My So Called Life

Dr. Pepper 10 has me confused

/ Shane / 1 Comment

I heard a commercial on the radio the other day for Dr. Pepper 10. This is a new product from Dr. Pepper that’s not exactly diet (0 calories) and not exactly regular (7,000,000 calories). The ad campaign has sparked some controversy, since it caters exclusively to “manly men”. The commercial I heard basically lists all the most manly things, and implies that Dr. Pepper 10 should be added to that list.

This really surprised me. Here they are using super manly He-men to try to sell diet soda to a group that traditionally considers diet soda outside of their domain. It’s certainly a good thing that men, who are traditionally allowed to be as fat as they can while simultaneously putting pressure on women to watch their weight, are now starting to realize that weight is something they need to pay attention to and be responsible for. On the other hand, the whole commercial is dripping with stereotypes and starts by saying how Dr. Pepper 10 is “not for women”. How do you manage to be both extremely sexist and gender-barrier-breaking at the same time? Or maybe they really are only being extremely sexist, because they’re really overcompensating a little bit there, aren’t they? “We know that diet drinks are inherently girly, but maybe if we surround them with pure manliness, we can trick someone into drinking it without realizing the 10 calories are from the added estrogen.”

Not only did they manage to offend women with the ad campaign, but they also managed to offend me. As a male who loves Dr. Pepper, I expected to be firmly in their wheelhouse. I began to be dismayed a little bit as every “manly” thing didn’t apply to me. Am I not man enough for Dr. Pepper? Does this mean I can’t like it anymore? (well, technically I like Diet Dr. Pepper, so maybe I was already in the “woman category” anyway)

Luckily, the last item on the list was, “If you have ever blogged about bacon…” Whew! Qualified at the last minute. I feel like they threw that one in just to include me. They might as well have added, “If you have ever answered to the name Shane Halbach…”

Anyway, here’s another ad from the same campaign. You can decide for yourself what it means:

Seriously?

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Best picture? The Artist? You’ve got to be kidding me!

Ice Skating Update

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Finally got my ice skates sharpened and gave them a try. They worked great, but I have a blister on my big toe. We rented Evie one size bigger of ice skates and they seemed to fit much better. They were single blades, they don’t have double blades in that size, but she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I don’t know if it was because of the different skates or not, but she did fantastic! She was only holding on to my hand with one hand and I think 3 different times we went all the way around without her falling down. She was in a great mood and really enjoyed skating the whole time, even laughing when she fell down. She didn’t want to leave. Too bad next weekend is the last weekend before it closes for the season!

Delta Force

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Sometimes, when you’re out and about, you see one lone plow pushing snow through the night. Old retired Bob, who packs a thermos of coffee in the dark and patrols the back roads, making sure the rest of us can get to work in the morning. I bet he wears a flannel shirt to stay warm and says things like, “You alright ma’am? Some weather we’re having tonight,” when he helps a stranger out of a ditch. Normally, plowing is a pretty solitary profession.

But every once in awhile, you see the four staggered plows cruisin’ Lake Shore Drive in formation like a bunch of fighter pilots and you’re like, “Oh shit, it’s the Delta Force!” These aren’t your average snowplow men. They mean business; perfect form, plow blades set at the perfect angle so they don’t miss so much as a flake.

::psssssht:: “Red Leader, this is Wing Man Omega. I’ve got a pothole on my niner.”
::psssssht:: “Copy that Omega. Engage evasive maneuvers.”

I can’t help but hear Flight of the Valkyries in my head. I bet they wear sunglasses at night and train for years in a secret federal snowplow training academy. I heard in order to get a spot on the Delta Force, you have to kill the snowplow man you’re going to replace in unarmed combat.

I wish I had a video to show you of these guys. It makes you want to put your hand over your heart.

Battlestar Galactica

/ Shane / 7 Comments

One day, Sara expressed the tiniest hint of an interest in watching Battlestar Galactica. I was on it like white on rice.

I realize that I am the last one to the geek party that is Battlestar Galactica. I was in serious danger of losing my nerd cred. We’re a little over half way through the series, and I have to say, it’s absolutely as good as anybody ever made it out to be. It is absolutely amazing that this was made for SyFy channel. The production value is as high as anything on a network; good acting, great plots, good special effects. I guess I have to stop thinking of SyFy as the channel that gave us such gems as Sharktopus.

We’ve been watching multiple episodes per night, every night, though we haven’t quite sunken to the level of that clip from Portlandia. I don’t know that I have that much to say about it, other than you should see it if you haven’t. But then again, you have, since I am the last person on earth to see it.

The show has the absolute lamest theme song of all time. It’s like a guy repeatedly playing one key on a piano. It’s not so much a theme song as a pianist with a nervous twitch. Also? Total old guy power. All the old guys steal the show. Edward James Olmos is the man as Admiral Adama. He has more talent in his facial crags alone than most actors have in their whole bodies. I also love Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh, who is deeply flawed, but deeply bad ass. And then here comes Dean Stockwell, clearly the awesomest Cylon. It took me awhile to stop waiting for him to say, “Saam! Ziggy says if we don’t jump now, a Cylon Basestar is going to blow us all to smithereens!” But after I got past that, he ripped it up.

So there you go. We’re watching it, and loving it (even Sara!). It just goes to show you that a good show is a good show, even if it’s science fiction. Watching this just makes me feel sad about all of the awful science fiction t.v. has tried to shove down our collective throats over the years.