News
Old Spice Crushes It With 48 Hour Social Media Campaign
Old Spice (and their ad agency Wieden + Kennedy) absolutely crushed it with a two-day social media campaign. During the 48-hour campaign, the Old Spice Guy responded to @OldSpice tweets with personalized video messages. These video messages targeted major social influencers and they went up in record time. Just some quick, snazzy copy, a short video shoot, quick cut and instant upload. It was genius.
Yep, genius. That’s what Alyssa Milano called it. This was Old Spice Guy’s response to her tweet:
A lot of companies out there know that they need to use social media, but they don’t get how to engage. Old Spice clearly gets it. They keep it light on marketing messages, real-time relevant and they produce good content that’s entertaining and easily shareable. It’s a smart approach.
How successful was the campaign? Old Spice scored 58,000 new Twitter followers, 29,000 new Facebook fans, 6.4 million views of the campaign video and 5 million views of all responses. All within 48 hours. That’s sick.
Jul 19th
Chupacabra Pictures and Video – Chupacabras Found in Texas!
Goat suckers have been spotted in Texas! Chupacabras, those mythical goat munchers from Mexican lore, have found their way to the Lone Star State. Texas law dictates that the only good chupacabra is a dead chupacabra, so of course, the ugly, hairless coyote-lookin’ critters that have entered the Lone Star State have all been shot and killed. Here are some shots of the no-longer-living chupacabra suspects:
I know, gross, huh? Anyway, if you see one of these nasty goat slurpers in your neighborhood, make sure you shoot it, and shoot it dead. Cause these anti-goat varmints are fugly, man.
How fugly? Take it away NBC News:
And if for some unknown reason you’ve never even heard of a Chupacabra before, here’s a little background on ‘em:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Jul 14th
The Boss: The Passing of a Bittersweet Baseball Era
When news of George Steinbrenner’s death broke, I wanted to jump on the story like a media whore outside a red carpet event. I thought about it for awhile, became fairly indignant in my thought, then moved on to sadness, confusion and ultimately this funky feeling of joy mixed with sorrow.
I love baseball. I never much cared for George Steinbrenner. I don’t think he cared one iota about baseball. I think he cared about business. No, I didn’t know the man, I knew his reputation, as did so many others. Had I ever met him, I’m sure I would have adored him. I’m weird like that.
With his passing at the age of 80 due to complications from a heart attack as well as other ailing bodily functions, I could only feel sad for his family, for the fine athletes who played for him, for the managers who fought with and still somehow loved him and the Yankees fan base who saw a “win at all costs” empire constructed under his tenure.
For the rest of the baseball world, there’s a part of me that thinks, “It’s probably best that he went before the cap came–that would have really killed the guy.” And make no mistake Yankee fans. It’s a’comin’. If the next commish doesn’t push for it off the bat, I’ll lead the charge for his removal.
Sadly, all I can think of when I think of The Boss: A monopolizer who didn’t really look beyond his own interests to consider what would be best for the game of baseball. We all know people like that in “our own lives,” and we don’t like them. Then they die, and we feel bad for not liking them. It begs the question: What is the most lasting memory of George Steinbrenner’s legacy?
I’m sure Steinbrenner will eventually be remembered as the legendary Yankees owner who took the franchise from worst to first, but you just have to think that within that conversation, there will always be at least one voice which will sound off with a completely opposing opinion.
His legacy is bittersweet–and there’s no need to sugarcoat it.
Jul 13th
ESPN NFL Analyst Jeremy Green Arrested for Drugs and Child Pornography
ESPN NFL analyst Jeremy Green was arrested in a Bristol hotel. Why? Cause the dude had more than 50 images or depictions of child pornography and admitted that he is a cocaine user. The cops found drugs, drug paraphernalia and a bunch of child pornography when they arrested him in his hotel room. Green is the son of former Vikings and Cardinals head coach Dennis Green. He also kinda looks like a pedophile (no offense Green family, but he does):
Would you leave your kids alone with that guy? I didn’t think so.
