Was Sarah Palin ‘s Drill Baby Drill ever a good idea? Well the argument against it was global warming and the negatives of controversial carbon emissions… But no one, no scientist, no religion, no idiot can argue with this type of environmental damage, which is directly caused by off-shore drilling. The consequences will be visible for YEARS, and hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted to try and fix the problem… And its not like this is the first time something like this has happened. (And I’m talking about that little incident in the gulf of Mexico recently)

This seems like a better sort of Off-Shore energy project: First US Off Shore Wind Farm gets Approval

I give you my Sarah Palin photo montage…. Drill Baby Drill… Yea, right. Enjoy ;- )

Sarah Palin Drill Baby Drill Oil Spill

But thanks anyways Sarah Palin, We’ll be remembering “Drill Baby Drill” for years to come! Have fun on Fox News!

Band-aids.. We have all used them, particularly when we were young, and we probably didn’t notice one of the fundamental aspects of them us white folk take for granted… That is, band-aids are indeed designed for white people’s skin, just look at the color; which makes this particular advertisement for band-aid brand band-aids somewhat ironic. (see below)

 

 

 

Yes, we have a black president, no the KKK aren’t marching around anymore, however the phenomenon of “White privilege” still exists. Why is it that phrases like Latino / Hispanic-American (btw the concept of being “Hispanic” “Latino” is a creation of the United States Government) and African-American are the norm while the term European-American is never used? The pre-hyphen term essentially sends a message that this person is different. The cultural default is still “white”. “Nude” colored stalkings are the pigment of white people’s skin. In essence, being white overlaps with what it means to be an American (at least as far as consumerism is concerned).

Update:

With the growing popularity of this article, I’ve decided to elaborate on it. So what is the point of it? Is the band-aid really the subject at hand? No. The band-aid advertisement is merely an example of irony which exposes a greater consumer phenomenon. All purchases one makes, whether they realize it or not, are driven by latent motivations. The need to fit in is one of the strongest latent motivations behind most people’s purchasing decisions. Above I discuss how being white still overlaps with what it means to be an American (which is to be “normal” in America), and how many products like band-aids are still designed with this in mind. People naturally tend to want to fit in, and that “want” effects their purchasing decisions.

Buying something that labels you as being different goes against this natural tendency of wanting to fit in. Sure there are some people who want to think they are being different, by doing something like buying a Mac vs a PC, however in these sorts of situations, the consumer is most likely fulfilling a latent motivational need to show off or demonstrate some sort of “superiority”, in this case, when compared to people who have chosen to purchase windows based PC’s. Owning a Mac attracts attention, the exclusivity achieved by its higher price demonstrates to others that you have more disposable income and gives the buyer a sense of superiority. However, a dark band-aid may attract a different sort of attention. In a society with a history such as America’s, and with reasons which I explain earlier in this article, a dark colored band-aid contradicts what is “normal” in America (as dictated by consumer trends and product marketing). Buying something that immediately labels you as different from normal, in a way which does not necessarily involve some sort of superiority, can cause anxiety and insecurity in many consumers… Thus leading the idea of a dark colored band-aid to ultimately fail in the national market place. This type of product has been tested multiple times in the past, yet it continues to fail because people simply do not buy them. The market certainly exists, however the dark band-aid is still overlooked for the more favorable light tan band-aid.

Some interesting reading comes from this website: http://www.savetz.com/bandaid/

It includes a history of band-aid packaging. It is interesting to how the band-aid brand built it’s success by differentiating its product by offering the first “flesh colored” bandages. Previous to this, most were white and some were bright pink. While band-aid no longer comes right out to say that they are “flesh colored”, the color has yet to change from this original marketing plan. The underlying tone continues that the terms “flesh colored” and “nude colored” still refer to only white people’s skin, re-enforcing the sentiments I discuss above (and to address the concerns of some commenter’s, I do not personally support these sentiments).

 

So, taking this into consideration, what do you think about this new band-aid promotional packaging?

(reference)

Ready to see leaked game play footage of The Sims 4?  Well I don’t really have that here, what I DO have is a video for my film class project I just finished up a few days ago of me acting out a lot of The Sims roles in game play footage style… Have a look and let me know what you think. (below the jump)

When I was a kid I started to get sick of the game “The Sims” after a while, but then found a new way of enjoyment… Finding different ways to kill my Sims LOL. Having them wash their hands before fixing something is a sure way for them to get electrocuted…. And who never tried blockading their Sims in with houseplants for when their home set on fire?

How its made

I used Adobe Premiere Pro to stitch together all of my initial shots, as well as time everything correctly. Then I exported those videos and further edited them in Adobe After Effects. After Effects let me layer things in, create fire, the electrocution, as well as all the sound effects and music. Almost all of the sound effects and music come straight from The Sims 1. I wanted to make it higher resolution and put in some higher quality effects, but After Effects crippled my computer. I was waiting 2 minutes to see a test render of 10 seconds during the fire scenes!… I never thought my AMD quad core processor, GeForce 7600GT, and 4 gigs of ram would be inadequate for any project… The graphics card might be the weak link right now.

This was a huge learning experience and its definitely not polished off.. In fact I would like to make it again to fix a lot of the small problems I have with it… And I might as my instructor suggested I submit my video to the local main Film Festival at the end of the moth.

Let me know what you thought of my “The Sims 4″ in game footage

Have you ever sat in your car for 10 minutes, 20, or even 30 minutes after arriving at your destination because there’s something interesting on NPR (national public radio)? I find myself doing this frequently. The other day it happened while I was going to buy groceries. Fresh Air was interviewing Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. I ended up sitting in my car at the Hannaford parking lot for a good 15 minutes so I could listen to the whole show.

I have to say I have a new found respect for the show. Although there are quite a few tasteless and quite morbid episodes I don’t much care for, their ability to keep with with current events and sneak them into their shows is astonishing.

“We come in on a Thursday and then that episode airs the next Wednesday. And so in our show what happens that week ends up going on in the show.”

The NPR fresh air interview made me appreciate another thing, the show almost always manages to take a 3rd perspective on any issue. For instance the Terri Shiavo episode; will Kenny continue to live through a feeding tube, or die? The two obvious sides are presented for what they are when near the end a third perspective appears in Kenny’s letter stating something to the effect “If I should be left as a vegetable in a coma, for gods sake don’t show me on national television”. This is fascinating. In the real world, the only perspective taken by the media is the one that will generate the highest ratings; and not often is the south park “third perspective” even realized by a majority of people. Does anyone remember the South Park Boy Scout episode? Near the end of the episode, a similar third perspective appears.

For the full NPR fresh air interview, click here

Updates!
Testing my new custom seat cushion

So if you read my post about how uncomfortable the seats are in my  2009 Subaru Forester XT are, you understand where this is coming from. See here: http://bloggerboon.com/2009/12/11/subaru-forester-seat-comfort-problem/

Well I’m sick of sitting on a $3.00 walmart pillow that moves around when I get up and sit down. Not to mention I look like a complete fool. I get comments, “Sooo Boon, I see you were sitting on a pillow in your car, what happened to you last night?”… Very funny….

So I bought some high density foam and some cheap fabric so that I can make a pattern for a real good looking seat cover. My local fabric shop also has very high quality vinyl material made for covering snowmobile and ATV seats. Its very rugged and wont crack in freezing temperatures and the color matches my cars interior perfectly. So after I have my pattern I will make the final product out of that vinyl material. Who knows, I might start selling them if people want them. I know I’m not the only one that thinks the Forester’s seats are terrible.