The most interesting man in the world, or not
July 18, 2011
I kind of like finding new music via television commercials. The most recent song that I love is, I have learned, “The Golden Age” by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, a Danish outfit. The song is featured in a Heineken beer commercial.
Part of the reason why I like the commercial is because of how the main character interacts with each person he comes upon. Then I started thinking about it more. Do I like the commercial in general because I am influenced by loving the song?
No. I like it because it’s well done all the way around. It’s essentially Heineken’s version of Dos Equis’ The Most Interesting Man in the World. Only Heineken got it right. (Links to all videos at the end.)
The problem with the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World is that he just sits there, attempting to exude smugness but coming off as arrogant, as he or the announcer tells you why you should be creaming your pants over this guy.
On the other hand, the dude in the Heineken commercial actually does interesting stuff. Clichés become clichés because there’s some element of truth in them. Actions do speak louder than words. The Heineken guy is doing interesting stuff and the people around him are reacting in a way that lets the viewer know that they adore this fellow. And so do I. Well, I’d at least like to be at that party.
The Most Interesting Man in the World just sits there looking creepy, assuming that the voiceover will convince us that he is. Interesting, that is, not creepy. But creepy he is. I would not like to be one of his arm candies.
I do try to be fair and give credit where credit is due. While watching the Most Interesting Man in the World compilation, I smiled when the voiceover said, “People hang on his every word, even the prepositions.” But that doesn’t make up for the rest of it.
And in the interest of point-counterpoint, as a flute player myself, I do not believe for an instant that the Heineken guy is actually playing that flute. Twirling it perhaps (though most likely computer generated), but not playing it. You can always tell by how they hold it and how unbent their fingers are. The rest of the commercial/video more than makes up for that. Everybody knows actors don’t really play their instruments.
So check them both out and tell me what you think.
Oh, and I do know that when I’m finished posting this, I’m running right to iTunes to buy everything The Asteroids Galaxy Tour have for sale. You should, too, says I!
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour/Heineken full-length video
Heineken commercial (1:30 version)
Dos Equis The Most Interesting Man in the World compilation
photo by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (Facebook)
Watch this
December 6, 2010
I only just recently watched the video for “Walk Like a Panther” for the first time, even though I’ve loved the song since the first time I heard it on London’s XFM. I’m trying to figure out why I love the video so much. I think there are three reasons.
Tony Christie. The main one might be the guest vocalist. I knew that All Seeing I makes use of guest vocalists and for some reason, I thought the main voice on the “Pickled Eggs & Sherbert” album was Jarvis Cocker of Pulp. I guess he did a version of the song with All See I, too, but the radio and album version turned out to be Tony Christie, as I learned from the video. I think I’m charmed that he’s an old guy, relatively speaking. It would be kind of like Tony Bennet singing with Gorillaz or something. And he’s being such a good sport with the acting that he has to do for it, even though, here and there, he looks just a trifle exasperated.
Hand gestures. When I watched this video for the second time, I realized that what I first thought was an homage to the zombie dance in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video was really customized gestures to go along with the chorus lyrics of “Walk Like a Panther”: fly like an eagle, prowl like a lion, leap like a salmon, keep up with me, and walk like a panther. Video actors one and all, young and old, move in weirdo almost-synchronization.
Sci-fi style. What makes it all come together is what I think of as the science-fiction style of videography. It’s shot through a robot-eye-shaped frame in the herky-jerky style, the frames go forward and backward to make that fake in-time-with-the-music impression, and it has wonderful 1970s faded photograph colors. Top that off with the location which to me seems like some anonymous Underground station complex in London.
It all just works.
A rose by any other name ???
October 14, 2010
… would, in my case, not be the same. If you ever happen to become my suitor, take note. Roses will not impress me. They smell good, sure, but I love carnations and marigolds best. Of course, marigolds don’t get cut for bouquets, but carnations do. Bring me mini-carnations.
I suppose my love of marigolds goes back to childhood. My mom always planted petunias in the planter around our streetlight at the front of the yard. And I got to sow marigold seeds in the planter between the front porch and yard. That planter is also where we buried our first rabbit, Rabbit C (whose security question answer name I still won’t reveal). I remember my excitement when the first sprouts would appear. They were completely my responsibility. The marigolds and mowing the grass.
