Nibbled News

Seven Percent Solution For Our World?

 

 

Prayer is co-operation with God. It is the purest exercise of the faculties God has given us - an exercise that links these faculties with the Maker to work out the intentions He had in mind in their creation.  ( E. Stanley Jones)

This is the time of the year when the winter blahs and blues seems to take its toll on many, many people. Feelings of depression slowly creep into a person's psyche. Many folks want to give up on the positive side of life and in its stead embrace a negative, hangdog pessimism.

The shorter days and the darker nights takes its toll on a person's mental health. There is a solution to this perennial problem. We are not doomed to suffer and flounder in a sea of doubt and pessimism.

The short video at the beginning of this blog offers a solution that many people fail to realize may be helping to shape thier lifes and destinies. It is an inspirational video clip. It tells all of us that we are not alone and that there is a benevolent , universal consciousness uniting us all.

Life is meant to be shared and the fruits and the joys in life may come to us through the efforts of others who care for us. Enjoy.

 

 

Turning Viewers Into Entrenched Voyeurs

"I'm at the age where food has taken the place of sex in my life. In fact, I've just had a mirror put over my kitchen table." ~ Rodney Dangerfield

It seems these days that even  the most  dramatic, respected  and creative  television shows  eventually flaunt and promote unbridled, carefree and unprotected sex as the answer to their series flagging viewer rating.

This usually happens after the third or fourth episode when the viewer numbers have been compiled and the networks and advertisers are eager to boost exposure and sales. Network managers are willing to take a chance on new dramatic content and more receptive to innovative writing.

The Nielsen viewer ratings have been successfully compiled by this time and a television home viewing market selected within which a show's writing team can become "creative" oftentime using gratuitous sex to overcome writing lapses and lulls between commercials.

Two such shows that pop into mind are "King"and "Suits". Both shows are presented on the Showcase network.The plots and the writing  are first rate. Initially the sexual nature of the show's characters was downplayed and the legal angle highlighted. On the premium channel a viewer content warning is flashed between commercial segments indicating "adult content view discretion is advised."

"King" is a tough female cop who has been divorced a number of times and likes her sex hot and heavy. She is nearing forty, wears tight skirts and is desperately trying to get pregnant. She is the head of a crime division in a large metropolitan city. At times she lets her biological clock run her common sense. This aspect may make her appealling to all those female viewers in her particular life situation.

"Suits"  main characters are Harvey Specter" and  "Mike Ross". For Harvey a romp in the hay is an accepted pro bono aspect of the job.  Recently Ross has also been priming the pump for female companionship.  Specter is a talented, conniving, no holds barred successful attorney possessing street smarts and an over active libido. Ross is his protege with a photographic memory whom he is tutoring in the law firm.

Eventually though the main characters in both shows abandon their higher callings and are eager to tear off their clothing, hop into bed with  any available and consenting member of the opposite sex.  This allows three to five minutes of air time to successfully transpire. This on-screen action is supposed to turn the viewing audience into consenting adult voyeurs.

The popularity of both shows has attracted the attention of the non premium channels. The channels do flash the viewer warning adult content notice at the start of the show. So an at home viewer expects some adult content not out-and-out orgy action. What does a parent do when their children are in the same room with them while they are watching the juicier segments?

In this age of sexually transmitted diseases, herpes, genital warts, AIDs and the like dramatic televison shows should offer the viewing public richer content and more thought provoking themes and try not to merely pander the easily gratuitous side of life .

If this is an impossible task then at least have the main characters enage in protected sex before they dazzle the viewer with their bedroom prowess.

 

Beer Ad Explores Our Fears and Prejudices

So let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.   - Franklin D. Rooseveltt

 

 

For years beer commercials have depicted scantily clad young vixens actively promoting , endorsing and enjoying a glass of their favorite bubbly brew. The message appealed to the male beer drinker in the family who wanted to drink as many brewskies as he could and still maintain a svelte manly physique.

The commercials always follow the traditional story line about brewing systems, best ingredients used to make the beer and unequaled taste and appeal. Of course there are also the contests involving meeting the hottest models, unparalleled prize offers and a myriad of other such bonuses.