ESPN posted a brief story on his arrest. Green, who’s been a contributor since 2006, is “no longer employed by the company.”
Jul 9th
What Is Purple Drank? – The Origins of the Sizzurp
When former-Raider/current-punch line JaMarcus Russell was arrested on Monday as part of a Purple Drank investigation in Mobile, Alabama, it left a lot of people wondering – what the hell is Purple Drank? Although the origins of the drank are a bit hazy, liquid codeine-based beverages mixed with soda have been around for some time, and they’ve taken on many forms over the years.
“Purple Drank” aka “Purple Jelly” aka “Texas Drank” aka “Texas Tea” aka “Lean” or “Southern Lean” or simply “drank” or “sizzurp” is a cough syrup concoction that contains codeine and promethazine. It’s usually made with Sprite, 7Up or some other fruity soda or fruity juice like Kool-Aid. It can also be mixed with grape drink…
The purpleness comes from color of the actual cough syrup. Sizzurp can be made with all kinds of stuff, from crushed codeine to chlorpheniramine to Tussionex (hydrocodone). In recent years, vodka has been added to the list of mixers.
According to legend (Wikipedia), Purple Drank has been around for decades, but it was first made popular in Houston, Texas by DJ Screw, a hip hop producer who died in 2000 of a codeine overdose. That same year, Three Six Mafia released a single called “Sippin’ on Syrup,” and they were pretty clear on what this whole sizzurp thing was all about:
The sizzurp is particularly popular in the hip hop community of the South. It’s not unusual to see people hitting the club with a bunch of Styrofoam cups. Lil’ Wayne is from New Orleans, and he likes himself a lil’ drank every now and then.
Now JaMarcus Russell isn’t the first NFL athlete to get busted for sizzurp. Former Chargers safety Terrence Kiel (who was drafted out of Texas A&M) was arrested after trying to ship some drank to a friend via FedEx. He was charged with transporting a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. After the he pled guilty, the Chargers cut him. Kiel died in a car crash in 2008.
In 2008, defensive end Johnny Jolly of the Packers (also out of Texas A&M) was pulled over in Houston for bumping his music too loud. The cops found Styrofoam cups next to his Dr. Pepper and they said they smelled drank. The cops found 200 grams of codeine and charged Jolly with a second degree felony. Charges against Jolly were initially dismissed, but they were quickly refiled once the 5-0 got new equipment to measure codeine amounts. Jolly faces up to 20 years in prison if he’s found guilty.
Basically, if you want to get crunk on some sizzurp, drink Purple Drank responsibly. The sizzurp will get you faded, but not without some trouble. So don’t Fed Ex the shit to your friend. Don’t bump music with stanky Styrofoam cup dranks in your car. And remember, they call this shit lean for a reason. It’s all fun and games until respiratory or cardiac arrest sets in. You can crush up and add all the Jolly Ranchers you want, but if you take too much codeine, you’re gonna end up in a coma or worse.
Jul 6th
The 5 Biggest Imperial Dick Moves That Euros Pulled on the New World
Starting in the 15th Century, Europeans made some pretty aggressive moves around the globe. The Euros didn’t invent imperialism, but they sure took extreme measures to expand their spheres of influence during The Age of Discovery. As various European powers jockeyed for imperial influence around the globe, shit got kinda intense in the Americas, and the Euros made some pretty bold, somewhat dickish moves. Here’s a look at the top 5 biggest imperial dick moves that Euros pulled on the New World:
The Columbian Exchange
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, he ushered in a new era of exchange between The Old World and The New. For the first time in history, the Euros were able to taste stuff like corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, pineapple, beans, cacao, vanilla, turkeys and tobacco. The Old World also scored big in the precious metals department, using the silver and gold from the Americas to fuel worldwide imperial expansion.