Carnations I came to love later. Though I haven’t done for a few years, I went through a phase of grabbing a bouquet of flowers during my visit to the grocery store. I learned that the mini-carnations were among the longest lasting, and then I realized that I just plain liked them. I like the big ones, too.
As far as fragrance goes, I think it would be hard to argue against lilacs. Before I moved into my current place, my old bike commute took me past a half block of old, giant lilac bushes. It was such a delight to pass by them in the spring. Refreshing in the morning, and stress-releasing in the evening. Then, when I bought my condo, I inherited a Japanese lilac bush right outside my front window. It is just unbelievably wonderful to have the scent of lilac wafting into your home. Lilacs, why do you not bloom forever?
But I also like the milky, mild smell of carnations. And call me odd (here’s another reason) but I also truly like the pungent odor of marigolds.
As for other flowers, some of you will remember that just twenty-four hours ago, I was coveting Lacey Schwimmer’s (what I called) pink peony dress. I love Dancing with the Stars and I think that dress is in at least my top five favorites (I’ve been watching since the beginning, ten seasons ago). I happen to have pink peonies in my little condo garden, though two have never quite recovered from being transplanted and not enough sun hits any of the three of them, so they’re not very big.
Musically, who doesn’t love Tschaikovky’s Nutcracker Suite? Well, I do. So I’ll leave you with the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.”
Buy the Nutcracker Suite here.
Favorite dessert
April 11, 2010
You should answer this not taking calories into consideration, though it is true that last night instead of making brownies, I ate two grapefruit for dessert. This wasn’t because of any hippy skippy 5-A-Day thing. No, it was much simpler than that. I was out of white flour and wasn’t confident enough that brownies made with whole wheat flour wouldn’t taste, well, you know, like chocolate cardboard.
I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of dessert. Unlike my dad, I don’t feel like I need a little sweet something to finish off a meal. If something comes my way, I might eat it, but I don’t feel incomplete without it by any stretch of the imagination.
Once again, I am influenced by my mom on what my gut instinct answer is to the question of my favorite dessert—pecan pie. I prefer it without a dollop of ice cream, though I might like it just warm enough to take the chill off. And if I were being completely truthful, I would also say that really, to me the pecan nuts are at least 50% incidental to my enjoyment of this delight. I like the sugary sweet custard, plain and simple.
I like regular yellow egg custard, too. My Grandma H often made it when we’d go visit in the summer. She had brown ceramic custard cups. Not ramekins, just cauldron-shaped dishes. I suppose they could have been considered ramekins, but they weren’t the white ones you mostly see today.
I also like cheesecake—just plain cheesecake with no “fruit” toppings. My favorite non-plain cheesecake was the Butterfinger cheesecake at Pizza Lucé in the Warehouse District in about 2003, I’ll say. I never saw it other than that one day. Pizza Lucé’s pizza is amazing; the Butterfinger cheesecake was out of this world.
Ice cream is sometimes good. By ice cream I mean plain chocolate in a sugar cone, or a chocolate malt extra malt, such as the kind I get at Potbelly Sandwich Works.
By now you may be wondering why I picture brownies. The answer is simple. They are the easiest to make at home with the ingredients I have on hand anyway. Okay, I suppose technically it’s easier to scoop ice cream out of a cardboard carton, but you can’t just whip up a batch of ice cream with ingredients that are just lying around. Brownies you can.
And I like making them myself because then I know what’s in them. So this is the recipe I use. I don’t bother with the cream cheese filling because that would require forethought. I just make the brownie part, and I have adapted it as it is typed in. The original recipe is pictured below.
Today I ate my grapefruit in conjunction with my brunch (this is the best time of year for delicious grapefruit in the Northern Hemisphere and they’re my favorite fruit, so I’m eating them frequently right now). In honor of the question of my favorite dessert I went ahead and made the brownies using whole wheat flour, pictured above. I’m pleased to report that they don’t taste at all like cardboard.
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(my adapted version)
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