Things that made me smile
Last week, John Kovalic (the guy who does Dork Tower) posted some photos of his new kittens in his LiveJournal. I like cats, but I tend to steer clear of overly cute photos (e.g. long-haired kittens with bows tied around their heads). However, these pictures just made my heart melt, and whenever I look at them I just sit here with a big grin on my face. I could sympathise with this comment:
"Y'know, I'm supposed to be running a DOOM game at a con in a couple of weeks and I really should get into this mindset of violence, blood, and maiming but now...
not so much."
Similarly, I'm not generally a fan of the "LOLcats", but I did like the captions that were attached to some photos the following day (particularly the third and fourth).
This evening I went along to Asda, and I heard one of their adverts over the tannoy. Normally these are fairly dull, e.g. "2 for 1 on fishfingers", but this one was a bit different; the speaker introduced himself as "the Count", with a Transylvanian accent that's straight out of Sesame Street, and he went on about the various items in their Halloween aisle. The advert actually lasted a few minutes, and it had various corny lines like "Go there ... if you dare! Ha ha ha!"
Now, I'm not planning to buy any of the Halloween items, but I actually started laughing while I was listening to the advert. I think it worked so well because it was being played straight rather than being ironic, self-aware, post-modern, etc. I didn't get the impression that the voice actor was rolling his eyes, in an "I can't believe I'm having to say all this" way; instead, he suggested that you really would be taking your life in your hands if you ventured into that aisle. For my part, I wasn't sneering at the advert, I was entertained by the sheer enthusiasm (and the silly accent). So, that's brightened my day, and I recommend listening to it if you get the chance.
"Y'know, I'm supposed to be running a DOOM game at a con in a couple of weeks and I really should get into this mindset of violence, blood, and maiming but now...
not so much."
Similarly, I'm not generally a fan of the "LOLcats", but I did like the captions that were attached to some photos the following day (particularly the third and fourth).
This evening I went along to Asda, and I heard one of their adverts over the tannoy. Normally these are fairly dull, e.g. "2 for 1 on fishfingers", but this one was a bit different; the speaker introduced himself as "the Count", with a Transylvanian accent that's straight out of Sesame Street, and he went on about the various items in their Halloween aisle. The advert actually lasted a few minutes, and it had various corny lines like "Go there ... if you dare! Ha ha ha!"
Now, I'm not planning to buy any of the Halloween items, but I actually started laughing while I was listening to the advert. I think it worked so well because it was being played straight rather than being ironic, self-aware, post-modern, etc. I didn't get the impression that the voice actor was rolling his eyes, in an "I can't believe I'm having to say all this" way; instead, he suggested that you really would be taking your life in your hands if you ventured into that aisle. For my part, I wasn't sneering at the advert, I was entertained by the sheer enthusiasm (and the silly accent). So, that's brightened my day, and I recommend listening to it if you get the chance.