For some reason, McDonald's new "Lovin' It" campaign bugs the crap out of me. I've heard it on the radio, seen it on tv in various forms, different jingles, different moods aimed at different demographics and every single time it annoys the holy heck out of me! I don't know why ... but it just ... gets to me!

What's currently annoying the crap out of you?

There's some radio spots (perhaps just local) that talk about getting vaccinations and stuff like that, but they're trying to sound hip by using that "fizzle my shizzle" type stuff that's popular with the young people nowadays.

There's nothing sadder than marketing reps in their 40s trying to write like 18 year olds.

Some car company had ads last month for a seasonal sale with a singer belting out "It's Now or Never" ... in an operatic and forceful voice, NOT like Elvis. Drove me up a tree. Fortunately for me, the ads stopped a few days ago. Fortunately for the car company, the name of the brand was never spoken, so I don't remember it and can't put it on my shit-list of products to avoid.

Ads for panty liners, vaginal itch medications, and tampons are close runners-up currently. I am SO glad men don't have to put up with all that {rueful smile}

I haven't really minded the LOVIN' IT McD's ad campaign.

Snoop-speak was funny at first, but it is SO 4 months ago.

Cooter-itch IS annoying, isn't it?

Most annoying but funny commercial ever:

A lady is shown on the golf course preparing to swing. She stops and looks into the camera horrified. Voiceover (paraphrased): "Where will YOU be when your laxative kicks in?"

Do any of you get the Trunk Monkey commercials?

I love Trunk Monkey because that guy he womps is soooo annoying.

We get the Trunk Monkey here for one of our car lots, Gus Paulos I think.

Unless I really really like the commercial, I hate it when they run the same commercial back-to-back.

I can't think of a current ad that I either love or loathe right now. So much for being a target demographic.

McDonald's ill-advised "I'm Loathin' It" campaign never really took off...

Truth in advertising isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Greybird, that car commercial pissed me off. i'm happy to know somebody else hated it as much as i did. thank god it's over now! that damn song got stuck in my head constantly. i'd wake up with song repeating over and over in my brain (gotta stop falling asleep with the tv on). definitely on the shit list.

ANY use of a popular song in a TV commercial. (They casn't write their own jingles anymore?????)

ANY use of popular songs in ads for a movie-- ESPECIALLY if the songs DON'T EVEN APPEAR IN THE FILM!!!!! ("Stuart Little" anyone?)

ANYTIME a commercial is run MORE THAN ONCE during any single TV program. Anyone running the same commercial at EACH break should be SHOT. Anyone running the same commercial more than once DURING A SINGLE BREAK should be slowly TORTURED.


Excuse me-- I'm in a lenient mood tonight...

Ooh, Ooh, me Too! With one exception. The Hummer-2 commercial "Jack." Most appropriate use of a song in a commercial that I can think of.

Is that the one with "Happy Jack" by the Who, or am I thinking of something else?

Yeah that's the one. What did you think? I liked it because of "Jack's" engenuity. He was the one that does things differently and couldn't be brought down. That's why I thought the song appropriate in words and mood.

A fancy way of saying, it gets my giggle on.

I think it's an effective ad, tying the happy non-conformist in the song with the car.

I'm not gonna run out and buy one, but it works as well as any ad I see on TV these days.

"Can you hear me now? Goo--"

*ack* [sound of spokesperson being throttled]

Oh My GOD, that's amusing!

Has anyone seen the Miller Lite commercial where people are tumbling over like dominoes?

I haven't actually laughed out loud like that for the entire duration of a commercial in years...

I just saw that Miller Lite ad today.

The most amusing thing is that they changed the lyrics of that Devo song from "dropped dead" to "dropped down".

A commercial I really hate is for Range Rover. It shows a procession in an India-like country (but not in a major city, but one with dirt roads). The big mucky-muck is on an elevated litter. At the cross road is a Range Rover. The procession stops, the high mucky-muck waves the Range Rover through. The voice over says something about Respect.


I also hate all those SUB commercials showing people tearing up the wilderness. I'd love for an Environmental group to do a PSA showing the same behavior but also showing its consequences, like destroying nesting grounds.


Secret Confession time: I think the "Can you hear me know?" guy is annoying, but I am also attracted to him.

Even more than the Sprint PCS spokesperson (a.k.a. "Black Trenchcoat Guy")...?

I lust over the Sprint PCS guy!!! I want that man inside me!!!!

lil'rhino

Do you know who the actor is? It's funny that he's so ubiquitous -- he probably appears on TV more than almost any "non-icon" advertising figure (e.g., Ronald McDonald) -- yet still remains anonymous...

The Sprint guy seemed like a knock-off Mulder. still I wouldn't say no to him.

Hmmm him and test guy and me

His name is Brian Baker. Look here for his info on IMDB. And here's something I'm willing to bet none of you knew. He's married to Terry Farrell, formely Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Now that is one lucky man!

Yeah, "lucky," if you discount the fact that his wife has a symbiont slug inside her...oh wait, I'm blurring the line between fiction and reality again.

Even with the slug, Dax was the hottest Trek female, ever!

I don't know about being the hottest, but she did seem to be the most free spirited.

"Can you hear me now?"

"Yes, YES, OH YES!"

Now here's a question for ya: who's hotter -- Jadzia or Ezri Dax?

Love them spots...!

Jadzia. Hands down. Didn't care too much for Ezri and I kinda lost track of the show after she joined.

Jadzia was hotter, but she SO needed a new hairstyle. Ezri (who's on "The Dead Zone" now) is really cute though.

