Everything is Amazing Right Now, and Nobody's Happy

The "funny because it's true" factor on this clip of Louis C.K. on Conan was so high for me that by the end of it, my eyes were red, my cheeks were stained with tears, and my jaw and neck were sore — and that's so true it's not even funny.

Update 2009/03/04: Replaced the original YouTube embed with a higher-quality (and more legal) Hulu embed.

Update 2009/03/18: Time interviews Louis about the clip.

Awesome Game Wallpapers

Here are some awesome looking game wallpapers from deviantArt.

Via Kotaku.

Super Bowl Commercials 2009

One week later, here's my take on 2009's notable Super Bowl commercials.

The Good

• Audi — The Chase: Jason Statham helps Audi take a stab at its competitors, saying that while previous decades might have been owned by Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus, it's now time for the four rings to shine. It doesn't hurt that the car itself is one slick beast.
• CareerBuilder.com — Tips: I agree with everyone who says that this ad got tiring after the first 30-45 seconds, but in terms of getting people talking, it was second to none. Watch twitter explode when it airs, in The New York Times' interactive tracker (click "Talking about ads").
• Cars.com — David Abernathy: This type of ad has been a trend recently (e.g., Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" ads), but I can't argue with the result here, even if it was a bit disappointing, for some reason, to find out that it was for cars.com.
• Hulu — Alec in Huluwood: I love 30 Rock and I love Hulu, and I love 30 Rock on Hulu, and I don't love this ad, but I like it a lot.
• Monster — Double Take: Simple, well-crafted, and clever. It easily got a laugh out of me.

Honorable Mention

• Bud Light — Sweden: Conan O'Brien + Japandering in Sweden (Swedepandering?) is a great starting point for comedy, but Bud Light's typical frenetic editing left the overall commercial a bit lacking.
• Coca Cola — Avatar: You can always count on Coke to bring the harmless but fun branding ads. "Avatar" is a take on our increasingly virtual connectedness, and the power of physical contact. Also, pretty girls are gamers too!
• H&R Block — Death & Taxes: Something about the tax services provider's ad stood out to me over many other equally eligible candidates. It must be the Abe Vigoda.
• Miller High Life — 1 Second Ad: If this really aired during the broadcast, then I missed it, but it's a concept that always gets a response when I mention it to people. As expected, it's just one small (but expensive) part of a bigger overall campaign.
• Pepsi — Refresh Everything and Pepsuber: The Pepsuber ad (with Richard Dean Anderson) probably wasn't very funny unless you've been following the recurring MacGruber sketches on SNL (and even then, maybe not, for many people). Combined with the aspiring-to-be-anthemic "Refresh Everything" ad, though, it was a decent one-two punch for Pepsi. Still doesn't make up for the logo downgrade ...

The Bad

• Cash 4 Gold — Ed McMahon & MC Hammer: Setting aside the fact that the shady company is basically a scam, it was pretty sad to see the hard-for-cash Ed McMahon (fresh off a stint rapping for FreeCreditReport.com) and MC Hammer trying to make the funny, though there are chuckles to be found.
• Castrol — Grease Monkeys: There are worse ads that I could have put on my list (I'm glancing at you, Doritos). Indeed, the production values here aren't even that bad. It just seems like they took the path of least resistance. I kept waiting for the punchline, and all I got was a man-on-chimp smooch. That's not going to cut it, Castrol.
• GoDaddy.com — [all of them]: Scraping the bottom of the barrel again. I wonder what Danica Patrick gets paid for these ads.
• Jack in the Box — Hang in there Jack: On the whole, I'm a big fan of the long-running campaign featuring Jack Box. This one had some nice touches — did you notice the angel on the store window in the final shot? — but it and the associated viral campaign seem wholly unnecessary to me. Or, maybe I just can't stand the thought of Jack not making it!
• Sobe — Lizard Lake: It's the second year in a row that SoBe has wasted its money on these pointless dancing lizard ads. Adding 3-D, football players, and ballet only made it worse. Whenever I see these ads, I can just picture the marketing meeting from which this mish-mash of bad ideas emerged. The focus groups must dig it or something. On the other hand, I credit them for being way above GoDaddy.com's level.

Now you've heard from me. What's on your list?