Free Music from Cloud Cult

Well whadya know. If you haven’t already heard, the folksy/blue-grass/Irish song playing in the latest Esurance animated ads is actually by a band named Sugar Cloud Cult, based right here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their Wiki entry shows them as an “experimental indie rock band” but sounds more folk to me. If you’re into that stuff, feel free to go to Esurance’s music download page. This page appears to be seasonal so don’t expect the tunes to hang around forever.

Tracks available for FREE download from the above listed page:

1. Lucky Today
2. Journey of the Featherless
3. Everybody Here is a Cloud

The animation is pretty whacky and weird but here you go:

Sweet Subaru Impreza WRX STi Ad

Just thought I should share this while I still have the WRX STi and Lancer Evolution thing stuck in my head.

If you noticed Ken Block’s massive 171 foot jump in his Subaru WRX from the clip above, watch it unfiltered below.

An Ode to Vanishing Point

Supposedly hailed as one of the greatest car movies of all time, the cult-classic from the 1971 “Vanishing Point” is back in the lime light. Honestly speaking, I saw the remake starring Viggo Mortensen and loved it. It was a bit different from the regular stuff but at that time, I’d never heard of the movie until I caught it on cable back in the late ’90s. Then after finding out about the original, I checked it out and wasn’t disappointed with Kowalski’s exploits in the “supercharged” 1970 Dodge Challenger.

Chrysler/Dodge is bringing back the Challenger as an ’09 model and this ad does a great job in forcing nostalgia down on us. Clips of the commercial is from the original movie and if you haven’t seen it, I will ask you to go to the nearest library / movie-rental / NetFlix and get it!

One bit of criticism for the new Challenger is that the wheels are too large. Makes it look like a ‘roided version of the original classic beauty. Oh and another criticism for Chrysler/Dodge is that they’re retiring the overscooped-ducted but venerable Viper.

Toyota makes you want to curl up in a ball and see the starry night sky

Been seeing those new Toyota Sequoia SUV ads and how it reminds me of my childhood. Kinda makes me want to rewind myself back into those days and be able to see the starry starry sky in all it’s glory. Nowadays, I need contact lenses or glasses just to be able to see stars. And the city lights don’t help either so would need to get out far away from home to get a better view of those million shiny lights illuminating the night sky.

The video for the commercial shows 2 guys taking their kids out to the mountains and meet up with their extended family or something. Some old dude with a telescope looking at the moon and sharing it with the kids. How nostalgic. Makes me appreciate nature more but SUVs aren’t the ideal way to say “I love you” to mother nature. Still I’d want to get out there in a rental Honda Element (I don’t know why but I love those things) and get a camping compartment tent thingy for the rear.

Enjoy the ad and be prepared to get brainwashed.

FYI, the name of the song is “Whichever Way The Wind Blows” and it’s by some folk-rocker named Peter Droge. Great song and perfect for the spot.

Mike’s Hard (and) Sucks! :O

Darjeeling is considered as one of the best producers of quality tea. The same can’t be said about Mike’s Hard Lemonade Co, the Canadian maker of the Mike’s Hard series of hard filtered down liquor. You like Long Island Teas? Don’t even consider Mike’s Hard “long island” Tea. When the girlfriend saw “Ice Tea” with “Mike’s Hard” in the same bottle at a local liquor store, she immediately reached out for it. Unfortunately, Mike’s Hard Tea is more of a Darjeeling “limited” than anything else.

To be honest, it tasted like cough syrup and left everybody gagging which means, we’re not gonna git it again. Was trying to find pictures of “Mike’s Hard Tea” all over Google and Yahoo but the only things I could find were pics of regular Mike’s Lemonade and a whole lotta Mike’s with hard-ons. WTF man. Too many guys in various homo-erotic poses and a whole more of “tea-bagging” (look that up if you don’t know what it is but know that it’s NSFW aka Not-Safe-For-Work). Grossed the hell outta me. First Mike’s Hard Tea and now Mike’s Hard Tea-Baggin.