D'oh! I knew I had seen Sarah somewhere else before. I never put the two together.

You know, ever since you revealed this bit of information, I can't help but think of the Sprint PCS guy together with Jadzia every time I see a Sprint PCS commercial...

:jealous:

Since this thread relates to commercials...

I'm really liking that Coke commercial where the girl is walking down the street singing and handing out Cokes from her (very voluminous) bag. She has a lovely voice, and the song lyrics are also very nice. (Is it an actual song, or just one written for the commercial?) She also makes a cute face at the very end of the commercial...

Stu I love that commercial........but I loathe the McDonalds Chicken selects spots!!!

Yeah, they have just the opposite message -- don't share what you have with others!

Anyway, if I want chicken, I'll go to KFC -- a.k.a. Chicken Capital USA! (I really wouldn't mind getting one of the t-shirts shown on those KFC commercials...)

I humbly bow down before KFC and give thanks to them for all the joy they've given me.

Now I'm hungry

Those t-shirts are great aren't they!!!

Her bag's as big as Senor Widebottom's pantaloons!! Of course, the Cokes he hands out have rum in them!

lil'rhino

Two annoying things: They are now running commercials before movies in the theaters. UGH!


Here in New England there is a local furniture chain called Jordan's Furniture. The owners, two brothers Barry & Elliot, appear in the commercials. (They are actually pretty cool. They sold the company in part so their kids wouldn't feel obligated to run the company) About 5 years or so ago, they ran a commercial which parodied a popular commercial for another product entirely. The parody was pretty funny. But now all their commercials are parodies of other commercials and I am sick of it and don't find them funny any more.

Now that Coke has officially co-opted Coke with lemon and Coke with lime, I'm half expecting the next big thing from the Coca-Cola Company to be...

Rum & Coke!

Official spokesperson: Ashlee Simpson.

(Isn't she underage? Hee hee!)

I can't stand that trend.

When I was in the UK, I noticed that they have two start times listed for movies: the time the commercials start, and the time the movie itself actually starts. I kind of liked that -- especially as there seemed to be 15 minutes' worth of commercials before the movie. (They were interesting ones I'd never seen before, so I didn't mind that much... Plus, I was eating a Dove Bar from the concession stand, so that more than made up for it.)

True, we have always had commercials as well as previews running before the film itself. (well always = for as long as i can remember)

I like em, in fact sometimes they are better than the film It used to be even better a while back because they ran different commercials to the ones on TV (same product) so we saw something a bit different and special. Not the way it is now tho

the one commercial that's really gets my goat is those damn sprite commercials with that Thirst character, i keep weaiting for Mad TV or SNL to do a bit where they reinact the whole Sprite commercial but throw a "Mr. Bill" spin to it where the Thirst doll gets Squashed, burnt kicked, or blown up, etc,etc,etc, by a mr.hand or mr.sluggo type of character.
that would make my day. <font size="7"> </font s>

The song, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, was written by Dr. Billy Taylor in 1954. It became something of a civil rights anthem by the early 60s and Nina Simone recorded it first in 1967. John Denver released a version in 1969.

The version in the commercial is sung by Sharlene Hector from Basement Jaxx, and the single was supposed to be released in the UK back in March.

:rolleyes: Scott, my lover boy and Master, is there anything you don't know or can't find out??? You amaze me sweetie!!!

Thanks, Scott!

Now I'll have a question for the ROCK N ROLL TRIVIA thread, if I should ever be up again.

Scooter, you da man! There's another version in a Coke commercial with a guy doing the vocals. I saw it last night during the previews at the movie theater. Any idea who that is?

Actually, now that I've downloaded that song, I think I may have the wrong song in mind. But the song I'm thinking of is from a Coke commercial, and has the lines "I want to break free" repeatedly throughout it. It also has a pretty cool beat too...

In the commercial it shows a lot of people dancing and goofing off at work (and drinking coke).

NEVERMIND !

The song I'm talking about is Queen's "I want to Break Free". I'm not the biggest Queen fan, so I've never heard the song before.

However, I do think the song is different in the commercial (I like the commercial version ). Now I have to figure out who does that one...

I like that song for C2, "I Want to Break Free," as well. I'd never heard it before I saw the commercial, but I had a feeling they were using an already-established song.

(Too bad C2 tastes kind of yucky.)

you know Stueey i'm drinking a C2 right now, it's not so bad but the kick is i put it in the freezer and let it get a little slushy,....mmmmmmm, nice and frosty.

Sheesh! Why isn't "time line" one word?

People's ability to lose focus and go off on tangents bug the piss out of me. AUGH!

ha ha ha -it happens a lot around here-

I can't think of a specific add at the moment but the hyperbolic adds for any new show tend to get annoying pretty fast. Phrases like "hit new series" for a show that hasn't even aired yet or "Your ______ will never be the same!" or for god's sake "Must see TV" just tick me of so much that it's almost an automatic response to reach for the remote.

There was a woman who was filing her nails really loudly on the bus tonight. That was annoying!

Stu, It is pretty catchy, isn't it? I downloaded the Queen version and play it before I go out, it gets me in the mood to have a good time (although to be honest, it doesn't take much )

I'm really amused by that commercial where the guy walks up to his ex-girlfriend's apartment in his underwear, and hands her a flower.

You think he's wanting to get back together, but he just wants to fetch his jeans, which were caught in a tree when she threw all his stuff out the window...