On the flipside, the natives in America were exposed to citrus, wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horses, pigs and cows. The introduction of livestock might sound like a bonus, but you got to factor in thousands of years of non-coexistence with domesticated beasts. The Euros had plenty of time to adjust to the diseases that these animals carried. The Native Americans didn’t develop immune systems that could handle nasty shit like small pox, measles, typhus and influenza that the Euros brought over. So Team Europe scored big time. The Euros got cash, new foods and land rich with natural resources. The locals got a whole lot of death (and when death didn’t come, they got invitations to work or move westward). The Columbian Exchange turned out to be a pretty one-sided transaction and definitely one of the biggest imperial dick moves of all time.
The Conquistadors
After Columbus, the Spanish were ready to get serious with their control of the Americas. That’s where the Conquistadors come in. In the first half of the 16th Century, guys like Cortes, Pizarro and Coronado stepped into a situation where indigenous people were weakened by disease and ripe for hostile takeover. The Euros had the power of Catholicism to go along with horses, steel and firearms. The locals had the traditions of an oral, non-literate society, a shit-ton of shiny gold and silver and a sense of misguided trust that would be their ultimate undoing (I’m looking at you Atahualpa and Moctezuma). The Spanish were able to mop up the Aztec and Incan Empires with amazing speed, and consolidate their imperial stranglehold on the Americas. Wiping out entire civilizations definitely qualifies as an imperial dick move.
The Silver Mines of Potosi
This shit is unreal. Imagine you’re the biggest colonial super power in the New World (Spain), and you come across one of the highest elevated places on Earth (Potosi, in modern-day Bolivia) in the second half of the 16th Century. Now imagine this place has this huge mountain that’s basically made of silver. Score, right? At this point you’d have no choice but to enslave the local population, build the place out into one of the biggest cities in the New World and go about extracting 45,000 tons of silver from the spot so that you can further your imperial adventures. It’s a no-brainer really.
Being a miner in Potosi would have sucked big-time. The locals had to work grueling hours with no shoes, climb ropes with candles on their heads (if one dude fell off the rope, many would be screwed) and mix and burn mercury to extract the precious silver from the mines. Sucks for the locals, but it was a great deal for Spain. But as Spain and Portugal became flush with silver and gold from the Americas, they got fat off the pillaging, and didn’t develop colonies that were actually productive from a manufacturing or agricultural standpoint. This opened the door for other Euros to step in, and Spain eventually went bankrupt.
Caribbean Sugar Plantations
In the mid-1600s, the Dutch brought sugar cane from Brazil to the British West Indies. Cotton and sugar production was taking off in the colonies of North America, so the colonial overlords in the Caribbean decided to switch gears to sugar cultivation. The Brits couldn’t get enough of that sweet, sweet sugar in their tea and cakes, so they quickly got hooked on the stuff and the rest of Europe followed suit. With Euros needing more and more sweetness, sugar production had to be stepped up. How did the Dutch, French and English imperials increase production? They brought in more African slaves. A lot more. As demand grew, sugar plantations expanded in size. What initially started in Barbados soon spread to other places in the Caribbean like Jamaica and La Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). More and more slaves were brought in and the slave trade soon became a booming international business. So the next time you put sugar in your coffee think about the lengths that the Euros took to keep this stuff flowing freely from the Caribbean.
British Colonialism in America
Spain and Portugal got the imperial party started in the New World, but the French, Dutch and Brits all wanted in on the action. After a few wars with the French and the Dutch, England came out as the frontrunner in the new era of colonial influence in North America. In the late 16th Century, Queen Elizabeth I encouraged exploration and discovery missions that would allow guys like Humphrey Gilbert and Walter Raleigh to poke around the West Indies and eastern seaboard in search of opportunities for trade and settlement. Jamestown (founded in 1607) was the first permanent British settlement in America.
As Britain’s influence in America grew, other imperial powers got squeezed out of the game. The Brits monopolized the slave trade, began annexing islands in the Caribbean and started shit with the French in Newfoundland. The Brits soon controlled the ultra-lucrative triangle of trade between America, Europe and Africa. After more international skirmishes with the French and the Dutch, Britain’s power grew in India and Asia, and the First British Empire was in full effect.
