Unmotivated

I’m fresh out of motivation to link and comment on the news. Again. So, here’s a short collection of Random Notes …

“My Lil Reminder” is the top EIP search term of late, what with seven hits in the four days since I posted my mini-rant about same. No comments, though, so I don’t know if the googlers are of like mind or not. The ad is still running, and it’s still as dumb as a box of rocks.

Speaking of ads…Haggar, a men’s clothing manufacturer, has a new series of ads out that are…uh… disconcerting. I’ve seen two of ‘em on ESPN and I’m not impressed. Here’s a quote from AdJab:

I'm not even sure what to do with this new ad series from Crispen Porter and Bogusky for Haggar clothing. It's obviously an appeal to middle-aged suburban men, but specifically a sub-set of that group made up of men who enjoy torturing their children, are mildly misogynistic and enjoy half-naked wrestling with their neighbors. I honestly think CP&B may have lost focus here. The point of advertising is to sell the product, not just to create funny commercials. That's why these ads fail on both levels.

The ad titled “dog crap” is just that: explicit, graphic footage of some jerk letting his dog crap on someone’s lawn, followed by the ad's protagonists acting out a retribution fantasy. There’s not a suburban homeowner in the world that hasn’t had a similar fantasy, yet still… I found that ad offensive, on more than one level. Another ad, “stereo” is also a retribution fantasy. The series of four ads have the recurring theme of “making things right.” You can view all of them here. The ads just don’t work. Not at all. This might be a new low in American advertising.

It’s a short week, leading up to the feast of gluttony (and I use the term lovingly, not disparagingly), as all y’all are aware. Becky is celebrating by treating us to a few of her favorite recipes, doling them out on a one-per-day basis. I strongly suspect Becky is one of those women near and dear to my heart: a Southern cook...and most likely a great Southern cook, from the look of things. As was my Mom. Becky is a Mississippian, not all that far (geographically speaking) from Georgia, which is where Mom was born and raised. Once again, I’m speculating the influences and styles are quite similar. Reading Becky’s recipes makes my mouth water, and summons up memories of Mom’s cooking.

It would be an understatement of gargantuan proportions to say Mom was a “good” cook. She was a great cook, beginning with a solid foundation of old-time southern cooking learned at her grandmother’s knee in an age when there were no frozen foods, no fast food, and no microwaves. But Mom went quite a bit further, adding culinary influences and techniques to her cooking that were gathered during a lifetime of being dragged around the world. She simply got better and better as time went on and we moved from place to place to place.

Imagine, if you will, the unlikely combination of Southern-fried cooking, infused with touches of classic French cuisine, complimented by a side of Tex-Mex, and topped off with a perfect crème brûlée or flaky, honey-soaked and pistachio-laden baklava for dessert. And the baklava had perfect filo pastry that was hand-made, not bought. You can’t imagine it, I’m sure. You just had to be there. Mom sure spoiled me when it comes to other women and their cooking. It’s a given that Mom is the gold standard of most everyone’s cooking, but mine was the real deal.