Has anyone seen those new "Coca-Cola Zero" spots (maybe in theaters) where those hipsters are sitting on the roof singing about wanting to "buy the world a coke and chill with it awhile"? OH MY GOD that whole thing annoys me from beginning to end!! Firstly, I want to take that pseudo-rapping, guitar playing, dorkweed and throw him *off* that rooftop! Then I want to take his bloody, broken corpse and sneak it into the bed of the "creative" who came up with that line and thought it'd be "cool" to update the "I wanna buy the world a Coke" song by using the word "chill".... I mean really -- "chill"

Has anyone seen those new "Coca-Cola Zero" spots (maybe in theaters) where those hipsters are sitting on the roof singing about wanting to "buy the world a coke and chill with it awhile"? OH MY GOD that whole thing annoys me from beginning to end!! Firstly, I want to take that pseudo-rapping, guitar playing, dorkweed and throw him *off* that rooftop! Then I want to take his bloody, broken corpse and sneak it into the bed of the "creative" who came up with that line and thought it'd be "cool" to update the "I wanna buy the world a Coke" song by using the word "chill".... I mean really -- "chill?!?!?"

That commercial, which I'm forced to watch in movie theaters, makes me want to destroy the world.

And that's all I have to say about that.

My current favorite commercial, which probably annoys the hell out of our friends at PETA, is the Carl's Jr. ad where the geeky looking farm-hand is shaking up the cow for milkshakes. The song is so easy and catchy, and my gosh, when he slaps the cow it gives me tingles. Totally cracks me up. One question though, are the sensors such prudes that they won't allow genuine cow udders to be shown on a commercial? Because, I swear this cow has fake udders! Bwaaaahahahahaha

Yeah, plastic surgery enhancements are getting so out of hand...

ALL "pop-ups" on TV stations should be banned. Seriously, they need to PASS A LAW against that sort of thing. And while they're at it, they should do something about restoring proper end credits to shows & movies, played in full at the right speed and full screen, WITHOUT any voice-overs or other noise getting in the way of end-theme songs.


You know what it reminds me of? I went to a nudie bar once, where they had a guy in a tux yelling at the top of his lungs into a microphone like the announcer at a wrestling show. Non-stop telling you what was coming up next, what was avaialble, what you could pay extra for. And whenever the girls would go around, if you did pay extra for something special, they'd spend half the time telling you what you could ALSO pay extra for. It was to the point where the advertisements got in the way and PREVENTED you from actually ENJOYING what you were trying to watch NOW.

That new Bon Jovi song, "Have a Nice Day." I won't be able to have one after hearing your stupid, obnxious "anthem," Jonny! Thanks for nothing!!

And also that song by Natasha Bedingfield, I think it's called "These Words," it's the one where she sings "I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you" in a really annoying voice.

I second this! Some stations are really annoying, not just interrupting the credits but actually pulling the shrinking screen and voice over when the last scene is being played out. One station here in SLC does it everytime. Can't watch an episode of Drew Carey without missing the last scene. Totally annoying.

Ill See you your Natasha Beddingfield (though her brother is slightly more annoying) and Raise you a Crazy Frog. or has that monstrosity not reached your shores as yet?

No, luckily, I haven't heard Crazy Frog. The name alone makes me cringe.

well once again I blame the English. Who also coughed up Natasha Beddingfield.

Do you also have the annoyance of a program running overtime because of some "inconsequential" news item, Scott? It's a pain to tape something only to find you miss the beginning of another show you want to record??? Oh, I hate that!!!!

Rufus Wainwright. annoying.

But gorgeous in a hairy-chested fashion...

Speaking of advertising. (and did I mention this already?) Here on the subway sometimes all the ads on the train car are for the same product. The posters have about 3-4 variations, but are repeated throughout the car. This overkill makes me not want to buy the product.

Same thing here on the bus Quis....annoys the hell out of me

Yes that's a common practice in Toronto. The research shows it works, I think.


They also have vinyl wrap that they can use to "skin" entire subway stations with a billboard. The most annoying use of this technology is when they use vinyl to "skin" the outside of a bus, trolley or subway car.

And even if you are reading something (which I usually am) it is so overpowering that it is distracting.

common here aswell.

Our Fox station has started this recently and refuses to acknowledge it. Their 9:00 news now runs anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes long for no apparent reason (no breaking news, etc). It is like they are just taking their time or showing more commercials. But they won't change their programming schedule so the 10:00 and later shows are late and if you try to TiVo them you get screwed out of the ending. Really annoys me on Sunday nights when we try to tape the Buffy repeats and I forget to add extra time to the TiVo.

Be thankfull you have Tevo.

Remember when they actually had commercial breaks BETWEEN shows? Nowadays, they put the beginning of one show RIGHT at the end of the previous one. If for any reason you're trying to tape 2 different shows (and therefore, on 2 separate tapes), you can't do it without 2 separate machines!!!!

And if you're trying to tape more than one episode of a show on the same tape... well, I've had this habit of putting an 8-10 second BLANK space between episodes on a tape. CAN'T do it during modern "marathons".

They really don't WANT you to watch shows anymore, I think. Some a-hoes in advertising, I have no doubt, see programming as nothing more than advertising for the DVDs. Never mind if some shows AREN'T OUT on DVDs yet...

It's no wonder more and more I watch almost nothing but TCM...

Ok, so I was in a bar the other night and talking to some actress girl and this Coke commercial came up so I went off on how much disdain I have for this spot etc. but of course it turns out *she was in it!* to which I responded, "but you were great in it!" ... (I'm not sure she bought it )

New York is awesome, but that glorified commercial for NYC disguised as a song by Chee-Z featuring Alicia Off-Key makes me sick.