And to end it all, a sick ad (Youtube) by the guys who brought you Mike’s Hard Tea topped by a nicely done homage to the Evil Dead’s “Army of Darkness” movie.

Jeep ads turn to the GOOD side

Finally a good GM ad. Sorry. I meant Chrysler. Always get that bit confused with Jeep. Well it’s been around since late September but just remembered to post it. I also noticed that GM pulled out their obscene yelling ad “COME AND GET IT” so that’s another sigh of relief. Now I don’t have to switch to another channel whenever that ad comes up cuz it aint gonna.

The Jeep sandbox ad is cool and quirky with the vehicles all turned into toy sized things running around a kid’s sandbox with all the regular play things lying around. Steve Poltz’s song “You Remind Me” fits in well too.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ZfeunCeZI]

Here’s a link to Steve Poltz’s MySpace site.

The lyrics to You Remind Me …

A lightning flash across the sky
I’m lookin’ in your hazel eyes
I’m lookin’ for somethin’
But I can’t find it

Forgot my name, I fell from grace
I been gone so long, I don’t know this place
Don’t know anyone
I don’t know your face

It’s an inkblot world; a Rorschach test
You make your way; you try the best you can
You remind me who I am

We could die just sitting here
A broken heart; a wayward tear
An airplane gone astray
I intend the love, I can help but run
Where did all this fear come from?
I wonder when it will leave me

Your fingers finger into mine
Holding hands to pass the time
cause we can
You remind me who I am
You Remind Me Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com

You remind me who I am

A chest of drawers upon the porch
You’re in the back like a tiki torch
You’re burnin’ fast; you’re burnin’ hot

And I been singing songs so long
And songs that sounded good alone
Aren’t sounding the way I want ‘em

It’s an inkblot world; a Rorschach test
You make your way; you try the best you can
You remind me who I —

Your fingers finger into mine
Holding hands to pass the time
cause we can
And you remind me who I am

GM Ads Rumor – Come and Get It … FOOL???

Happy October 1st … and hope you celebrated it with a beer this morning. Alright that didn’t make any sense but as of recent, I’ve been ranting and raving about the crappy quality of certain commercials on cable. In one of the posts concerning the GM ads, Kev Price over at bizplusblog.com pointed something out to me. The actual lyrics in the GM, Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, and Saturn commercials contains these words along with the main chorus to “Come and get it” and boy does it sound bad.

If you want it, here it is,
Come and get it
But you better hurry ‘cos it’s going fast

Did I hear you say that there must be a catch
Will you walk away from a fool and his money?

Sonny if you want it, here it is,
Come and get it,
But you better hurry ‘cos it’s going fast.
you better hurry ‘cos it’s going fast.
OOHHHHHH A Fool And His Money

It certainly is an interesting song selection by the ad agency in charge. But then, the tv spot has to be approved by the Chevy marketing people and so leads us to the conclusitory (made up word) question if this was an intentional song choice pick. It’s almost like they’re trying to tell us something. They’re hiding the rest of the lyrics from us just like how a shady car-dealer would with problematic parts in used cars. Are the execs laughing at us the consumers by making us buy their cars and trucks? Are they implying we are fools?

Moral of the Story: A Fool and His Money are soon … parted!

NBC Show Review – LIFE

Personally thought this show was good. It’s a laid-back version of SVU IMO (in my opinion) but instead of focusing the attention on the killers/suspect/etc, the attention falls squarely on the main character – Charlie Crews – and his hot lawyer – Constance Griffiths – who never stops saying “Life was his sentence, and Life is what he got back.”

The main theme of this show is how this former-cop and now a detective is trying to find out who framed him and from the looks of it, the bad guys are the cops. Some of the cops in the higher-ups also are trying to have him taken off the department. As Charlie draws lines between cropped pictures of cops, inmates, and victims on a huge board, you can see that he’s getting one step closer to who framed him and it’s quite obvious that the whole LAPD are crooked and that’s he’s target. Well he did mention in the show that “I don’t like cops either” to an inmate.