The advertising team at Carlsberg brewery has recently adopted a new game plan regarding their beer drinking promotions. In essence the advertisement is part of an overall gorilla campaign by the company to snare more of the beer drinking market. The ad was not filmed in an elaborate studio. The advertiser did not use actors but rather real people who were not clued into the Candid Camera style of realism used.

The overall atmosphere in the scene was meant to be intimidating. The seating arrangement in the theater was contrived and developed so that there are only two seats remaining in the crowded room.

As you watch the video ask yourself what would you do  if you found yourself in such a situation. Would you make your way to the available seat or would you wimp out and leave the theater in fear and dread.

This is the first in a series of such creative ads to not only promote a product but also to make the viewing public a bit more aware of their fears, phobias and prejudices.

All advertisers should exhibit a bit more creativity in their work and not always follow a boring pro forma approach to hawk their wares. Bravo Carlsberg!

　

　

　

Morticians and Makeup Artists Share Goal

Morticians and professional makeup artists share a common goal: deception. The former attempt to rekindle a momentary  but memorable instance of animation and vigor in their charges for  grieving family and friends. The latter hope to spruce up and add more life to their client's waning public personna.

The professional makeup artist's overall mission in life might entail the following commitments:

1. convert the haggard and puffy-eyed actor into a charming , offscreen hearththrob. 
2. remold the insecure, drug addicted female rockstar into a beloved diva free of any telltale cosmetic defects.
3. transform the ailing politician into a man with a slow and deliberate personal public image.

These days it seems that the much vaunted Hollywood makeup artist and the dreaded funeral mortician have joined forces in their desire to produce a specific outcome for their clientel: normalcy , vibrancy and healthy glows where no such circumstances exist.

Broadcast personalities, politicians , models , rock stars and movie idols all willingly submit to the expertise and seemingly magical powders and lotions the makeup artist offers them.

These allegedly fragile personality types hope the makeup artist will  infuse something wonderful into their lives and transform them into someone larger than life.

The public demands a fresh, animated and healthy glow from their icons. The makeup artist was therefore invented to generate such a healthful aura for these folks. Thus the use and overuse of the rouges, pancake makeup and eye liner on many of your favorite media personalities.

Terminally ill politicians, burnt out movie stars and drug dependent rock stars all have their selected entourage of P.R. specialists, makeup artists and spin doctors ready to redirect and if necessary quash any and all negative press or rumors inadvertently leaked to a gossip hungry public.

Case in point.   A well-known politician recently won a leadership position for himself and an influential opposition role for his parrty after waging a long and fatiguing campaign.

Jack was described as a fighter, a man representing the little guy in the scheme of things. A tireless champion for the people. He campaigned long and hard and kept his platform honest, to the point and factual.

His press kit pictures and televised debates always showed him as a healthy and dynamic individual ready to battle things out for his constituents.

He always smiled appropriately for the cameras and his skin glowed with a special radiance and allure. His efforts and public facade of vigor and energy won him the power he sought. His supporters rallied his election success.

Jack recently announced that his previous bout with prostate cancer , though in remission for the past five years, has created certain health problems for him. He told his supporters and the press he would be temporarily stepping down from political office and that a party associate would be handling his leadership role.

His overly powdered media face now looks sallow and wan. His eyes lugubrious and vacant. To the average television viewer he appears to be a walking cadaver biding his time and smiling in a half hearted manner.

In this instance the truth about his overall health and medical condition should have outweighed the blarney his press cadre was promoting. His actions have caused many of his devoted constituents to seriously question the man's honesty and integrity.

His entourage of public relations personnel and partry gophers should have realized that this type of double dealing would not sit well with a majority of voters.

He could have vastly improved his image by using the truth and being honest with himself and his party. Pancake makeup can only conceal so many human flaws for so long.

 

The Comedic Impulse Eludes Drew Carey

Comedy just pokes at problems, rarely confronts them squarely. Drama is like a plate of meat and potatoes, comedy is rather the dessert, a bit like meringue. -----   Woody Allen

Drew Carey, the current host of The Price is Right, is definitely a people person who enjoys interacting with his live studio audience and relishes in his own celebrity and acquired fame. He is obviously comfortable and at home in such an interactive environment.

