will. As opposed to tuning out, which is what I do now.

Again with the commercials

O.k., here's another tv commercial that bugs me....
Young boy is just finishing up mowing the grass in what appears to be his own front yard.
Dad comes up to him with a sandwich and drink - the sandwich is in one of those clear plastic hinged-type boxes and the drink is in a big plastic cup bearing the logo of a convenience mart/gas station chain popular here in the midwest.
The dad says something to the effect that the son has done such a grown-up job on the lawn that he deserves a "serious" sandwich.
Then the kid, holding the sandwich, launches into a daydream about being all grown up with a job, marriage, kids. And it scares the heck outta him.
So the tag line is "maybe the sandwich is TOO serious".
Clever.
But here's the part that bugs me - they're in their own yard!
Who in the heck gets IN the car, DRIVES to a convenience store, GETS out, STANDS in line, and then PAYS for a stupid sandwich to give to their kid in their own yard?
What? These people don't have bread, meat and cheese in their own refrigerator?

CNN's so-called "reporter"

First, I am not generally a fan of CNN. I think they started out o.k. and have deteriorated into a mouthpiece for the liberal left. That's my opinion.
But here's a look at who they put in front of their camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOrPzVECSjo
Apparenly CNN hired this chick. It's a CNN microphone in her hand. She's on CNN's camera.
This chick clearly has an agenda.
Whether it is CNN's agenda or not is not the issue - the real issue is "reporters" are supposed to be objective, and "news" outlets have an obligation to use only objective reporters or else label their shows as something other than "news".
"Reporters" are supposed to give us, the viewers/readers, the facts. They are supposed to deliver the facts without bias, without judgement, impartialy, without influence one way or another. They are supposed to give us the facts so that we may decide for ourselves how we feel and what we think about any given situation or event.

TV Commercials Damaging Young Women

Am I the only one who is turned off by the latest cellphone tv ad? I'm referring to the one where the dad walks in on the three girls, presumably his daughters, all holding cell phones. They have a brief conversation about his online dating experiences and the upshot is that his daughters are trying to set him up with a grandmother of one of their classmates.

His reply? "Wait. What does she look like?"

Yep.

His three young, impressionable daughters (one of whom is made to look fairly plain) ask about setting him up on a date. And his response is "what does she look like".

Am I the only one who finds this insulting? In the age of soap ads defending women of all ages/sizes/colors/whatever as the beautiful, wonderful creatures they are, do we really need a neanderthal ad like this one?

I know, I know. It's just an ad. And in some junior-high-male-mentality it's supposed to be funny.

But it shows just how insensitive and shallow people (o.k., MEN) can be - and this guy is talking to his daughters!

Advertising is so pervasive and can be so destructive when it hammers young women with the message that looks are the most important thing they have to offer. That appearance is the only thing that matters. That being physically attractive to a man is everything.

Is this really the message this vendor wants to sell? I guess I'm just not the target demographic - I am, after all, not a junior-high male.

But don't we owe our daughters better than this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFaCMUGq79k ?????