That commercial with the little girls dancing around in winter garb to cheerleader music annoys the living crap out of me. "How cute are these boots?" They're HIDEOUS, Hillary!!!

When that one little blonde girls does the fingers to her eyes thing I want to reach into the tv and push her hand toward her face!!!!

The one with the dancers in flannel is even worse. Nineties nostalgia arriving right on schedule as a new decade is about to begin. Yuck.

The Gieco cavemen commercials really burn me. They imply that verbal discrimination of minorities is OK and the minorities are just being too sensitive.

I also dislike the Gieco googly-eyed money.

The bizarre thing is that the Geico gecko is one of the best overall series of commercials on TV (though I'm not a huge fan of the current round), but every other Geico commercial is so completely annoying that it kind of negates the effect.

Agreed. The gecko rocks but the caveman commercials make me want to punch someone. I just find them so annoying, unfunny and played out.

In Washington, the ads are usually for billion dollar military projects. And I have to admit, they're effective.. When I see one,
I want to run out and buy my very own aerial tanker or urban ground-assault vehicle

Hah! I love that commercial!!!

Also, I love all the weird and shallow and gorgeous perfume/cologne commercials that go on heavy rotation this time of year. There must be something wrong with me.... and I'm worth it!

I started a new thread about perfume commercials. I feel as though they NEED to be discussed in depth!

Perfume commercials...stink!

When I was a kid, christmas time didn't mean love and caring for your fellow man...it meant


RONCO!

They were the original QVC of crappy products.

"It slices it dices it crushes it rushes college fraternities, its the VeggieStalker from Ronco!"


They were worse than...<shudder> POLITICAL COMMERCIALS!

Gotta admit... I can't stand the Snuggie commercials! There's that weird dad doin' the "raise the roof."

And who finds being in a blanket so challenging? I guess a lot of people buy those things?

BWAhaha!!! I bought a Snuggie BECAUSE of that lame-ass commercial! Too funny!!

Geico really DOES run their ideas into the effin' ground! I agree the gecko thing is okay still, but they always have three themes in HEAVY rotation. The only one they've retired so far was the series where they let on like someone's about to make a huge revelation before saying, "I just saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico". They had to have had at least a dozen or more commercials with that one-joke theme.

MAN, the cavemen need to be put back in the friggin DIRT! I swear, the latest version where the cavemen are having these defining moments before being reminded they're cavemen is just pointless and downright offensive! GRR!

The third one, now, is the stacks of money with plastic eyeballs accompanied by "Somebody's Watching Me". It might've worked for ONE commercial idea, but ten or more? Eff NO!

At least the gecko spots are cute and have some semblance of a script!

With all that money spent on three different running themes airing hundreds of times an hour, I can't help but think that Geico's customers have GOTTA be paying MORE because their insurer's blowin' so much friggin' money on advertising!

Personally, I'm most annoyed by how often commercials are so "hip" and "ironic" that you can't even tell what they're advertising. Or what the product in the ad is supposed to do. Sometimes both.

While complaining about insurance commercials, I get really tired of the whole "customers who switched from company X saved an average of Y dollars" line that every insurance company seems to use. I mean... obviously most people who switch save money, since if they weren't going to save money, they probably wouldn't switch to your company! That says absolutely nothing about whether most people or the average person or someone like me will save money by switching to your company.

My god, thank you! Every time I see one of those, my mind boggles at how blind Gieco's marketing people must be to not see that parallel. It's like, "We're Geico... the bigoted insurance company."

That Food Network commercial for its competition shows with the annoying "Walk the Walk" song that I can't get out of my head now.

Any Geico commercial these days.

And they tried to make a sit-com about the cavemen.

Yeah, I hate those cavemen ads! At least they don't have him talking in the latest round of ads...

On a different note, one of the most annoying things for me is when I drop stuff. My desk can get crowded and usually, one thing falling is followed by me knocking over something else when picking up the first thing that fell! It can be quite infuriating!

Oh, the dropsies are bad, I agree! I also hate bumping my... self. Particularly my head or toes. It usually only hurts for a moment, well, it hurts intensely for a moment, which ends up just being really annoying.

Yeah, my eyesight is altering how I think of myself in space, so I am ALWAYS hitting or running into something.
sigh

And I drop EVERYTHING!
Including my computer when I was moving it to another desk. Boy, is that a lot of trouble.

But really annoying is when my husband keeps telling me to turn out the lights when I leave a room or have on more then one light at a time!

I love you, MLLASH!

TV Commercials were people act impossibly ridiculous.

Lately the ones I seen that fall into this category are the Toyota Toyotathon commercial where everybody scrambles for a car with one guy getting left out; and the Ikea commercial where a woman drives a semi truck onto her front yard. Another that I really hate is the Stride Spit out your gum ads.

To make matters more humiliating, the first thing I did when I put it on was sit on the couch and raise the roof.

Sorry, World. You can have your butt rock vs. "alternative" rock vs. [insert chosen music genre here.] At the end of the day, the real enemy is not a particular genre. It's the inevitable 35 song playlist that you get subjected to over and over and over in the course of a few hours with each and every commercial radio station out there. Songs you never liked will make you suicidal. Songs you once liked will be shoved up your nose so many times during an eight-hour workday that you'll learn to loathe them, too.

Bleah.