His seemingly innate inability however to create comedy content which will excite, enthuse, entertain and captivate his audiences is apparent to anyone who takes the time to watch only a few minutes of Carey's new TV show , Improv-A-Ganza,  which is carried on the cable networks game show station.

One wonders why the network executives placed this genre of comedy show on the game show network. Perhaps this was a Freudian slip on their part -- they wanted to take a gamble on an offering lacking any proven track record of performance and quality.

The talented comedians of past years, the greats who appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, exuded charisma , charm and excitingly controversial material. They were able to immediately form a bond with their audiences and the combination was explosive. In those bygone days ladies and gentlemen that  was called entertainment.

Carey's motley crew of comedians rely mostly it seems on interacting with an audience who probably have had a bit too much to drink and will easily laugh at anything offered to them under the label "comedy".

Drew claims that hecklers upset many comedy routines because the material is boring and the heckler believes he is adding a bit of zip to the skit. Unfortunately any heckler worth his salt would not ruin his reputation by interrupting Carey's team of misdirected miscreants as they flounder about on stage pandering for applause.

If you enjoyed the frivolous antics of fellow students in grade five then this show is definitely for you. The routines are tired, not very comedic and at times insult an audience's intelligence.

Drew should have kept his day job and not tried to overextend the boundaries of  his charisma and comedic talent abilities. In this sad situation the price was not right for Drew.

Judge Judy: Legal Arbitrator or Mere TV Ham?

"The people are real. The cases are real. The rulings are final. This is Judge Judy." TV introduction

Judith Scheindlin, television's much celebrated and charismatic television female judge, reputedly dispenses her brand of legal bread-and-butter justice in a no holds barred, no nonsense  manner.

Judge Judy, touted as being the new Queen of television, the unofficial celebratory female destined to replace the gap created when Oprah Winfrey finally retires, is expected to capture a substantial market share of Oprah's viewing audience.

She is described as being a lawyer, judge, television personality, legal arbitrator and author. But one wonders if her daily dealings with low lifes, dishonest and conniving plaintiffs and defendants has turned her into an egotistical TV ham  with a legal chip on her shoulder.

In many cases she loathes having her non judicial opinions questioned. She has effectively managed to convert herself into another television personality desperate to impress, enthuse and at times infuriate her at home viewers.

She frequently admonishes her plaintiffs and defendants that in her court it's her way or the highway. She has become a female version of the Old West's Judge Roy bean....brash, unbiased and fair minded.

This feisty female from Brooklyn New York exhibits the charm , savvy and street smarts that a judge with her many years of legal and courtroom experience would be expected to have honed and acquired.

At times however she tends to over emote her disgust and contempt for those standing before her bench trying to manipulate her way of thinking and ply her to their way of thinking.

Recently  in a number of her court room episodes she warned a number of plaintiffs that she did not have time to listen to their petty gibberish and juvenile complaints. "I don't have time for this nonsense" she blurted out in an angry tone of voice.

This makes me wonder if she would rather be somewhere else maybe polishing rocks in a lapidary shop and not dispensing justice and court rulings.

She sometimes injects her own moral codes and standards into the cases she adjudicates. One woman with three children and two fathers for her children was publicly chastised before her tv audience for being an unfit mother and not too responsible .

Should she not stick with the facts of the case being presented before her and not attempt to inject her own moral codes and standards into every case she tries?

The other TV judges employ this same brand of real life angst and anger in their court cases. The in studio audience definitely is entertained and chuckles at the absolute stupidity of their fellow man.

Lady Justice is no longer blind nor impartial when  judges on the bench must keep one eye on the law books and another on the ratings their weekly episodes generate. So much for the impartiality and fairness of the judicial system -- at least the syndicated tv version of the law.

Overly Endowed Women Are Target Market

"Good lingerie joke will make him laugh; good lingerie will make him gasp!"   --   Uncategorized.

