Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
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Tuesday
June 5, 2007
Have you seen the latest commercial for the allergy medicine Claritin that shows a horse racing jockey? It's amusing to note that, in the commercial, the jockey is holding a whip during the race... but he never hits the horse with it. Would there have been backlash if he had been shown whipping the animal? I mean, it's not like there's a big hubbub about it in the Triple Crown, and it's carried on TV. I understand that Claritin wouldn't want to be associated with animal abuse, but once you notice the whip in the ad, it's hard to ignore.
And, yes, I tried to find the ad online, but to no avail. Apparently not many people noticed the whip. But not everyone pays attention to detail like I do.
The website Lala.com made headlines today because of a deal it struck to play select music, on-demand, for free via its website. I signed up for it a long time ago, and the site sent out an e-mail to me today about it. So I went to the site, and I saw this in the address bar on Firefox:
I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but notice how similar Lala's mini-icon is to the icon I have on RadioHotTalk.com:
Great minds think alike, I suppose. Their icon looks better, but I've had mine for 3-4 years, and moreover I have never been a particularly skilled artist. There's a reason I utilize my strengths (writing, analysis) and minimize my weaknesses (artistic design) when it comes to my websites.
As for Lala, the idea of a CD exchange program (which was Lala's initial business plan) is pretty insightful, with so many portable digital music devices out there and demand for content being strong. I wish the company well.
During my lunch break today, I stopped by Kroger to pick up some items that my bro Matt didn't buy at the grocery store last night. Namely, I wanted Spicy V8 and Coke Cherry Zero. But I was in for a surprise... for the first time ever, I found a 12-pack of Coke Vanilla Zero.
And, wow, is it great. I'm not sure what is different about it from the short-lived Diet Vanilla Coke that I wrote an entire column about in 2002, but I know it tastes even better to me, better than any diet soda I've ever had. Naturally, I bought four 12-packs; now I'm stocked up, at least for a little while.
Work is going well. It's busier for me than it's been since I started with Adenus, but that's a good thing, as I've been able to take on a large amount of responsibility, which in turn has given me plenty to do on a daily basis (and in turned freed up co-workers to handle more pressing matters.)
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