What I'm finding incredibly annoying right now are the non-stop "best of 2009" lists that appear just about everywhere. Really, humanity? Really? Must you rank every single thing on the Earth in order of your preference and call it "the best"? I rank these lists the most annoying thing of 2010 so far

I totally agree with this one. I visit a lot of gaming websites and they are plastered with top 10 of '09 lists and even top 10 of the decade lists. One gaming message board I visit currently has 27 out of 50 threads on the front page dealing with this topic. REALLY annoying.

The Ryan Seacrest Scope commercial. I can't stand the smug Hollywood in-jokery of it.

Those commercials for hair replacement/therapy where they tell you they can give you your hair back...and the Dr's doing the commercials are going bald themselves.

The fact that I've got like a hundred notches on the volume control of my stereo, and yet every new cd released is deafeningly loud by the time it's turned up to 20.

Digital compression is the death of music. It's the equivalent of those annoying commercials that seem so loud in contrast to the broadcast show they're paying for. Sound engineers are still assuming people buy music because of what catches their attention on a radio.

Having to beg, scheme, and manipulate just to get opinions. Take the hint, people.

At this rate it'll be years before I manage to take over the wor... I mean, take over the world.

I'm still trying to figure out why we had to shop out our vinyl for those things. Frequently, the sound sucks eggs, (see Lad Boy's comment below) the cases crack and the discs scratch if you even look at them the wrong way, and of course they decay. Once upon a time the marketers conned us into thinking that CDs would last forever. Naturally that turned out to be a load of bovine excrement and now everyone is expected to make decay-able backups of our decay-able original CDs.

:rolleyes:

While we're on the subject on changing formats, let me complain about the fact that e-books are priced so that they're only slightly less expensive than their physical counterparts. Given that what's driven the price of books up so tremendously over the past few decades is the increase in the price of paper, e-books should theoretically be massively less expensive than physical books. Notice the fact that, when a softcover version of a book comes out, the e-book price will drop from slightly less than the hardcover version to slightly less than the softcover version, even though it's exactly the same product.

Don't wait up, EDE. The price of CDs never came down to a price commensurate with their commonality/availability/overall shoddiness, and so far neither has the cost of buying the tracks online.

:rolleyes:

Menus at the diner. Must every diner have a menu the size of the Old Testament? They might as well say "order anything you want and give us the price you expect and we'll over charge you another two dollars".

CK:

I was in a local (as in non-chain) diner on Christmas-Eve Day, and was pretty amazed when they handed me a modest fold-out menu no larger half a standard-size spiral notebook. (Great French Toast, too.)

I think the mega-huge menu is more of a chain-restaurant thing. You have to see each and every incredibly fake picture of all the items they have for sale. Think of it as an insecurity issue: those who can deliver the least always brag the most.

Those AT&T commercials with Luke Wilson. I've never liked him, but now I hate him.

LOL, yes they are! And I know that most people like them, but I cannot stand those Car insurance commercials, I think it's Progressive with that annoying brunette!

Awww, I like that brunette. She reminds me of myself after I've had too much caffiene.

But nothing is worse than those Gap commercials they had around Christmastime. They made my ears bleed.

They must have been so bad I've blocked out the memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JhyjQQ9Pcw

I don't dare!

no you dont

I'm a man, baby, a man! I dare!

...

And now I wish I hadn't.

Why do advertisers insist on giving us things that make us want to kill them?!

On the other hand, those Old Spice Commercials make me smile.

I alternate between finding her incredibly annoying and bizarrely sexy!

I hate teh Old Navy commercials. The one's where the manniquens are talking...grrrrrr

LOL Me too!

Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio. Four interminable hours of listening to this pompous jackass...I've had to go back to channel surfing since they put him on the only sports radio channel where I work.

Census commercials.

What really bugs me is that they all seem to be some variation of "Be sure to fill in the census so you get your fair share of stuff from the government!"

The primary point of the census is supposed to be to insure that each person has an equal voice in government.

It's supposed to be about empowering citizens, not just about them lining up for their share of government goods.

Me.

Mike Francesca from the former "Mike and the Mad Dog". I'm not sure if any of you guys know who that is that don't live in the tri-state area. Mike and the Mad Dog were a wildly popular sports show on New York's WFAN for years, and would follow Imus on AM radio. About two years ago, Chris (aka "The Mad Dog") left the show, probably because he was tired of being badgered by Mike.

Now its just Mike Francesca himself talking to people who call in. He also has his own show on the YES channel, which is the New York Yankees channel in this area. Because WFAN is a Mets station and YES is a Yankees television channel, he has all kinds of connections to interview all the major Mets and Yankees players and owners.

The guy is just beyond arrogant and a total prick. But he's not trying to be--its simply becuase he no longer has a partner that his true personality is starting to really come out.

I no longer listen but so many guys I know in this area do, both my age and people from work. I think if I saw him on the streets, I'd mug him.

In a similar vein..people that cannot talk without yelling.

One picture that instantly forms in my mind is some radio talk show host from up north who's entire act seems to be shouting. Kinda like the pitch guy that died last year, billy mays. Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people in the south that do the same thing. But, as I get older, I treasure quiet more and more. And being a more solitary person than most (yes, its true, don't let my posting here fool you) I'm almost always happiest in either small groups or alone. My family being the sole exceptions to the rule.

But these types of people always put me off. They can be the nicest people in the world, but just learn some volume control. I'm a large guy, and my voice is deep and carries. I had to learn volume control in first grade when even the quietest whispers from me caught the teachers ears.

If you've got to yell and shout in a small area to get my attention, you've just lost me.

Well it is not quite goods for individuals, but where money gets allocated for roads, bridges, and stuff like that.