Nowadays it seems the svelte and well-tanned models from Victoria Secret are freely prancing their bodies and their enticing lingerie ensembles on the television screen 24 hours a day , every day.

The company apparently believes that over exposure of their new lines of female under garments will seduce a large female consumer market anxious to create some exotic fireworks in their own lives.

While these young, semi nude and nubile female models are a delightful eye candy to many television viewers there still remains a large and ever growing market of female consumers out there who are not receiving their fair share of these immense advertising budgets.

These women are the regular sized females who are forced to scour the magazines and the interet in the hopes of finding the right type and size of foundation garments their bodies require.

The major players in the catalogue marketing business seem to have neglected those women who are no longer lithe and  lean but in fact somewhere  in between.

A stroll through any department store's female foundation  aisles reveals that the complaining women truly have a defensible case on their side.

A number of recent advertising spots aimed at those women over 40 used overly endowed females to advertise and capture the 40 and up market segment.

Not every woman in that age category should be expected to possess even these models' idyllically unrealistic proportions.

The low end department stores are even worse in the way they display their foundation ware. Many times the bras are placed on display racks that give the illusion of being abandoned inner tubes in a corner garage managed by uninvolved sales associates.

Many women I spoke with felt slighted and very much frustrated by the fact that the large foundation manufacturers have abandoned them and have begun courting a frivolous market segment.

Victoria's Secret and a number of the more prominent manufacturers should seriously re examine their advertising strategies and dollar allotments so as to once again recapture a market whose only fault in the total equation revolves around having the wrong physical proportions.

 

Poised Adults Also Doing The Potty Dance

 

It's not exactly an Arthur Murray endorsed and sanctioned dance routine but one dance that is certainly capturing the imagination of the entire nation if not the world is the "potty dance".

The dance moves may not be graceful but the overall effect is a welcomed feeling of physical relief and overall relief for the wearer.

An ever increasing number of adults these days are finding themselves forced to wear these types of protective undergarments and are also discovering a new freedom and mobility they never before experienced.

Urinary incontinence is a loss of bladder control and is becoming more prevalent in older people. It is never "normal" at any age and unfortunately the condition is often under diagnosed, under reported and many health care professionals themselves remain uneducated about the condition.

This condition indicates that something has possibly gone wrong with a person's urinary tract. A recent commercial featuring Whoopi Goldberg states that one in three women suffer from this condition.

This commercial uses wit and advertising savvy to inform women that this condition is not that rare and that in effect two of their friends may secretly be suffering from the condition.

You may think that this problem is a normal part of aging. It just might be but it is also a treatable situation. More women than men suffer from it. There are different types of incontinence and diagnosing the correct one is very important to effective treatment.

Many advertisers these days seem somewhat squeamish to create any type of creative marketing campaign aimed at this condition's increasing market share.

The safer ads these days focus on male loss of erection, female bowel problems ( especially troublesome in a passenger plane) and those every popular lighter days feminine pads.

It may be the time for creative writing consultants in both Hollywood and on Wall Street to create effective and informative advertising campaigns and prime time characters who use the undergraments and are not embarassed by the fact they suffer from incontinence.

 

Chuck Lorre Often Prostituted Sheen's Talent

 
Chuck Lorre (left) and Charlie Sheen (right) clear the air on issues.

"I believe that consciousness creates the illusion of individuation, the false feeling of being separate. In other words, I am aware, ergo I am alone. I further believe that this existential misunderstanding is the prime motivating force for the neurotic compulsion to blot out consciousness. " - Chuck Lorre

For the record will someone in Hollywood please sit down with Chuck Lorre and carefully, slowly and repeatedly explain to him that he is not Norman Lear and that his comedy writing team and the creative crap they brazenly offer the viewing audience on commercial television is sorely lacking in any type of comedic content let alone social commentary.

Mr Lear's comedy offerings were timely, funny and filled at times not only with social criticism but also thought provoking episodes. His genre of entertainment, often thought of as being avant garde at the time,  could be described as cerebral and viewing audiences actually laughed at and enjoyed the weekly episodes.

