Budweiser loves our vets like a rat loves a bag of popcorn

1.  Why does this one soldier get the red carpet treatment from Budweiser?  Could it be because he's got an appropriately pretty girlfriend/wife?  Why do I doubt he would have been honored like this if he had been single and without silver-haired parents, with only a nondescript brother or cousin to meet him at the airport?

Could it be because he hails from an appropriately Norman Rockwell-ish Real American Home Town with hay fields and pollen flying about and dirt roads and fences and a small population where Everyone Knows Everyone ElseTM and Attends The Same ChurchTM?

Could it be because he's coming home without any noticeable scars, no missing limbs, and with a big contented "hey I was just doing my job and now I'm back and I'm exactly the same guy I was BEFORE I spent a great deal of time in a war zone seeing things that no normal human being can see without being deeply impacted by the experience?

Could it be because he's white?

Could it be because he's white?

Could it be because he's WHITE?

Unless Budweiser plans to do this for EVERY veteran, this cloying bullshit isn't patriotic or even generous.  It's just manipulative and gross.

2.  I've never known a soldier who would even WANT a reaction like this.  Every soldier I've ever known would be mortified by the attention, not to mention really, really pissed off at being blatantly exploited by a fucking beer company.

3.  Once Budweiser is done using this vet and his home town, are they going to hang around to help him get a job and become acclimated with civilian life?  Or will summer (Beer Season) be over along with their interest in this guy?  Gee, why do I find that not a difficult question to answer?

Samsung's latest is brilliant in it's pointless stupidity

Check out the flashing lights!  Check out the disconnected images!

Check out how easy it is to dump your old phone company and your old phone!  Just trade in that old clunker and sign with us, and we'll pay your early termination fees no problem, and you'll have a brand new phone you'll be buying from our company!

At no point in this ad will we make even the slightest effort to convince you of a good reason to do any of this!  But then again, we haven't really felt the need to "sell" our phones to our drooling gimme gimme gimme audience for years!  Just sign up with us and get a new Samsung phone and dump your old contract just 'cause we make it easy come on do it right now!

Is the Samsung better than the phone you have?  Who cares shut up just let us pay off your fees and sign up! Is the contract you are being hustled into signing better than your old one?  What part of "who cares shut up" did you not understand?

Still wondering if this is the right thing to do?  What is your deal?  Can't you see the flashing lights and disconnected images?  Look how much fun these young people are happening!  Don't you want some of this?  Then what are you waiting for???

When the Trailer Screams "Don't Say We Didn't Warn You"

How do we know this movie is just an awful, awful waste of time and money when we could have been watching paint dry or picking lint out of the clothes dryer or buying lottery tickets?

This is the clip the filmmakers used to try to draw us in.

Anyone who goes to see this movie and walks out thinking "that was a terrible waste of time and I want a refund" should keep their mouths shut.  I mean, come on- a Too Old For This So Yesterday Cameron Diaz and a guy yelling "Scooooooooooooooooooooooooore?"  You have no excuse, sorry.  Call it Stupid Tax.

Here's a better question- why are you working on your laptop at McDonalds when there's a Starbucks next door?

Notice how people in McDonald's commercials act even dumber and other-worldly than people in non-McDonald's commercials?

To the black woman who was paid to look "deep in thought" at the question "why is McDonald's trying to convince us that watered-down fountain soda tastes better than canned soda?"*-- I don't think you got paid enough, considering your dignity is gone forever.

To the woman who first wasted everyone's time and decided that her family and friends knowing what a pathetic, lifeless loser she was wasn't enough and the entire planet needed to experience the vapid nothing that is her life by posting a picture of herself kissing a cup of soda and asking her stupid question- ugh, you are a disgusting waste of skin twat.  But hey, you went "viral."  If only that meant you were going to die of some horrible disease now.

*Yeah, I know that's not the question.  But seriously- if anyone thinks Coca-Cola "tastes better" at McDonalds, it's because they associate it with french fries.  Or they've never had soda out of a can.  Because soda doesn't "taste better" at McDonalds- the flavor is dulled and you can taste the cardboard of the cup.  It's just cheap.

To the Dad in this booking.com commercial

1.  One son is still a pale stupid fat doofus who is way, way too old to be "losing his shoes" on the plane.  Seriously- the next time your mom suggests that you take care of that paint chip issue before your wife gives birth, listen to her.

2.  Another son  "didn't get to the air sickness bag on time?"  That means he made the flight a real joy for your fellow passengers, too.  For them I say "thanks, asshole.  Next time, invest three bucks in a bottle of Dramamine, even if that WOULD constitute thinking about other people for once."