You're right that it's more "get stuff for your community", so it's not quite as bad as I suggested, but still it seems to me to be appealing to the wrong emotion.

They may in fact be more effective that way . It would surprise me if they didn't spend a lot of time testing the message to see which would appeal to people the most. But, if that's so, it still says something annoying about the American people.

What really gets me is that things like public education get shafted for pet projects. And the public education schools that don't really need extra money get it in gobs, while little places like Trio South Carolina, a tiny spot in the armpit of the state with no real industry or business to tax but a large poor populace(mostly black with no pull in the capital whatsoever), get next to nothing.

A few years ago they were moving the children around from room to room, whichever one wasn't leaking at the time. The books were forty years out of date...

You've got close to two thousand kids in one graduating class, you are gonna get money. You have close to twenty in one graduating class, here's the door, here's your hat, whats your hurry.

Working where I do, there's ample opportunity to observe the phenomenon of pretentious names for colors of clothing.

Uh, there's nothing wrong with calling it "Purple," insterad of "Wisteria." Or "Dark Gray" instead of "Asphalt." Really.

Unless you're selling an item in six or seven different shades/tints of the same color, it's just not necessary to do this. Stop it.

Also, I'm sick of seeing cutesy t-shirts with slogans about the joys of being one with nature-- wrapped in three layers of plastic. I might add that cotton is not enviro-friendly. If Megacorp Sportswear really gave a frack about the environment, they'd make their damn shirts out of hemp. In the U.S., as opposed to a kajillion miles away.

I hope people buy this crap because they think it's cute. Not because they think buying it is actually the same as chaining oneself to an ancient tree in hopes of saving it from the saws. (Sorry, rickshaw1. Just the first hypothetical that popped into my head.)

Thats fine, Cleome. I too hate the thought of old growth trees being cut. But i temper it with the needs of the owners and the people that make a living off it.

You wanna know something tough, try finding a nice baseball cap that isn't adorned with some damn slogan or advertisement.

You can find the plain, ugly ass ones...that are made too large in the front for you to put YOUR OWN dumbass saying or slogan on.

Beyonce's song "Halo" annoys the heck out of me. It's a lovely song...one I'd really, really enjoy hearing...until she yells, "HALO HALO HALO! HALO HALO HALO!" a thousand times. There are plenty of songs that I hate, but few that make me want to reach into the radio and pull out the singer's trachea like that one does.

Repeated automated calls from my insurance provider, reminding me to get a check-up. Uh, I'd love a check-up, Twerps. If your insurance premiums weren't so effing insane, maybe I could afford one.

[six-hours of profanity goes here]

That Starburst commercial with the sarcastic zombie riding the bus. It almost (emphasis on ALMOST) makes me want to track down the people who conceived it and kick them where it hurts the most.

Every freakin gas company money whore out there that thinks its a good idea to water down gasoline with ethenol. I can't afford a new truck. I have to drive my old '95 f150 with 493,000 miles on it. It doesn't run ethenol. It runs gas, not water with alcohol in it. If I wanted to run that, I'd just stick some 'shine it in and burn out my valves fast.

I've had to replace my fuel filter four times in the last two months, which means that I have no choice but to spill a minor amount of gas on the ground, which hits the immediate area as well as wasting precious precious money right now.

I pull up to a place and my old truck starts knocking and fartin' and backfirin', and then cuts off and I have to call someone to bring me a new filter, as well as my worry that their shitty gas is gonna blow the motor in my beloved old truck which, by the way, has never had this problem before.

Here's a hint, aholes. My motor blows up, I'm sending you the bill and if you don't pay it, I'm taking you to small claims court, suin' yer ass, and them posting the win on youtube so everyone else you have screwed can see it and go after you as well.

sorry, folks, but I'm just a little tired of my dependable old truck suddenly breaking down in the middle of town, or at the drive through of my bank, or out in the woods twelve miles from nowhere.

"try finding a nice baseball cap that isn't adorned with some damn slogan or advertisement"


Generally, I don't wear baseball caps... but the ONE I do have has to "Federal Security Agency" logo on it that Sean Connery wore in the movie OUTLAND.

Did we REALLY need a sequel to Wall Street? Hell, I hated the first one three-odd decades ago!

Prof, I wear one for the woods and sometimes just because it hides my hair. I have it and don't care about it one way or the other so a lot of times is pretty bad, lol.

Why are there still car alarms? Has anyone in the last 5 years ever heard their car alarm go off and check to see if something was wrong? I don't even know if I have one--so if mine's ever gone off, I definitely didn't turn it off.

It was a good experiment but it failed and it's just annoying. Eliminate them completely from cars.

People at conventions who stop in crowded walkways to take pictures of people in costumes.

When a car alarm goes off on my street, my only thought is "Shut that blankety-blank thing off!"

Also back when car alarms first came out my friends and I were walking through a parking lot and brushed against a car that had a voice alarm. The voice said "This is a secured vehicle. Please step away from the car." We stayed for a bit and taunted the car. "I'm near you." "I'm touching you."

Quis, that sounds like a country honky tonk song,

"Tauntin' Cars an' Hittin' Bars"

We have a set of blue-and-gray carts at work that look kind of like super-sized library carts. The damn things are necessary for the job, and yet each and every last one of them is so cheap and/or poorly maintained that it steers across the warehouse like it's possessed by demons. They weave like a drunk on New Years Eve. They squeak. They freeze up when you want them to move and they move when you want them to stay still. Regardless of whether or not one's standing on a level or unlevel part of the floor while trying to use them. It drives me crazy! The fact that standard procedure is to pull a pallet of goods behind oneself while pushing The Cart From Hades in front of oneself only makes the agita that much worse, since then one has to try and control The Beast while steering with only one hand.

