Serious Joke!

The newest entrant into the crowded premium hatchback space in India has managed to breakaway from the crowd. I am talking about Jazz, Honda's entry into the small car market. Honda seem to have forgotten that their intention was to enter the small car market, not to exit it before they got in! The route they chose to breakaway from the crowd was not features but by making the car super pricey!! The on road price of the top of the line Honda Jazz will hover a few ten thousands short of 8L! That is a lot of money for a hatchback, no matter what the pedigree. Skoda made the same mistake with Fabia and even after correcting it to some extent by bringing in a lower priced variant, it was too little too late. They had by then already managed to send a very nice car to the never-to-be-seen-or-heard gallows of the frugal desi mind!

Looking past the price, how about the Ad campaign?? If their intention was to make the smartest ad ever to be understood by 1% of the super smart future premium hatchback ownership (me clearly not included), well, they must have done a great job! The punchline for the Honda Jazz is "Why so serious?". Seeing the price of the car, I am sure most people will see the joke in it! :-)




I have seen the Ad time and again, and I can't help but get serious... damn guys, is it so difficult to make a decent Ad? What the hell does it mean anyway!$#%@!

Money, Money...Must be funny...

Intel has started on a fresh wave of Ads titled 'Sponsors of tomorrow'. Below is the original Ad.



People can't let anything this fancy go by without a spoof, so here is the Oops version. :-)



Apparently, the guy featured in the original Ad is not the real Ajay Bhatt and is an actor. Kinda killed the concept for me...

Anyway, what I was coming to was, a friend of mine who works in the US told me that the same Ads run there too, which means that a lot of money is being spent on this campaign across the globe. What is quite strange about this Ad and the whole campaign is the timing. I know friends at Intel who have told me about colleagues who got pink slips and possible pay cuts. And this is the time that Intel wants to build a "feel good" factor in people minds about itself? This is not a product Ad, this is not a technology Ad, this is a generic Ad telling that smart people work at Intel and since we are firing and not recruiting you are not welcome. ;-)

Looks like Intel has a lot of money, just not for retaining existing jobs.

Could it be any simpler?

Blackberry takes its first (of possibly many) potshots!



Now, if the product can live up to this, that would be something!

Huh... Come Again ?!?

I have rarely liked Ads on US television and looks like internet Ads are no different. I have seen a few of the famed Apple Ads, they are OK, but not really out there funny or out there cool. Micro$oft Ads have been even less funnier than the Apple ones and they seem to be very intent on keeping it that way. They must have paid millions to get Jerry Seinfeld to do these, but then, just because you have one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time does not mean that you can get away with absolute nonsensical crap!! Bill Gates may be a saint, thanks to his charity foundation, which is cool. But damn, he is not even close to cool in the below Ads! Have a look...





Damn Bill, Damn Jerry, Damn Micro$oft... what were you guys thinking ? What was the point of the Ads ? If you plan to pass some message or slogan about Windows/Micro$oft, at this rate, you will need a 100 videos before you actually get there!

Perspective

Japan has always been ahead of technology and development the world over. They are supposed to have the fastest trains, but this video sure gives a very different look to the whole thing.



Makes our problem with crowded cities a joke. :-) How many still waiting for the metro ?? :-))

Digg This!

What does one need to do to get a recording contract ? Well, one needs talent and creativity and just as importantly needs to know how to use all the technology at ones disposal.

Kina Grannis has all of the above and she has reportedly been approached with the offer of a singing contract for her toils. Here is the video she released on youtube which has gotten very very popular thanks to the obvious dedication to digg and of course the instant fan following guaranteed by youtube.



Find more videos of her here.

GDAD!

GDAD - Acronym For "Good Deed A Day". :-)

I aim to do one Good Deed a Day(sentance used only for dramatic effect with no real conviction), and all bloggable good deeds will be, well, blogged!

If any of you guys out there are as lazy as me, this would be a real boon.



2 Second T-Shirt Fold!! - More amazing video clips are a click away

Now, no more excuses for having a messy bedroom. :-)

Strange Video

Have seen buildings becoming demolished or brought down by force. But a building collapsing on its own accord... is a first for me.




p.s: Pardon the sub-titles. :-)

In case you missed...

Didn't want to start the year with this though it was one of the most googled news on any given day of 2006. Hence threw in a harmless one on Indian cricket which almost borders on humour. :-))

Its always disturbing to see a person being killed, but the outrage in India over this is just not understandable. What did the people expect? That US would spend all those billions to catch the guy(and get his oil) and leave the place without killing him??

Disclaimer: You would think this would need a disclaimer but again it does not coz you hardly see anything!!

Supposedly the last minutes of Saddam Hussein.

Malluwoods New Star

Move aside Mammootty, step aside Mohanlal.... welcome Sree, the booty shaker!!

3rd day of the 1st test between India and South Africa. Nel does his usual "I will stare you to death" act to Sreesanth, new at the crease after Laxmans dismissal. Nel goes one step furthur and says to Sreesanth, "Show me some heart.... you don't have the heart!". There are many heartless and soulless people in Indian cricket but Sreesanth is definitely not one of them, he wears his heart on his sleeve, so to speak. Our ferocious youngster, fresh from his 'fifer' on the second day couldn't let this go by. This is what he does!




This is right up there with Miandad doing the monkey act on Kiran More! In cricketing quarters... totally priceless!!

Home sweet home

Finally home and feels great to be back! The last month or so has been hectic at work and hate that as being the reason for me not doing things that I wanna do, including blogging. But none the less, the time has come to pass and am back in my comfort zone.

The travel back was a lot more comfortable than expected, maybe because I was looking forward to being back. Also, I had a 20 hour waiting time in Singapore designed specifically for folks who want to spend some time around Singapore. Me of course have done these 1 day Singapore trips thrice already and chose to spend the time at the airport itself. If you remember my onward to US journey experience, there were just 2 of us Indians in the flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. Most coincidentally, the same chap was on the same itinerary as me on the way back too. We looked at each other, both were surprised for a bit and then continued to be strangers. It was a weird coincidence though.

Spent yesterday catching up on the previews of all the new movies and desi music videos and also cricket. Right now I am watching the India vs Australia match and the match is right now at the boring middle stage where nothing seems to be happening. Come to think of if, I have come to read a couple of articles, one I remember to be from boycott, on how boring this championship has been. And seeing the crowds for yesterdays match, it was quite clear that there was some truth in the articles. I tell you... each passing year and I see cricket losing its steam and cricketers their charm. Oh well... I guess India will have to get good in some other sport which has more than 8 teams playing it!

In all the TV viewing yesterday I could that there were many new ads peppering the screen. One of the one that caught the eye was the India exclusive Xbox Ad! Watch it!




Microsoft spending money for an India only Ad? Wow! Indian market in the Microsoft radar is good. But it also means that Microsoft will come pretty hard on all the pirated XPs around.