people (&musicians) should say what they mean.

and by that i mean, wouldn't it be funny if what you saw was exactly what you got? perhaps even refreshing. check this video out, courtesy of @johnny_bones, who is awesome at finding funny shit. this video is a good adaptation/translation of "Take On Me." cheers to your afternoons--mine are busy!

friday felines: wigs for your cat. srsly.

and you thought i was kidding. nope, it's for real: Kitty Wigs, which come in Pink Passion, Bashful Blonde, Silver Fox, and Electric Blue for $50 a pop plus S&H.

a small price to pay to harass your cat for hours trying to get him or her to actually wear it. KW doesn't promise your cat will tolerate the wig--or you. check out the FAQ. i think my cat is a Pink Passion sort of lady.

where are the male cat wigs, hmm? i need Ken style. and maybe an afro. i do think perhaps my cat would best be personified with a Lenny Kravitz-esque do.

if you should want to all out dress up your cat, i suggest going to this site, after learning to read Japanese. and if you can read Japanese, then be sure to order in advance.

not enough cat costume fun for one day? check out these embarrassing shots. cat frog. pumpkin cat. pig cat (not to be confused with manbearpig). more? try the flickr group or the costume cat blog.

tech geeks and halloween

it's never too early to prep for halloween!

this year, i'm the Mad Hatter. last year i was Jessica Rabbit; before then, Helena from MCR [i don't even like MCR].
what have been your past costumes?

and if you're stuck, here are some ideas, haha:

-dress your baby like an iPod.
-paint yourself black and walk around with said baby
-or be trendy! do that with a fake baby.
-t shirt reading "404 costume not found"
-team up! there's mouse, computer chip, and keyboard.
-a P2P pirate with logo of choice on the chest.
-any character from the Alltel commercials
-as any variant of the lolcat and pantheon
-the badger from badgerbadgerbadger

i will add more as i think of them. what are you, or members of your fam, going as?

that DeclareYourself voting vid? think twice.

it seems that the Don't Vote video i discussed here yesterday has caused quite a stir in the advertising and marketing community, from a number of age ranges and locations, like Public School Intelligentsia and Dear Jane Sample, both of whom are devoutly, it seems, against it. in a way, rightfully so. it's unappealing. but...

i think that there has been sight lost on the target group for the video. it's not meant to convince jaded 30-40 somethings to vote through use of the wiles of overpaid celebrity--you and i see through that by now. neither does it appeal to my age group, unless they act younger, because many of us have graduated college, have decided to vote or not vote already, have assessed our politics, and so forth. as such, we likely won't care about the spot.

it is meant to appeal to high schoolers and recent high school grads, whose attentions spans, as i've mentioned and many know, are incredibly difficult to capture. you can't coddle them like mommy and daddy or tell them what they should do. they're teenagers, they're rebellious, and likely, they don't give two shits about you, the government, or Wall Street. but if you get their back up by being condescending, you may just have a shot. MAYBE. though to get them to watch for 4 mins is asking a lot of the ADD generation.

to verify my thought process on this, i tossed my brother, a high school aged kid, the video. told him to watch it and just tell me what he thought. no prepping, no framing. then i asked him a few pointed questions: would it have made you register to vote? what did you think about the use of celebrities? what did you think about the use of sarcasm?

--
the responses were as follows:

on voting:
it would have persuaded me to vote, within reason yes i would try to but it would be put on a list of personal priority meaning i'd get to it asap but i wouldnt go out of my way instantly to do so

on sarcasm:
if i could vote, and wasnt planning to, it sure would've made me feel like crap. their approach was very sarcastic (obviously on purpose). i think the sarcasm was just right, but as i said it would come down to personal priority to whether or not i left that second to register

on celebrity:
sarah silverman(silvermen? sp?) was a little over the top with her...nonsense - it didnt fit well with the seriousness of the video. otherwise they worked well together.

