Brilliant

 With so many screens and so many options it's hard to cut through as an advertiser, particularly with the standard 30 second commercial on "regular" tv, given pvr's, netflix and the like

But just the other day 1 cut through for me, and I only saw it because I was watching the Jays game, which is why sports is so important to broadcasters - sports is pvr proof, increasing the value for advertisers. But I digress.

I'm referring to a Lucky Charms commercial. It's brilliant. It's basically 1 shot - a guy comes into his kitchen to make himself a bowl of cereal, turns to put the milk away and out of the background a guy who was there all the time, camouflaged, sneaks off with his lucky charms.

First, it plays wonderfully on the cereal's marketing history - recall the trickster leprechaun cartoon commercials many of you may remember as kids . But it wisely stays away from the stereotypical irish leprechaun and focuses on the prank angle.

Then, as the commercial finishes, you realize as the viewer you too have been tricked since you don't see the camouflaged guy either..so what do you do..or at least..what did i do?...i re wound the damn commercial...and watched it again so i could see if i could notice the camouflaged guy..

let me repeat..i watched it..again.. that means lucky charms, in theory, got thousands of people to consume their marketing twice in one sitting.. now that's smart.

No i'm not going to buy lucky charms, and i think they're banking on nostalgia (for example i'll go buy a terrible mcdonald's cheeseburger once in a while cuz it reminds me of my childhood), but at least one person, on one blog..is writing about it..

WTF happened to summer?

It's opening week of the CNE, there are leaves on the ground, the days feel cooler and we're seeing ads for "back to school". At least one retail chain tried to soften the blow by calling it "back to campus".

Summer of 2015, I hardly knew ye.

Hobo Gauntlet Radio - Episode 9

On episode 9 of HGR, you'll have the distinct pleasure of not hearing me speak a single word. Not because I don't have anything to say, but because I don't have anything to say it into.

You see, for previous podcasts I've borrowed a microphone from frequent Hobo Gauntlet commenter Clefto, but Clefto had the gaul to actually want his mic back. That selfish bastard!

In any event, on this 'cast we'll hear from Lemon Jelly, Franz Ferdinand, Chvrches, a modern remix of a Depeche Mode classic, Interpol and the latest from Tame Impala. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it starts at around the :26 mark, either because I'm trying to be artistic or I screwed up. Your choice.

Hobo Guantlet Radio - Episode 9 by Hobogauntlet on Mixcloud

Leader Of The Pack

I've posted about the great Canadian institution Tim Horton's on a few occassions, but here's one more tip.

T-Ho's is perpetually busy and more times than not there is some kind of queue. That means that when you eventually get to the front of said queue, you are in charge. You're the man or the woman making all the necessary decisions to manage the well-being of that line-up. You are most definitely The Leader Of The Pack.

Man has put men on the moon, yet we can't Master the Tim Horton's queue.

This means that as you become #1 in that line, be aware of the exact spot you should be standing in order to keep that damn line running at maximum efficiency. What I see very often is the #1 person standing too far back and unnecessarily creating a backlog which frequently leads to the queue busting at the seams, where people are forced out the internal and external doors unnecessarily. This of course is the catalyst for the awkwardness associated with holding doors open while you wait for the queue to move forward, then handing that duty to the guy behind you like a reverse relay race.

So for the love of jesus almighty in the sky, don't drink and drive, change your fire alarm batteries and look around you once in a while.

Of Chip Trucks and Honkys

I've been somewhat negligent in posting due to some vacation time, but better late than never.

I stayed a week at a fantastic cottage in Cloyne, Ontario. If you haven't heard of the bustling metropolis that is Cloyne, then you'll most certainly have heard of the nearby larger mega metropolis known as Tweed.

This is why I rent cottages in the summertime.

I have found that there is certainly is a common characteristic of Small Town, Ontario:

1. White. Very white.
2. A single main street, often called Main Street.
3. They love pizza joints and chip trucks. A lot.
4. When not eating pizza and chips, they get real exotic by having a single Chinese food restaurant, often using that stereotypical "chinese" font in the signage
5. The women I've met are manly and will beat you down. The men I've met wear baseball caps,  drive pickups and don't like my kind.
6. Cottage and lakefront properties are breathtakingly beautiful, allowing me to re-charge and appreciate the great outdoors.

Like most Canadians, I love me some cottage getaways, but as the saying goes, they're a great place to rent, but I wouldn't want to buy one.