The Brits were living the imperial dream until freedom-loving Americans like you and me punched those red coats in the mouth and made ‘em lose their 13 colonies. We then went on to create the best country in the world!
It took some pretty big imperial dick moves to get here, but that’s what makes the American experience so unique. So when you set off those fire crackers, chomp on some corn or grub on some potato salad this weekend, think about how we got here. We got ourselves a unique, one-of-a-kind history here in America, and it goes way further back than 1776.
Happy July 4th everybody!
Jul 1st
Redemption! USA Shocks Algeria and the World
It was over…it was all over. The Americans were done. Fielding the most experienced and talented team in their history, they should have been going home early. Needing a win to advance out of group play and into the round of 16, the USA looked like they were headed for another disappointing draw and a plane ride home.
For 90 minutes the U.S. national team peppered the Algerian goalie with chance after chance, putting 7 shots on goal and having one disallowed on another bogus call. Here’s the clip (in German). Then in the 1st minute of extra time, following a Tim Howard save, his Everton teammate Landon Donovan started the counter. He pressed the right side of the pitch, laid the ball to Jozy Altidore whose cross found Clint Dempsey’s foot, then bounced off the keeper. Donovan was waiting, stalking the play from behind and put the ball in the back of the net for the most improbable and memorable goal in the World Cup to date. The leading scorer in U.S. history, Donovan emphatically solidified his spot as the country’s greatest player as well.
It was another late goal in a year of late goals for the cardiac kids. During the World Cup and qualifying, the U.S. has twice as many goals in the last five minutes than any other team in the world. The Yanks claimed the top spot in the group with 5 points and advance to the round of 16 with England (5 points as well, but less goals than the U.S.), who bested Slovenia 1-0 to earn second in group C.
It makes you proud to be an American, fuck yeah!
Jun 23rd
Best News Story of the Week
This is clearly the best news story of the week. Check out this lead. Everything sounded semi-believable until the bulldozer part:
Jun 17th
Brooklyn Decker – Esquire’s 2010 Sexiest Woman Alive (Reader’s Choice)
Back in March, Esquire got into bracket fever when they set up the 2010 Sexiest Woman Alive Madness tournament – a 64 women, single-elimination tourney where readers could vote on their choice for the Sexiest Woman Alive. The reader’s choice tournament is a supplement to the official selection of the Sexiest Woman Alive, which Esquire will announce in November.
The tourney featured a surprising first round upset (Helen Mirren beating out Megan Fox) and a Sweet 16 berth for underdog Lane Kiffin.
In the Elite 8, Stacy Keibler beat out Heather Mitts, Jessica Alba edged out Kristen Bell, Candice Swanpoel was crushed by Broklyn Decker and Heidi Klum sent Evangeline Lilly home.
In the end, the 64 babes from four conferences (movies, music/fashion, sports and TV) were whittled down to just two: Brooklyn Decker and Heidi Klum. The final was an absolute blowout, with Decker earning 89% of the vote in the championship round. Although Esquire’s official Sexiest Woman Alive won’t be announced for a few months, the people have spoken, and Brooklyn Decker now stands alone as the reader’s choice for Sexiest Woman Alive.
Here’s a look at the final bracket results.
Jun 16th
World Cup Stadiums Go Green
With the onset of World Cup 2010 in South Africa, soccer, or football (as it’s referred to internationally), has once again captured the global imagination. Tens of thousands of fans from around the world will flood into the republic of South Africa to see the games, as hundreds of thousands of fans around the globe will tune in to the broadcasts on their televisions. Another exciting opportunity, while the world’s attention is focused, to slip in some handy information on how we all might be a little bit more green, reducing our collective carbon footprint. So what about sustainable architecture, the challenge of hosting a multi-nation global sporting event, eco-friendly architecture when it comes to these soccer (football) stadiums, and more environmental concerns? Here’s a site where you can find out more on green soccer stadiums in this year’s World Cup 2010 in South Africa, and discuss some other eco-oriented thoughts too.
Jun 16th
