A beautiful series of images paired with a beautiful song make this work for IANSA a lot more powerful and smart than it might have been. A solid example of the director doing the little things right. Nice work.
MORTARBLOG: OK, first up, "Huluwood," starring Alec Baldwin for Hulu.com.
LEE MARVIN: ""An evil plot to destroy the world." Yeah. That's funny. You mushbrains keep riiiiight on laughing."
AOK: ""Mushy-mushy." I wike it. Keeps evwyone fwom knowing about my evil pwot for world."
MORTARBLOG: OK, so Hulu's a winner. Next up, Sobe, with "Lizard Lake."
LEE MARVIN: (stares angrily, jacks round into .45 automatic.)
AOK: (stares angrily, jacks round into adorable little .45 automatic)
MORTARBLOG: Wow. You guys really hated that one.
LEE MARVIN: "These better get better."
AOK: "Word."
MORTARBLOG: We're probably not in the demographic. I'm sure it will sell a lot of...drink. (adjusts collar, wipes brow) Is it hot in here? OK, next up - some old friends for Cash4Gold.com
LEE MARVIN: "Hmm. I might know where a few gold teeth are...lying around. Not bad."
AOK: "Wecession sad."
MORTARBLOG: Amen to that, Kitten. Wecession sad indeed. Maybe some flowers will cheer us up. Let's take a look at this spot from Teleflora.
LEE MARVIN: "'The competition's flowers aren't just lame, they're destructive and evil.' Now that's a strategy you can do something with. I like it."
AOK:"WHO YOU CAWLIN 'FAT AND SMEWWY' PAL!? YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS!?"
LEE MARVIN: "Easy, kid. Easy. Too many witnesses."
MORTARBLOG: OK, split decision on that one. Kitten, I know you'll love this one, isn't this guy your cousin?
LEE MARVIN: "I usually only eat mescal worms or the still-beating hearts of my enemies, but I gotta say, I might have a side of Cheetos next time."
AOK: "Cousin Chester funny. Gwad he got out of wehab."
MORTARBLOG: OK, so we like the Cheetos. Speaking of old friends, let's take a look at the resolution of that Denny's spot we teased last week:
LEE MARVIN: "See? What did I tell you. Nice setup - weak resolution."
AOK: (curls up in chair, sleeps)
MORTARBLOG: Huh. No love for the pancakes. OK guys, two minutes in the fourth quarter, down by three...CareerBuilder:
LEE MARVIN: "Somebody called me "dummy" at work once. Once. Funny ad, though."
AOK: "Purrrrrrrr."
MORTARBLOG: Well there you go - five we liked, one we hated, and one we-told-you-so. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and thanks to both of you. Two weeks until pitchers and catchers report!
Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban
died today at Casa Montalban of natural causes. He was 88.
Now, important to the cultural lexicon as Montalban may be - why are we talking about this here? This is why: let's face it, folks. You don't remember Montalban from his star turn in Pepita Jimenez. No. You remember Montalban for three things: Fantasy Island, Wrath of Khan...and this:
That's right. El Cordoba. They gave Montalban one of the single worst cars ever built, paired it with possibly the single hackiest script ever written, and he still made it legendary.
May you rest in peace and rich Corinthian leather, compadre. Vaya con Dios.
Here's the Obama campaign with a two-minute ad on the economy. Two minutes? But we're Americans! We have short attention spans - the TV says so!
What do you think? Can you watch a politician talk for 120 seconds?
Mortar is big into the idea of trusting the audience not to be idiots. And we appreciate it when someone else trusts us not to be idiots. We're just more nervous than a moose on the first day of hunting season when we think of trusting everyone not to be idiots. Let us hear your thoughts.
Candy commercials have been an awe-inspiring source of WTF-ness these past few years, and Skittles has easily lead the pack with memorable gimmicks like the sheep-boys and the creepy pinata man.
But today they finally topped the cake. And then slowly, sensually, devoured it.
Thank you, AdFreak. I will never think of Skittles the same way again.
This is, apparently, a Soviet-era tv spot for an Estonian meat company. Remember how the commies always used to refer to us as "capitalist pigdogs?" We suspect this dish is what they were talking about. (On the other hand, that chicken looks more nervous than a Trotskyite in a room full of Stalinists)
Спасибо to our comrades at Glorious Boing-Boing Workers' Collective.