2004.02.17
"I have two children, one of each. My son enjoys playing with Lego Bionicles, and his sister sometimes likes to play with them too. These are robot/monster type toys that can be assembled and rebuilt to some degree.
One morning our son comes in our room and shows us that he has taken parts from two of the Bionicles and created a new one that has two dangerous weapons, poison and ice. He describes all the ways his new toy can fight enemies.
Then our daughter comes in with Gali Nuva, the blue Bionicle. She likes this one because it's her favorite color. She says Gali Nuva is going to put on a show and do gymnastics and singing and dancing, so everyone will sit and watch and enjoy the show.
I am thinking to myself that there is a huge difference between how girls and boys play with the same toy.
Then my daughter continues, 'So when they're all watching really carefully, Gali Nuva can kill them.'"
Quote of the Moment
These spots are based on a now-common prank, in which you steal your neighbor's lawn gnome, lug it around the world, and mail back photos of the gnome astride far-flung landmarks. Whoever first thought to do this is, in my book, an unparalleled genius (and a genius of my favorite stripe, too: useless genius).I like that idea useless genius. If it's not too immodest to say I think I have the tiniest dab of that from time to time, but emphasis on the "useless", and actually fairly easily paralleled.
Link of the Moment
My old boss and friend Kiran sent me What Brand Are You?, after we started talking about my company's post-merge name of "Velosant". (I can just hear the focus group crowd thinking..."it's like 'Agilent'...but with velocity!") That branding tool is funny, though I think it's just pretending to look at your inputs ,and gives you a randomly select name and 'hook'. Refresh a few times and see some of the options... (I guess the site got BBC coverage when people started using the names for real...)
Sad Headline of the Moment
Despite what OutKast would have you believe, Polaroid users warned not to "shake it". Another happy tradition shot down by grim reality. (Polaroids are conceptually coolish, though I would guess they're having their lunch eaten by digital photography.)