Pulling the cart instead of pushing it solves no problems, as it's apt to move too quickly and bark up against one's Achilles tendon-- or any other part of the laborer that's not protected by steel toes.

You should hear the colorful language that I've managed to produce when this has happened. Er, but-- maybe it's better that you can't.

I... I like colorful language. Blue Moon. Red sunset. Foamy green surf... Has anyone seen my kitten?


*see, toldja I was annoying.

You painted your kitten? I hope it was with edible paint.

nah, dyed elmer's glue. Kitten got happy every time he heard Lionel Richie's "Stuck on you..."

You know what's annoying? People who stand *RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SIDEWALK!* I'm in NYC so obviously it's more of an issue here than in many other places, but if you're in a group of some sort, how do you feel it's appropriate to just fucking hang out in the middle of a busy sidewalk so everyone has to walk all the way around you or have to weave their way through you saying "excuse me" the whole time and then *barely* make the slightest effort to step aside and then afterwards just resuming your position at the center of the goddamed universe!?!

Anytime I find myself in a group like that I immediately feel self-conscious and suggest my group step to the side to get out of the way - even if there's no one there at the time. but hey, that's just me not being a giant flaming dick...

A variation of this that I have mentioned before is the couple. You are walking on a narrow sidewalk or stairs. Coming from the opposite direction is the couple walking together. Now instead of splitting up and going single file, they continue as a couple, sometimes they squeeze together a bit. Heaven forbid that they stop walking side by side for just a few seconds. I am sure that will end their whole relationship.

And don't get me started about people with strollers, especially on a bus.

Obviously there are a few couples and people with strollers who do make an effort to be courteous and not be in the way, but they seem outnumbered by the others.

On a related note: I'm gonna' go nuclear against the next jackass on the bus who insists on occupying the OUTER (aisle) of two bus seats by himself/herself when the bus is clearly full or near-capacity full.

The other day, I had to stand over one such specimen waving my hand in front of her face repeatedly before she would deign to share the seat with me at rush hour.

(Do people seriously think that if they look through you and concentrate on their music/texting/random toy long enough, you'll eventually give up and let them have one seat for themselves plus one for their damn handbag/backpack on a crowded bus? Guess again, Princess. I've already been standing up today for almost eight hours straight and my left ankle/foot is in a damn brace! Pick up your ugly carryall and move the hell over before I effing kill you! <span style="font-size: 11px;">Spoiled @#$%*! brat.</span>)

And she didn't just slide over and let me sit down, or get up, or even turn sideways so I could easily get to the window seat without having to struggle with a bad foot on a moving bus. No, she just sat there and made me CLIMB OVER HER to reach the window seat, lest she lose five precious seconds of texting some other twit-- who was doubtless also being a jerk across town on some other bus.



[deep breath]

<span style="font-size: 11px;">Okay. I'm better now. Thanks, LMB.</span>

That reminds me of riding the subway on the weekend when there is something happening like a Red Sox game. All these people from the burbs come in and use the subway. They will crowd around the door waiting to get on a train and then stop right inside the door. You then have to get by them to get on. I assume they are afraid that they will get stuck on the subway and miss their stop. Heavens what will they do if that happens?

Oy.

Quis, I've seen similar when I have to travel by the light rail past the stadium on game or concert nights. The best part is when the fans in question spend their whole trip commenting loudly to each other about how much they hate the city and all the weirdos they have to share the rails with in order to watch their precious basketball or rock concert live.

:rolleyes:

What you are both describing is depressingly like D.C. Metro travel.

The language of jerkitude knows no state boundary, OM.

Ah, but therein lies the fun, and evilness.

find you a really nasty pair of old clothes, throw them down damp and let them mildew a little to get that really mottled look. After washing them (you just want the look, not the actual mildew on you) find some really rank cheap eau de toilet water and splash all over the clothes ( or a coat might work better if you don't want to be touching the clothes). Then, go to the novelty store and find some bad joke teeth.

now, when the nut jobs are making life miserable, just find you a spot right in the middle of the aisle, or at the doorway, and start mumbling to yourself. If you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, use the time honored "Millennium hand and shrimp" made famous by Foul 'Ole Ron.

Then, when one of the jerks says something, make up some foul sounding phony curse and lay it on them.

After the lightweights run for the hills, doff the coat and let everyone else in on the joke. they will appreciate it.

*Oh, and a fart machine or sneeze machine coupled with a spray bottle... funny as hell, just be prepared for possible fisticuffs. and remember, this is for beginners. Advanced evil classes will be held on Thursdays at 10 pm.

Well, it has comedy-sketch potential, rick. But IRL, it would more likely just make one a target for cops, hired PBA "security," and local Skinheads.

When I was in South Dakota and at a bar, I was in a conversation with a guy from Souix Falls and told him I'm from the New York City area. He had the nerve to ask me "what's with the poltics over there? Did everyone forget 9/11?"

Asshole. Take your politics and shove them up your ass. I see Ground Zero several times a month. No one here has forgotten; we certainly don't need jingiostics using 9/11 as a symbol for their politics to be reminded about it.

On a related note to CK:

I'm gonna' punch the next clown who gives me that tired old saw about, "If you don't vote, you lose your right to complain."

Uh, no. I don't. Voting is not the be-all and end-all of citizen participation. Really, it's not. Who died and made YOU the Speech Police?