3.  Your daughter is still a vapid, sneering, ungrateful twerp who isn't going to suddenly be glad to be on a family trip because the hotel room is nice.  In three minutes she'll find out if the WiFi is working .  If it's not, it won't matter how nice the view is or how many couches there are, she's going to make the rest of the week a living hell.

4.  Your wife is looking at you like "wow, you finally did something right.  Only took 16 years, asshole."

5.  You are an ugly doofus who should never have been permitted to pass his genes on to the next generation.  I need to talk to your kids because at some point, this damage should be called to a halt.

6.  In the end, your awful ugly family is now just an awful ugly family in a nice hotel room.  Everyone else just hopes you all like the room so much that you just stay there until it's time to catch a cab to the airport.  Glue your son's shoes to his feet and an air sickness bag to his chin.  If you are visiting Aruba, see if anyone in the hotel bar is interested in taking Daughter off your hands.  Because even I'm not mean enough to want you to go right back to the way things were when the vacation is over.

Yeah, Right, Apple. This is what becomes of your technology. Sure it is.

Look, if people really use this stupid toy to encourage them to stop being disgusting, lazy couch potatoes and actually get off their overfed asses and do things, great.  More power to them.  I don't need to have every bit of exercise I partake in to be monitored and graphed and compared and listed and stored but if that's what it takes, fine.  (Full disclosure- I DO wear a Garmin and I DO keep track of my day hikes, and it DOES encourage me to push on a little longer, walk a little faster, etc.  So I totally get it.)

But don't tell me that more than one-tenth of one percent of people who own these things actually use them in this way.  Don't tell me that when 99.9 percent of your other commercials show people slouched in chairs watching, texting and gabbing away while burning fewer calories than most coma patients.  Don't EVEN try.  Because I KNOW iPhone users, and NONE of them are using their phones to do anything more strenouos than finding the nearest McDonalds.  Sorry.

Oh, and "Chicken Fat?"  Really?  Hey Apple, want to make a contribution toward winning the war against obesity?  Stop making it possible to run our lives by scrolling a finger along a screen.  That would be a good start.  Not this BS.

We Offer You This Opportunity To Work For Us For Free

Thank you for your stay at the Galt House Hotel

On behalf of the Galt House Hotel I would like to thank you for choosing to stay with us. It was our pleasure to have you as our honored Guest, and we look forward to your next visit.

Please take a few moments to go to the Internet link listed below. This will take you to a short survey about your stay. We realize your time is valuable but it is through feedback and input from our Guests that we are able to meet, and exceed, your expectations. The information we receive from you will be reviewed by the management staff of our resort to ensure that we are consistently offering the highest levels of service, in functional and relaxing surroundings.

Please click here  To take the survey. If you cannot click on the link, you may copy and paste the address below into your Internet browser:

Once after a long trip on Amtrak (is there any other kind?) I was handed a four-page survey to complete which asked me to rate my "experience" in about 230 different categories.  Seriously, Amtrak didn't figure it was enough that I purchased a ticket and was provided a service in exchange.  They felt entitled to another hour of my time when it was over to give them what amounted to an inspection.

Now, the form from this particular hotel isn't quite as obnoxious- it would have taken me much less time to just fill it out and click it back to them than it took to write this post- but the philosophy still bugs me.  Why do passenger train services, airlines, restaurants, hotels etc. feel so entitled to our time that they are forever throwing surveys like this at us?  If I had a specific problem, I would have complained about it without being prompted.  I don't need or welcome "invitations" to have the "opportunity" to scroll down a checklist of items to let the provider of a service I've already paid for know how well they did in providing it.

What I find especially irritating about these surveys is that they offer no incentive in return for our time.  How about a coupon for a free drink the next time we take that plane or stay at that hotel?  A few years back, I complained to The Galt House about their policy of charging guests to use the gym (yes, they actually do this- $10 a week.)  I got back a very polite email thanking me for my input but no explanation for the policy, which is still in place.  Know what would have been nicer?   A free week of gym use the next time I stayed.  Anything to illustrate that they ACTUALLY "realize that our time is valuable."

 Why should my time be provided for free to a company that charged ME for the service?  Does anyone who did not have a specific problem fill these things out?  If so, why?

(BTW, this really is a beautiful hotel, though I don't think Lauren sells it very well here. I'd recommend it to anyone staying in Louisville.  I just hate the whole survey thing.)