any other thoughts:
ME: if i hadn't told you, specifically, to watch the whole thing, would you have if you stumbled on it?
HE: with a proper description and/or title, yes. i dont just click randomly at yt vids
ME: do you want to add anything else?
HE: the length was abit much, only when they started "waiting" for you to register
--

i don't profess that my brother is the be-all end-all answer; in fact, he's atypical. he's highly aware, interested in politics, and extremely bright. if you were following me on twitter, you noticed that i didn't think he'd like it, since he tends to have views nearly as mature as ours. so if this video works for him, i urge you to think about that, and to ask others in the high school age group what they think. no prepping, no framing. just, does it make you want to vote? food for thought.

rock your cock off? don't you want that? ...?

see all of the ads for Rok night club in Vegas at Advertising is Good For You. i particularly like the post's headline: "Thirteen-year-old boys aren't allowed in Vegas night clubs, but it seems they are allowed to create ad campaigns for them." i know these came out a few weeks back, but seeing them again made me really want to comment on how much they irritate me.

and no, i'm not irritated because it appeals to thirteen year old boys (cos really, who isn't a 13 year old boy at heart in those situations?), but because the actual execution is lame. at one point, this was a darling of an idea. a little baby bundle of a concept i'm sure was cooed over and loved until it hit the teenage phase and then it got sent for an "attitude adjustment."

YOU DO NOT ROCK YOUR COCK OFF.
YOU ROCK OUT WITH YOUR COCK OUT.

YOU DO NOT ROCK YOUR FUNBAGS OFF.
YOU ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF.

and who the hell says "funbags" anymore anyway? who wrote these lines? for real? and when was the last time they said any sentence involving with word "rock" and "off"? not to mention, especially in Vegas... don't you rather want those body parts? the only VAGUELY acceptable one is "rock your ass off." i can see that. maybe. if i squint. otherwise, copywriting FAIL, hook line and sinker.

i may cry: Apple to shut down iTunes?

hot on the heels of a conversation i was having yesterday about music subscriptions and the issue of transference, it seems that yet another legal battle or other may destroy music lovers' hearts. Apple is threatening to shut down iTunes if it goes through.

i think that of all businesses, the music business has single-handedly gone out of its way to make shit absolutely horrid for themselves. if there is an antithesis to social media, it's the music business. there is nothing social about it and there seems to be an utter disrespect and apathy toward the consumer which they, on the other hand, so avidly court by banning pirating and slapping on RIAA fines before you can say "student loan."

[i'm not referring here to social media music sites like Last.fm or iLike, i mean the industry itself--those in charge of distribution and collection to and from those lesser sites.]

this is not Apple's fault. i don't want them to shut down iTunes, but i don't think it's right for the record execs to hoc more cash out of the resellers, especially when in most cases it's not like the artists see a raise. it's like the music bailout to save some cushy chair's job.

between a copyright hike and streaming radio battles the likes that Muxtape, Pandora, and many more face, all that the music industry is accomplishing is blowing off the one foot they've got left. REALITY CHECK. people are going to find more, new ways to pirate if you're going to make it harder to be legal. work WITH our needs, not against them!

i am a full legal music downloader. i buy everything from iTunes (if .mp3) or Amazon (if CD--i do still buy those). if i hear it on Pandora and like it, i buy it legally. partially because it's easy and partially because, at some point, i respected the industry, and still respect the musicians. the former is fast going down the crapper.

UPDATE 10.03: The Copyright Royalty Board Does Nothing. iTunes’ Rates Remain The Same.

"rampant like herpes. for positive."

nice job declareyourself. via socialvibe.

i think the beginning shock value offers enough to keep a younger viewer watching/listening, but after the first two minutes of more and more people telling me not to vote, i may just turn it off before it even gets to the payoff. clever idea, but a bit lengthy. could have survived with slightly less celeb face time by about half. especially since some repeat, even in the "vote if..." section. me personally, i don't need Hollywood telling me to vote, but i've always been politically active. i think this may do well at speaking to the 'newly unregistered 'voter, that is 18-20 types who haven't yet had a big reason to vote, who are still swayed by pop when nothing else will. if, that is, the spot can get past the ADD factor.