Furthermore, I frequently suspect that non-voters in this country are the only people smart enough to learn from their previous mistakes.

This is one of those weeks where EVERYTHING is annoying.

But knowing that downtown is gonna' be thrown into chaos after work because of President Hope's visit is the cherry on top of the Annoying Sundae. I'll be lucky if mr_cleome makes it home from work before 8 PM. And I'll be skipping out early even though it costs me half an hour's pay, because people are going to try and avoid downtown which means my commute is likely going to stink, too. Gah.

ok i've got one.

your classmate from college is in the new york times this morning. about his new firm.


and he was actually a really nice guy. so i can't even be a hater ...

oh well, guess, i'd better apply to a job or something.

The turkey in the cubicle next to me has two volumes on the phone - loud and extremely loud. He's also got his cell phone up so loud that it disrupts the area any time it goes off - which is a lot.

BUT ... because he's the "golden child" nothing will ever change.

This past Saturday I went to the Wizards World con here in Boston. The same convention center was also holding a rally for our governor and President Obama was there. I thought that that might make it difficult to get into the con. But my friend and I just walked in, no problem.

Hopefully the traffic will no be so bad.

I'm with Cle on that one. We had some predidential "candidates" come to Francis Marion College waaaaay back when I was a student.

Couldn't get to class...people that normally wouldn't be caught dead there walking around like they owned the place. People that had never done anything for the school and students acting like we should kiss their feet for them allowing us to go to school there.

Hey, ahole, I paid my tuition, it wasn't a favor to me. You wanna brownnose and ass kiss, go somewhere else.

It was better than I expected. The supervisor actually gave me a lift halfway home in exchange for my staying the full day.

However, I spent the entire bus ride studiously avoiding eye contact with the meth head parked right in the seat in front of me. It wasn't easy, either, because she was turning around multiple times to have very loud conversations with her buddies who had scattered all over the bus.

Some days, I just can't win. :rolleyes:

Have you thought about a vespa, Cle. Not that expensive, good on gas, and you get to feel like you are riding around in Italy with over cologned young men professing love to you on every corner.

At least, thats what the ads show, lol.

Nothing compares to hearing constant complaints about on-the-job nepotism from an employee who owes her job to on-the-job nepotism. (Certainly she doesn't owe it to her stellar job performance, because she spends more time talking than working. On Friday she spent an hour fixing her hair at the workstation. I wish I were making this up.)

Anyone who ever decides they need storage in North Portland should make a point of not using the place where I'm currently employed. That's all I can say.

That song, "Come With Me Now". It's creepy, gimmicky, and the guys that did it obviously owe their career to their father's music-industry connections. I hated it from the first time I heard it and as its gotten overexposed in TV ads, etc, it's become unbearable.

This one is more my wife, but it's appropriate for this thread (and I think it's funny how much it bothers her) but that iphone (I think it's iphone) ad that has that girl singing the Breeders song "Gigantic." Just how she sings it and the fact that "gi-gAAAaaan-tic" is repeated over and over.

I always laugh when I see that, just because of what the song content is really about (It was a Pixies song BTW, before she left for the Breeders).

[video:youtube]http://youtu.be/Gz2GVlQkn4Q?list=LLAT1aRGB95Dm2vP_NDDvrsg[/video]

What are you trying to pull, Pov?

You know I'm not clicking that link.

I agree, Fanfie. I can't stand that song.

Thank you, BraJa. I'm so relieved I'm not alone here at LW in my dislike of that bloody song.

The people at the park and ride lot where I catch the transit bus to work just can't figure out how to form a line. The first people sit about ten feet apart, then everyone starts cramming together then people start going directly to the 10 feet gaps , cutting in line. I have had a hard time not taking it on myself to become the line boss. It just aggravates me so so much. I know that's kind of petty but there you go.

When I get on the train in the morning, I'm always about 30 seconds ahead of the train coming in (in a rushed sort of way).

I stand in the same spot on the platform every day, as I know that's where the train doors will be. It's a long platform, and there are people standing at different depths and spaced out all over it. There are no queues, or even suggestions of queues. If there were, I'd dutifully take my place in it.

So, although I'm far from being first, I'm pretty much always going to get one of the last seats on the train.

Now, if I was someone else seeing that every day... well, I'd probably make sure I was standing where the doors were going to stop. But it might be annoying.

Sometimes the people on the train platforms here don't even wait for passengers to disembark before rushing in. One time, a girl trying to get off was pulled back in onto the train and had to get off at the next station.

Train -- the band, not the mode of transportation -- annoys the hell out of me. There's something eminently punchable about their lead singer.

I feel the same way about Adam Levine

I don't hate Adam Levine as much as I hate Pat Monahan, but I think Levine's parakeet voice is at least equally annoying.

Pat Monahan has a similar air to Adam Levine, IMO. I can't quite put a finger on it. But it's Adam Levine whom I dislike more.

Bruno Mars is another celebrity I dislike. All his songs seem to be about sex, and while the melodies are great the lyrics are terrible, lowbrow and not subtle at all. He is so not a poet.

Now about public transpo...

You have buses and public utility vehicles stopping in the middle lane to pick up or drop off passengers; clogging up the rightmost lane so vehicles behind can't turn right even if we are allowed to; stupid laws that prevent us from bringing our vehicles out on one day of the week based on our license plate numbers; traffic enforcers who pull us over for not having license plates when the government hasn't released said license plates yet; and a train that crashed a few months ago and has lost power several times since.