Mr Lorre's "comedy sitcoms" are non cerebral, crass and aimed at times at the lowest common level of humor:  guttural. While Lear's satire and humor aimed at comedy situations above the waist Lorre's weekly viewing stipend is aimed at places way below the belt and at times reek of bad comedy, inappropriate cliche targeting and just bad writing.

I am sure that Lorre's creative comedy writing teams desperately want to entice, thrill and hopefully seduce viewing audiences for the long term. Charlie Sheen provided the type of big name clout the show needed to attract such an avid and adoring audience.

Unfortunately Sheen turned out to be the type of commercialized Judas goat that could be both loved and loathed. For a mere $1.2 million per episode of "Two and a Half Men" Sheen prostituted his talent, career and skills to line the pockets of Lorre's backers and advertisers.

Initially Lorre's writers offered humorous comedy situations in the first few years of Charlie's shows. Over time though the laughs became fewer and fewer and the plots began to delve more into the neurotic and darkly perverse side of human nature.

Audiences now laugh nervously as the show's characters are embroiled in situations that are deserving more of therapy than applause. The phrase "who's your daddy?" takes on a whole new connotation when one character in Charlie's show is shown beating his butt on a closed circuit tv screen. So this is humor?

Another of Lorre's creations," The Big Bang Theory" is also suffering from the ill effects of too few laughs per episode. Sex dominates the overall tome of each show and the characters reading the lines offer wooden performances indirectly showing their distaste for the crap they are memorizing and presenting each week.

In a world desperately seeking humor to alleviate some of the stress of the times Lorre's type of humor should be placed out in the pasture of life where it can do the most good: fertilize and stink up the immediate environment.

It may turn out that Mr Sheen should be complimented and patted on the back for having the guts in helping to bring down or else slowing down one of Lorre's less inspiring sitcom programs.

His overall real life drinking and carousing may have helped Charlie to save his career and allow once enchanted viewers the opportunity to click off the televison switch on the rest of Lorre's questionably "creative" content without feeling any pang of guilt.

 

 

 

Comedy Sitcoms Often Humorless and Bland

W.C. FIELDS -- GREATEST DRUNK OF ALL TIMES

 

 

 

Adam Sandler, Charlie Sheen, David Spade and Drew Carey all apparently suffer from the same tragic personality flaw: they are all haunted by the fact that they are humorless comedians trying to cope in a world craving comedy.

All of the above mentioned personalities , except Drew Carey, have tasted success as headliners in relatively successful movie roles. A glimpse of their deeper talent and acting expertise was tapped upon in their silver screen offerings.

However, when it comes to television situation comedy scenarios, these same gentlemen are, according to many critics bombing out and not really giving their fans quality performances. The comedic skill these gentlemen portrayed at the movie theater was only a seduction and a tease to entice avid fans to boost their flagging popularity ratings.

Some Hollywood critics have even recently suggested that Sandler and Spade are merely accepting cookie cutter roles that do not stretch them professionally as actors but will increase their box office financial appeal. Why exert yourself as an actor when your fans will accept mediocre performances and almost humorless storylines.

Unscrupulous Hollywood script writers tend to exploit a gullible public and offer second rate scripts to silver screen idols hoping that the actor's personality, public relations people and assorted other channels of media hype will transform a lacklustre sitcom idea into a million dollar, long term situation for everyone involved.

The screen writers guild should establish its own ethics in entertainment committee to police those television script writers who knowingly continue to offer at home viewing audiences material that is questionable and profitable only to the sponsors, networks and actors involved.

Until  that point in time has arrived it is really up to the viewing audience at home to personally evaluate the overall quality of the shows they watch at home. It's better to boycott a show than sit back in silence and continue to tolerate tripe comedic material.

Viewers begin to wonder if Charlie Sheen is attempting to emulate the antics of another famous tippler, W. C. Fields , or is he merely wallowing in the fact that his two million dollar price tag per episode of "Two and a Half Men" is merely compensatory and has nothing to do with his lack of silver screen script offerings.

Mr Sheen recently stated that he is now ready to get back to work. One wonders if his adoring public will forgive him his  digressions and transgressions and continue to watch his show with the same interest, loyalty and awe they formerly exhibited.