It follows the OFFICE way of directing by having individual cast members getting interviewed as though they’re speaking up their minds to themselves. Interesting.

BUT, I don’t feel like writing anymore so without much ado, the Ninja gives out 2 thumbs up to you kind people out there so you know that you should watch LIFE.

PS: Good job NBC but PUHLEZZZ remove those annoying GMC/Pontiac/Chevrolet commercials. If you want to have them around, spread them out like ONLY ONE ad per hour. Playing the same dumbass ad every 5mins is a major turn-off.

I HATE THOSE GM ADS!!!

“IF YOU WANT IT, HERE IT IS… COME AND GET IT, BUT YOU BETTER HURRY CUZ IT’S GOING FAST.”

Those stupid words keeping playing over and over again and again a gazillion times on NBC all. night. long. like a broken tape recorder. or even an mp3 player with 1 song and left on repeat.

At first I thought it was an “ok” ad just cuz it featured retro music, esp the Beatles stuff but there’s a thing known as OVERKILL and that’s what’s going on. Can’t these people see that playing the same goddamned ad everytime a show goes on break drives people nuts? What makes it even more obscene is the fact that those stupid words are repeating over and over again and again loud and full of high school yippy high-pitched vocals.

“IF YOU WANT IT, HERE IT IS… COME AND GET IT, BUT YOU BETTER HURRY CUZ IT’S GOING FAST.”

I’m ready to smash a CHEVY / GM / PONTIAC cuz of these stupid ads. The first ad has the same goddamned music but a Chevy spinning on the platform. Then when a show on NBC goes on it’s 2nd break, you see the same stupid ad but this time, it’s a … GM *surprise*. And then on the 3rd commercial break, the same ad plays again *surprise* … and this time, it’s a …. *drum roll* PONTIAC.

MOTHER FUCKING GENERAL MOTORS MARKETING DEPARTMENT! I will kick you on the nuts if I come across the genius who came up with those ads. “Hey guys. I just came up with a brilliant idea on how to save money on our ads. Let’s use the same ad but put in a Chevy for the CHEVY ad and a GMC truck for the GMC ad and a PONTIAC for the PONTIAC ad.”

The only good thing I can say about these ads is that it’s motivating me to hit the gym again. In the evenings. Just so I can skip those ads.

Maybe that’s the subliminal message that GM is throwing out to us. Go out and drive? Cuz I sure as hell am not looking to buy a GM product. A Ford maybe. Dodge maybe. GM? Fuck you!

GM vs Honda Ads

GM and Honda have recently started to barrage the media waves with song-heavy commercials for their products. GM prepping with a cover of the classic Beatles‘ Come and Get It while the Honda Accord commercial rolled out a peppier Hold on Tight by Electric Light Orchestra.

GM’s commercial had the GMC Yukon, Chevy Cobalt, and Corvette propped on a revolving platform stand with Paul McCartney lyrics ringing out “If you want it here it is come and get it… But you better hurry cause it’s going fast…” and kinda brought on the whole oldies loving feeling towards their cars. Too bad Honda’s retro song selection in my opinion was better suited for these kinda 30 second spots.

So far, the upcoming new 2008 Honda Accord’s gotten an endorsement from NBC networks and is expected to feature in all of their new shows – Chuck, Life (some guy gets outta prison and starts life as a cop), Bionic Woman, Journeyman, and an older one – My Name Is Earl. What does GM have? Wait. They have the new Cadillac ads but no retro music.

Honda Accord 2-Door Coupe / 4-Door CNG (Compressed Natual Gas) Sedan / 4-Door Sedan

The videos are listed in the order of the title.

Edit (Sep 24): There were no Honda Accords in Chuck or Journeyman. They did show one Honda Accord commercial in between the 2 shows but saw far too many Nissan Rogue ads which figured into today’s first episode of the 2nd season of Heroes.

EDIT (Sep 25): Youtube removed the previous clips. They’re updated now.

EDIT (May 22): Youtube videos renewed.