Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: TV

Low-Def viewing of High-Def TV.

It’s pretty amazing how things seem different when you’ve been away awhile. What with a website blow-up, I was up late computing and no television. Last night, the tube. Dave, same. Commercials, what?

It sits across from the couch, in the natural order of things. The television is monster-sized: it would draw a crowd at a sports bar. It is just slightly wider than it is tall – and that should tell you something.

By technology standards, it is a dinosaur. Brontosaurus, I suppose, given its size.

We all know now that the proper television is much, much wider than it is tall. Wide-screen. Technicolor. High-Def.

Surely, the one in the living room isn’t the last of its kind, the last surviving beast of a TV, opening its big eye each evening to search for a mate.

The ad agency responsible for the Arkansas Tourism commercial must believe there are no surviving Low-Defs out there. The beautifully shot commercial is filled with brilliant colors (even at Bronto-Def), but the graphics are positioned at the lower left.

It gives plenty of room to look at the geography of the Natural State, but – unfortunately – on the living room monster, the AR is cut off. All that is visible is:

KANSAS.

I’m sure officials in that state appreciate the free advertising, even if it may be difficult to find those particular tourist stops. I’m tempted to drive up there, just to look.

I may find another Bronto out there somewhere on the Kansas plains, a big-eyed, lonely Low-Def – and who knows?

Maybe later, the pitter-patter of channel changers and the High-Resolution squeals of happy – and complete – screen viewing.

Is it just me…

…or is the new jingle for KFC (what used to known back in the unhealthy fried food era as Kentucky Fried Chicken) about the wimpiest thing ever set to music? G-double-O-Dee Good. The little quivery voice. Makes me want to pick up a napkin and wipe off the cooking oil. Do they test market these things?

Maybe it’s just me.

On the other hand, there are works of art like the Traveler’s Insurance ad that has a worried dog moving his bone from place to place, ducking out of sight from other dogs while carrying it to a safety deposit box, until finally resting easily with it under the traveler’s umbrella of protection. Makes ya want to call up an agent for a peace of mind policy.

Or maybe that’s just me.

It’s something how television commercials reflect life in general. Count how make spots have to do with cell phones or coverage plans. There aren’t more commercial minutes in a day. Something isn’t being advertised anymore that allows the extra minutes to promote the device that dominates our very lives these days. What’s missing? (without stating the obvious like Royal typewriters…)

I like to try to identify the voices behind the ads. Denis Leary on Ford Trucks. Morgan Freeman on about a half-dozen commercials. I thought I was pretty good at it until I ran across this quiz:

Close X

Maybe you’ll do better than I did.

Then, there are those ads that get personal:

Is Your Name Famous?