Chevrolet Redefines "Lucky," and triggers another Society is Dead rant from me

Back in the Bad Old Days, when you traveled in a car with family or fellow adults, you'd engage in actual conversations- hey, we are together in a small space, we've got a way to go, let's talk.  Maybe we'll learn something about each other.  Maybe we'll clear the air.  If we get bored, we can listen to the radio.   Then we can comment on what the radio guy is saying or sing along with a familiar song.

Or maybe we'd play tapes/DVDs.  We'd talk about our favorite music, and do more singing along.  Either way, we'd be sharing an experience and bonding and the car ride woudn't just be a car ride.  (It didn't even have to be a car ride; I've written before about the girl I met on an Amtrak train back in the 80s- we talked and shared music for hours.  We never saw each other again, but I'll never forget her name or her voice or how quickly that 12 hours on the train went by- or how a lack of "connectivity" made that experience possible.)

Staring in the early part of this century, the odds that you'd be having a conversation with the people in your car began to drop dramatically.  Suddenly there were DVD players everywhere.  Ok, they kept the kids calm on long car rides- but they were being used ALL THE TIME, so when did parents talk to their kids about what happened at school, or how things were with their friends?  And when adults transported adults, more than likely the passengers would be on their cell phones or staring at them- and the person driving was no longer a friend to talk to, but just a valet; Let me know when you are at my stop so I can get out, ok?

*throughout the 1980s and 1990s, I drove neices and nephews back and forth between Vermont and the Washington DC area, usually two or three times a year, to visit their grandparents.  I'll never forget the first trip in which one of them had a cell phone.  It was much quieter- and nowhere near as pleasant.  It was clear to me that something very important had been lost, and was not going to be coming back.

And now we are being told that cars that are their own Hot Spots are some kind of great benefit, and people who own them are "lucky."  Funny- there's nothing in this ad that indicates that the owner of this car is "lucky" in any way- his passengers are braying jackasses who can't even be satisfied completely ignoring the driver while gazing at their loved ones (I mean, Tablets.)  They have to loudly comment on what they are doing instead of being with each other.  They might as well be total strangers in a taxi, for all the respect and gratitude they are showing the driver.  And yet the message is clearly supposed to be "look how awesome it is to have built-in WiFi in your car."  What am I missing?

I know what I'm missing- the basic human dignity and decency that includes interaction, and that is being steadily eroded by this constant addiction to Carry Everywhere Television and Electronic Distraction.  To hell with people, check out what's going on here on this screen you can bring with you.  Why would you want to get to know the people around you by talking to them when you can watch this pointless crap and pretend that you are alone in your living room?

Maybe I really was just born too late.  But every time I see one of these "never stop watching stuff ever" commercials, I'm so grateful that I grew up before "connectivity" became a religion, Antisocial asshattery became the norm, and conversations became something you have when there is absolutely, positively no alternative.   Because this- this is just gross, sorry.

How can we tell that this is a fairly old commercial for Lowe's?

It's certainly not that the father is being a bragging doofus doomed to fail.  That's true in every commercial, and has been true in pretty much every commercial for the past thirty years.

It's not that the kid is a disrespectful, ungrateful little punk who is probably mortified at the thought of being seen with Dad on the front lawn.  Again, this is pretty par for the course.

Nope- the way we know that this is an old commercial (it's from 2008, according to YouTube) is that neither the Dad nor his son seems to have a cell phone in his hand.  What did people do with their hands back then?

Dish Network's salute to workers

Dish Network "Watch Television Everywhere And Never Do Anything Else Because Hey TV" Ad #1

This ad must be a real heart-warmer to the millions of Americans who are still unemployed or underemployed- a new little toy that allows people who have jobs to be totally ungrateful jackasses and watch television on company time.

Yeah, Americans are the hardest-working, most productive workers on the planet- but Dish Network is going to do it's very best to put a stop to that.

Oh, and balding, fat, grim boss-with-coffee-cup?  Hey Dish, the 50s called- they want their stereotypes back.

Ejector Seat Not Included?

When I first saw this ad, I thought it was a little progressive that it's the black couple that gets to be the smarmy, self-satisfied dicks in the front seat (and are the owners of the car.)  This is in sharp contrast to a Golden Corral commercial of a few years back, in which the black couple in the back seat literally hurl themselves on to the pavement to get away from their white "friends."

Then I noticed that the doofus idiot of the piece is still a pasty white guy, making a total jackass of himself by apparently not realizing that A)  it's not 1990 and GPS is available on pretty much every car- hell, my last Honda Civic had a Garmin, B) car companies have been pitching "don't pay attention to anything while you drive, your car will warn you before you get to kill anyone, just go on being a clueless smug moron" for quite some time now, and C) nobody likes nervous back-seat drivers- nobody liked them before cars had all these stupid bells and whistles, nobody likes them now.

Oh, and D- seriously, buddy, "you left your lights on?"  Has this guy been in a coma since the Clinton Administration?  It's almost impossible to accidentally leave the lights on in a car produced in the 21st century.  Ugh, what a jerk.  I suspect that the car owners enjoy his company because he's a constant reminder that They Are Better- even when they have to part with their precious car for a while.

The Taken Franchise wraps up with the most cliche'd premise in Hollywood?

Soooo......

Liam Neeson comes home and finds his wife dead and himself framed for her murder.  He spends the entire movie simulatenously dodging the police while hunting for the real killer.

Yeah.....I liked this movie the first time I saw it, when it was called "The Fugitive."  Jeesh, Hollywood, really?

Meh...ok, as long as you don't let Maggie Grace and her boyfriend/driving test issues hog half the freaking movie like last time, I'm probably there.  But I swear, if this one ends with Neeson and his family enjoying hot fudge sundaes,  I'm going to hurt someone in that theatre.  Fair warning.

And here's a bit of irony for you- Liam Neeson once turned down an opportunity to screentest to be the next James Bond when Timothy Dalton retired....because he didn't want to do action movies.  No kidding.

Hey Experian, 7-11's legal team just called....

1.  Just say "I have a very high credit score."  Telling this guy that you have a high credit score because of some stupid app isn't very bright.  My credit score is higher than this moron's, and I don't even have a Smartphone.

2.  "Hamburgers that look like Hot Dogs?"  Um, yeah- 7-11 has been selling them for decades.  In fact, they look exactly like these things do, except they're even better because they are infused with melted cheese (throw out the bun and they work pretty good for people on Atkins.)  Great "idea" there, Experion.  What's next, "curly" french fries?

Buy an Altima, and Feel like Royalty....

Preferably, 18th century Royalty.  Instead of a carriage, drive around in this LookAtMeMobile and enjoy the jealous stares of your Lessers until they get sick of dealing with your nonstop doucheyness and drag you kicking and screaming out of it.

Continue to act like Royalty and demand that the dirty masses take their disgusting unwashed hands off your Superior Self and get back to knowing Their Place.  Continue to demand the respect you didn't earn in any way other than choosing your parents wisely all the way up to the moment your head is lopped off your smug shoulders and stuck on a pike.

Better yet, stop dreaming about Acting Like Royalty and recognize that you live in a Society that will hate you if you attempt to Lord It Up over us.  And someday, we'll be done taking it and we'll turn on you.  And then you'll wonder what was so great about pretending to be Royalty.  As the flies suck the last of the dried blood off your rotting skull.  Jackwads.